Author: Martin Fox

Legends of the Lane are delighted to announce the next in the series: An evening with Carl Bradshaw. “Bradders” is one of the biggest characters to pull on the famous shirt – a Sheffield lad through and through Carl has some fantastic and very funny stories to tell! Not many begin their career across the City and go on to make cult status with the Lane Kop, but Carl is certainly one who made that transition seamlessly – a player definitely and rightly regarded as one of us. With 148 starts in the red and white stripes (plus 27…

Sheffield United are to start a “Memory Room” in the Legends of the Lane museum at the Lane. Club Historian and Supporters Liaison Officer John Garrett will be holding the first “Fables and Folklore” evening in Legends of the Lane next week, following on from the success of the popular feature in the official match day programme. These evenings will take a unique look at the history of Sheffield Football, the Blades and Bramall Lane through the eyes of John Garrett, the players who helped create the history and the shirts, caps, medals and trophies that they won. Legends is…

It has recently become evident that the club may have fans who are entering the ground fraudulently on concession tickets, thus watching games at an unfairly reduced rate. The club offers reasonable concession prices to various areas of our support and expect this to be respected. As such, SUFC are reintroducing concession checks at the turnstiles from Saturday’s home FA Cup 2nd round fixture against Port Vale. This will be a permanent initiative running at every home fixture and fans are reminded to bring the required concessionary proof, i.e proof of age, NUS card stating you are in full time education or DLA documentation. Specific concession…

A familiar face amongst many Blades fans will be taking on a new role vital to communication with the fan-base. In line with a major new UEFA directive, John Garrett will undertake the role of Supporter Liaison Officer for Sheffield United – an area in which he has been very active assisting and supporting colleagues in the past. Long-serving staff member John has taken on the new role following a restructuring process at Bramall Lane. “As part of the European football governing body’s new initiative, it will see it a mandatory requirement for all football clubs to have their own…

The Blades travelled to Brisbane Road (The Matchroom Stadium) looking to build on their midweek away win at struggling Hartlepool United, but didn’t have the luxury of naming an unchanged side with the most noticeable absence in the warm up being Neill Collins, who missed out after being admitted to hospital with a toe infection. With the Scot unavailable, Matt Hill moved into the the middle to partner Harry Maguire and Marcus Williams came into the side at left back. Playing in the white change strip, the Blades found themselves with a half chance early doors when the ball dropped…

The Secret Footballer is one of the most-read and most-discussed Guardian columnists, giving a searingly honest and authentic account of the life of a professional footballer. Attracting over 200,000 avidly reading fans of the column, his fearless, opinionated, kick and tell account covers everything from tactical analysis, dressing room gossip, spats with disliked opponents and an inside perspective on the joys and frustrations of someone playing the game professionally. Since the column began in January 2011, his identity has been widely discussed, with websites dedicated purely to the attempted uncovering of the man behind the stories. It’s even been suggested…

Bournemouth were the visitors for the second home league fixture of the season, the Cherries having drawn their three games to date and being tipped in some circles for a strong season. One change was enforced on Danny Wilson, with Ryan Flynn coming in to replace Stephen Quinn who would be making his debut for new club Hull City. Richard Cresswell, having recently signed a new player-coach contract, had to make do with the bench along with Daryl Westlake who was back amongst the first team squad. New signing Dave Kitson looked on from the stands. It was United to…

After a Tuesday night stalemate with Coventry City the Blades traveled to Colchester and played their second ever 90 minutes at the Colchester Community Stadium. Having started the season with draws against Preston and Portsmouth, it was to be a hat trick for the Essex club with the Blades once again ruing wasted chances and a failure to kill the game off for the second game in succession. With an unchanged squad and starting line up Wilson’s men started the first half with around 900 traveling fans behind them in both senses of the word. The manager once again opted…

The second away fixture of the season sees our second trip to The U’s new home the “Weston Homes Community Stadium”, those missing last seasons re-arranged Tuesday night trek will be glad to note that this time around it falls on a weekend. With draws from clashes with Preston and Portsmouth following a 3-0 loss to Yeovil in the league cup, the U’s will be looking to try and get their first win of the season against the Blades. About the ground In contrast to Layer Road, the new stadium is situated in a far-flung part of town surrounded by…

With Coventry City finding themselves in League One for the first time since 1964, struggling financially and fans unhappy with the “money men” it’s safe to say it’s going to be an interesting season for the Sky Blues. After a 1-1 draw on the opening day with Yeovil, Andy Thorne will be wanting to start their home campaign strongly and will be looking to get a confidence boosting first win in the division as soon as possible. About the ground Like the majority of new builds in the UK, the Ricoh arena is functional but a bland, “bowl” like stadium.…

Danny Wilson made three changes from last Saturday’s Capital One Cup disappointment with McAllister, Blackman and Cofie coming in for Flynn, Miller and Porter. Miller retained his place in the match day squad sitting on a young bench with Flynn and Porter joining the likes of Cresswell and Montgomery in the stands. Kicking off towards the Kop, it was a nervy start for both teams as they struggled to sustain possession in the opening minutes. That said, the Blades got off to a dream start when a few minutes in Quinn and Williams put a good move together down the…

After the Blades U18’s earlier in the day ensured that both the first team and the youngsters finished the pre-season unbeaten, it was Burton Albion who brought the fans back down to earth with a bump, dumping United out of the Capital One Cup in the very first round. In Wilson’s first selection at Bramall Lane this season, Howard, McMahon and Miller made their competitive debuts for the Blades whilst Westlake and Blackman had to be content with a place on the bench. Kicking off towards the Bramall Lane end, the Blades started positively almost immediately winning a corner after…

Chris Morgan took a young side to the familiar surroundings of Matlock Town’s Causeway Lane on Wednesday night, hoping to complete the pre-season campaign with the unbeaten record intact. Despite the Gladiators having the better chances in an uneventful affair, Erik Tonne’s second half strike was enough to secure the win in front of an attendance of 478. 54 minutes in, Tonne made himself some space, holding off the attentions of his opponent before firing into the bottom corner from around 25 yards. George Long, effectively a spectator in the previous clash with Hallam FC, was a little more active…

A regular trip whilst under the stewardship of Neil Warnock, it’s been five years since we last visited Causeway Lane. The Blades will send an XI on Wednesday which, if following previous years selections, is most likely to be a mixture of first teamers and academy players. The Gladiators currently play in the Evo-Stick Northern Premier League and have a couple of players who spent part of their early career at Sheffield United in Lee Featherstone and Chris Bettney. About the Ground Causeway Lane is close to the centre of Matlock opposite Hall Leys Park and features a cricket oval…

After a warm morning in various unsuspecting seaside establishments the traveling Blades descended on The Globe Arena for the very first time to see a strong United side take on The Shrimps. Winning multiple accolades in the British Pie Awards and recently supplying Harrods, many Blades were busy tucking into the award winning snack whilst speculating whether Danny Wilson’s selection would be mirrored when the season proper begins. The opening exchanges brought nothing of note, most of the play in midfield with the back five of either side only really called upon to restart spells of possession. A couple of…

By far the furthest away of the domestic friendlies, a trip to Morecambe and The Globe Arena allows Blades to take in a new ground beside the sea. The League Two side were promoted to the Football League for the first time in their history in 2007, beating Exeter City in the Conference Play Off Final. Things were looking up on the pitch and a couple of months later the club announced plans to move from their home of 89 years Christie Park into a new stadium. About the Ground Opening in August 2010, The Globe Arena cost around £12million…