Blades Horrible History

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Being relegated to Division 3 in 1979. First time outside the top 2 divisions and even more painful than relegation to Division 4. I was always ribbed about being the only Blade in town, but I was a proud oneand still am. The night we got confirmed for relegation I think I actually cried, and I finally realised I would never be called a trophy hunter. I toyed with the idea of changing allegiance, but even though I lived 200 miles away and had no link to Yorkshire, let alone Sheffield, I was hooked and knew then I was a Blade for life whatever crap they threw at me
 

Carlton Blade said:
That's the one. The day Alan Kelly did an early rendition of Lundstrams outfield performances this seasonand cunty Lee Hughes robbed him to score
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Good old Alan Kelly, tried taking on the West Brom forward line and fell on his arse!
Couldn't be a more perfect introduction to Sheffield United 😁
 
The day after Ched Evans was found guilty we played MK Dons away. Upto that point promotion was nailed on, but the performance that day was woeful despite a huge amount of away fans making the journey.

Walking out the ground we heard that the Pigs had got an injury time winner which gave them the second wind to finish the season above us in 2nd. Gutted.
 
In the days a couple of seasons after the kop was all seater, if you paid at the turnstile, the operator gave you a ticket with your seat number on. Man City at home I found myself sat smack bang behind one of the pillars.

There was a home defeat 4 - 0 to Sunderland a few months before Warnock took over when we looked utterly hopeless.

That amazing save by Seaman

Losing to a last gasp Kevin Phillips goal in our first away match of the season to Birmingham. I was sat very quietly with their home fans. In the end they went up instead of us so that goal mattered.

Overall, though nothing beats the kick in the guts from the sale of Deane and Fjortoft.
 
Ralph Blade said:
There was a home defeat 4 - 0 to Sunderland a few months before Warnock took over when we looked utterly hopeless.
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If it is the one I am thinking of, it was the game that effectively retired Steve Bruce from player/manager into Manager. Michael Bridges and Niall Quinn scored two goals each.
 
Still 94 for me. We’d got into a habit of saving ourselves and, even without Deano, it looked like another great escape was on. At 4.30 it was looking like a formality. I was working that day, listening on the radio and waiting for the final whistle, fully expecting to be watching us in the PL again the following season.
With Warnock, deep down I knew. I’d known from when Hulse broke his leg and said at the time “that’ll relegate us”. In 94, I was still naive enough to think we wouldn’t find a way to fuck it up. It’s the punch that you don’t see coming that hurts the most.
 
I don't know why individual games are brought into the horrible history.

I mean some games are important, some are vital, but they are just games of football

What really defines Sheffield United are things like Glenn Cockerill's goal that hit the stanchion at the back of the net and came out, and the goal wasn't given because the ref thought it hit the post.

The Aston Villa 2 yards over the line goal that wasn't given because goal line technology failed, and because that failed VAR was not allowed to get involved, and because VAR was not allowed to get involved it meant the referee refused to make a decision, and so a huge catalogue of absolutely unbelievable fuck ups, all added together, all at the same time meant a goal wasn't given even though the entire world could see it was and didn't need any technology whatsoever to see it.

Ched Evans, put in jail and later released, but only after Sheffield United had suffered maximum damage.

The West Ham thing, could only possibly affect Sheffield United, there isn't another football club from Manchester United to Accrington Stanley that would have had to endure that.

Getting relegated to Division Four with a plus goals difference,

And this is without even touching on the club itself and the disdain it has for its own fans by short changing them for the last 50 years
 
somersetblades said:
Being relegated to Division 3 in 1979. First time outside the top 2 divisions and even more painful than relegation to Division 4. I was always ribbed about being the only Blade in town, but I was a proud oneand still am. The night we got confirmed for relegation I think I actually cried, and I finally realised I would never be called a trophy hunter. I toyed with the idea of changing allegiance, but even though I lived 200 miles away and had no link to Yorkshire, let alone Sheffield, I was hooked and knew then I was a Blade for life whatever crap they threw at me
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Yes Cambridge was painful close second to Wallsall.
Chelsea hurt after a days graft I had to listen to the misery unfold on my van radio
 
Nine Inch Nalis said:
Unforgiveable, I sincerely hope he was mercilessly hounded for that.
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Can’t say everyone felt the same but my personal feelings towards Matthews got lost in the general dismay of the time. I must say though, hand on heart, the following season in Division 4 is still up there with the most enjoyable times I have experienced as a Blade. It was proper muck & nettles stuff, visiting some “quaint” stadiums, some great away days on the football specials, culminating with an unforgettable trip to Darlington & scenes that have been hard to match.
It’s hard to compare to today’s circus with mega-money, VAR & preening prima donnas but everything seemed so much nicer & simpler back then.
Fuckin’ hell...........those sepia tinged memories have made me feel old 😳
 
Jinxy1966 said:
Can’t say everyone felt the same but my personal feelings towards Matthews got lost in the general dismay of the time. I must say though, hand on heart, the following season in Division 4 is still up there with the most enjoyable times I have experienced as a Blade. It was proper muck & nettles stuff, visiting some “quaint” stadiums, some great away days on the football specials, culminating with an unforgettable trip to Darlington & scenes that have been hard to match.
It’s hard to compare to today’s circus with mega-money, VAR & preening prima donnas but everything seemed so much nicer & simpler back then.
Fuckin’ hell...........those sepia tinged memories have made me feel old 😳
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I know exactly what you mean. I've grown up almost entirely in football's modern era, and I can't help feeling I missed out in some respects.

My only comparable experience was being in L1 and going to grounds that still retained some of their old charm. Truth be told, despite the club being in a shit position, it was quite enjoyable at times. Nostalgia is a weird thing!
 
Nine Inch Nalis said:
I know exactly what you mean. I've grown up almost entirely in football's modern era, and I can't help feeling I missed out in some respects.

My only comparable experience was being in L1 and going to grounds that still retained some of their old charm. Truth be told, despite the club being in a shit position, it was quite enjoyable at times. Nostalgia is a weird thing!
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Loved those away days in the lower leagues
 
Deadly_D'Jaffo said:
The day after Ched Evans was found guilty we played MK Dons away. Upto that point promotion was nailed on, but the performance that day was woeful despite a huge amount of away fans making the journey.

Walking out the ground we heard that the Pigs had got an injury time winner which gave them the second wind to finish the season above us in 2nd. Gutted.
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Yep no Ched no promotion looked like a Adkins side at MK Dons
 
HillStreet Blade said:
I would also say the worst moment was the Don Givens missed penalty. It was John Matthews who bottled it as the designated penalty taker. To be fair to him he did have a good season in div 4. Another horror show was the May 1979 div 2 relegation battle against Blackburn. 3 games to go, Blackburn bottom of the table all season (we had lost 2-0 at Ewood Park a few weeks earlier) a must win game. They were down to 10 men after about 30 mins but we were not able to break them dowm. About halfway through the second half Paul Garner overhit a back pass to goalkeeper Steve Conroy which went out for a corner. They scored from the corner and we lost 1-0. It was then, for the first time that season, that I had the terrible feeling we were going to get relegated to division 3 for the first time in our history. Dark times were to follow.
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The designated penalty taker was Kenworthy, who was injured and not playing. Matthews was nominated for the day but bottled it.
Cambridge I think was the game that condemned us to to Div 3 for the first time in our history which was probably just as hard to take.
Boxing Day was another that was difficult to swallow.
 
It got mentioned in another thread just recently, the worst I can remember was the 4-0 defeat to Scunthorpe at the Lane.

The match itself isn't what makes it so bad. In fact, for Scunthorpe's fourth goal, a dodgy clearance gave their player a chance at an open net from 30-odd yards, and I'd be lying if I didn't briefly think 'have a go, son'. What was so bad was the Pollyannas on here banging on about how great United's performance was, how we'd been the better team, how they didn't mind if we got heavily beaten if we kept playing like that, the dreaded 'green shots of recovery' etc. and so on. It was then that I knew that the team and the club were doomed and that years of mediocrity beckoned.

Similarly was the trip to Gillingham for the first day of Adkins' regime. Again the trip wasn't so bad - I'd seen Parliament-Funkadelic the night before and the match wasn't able to completely dampen my mood. The kicker was that one game in you could tell Adkins would be a colossal failure and that another season would be wasted. The first couple of goals showed that the team couldn't defend (one goal was from a long throw that almost went straight in) but the real sickener was the the fourth goal, where Bradley Dack, I think it was, was able to drift in from wide and shoot completely unchallenged, showing the team already had no heart.
 
I can't remember the details but sure we played Stockport at home in a cup game and we were 3 down in about half an hour, remember loads of fans walking out.

Maybe my recollection is distorted tbh.
 

I started supporting properly in 1969-70 and then into the seventies going to every home game and quite a lot of aways but mainly northern, midlands, Lancashire etc. A lot of defunct stadiums now long gone. I did enjoyed some of the football but mainly for the craic with mates and a few bevvies etc.

But the running joke was I never actually saw us win an away game for like (it seemed) years. Everbody laughed about it especially the piggy 'mates' and me as well. You just knew we were gonna get beat, like every time.

Bizarre really as we always seemed to have a good day out and then the match kind of was the crap part of the proceedings.
 
Approx 4-45 PM Saturday 2nd May 1981. Ron Green 'saves' THAT penalty.
 
GVBlade said:
Losing to Altrincham, 3-0, away, about 1981. I was there. Embarrassing.
Battle of Bramall Lane, v West Brom, with Warnock. Embarrassing.
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I took Harry Paraska, a colleague from Pittsburgh, to impress at Altrincham
 
Nine Inch Nalis said:
Before my time, but I heard that Don Givens was never supposed to take the penalty, but only did so because the regular penalty taker basically neshed it?
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They all did. They all turned the other way. He was the only one brave enough.
To make matters worse, it was never a penalty and the ref only gave it to level up his previous error.
 
SouthEssexBlade said:
The designated penalty taker was Kenworthy, who was injured and not playing. Matthews was nominated for the day but bottled it.
Cambridge I think was the game that condemned us to to Div 3 for the first time in our history which was probably just as hard to take.
Boxing Day was another that was difficult to swallow.
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I thought that Martin Peters had dropped Kenworthy, might be wrong.
I agree about going down to division 3 it was unthinkable at the time.Prior to that we hadn’t finished lower than 12th in tier 2 in our history!
 
My ultimate kick in the guts moments the 6 seasons that ended in relegation to 4th Division, hurts especially so as we just missed Europe in 74/5 and playing some shit hot football. The 1st relegation to 3rd division hurt as we'd never finished below 11th in old 2nd division then Happy Harry came along.

But as soon as we started to build South Stand we were club in real turmoil, no pot to piss in broken promises the only shining light of 4th division was the away games were unreal. I've watched them in 5 divisions and you follow the Blades you are NOT a glory hunter, people say we've won nowt, well we won divisions 3 & 4 wow you say.

I say to that try telling players and fans it means nothing its 46 games of pure hard slog, plus I believe were one of only 5 teams in all leagues to win all 4 divisions. The teams I believe are United, Portsmouth, Wolves, Burnley and Preston North End, no matter what it's quite an achievement don't forget PNE 1st team to win domestic double.
 
The first kick in the teeth for me was when we sold Mick Jones - followed very quickly by Sherman (Alan Birchenall) and we went down as a result. There have been so many disappointments since then interspersed with infrequent moments of joy.
As a long time Blade we learn to enjoy the few good times because we know they wont last long !!
 
Nothing can compare to dropping down to the fourth division. If you could bottle Sheffield United in how to fck up a season it had to be 1981. In September we were top of the table but results were poor thereafter. Harry Haslam was replaced by the inspired decision to give World Cup winner Martin Peters the job. He was completely out of his depth, it later transpired the players couldn't stand him.

Even then we went into the relegation decider with Walsall having never been in the relegation places all season with a positive goal difference. Kenworthy our penalty taker was officially listed as being injured but said in later years he wasn't as he'd fallen out with Peters.

The game was a nervous affair but a draw would mean we stayed up. The ref. gave a penalty that wasn't late into the game and the atmosphere turned toxic. He evened it up with a nothing decision with a few minutes left and the Kop went wild. John Matthews to his eternal shame bottled it and left poor Don Givens to pick up the pieces and take the penalty. It was a woeful effort as he rolled it into Greens arms. The remaining minutes of the game were played out in stunned disbelief.

When the final whistle went everyone turned to the radio to see what the other results were. If Swindon lost we stayed up. A number of angry Blades charged across the pitch to get at the Walsall fans in the Lane End. News broke out on the Kop that Swindon had lost and we had stayed up with a +2 goal difference to their - 14. I remember having to pull one of my mates off a fellow Blade he was trying to throttle demanding to know how he knew Swindon had lost.

Many left the ground thinking we had survived. Of course our SYP friends fearing a riot had leaked the news of a Swindon defeat when in fact they had drawn. What made it worse later was learning that the pigs at Watford having been spanked 4-0 had celebrated as if they'd won the FA Cup when our result came through. They still talk about it now on Porktalk as a badge of honour if they were present at the game. Typical of our luck was that the FA introduced 3 points for a win the next season. If it had been introduced a season earlier we would have stayed up comfortably.

A difficult summer followed coping with the other halfs pig relatives euphoria at our demise, thats their mentality rather we did badly than they do well. Then out of nowhere came Reg Brearley, Ian Porterfield, Keith Edwards, Colin Morris and one of the best seasons to be a Blade.
 
To those who mentioned Don Givens (some time-served posters on here will remember what I'm about to say) Mrs BoSS the First and I were Godparents to one of Don's little girls as he was married to Mrs Boss's best friend and I know he was devastated.

John Matthews refused to take the penalty and no-one else had the guts to volunteer so Don stepped up to the plate. My father-in-law was in the JSS with me and when he saw Don was taking the penalty he looked at me and just said, "brilliant player as he is he can't take a penalty to save his life." He was right ☹

We phoned the Givens family a couple of days later to ask how he was. His wife told us that she left him to wash up after lunch the next day and she suddenly realised that it had all gone quiet in the kitchen after she heard him running the water and putting the dishes in the sink (correct, no dishwasher!). She went into the kitchen to see Don sat a the table with his head in his hands and the sink overflowing!

He later told me he'd have to wear a mask every time he went on the M1 past Sheffield.

It's a shame as he was lined up for a full player-coach contract the following season.

As an aside, on the day Don became the leading Republic of Ireland goal scorer, he was taken straight from the pitch in his muddy kit and boots to the then president, de Valera, to be awarded with a big green marble shamrock to honour the event. He was very proud of it and kept it on a sideboard in Crowthorne where they lived at a time. It was a bleeding monstrosity but he loved it all the same 🙂
 
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Blade1959 said:
I thought that Martin Peters had dropped Kenworthy, might be wrong.
I agree about going down to division 3 it was unthinkable at the time.Prior to that we hadn’t finished lower than 12th in tier 2 in our history!
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yes peters did drop kenworthy he says so in his book and is adamant if he had been on the pitch he would have scored
 
Addison said:
Nothing can compare to dropping down to the fourth division. If you could bottle Sheffield United in how to fck up a season it had to be 1981. In September we were top of the table but results were poor thereafter. Harry Haslam was replaced by the inspired decision to give World Cup winner Martin Peters the job. He was completely out of his depth, it later transpired the players couldn't stand him.

Even then we went into the relegation decider with Walsall having never been in the relegation places all season with a positive goal difference. Kenworthy our penalty taker was officially listed as being injured but said in later years he wasn't as he'd fallen out with Peters.

The game was a nervous affair but a draw would mean we stayed up. The ref. gave a penalty that wasn't late into the game and the atmosphere turned toxic. He evened it up with a nothing decision with a few minutes left and the Kop went wild. John Matthews to his eternal shame bottled it and left poor Don Givens to pick up the pieces and take the penalty. It was a woeful effort as he rolled it into Greens arms. The remaining minutes of the game were played out in stunned disbelief.

When the final whistle went everyone turned to the radio to see what the other results were. If Swindon lost we stayed up. A number of angry Blades charged across the pitch to get at the Walsall fans in the Lane End. News broke out on the Kop that Swindon had lost and we had stayed up with a +2 goal difference to their - 14. I remember having to pull one of my mates off a fellow Blade he was trying to throttle demanding to know how he knew Swindon had lost.

Many left the ground thinking we had survived. Of course our SYP friends fearing a riot had leaked the news of a Swindon defeat when in fact they had drawn. What made it worse later was learning that the pigs at Watford having been spanked 4-0 had celebrated as if they'd won the FA Cup when our result came through. They still talk about it now on Porktalk as a badge of honour if they were present at the game. Typical of our luck was that the FA introduced 3 points for a win the next season. If it had been introduced a season earlier we would have stayed up comfortably.

A difficult summer followed coping with the other halfs pig relatives euphoria at our demise, thats their mentality rather we did badly than they do well. Then out of nowhere came Reg Brearley, Ian Porterfield, Keith Edwards, Colin Morris and one of the best seasons to be a Blade.
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It was a pig policeman called "Noddy" Newman who leaked the Swindon defeat lie. He was a typical big mouthed Wednesday fan who bragged about it for weeks afterwards, thinking it hilarious.
 

atlanticblade said:
It was a pig policeman called "Noddy" Newman who leaked the Swindon defeat lie. He was a typical big mouthed Wednesday fan who bragged about it for weeks afterwards, thinking it hilarious.
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yeah and we found it hilarious in may 1990 when we went up and snorters went down 🤣🤣🤣
 
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