specific date in order for it to be made. The campaign did not hit its target and the project was shelved. It was understood the script centred round Bassett coming out of retirement in order to help assist the current England manager, who is German and struggling to engage his players. Before too long Bassett finds himself back in the hotseat and possibly leading his country to another World Cup. Reception The movie received a mixed reception from critics. When the film was released in the United Kingdom, it originally opened at number 3, behind Artificial Intelligence: AI and Moulin Rouge! in the top two spots. Since its release, Mike Bassett: England Manager has gained popularity as a cult film among English football fans. Rugby coach Brendan Venter gave a press interview in 2010 that parodied one given by "Doddsie" in the film, in which he simply agrees with everything the questioner says, even if that contradicts previous answers. Sprackling observed in 2018 that "when the film actually came out in 2001, Sven-Göran Eriksson was in charge and he was at the height of his pomp. Everyone had become convinced that it had all changed now, that we were going to be successful and continental about it all. This bungling uselessness was all in the past. Everything felt like it was going to be all modern and new and professional. The wheels weren't going to come off and we weren't going to have disasters. But that wasn't the case. That's why people come back to [the film] so often, because the same disasters continue to happen." Stephen Glynn's 2018 book The British Football Film discusses the film at length, noting that it "does not always undercut a nostalgic and populist imperialism." Comparison to real events Some of the events in the actual Fifa World Cup in 2002 hold similarities to the film. Although the tournament was hosted by Japan and South Korea, England like in the movie drew their opening game with a drab performance but this time with Sweden, they then went on to beat Argentina 1–0. Although there was no revenge or similarity for the hand of god incident, the penalty scored by David Beckham was seen a redemption following his controversial sending off four years earlier at World Cup 98 following a clash with Argentine midfielder Diego Simeone. Just like in the film, England eventually were knocked