Bassett revels in the chase to save the Foxes

In Dave Bassett's autobiography, written four years ago, he writes with conviction that his 55th birthday "will be the final whistle for me as a football manager". Hard though it is to believe when you watch him on the training pitch Bassett is now 57. He is also very much at work, attempting to save Leicester City from relegation.

As we sit down in City's training ground canteen I point out the anomaly. It is not as if he had no choice. As might be expected of a man who worked in financial services before turning to football full time, he no longer has to work. Like Bobby Robson, 12 years his senior, it comes down to desire.

"I just didn't feel ready to knock it on the head," said Bassett. "I was feeling better than I anticipated. I always thought 55 would do me but I'm enjoying it."

No wonder, what fun it must be watching your centre-half throw away three points by giving away a penalty then getting himself sent off as Matt Elliot did on Saturday. And today is unlikely to be a relaxing afternoon since Leicester travel to Ipswich, the only club below them.

"It is a stressful job but I'm not like a taut elastic band ready to crack every few minutes," said Bassett. "You get frustrated and irritable but that's probably because you haven't got things as controlled as you want them to be. At other times you are quite relaxed, perhaps more so than the fans and other people. You can't be a demented lunatic for 90 minutes. You have to get it together.

"To relax I like a few glasses of wine, to go on walks or take a jog. You are either the type that copes or you are not. Everyone is under pressure for results. The club has committed themselves to a new stadium [due to open next season] so it is an important time for them."

It was that which persuaded Leicester, after two wins in 19 matches since March, to sack Peter Taylor and move in for 'Harry Houdini'. Leicester lost their first two matches under Bassett but have since taken 10 points from eight games to claw their way off the bottom.

"There's no magic formula," he said. "Me and Micky [Adams, his assistant and planned successor] have got stuck into the players. We've done the training and tactics we thought would get the best out of them. A couple have come in, a couple gone out."

Leicester's players, having been successful in Martin O'Neill's 3-5-2 formation, did not respond to Taylor's attempts to develop the option of 4-4-2. Under Bassett, they play it or else.

"We [Bassett and Adams] run the club. We decide which way we play. It would be wrong of us to put square pegs in round holes but if you are a decent player you can play in different positions. If you are so insecure you have to play a certain way you are struggling. If you are good enough you can play anywhere. Look at Rio Ferdinand. People said he would struggle in a four."

Regular observers said Bassett had, until Saturday, brought the best out of Elliott and introduced more organisation. Some of Leicester's more sceptical supporters, and there are plenty of those, may have feared he would institute 'long-ball' tactics. Bassett has rarely played that way for a decade. Though he says his coaching is 'not the best' such is his reading of the game, Sir Alex Ferguson employs Bassett as a scout during his periods of unemployment.

Not that these are lengthy. Next month Bassett completes 21 years in management, of which only 16 months have been spent out of work, mostly at his own prompting. He began, famously, at Wimbledon, taking them from the old Fourth Division to the First. He still looks for their results and is saddened by the club's continuing state of homelessness. Various victories with the Dons over Manchester United provide some of his management highlights.

In the present climate, I wonder, could the Crazy Gang have gotten away with some of the things they did? "Some of the outrageous stuff, smashing hotels up and so on, was fictitious. You do not achieve what we did by being a team of undisciplined yobs. We were committed, with a fierce belief, and teams were apprehensive playing us but we had decent players. Nigel Winterburn, Dave Beasant and Dennis Wise are still playing, Alan Cork and Lawrie Sanchez managing. When I left we were sixth in the First Division and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup."

He went, briefly, to Watford where Graham Taylor's shadow was inescapable. Eight years at Sheffield United followed with the club's dramatic and controversial relegation in 1994 the low point of his career – though subsequent play-off defeats with Crystal Palace and Barnsley run it close.

In between those clubs he went up and down with Nottingham Forest. In total Bassett has been involved in five relegations and seven promotions, a record he shares with Graham Taylor. I suggest that, should Leicester go down, he could break that record next year. "I'm quite happy sharing it with Graham. My remaining ambition is to keep Leicester up this year, maybe with a cup run. Then next season maybe get into Europe and perhaps a cup run."

It would be a decent legacy to hand over to Adams. Then what? A racehorse like Fergie? "No, not any particular thing. I'd just like to have a look around while I have the energy. See some museums I've not been to since I was a kid, play some golf, do some travelling – I've not been to Asia. And get away in the winter when it's freezing."

With 981 competitive matches under his belt as a manager Bassett should reach 1000 shortly before the end of this season. What advice would he give to managers just embarking on the profession?

"Be your own man. Be your own personality. Make sure you have good people working with you who you can trust and who are not 'yes' men. Make sure you have a good family background. Know your strengths and weaknesses."

So what have been his strengths and weaknesses?

"Strengths? I think I'm quite good at man-management. I try and put myself in other people's position and see their point of view. I'm not everybody's cup of tea but I get on with most people.

"Weaknesses. Millions of them. I can be stroppy and autocratic. I talk too much, and too quickly."

Last night, for what he hopes will be the penultimate time, he spent Christmas night in a hotel with his players, not with his family in Sheffield. A sacrifice but, as he concludes: "It's still fun. If I wasn't enjoying it I wouldn't be doing it."