One For The Older Blades .. 1974/75 Season

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Many many thanks for that. I was the same age then as my son is now and although I can’t claim that it seems like yesterday, those clips have brought back loads of great memories. Strange to think that when my lad is an old codger he will be looking back on the Wilder era with the same feelings!
I loved Morris and Edwards, the Deane and Agana team too but I think these last three seasons have been the best since I was a kid. There’s a fantastic feeling about BDTBL and that special link between players and fans is there again. I just hope that we avoid the mistakes we have made in the past, bring in some quality players and give it a real go next season. There’s a huge opportunity waiting for us...it’s a great time to be a Blade!

To be fair, I can't remember a link berween players and fans like it is now before, and I'm 60.

 

[10-0 win]

The sales of Mick Jones, Alan Birchenall, Geoff Salmons and even Tony Currie was mor or less to keep the club alive. The fee for Currie was a joke. It's pointed out very clearly in the historybooks how close we were to folding the summer Salmons was sold by the excact sum we owed the bank in interests £ 164,312(or something similar). This was just interests, no downpayment. The general economic downfall in local industry (steel) only made things the worse.

 

[Snowman]

It was shit after Harris. Furphy brought in crap that couldn't compete. I suspect that the brief was to do it on the cheap. Anybody who had seen the well oiled machine as described by Silent Blade two years before would not have believed the substandard "players" that arrived and the attempts to play football. Apart from watching us lose a cup game to Shrewsbury, reading the paper at Port Vale because it was more interesting than the game and enduring Clough's capitulation against Fleetwood and Adkins entire tenure I don't think I could have been any more depressed at that time. I mean, David Bradford from Blackburn FFS. 5foot 5inch of flatfooted one paced mediocrity more suited to non league.

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

......... I mean, David Bradford from Blackburn FFS. 5foot 5inch of flatfooted one paced mediocrity more suited to non league.

Can't disagree but.....
seem to recall a Norwood- esque peach of a free kick [curling top corner @ kop end; v Tottingham ?] although it was probably a cross ?!?

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Wow , just WOW (genuine appreciation - none of this post ironic shite?
that's a proper twatstat -can I appropriate for (all) my future discussions about CG?



*

Definitely.
I categorically recall it being in The Star at the time.
Tony Pritchett.
I did an online search for verification last year... nothing.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

From memory, we beat Leeds 1-0 at Elland Road and Norwich 3-0 at Carrow Road. Too little, too late.

We beat Newcastle United too.

 

[dblade56]

Guthrie. Not bad in the air so needed a decent supply of crosses. Awful at shooting. I've not seen a CF miss the goals by such a margin, with so much power and with as much regularity.

My girlfriend, now my ex wife, was at Uni in Nottingham, we were knocked out of the FA Cup early, so played Notts County in a friendly. Guthrie was his normal self and missed a few, then late on in the game the Notts County striker, rounded our goalie and blasted over an empty goal from 6 yds, the Blades fans sang "you've been watching Guthrie", poor guy, if the ground could have opened up

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Definitely.
I categorically recall it being in The Star at the time.
Tony Pritchett.
I did an online search for verification last year... nothing.

Looking at the head to head stats...
Southend beat Halifax Town 4 0 on 2 Sept 1974.
That is probably the day Guthrie got his three headers.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Confirmed by people on Shrimperzone.
2 SEP 1974, Guthrie 3 headed goals for Southend v Halifax.
10 SEP 1975.
Three headed goals for us v Halifax.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

If the debt for the South Stand started our decline in the mid 70s, then Haslam compounded it between 78-81. He got the board to loosen the purse strings in 78/79 bringing in generally expensive, crocked or past it shit, or just plain garbage, while at the same time letting a succession of quality young 'uns go, generally for a pittance - Edwards, Stainrod, Varadi, Hamson, Benjamin, Adams. If Haslam would have kept the young 'uns and spent wisely our late 70s/early 80s history could have been a lot different.

 

[Silent Blade]

If the debt for the South Stand started our decline in the mid 70s, then Haslam compounded it between 78-81. He got the board to loosen the purse strings in 78/79 bringing in generally expensive, crocked or past it shit, or just plain garbage, while at the same time letting a succession of quality young 'uns go, generally for a pittance - Edwards, Stainrod, Varadi, Hamson, Benjamin, Adams. If Haslam would have kept the young 'uns and spent wisely our late 70s/early 80s history could have been a lot different.

Thought we got good money for Benjamin

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

Thought we got good money for Benjamin

Aye summat like 140k for someone who turned out < dozen times ?

He scored 2 (penalties?) in a draw (with Leicester ?) when we needed eleven to stay up & I arrived at t'Lane thinking "if we score early we could do this"
Ah the optimism (stupidity) of youth

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

If the debt for the South Stand started our decline in the mid 70s, then Haslam compounded it between 78-81. He got the board to loosen the purse strings in 78/79 bringing in generally expensive, crocked or past it shit, or just plain garbage, while at the same time letting a succession of quality young 'uns go, generally for a pittance - Edwards, Stainrod, Varadi, Hamson, Benjamin, Adams. If Haslam would have kept the young 'uns and spent wisely our late 70s/early 80s history could have been a lot different.

Adams ?

NB "got board to loosen the purse strings" sufficiently to purchase Sabella (£160k) but not to the extent that would have got us (17 year old) Maradonna for £400k

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Aye summat like 140k for someone who turned out < dozen times ?

He scored 2 (penalties?) in a draw (with Leicester ?) when we needed eleven to stay up & I arrived at t'Lane thinking "if we score early we could do this"
Ah the optimism (stupidity) of youth

I still recall the chants of "attack attack attack attack attack" from the Kop all night. .

 

[United Aren't Back.]

If the debt for the South Stand started our decline in the mid 70s, then Haslam compounded it between 78-81. He got the board to loosen the purse strings in 78/79 bringing in generally expensive, crocked or past it shit, or just plain garbage, while at the same time letting a succession of quality young 'uns go, generally for a pittance - Edwards, Stainrod, Varadi, Hamson, Benjamin, Adams. If Haslam would have kept the young 'uns and spent wisely our late 70s/early 80s history could have been a lot different.

Who's the Adams here?

 

[Silent Blade]

Who's the Adams here?

Probably Micky Adams who was our youth player under Sirrel.

 

[Silent Blade]

just a question for a few of the older Blades out there as it was a couple of seasons before my first appearance at the Lane in 77 .. the 74/75 season we finished 6th our highest top flight finish since the early 60’s just wondered what those of you who went at that time what your recollections were ?
It doesn’t seemed to get mentioned much in threads as much as the early 70’s ones , we must have been close to a UEFA cup spot & what went that far wrong that we were relegated following season ?

Just seen highlights of the Burnley match from the BIg Match Replayed programme that was on BT Sports 2 today. I thought we were robbed of a first half lead when Tony Field's disallowed goal. I thought I could see two Burnley players on our left wing playing Field onside when Field put Woody's nod on into the net. That season we were good at holding on to our lead so the linesman's decision against us could have been "two points lost"!

 

[BushBlade]

I was going to mention Scullion and Currie, both from Watford who were like our feeder club. The rise of Watford to today and coincidental decline ( up to now) of clubs like us, Leeds and Wendy mirrors the economic differences between the south-east and the North.

That’s something I noticed when looking at an old league table someone posted last week (from the 50s I think). If you looked at Div 3 north it was quite similar to now, in terms of the clubs that were in it but Div 3 south contained a lot of clubs that we’d now consider PL/Championship clubs like Palace, QPR etc.

 

[cahill]

That’s something I noticed when looking at an old league table someone posted last week (from the 50s I think). If you looked at Div 3 north it was quite similar to now, in terms of the clubs that were in it but Div 3 south contained a lot of clubs that we’d now consider PL/Championship clubs like Palace, QPR etc.

Reflects the changing ( changed) economic face of Britain. Seven north east and Yorkshire clubs disappeared from the league altogether, replaced by the likes of Crawley, Wycombe, Forest Green, Cheltenham etc

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

74/75 was the first season after I had left school. I had money in my pocket and went to every game home and away. Some terrific memories of away trips on the coach with Shred. One game not mentioned was a 3-2 win at Everton after being 2-0 down. Don't recall who scored the first - Eddy maybe?, then Dearden and Currie, I believe. Got a bit of a kicking after the match and the coach drove back to Sheffield with fewer windows than on the way there. Good times, before it all went wrong the following season.

I was at the Everton match and the fact that we went in at half time only 2-0 down was little short of a miracle - they absolutely mullered us and could easily have been 5 up .

For us to go on and win it was almost beyond belief and the Everton fans were not at all happy and took it out on Blades fans after the match . A bunch of them jumped on us as we walked back to the car but luckily , we had my mate's 70 year old dad with us and when they realised that , they 'graciously ' backed off !

Happy / Lucky Days

 

[GrayBlade]

I was at the Everton match and the fact that we went in at half time only 2-0 down was little short of a miracle - they absolutely mullered us and could easily have been 5 up .

For us to go on and win it was almost beyond belief and the Everton fans were not at all happy and took it out on Blades fans after the match . A bunch of them jumped on us as we walked back to the car but luckily , we had my mate's 70 year old dad with us and when they realised that , they 'graciously ' backed off !

Happy / Lucky Days

It was the reverse at the Lane. We were 2-0 up and coasting and Everton came back in the second half to draw 2-2.

I wouldn’t have remembered that mind if I hadn’t just seen the highlights on BT Sport