grafikhaus
Kraft durch Freude
OK. Gimme ten minutes (it's 09:40 0n Sunday night) as I'll need a few minutes to load everything. I hope you'll think it's worth it?
Incredibly for the sixth consecutive match (Preston, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Bolton, Derby County and now The Wednesday) our first league meeting with Wednesday came in the 1893 season, just the sixth season of The Football League and The Blades had only been founded in 1889..
The ludicrously-named Sheffield Wednesday are an average football club whose natural residence is the second or third tier. Founded in 1929, Sheffield Wednesday claim that this is ‘150 years of Sheffield Wednesday’ when, in fact, it is only 89 (They were known as ‘The Wednesday’ until 1929). This is just one example of the ridiculous sense of self-entitlement that the followers of this club have – they couldn’t lie straight in bed. This year (2018), Wednesday have another anniversary to celebrate – ’50 years since we averaged 30k crowds in a season’ (United have managed it twice in this time).
Blessed with favouritism in the local media, their resentment of Sheffield United runs deep. United are not an inter-city rival as Wednesday – and most of their support – are situated on the outskirts of Barnsley – but this hatred of The Blades goes back a long way. As ever the Establishment favoured The Pigs (Wednesday’s official nickname which I’ll use from now on, as I’m tired of typing out ‘Wednezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…’) for the 1966 World Cup. A new, impressive stadium was built using grants and interest-free loans (another feature of the Pigs is that they never pay their way). Since it was built, the stadium has reached new levels of decrepitude and is now a sad sight. Once called ‘The Wembley of the North’, but now is the worst ground in South Yorkshire.
With envy, the Pigs have watched their rivals in nearby Sheffield overtake them in terms of support, stadium, infrastructure (including the impressive Steelphalt Academy which regularly produces stellar talent) and status. Charismatic manager Chris Wilder has united the support whereas Pigs chairman Kim Wrong ‘Un (also known as Despot Chansiri or Little Rocket Man) continues to destroy the pigs’ future. As ever, the Blades go into a Steel City Derby facing players from ‘the other side’ who have cost vastly more than ours. But this hasn’t stopped United refusing to back down – not under (amongst others) Dave Bassett, Neil Warnock and certainly not Chris Wilder.
Still we mustn’t gloat (even though Wednesday have spent the last six years doing just that…)
My first-ever derby match came on 4th February, 1967 when a crowd of 43,490 saw veteran (33 years old), bald-headed Bill Punton scored the only goal for the Blades at Bramall Lane. Bill only played 16 times for us and scored just one goal, and that was it
. In the earlier fixture that season – September 24th, 1966 – The Blades drew 2-2 with goals from Woodward and Jones in front of a Hillsborough crowd of 42,730. See? United have regularly got bigger attendances than their five-fingered Barnsley cousins.
Recent-ish meetings:
Full list
The most recent meeting was our memorable 4-2 win at Hillsborough on 24th February 2017. 2-0 up from goals by Fleck and Clarke, Wendy pulled back a goal right on half-time. Early in the second half, the pigs equalized and the Owls fans, knowing they’d been comprehensively outplayed, sensed that they could get something from this match. That feeling lasted less than 2 minutes when Duffy scored a superb individual goal to make it 3-2 and Leon Clarke made it 4-2:
Worthy of note are the two derbies in our ill-fated 2011-12 season. On 16th October 2011, the Blades led 2-0 at half-time with goals from Stephen Quinn and Ched Evans. However, slack defending from United allowed Wendy to draw the match 2-2.
In the return game on 26th February 2012, Gary Megson’s Owls won 0-1 with a late goal from Chris O’Grady. The full impact of the loss of five points in these two games would become clear at the end of this third-flight game when Ched Evans was wrongfully imprisoned, United’s form suffered and we were pipped for promotion by…Wednesday.
On 18th April. 2010 a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Hillsborough saw Richard Creswell singled out for ‘special treatment’:
Wednesday’s goal had come in controversial circumstances, though. Johnson appeared to catch Richard Cresswell with an elbow that forced the United striker off the field for seven minutes to receive stitches, during which time Potter scored. Match report.
On February 7th, 2009 Wednesday won 1-2 at Bramall Lane. Thus our manager – Kevin Blackwell – had allowed Sheffield Wednesday to do the first league double over us in the same season, ever. (As much as they deny it, that lot were known as ‘The Wednesday’ until 1929). Brian ‘Moose Head’ Laws, the pig manager, ran up and down in front of the South Stand holding a blue and white scarf aloft. Cunt. Playing up front for Wednesday that day was Leon Clarke…
September 18th, 2009 saw the 124th ‘Steel City Derby’ played at Bramall Lane. The Blades were leading 3-0 at half-time, sparking jubilant scenes among Blades fans. Our first goal was scored by Jamie Ward in the seventh minute:
True to form, Wednesday crocked Ward in the 33rd minute and, as he was being stretchered off at the Bramall Lane end, the Wendy fans pelted him with coins and serenaded his with ‘Die, die, piggy die’. Such class from the inbreds. Our other goals came from Darius Henderson and an own goal by Buxton.
On 8th April 2008 we met the pigs in the Championship at Bramall Lane. Trailing 0-2 to two Adam Bolder goals either side of half time, United were back in it a 1-2 thanks to an own goal by Richard Wood. In the 85th minute, United won a free kick around 30 yards from goal at the kop end. After a protracted discussion, James Beattie stepped up and smashed in a wonder goal and the game ended 2-2.
On 19th October 2008 we lost 0-1 at Hillsborough, a defeat aided by referee Mike Dean sending off Matt Kilgallon for doing fuck all in the 27th minute.
This Championship game saw United with a tidy line up:
On 18th February 2006, the Blades triumphed 2-1 at Hillsborough in The Championship. Neil Warnock’s Blades would get promotion to the Premier League that season and our two wonder goals came from Michael Tonge and Adi Akinbyi.
Tonge demonstrates where his free kick went to Chris Armstrong
Incredibly for the sixth consecutive match (Preston, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Bolton, Derby County and now The Wednesday) our first league meeting with Wednesday came in the 1893 season, just the sixth season of The Football League and The Blades had only been founded in 1889..
The ludicrously-named Sheffield Wednesday are an average football club whose natural residence is the second or third tier. Founded in 1929, Sheffield Wednesday claim that this is ‘150 years of Sheffield Wednesday’ when, in fact, it is only 89 (They were known as ‘The Wednesday’ until 1929). This is just one example of the ridiculous sense of self-entitlement that the followers of this club have – they couldn’t lie straight in bed. This year (2018), Wednesday have another anniversary to celebrate – ’50 years since we averaged 30k crowds in a season’ (United have managed it twice in this time).
Blessed with favouritism in the local media, their resentment of Sheffield United runs deep. United are not an inter-city rival as Wednesday – and most of their support – are situated on the outskirts of Barnsley – but this hatred of The Blades goes back a long way. As ever the Establishment favoured The Pigs (Wednesday’s official nickname which I’ll use from now on, as I’m tired of typing out ‘Wednezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…’) for the 1966 World Cup. A new, impressive stadium was built using grants and interest-free loans (another feature of the Pigs is that they never pay their way). Since it was built, the stadium has reached new levels of decrepitude and is now a sad sight. Once called ‘The Wembley of the North’, but now is the worst ground in South Yorkshire.
With envy, the Pigs have watched their rivals in nearby Sheffield overtake them in terms of support, stadium, infrastructure (including the impressive Steelphalt Academy which regularly produces stellar talent) and status. Charismatic manager Chris Wilder has united the support whereas Pigs chairman Kim Wrong ‘Un (also known as Despot Chansiri or Little Rocket Man) continues to destroy the pigs’ future. As ever, the Blades go into a Steel City Derby facing players from ‘the other side’ who have cost vastly more than ours. But this hasn’t stopped United refusing to back down – not under (amongst others) Dave Bassett, Neil Warnock and certainly not Chris Wilder.
Still we mustn’t gloat (even though Wednesday have spent the last six years doing just that…)
My first-ever derby match came on 4th February, 1967 when a crowd of 43,490 saw veteran (33 years old), bald-headed Bill Punton scored the only goal for the Blades at Bramall Lane. Bill only played 16 times for us and scored just one goal, and that was it
. In the earlier fixture that season – September 24th, 1966 – The Blades drew 2-2 with goals from Woodward and Jones in front of a Hillsborough crowd of 42,730. See? United have regularly got bigger attendances than their five-fingered Barnsley cousins.Recent-ish meetings:
Full list
The most recent meeting was our memorable 4-2 win at Hillsborough on 24th February 2017. 2-0 up from goals by Fleck and Clarke, Wendy pulled back a goal right on half-time. Early in the second half, the pigs equalized and the Owls fans, knowing they’d been comprehensively outplayed, sensed that they could get something from this match. That feeling lasted less than 2 minutes when Duffy scored a superb individual goal to make it 3-2 and Leon Clarke made it 4-2:
Worthy of note are the two derbies in our ill-fated 2011-12 season. On 16th October 2011, the Blades led 2-0 at half-time with goals from Stephen Quinn and Ched Evans. However, slack defending from United allowed Wendy to draw the match 2-2.
In the return game on 26th February 2012, Gary Megson’s Owls won 0-1 with a late goal from Chris O’Grady. The full impact of the loss of five points in these two games would become clear at the end of this third-flight game when Ched Evans was wrongfully imprisoned, United’s form suffered and we were pipped for promotion by…Wednesday.
On 18th April. 2010 a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Hillsborough saw Richard Creswell singled out for ‘special treatment’:
Wednesday’s goal had come in controversial circumstances, though. Johnson appeared to catch Richard Cresswell with an elbow that forced the United striker off the field for seven minutes to receive stitches, during which time Potter scored. Match report.
On February 7th, 2009 Wednesday won 1-2 at Bramall Lane. Thus our manager – Kevin Blackwell – had allowed Sheffield Wednesday to do the first league double over us in the same season, ever. (As much as they deny it, that lot were known as ‘The Wednesday’ until 1929). Brian ‘Moose Head’ Laws, the pig manager, ran up and down in front of the South Stand holding a blue and white scarf aloft. Cunt. Playing up front for Wednesday that day was Leon Clarke…
September 18th, 2009 saw the 124th ‘Steel City Derby’ played at Bramall Lane. The Blades were leading 3-0 at half-time, sparking jubilant scenes among Blades fans. Our first goal was scored by Jamie Ward in the seventh minute:
True to form, Wednesday crocked Ward in the 33rd minute and, as he was being stretchered off at the Bramall Lane end, the Wendy fans pelted him with coins and serenaded his with ‘Die, die, piggy die’. Such class from the inbreds. Our other goals came from Darius Henderson and an own goal by Buxton.
On 8th April 2008 we met the pigs in the Championship at Bramall Lane. Trailing 0-2 to two Adam Bolder goals either side of half time, United were back in it a 1-2 thanks to an own goal by Richard Wood. In the 85th minute, United won a free kick around 30 yards from goal at the kop end. After a protracted discussion, James Beattie stepped up and smashed in a wonder goal and the game ended 2-2.
On 19th October 2008 we lost 0-1 at Hillsborough, a defeat aided by referee Mike Dean sending off Matt Kilgallon for doing fuck all in the 27th minute.
On 18th February 2006, the Blades triumphed 2-1 at Hillsborough in The Championship. Neil Warnock’s Blades would get promotion to the Premier League that season and our two wonder goals came from Michael Tonge and Adi Akinbyi.
Tonge demonstrates where his free kick went to Chris Armstrong
Last edited:
