Bygones: When Dave Bassett and Sheffield United were a marriage made in heaven at Bramall Lane

Former Sheffield United manager Dave Bassett can count himself among that exclusive bracket, which also includes the Blades’ revered footballing icon Tony Currie, who hails from Edgware, just down the road from Bassett’s birthplace of Stanmore.

Bassett’s Blades love affair began on the winter’s day of January 21, 1988, with the Londoner, in the words of the late, great Derek Dooley, descending on Bramall Lane with the impact of a ‘hurricane’.

United were a demoralised team bereft of belief, identity and hope and a club on their uppers when Bassett breezed through the doors some 30 years ago.

More short-term angst and pain would follow, but the Bassett revolution would eventually take shape – and how.

It culminated in back-to-back promotions back to the top flight and a sweet rewind to feted glory days for the red and white half of the Steel City in the early to mid-Seventies.

Back in January 1988, those days seemed a world away, even accounting for the arrival of the irrepressible Bassett.

The Blades were close to the drop zone in 18th place in the old second division after a poor first half of the 1987-88 season, which resulted in manager Billy McEwan tendering his resignation.

United’s board drew up a short list of candidates, which included Bassett, Ken Brown, Keith Burkinshaw and Cyril Knowles.

It was no exaggeration that deciding upon the club’s next manager was one of the most important decisions in the history of Sheffield United.

A proud club were devoid of cash, laden with debt, at a low ebb and desperately seeking inspiration. It would arrive courtesy of Bassett with the decision to appoint the former Wimbledon and Watford manager being arguably the shrewdest in the Blades’ history.

Later, Dooley would profess to having harboured initial doubts about Bassett coming to the Lane and queestioned whether Sheffielders would take to ‘this cheeky chappy’, in his words.

But Dooley and his boardroom colleagues were ultimately won over by the energy, drive and enthusiasm of the 43-year-old, whose desire to immerse himself in his next footballing challenge far away from his native London was strong.

On Bassett, Dooley famously observed: “He’s more than a breath of fresh air: he’s more like a hurricane.

“He could even have got me playing for him and I’ve only got one leg.”

Just 10 days after being sacked by Watford following a fraught spell in Hertfordshire, Bassett started to cleanse those memories a fair way up the M1.

On his arrival at the Blades, Bassett said: “I could have done with a rest from the game, but when a club as big as United comes along, you have to wonder if it will still be on the market when you are ready to start again.

“You can be out of football too long and quickly become forgotten.”

He added: “There is a love of the game up here that is perhaps missing in London and the south. Frankly, if there had been a job going in London right now, I would not have taken it.”

Bassett’s impact during his epic time in South Yorkshire would ultimately go down in the annals of Blades history. But the early days did not hint at what was to come.

The new managerial bounce often associated with a new broom did not arrive although it spoke more about the extent of the job that Bassett had taken on and the lack of quality and hunger that he had inherited in his squad than anything else.

The Blades were eliminated from the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage in a 2-1 reverse at top-flight Portsmouth, which preceded two 1-0 league defeats to Stoke City and Shrewsbury.

Following the loss to the latter, Bassett donned his combat fatigues and drew battle lines.

He stated, rather damningly: “On that evidence the team is not good enough. There is a battle ahead and I need players who will battle. They did not have enough fire in their bellies.”

The penny initially seemed to drop with United claiming much-needed wins over Yorkshire rivals Barnsley and Hull City. Yet it was to prove false hope.

Bassett’s side lost six of their next seven league fixtures, incorporating two humiliating away defeats, a 5-0 hammering at Leeds United and 6-0 blitzing at Middlesbrough.

The Blades were to win just three of their final 11 fixtures and were pitted into a play-off encounter with Third Division side Bristol City in their quest to retain their second-tier status.

United lost the away tie 1-0 and could only draw 1-1 at home, condemning them to relegation.

It may have been a bitter pill to swallow, but the chance to clear the decks and start again and build a side in his own image was something Bassett had been craving, albeit in the confines of the old Division Three.

The makeover was to begin in earnest and the Blades’ spectacular renaissance was about to begin.

Bassett routed the squad and made a number of noteworthy purchases, with the headline arrivals including a coltish striker from Doncaster Rovers in Brian Deane, who arrived for a bargain £30,000 fee in the summer of 1988. He would go on to be sold for a cool £2.9m some five years later.

Deane would complement an earlier £40,000 buy in Watford’s Tony Agana, with the pair going on to form one of the most revered and deadly goalscoring double acts in the Blades’ history.

Another shrewd buy saw a goalscoring winger in Ian ‘Jock’ Bryson arrive from Kilmarnock.

Bassett’s Blades blazed a trail right from the off in an unforgettable 1988-89 campaign in which they would clinch promotion as runners-up to champions Wolves.

They won five of their opening six league fixtures, scoring plenty of goals along the way and also comprehensively disposed of top-flight Newcastle United in a commanding 3-0 League Cup win at Bramall Lane, with Unitedites starting to smile again.

The Blades continued to score goals galore for most of that memorable season that also saw them reach the fifth round of the FA Cup before narrowly bowing out 3-2 to Norwich City at Carrow Road in a campaign that saw the Canaries make a surprise push for the Division One title before falling away late on.

It was a time when United got back their mojo and reconnected with a fanbase thanks to the inspirational leadership of Bassett, who signed a new three-year contract in February 1989, with his stock continuing to rise.

Emotional bonds were also forged between Bassett and Sheffield, with the Londoner warming to life ‘up north’ in the Steel City, alongside his wife and two daughters.

Truly a marriage made in heaven.