AT the risk of sounding like Messrs Cleese, Idle, Palin, Jones, Gilliam and Chapman, Sheffield United no longer have one of their key weapons: “Surprise”. This is just one of the problems facing the Blades in 2020-21 as they lurch … Continue reading Sheffield United: Missing crowds and the element of surprise
WOLVES were fairly comfortable winners at Sheffield United in their first match of the Premier season, but you got the feeling it could have been even better than a 2-0 victory at Bramall Lane. Sheffield United could find their sophomore … Continue reading Portuguese flair could make Wolves the dark horses in old gold
IT HAS been known down the years as “The Khaki Final”, owing to the vast number of soldiers in military uniform watching the game. While the event is well known, the outcome of the match has been largely overlooked in … Continue reading 1915: When football seemed unimportant
ANYONE who knows anything about the early history of Association Football will have heard of the name Willie Foulke. At 24-stone, Foulke, who played in goal for Sheffield United, Chelsea and Bradford City, and made a fleeting appearance for England, … Continue reading In search of Willie, the Giant Custodian
RUN YOUR finger along the list of Premier League towns and cities and there’s a glaring omission – Sheffield. Not just because the city has a rich football heritage is the absence of a team from “steel city” notable, but … Continue reading Sheffield – an underperforming city
GEORGE BEST was still considered to be the best player in the country, of any country, in fact, in 1971. Manchester United were still the biggest draw in town. But Best was a troubled soul, increasingly getting into hot water … Continue reading 72 Classic: A tale of two Uniteds
NOBODY really expected Sheffield United to mount a serious challenge for promotion to the Premier League this season, but the Blades are sitting at the top of the Championship table and have confounded the tipsters’ predictions in the opening months … Continue reading Blades running strong
It has been known down the years as “The Khaki Final”, owing to the vast number of soldiers in military uniform watching the game. While the event is well known, the outcome of the match has been largely overlooked in history. Many people will struggle to name the two finalists: Sheffield United and Chelsea. But this game, coming at the end of the 1914-15 season, has more than a hint of poignancy about it, if only for the sight of wounded soldiers in their great coats watching the game in the Manchester rain. The Great War was supposed to be … Continue reading 1915: When football seemed unimportant
Sheffield could – and should – be England’s Milan. Two clubs, considerable latent support, reasonable catchment area, passionate football folk, and a population of half a million. The two clubs, United and Wednesday, are part of football’s traditional heartland, early beneficiaries of the industrialisation of the sport in Britain, indeed the world. They need not be looking back at their best days, but sadly, they do. United’s glory days were in the day of the gas lamp, horsedrawn carriages and Victorian values. Wednesday’s halcyon period was also long ago, although they flickered on the big stage in the 1980s and … Continue reading Calling in on….Sheffield United, the dashing Blades
