'My uncle played for Sheffield United'
Veron reveals his family's secret Yorkshire past
* Observer Sport Monthly, Sunday 2 March 2003
Juan Sebastian Veron is not the first member of his family to play for an English league team. OSM can reveal that Pedro Verde - a skilful but somewhat lightweight striker who played for Sheffield United between 1978 and 1981 - is in fact Veron's uncle.
'As far as I'm aware, no one has ever known about this,' Veron told OSM, 'but my uncle Pedro played for Sheffield United. He used to play with my dad at Estudiantes and through my dad got to know my mum, and her sister. And eventually he and mum's sister got married. My uncle and aunt then spent two years living in Sheffield. So there I was hoping to play for Sheffield United and here I am at Manchester United!'
Verde had been brought to Bramall Lane by the then manager Harry Haslam, who signed the talented midfielder Alex Sabella at the same time. It would be fair to say that, while Sabella dazzled, Verde didn't. Having played in a friendly at Bramall Lane against a River Plate team that included five World Cup winners - the match was organised as part of the Sabella deal - Verde found himself out of the team. In all, he played just 10 times in three years at United, scoring three times, and during his last two years he barely featured at all, and when he did it was normally only for the reserves.
Verde's contract was cancelled in the summer of 1981, around the time of the Falklands war, and in much the same way that Tottenham sent Ardiles on loan to Paris St Germain to avoid unnecessary grief, Verde was forced to leave the Blades.
The commercial manager of Sheffield United's academy, Peter Garrett, can still remember the day Verde and Sabella signed. 'It was like the fans were getting their own bit of World Cup fever,' he says. 'There was a massive furore at the club because teams weren't really signing foreign players in those days. Also you never just bought the one over, you always got two. Most fans thought that Verde was only brought over to be a mate for Sabella - because it certainly wasn't for his football skills! I remember him being particularly lightweight.
'You've got to remember they both came over at a difficult time for the club - we got relegated from the Second to the Fourth Division within a couple of years in the early Eighties. Also there is something quite unpoetic about a player as fabulous as Sabella - who would have looked like a world beater in any other team - playing without shin pads with his socks rolled down on a shit pitch at Halifax having some bloody great Yorkshire centre-half kicking the crap out of him.
'But my abiding memory of Pedro was the prank he pulled before he left. The Yorkshire and Humberside Cup - or whatever it was called then - was a local competition that both United and Wednesday used to enter. Often they both made the final and would play in front of crowds of 50,000. Anyway, Verde's claim to fame from his time here is that after winning the Cup he nicked the bloody trophy! People at the club are pretty sure that when he buggered off back to Argentina he took it with him because it's never been seen since.'
Verde's time in Sheffield might have been even more memorable had Haslam returned with the player he really wanted, a brilliant 16 year old. However he was going to cost around £350,000 on top of the £150,000 transfer fee, so the deal fell through. Which was a shame, because the kid was called Diego Maradona.
Who needs Maradona eh?
