Dullest seasons following United

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

1973Blade

1973Blade

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
6,815
Reaction score
16,317
It's been a long time since we've had an uneventful season, we are usually in the promotion or relegation frame until the final weeks of the season . Since I've been supporting United in 1980, three seasons spring to mind (or don't) for being almost totally forgetful:
1. 1986/87 with Billy McEwan as manager (the equivalent of Colin Baker in Dr Who, the one everyone forgets). We finished 9th, with no playoffs our season was effectively over by February. One game I do recall was the mad game against Portsmouth where they ended up with 8 men and we still needed a Paul Mariner own goal to win (the original Battle Of Bramall Lane).
2. 1994/95 the season that followed relegation from the Premier League. Dave Bassett was coming to the end of his time with us, we finished in 8th place but were clearly on the decline. A rare game that stands out was the 3-3 against Wolves , was that the game where Graham Taylor was spat on by a fan?
3. 2000-01 Warnock was starting the slow progress that ended with us being in the Premier League. We spent 12 years in the second tier, one of our longest spells in the same league and this was perhaps the most forgettable season. We finished 10th, the stand out feature of this season was that we played Wednesday three times, including in the League Cup. A highlight was a 2-1 away win at Hillsborough with Carl Asaba scoring.
Personally, I think exciting can be overrated and I would be quite happy with us doing a Crystal Palace for the next few years!
 

I think this might be the most uneventful of the lot as the other 19 teams get more points during the season than we get corners
 
Katzenjammer said:
2001/2002

If not for the 'Battle of Bramall Lane', nobody would remember a thing about that season.

We finished 13th, top scorer was Carl Asaba on 7 goals, both fixtures against the Pigs ended up 0-0 and crowds generally hovered between 14-18k.
Click to expand...
This is the time i got into the Blades as a child, god knows how i stuck with it after 00-02… i remember my first game watched live (tv) was a dull draw against wba which was on bbc for some reason.

The following seasons with promotion and triple assault got me hook line and sinker though!
 
Katzenjammer said:
2001/2002

If not for the 'Battle of Bramall Lane', nobody would remember a thing about that season.

We finished 13th, top scorer was Carl Asaba on 7 goals, both fixtures against the Pigs ended up 0-0 and crowds generally hovered between 14-18k.
Click to expand...
We had a decent comeback against Brighton away that season, 2-0 down at HT, won 4-2.

14-15 was pretty uneventful until the second leg of the playoffs... I don't know who had the biggest mare, us or Swindon's keeper ;)
 
1973Blade said:
It's been a long time since we've had an uneventful season, we are usually in the promotion or relegation frame until the final weeks of the season . Since I've been supporting United in 1980, three seasons spring to mind (or don't) for being almost totally forgetful:
1. 1986/87 with Billy McEwan as manager (the equivalent of Colin Baker in Dr Who, the one everyone forgets). We finished 9th, with no playoffs our season was effectively over by February. One game I do recall was the mad game against Portsmouth where they ended up with 8 men and we still needed a Paul Mariner own goal to win (the original Battle Of Bramall Lane).
2. 1994/95 the season that followed relegation from the Premier League. Dave Bassett was coming to the end of his time with us, we finished in 8th place but were clearly on the decline. A rare game that stands out was the 3-3 against Wolves , was that the game where Graham Taylor was spat on by a fan?
3. 2000-01 Warnock was starting the slow progress that ended with us being in the Premier League. We spent 12 years in the second tier, one of our longest spells in the same league and this was perhaps the most forgettable season. We finished 10th, the stand out feature of this season was that we played Wednesday three times, including in the League Cup. A highlight was a 2-1 away win at Hillsborough with Carl Asaba scoring.
Personally, I think exciting can be overrated and I would be quite happy with us doing a Crystal Palace for the next few years!
Click to expand...

Agree on 1986-7 and 2000-1. 1994-5 was decent as we had a great home record and though we slipped out of the playoff race ultimately we were in it till late on. There was also at least 10 sendings off (including 4 in the Udinese game) which kept things lively.

I would add 1984-5: 18th place out of 22. Never really in relegation danger because the 4 teams below us were crap. Had a couple of good spells but a lot of poor football. Didn't win any of the last 8 matches.

Plus 2001-2 2009-10 and 2015-16 as people have stated above.

1982-3 Silent mentions was weird because it was a nothing season in terms of league position and a big let down after promotion but if you only went at home (as I did) you usually saw a home win - we won 16 out of 23 games, and 9 in a row at one point. We also had some really good cup games that year.

There are very few such seasons to pick from, which goes to my point that of all the teams that never win anything, we are the most interesting. There's always something happening. We are usually getting promoted, losing in the playoffs, just missing the playoffs, or fighting top tier relegation. Plus if we do finish in the bottom half we usually go down in agonising fashion in the last game.
 

2004/05 was awful.

Warnock was attempting to stay local in only signing players from Yorkshire teams, or players who were Yorkshire born. We ended up with woefully poor players in Danny Cadamateri, Luke Beckett and Tommy Johnson. Alan Quinn won the United fans over but never had the same impact as the man he replaced, Michael Brown. With Stuart McCall practically retired from playing we never been really bossed midfield and with Nuddy gone the pressure was on Tonge to deliver. We pretty much spent all of the season flirting with the playoffs but never really looking like getting into the top six and staying there. After the turn of the year we took a serious loss in form and ended the season in 8th. It was an awful season from start to finish. The only highlight for me was knocking Villa out of the cup.
 
sonofbruce said:
2004/05 was awful.

Warnock was attempting to stay local in only signing players from Yorkshire teams, or players who were Yorkshire born. We ended up with woefully poor players in Danny Cadamateri, Luke Beckett and Tommy Johnson. Alan Quinn won the United fans over but never had the same impact as the man he replaced, Michael Brown. With Stuart McCall practically retired from playing we never been really bossed midfield and with Nuddy gone the pressure was on Tonge to deliver. We pretty much spent all of the season flirting with the playoffs but never really looking like getting into the top six and staying there. After the turn of the year we took a serious loss in form and ended the season in 8th. It was an awful season from start to finish. The only highlight for me was knocking Villa out of the cup.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'd forgotten how poor we were that year. After the last match of the season there were some chants of Warnock Out in the carpark. Its a good job that he stayed for the following season!
 
BrianRhewster said:
We had a decent comeback against Brighton away that season, 2-0 down at HT, won 4-2.

14-15 was pretty uneventful until the second leg of the playoffs... I don't know who had the biggest mare, us or Swindon's keeper ;)
Click to expand...

At the Estadio Del Withdean I believe? What a ground.
 
1973Blade said:
It's been a long time since we've had an uneventful season, we are usually in the promotion or relegation frame until the final weeks of the season . Since I've been supporting United in 1980, three seasons spring to mind (or don't) for being almost totally forgetful:
1. 1986/87 with Billy McEwan as manager (the equivalent of Colin Baker in Dr Who, the one everyone forgets). We finished 9th, with no playoffs our season was effectively over by February. One game I do recall was the mad game against Portsmouth where they ended up with 8 men and we still needed a Paul Mariner own goal to win (the original Battle Of Bramall Lane).
2. 1994/95 the season that followed relegation from the Premier League. Dave Bassett was coming to the end of his time with us, we finished in 8th place but were clearly on the decline. A rare game that stands out was the 3-3 against Wolves , was that the game where Graham Taylor was spat on by a fan?
3. 2000-01 Warnock was starting the slow progress that ended with us being in the Premier League. We spent 12 years in the second tier, one of our longest spells in the same league and this was perhaps the most forgettable season. We finished 10th, the stand out feature of this season was that we played Wednesday three times, including in the League Cup. A highlight was a 2-1 away win at Hillsborough with Carl Asaba scoring.
Personally, I think exciting can be overrated and I would be quite happy with us doing a Crystal Palace for the next few years!
Click to expand...
I’d personally add the relegation season 20/21, it was nailed on relegation from probably before Christmas if we’re being honest, when we won Newcastle and Man U we got a bit excited but soon came back to the realisation that we were going down !
 
BrianRhewster said:
We had a decent comeback against Brighton away that season, 2-0 down at HT, won 4-2.

14-15 was pretty uneventful until the second leg of the playoffs... I don't know who had the biggest mare, us or Swindon's keeper ;)
Click to expand...
14-15. That dreadful announcer at the end. ‘Your Sheffield United 1 Fleetwood Town 2’. Gormless charmless nutcase.
 
Revolution said:
Agree on 1986-7 and 2000-1. 1994-5 was decent as we had a great home record and though we slipped out of the playoff race ultimately we were in it till late on. There was also at least 10 sendings off (including 4 in the Udinese game) which kept things lively.

I would add 1984-5: 18th place out of 22. Never really in relegation danger because the 4 teams below us were crap. Had a couple of good spells but a lot of poor football. Didn't win any of the last 8 matches.

Plus 2001-2 2009-10 and 2015-16 as people have stated above.

1982-3 Silent mentions was weird because it was a nothing season in terms of league position and a big let down after promotion but if you only went at home (as I did) you usually saw a home win - we won 16 out of 23 games, and 9 in a row at one point. We also had some really good cup games that year.

There are very few such seasons to pick from, which goes to my point that of all the teams that never win anything, we are the most interesting. There's always something happening. We are usually getting promoted, losing in the playoffs, just missing the playoffs, or fighting top tier relegation. Plus if we do finish in the bottom half we usually go down in agonising fashion in the last game.
Click to expand...
To be fair, in 84-5 we were in the relegation zone just before Xmas. We then took 24 points from the next 14 games before turning crap again and taking only taking 3 points from the last 8 and scoring only 4 goals .

So, the surge away from relegation from Dec to Mar was quite exciting. There was some memorable games top. 4-1 v promotion chasing Portsmouth, losing 3-4 to Birmingham after being 2 up, Mel Eves' stunner v Leeds and a good 3-1 win over a very physical Barnsley (Roger Wylde breaking Dennis Mortimers jaw).
 
1973Blade said:
It's been a long time since we've had an uneventful season, we are usually in the promotion or relegation frame until the final weeks of the season . Since I've been supporting United in 1980, three seasons spring to mind (or don't) for being almost totally forgetful:
1. 1986/87 with Billy McEwan as manager (the equivalent of Colin Baker in Dr Who, the one everyone forgets). We finished 9th, with no playoffs our season was effectively over by February. One game I do recall was the mad game against Portsmouth where they ended up with 8 men and we still needed a Paul Mariner own goal to win (the original Battle Of Bramall Lane).
2. 1994/95 the season that followed relegation from the Premier League. Dave Bassett was coming to the end of his time with us, we finished in 8th place but were clearly on the decline. A rare game that stands out was the 3-3 against Wolves , was that the game where Graham Taylor was spat on by a fan?
3. 2000-01 Warnock was starting the slow progress that ended with us being in the Premier League. We spent 12 years in the second tier, one of our longest spells in the same league and this was perhaps the most forgettable season. We finished 10th, the stand out feature of this season was that we played Wednesday three times, including in the League Cup. A highlight was a 2-1 away win at Hillsborough with Carl Asaba scoring.
Personally, I think exciting can be overrated and I would be quite happy with us doing a Crystal Palace for the next few years!
Click to expand...
86-7 was actually the first year of the play offs and we had an outside chance of them late on. I remember being sat next to a Derby fan in the South stand when they came to the Lane and he was saying we could still make the play offs.

Also in 00-01, we were 6th after thr famous Santos game at QPR in March and only really felt out if contention after taking only 1 point from 4 games in mid April.
 
Programmechap2 said:
86-7 was actually the first year of the play offs and we had an outside chance of them late on. I remember being sat next to a Derby fan in the South stand when they came to the Lane and he was saying we could still make the play offs.

Also in 00-01, we were 6th after thr famous Santos game at QPR in March and only really felt out if contention after taking only 1 point from 4 games in mid April.
Click to expand...
SANTOS!
 
Programmechap2 said:
86-7 was actually the first year of the play offs and we had an outside chance of them late on. I remember being sat next to a Derby fan in the South stand when they came to the Lane and he was saying we could still make the play offs.

Also in 00-01, we were 6th after thr famous Santos game at QPR in March and only really felt out if contention after taking only 1 point from 4 games in mid April.
Click to expand...
Santos was 01/02

I don't recall feeling anywhere near play offs in 87 although it was only top 5 in in, we qualified for play offs season after :-/
 
WF10BLADE said:
Santos was 01/02

I don't recall feeling anywhere near play offs in 87 although it was only top 5 in in, we qualified for play offs season after :-/
Click to expand...
Nope, it was 3 March 2001, took us into the play off zone.

What with the play offs, it's a very rare season there's no easonable possibility of promotion, play offs or relegation until very late in the season . I make it only 1 since 86 Thus

86-7 play off contender, over late April
87-88 relegated
88-89 promoted
89-90 promoted
90-1 relegation struggle, safe in April
91-2 ditto
92-3 relegation struggle, safe penultimate game
93-4 relegated
94-5 play off contender, over mid April
95-6 relegation struggle, safe in April
96-7 play offs
97-8 play offs
98-9 play off contenders, over early April
99-00 relegation struggle, safe late March
00-01,play off contenders, over mid April
01-02 only nothing season
02-03 play offs
03-04 play off contenders, over penultimate game
04-05 ditto
05-06 promoted
06-07 relegated
07'08, late play off charge. Over last game
08-09 play offs
09-10 play off contenders, over early April
10-11 relegated
11-12 play offs
12-13 ditto
13-14 relegation struggle,safe late March
14-15 play offs
15-16 play off contenders, over late April
16-17 promoted
17-18 play off contenders, over late April
18-19 promoted
19-20 Europe contenders,over penultimate game
20-21 relegated
21-22 play offs
22-23 promoted.
 
Re 86-7, with 5 games left, we were 5 points behind Ipswich in 4th, with them still to play at home, so overhauling them was certainly possible.
 
Programmechap2 said:
Nope, it was 3 March 2001, took us into the play off zone.

What with the play offs, it's a very rare season there's no easonable possibility of promotion, play offs or relegation until very late in the season . I make it only 1 since 86 Thus

86-7 play off contender, over late April
87-88 relegated
88-89 promoted
89-90 promoted
90-1 relegation struggle, safe in April
91-2 ditto
92-3 relegation struggle, safe penultimate game
93-4 relegated
94-5 play off contender, over mid April
95-6 relegation struggle, safe in April
96-7 play offs
97-8 play offs
98-9 play off contenders, over early April
99-00 relegation struggle, safe late March
00-01,play off contenders, over mid April
01-02 only nothing season
02-03 play offs
03-04 play off contenders, over penultimate game
04-05 ditto
05-06 promoted
06-07 relegated
07'08, late play off charge. Over last game
08-09 play offs
09-10 play off contenders, over early April
10-11 relegated
11-12 play offs
12-13 ditto
13-14 relegation struggle,safe late March
14-15 play offs
15-16 play off contenders, over late April
16-17 promoted
17-18 play off contenders, over late April
18-19 promoted
19-20 Europe contenders,over penultimate game
20-21 relegated
21-22 play offs
22-23 promoted.
Click to expand...

This shows exactly why the play-offs exist. The gap between 'play off contenders, over early April' (meaning about 7-10 points off the play offs) and 'relegation struggle, safe early April' (meaning about 7-10 points above relegation) is very narrow.

As I've said in previous threads, we've only finished in the bottom half 3 times since 2003, and were relegated in all 3 of those seasons (100% conversion rate). We've finished in the top half 17 times in that period, but only got promoted 4 times (24% conversion rate).
 

Its never dull being a Blade !!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom