Are the Blades the unluckiest club in the League?

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DiggerBlade said:
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory seems to be the norm for us Blades fan's that's for sure. I can't think of any other club with so much bad luck than ours tbh and in a weird sort of way it seems we've become accustomed to the expected failing's we have in the footballing world. However, here's the thing, considering all the kicks in the nuts we take we still follow the club come what may. Why do supporters ( particularly our's ) keep coming back for more and more importantly coming back in such good numbers??

Answer, because this particular club has a more passionate core running through it than almost any other club in the country by a mile. How many other clubs would get 20,000 in division 3 after 5 soul destroying seasons. Not many and that's a fact. A fact that every Blade should be proud of. I'm heading towards 5 decades of watching the Blades and like most Blades I've suffered the heartbreak times of play off failure's, relegation's and Deane & Fyortoft sold in the same week to name a few but like you, I've still supported the club because this club of our's has the most passionate fan's I have ever come across.

Give these fans a major cup final appearance and satisfaction for many will be enough. Give these fans a cup final Wembley victory and you'll see genuine celebration like no other has celebrated before.

Our time will come!... It's just a matter of WHEN?
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got goosebumps reading that mate ;)
 

Mustela Putorius Furo said:
1994 - the "corruption" that many reporters of the game suspected was endemic that year could have relegated any of the bottom 5 that season - results weren't fixed but there was a belief that individual players were influenced. The one game that really came under suspicion was the Blackburn vs Ipswich (0-0) game on the last day which suited both clubs and was apparently "dour".
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Everton v Wimbledon was investigated as well - Dons 2 up and losing 3-2 to keep Everton up instead of us. Even Tony Cottee said it was odd Fashanu giving him high fives in the tunnel at the end cos he knew the other results.
 
SUFC Handsworth said:
We could add Archduke Franz Ferdinand being shot by the Serbs in Sarajevo to kick start the World War I just as United had assembled a team capable of winning honours again (which they did a year later in 1915 with the FA Cup) including paying a British record fee to sign 'Nudger' Needham's replacement George Utley (see, pay for quality, win cups).
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Good one to mention here is that when we do win something it's the khaki cup final & not allowed to celebrate the victory
 
Sheffsteel said:
The OP mentions our 1 piece of good luck when Hull needed to beat Burnley by 3 clear goals to prevent us from being promoted. I listened to the live Radio Sheffield commentary that night and I agree Hull lay siege on the Burmley goal and were really unlucky to only win 2-0.

I was celebrating like mad in my own home when we gained promotion at the expense of Hull but in a way even that was unlucky because us Blades never got the chance to celebrate en masse as we missed out of the normal last match of the season big promotion celebration.
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I was there ,Roger Hansbury was a hero. Wierdest game Ive ever been to.
 
JJBlade said:
It's nowt to do with luck, it's all to do with shit planning.

They constantly try to play hoofball with midgets that have no physical attributes.
They constantly try to play football with idiots who have no footballing attributes.

They don't buy better players when they're winning because in their own minds we are already good enough.
They panic buy shit that nobody else wants when we aren't playing well, just to get bodies in.

They invented the terms "Squad player", "Utility player" and "Versatile player" when we all know that these are polite terms for "Shit player"

They very, very, occasionally reach a semi final or play off final only to bore everyone senseless trying to steal it instead of trying to win it.

It's ok to lose an extremely important game at Wembley because they have a "Haven't we done well" attitude before we even kick off.

I'm also certain that each new manager gets running commentary from our clueless boardroom on how to do things the "BLAAAYYYYYDDDEESS WAAHHHYYYY" even though the BLAAAYYYYDDEESS WAAHHHYYY" has made our fans the most unhappy and critical of all the fans in the entire League.

They have provided a career for so many crap players in a shocking system that means they can earn a living out of football when they ought to be emptying the bins.

They have cleverly brainwashed fans into accepting that we will always be shit and that success is for everybody else, even if only occasionally.
We've won nowt for 90 years, fair enough, but the hard bit too swallow is that if we could fast forward another 90 years and every club of similar stature will have won something or qualified for Europe or spent a reasonable amount of that time in the Premier League......................We wont have.
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We may not be the unluckiest but I hope I never get to sit next to you on a long journey.
 
No, poor leadership since the war. If you look at our history, we keep appointing managers either from lower leagues or with little experience. The only time it worked was Harris (and arguably Warnock who was vastly experienced and had managed at the top level and won promotion from the league we were in). The exception being Robson, who was just crap.
And until Spackman, briefly, then Robson (or perhaps Porterfield in Div 4) every manager has had to contend with low budgets.
It stands to reason that if you keep appointing managers from lower leagues and not backing them (for whatever reason) then you're gambling that every once in a while you'll find a gem who can get results without spending big money.
If the new regime can break this cycle of repeated failure (and it looks like they're trying) they'll have done something no one has in our lifetimes.
 
Woodwardfan said:
My luck changed in the 1930's when my father fell in love with the Blades as a 20 year old lad even though he lived in Wadsley Bridge. He is responsible for my DNA which contains loyalty and devotion regardless of misfortune and betrayal even. As he often said " We've never won a sausage" and we didn't in his lifetime. We are not likely to do so in my lifetime either. No, between us we don't count promotion from the Championship. In a way that reflects a state of mind which belies the DNA of the club and it's perceived status. If we actually think we are a bigger club than we are then we will be "unlucky" for ever. I'm on here to learn and that is maybe a big lesson.
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I think you may have a point. See my other post above.
The only thing about us that is 1st class is our support. The rest is a litany of settling for second best, and in modern times, a series of catastrophic decisions.
 
metalblade said:
I wouldn't say unlucky more cursed, maybe someone should piss on the corner flags. No other club comes so close but continually falls at the final hurdle.
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We are that predictable when it comes to falling at the final hurdle that I am surprised the bookmakers take bets when we are involved in a Play-Off final.
 
We've also had our fair share of "oddities".
SUFC v WBA which was abandoned due to us only having 6 men left on the pitch.
The 'unsporting behaviour' incident v Arsenal resulting in the game being re-played.
Freaky goal v Man City when the goalmouth was filled with city balloons.
There must be loads more.
 
Yeh there must be loads of weird stuff that made the news.

I can think of

1: The linemans being attacked by one of our fans away at Porrsmouth meaning he had to be replaced. Apparently he was from the Brighton area.

2: The Dean Saunders goal at the Lane when he took a throw in and deliberately threw it at the goalies back whilst it was turned then he slotted it into an empty net.

3: Almost bought arguably the world greatest player Diego Maradona.

4: Easily the best supported team in Britain of all the clubs that have never won the league or been in a cup final since the war.

5: Has a match postponed at home to Oldham when they found an unexploded bomb buried under the John St stand.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Yeh there must be loads of weird stuff that made the news.

I can think of

1: The linemans being attacked by one of our fans away at Porrsmouth meaning he had to be replaced. Apparently he was from the Brighton area.

2: The Dean Saunders goal at the Lane when he took a throw in and deliberately threw it at the goalies back whilst it was turned then he slotted it into an empty net.

3: Almost bought arguably the world greatest player Diego Maradona.

4: Easily the best supported team in Britain of all the clubs that have never won the league or been in a cup final since the war.

5: Has a match postponed at home to Oldham when they found an unexploded bomb buried under the John St stand.
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I always think this about us, we've certainly had our fair share of controversies and incidents :

Another one is 3 Portsmouth and 1 Blades player (Beagrie) sent off in a league game in 1987. I think it might have been a league record at the time.
 

HighfieldBlade said:
We've also had our fair share of "oddities".
SUFC v WBA which was abandoned due to us only having 6 men left on the pitch.
The 'unsporting behaviour' incident v Arsenal resulting in the game being re-played.
Freaky goal v Man City when the goalmouth was filled with city balloons.
There must be loads more.
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Never forgave warnock for that day should have twatted the ginger haired pig :mad:
 
Lord Bos of Eckington. said:
Certain games we should have won , and bottled it . The demise is of our own creation , nothing to do with being unlucky.

UTB
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not really about bottling the play off games the bad luck is they use play offs when weve finished clear in 3rd on 4 occasions
and wednesday were lucky to get the last automatic for being 3rd
their last run of 8 years in the prem and thus nudging in front of us 5 years more in the top flight is based on them getting the rub of not having to win a play off

we are the only team ever to not let in a goal in 3 play off games and still not go up
 
Sheffsteel said:
Yeh there must be loads of weird stuff that made the news.

I can think of

..
4: Easily the best supported team in Britain of all the clubs that have never won the league or been in a cup final since the war.
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You mean "not won the league since the war..." rather than "never won the league" don't you?
 
Sheffsteel said:
Our big success was pre 1st world war when football wasn't such a big sport.

Our other big chance of success was in the last 1930's.
We were lucky to have a truly great player Jimmy Hagan.

Hagans promising team were promoted to the top flight in 1938.
As already mentioned we were unbeaten in our early games and we up near the top getting big crowds.

We were set to rule English football with Hagan threatening to be an English legend.
Then Hitler has other ideas and World War 2 breaks out stopping our team in its prime with the league season cancelled whilst we were looking so good at the top of division 1.
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http://www.rsssf.com/engpaul/FLA/1939-40.html

It's a great story but Blackpool were unbeaten at the top of the league and only three matches had been played.

Not quite enough evidence to suggest we would ruled English football if it weren't for Hitler :)

Edit:- I've just checked what happened after the war and we did win the Football League North in 1946

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945–46_in_English_football

The we finished sixth in 1947. Our last game was played on 14th June due to the bad winter

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946–47_in_English_football
 
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Sothall_Blade said:
http://www.rsssf.com/engpaul/FLA/1939-40.html

It's a great story but Blackpool were unbeaten at the top of the league and only three matches had been played.

Not quite enough evidence to suggest we would ruled English football if it weren't for Hitler :)

Edit:- I've just checked what happened after the war and we did win the Football League North in 1946

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945–46_in_English_football

The we finished sixth in 1947. Our last game was played on 14th June due to the bad winter

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946–47_in_English_football
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We beat Stoke 2-1 in that last match. Had they won they would have won the league. They had to settle for 4th, their highest ever position.

We were favourites for the cup by the time of the quarter finals but lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle, who were in the second division at the time.
 
Mustela Putorius Furo said:
You mean "not won the league since the war..." rather than "never won the league" don't you?
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He means both I assume. 'We've neither won the league nor a cup since the war' is clearer but 'we've not won the league or a cup since the war' is how most people would say it.
 
I wouldn't call us unlucky, more badly manager over recent decades. Ultimately you make your own luck in this world.
I am confident that now we are a VERY WELL managed club from the top downwards then our 'Bad Luck' will diminish into obscurity.

Times are changing and the only way is UP THE BLADES :)
 
A lot of people don't seem to know what luck is! Luck is something that happens to you that you have no control over whatsoever.
Attributing a lot of the things mentioned to luck lets an awful lot of people off the hook.

Unless the OP means are we, the fans, unlucky because we have to put up with clueless directors, useless boards, numpty managers and braindead players. In which case, yes we bloody are.
 
A lot of our bad luck comes down to us not 'finishing the job' and ending up in play-off games/penalties where there's too little 'wiggle room' to salvage a situation. However...

Mustela Putorius Furo said:
2007 - again can't see "luck" playing a part. It was plain "bent-ness" and cowardice in application of rules and penalties based on a lack of precedence that led to an avoidable situation - act quickly, judge and penalise WHUFC immediately and whatever the outcome at the end of the season there'd have been little fuss (from either WHUFC or SUFC). Bad judgement by the PL, not bad luck for us.
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Rob Hulse getting injured was just plain bad luck (or being too reliant on one man?) But the 2007 relegation wasn't just down to the corruptness that surrounded the entire Tevez case. It wasn't down to Jags handling the ball in the Wigan game (deliberately or not). No, that cold, rainy day meant that, once again, we didn't have any wiggle room but that was because events had already conspired against us earlier in the season. From the very first game at home to Liverpool, we were on top only for the ref. to give them a penalty because Morgs meant to foul their player. A totally unique (mis)interpretation of the rules. And then away at West Ham where (I think) Kozluk had a perfectly good goal disallowed. Not bad luck but, as Mustela says, 'bentness', pure and simple.
 
coaxingstar71 said:
Inspired by Woodwardfan....

"Poll and Dean refereeing key games
Ched
Jags pen, Webber's miss.
Scudamore/ Richards stitch-up
23 penalties
No strikers in starting eleven at Wembley time and again -not all a matter of luck I suppose
Blackwell doing well as caretaker
scoring 5 away and losing on aggregate - no defence this time!"

They say that you make your own luck, but over the years, we blades, seem to have been dealt a crap hand when it comes to luck. Some may argue it isn't luck, but here are some other examples I can think of....

The penalties v Walsall 1981
FA Cup Semi 1993
FA Cup Semi 1998
FA Cup Semi 2003
League Cup Semi 2003
Play off finals - all of them? Certainly Huddersfield is the one that stands out.
Relegation 1987 including Hetherston's borderline supernatural ability to hit the woodwork (would have been brill at "crossbar challenge").
Relegation 1994 - Segers, corruption.
Relegation 2007 - Tevez, Jags, Unsworth penalties, Webber miss.
Going a lot further back you might also include...
Missing out on Europe 1975
Missing out on promotion to pigs on goal average 1950

Do all clubs have this luck or do we seem to have more bad luck than others?
The only "good luck" (if you can call it that) I can think of was when we got promoted in 1984 by virtue of scoring more goals than Hull when they could only win 2-0 in their final game.
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A lot of those are not about luck but poor planning or poor performance when it mattered.

However, we have certainly had a share of bad luck, for me the relevant ones being.


Segers
Tevez/Scudamore/Brooking etc (I'll leave our refereeing decisions like Styles, disallowed goal v Spammers etc) cos all teams get them
Man U and Liverpool being allowed to compromise the integrity of the league whilst other teams are punished for fielding weakened teams.


Basically, the screwjobs I would say we have been unlucky with. If it wasn't unjust, I don't think we can put it down to luck as we have only ourselves to blame in those scenarios (although sometimes the margins have been agonisingly fine).
 
COME BACK CHED said:
Watney cup final , lost 7-6 on pens 1972 on a hot day in Bristol , another luckless club with a Bird for a neighbor. .
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remember it well . first real experience of the blades .. at the time i was so young that i was 'told' that i supported them.. i was so disappointed..it's funny i can to this day remember thinking..'is it always going to be like this? perhaps this isn't a good idea! :D
 
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