I first went to a match in 1982, my Grandad took me to a night match v Northampton, although I have little recollection of it, I also remember being around 5 years old, and being caught in a 3 way tug of love, all my Mums side of the family were/still are big Blades although my old dear wasn't bothered about football at all apart from a teenage crush on Alan Birchenall. My Dad was a big Crystal Palace fan, and all my little friends at the time were all little gruntlets.
Little memories from that time stuck, some of the memories of that time still stand out. My uncle coming back home after the Falklands and getting given a United teddy which was a big winner, getting dragged to Hillsborough by the next door neighbour and his young un who I was mates with because at the time I thought it would be better than getting dragged round town by my Mum, but the attempt at conversion went disastrously wrong as we went on the old roofless kop, got pissed wet through and my announcement that I was a Blade didn't go down well as a couple of little cunts tried to break my will by giving me a Chinese burn and keeping hold until I said I was a Wednesday fan, fortunately an adult stopped it before my will was broken.
The moment my being a Blade was confirmed one Saturday at home, my Mum was in the kitchen, my Dad was at work, and my sister was probably doing something girly whilst I was left alone with Final Score on Grandstand before my Mum came flying in to the room to find me crying hysterically because United had lost 2-0 at Bradford and it had flashed up on the vidiprinter.
I was football daft, I was obsessed with panini stickers, always remember the glorious day when I got my 60p pocket money on a Saturday morning and spent it on 5 packets of stickers, and the first 2 packets yielded 2 highly sought after shiny Wednesday badges, which I already had anyway, and netting me a superb haul of a shitload of swaps.
Match days could never come round quick enough, the days before the match I couldn't think of anything else apart from watching my Sheffield United heroes, Keith Edwards was always my favourite as he always seemed to score, but I was also a big fan of Colin Morris, Glenn Cockerill and Peter Withe, and programmes were always my most treasured possession. I would spend hours poring over the programmes, and what I didn't know about the players wasn't worth knowing, I could have even told you what Kevin Arnotts favourite food, drink and music was (lager/steak and chips/Phil Collins), I memorised the fixtures, and always wondered why I couldn't go to the central league or northern intermediate league games.
Bramall Lane was like a Mecca, I would look at the Bramall Lane end awestruck at the engineering wonder of the double decker stand, I loved the Sheffield United sign on top of the John Street stand, and the electric scoreboard, well that was just magical. I remember cold hours stood outside pubs with other young blades of similar age which the grown ups drank inside, and the Lane at night match or after dark, well that was just magical.
I'd spend hours in my bedroom writing out fixtures, match reports and league tables, if we was away I'd listen to Radio Hallams Saturday football show, and can still remember the Itsa Goal jingle as well as the voice of Peter Jenkins and Simon Clark being the sounds of my childhood. Then we got a teletext telly and I'd spend hours looking at it, as well as poring over league tables in the Daily Express.
Something back then clearly stuck, as a child I could be a bit awkward and sometimes didn't feel like I really fitted in, but Sheffield United seemed to have something that gave me a sense of belonging, at school I could be a bit of rebel without a cause, but United was my cause. I used to look at all the little gruntlets at school and as one of the few Blades I felt glad to be different.
I went to Ecclesfield School, my first year was the year of the greatest season and greatest day ever where United went up and Wendesday went down. 5th May 1990, I remember the Wednesday cup finals of the 90s, where everyone in our year seemed to a Wednesday fan except our hardy band of about a dozen Blades who all seemed to know each other. There was even one Blade who I went to school whose Dad grew up 2 doors away from my Mum at Shiregreen, and our grandfathers had grown up together, and our lads are the same age and will end up at Ecclesfield together in a few years (4 generations of the 2 families, growing up as Blades together in Wednesday strongholds, brilliant.
I spent my teenage years going to every United match going, meeting my mates every Saturday, and going on haphazard adventures all over the country at 17/18 years of age, I nearly got smacked at Fratton Park, managed to get smacked at Molineux, my first police escort was ar Ayresome Park in 1995, when a group of us got escorted back to the station and we can't have been any older than 16/17, spending the night after my 18th birthday stood freezing my tits off at an icebound Roker Park. I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
I met my best mate when I worked at Butlins, Skegness as a waiter in 1998, just through the sheer fact I couldn't believe he knew as much about United as I did. In between all the drinking and assortment of behaviour unsuitable to be recounted on a family website such as this, we used to try and test each other out by quizzing each other on scores from Uniteds past (remember this
LS26BLADE ) I remember starting on the Railway in 2003 and on my first day the bloke who did my induction introduced himself and to break the ice said his interests were skiing, watching Sheffield United and drinking Stella, I got on like a house on fire with him from the off and still do at least one away day a season with him.
For the last 33 years watching Sheffield United on a weekend has remained an integral part of my life, been a season ticket holder for donkeys years, I have to miss some games because of work commitments which is a ball ache, but that's life. I still sit with Ls26 every game like I have done for the last 17 years, had some brilliant times, the football might have been shite at times, but going to the games has seen me grow from an awestruck 5 year old boy in to a 38 year old man who nowadays can't go to the match without seeing loads of friends every match, sometimes it is a hello, sometimes it is just a nod and wink, but they are friendships and aquaintences forged over football and more often than not beer, and my life is so much richer for it.
I refuse to have anything in my house that has got an owl on it. They say an English mans home is his castle, I refuse to accept anything depicting that creature to enter my castle. In my life I can only recall one occasion have I ever worn anything related to Sheffield Wednesday and that was last year when one of my closest mates passed away who was a big Wednesdayite and I wore a Wednesday tie to his funeral as I couldn't think of a better tribute.
Everyone knows I'm a Blade, at work today I have had some stick as I have been droning on our cup tie ar Bramall Lane, stuff like "I didn't know you had got Man United in the cup, it's not like you haven't mentioned it", one of the directors at work is a huge Unitedite, I got to know him when we got given a box for a match in return for handing out some fliers before the match, and happily a free bar as well. During the last 10 years every time I see him I try and make 5 minutes to talk to him, and it is always about United, never about the company.
I had a brief phone call with my son earlier, he doesn't live with me, but I take him to the Lane as much as possible. He asked me if it was true I was going to be taking him Old Trafford, and if his little pal Carter was going as well. Him and Carter are a few weeks apart in age, Carter nearly died as a baby, and there is a photo of me taken when we was both about a year old, at Bramall Lane, Carter still had a feeding tube in, they went to Wembley for the Hull semi a couple of seasons ago and sat together and will be sat together at Old Trafford, and will both grow up as Blades together, just hearing the excitement in a child's voice about a trip to Old Trafford brings back memories of how I was a kid,
Quite simply, growing up as a Sheffield United fan always was like a way of life to me, still is to be honest.
