Reaction to Mike Bassett: England Manager Not Rated 2001 ‧ Comedy/Mockumentary ‧ 1h 29m

I loved how one of the Argentinian`s name was Bastardo hahahaa! Made me think of Blackadder 2 with the kidnapper`s guard playin charades with Blackadder LOL

Andy Farmer

Really enjoying Ted Lasso at the moment. Shame it's only released once per week. I could have sat and binged watch the entire thing in one evening. It's quite an American show fundamentally, but it captures the spirit of football pretty well and the "Englishness" isn't watered down or cliched. Josh will love it.

Logan Jukes

I think Harper was more a representation of the ‘modern’ footballer at the time who liked the champagne lifestyle, I think Beckham was much more professional and proud to wear the shirt.

Jon Johnson

A great comedy series about a soccer manager/coach that you don’t need to like or know much or anything about the sport is Ted Lasso. Just won an Emmy. Brilliant show.

Kieran B

I don't really care. I'm gonna stay here until Toast of London wins.

Tony Smyth

Regarding things that ought to be on the list but aren't, who's with me on Phoneshop?

Tony Smyth

I will add that to my list.

After Work Reactions

at least there's The Big Lebowski next week...

Alexander Bond

Sums up the FA's attitude to good football and technical skill: basically, it's unnecessary, and England don't do that. It's been embedded into the fabric of the coaching system for the last forty-fifty years, and it's the reason we win bum-all and have a freakishly awful track record when it comes to talented English managers over the last thirty years. Players like John Barnes, Le Tissier, etc. would get overlooked in favour of someone whose only defining talent was finishing an England game with a headwound. It's starting to change, and this generation is seriously talented, but the managerial talent is just not there, because our footballing philosophy is so warped.

Saul

Christ, this is scraping the barrel. I 'm a big football fan, but this is just a really average film(never mind that Josh has made it very clear, repeatedly, that sports don't interest him.). I'm not saying people should be picking French new wave cinema. I love stupid films. But there are so many better films than this, even in this genre of British family comedy. It's such a 'meh' film. It just gets suggested once because something Josh is watching jogged people's memories of it(Royle Family probably), and because a lot of people have actually seen it they vote for it. Even though it's deeply average, and even though there are endlessly brilliant alternatives. It's no-one's fault: you go for the stuff you recognise, it just means the channel becomes dominated by the lowest common denominator. I used to think a Metacritic cutoff was a tempting but unworkable idea. I'm starting to think it's actually the only way we're ever going to get to winnow out the widely watched but shallowly loved films like this, over the narrowly watched but deeply loved films that never get picked, and seemingly never will. Is it elitist to think there should be the issue of quality when the channel chooses a film? If so, then I'm an elitist. I know there will be people who instinctively think 'fuck off', but can anyone genuinely tell me this is the best comedy they could suggest that this channel hasn't yet watched? Or was it just something you recognised that you quite liked? Also, just to push my 'community arsehole' application over the top can I also say that it's really enjoyable watching stuff you haven't seen on this channel. It doesn't have to be something you've already watched. I'd never really watched OFAH, I'd never really watched Royle Family. I ended up enjoying both a lot. So maybe if there's nothing that sets you on fire in the list apart from some middling stuff that you've already seen...consider voting for something that you've heard good things about? It's just a thought, but I've actually discovered a few shows on this channel, and have really enjoyed doing so alongside Josh and everyone else, even though most people are rewatching it.

Saul

I didn't expect this to be the best film for you to react to, with you not being a Sports fan (especially English sport). But hopefully, if nothing else, it was an education on football and just how important it is over here! By the way, the speech is the from the poem 'If..' by Rudyard Kipling. And many of the characters are based on England players of the time, Wacko (the crazy dude) = Stuart Pearce, Harpsy (the guy on the phone) = David Beckham, Tonka = Paul Gascoine, Smallsy = Emile Heskey.

Sam Reeves

Google Drive still processing almost 24 hours later. Never seen that before. Is there an issue?

Logan Jukes

Thanks bud, I will have to look him up.

After Work Reactions

Thanks for the info bud.

After Work Reactions

Yep you probably would have enjoyed it more if you knew about English football. The poem is called 'If' by Rudyard Kipling, it was what he had on that tapestry from his dad that was mentioned at the start where the last line on it was done incorrectly and said 'you'll be a mason' instead of 'you'll be a man, my son' lol.

BelladonnicHazeyJaneII

Awesome man I hope you enjoy it!

After Work Reactions

It was great 🤣 hope you enjoyed it!

After Work Reactions

I really really want him to watch Kidulthood ..... Because I think that's a brilliant film hopefully it comes up in the polls one day

Best Pranks 69

Like a lot of major British films of the early 2000s, while it's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, it's a definite period piece. The in jokes don't really have crossover appeal and you need to have been an English football supporter in the 1990s and 2000s to really "get" it, but at the same time the jokes and references are so close to reality that even if you weren't, you're still getting a look at a major part of English culture as once it was.

Charlie

Just so you get the joke about the extra players on the team sheet Mike said he didn't pick, Benson & Hedges is the name of the cigarettes he wrote the team sheet on XD And I'm not sure you realised but at 57:40 they had to pretend there was a football there while they were training XD And Tomkinson's handball goal was a reference to Maradonna having done the same thing to knock England out of the World Cup in 1986 in the infamous 'Hand Of God' incident

Austin Stratton

Lol Phil Jupitus at 11:35 XD

Austin Stratton

I recall enjoying this movie and not knowing anything about football! Just about to watch so hopefully I will again!

ALW

As a Sutton Utd fan I wonder if that scene was inspired by the ex-Sutton manager Barrie Williams who led the team to one of the great FA Cup shocks by beating Coventry 2-1 back in 1989. Obviously it was a huge result at the time and he became famous for his love of Kipling which was seen out of type with typical British managers of the day. I certainly remember the end of 'Match of the Day' after the game, with the credits scrolling and the replay being shown of the Sutton goals whereby they had that poem 'If' being read over top as the audio. Closest I ever got to real culture.

That speech from Mike at the press conference was written by Rudyard Kipling. He gets mentioned near the start. He also wrote The Jungle Book.

Tony Smyth

At the start when the FA are considering english candidates for the job they mention someone who is clearly sucsessful, but dismiss him calling him an arrogant big head. That is a reference to Brian Clough who was the best manager in England in the 70's-80's who was never offered the England job (despite being the most qualified). He was a genius and sucsessful but very outspoken and didnt fit the company 'yes man' profile the old farts at the FA wanted - and his nickname was 'ol big head'. You would need to know quite a bit about the english game to get that joke!

David Harman

I think this film only really appeals to england football fans. Hard to see how anyone who hasn't grown up as an england fan (or other football fans) can get many of the jokes. I watched with my wife (knows nothing of football) who was bemused they wrote it that england didnt win the world cup at the end. England never win anyhting - it could only end that way! The 4-4-2 joke. This is an old fashioned basic style of play used by out of date English managers who couldn't adapt to a modern approach that many foreign teams played. Many references to ex players, fans and how the media in england works.

David Harman

The year after this film came out, at the 2002 World Cup, England actually did draw their opening game and beat Argentina 1-0 in the group stages, and also went on to lose to Brazil 2-1, but that was in the quarter finals, not the semis.

Keith Pratt

This film is almost like a spoof of a real football documentary called "Graham Taylor: The impossible job" Graham Taylor was a now notoriously awful England manager who became England manager despite achieving next to nothing in his managerial career. He went on to achieve nothing with England and made many bad decisions, playing rubbish players, dropping the best players and lots of terrible results. Usually considered England's worst manager

Danny

I think it would have definitely helped to have known more about football or atleast the whole football culture. I'm sure the way people act on losses or how it's portrayed in the media is very uniquely British. So it's hard get the references.

Danny

The Tonkinson character is based on a real person - Paul Gascoigne, he cried after getting a yellow card at the 1990 World Cup, went crazy when he didn’t get picked in 1998. He was a very talented player but had mental health issues and was/is an alcoholic.

Jon Johnson

Yeah 90% of the jokes in this are about the State of Englands national team in the 90s/ early 00s. The manager and players represent real people. e.g. the guy on the phone all the time is meant to be David Beckham. Also the fact that all the board members were old farts who couldnt give a crap.

Stretch

I saw this once and can't really remember it. I'll watch your reaction and see if it jogs my memory.

Keith Pratt

Haven't watched your reaction yet Josh (letting it finishing downloading) but I remember watching this in the early 2000's and it was very funny. One disaster after another, I think the balls getting locked into the opal and the Benson & Hedges joke was the stand out moments. Ricky Tomlinson is a very funny man.

Richie B