Alan Woodward's goals and assists

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hello said:
There is no way in this world that Woody was a lesser player than Currie. I never believed it, as he had quiet class, not arrogance like Currie, he was twice the player Currie was due to his loyalty to United.
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TC 1968 - 1976 was arrogant and we loved him for it.

But today TC would agree entirely with your statement 'no way in this world that Woody was a lesser player than Currie.'

Anyway this is a thread about Woody and well done Silent for your efforts
 

So with special thanks to WalthamstowBlade for providing the original idea and much of the footage, and to Silent Blade for his superb assessment of Woody's career, get the pop corn at the ready (its nearly 40 mins long so you will need it!), here is the extended version of our tribute to Woody. Some of you get a mention so you may with to view in full screen or on you tube site for the last bit. Enjoy!



We realise there are some other games that were televised but we have not managed to find the footage for. It anyone does have anything and can assist we would appreciate.
 
Not only is this an amazing emotional tribute to Alan Woodward but a reflection on my youth, I will be proud to show my grandchildren the player he was, his memory will live on due to the fans that have helped to put this coverage together, makes me proud to be a blade.
 


Couldn't see the video above as it was marked private so added above video. One of my proudest moments was I got to play in Woodwards actual kit when we played in a football tournament for the SUJB. United supplied the actual kits for us to play in.
 
Silent , even by your own impeccable standards , that is a truly remarkable piece of work and one for which all Blades of whatever generation should be truly thankful .

At the very least , it should put any pretenders to your rightful throne firmly in their place !

For me personally , it brought back many wonderful memories. The only disappointing thing about this thread has been the entirely unnecessary and totally spurious comparisons between him and TC ( albeit from a minority some of whom clearly never saw either of them )

Respect .
 
Isaw Joeshaw said:
Silent , even by your own impeccable standards , that is a truly remarkable piece of work and one for which all Blades of whatever generation should be truly thankful .

At the very least , it should put any pretenders to your rightful throne firmly in their place !

For me personally , it brought back many wonderful memories. The only disappointing thing about this thread has been the entirely unnecessary and totally spurious comparisons between him and TC ( albeit from a minority some of whom clearly never saw either of them )

Respect .
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Thank you.
 
Great thread Silent Blade , nothing more to be said really , the greatest player ever to play for the Blades , I used to cling on to the railings as a boy, in awe of the Silver haired hero , we really should have named a stand after him when he was still alive , very poor from Sheffield United for not recognising Alan , a one club man , but never mind , RIP Alan never forgotten .
 
wavy-blade said:
Great thread Silent Blade , nothing more to be said really , the greatest player ever to play for the Blades , I used to cling on to the railings as a boy, in awe of the Silver haired hero , we really should have named a stand after him when he was still alive , very poor from Sheffield United for not recognising Alan , a one club man , but never mind , RIP Alan never forgotten .
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There's no real need to name the stand after anybody. They should just paint WOODWARD along the fascia of the SS at one end of the ground and CURRIE along the other end. Then don't fuck around with it ever again.
 
What a player Woody was ! I was only in school when he was in his prime but the memories will stay with me for the rest of my days watching the Blades - would TC ever be as good a player without Woody along side him ? Or any teammate for that matter. Whether it was Currie, Salmons, Reece or Billy D they would all have been better players for the fact that Alan Woodward was in the same line up. I can't wait to eventually walk through the pearly gates and watch Woody teaching Cruyff a thing or two about striking a dead ball !!!

Fantastic post Silent . I hope it was a cut and paste job and not 3 days typing ?
 

Rufus Smalls said:
Fantastic post Silent . I hope it was a cut and paste job and not 3 days typing ?
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:). It was published in Flashing Blade around 2002 (I did the research by having several visits to the Sheffield Library over a period of time). Just after Woody passed away I emailed Matthew Bell asking him if he could send me the whole article,he did have it in his computer so he sent it to me. Yes, it was a copy and paste job.
 
I was only a young boy when we had Woodward and my limited memories of him are.

1: Unusual look because he had silver grey hair, suggesting he was old
But he had a big healthy mop of hair suggesting he was young.

2: Remember his corners. He would blast them to the edge of the 6 yard box with a bit of swerve.
You always thought he was trying to score from a corner and he made a seriously good attempt at it.

3: My other memories are Tony Currie receiving the ball in the centre circle area and without looking he’d ping a pass towards the corner flag. Alan Woodward would start sprinting down the wing and I instantly thought Currie has over hit the pass but as soon as the ball hit the ground it would magically slow right down due to the excessive back spin Currie could put in a ball. Some of Curries passes were like watching a golfer using a pitching wedge. I’ve not see any other player able to put backspin on a ball apart from maybe Glen Hoddle.
 
Silent Blade said:
Thanks to Matthew Bell of Flashing Blade for sending me the attachment of the feature I did for Flashing Blade in around 2002. I will copy and paste each season per page so that you can read about Woody's goals and assists in one particular season you enjoyed in one page rather than having to read the whole lot in one page.

Having watched the Blades regularly since 1970 it was a real privilege seeing many of Alan Woodward's great goals and assists from crosses or corners. I have therefore been to the Sheffield Library to look in the Green ‘Un and Morning Telegraph archives to look up reports of the games he played and the goals he scored or created.
Woodward joined the club as an apprentice in 1962 after being a regular in the Barnsley schoolboys team the previous season. His wing exploits in the Northern Intermediate League and Central League drew many admirers and during the 1963/64 season quite a few of the Lane faithful wrote to the Green ‘Un sportsbag suggesting that Woodward should be given a chance in the first team. The United youth team had won the Northern Intermediate League and Cup double.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from the United v Leeds second leg of the N.I.L. Cup final report. The Blades won 2-1 at Leeds in the first leg and won the second leg by 1-0; “Barry Wagstaff slung a 30-yard pass out to Woodward and Birchenall soared like an eagle to head home the winger's pin-point centre. After tasting the heady heights of success, the 5,101 crowd saw a dejected Woodward kneeling on the spot ten minutes later after blazing a spot kick wide.”
The United team that evening was Dave Walton, Len Badger, Bernard Shaw, Frank Barlow, Charlie Bell, Sam Clarke, Alan Woodward, Barry Wagstaff, Alan Birchenall, Mick Jones and (?) Disney. Walton, Clarke and Disney never played for the first team. Included in the Leeds side were David Harvey (who was Scotland's goalkeeper for a few years and still played for Leeds in the 1980s), Jimmy Greenhoff (who had success at Stoke and Manchester United), Paul Madeley (who went on to be a long servant for Leeds and played for England), Eddie Gray (another long servant who played for Scotland), Rod Belfitt (who played for Ipswich under Bobby Robson) and Terry Hibbitt (who went on to be a crowd favourite at Newcastle).
In recognition of Woodward’s achievements, produced below are descriptions of his goals and assists from reports in the Green ‘Un and Morning Telegraph during his first-team career:-

1964-65
27 league plus 3 FA Cup appearances
8 goals, 6 assists
GOAL - v Leeds (a) 31.10.64. Woodward jabbed home his first goal for the club after Hartle had beaten three men to feed Jones and the centre forward pulled the ball back for Woodward to do the rest.
ASSIST- v Sunderland (h) 21.11.64. Hartle headed the goal following a fine centre by Woodward.
ASSIST - v Aston Villa (h) 5.12.64. Woodward created a fine opening for Tony Wagstaff to fire in an oblique shot past Withers.
GOAL - v Tottenham (h) 12.12.64. Jennings tried to bounce the ball on a soggy surface, Woodward challenging hopefully and pounced on the sticky ball, swept it past the goalkeeper and crashed it into the net.
GOAL - v Burnley (a) 19.12.64. From a bad back pass Woodward snapped up the chance to lob the ball over the advancing goalkeeper's head. GOAL - v Manchester United (a) 28.12.64. Graham Shaw swung a long ball into the home goal, Pat Dunne failed to cut it out when challenged by Jones and Woodward pounced to score.
ASSIST - v Sheffield Wednesday (h) 2.1.65. Woodward swung a centre over and Birchenall timed his leap magnificently to head over the advancing Springett.
GOAL - v Bristol City (h) FA Cup replay 11.1.65. Matthewson's pass was coolly flicked on for Woodward to sweep a left-foot shot past Gibson.
ASSIST - v Bristol City (h) FA Cup replay 11.1.65. Jones headed home a shot by Woodward.
GOAL - v Birmingham (a) 21.1.65. Hartle dribbled the ball away from United's penalty area and the ball was carried right the length of the field for Jones to slip the ball inside Green for Woodward to beat Schofield as the goalkeeper came out.
ASSIST - v West Ham United (h) 6.2.65 Jones headed United into the lead but praise for the effort must be given to Woodward who chased a long ball by the right corner flag, stopped the ball, fell and still got up in time to pull back the centre which Jones converted.
ASSIST - v Blackpool (a) 20.2.65. Badger's free kick was neatly helped on by Kettleborough to Woodward and the outside right's lob had Waiters challenged by Jones in severe trouble. GOAL - v Blackburn (h) 27.2.65. Jones and Hartle had shots blocked on the line; the winger joined in the scramble to make sure.
GOAL - v Liverpool (h) 13.3.65. Bernard Shaw carried the ball well into the danger zone before tricking Liverpool defenders and slipping a ball out onto the right, which gave Woodward the chance to hammer a magnificent and oblique shot past Lawrence and just inside the far post.
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Didn’t realise at the time just how good Woody was. His stats prove what a prolific goal scorer he was for a out and out winger. Hardest shot in football at that time Peter Lorimar included.
 
Sheffsteel said:
I was only a young boy when we had Woodward and my limited memories of him are.

1: Unusual look because he had silver grey hair, suggesting he was old
But he had a big healthy mop of hair suggesting he was young.

2: Remember his corners. He would blast them to the edge of the 6 yard box with a bit of swerve.
You always thought he was trying to score from a corner and he made a seriously good attempt at it.

3: My other memories are Tony Currie receiving the ball in the centre circle area and without looking he’d ping a pass towards the corner flag. Alan Woodward would start sprinting down the wing and I instantly thought Currie has over hit the pass but as soon as the ball hit the ground it would magically slow right down due to the excessive back spin Currie could put in a ball. Some of Curries passes were like watching a golfer using a pitching wedge. I’ve not see any other player able to put backspin on a ball apart from maybe Glen Hoddle.
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Dead right .

Time and again TC would deliver a ball over the top to Woody with just the right of check spin on it , such that he could take it in his stride without having to break his run . What a combination they were and how privileged were those of us who watched them in their glory days .
 
I count myself very lucky to be the right age to start watching the Blades with players like TC & Woody in the team, they were magical to watch, if they were around in today's game they would still stand out & be worth many many millions.
 
Silent Blade said:
GOAL - v Carlisle (h) 11.9.76. Woodward was involved in the move from start to finish, finally taking advantage of a neat little return ball from Ludlam and knocking it past Ross in full stride from a narrow angle, the impetus taking him round the back of the net at the Kop end to receive the salute of the delighted youngsters.
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The Carlisle game is this week’s report FYI Silent Blade https://footballreports.substack.com/p/sheff-utd-3-carlisle-0

It would appear that in addition to the goal Woodward had time to take a phone call during the game!
 
Stand United said:
The Carlisle game is this week’s report FYI Silent Blade https://footballreports.substack.com/p/sheff-utd-3-carlisle-0

It would appear that in addition to the goal Woodward had time to take a phone call during the game!
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A few years ago I had a flashback of Woody going to the dugout to take a phone call there when Coldwell was treating an injured player but couldn't remember the match. Thanks for the link and I was home from boarding school for that weekend and remember going to the match
 
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