The stories behind the shortest managerial reigns in football

3) Dave Bassett

When and where: Crystal Palace, 1984

Duration for which he was manager: 3 days

What happened?

To understand why Dave Bassett resigned from his position of manager of Crystal Palace after just 3 days in 1984, we need to understand what happened before and after that.

Dave Bassett’s time at Wimbledon in the 80′s is the stuff of legend. After being hired as manager of Wimbledon in January 1981, Bassett led the team, who were in the 4th division, to the 3rd division. The next season, fortunes changed for worse as the club was once again relegated to the 4th Division. But Bassett was not done, and under him Wimbledon secured back-to-back promotions in 1982 and 1983 and made it to the 2nd Division of the English Football League.

After the 1983-84 season, Bassett agreed to leave Wimbledon and join Crystal Palace, who were also in the 2nd Division at the time. But barely 72 hours into his reign as Palace manager, Bassett had a change of heart, left Palace and returned to Wimbledon, saying: “I gave it some serious thought, but in the end it just did not feel right. We have unfinished business, and I didn’t really want to leave here.”

In hindsight, Bassett made the right decision as he once again led Wimbledon to promotion to the first division at the end of the 1985-86 season, their 3rd promotion in 4 seasons.