Old Photos For No Reason Whatsoever

[bornablade]

If the Blades ever left the Lane I could quite easily leave Sheffield United.

 

[Bert]

I can't find the post now but, I think, earlier on the thread someone makes the point that a club like MK Dons couldn't have a thread like this. And not many could. Derby? Great history then left one of the best grounds in the league for another soulless identikit bowl. Same for a dozen other clubs.

A very large part of supporting Sheffield United for me, because, God knows, its not for the football or success, is going on the Kop and thinking that this is where my great grandad, who I never met, watched Nudger Needham, Fatty Foulke, and Billy Gillespie. Its where my grandad, who is long dead, watched Jimmy Hagan. Its where my dad watched Joe Shaw, Alan Hodgkinson, Mick Jones, and Tony Currie. And its where he took me to see Brian Deane and Tony Agana. When I'm at Bramall Lane I always feel that those olds lads are there as well. Not just the players, but the fans too.

Its like the ancient Indian burial ground that the Overlook Hotel was built on. If they ever bulldoze Bramall Lane and turn it into flats or offices, generations of Blades will be there haunting the buggers.

Not forgetting Wilf Rhodes, Hedley Verity, Don Bradman, Fred Trueman and every other great cricketer from the past.

 

[Silent Blade]

Jimmy Hagan wasnt the only player from the photo that came to play for the Blades. Fred Jessop (sat third from left, next to Jimmy) came to us in December 1937. Fred lived in Dronfield after joining us until his death. His son was in the same class at school as my dad and this was the reason why my dad started to support the Blades as at the time none of his family followed football.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

I can't find the post now but, I think, earlier on the thread someone makes the point that a club like MK Dons couldn't have a thread like this. And not many could. Derby? Great history then left one of the best grounds in the league for another soulless identikit bowl. Same for a dozen other clubs.

A very large part of supporting Sheffield United for me, because, God knows, its not for the football or success, is going on the Kop and thinking that this is where my great grandad, who I never met, watched Nudger Needham, Fatty Foulke, and Billy Gillespie. Its where my grandad, who is long dead, watched Jimmy Hagan. Its where my dad watched Joe Shaw, Alan Hodgkinson, Mick Jones, and Tony Currie. And its where he took me to see Brian Deane and Tony Agana. When I'm at Bramall Lane I always feel that those olds lads are there as well. Not just the players, but the fans too.

Its like the ancient Indian burial ground that the Overlook Hotel was built on. If they ever bulldoze Bramall Lane and turn it into flats or offices, generations of Blades will be there haunting the buggers.

Not forgetting Wilf Rhodes, Hedley Verity, Don Bradman, Fred Trueman and every other great cricketer from the past.

It's why I can post photo after photo of Jimmy Hagan. I never saw him play, but my dad and uncles told me so much about him that I feel an affinity with him. I have done the same with my sons and Tony Currie, they have the same affinity having never seen him.

I have tried to explain this to people who follow other clubs, it's heritage but more than that. It's history but more than that. It's culture but more than that. It's a ground but more than that. As WalthamstowBlade said generations of Blades regard BDTBL as their haunt as do generations of Yorkshire fans. No other sports stadium in the world has this. Leaving would be nothing short of a scandal, if it is ever considered those deciding should be made to view this thread. We are Sheffield United, we are Bramall Lane!

 

[Kentblade]

Thanks for posting some nostalgic pictures, Kent. I have got loads of them but don't want to risk an overkill moment. You have made me very proud again. I love to see all these posts anyway, obviously doubly so if they involve my dad. UTB

Lovely post Alpine and good to hear from you.
I have some more from a publication the Official History of Sheffield United written by Richard A Sparling, at a cost of 1/-
I had to think how to put that price on using my keyboard, for the younger people that is one shilling in old money which upon decimalisation if my memory is correct worked at 5p.
We were all proud of your Dad, he typified what SUFC was about

UTB.

 

[Kentblade]

It's why I can post photo after photo of Jimmy Hagan. I never saw him play, but my dad and uncles told me so much about him that I feel an affinity with him. I have done the same with my sons and Tony Currie, they have the same affinity having never seen him.

I have tried to explain this to people who follow other clubs, it's heritage but more than that. It's history but more than that. It's culture but more than that. It's a ground but more than that. As WalthamstowBlade said generations of Blades regard BDTBL as their haunt as do generations of Yorkshire fans. No other sports stadium in the world has this. Leaving would be nothing short of a scandal, if it is ever considered those deciding should be made to view this thread. We are Sheffield United, we are Bramall Lane!

Totally agree with you SEB
My granddad went in the late 1800's and the line has followed on since.
My grand children born in Kent are now supporters with bricks in the wall.
A very unique place which us fans understand only to well.
Long may it continue.
A life time of memories which all come back when I sit in the south stand, that is called when my Dad and I sat in it for the first game in the season we signed Chris Guthrie for £100,000.
Memory tells me it was v Derby but it might be playing tricks again. I think the score was 1-1

UTB

 

[Kentblade]

Looks like the way he played - never gave the ball away!

Very unusual for a pass to go astray.
UTB

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

View attachment 22567

Come on hands up - has anyone ever been in there?

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Is that Bert's man driving the horses?

 

[Silent Blade]

A life time of memories which all come back when I sit in the south stand, that is called when my Dad and I sat in it for the first game in the season we signed Chris Guthrie for £100,000.
Memory tells me it was v Derby but it might be playing tricks again. I think the score was 1-1

UTB

Yes. In the first half Jim Brown saved a Bruce Rioch penalty. Midway in the 2nd half we were awarded a penalty in which Keith Eddy converted. It was all looking good in the lovely sunshine, the Admiral kit and leading the league champions by a goal until with 4 minutes left Charlie George hit a stunning equaliser at the Kop End

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Alpine Pop Lorry - frequently seen doing his rounds near Bramall Lane (and other areas, no doubt).

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Totally agree with you SEB
My granddad went in the late 1800's and the line has followed on since.
My grand children born in Kent are now supporters with bricks in the wall.
A very unique place which us fans understand only to well.
Long may it continue.
A life time of memories which all come back when I sit in the south stand, that is called when my Dad and I sat in it for the first game in the season we signed Chris Guthrie for £100,000.
Memory tells me it was v Derby but it might be playing tricks again. I think the score was 1-1

UTB

Cracking thread 'till Guthrie came in.

 

[derfblade.3]

Alpine Pop Lorry - frequently seen doing his rounds near Bramall Lane (and other areas, no doubt).

Is that when aids started?

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Is that when aids started?

That's right. Lemonade, orangeade, cherryade...

 

[Selly]

I can't find the post now but, I think, earlier on the thread someone makes the point that a club like MK Dons couldn't have a thread like this. And not many could. Derby? Great history then left one of the best grounds in the league for another soulless identikit bowl. Same for a dozen other clubs.

A very large part of supporting Sheffield United for me, because, God knows, its not for the football or success, is going on the Kop and thinking that this is where my great grandad, who I never met, watched Nudger Needham, Fatty Foulke, and Billy Gillespie. Its where my grandad, who is long dead, watched Jimmy Hagan. Its where my dad watched Joe Shaw, Alan Hodgkinson, Mick Jones, and Tony Currie. And its where he took me to see Brian Deane and Tony Agana. When I'm at Bramall Lane I always feel that those olds lads are there as well. Not just the players, but the fans too.

Its like the ancient Indian burial ground that the Overlook Hotel was built on. If they ever bulldoze Bramall Lane and turn it into flats or offices, generations of Blades will be there haunting the buggers.

Good point, off the top of my head clubs that could with a clear conscience having Old and modern photos in the same stadium of a similar or greater stature

Man U
Liverpool
Everton
Chelsea
Spurs -for a couple more seasons
Villa
Wolves
WBA
Leeds
Pigs
Forest
Blackburn
Preston NE
Norwich
Ipswich
Portsmouth
Newcastle

Probably missed loads...

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

Not forgetting Wilf Rhodes, Hedley Verity, Don Bradman, Fred Trueman and every other great cricketer from the past.

Well said. When I was a boy I felt a real affinity with Yorkshire CCC as well as United whenever I went through the Bramall Lane turnstiles and I agree with everything that's been said about it being passed down from generation to generation of the same family. I've posted on here a number of times about my dad and the regard in which he held Jimmy Hagan but he revered Verity just as much as a result of watching him at Bramall Lane in the thirties and he would never accept that there had been a better bowler than him just as he would always say he'd never seen a better footballer than Hagan.

Verity lost his life in the Second World War at the age of 38 and I reproduce below "An Australian Appreciation", a tribute written by Don Bradman and published in the 1944 Wisden:

"The present war has already taken heavy toll of gallant men who, after faithfully serving their countries on the cricket field in peacetime, have laid down their lives for a greater cause. Of those who have fallen, Hedley Verity was perhaps the most illustrious and from the Dominion of Australia I feel it my sad duty to join with cricketers of the Motherland in expressing sorrow that we shall not again see him on our playing fields.

It could truthfully be claimed that Hedley Verity was one of the greatest, if not THE greatest left-hand bowler of all time. Most certainly he could lay just claim to that honour during the 1918-39 period. No doubt his Yorkshire environment was of great assistance, for left-hand bowling seems to be in the blood of Yorkshiremen. It is one of their traditions and inalienable rights to possess the secrets of the art. Although not a young man from a cricketing standpoint when the call came, Verity was little if any beyond the zenith of his powers. He was always such a keen student of the game, and his bowling was of such a type, that brains and experience played a greater part in his successes than natural genius. Although opposed to him in many Tests, I could never claim to have completely fathomed his strategy, for it was never static nor mechanical.

Naturally he achieved his most notable successes when wickets were damp. Nobody privileged to witness that famous Test at Lord's in 1934 (least of all the Australian batsmen) will forget a performance to which even the statistics could not do justice. But it would be ungenerous to suggest that he needed assistance from the wicket, as his successful Australian tours will confirm. The ordinary left-hander who lacks the vicious unorthodox finger-spin of the Fleetwood-Smith variety, needs uncommon ability to achieve even moderate success in Australia, yet Verity was the foundation stone of England's bowling in both countries during this era.

Apart from his special department of the game, Verity could also claim to be a remarkably efficient fieldsman close to the wicket where safe hands and courage are greater attributes than agility. Add this to the fact that once he opened a Test match innings for England, not without success, and we have a fairly general picture of a really fine player. Those of us who have played against this swarthy, capless champion (I never remember having seen him wear a cap) probably appreciated his indomitable fighting spirit even more than his own colleagues. We knew, when war came, that he would plainly see his duty in the same way as he regarded it his duty to win cricket matches for Yorkshire no less than England.

During our association together I cannot recall having heard Verity utter a word of complaint or criticism. If reports of his final sacrifice be correct, and I believe they are, he maintained this example right to the end. His life, his skill, his service all merited the highest honour, and with great sorrow I unhesitatingly pay humble tribute to his memory."

 

[blade too long]

no kitchen or M & Ms on this coach

 

[bornablade]

View attachment 22611

no kitchen or M & Ms on this coach

Over to the right from the front. TC. Hodgy and Tommy Fenoughty. Bernard Shaw. Woody. Munks. ? Phil Cliff. Barry Wagstaff. Ken Mallender. Mick Hill. Colin Addison. Len Badger. Willie Carlin. ?

 

[blade too long]

I was thinking how smart Currie looked, and the dress code was in full swing

 

[Canterbury Blade]

And no bogs on those coaches either.....

"Pass that empty Party Seven tin over Tony I need a wazz mate"

 

[The Crab]

I can't find the post now but, I think, earlier on the thread someone makes the point that a club like MK Dons couldn't have a thread like this. And not many could. Derby? Great history then left one of the best grounds in the league for another soulless identikit bowl. Same for a dozen other clubs.

A very large part of supporting Sheffield United for me, because, God knows, its not for the football or success, is going on the Kop and thinking that this is where my great grandad, who I never met, watched Nudger Needham, Fatty Foulke, and Billy Gillespie. Its where my grandad, who is long dead, watched Jimmy Hagan. Its where my dad watched Joe Shaw, Alan Hodgkinson, Mick Jones, and Tony Currie. And its where he took me to see Brian Deane and Tony Agana. When I'm at Bramall Lane I always feel that those olds lads are there as well. Not just the players, but the fans too.

Its like the ancient Indian burial ground that the Overlook Hotel was built on. If they ever bulldoze Bramall Lane and turn it into flats or offices, generations of Blades will be there haunting the buggers.

It is said that so many of the sides we have had have been greater than the sum of their parts. I think that can also be said of being a Blade. Something you can't really quantify, you just do.

 

[Mickey Jupp]

View attachment 21102

Notice Boycott out early in each innings hence no runouts lower down the batting order

 

[Silent Blade]

Over to the right from the front. TC. Hodgy and Tommy Fenoughty. Bernard Shaw. Woody. Munks. ? Phil Cliff. Barry Wagstaff. Ken Mallender. Mick Hill. Colin Addison. Len Badger. Willie Carlin. ?

Think it was Frank Barlow in the middle of the back seat. The photo would be in either March, April or August 1968

 

[JJ Sefton]

 

[I should coco]

Over to the right from the front. TC. Hodgy and Tommy Fenoughty. Bernard Shaw. Woody. Munks. ? Phil Cliff. Barry Wagstaff. Ken Mallender. Mick Hill. Colin Addison. Len Badger. Willie Carlin. ?

Willie Carlin?

I was wondering what Lou Maccari was doing on our bus....

 

[GrayBlade]

Promotion to Division one celebrations 1961 style.

 

[Silent Blade]

Promotion to Division one celebrations 1961 style.View attachment 22624

After we beat Derby by 3-1 on Wednesday 19th April 1961

 

[bornablade]

Think it was Frank Barlow in the middle of the back seat. The photo would be in either March, April or August 1968

Soon as I saw Phil Cliff I thought it may be the FA Cup 5th round tie at West Ham in 1968. Woody at the back of the bus so he can have a fag.
Who's the guy to the left in front of Len?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Promotion to Division one celebrations 1961 style.View attachment 22624

And nobody got drunk with glasses that size. Sack the Board!

 

[GrayBlade]

After we beat Derby by 3-1 on Wednesday 19th April 1961

Its just a few years before my time to be honest.

I recognise Hodgy, Doc Pace, Richardson, Graham Shaw, Joe Shaw and Cec Coldwell and possibly Summers and Alchurch at the back but I'm struggling with the rest even though I sort of remember having this picture on my bedroom wall.