History Film / MikeBassettEnglandManager

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Nobody nowadays would self-identify as a ''Fenian'', and a Scotsman definitely would not. Historically the name of a 19th century Irish nationalist movement, today it is used only as a derogatory term, for Irish Republicans or for Catholics in general.

-->'''Mike''': HAVE YOU HEARD WHAT THE CROWD ARE FUCKING SHOUTING? "FUCK BASSETT!" "BASSETT'S A CUNT!" "BASSETT'S A BASTARD!" "BASSETT'S A WANKER!" THEY SHOULDN'T BE FUCKING SHOUTING AT ME, THEY SHOULD BE SHOUTING AT YOU, AND DO YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING HALF-TIME, AND WE'RE FUCKING 2-0 DOWN TO THE FUCKING MEXICANS! WHAT THE FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU? GET YOUR FUCKING FINGERS OUT! WHERE'S YOUR BOTTLE FUCKING GONE? ''([[TantrumThrowing hurls piece of equipment at the goalkeeper]])'' AND FUCKING PAY ATTENTION YOU CUNT, WHEN I'M FUCKING TALKING TO YOU! IF YOU DON'T WANNA WEAR THE SHIRT, FUCKING TAKE IT OFF! THERE'S THOUSANDS OF KIDS OUT THERE WHO WOULD FUCKING DIE TO PUT THAT FUCKING SHIRT ON. GET BACK ON THE FUCKING FIELD, SHOW THOSE BASTARDS WHAT YOU CAN FUCKING DO, OR YOU CAN FUCK OFF HOME ON THE FUCKING PLANE! YOU GOT THAT?!

** The second group game is played on 19 June and the third one on 7 July, 18 days later. There is normally only three to five days between games.

* {{Expy}}: Oh, so many.
** Mike Bassett supposedly has elements of all the worst aspects of English managers, though Graham Taylor and Kevin Keegan are apparently the main influences.
** Kevin "Tonka" Tonkinson is a gifted but mercurial playmaker from the [[UsefulNotes/NorthEastEngland North East]], like Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne. He subsequently became a much more direct Expy in ''Manager''.
** Gary Wackett is a very aggressive centre-half with a terrible disciplinary record, a nod to various British "hard man" footballers, such as Vinnie Jones, Stuart Pearce and Billy Bremner. His name is possibly a play on the name of another English centre-half, Gary Mabbutt.
** Harpsey is a playboy who is perennially talking on his mobile phone, has a popstar wife and is described as the best crosser in the world, like David Beckham.
** Dave Dodds and Lonnie Urquart are parodies of Graham Taylor's two assistants, Phil Neal and Lawrie [=McMenemy=].
** The unnamed England goalie is physically very similar to David Seaman, right down to the ponytail.
** Carlton Dawes is a reference to Carlton Palmer, both in his name and his awkward personality.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Bostock's Cup'', a 1999 TV movie which likewise had a mockumentary format, centred around an old-school manager and his YesMan assistant who steer a historically unsuccessful team to cup success (albeit they actually win it, whereas England "only" reach the semi-finals of the World Cup here; said assistant also shares the England physio's perversions), with said team being made up of a RagtagBunchOfMisfits including a violent captain with a HairTriggerTemper and a player who has a pop star wife, and the manager giving a half-time talk which is almost entirely bleeped out. ''Manager'' would later re-use another element from ''Bostock's Cup'', namely the manager hiring a hypnotist to help his team's prospects (albeit he does so by having him hypnotize the ''other'' team, which actually works).

-->'''Mike''': Have you heard what the crowd are fucking shouting? "Fuck Bassett!" "Bassett's a cunt!" "Bassett's a bastard!" "Bassett's a wanker!" They shouldn't be fucking shouting at me, they should be shouting at you, and do you know why? Because it's fucking half-time, and we're fucking 2-0 down to the fucking Mexicans! What the fuck's wrong with you? Get your fucking fingers out! Where's your bottle fucking gone? ''([[TantrumThrowing hurls piece of equipment at the goalkeeper]])'' And fucking pay attention you cunt, when I'm fucking talking to you! If you don't wanna wear the shirt, fucking take it off! There's thousands of kids out there who would fucking die to put that fucking shirt on. Get back on the fucking field, show those bastards what you can fucking do, or you can fuck off home on the fucking plane! You got that?!

* BungledHypnotism: Bassett brings in a hypnotist to help Carlton Dawes break his long goalless streak in ''Manager''. In the next match, Dawes ends up scoring a hat-trick... [[EpicFail of own goals]]. Subverted when the hypnotist later shows up demanding to know why he hasn't been paid, and Bassett instead has him hypnotise a businessman who intends to buy the club's ground and build a furniture store on it. This time it works as intended, causing the businessman to publicly insult the local residents, who chase him out of town.

* BigDamnHeroes: With England failing to win their final qualifying game against Slovenia, it looks bleak...and then Luxembourg beat Turkey to send England through.

** Gary Wackett is a very aggressive centre-half with a terrible disciplinary record, a nod to various British "hard man" footballers, such as Vinnie Jones, Stuart Pearce and Billy Bremner. His name is possibly a play on another the name of another English centre-half, Gary Mabbutt.

** Gary Wackett is a very aggressive centre-half with a terrible disciplinary record, a nod to various British "hard man" footballers, such as Vinnie Jones, Stuart Pearce and Billy Bremner.

* TheCameo: Lots. Pele, Ronaldo, Natasha Kaplinsky, Sue Barker, Dickie Bird, Keith Allen, Atomic Kitten, Gabby Logan and Barry Venison.

* YesMan: Doddsy takes this to ridiculous extremes in the film (though so did Phil Neal, his real-life counterpart). In the TV series he's a lot more self-assertive, though still pretty subservient to Mike.

** In the second-last episode of the TV series, Mike goes out on a stag night with Tonka, fearful that Tonka will get himself arrested or injured just before an important match. Mike gets so drunk that he ends up breaking Tonka's jaw in an punch-up, ruling him out for the entire ''season''.

* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Forever FM boasts that it is "the fourth biggest radio station in the North West".

* ShownTheirWork: Say what you want about the film (and series), you can't accuse the writers of not knowing their football. [[YouFailGeographyForever Their geography, on the other hand...]]

* TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires / YouFailGeographyForever: England's game against Mexico takes place in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bombonera La Bombonera]] - which would be an almost criminal insult for a World Cup in Brazil, given that the stadium is in ''Argentina''.

** Mike's meltdown during ''Manager'', when he launches a kung-fu kick at someone in the crowd and then makes a rambling nonsensical speech at a press conference, is a nod to Eric Cantona.

** There's another when Mike vows he will never sign Tonko again. Next, he's at a press conference announcing that he has signed Tonko.

* InSeriesNickname: Most of the England players have a nickname, usually just a shortened version of their surname. Gary Wackett is "Wacko", Kevin Tonkinson is "Tonko" and Rufus Smalls is "Smallsy". TruthInTelevision as simplistic nicknames are common in English football.

** Kevin Tonkinson is a gifted but mercurial playmaker from the [[UsefulNotes/NorthEastEngland North East]], like Paul Gascoigne. He subsequently became a much more direct Expy in ''Manager''.

A second film, ''Mike Bassett: Interim Manager'' is currently in pre-production for an early 2016 release, with the producers seeking partial funding through Website/{{Kickstarter}}.

* CassandraTruth: When Tonka gets drunk, he says it's because his Thai wife was killed in a car crash after swerving to avoid a llama. Mike thinks it's just another of Tonka's lame excuses. It turns out to be true.