Six of the worst - the worst performances I have seen at Bramall Lane

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Regarding the Blades v. Villa cup tie, mentioned several times above, the game itself wasn't bad but the conditions were atrocious and the game should not have been played. It was due to be televised so it went ahead. Milosovitch, as Guesty pointed out above, definitely dived for the penalty, I was bang in line and he definitely bought the pen. Also, Yorke's penalty dink , a La Penenka ,may have been the first in English football. Silent will do well to come up with the definitive answer but my money is on him to do so.
Was my worst experience in football as I travelled from Turkey, landing Saturday morning in Heathrow and hearing that it maybe called off.Due back Monday morning . The 0-1 defeat completed the misery
 

Lost 3 nil at home to Southend early in the Wilder days. Awful defending throughout the game. They were out of sight within about 15 minutes. Chris Hussey was horrendous. I had a couple of non blades mate had travelled over from northern Ireland with me and the atmosphere was pure vitriol
 
sufc 1 wigan 2
sufc 1 watford 4
sufc 0 everton 5
sufc 1 walsall 1
sufc 1 wolves 4 76 and then 1-4 to man utd
AWAY
losing boxing day at port vale
0-4 newport midweek
0-4 gillingham opening game
1-6 at forest
0-6 at arsenal v kids in league cup
0-5 WEST HAM PROMOTION SEASON
LEEDS 0-4 same year
 
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reedy63 said:
Got thrashed 5-1 by Blackpool at the Lane on April 12th, 1977 very poor game. The only consolation Edwards scored in so many consecutive matches if my memory serves me right. the season we got relegated to the old third division, Blackburn Millwall the worst was the Walsall game and that penalty that Givens missed because another player bottled it. not forgetting the two defeats against Newcastle and Bournemouth this season.
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John Matthews was the designated (bottling) penalty taker
 
N20 Blade said:
the chezzie game was first home natch. i loved it despite the result.
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Tbh the 0-5 to Oldham was one of the first 2 or 3 I went to, what's wrong with us 🤣
Edit: in fact I've just looked at fixtures for that season and remembered my first ever game was boxing day against villa , which was the game previous , which was 1-1
 
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georgethecat said:
Lost 3 nil at home to Southend early in the Wilder days. Awful defending throughout the game. They were out of sight within about 15 minutes. Chris Hussey was horrendous. I had a couple of non blades mate had travelled over from northern Ireland with me and the atmosphere was pure vitriol
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We had only recently signed Hussey. He was not seen again after this performance.
 
LS16Blade said:
What a season to keep a scrapbook of…

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There are a number of interesting things about the articles:

- McEwan actually resigned. he was not sacked. Heckingbottom has presided over 3 or 4 performances of similar quality in the past 13 games, but has not even apologised, yet alone resigned.

- we were in the relegation mix, but not adrift by any means. Our form was terrible though. After the creditable 1-1 draw with Villa on Boxing Day we'd lost 3-1 at Millwall on the 28th and 4-1 at Blackburn on new year's day before the Oldham debacle on 2 January. That's 4 games in 7 days, including 2 on consecutive days (which is, I think, the last time we did that). I wonder what Jurgen Klopp would think of that.

- McEwan says that at least 3 of his players could go on to the first division. He was right. Beagrie, Mendonca and Wilder all played regularly in the top flight for at least one season, and Stancliffe and Mark Todd played a few games in our first season back too.

- that was a decent Oldham team, featuring Denis Irwin, Mike Milligan, Roger Palmer and Andy Ritchie amongst others.
 
coaxingstar71 said:
Before this season I think the worst home League performance I've seen live was a 3-0 defeat to Coventry on Boxing Day 1991. When it worked Bassett's team was great to watch, direct but exciting, when it didn't, it was truly dreadful. We literally could not string two passes together that day and it was fucking freezing too. I left after the 3rd went in on around 65 minutes.

I was at the infamous Bury away 1-0 defeat in Adkins' season. It was toxic that night, the team played like drunks, later Baxter was revealed to have failed a drugs test and the only player to come out with any credit was poor George Long as if it hadn't been for him, it would have been about 6-0.

In the cup, it's easily the aforementioned Stockport game. They bullied us and deservedly won 5-2, which flattered us. Thought it was Alun Armstrong and Brett Angell who tore us apart.
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Yup the scoreline flattered us that night at Bury. It absolutely hammered it down all night and the sight of Adkins stood there piss wet through, arms folded not trying anything different really got under the supporters skins. Long saved us. We didn’t have a shot on target and yes it was Baxter’s last game. I’ve never seen any United manager get so much abuse. We sat in the car after the game and thought we were going to be years from promotion. How things changed!
 
Any FA cup or league cup games early rounds are normally woeful if we can't be arsed under various gaffers

Warnock v Swansea when we were prem they were 3rd division
Wilder v Barnet In promotion season
Bassett v Luton 90 91
Etc
 
blade too long said:
sufc 1 wigan 2
sufc 1 watford 4
sufc 0 everton 5
sufc 1 walsall 1
sufc 1 wolves 4 76 and then 1-4 to man utd
AWAY
losing boxing day at port vale
0-4 newport midweek
0-4 gillingham opening game
1-6 at forest
0-6 at arsenal v kids in league cup
0-5 WEST HAM PROMOTION SEASON
LEEDS 0-4 same year
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Correct me if I'm wrong but really surprised the 5-0 west ham and 4-0 leeds haven't been mentioned yet. such terrible results & performances.

i'll also throw 3-0 oxford, 3-1 mackems, 2-1 barnsley into the mix from that season. awful feeling after all those games. but such was the masterful nature of basset he dusted us down and we went again.

i've never known a time / team where we could be so bloody awful one game and then come out and win as normal the next. the previous season in the 3rd division was bizarre as we lost to most of the bottom teams. chezzie did the double over us.

that is the depressing thing now, you just know we won't bounce back. sure lack of ability but more so a lack of personality.
 
blade too long said:
sufc 1 wigan 2
sufc 1 watford 4
sufc 0 everton 5
sufc 1 walsall 1
sufc 1 wolves 4 76 and then 1-4 to man utd
AWAY
losing boxing day at port vale
0-4 newport midweek
0-4 gillingham opening game
1-6 at forest
0-6 at arsenal v kids in league cup
0-5 WEST HAM PROMOTION SEASON
LEEDS 0-4 same year
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When did we lose 5-0 at home to Everton? We're you thinking of Wendy in the FA Cup replay in the 1980s? The 4-1 home defeat to Man U was 3 months before the 4-1 home defeat to Wolves
 
In order of angst having had to endure the performances.

1. Not at BDTBL but Number 1 for me. Pigs 4 Blades 0 Boxing Day 1979. A shocking capitulation. The players that day are remembered for this defeat more than any other achievement.
2. Blades 1 Pigs 2 February 2009. The first time they'd done a double over us for 95 years. Brian Laws was their manager FFS! Players hang their heads in shame. Blackwell should have been sacked on the spot for this result alone.
3. Blades 0 Newcastle 8 2023. Just hard to fathom that I witnessed for the first time ever the whole team just giving up for the last 30 minutes. Totally unacceptable. The worst home league defeat in our history. Some record that to have on your CV.
4. Blades 1 Bournemouth 3 2023. Never have I witnessed such tactical ineptitude in a 6 pointer game. First shot on target after 87 minutes with us being cheered for getting over the halfway line. Previous managers have been sacked for much less than this.
5. Blades 0 Scunny 2 2016. The walk of shame last game of the season. Made worse in the knowledge the Pigs were flying and heading to Wembley one game away from the top tier. Only Bash and Billy interested. Hammond was so good at his disappearing act he didn't even make the team. Capped off by Woolford giving the finger to the Kop when he went off. Adkins blamed the fans for him getting the sack post match.
6. Blades 0 Walsall 1 1981. How we managed to cock this season up is beyond belief. Top in September and finished with a plus goal difference. If it had been 3 points for a win that year we would have stayed up. Players bottled it. The worse scenario was playing for a draw and we got found out. Don Givens gets too much stick for the penalty miss. At least he had the guts to take it. The real villians were Matthews for not taking the penalty when on penalty duty and Peters for falling out with Kenworthy, our regular penalty taker and not selecting him.

The pain of 1 and 2 is still there now after all these years. 5 was quickly followed by the Pigs losing to Dull helping to ease the disappointment. 6 was followed by the Division 4 season, one of the best ever for team and fans togetherness.

What follows 3 and 4 this season remains to be seen but the early signs are not promising for the rest of the year and beyond.
 

N20 Blade said:
that is the depressing thing now, you just know we won't bounce back. sure lack of ability but more so a lack of personality.
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weve had to use 31 different players due to injuries, we desperately need some stability from a regular lineup of our best players ,,,, something we havent been able to do so far
still only need 1.25 points a game to be in with a chance , a few players being fit and 3 or 4 in in JANUARY theres still time

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The game against Oldham is a stand out for me. My wife had been admitted to Jessops whilst expecting our first baby. As there was no prospect of anything happening there I left and rushed down to the ground, missing the start and as I ran up the steps at the back of the Kop just in time to see the first Oldham goal went in. Absolutely awful -0-5! My son , now a s/t holder with me was born a few weeks later on 10th Feb, just 3 days before we lost at home to Shrewsbury. I didn't see another match that season as family matters were more important than watching that stuff. My son made his debut at BL in the 2-0 home win v Liverpool in 1991/2 with Deane scoring from distance after Grobbellaar raced off his line.
Other horrendous matches were the 2-0 defeat to Scunthorpe in Atkins last match and most of his matches were similar. A 2-0 defeat to Fleetwood in 2017 was also horrendous with no shots on target and us defending like we did last week,
Why am I still going I sometimes ask myself. Do I need help?
 
The worst I've ever felt after a United game wasn't after a defeat.

It was the first game of our single season in Division Four in August 1981.

The first half against Hereford United saw our revamped team under new manager Porterfield play some bright football and go into a 2 goal lead.

And then came the second half.....

A dire performance saw Hereford fight back to level terms. In the end a point was the most we deserved.

I went away from Bramall Lane desperately worried that we hadn't yet hit as low as we were going to go. The sheer horror of fearing that we were going to end up as a run of the mill Div 4 team.

Even though results rapidly improved I don't think I really began to relax until Keith Edwards was re-signed from Hull.
 
That Walsall game, Don fkn Givens and Martin fkn Peters was a completely different level of depression compared to all other losses.1971 top of the Pl/Div1, 1981 we we'd sunk to the 4th div/League 2.
 
Blades 0-3 Southend was pretty shit. Some bloke turned up 20mins late and when he got into the stand we told him he might as well just walk back out again.

Gillingham 4-0 Blades in League One was fucking dogshit. Optimism, first game of a new era etc etc... and then we have the Collins and Long combination at the back.

Derby 2-0 Blades on that cold Tuesday night in January around 2004 was amsymal too. The conditions just made it worse getting to and from the stadium too.

Worst one we won was Stoke 0-1 Blades (Cahill) under Robson. It was just shit. However, there was some brilliant entertainment in the away end as around 10 people dressed up as pirates on a cold December night decided to have a brawl with each other.
 
derbysufc said:
Bramall lane .
70s we lost to arsenal at home 0_5
Then Bolton a week or two later 0_5
Newcastle was awful and I fear another one coming as we have a weak manager.
We also lost to Middlesbrough 3 years running at the lane.
The worst ever performance I've seen the blades was away at Middlesbrough the 6_0 defeat . Boro had a brilliant side but we had no fight in anyway same as man City 6_0 defeat .
As a club we are traditionally the underdogs but have managers who put fight in the players, we could easily attract 40k home support if any potential buyer sees our loyal support after 100 years of no major success .
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Was at both those 70s matches. Dark days indeed
 
georgethecat said:
Lost 3 nil at home to Southend early in the Wilder days. Awful defending throughout the game. They were out of sight within about 15 minutes. Chris Hussey was horrendous. I had a couple of non blades mate had travelled over from northern Ireland with me and the atmosphere was pure vitriol
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Deffo one of the most depressing games I’ve been to. Thought at half time we’d never get out of league 1.
 
At least with some of the Prem losses under Hecky we can say we lost to world class oppo. There's no excuse to just roll over for them though!

Some of the L1 tonkings were absolutely shocking.
The 0-3 against Sarfend, Wilder's third game in charge. Thought we'd hired yet another turkey. We're now in the Prem thanks largely to the players we inherited from him first time round. They're non-league and fighting for their very existence. Just goes to show how much things can change.
4-0 at Gillingham opening day of 15/16. You might recognise the scorer of their third...
0-2 against Scunny, Adkins' last match- "you're not fit to wear the shirt", says it all! Again, like Southend they're non-league now and struggling to survive as a club!
 
Chezzy Blades said:
Lots of tremendous entries on here, here’s a few more from my own memory bank.

1-0 away to Yeovil in 2015 - A Tuesday night, we were awful. Pulled over at Gordano on the way home and saw that Clough was more bothered the United fans had booed than about how abject we were.

4-0 away at Stevenage in 2013. This is already on here but wow it was bad. Dani Lopez’s hat trick against us were his only league goals in English football. Earliest I’ve ever left when the fourth went in on the hour. Someone in Stevenage had their outdoor Christmas decs up and sure it was February or March.

4-0 at Gillingham in 2015. I’ve seen us get hammered at Gillingham a few times but this one stands out. Sold out away end and so much hope only for the Gills (John Egan) to bombard Long and McEveley with long throws and corners and make us look a pub side.

3-1 at Southend, bank holiday 2016. Should have been Easter Monday but got moved to a Tuesday night for TV. We were abject (Hammond was rank bad and we had Whiteman at right wing back), but I’ll always remember Adkins quote after the game which still haunts my Dad now. ‘A good performance from our perspective’

1-0 away at Carlisle in 2012. Weir should really have been sacked after this. I remember us playing 4-3-3 and our starting front 3 was McFadzean, Cuvelier and Ironside. Yikes.

2-1 at Port Vale, boxing day 2013 or 14?! - Although we lost and weren’t great this is on here for a different reason. Snow started falling heavily and by the end of the game conditions were bleak. Many roads were closed and after a 3pm kick off we finally got home to Stannington at 2.30am!

0-2 at home to Scunthorpe in 2016. Had to include a home game, last game of the season. Mistakenely thought kick off was at 1 not 12 so we missed the first half. My dad made up for it by making my stay for the lap of ‘honour’ so he could share some thoughts with Adkins, Hammond and Woolford.

Edit - just seen it’s worst performances at Bramall Lane - d’oh!
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You’re right we’ve had some nightmares against Yeovil. I was at the 1-0 defeat in 2015 and it was the time that sticks most in my memory for thinking “what the hell am I doing with my life”We were garbage, there was nothing to react to, no anger, no frustration, just nothing. I remember looking round the terrace and few hundred Blades who were there looked like zombies. It was utterly predictable from quite early in the match that at some point they would somehow score a goal and that would be it. They were absolutely dreadful as well but we managed to lose to them.
 
Blades 2 Norwich 5
Springs to mind and embarrassing. I remember an almost riot after the game in the car park .
I stand by boro away was our worst ever performance in a 6_0 defeat .
Half our support had left early.
Oxford away old Manor ground a 5_0 thrashing was bad and I was in there home end that day with a lad I travelled to England games with , it was shocking.
 

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