The Pigs call themselves * Massive * when they aren't , perhaps our new name could be * The Bottlers* because we are or perhaps * The Cursed * ?. At the end of this post I will delete S2 4SU from my favourites , I have already deleted all other football and United related sites . After almost 70 years ( 1st match 1956 ) I can no longer give myself emotionally to Fandom. My first gut wrenching disappointment was the 1961 Leicester semi final over 3 matches , we had a perfectly good goal disallowed , missed a pen , couldn't score ....sound familiar ?. Someone started a post stating how many times we have failed in Era defining matches over the years ... I think it stood around the 20 mark ! . Well the 21st was my last as it just won't occur now in my lifetime . Hopefully my sons or grandsons will experience it ?. I suppose we will now enter a period of instability as per usual... we will NOT do a Leeds . If we start well next season then we won't even try to win either cups . If we start bad who knows what the Americans will do ?. The Academy will stutter , the Kop will stay the same etc etc.. I just don't have the time or the will to watch your kids whom you have injected with this curse of being a Blade so gut wrenchingly gutted !. No matter what era -manager - owner , if there is any bad luck to have the Blades will gravitate to it , it's our DNA . It can't be altered.
As others have said, don't do it, stick with it. You've come too far, and experienced too much, to give up now. We're all hurting, and it's far too easy, when you feel like that, to focus on the negatives. You mentioned your sons and grandsons - for me, one of the best things about football supporting, is the family connections, that go from generation to generation. That connection isn't dependant on individual results of individual matches, or the outcome of individual seasons, it's about shared experiences, both good and bad, and about going to matches together, discussing favourite players, favourite matches, and favourite memories.
You talk about the Leicester loss of 1961, gut-wrenching, I know. But what about the Leicester win of 1990? Just look at this picture below:
I can be having the worst day, feeling utterly, utterly wretched, and I'll happen across this photo, and I'll be smiling for an hour. Just look at the picture of sheer joy on Dave Bassett's face - it's fantastic! Yes, it was a long time ago, but there have been other good times, since.
I've been to two Championship promotion parties (open top bus, town hall, etc) in the last 6 years, and a League One title winning promotion party, a couple of years before that. I don't think that's bad.
That's why I can't begrudge Sunderland's promotion, now. It was our turn a couple of years ago, and now it's someone else's turn. That's fine, that's how it goes. We'll have other great days, other things to celebrate, other highs. Experiencing the lows, like last Saturday, is what makes the highs so much better. I always say, I don't regret a single match I've been to, not even the ones that break your heart - it's part of the ride, isn't it? If you look at it like that, as a whole, like a fairground ride, it makes it fun, and it makes the lows so much easier to take. Nobody on a fairground ride, sits there despondent, lamenting the low points, because they're not at the top all the time. They just sit patiently through the low points, accepting the lows as part of the ride, and scream their heads off in delight when they reach the high points again! That'll be us, soon enough, screaming our heads off in delight when something good happens again! It's just difficult to see it, right now.
Something else I always say is that I consider it a gift, being a Blade, I consider it one of the greatest privileges in my life, and I mean that, in all sincerity. And, yes, if you'd asked me the moment our goal was disallowed on Saturday, or the moment Sunderland's second went in, or the moment the final whistle went, Id have said exactly the same thing then. In fact, if you'd asked me, as I was bawling my eyes out on the way home from Wembley in 1993, feeling like I'd had my guts ripped out, I'd have said exactly the same thing then, too. I hated losing both of those matches, hated it with a passion, but I knew then what I know now, and will always know - that w**day and Sunderland might have won a couple of battles against us, but they didn't win the war, nor can they ever win it - because they have to spend the rest of their lives being w**dayites and Mackems, and I get to spend the rest of my life being a Blade, and what a fantastic privilege that is!
So you see, I don't agree that you've given your sons a curse, I think you've given them a gift - it's just in the way you look at it. Find some photos, or some newspaper clips, or video clips, of your favourite United moments, or favourite United players - you must have some - you've called yourself after Joe Shaw, so you must love or admire him, and have happy memories of him - and show the photos or clips to your sons and grandsons, and tell them what they mean to you, and why they're important to you. Take a trip together to Bramall Lane, if you can, and go and see Joe Shaw's statue, or go to one of the walls or panels dedicated to players you admire, or remember fondly, and talk to your family about them. I often go to see Mel Rees' panel, when I can, as he means a lot to me. Focus on your happy memories and moments - don't focus on what happened on Saturday - that wasn't our time, it wasn't our turn, that was someone else's turn, leave them to it. As I say, it'll be our turn, again, soon enough.
As for us not managing it, on single, one off occasions, such as play off finals, and cup semis, well yes, I agree. And, yes, like you and many others, I find that frustrating and disappointing sometimes - I'd love to win a cup or a play off final, and I was genuinely convinced we'd win on Saturday, and was gutted like everyone else when we didn't. But maybe winning one off occasions like that just isn't our thing, we have other strengths, and nobody can be good at everything. It doesn't mean we're cursed, it just means we have different strengths.
Look at it this way - I'm quite an emotional person, and I often get upset about what happened to George Baldock, but I take comfort in the fact that, whilst it's desperately sad that he was taken at such a young age, if he
was to be taken so soon, isn't it fantastic that he had the opportunity to achieve what he did with us, before he went. Look at his face in the picture below, taken in a quiet moment after we'd secured promotion against West Brom at home in 2023. He's absolutely elated. It's a picture of sheer joy and perfect contentment.
It happened with Mel Rees, too. He'd been a journeyman goalkeeper, before he came to us, playing at several different lower league clubs. But when he came to us, it just clicked, he just fit, and he had a fantastic season playing in the top division with us.The song 'One Moment in Time' always makes me think of Mel and of George - their lives were cut cruelly short, but being with us, gave them their opportunity for a one moment in time before they went, and they aced it.
So maybe that's our thing - giving wonderful people like George and Mel, the opportunity for fantastic achievement, and perfect happiness, before they go. And if I'm right, and that is our thing, that's got to be better than a bit of silverware, hasn't it? I wouldn't swap giving George and Mel the opportunity for their one moment in time for all the silverware on earth.
Chin up, mate. Hope you're feeling better soon. The Blades will be waiting for you when you feel up to facing things, again.
Up the mighty, magnificent, wonderful Blades!
