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As we’ve only played The Swans once since 2011, I’ve amalgamated this ‘Memries of…’ with the one I did before our most recent meeting when The Blades kicked off the 2018-19 campaign with a home match against newly-relegated Swansea City at Bramall Lane on Saturday 4th August (17:30 KO) in a match shown live on Sky.
First-day excitement was tempered when we suffered a 1-2 defeat in front of 24,654:
Extended highlights here:
Having finished their first season back in The Championship in a creditable tenth place (twelve points above Wednesday), the Blades would lose 0-3 at Middlesbrough three days later. Would this be our ‘difficult second album’? Not really. After the ‘Boro game, we would lose only once in the next ten league games.
There had been just one Swans win in 18 previous league visits to Bramall Lane. That was all the way back in 1939, when they triumphed 2-1 in the old Second Division. Since then, there had been 13 fruitless league trips to the red, white and black half of Sheffield. The most recent of those games was back in December 2010, when a Ched Evans goal was enough to give the home side – who included a certain Leon Britton – all three points.
The Swans were also beaten at United in the two previous seasons, but it was a different story when they travelled north in the 2006-07 FA Cup Third Round on 6th January 2007. Kenny Jackett’s Swans were a League One team and United, under Neil Warnock, were a Premier League club. Yet it was the Swans who romped to a memorable 3-0 victory thanks to two goals from Tom Butler and a Britton penalty.
Swansea (Town) were formed in 1912 and changed their name to Swansea City in 1969 to reflect Swansea's new status as a city. Since their inception, The Swans played all their home games at Vetch Field before moving to their current home – The Liberty Stadium – in 2005. Before Swansea Town was established, children would play football on waste ground in which a plant, called "vetch" (a type of legume) was grown.
Our last meeting was the final match of the 2010-11 season when United lost 0-4 at The Liberty Stadium in The Championship.
This was a pivotal season in both teams’ histories. The Blades would be relegated to the third tier having finished second-bottom in The Championship and would spend the next six years at that level. Swansea finished third and would be promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs. The Swans became the first Welsh team to play in the PL since it was formed in 1992, and would play in the top-flight until their relegation last season.
On 24 February 2013, Swansea beat Bradford City 5–0 in the League Cup final at the (old) Wembley Stadium - the biggest win in the final of this competition. This triumph, in a record victory, was Swansea's first major piece of silverware and qualified them for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. In this competition, The Swans beat Malmö FF (Sweden) in the Third Qualifying Round over two legs and Petrolul Ploiești (Romania) in the Play-Off Round over two legs.
In the Group stage, Swansea would progress to the knockout phase (when the competition was down to 32 teams). This run included a stunning away win over Spanish side Valencia 3–0 at the Mestalla Stadium on 19th September 2013. (The previous Saturday - 14th September - David Weir’s Blades lost at Carlisle 0-1 in Division One. The following Saturday -21st – we lost a home to Preston 0-1 meaning we had won four points in the first eight games). Meanwhile, Swansea’s fine run in the UEFA European League was finally ended by Napoli over two legs.
It’s fair to say that both teams have been on quite a journey in the last few years!
Recent history of Sheffield United v Swansea:
Full history
To date, our League results against Swansea City read:
Home: P: 19 W: 11 D: 6 L: 2 F: 49 A: 18
Away: P: 18 W: 7 D: 3 L: 8 F: 26 A: 31
League Table:
Going into the Swansea game United sit in second place, 13 points above Swansea who are 13th.
Not including Norwich v Birmingham (playing Friday 18th January)
Full Championship Table
Form Guide:
There’s a significant difference between our form over the last six league games and Swansea’s.
Not including Norwich v Birmingham (playing Friday 18th January)
Full Championship Form Guide
Swansea City top scorers:
Ollie McBurnie is easily The Swans’ leading scorer and scored the equalizer in Swans’ 2-1 win at Bramall Lane on the opening day of this season. He missed the 1-1 draw at Preston last Saturday due to illness, but should feature this Saturday:
Significant others.
Kyle Naughton was sold by United to Tottenham along with Kyle Walker in 2009 for a combined fee of £9m. After spending loan spells at Middlesbrough, Leicester City and Norwich, Naughton joined Swansea City on 22 January 2015 for a reported £5 million. A regular for Swans this season, Kyle is expected to line up against United.
Current Swans winger Nathan Dyer had a brief loan spell at Bramall Lane in 2009, scoring once in 7 league appearances. He was deemed surplus to requirements by then-manager Kevin Blackwell. Nathan would move to The Swans for a £400,000 fee from parent club Southampton. He went on to play (to date) 103 Championship games and 163 games in The Premier League. He scored in Swans’ 3-0 win at Aston Villa on 5th January 2019. Just eight appearances so far this season, but Nathan has played in The Swans’ last two games.
Cameron Carter-Vickers played 17 times for The Blades in the 2017-18 season, scoring one goal. Officially back at his parent club, Swansea, CC-V will probably be moved on in this transfer window with Ipswich Town the main interested party.
Current Swans’ captain is Leroy Fer:
Men to watch?
*As I write (15th January 2019), Swansea have failed to make an immediate impact on The Championship and are looking to trim the wage bill/cash in. Both Ayew brothers – Jordan and André – remain loaned out (to Crystal Palace and Fenerbahçe respectively) and there are rumours of a double swoop by Leeds United for Swansea City wingers Jefferson Montero and Daniel James.
Wayne Routledge is a regular in the Swansea line-up.
Finally, Swansea’s Martin Olsson: Played in the England v Sweden World Cup Quarter Final at Samara on 7th July, 2018.
The Manager:
In June 2018, current manager Graham Potter was recruited from Swedish side Östersund, replacing Ex-Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal.
First-day excitement was tempered when we suffered a 1-2 defeat in front of 24,654:
Extended highlights here:
Having finished their first season back in The Championship in a creditable tenth place (twelve points above Wednesday), the Blades would lose 0-3 at Middlesbrough three days later. Would this be our ‘difficult second album’? Not really. After the ‘Boro game, we would lose only once in the next ten league games.
There had been just one Swans win in 18 previous league visits to Bramall Lane. That was all the way back in 1939, when they triumphed 2-1 in the old Second Division. Since then, there had been 13 fruitless league trips to the red, white and black half of Sheffield. The most recent of those games was back in December 2010, when a Ched Evans goal was enough to give the home side – who included a certain Leon Britton – all three points.
The Swans were also beaten at United in the two previous seasons, but it was a different story when they travelled north in the 2006-07 FA Cup Third Round on 6th January 2007. Kenny Jackett’s Swans were a League One team and United, under Neil Warnock, were a Premier League club. Yet it was the Swans who romped to a memorable 3-0 victory thanks to two goals from Tom Butler and a Britton penalty.
Swansea (Town) were formed in 1912 and changed their name to Swansea City in 1969 to reflect Swansea's new status as a city. Since their inception, The Swans played all their home games at Vetch Field before moving to their current home – The Liberty Stadium – in 2005. Before Swansea Town was established, children would play football on waste ground in which a plant, called "vetch" (a type of legume) was grown.
Our last meeting was the final match of the 2010-11 season when United lost 0-4 at The Liberty Stadium in The Championship.
This was a pivotal season in both teams’ histories. The Blades would be relegated to the third tier having finished second-bottom in The Championship and would spend the next six years at that level. Swansea finished third and would be promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs. The Swans became the first Welsh team to play in the PL since it was formed in 1992, and would play in the top-flight until their relegation last season.
On 24 February 2013, Swansea beat Bradford City 5–0 in the League Cup final at the (old) Wembley Stadium - the biggest win in the final of this competition. This triumph, in a record victory, was Swansea's first major piece of silverware and qualified them for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. In this competition, The Swans beat Malmö FF (Sweden) in the Third Qualifying Round over two legs and Petrolul Ploiești (Romania) in the Play-Off Round over two legs.
In the Group stage, Swansea would progress to the knockout phase (when the competition was down to 32 teams). This run included a stunning away win over Spanish side Valencia 3–0 at the Mestalla Stadium on 19th September 2013. (The previous Saturday - 14th September - David Weir’s Blades lost at Carlisle 0-1 in Division One. The following Saturday -21st – we lost a home to Preston 0-1 meaning we had won four points in the first eight games). Meanwhile, Swansea’s fine run in the UEFA European League was finally ended by Napoli over two legs.
It’s fair to say that both teams have been on quite a journey in the last few years!
Recent history of Sheffield United v Swansea:
Full history
To date, our League results against Swansea City read:
Home: P: 19 W: 11 D: 6 L: 2 F: 49 A: 18
Away: P: 18 W: 7 D: 3 L: 8 F: 26 A: 31
League Table:
Going into the Swansea game United sit in second place, 13 points above Swansea who are 13th.
Not including Norwich v Birmingham (playing Friday 18th January)
Full Championship Table
Form Guide:
There’s a significant difference between our form over the last six league games and Swansea’s.
Not including Norwich v Birmingham (playing Friday 18th January)
Full Championship Form Guide
Swansea City top scorers:
Ollie McBurnie is easily The Swans’ leading scorer and scored the equalizer in Swans’ 2-1 win at Bramall Lane on the opening day of this season. He missed the 1-1 draw at Preston last Saturday due to illness, but should feature this Saturday:
Significant others.
Cameron Carter-Vickers played 17 times for The Blades in the 2017-18 season, scoring one goal. Officially back at his parent club, Swansea, CC-V will probably be moved on in this transfer window with Ipswich Town the main interested party.
Men to watch?
*As I write (15th January 2019), Swansea have failed to make an immediate impact on The Championship and are looking to trim the wage bill/cash in. Both Ayew brothers – Jordan and André – remain loaned out (to Crystal Palace and Fenerbahçe respectively) and there are rumours of a double swoop by Leeds United for Swansea City wingers Jefferson Montero and Daniel James.
Wayne Routledge is a regular in the Swansea line-up.
Finally, Swansea’s Martin Olsson: Played in the England v Sweden World Cup Quarter Final at Samara on 7th July, 2018.
The Manager:
In June 2018, current manager Graham Potter was recruited from Swedish side Östersund, replacing Ex-Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal.
