Ex Blades who deserve respect

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I'll mention a few heroic Blades that never seem to get much of a mention these days but at the time I loved, they're all from the same era.

Mark Patterson - remember him?! He was a real fans favourite in his time with us, embraced being a Blade and gave his all every match. He did a really good job in his time with us and we played some great football when Kendall came in (I'd literally not seen us pass the ball out of defence until we signed Michael Vonk!) but Patterson did the dirty work! I remember Patterson doing a rugby tackle on a player once!

Lee Sandford - became a cult figure and although not the best defender in the world he did a decent job and again embraced the fans.

Paul Devlin - Great player in an average team but sadly many don't like the way he left, which I can see. Doesn't change how well he played for us though.
 

John Gannon.
Much-maligned by some, but a stalwart of the Bassett era.

Totally agree Highfield. He never got the credit he deserved when he was with us and also when you consider that the play didn't go through the centre mids, it can't have been easy to dictate play for us, especially when there was a more combative player alongside him such as Bob Booker.

Gannon's left foot provided many assists, by corners mainly.
 
Dean Hammond and Martyn Woolford. At the end of the day they're only hum....

... i'm only messing!
 
I'll mention a few heroic Blades that never seem to get much of a mention these days but at the time I loved, they're all from the same era.

Mark Patterson - remember him?! He was a real fans favourite in his time with us, embraced being a Blade and gave his all every match. He did a really good job in his time with us and we played some great football when Kendall came in (I'd literally not seen us pass the ball out of defence until we signed Michael Vonk!) but Patterson did the dirty work! I remember Patterson doing a rugby tackle on a player once!

Lee Sandford - became a cult figure and although not the best defender in the world he did a decent job and again embraced the fans.

Paul Devlin - Great player in an average team but sadly many don't like the way he left, which I can see. Doesn't change how well he played for us though.
Totally agree about Patterson and Sandford. Regards Devlin, thought he was very good when first seen. Beating defenders, driving forwards, creating openings for others. As time went on most of that stopped, he seemed lost for the sake of a better word. I pondered some time why he had become ineffectual and the only thing I could come up with was orders from the management. Not allowed to play his natural way, became frustrated, eventually leaving as he did.
 
Forgot to leave a player deserving respect. Mine would be Harry Hitchen, probably the Basham of his day. Loved watching the straight backed way he ran, like Michael Johnson the 400mts athlete.
 
Born in 1990 it was players like Peter Ndlovu/Michael Brown/Tonge which really made me fall in love with the club growing up.
 
What about a shout for Chris Wilder?

Met Chris a few times, good lad and getting on with a difficult job very well. In fact I would go so far as to say he's one I would like to see in the management role at BDTBL one day!

No. He'd be rubbish...
 

Chris Morgan, John Gannon, Carl Bradshaw, Tony Curry, Brian Deane, Tony Agana, Steve Kabba, Dane Whitehouse.....Oh, the list is endless.
 
Paul Garner. Lungs like a Gold Cup Winner and seemed to be around forever when I was first going to the Lane.
 
My legends are Tony Currie,Alan Woodward,Keith Edwards,Tony Kenworthy,John McPhail,Alan Kelly,Brian Deane,Tony Agana.
 
Michael Doyle.

I did a complete 180 on my opinion of him towards the end. I didn't care much for his constant berating of McDonald during the Wilson era and wondered if he was a negative, senior influence. I also thought he was a "just enough" type player who's contribution could've been easily replaced.

But during the Clough era he was a proper captain - the cockney walk and the interview after the Charlton cup game cemented my feelings of gratitude for having him.

When Madkins came in and Doyle left we became a soft, easy to play against side which I very much doubt would've happened had Doyle still been on the pitch.
 
Phil Jagielka,
Alan Kelly,
Simon Tracey
Brian Deane
Fjortoft
Paul peschisolido, if anything just for the goal against forest. Would be a lot more mentioned had he scored that header against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
 

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