Love never dies for me

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Ball_Sup (Phil) said:
Hi mate. I drank in The Royal Oak for a long time. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but it was OK. You don't seem to recall the Royal Oak. They changed it's name. Because things change. Changed it to The Beer Engine I recall.
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Ball_sup is that the one near bottom of London Road just up little side street mate if so used to go in Friday evening
 



Ball_Sup (Phil) said:
Bottom of Cemetery Road as it goes away from London Road. That'll be the one mate, yes
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Cheers yes used to like it in there
pommpey said:
Soz mate but I feel we should all 'take the knee for SUFC' and all that.

pommpey
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They've had my heart & ruined it and if I take knee I'd never get up lol
 
Utd/BDBL to me was and always will be a memory rich in history. When I went as a kid ,late 40's , I remember the following,
Getting there early so the Old man got me on the railings at BL end and stood 5 steps back with his mates, Never 4 or 6 , always 5.
The pitch if wet, had puddles all over it and very little grass, except on the wings where there was less traffic. Albert Nightingale played for us then, within 5 minutes of game starting he would be black from head to toe. It was said he could get tripped up in the Centre Circle and finish up landing in the penalty area.!
A band ( Sally Army I think ) would play on the pitch ( no tannoy then ) stood on wooden planks, near the old players tunnel. At some point a trolley was wheeled round with the team changes on a Blackboard, i.e different from the programme, there used to be a rising tide of expectation as the crowd reacted to it on the way round. Sometimes there was a collection for some worthy cause. This was great fun for us kids as it involved 4 or 5 blokes carrying a blanket and the crowd was invited to lob coins in the blanket. Needless to say one or two coins landed on or were aimed at the blokes carrying the blanket .
In those days the teams did not come out until 5 or 6 minutes to kick off. No fancy warming up routines then. Utd always came to the BL end , not the Kop. That changed many years later.
Of the players I remember Jack Pickering ( my favourite), Eddie Shimwell, Ernest Jackson, Alec Forbes, J Hagan, the 2 Shaws a bit later. Funny I can still recite the defence from that era, Smith Furness Cox, Jackson Latham Forbes, the attack seemed to change more but there was Hagan, Brook, Collindridge, the Smiths, Paddy Sloane, Dennis Thompson, George Jones. I'd put quite a few of them in todays side.( updated of course)
Anyway rich memories they never fade.
 
pommpey said:
Can we get this thread back on topic as to how much we love Sheffield United and how that love will never, ever, ever, ever die please?

Thanks

pommpey :)
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Fight, fight, fight, fight! I suggest Ball_Sup(Phil) to take you on.... with Silent as his corner man! Ding, ding ...................
 
Real blades astrally project their love for Paul Devlin into the stars.
 
Ball_Sup (Phil) said:
I hadn't set a trap for you. But, you still fell in it..... What's going on?
Look. It's just a nice, gentle thread about on the one hand identity & belonging and on the other hand that things change and what one person recognises is different to someone else. And you've gloriously contributed to that.
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Not really though mate.... you are talking about 2 different things here. The change from Royal Oak to the Beer Engine really equates to the changes to BDTBL over the years ............... new decor, change of ownership, different beer, different layout. Its still the same physical location and it's still an ale house. He is talking about if we moved to Meadowhall, for example, then his whole match day experience would change.
 
Big Hitter said:
Utd/BDBL to me was and always will be a memory rich in history. When I went as a kid ,late 40's , I remember the following,
Getting there early so the Old man got me on the railings at BL end and stood 5 steps back with his mates, Never 4 or 6 , always 5.
The pitch if wet, had puddles all over it and very little grass, except on the wings where there was less traffic. Albert Nightingale played for us then, within 5 minutes of game starting he would be black from head to toe. It was said he could get tripped up in the Centre Circle and finish up landing in the penalty area.!
A band ( Sally Army I think ) would play on the pitch ( no tannoy then ) stood on wooden planks, near the old players tunnel. At some point a trolley was wheeled round with the team changes on a Blackboard, i.e different from the programme, there used to be a rising tide of expectation as the crowd reacted to it on the way round. Sometimes there was a collection for some worthy cause. This was great fun for us kids as it involved 4 or 5 blokes carrying a blanket and the crowd was invited to lob coins in the blanket. Needless to say one or two coins landed on or were aimed at the blokes carrying the blanket .
In those days the teams did not come out until 5 or 6 minutes to kick off. No fancy warming up routines then. Utd always came to the BL end , not the Kop. That changed many years later.
Of the players I remember Jack Pickering ( my favourite), Eddie Shimwell, Ernest Jackson, Alec Forbes, J Hagan, the 2 Shaws a bit later. Funny I can still recite the defence from that era, Smith Furness Cox, Jackson Latham Forbes, the attack seemed to change more but there was Hagan, Brook, Collindridge, the Smiths, Paddy Sloane, Dennis Thompson, George Jones. I'd put quite a few of them in todays side.( updated of course)
Anyway rich memories they never fade.
Click to expand...

All sadly before my time, but must have been brilliant to watch them, particularly Jimmy Hagan.

Another team I follow are Benfica, I have a few Portuguese friends who always tell me that Jimmy is held in very high regard there.
 
JJBlade said:
Exactly, it's supposed to hurt
But when Fulham scored, I laughed.

When I looked at our stats up to Fulham scoring, 0 shots, 0 on target, 22% possession, I laughed again.

It won't be so funny is if it's the same turgid shyte next season.

But that's Sheffield United for you, it's either half decent but turgid or it's absolutely turgid shyte. Either way turgid is always involved.
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Until lockdown last season, I didnt see anything remotely turgid. Or the previous three seasons for that matter.
 
I'm certain I don't feel the same love, nor sense of belonging, described by some on this thread. Neither for the club, shell, abstract and certainly not for the ground. But, as I don't get any sense of loss, low or depression from results or league position. Only a sense of thrill & enjoyment from attending games - wherever, whenever. I'm sure I'll continue to attend as many matches as I can - home, away, anywhere. And give the team as much support as I can. I have for some while been thinking that my level of "emotional involvement" is probably much lower than others claim.
I see my support as turning up at a game & shouting "kick it" (or similar) - and not a great deal more than that.
 



Big Hitter said:
Utd/BDBL to me was and always will be a memory rich in history. When I went as a kid ,late 40's , I remember the following,
Getting there early so the Old man got me on the railings at BL end and stood 5 steps back with his mates, Never 4 or 6 , always 5.
The pitch if wet, had puddles all over it and very little grass, except on the wings where there was less traffic. Albert Nightingale played for us then, within 5 minutes of game starting he would be black from head to toe. It was said he could get tripped up in the Centre Circle and finish up landing in the penalty area.!
A band ( Sally Army I think ) would play on the pitch ( no tannoy then ) stood on wooden planks, near the old players tunnel. At some point a trolley was wheeled round with the team changes on a Blackboard, i.e different from the programme, there used to be a rising tide of expectation as the crowd reacted to it on the way round. Sometimes there was a collection for some worthy cause. This was great fun for us kids as it involved 4 or 5 blokes carrying a blanket and the crowd was invited to lob coins in the blanket. Needless to say one or two coins landed on or were aimed at the blokes carrying the blanket .
In those days the teams did not come out until 5 or 6 minutes to kick off. No fancy warming up routines then. Utd always came to the BL end , not the Kop. That changed many years later.
Of the players I remember Jack Pickering ( my favourite), Eddie Shimwell, Ernest Jackson, Alec Forbes, J Hagan, the 2 Shaws a bit later. Funny I can still recite the defence from that era, Smith Furness Cox, Jackson Latham Forbes, the attack seemed to change more but there was Hagan, Brook, Collindridge, the Smiths, Paddy Sloane, Dennis Thompson, George Jones. I'd put quite a few of them in todays side.( updated of course)
Anyway rich memories they never fade.
Click to expand...
Total respect my friend before my time but I do remember in 70's possibly (early) do remember them carrying a big blanket round for a collection, I also remember every time a pretty lass walked round the perimeter of pitch to a kop encore of "get your tits out for the lads".
 
Ball_Sup (Phil) said:
I'm saying to your face. You are not a supporter of Sheffield United. You are a supporter of what Sheffield United have been. You are a supporter of what Sheffield United could be. You are a supporter of your own idea of what Sheffield United is. I'm saying it to your face, and specifically to you, because I've got the bottle to do that, when no one else has. You are a supporter of Sheffield United because it suits you. I know more about Sheffield United than you. But, bizarrely, you know more about Sheffield United than me. I support this thing I call Sheffield United. You support that other thing you call Sheffield United. That Sheffield United thing you support, and I say this after choosing my words carefully, is Shit. How do I know that? Because it's not the same Sheffield United thing I support. How dare I say that? When I don't know you from Eve? Because no two Blades have the same exact view of what they're supporting. So, I know you're supporting a different thing to me. But, called the same thing. Sheffield United. And I'll fight to my dying breath for your right to support that different thing. As we say in the trade......
Peace & The Vaccine
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Top post Phil!!🤗
 
This is a good thread Silent, lots of positive stuff in rather shitty times (not just in football!).
Taking things back to earlier posts, perhaps the 40ish years between joining the league and losing the 1936 Cup final are the problem? Sheffield United really were a "big club " then, and it coincided with huge crowds and success, but football remaining a very blokeish working class activity.
We've never recreated that early success, but it's left us with a feeling that we should perhaps be more successful than we are.
The way football is now, no-one except the top 6 can sustain success.
I'm really not that bothered about getting relegated (but I am bothered about the manner of the relegation!), as I can't be doing with the Americanised circus that the PL has become. If you're the sort of club that gets upset about finishing 6th, it's probably great fun, but for me it's not, because we're not. Since the late 30's, and certainly since the PL started, we never have been.
So just enjoy the unpredictable but occasionally fun and happy ride that being a Blade presents, be thankful that in this shitty season none of us has spent any cash on tickets (more for beer!!), and look forward to another unpredictable but hopefully jollier season at the level where perhaps we're best "settled ".
Regard last season as some sort of weird anomaly, a bit like the reverse of Division 4, and you'll be fine. I know I will!
Cheers, roll on the pubs opening!🍻😉🍻😉
 
I call myself a Sheffield United supporter and I think I've got a right to say that. I'm not the biggest supporter (not in the physical sense either), I've had a season ticket for the last 6 seasons and went to matches when work commitments would allow before that. I've been to Wembley 3 times, I've also been to Oxford, Grimsby and Southend, but not got to as many away games as I would have liked.

I've told this story before. My immediate family are all Wednesday fans including my Mum and Dad, but Dad wasn't into going to see Wednesday when they were shit in the mid 70's so he never took me. The first game I went to was United v Hull, a non-descript 1-1 from January 1980. I was 9, I didn't really take in what was going on (being more interested in the programme) but I liked it. Later that season my Grandad took me to watch Wednesday play Carlisle and it just wasn't the same, it wasn't the same feeling. I wasn't bothered if they lost like I was when it United. Over the years, I've had an on/off relationship with the club. I wouldn't call myself a glory hunter, I got a season ticket again in Clough's second season in League 1 and endured the Adkins season too. I loved going to games in Division 4, we played good football, we were exciting to watch and we scored goals. I don't think it matters what League you're in, when you're winning most of the time and the team are playing good football, it feels great. Who has enjoyed this season more in the Premier than the Promotion season from League 1?

You can't beat that feeling when your team has won, the beer afterwards, watching the results, listening to or reading every report you can, recording MOTD so you listen to the praise - we had all that last season. And this season, we've had none of that and it's depressing. I can't be jovial about it, it's been hard to take any enjoyment from it, but I don't lash out, I suppose I've become apathetic about it. I know though that there will be another period when it's good again, hopefully in the Championship and that feeling will be back again.

I met some friends before the Norwich game, the last game we could go to, and I remember saying to my mate's 13 year old lad, "Enjoy this time, because with United it might not last" and unfortunately I was right. Unless you're over 60, that's most of our experience of supporting the Blades, twas always thus.
 
Hi coaxingstar71.
Were you around in the early 1970s or the Bassett era?
If so, how do you rate those times compared to the success of Wilder?
 
The early seventies were probably better, Currie was something else, if we’d have kept Jones, Birchenall, Salmons etc and signed a great keeper someone like Shilton we’d have challenged Liverpool’s dominance of the 70’s era..........Bassets time was good but we never got the crowds.........Wilders been superb but it’s what happens in the next 12 months that will define his era....
 



hello said:
Hi coaxingstar71.
Were you around in the early 1970s or the Bassett era?
If so, how do you rate those times compared to the success of Wilder?
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I wasn't around in the 70's, certainly not old enough to remember Woody and Currie in their pomp. As someone who started going to games as we were sliding into Division 4, Bassett's achievement of getting us back to Division 1 felt like a miracle, especially when you consider the state of the club and the squad when he took over only a couple of years before. In that respect there are direct parallels to Wilder's achievement. I don't think anyone would argue that overall the style of football under Wilder is much better than it was under Bassett but I don't think the journey was any less enjoyable. Arguably Bassett achieved more success, keeping us in the Premier League/Division 1 for 4 seasons in difficult circumstances with constant boardroom shenanigans. However the gap between the top Premier sides and the rest has considerably widened since the early 90's so last season's 9th place finish was perhaps a bigger achievement than anything Bassett achieved.

Somebody with more first hand knowledge would be better placed to compare to the 70's but from my perspective, I think the club missed a massive opportunity and as always with United, because of the lack of ambition. That first team were probably capable of taking any team apart - on their day - unfortunately as the team aged, with not much back up squad, and were not suitably replaced, those days became fewer. I'd also say for a quality side like that, our record in cup competitions in that era was abysmal. That team should have been more than capable of winning one of the cups or at least challenging in the later rounds. When you think of the quality players we had, you could argue they really underachieved..... that might get me into trouble!
 
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