Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?
I read a lot about apathy at the club at this time, low attendances and the like. Was that the case? Or were folk just skint?
I read a lot about apathy at the club at this time, low attendances and the like. Was that the case? Or were folk just skint?
I think 1982-83 season was the least in number of me attending matches. It wasn't because we had signed Terry Curran (I must be one of the few that was pleased we had signed him because he was a very good player for Wendy. When I read the Star headlines in summer 1982 about the rumours about him coming to us I found it hard to believe that a player popular with Wendy fans would want to join us despite we were a division lower). I was playing in a lot of football matches that season and was disappointed at having to miss games in the first few months of the season to see Curran and Alan Young.I read a lot about apathy at the club at this time, low attendances and the like. Was that the case? Or were folk just skint?
It got worse it terms of attendances towards the late 80's too. The 86/87 season saw an average of 9,992. I can only guess that the local economy being on its arse was a big factor.
Weirdly enough, in my first season as a season ticket holder (99/00), the average was 13k, which was 3000 fewer than the previous season. Then the season after it jumped up to 17k. But maybe that's a discussion for later in the series.
That was United's only 4 figure average attendance since the 1890's.
That season there were 3 gates under 7,000, from memory, with the lowest being the Palace game which was also the lowest post war home league gate.
For a long time I thought I went to that but as I've got older I'm not sure. At the time it didn't seem that significant. Just another shit game under Heath. Then he got the boot.I was at the 8000 match against Port Vale. Then again that's the game that about 30,000 others claim they were at
Porterfield tried to sign Kevin Drinkell tooLike Silent I was really excited that we'd signed Curran and it was very amusing to see the Wendies' hero wearing a Blades shirt. There was a double page spread of him in Match Weekly with the headline 'LEAVING WEDNESDAY WAS EASY'. With Edwards, Morris and Curran up front I was convinced we'd go up again but alas, it wasn't to be. As well as Alan Young we also tried to sign Trevor Aylott from Barnsley but had to make do with Ray McHale.
I thinkView attachment 18767 this is the same as the opening photo on the video. Can't remember where I got it from but it is signed (if you look closely!).
I read a lot about apathy at the club at this time, low attendances and the like. Was that the case? Or were folk just skint?
the wigan game iam sure shred walked round the pitch and up to porterfield or was that later we played palace on a tues nightand iam pretty sure that is the only time we got under 70000
I couldn't tell who they are, and I've cricked my neck from trying to read them.I thinkView attachment 18767 this is the same as the opening photo on the video. Can't remember where I got it from but it is signed (if you look closely!).
Another thing to remember about that season was that in the summer of 1982, as well as the signing of Curran from our arch-rivals, Brealey unveiled large-scale plans to develop Bramall Lane, including a two-tier Kop and a hotel. Planning permission was never granted despite Brealey taking it as far as the House of Lords, but it all indicated how ambitious Brealey was for the club at the time, in stark contrast to his later years at the club in the early 90s.
Another thing to remember about that season was that in the summer of 1982, as well as the signing of Curran from our arch-rivals, Brealey unveiled large-scale plans to develop Bramall Lane, including a two-tier Kop and a hotel. Planning permission was never granted despite Brealey taking it as far as the House of Lords, but it all indicated how ambitious Brealey was for the club at the time, in stark contrast to his later years at the club in the early 90s.
Brealey had a lot of weird and wacky ideas in the early 80s, including dropping leaflets over towns where United were due to be playing, containing the message 'The Blades are coming!'
All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?