"I guarantee you..." Ex-Sheffield United man takes aim at Coventry City "clown" after shoddy antics spark fury
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The season of goodwill is almost upon us but it’s fair to say that Norman Bassette’s name will not be on the Christmas card list of many Sheffield United supporters this year. The Coventry City man scored his first goal in Sky Blues colours in yesterday’s eventful 2-2 draw at the CBS Arena, but his other antics were somewhat less palatable.
Earlier the 20-year-old had gone down rather easily twice in a bid to con referee Darren Bond into giving City a penalty and on another occasion, after barging United’s Anel Ahmedhodzic over from behind as the defender shepherded the ball out for a goal-kick, the forward’s elbow caught the back of Ahmedhodzic’s head as Bassette fell to the ground.
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Hide AdOnly the youngster will know if it was deliberate or not but it was somehow missed by the assistant referee a few yards away from the incident and that perhaps remained in the mind of Ahmedhodzic who, after being bundled over by Bassette later in the half and then given a volley of abuse and a nip of the neck for his troubles, reacted by shoving Bassette in the throat area.
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Hide AdThe striker needed no second invitation to fall to the deck and after giving himself some thinking time, ref Bond eventually produced a deserved red card. The defender can have no complaints about the decision and his rush of blood forced his teammates to play for almost an hour with 10 men, with Bobby Thomas’ header 10 minutes from time earning Coventry a share of the spoils.
Modern-day football is rife with what has been coined as the “dark arts” and United were hardly in any rush to restart play when they were 2-1 up and looking to eat up valuable seconds. But there is a marked difference between such acts and outright looking to wind-up an opponent to get him sent off and if anyone doubted Bassette’s desire to do just that, footage of him winking and blowing a kiss at Tyrese Campbell in smug celebrations should clear that up.
Bassette’s actions have secured him pantomime villain status for when Coventry visit Bramall Lane later in the season for the return leg, with boss Chris Wilder admitting Ahmedhodzic had fallen for the “three-card trick” and that United had been “mugged” by the forward. One of his former Bramall Lane teammates went a step further, former Blades player and coach John Pemberton posting on social media: “If I was playing in this game against this clown and he winked at me after doing what he did, I guarantee you he would be eating his dinner through a straw.”
Ahmedhodzic will now miss United’s next three games, starting with Tuesday night’s home clash with Oxford United before meetings with fellow promotion hopefuls Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion. Club skipper Jack Robinson is in line to replace the Bosnian while the likes of Alfie Gilchrist and Rhys Norrington-Davies are also capable of slotting in alongside Harry Souttar on the left of the United defence.
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