Rare Simon Tracey Interview

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Once found him tucked away in a corner at The Pinegrove playing cards with someone. interrupted him and asked for an autograph he obliged and then he carried playing.

I was about 8, wearing the blue kit from 94, my shorts smelled distinctly of piss and I didn't have any paper so I asked him to sign my Ian Rush Sondico shinnies (with a biro) you know the ones with the ankle protectors and bone inserts that were 50% bigger than your actual shins. these also smelled rank i'll be honest and would have been soaked in sweat and he didn't even flinch just grasped them firmly with his big GK hands no fucks gven

If I'd had known this was going to happen I could have had you ask him if he remembered this encounter, it seems like a missed opportunity for everyone tbh. if you're ever stuck for questions I can help supply one or two, got one about Colin Hill if you're interested
 
That was really good YorkBlade I enjoyed it. I love the ones from my youth era. I remember all the games he talked about and, as you mentioned in the interview, we tend to look back fondly at the games we went to as kids (well, you said something along those lines).

I’ve not watched a lot of your interviews as I’ve never really got into the podcast/YouTube thing but I’m straight onto the next one now! I’ll end up watching them in bed til 2am and drop my phone on my face.
 
Enjoyed that, thanks.

Thought that was good point when Tracey said when Bassett first arrived our fanbase didn’t take to him
but he eventually totally won over the fan base.

Totally agree….Bassett was this passionate confident/ cocky London boy and we were instantly suspicious.
However he had a very similar personality/ style to a young Warnock or Wilder.

He gave us our club back, talked like a fan, very honest interviews always putting the emphasis
on effort/ desire/ attitude over ability. Bassett spoke like a Northerner and formed a strong bond with the fanbase.

Surprised they didn’t ask him about his memories of Mel Rees or maybe even Vinny Jones and Billy Whitehurst.
Bassett bought Rees from WBA, remember him saying he was always highly rated in the game as a youngster but for some reason never
established himself at any club, hardly even played anywhere, so coming here at the age of 25 is his last chance saloon.
Think Bassett mentioned that Rees had a bit of an attitude issue and tended to fall out with his managers.

He played just 8 times for at the end of the 92-92 season and those 8 performances are the best I’ve ever seen.
Rees record for us was won 5, drawn 2, lost just 1.

Agree about the last bit, Tracey was known to be miserable but never stood for any nonsense.
Solid keeper though, very consistent and pulled off the odd great save, one of our better keepers.
 
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Birdwell Blade said:
Bassett was the first manager I remember as a kid. Who did he take over from?
Click to expand...

Bassett took over from Billy McEwan and before that it was Ian Porterfield.
Found both of these were Scottish but also quite sour and boring.

So it made such a refreshing change to bring in a manager (Bassett) who had a bubbly personality.
Bassett interviews (like Wilder and Warnock) were always good value, when we were poor Bassett wasn’t afraid to admit it.
He called a spade, a spade and our fans really took to him.
 
YorkBlade said:
The man who doesn't do many interviews did agree to chat to the Sheff United Way about his Blades career. A proper Lane legend and a fascinating bloke.

VIDEO:




PODCAST:

You can listen anywhere you get podcasts just search 'Sheff United Way' or direct links:

Spotify https://spoti.fi/2Wus1Hi
Apple https://apple.co/3DjI4IJ
Click to expand...

That was brilliant Hal.
I saw quite a lot of Simon, Charlie Hartfield and to a lesser extent Paul Beesley in the 90's.
Honestly wouldn't have recognised him from the podcast - mind you, having not seen them since my leaving do at my house 20 odd years ago i have probably aged somewhat too!
Great memories.
 
Roygbiv said:
Heath it was. I imagine he had little say in the matter though
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Haha he had fuck all say. We were like DFS back then. We bought in Aiden Davidson, who never played. Board lied that we were after Kinkladze to appease the angry.
 
Anyone have an idea how many penalties he conceded? He loved rushing out and wiping the opposition player out while been no where near the ball.
Loved YorkBlade face when Simon said he'd married Beesley.
 
I saw most games during the Bassett era and actually rated Tracey higher than Alan Kelly, though they were both fantastic. Rated Tracey above most keepers we've had in my lifetime, with the possible exception of Dean Henderson.
 
Thought Tracey was an outstanding goalkeeper for us and I remember he was on the verge of getting an England call up. But then he started getting injuries and he had a bad shoulder injury which meant that whilst he came back a decent keeper still, he never managed to get back to those levels he had achieved earlier in his career. Injuries didn't ruin Tracey but they definitely stopped him achieving what he could have.

Some of his saves he made were unbelievable at times. Liverpool away was one. I remember him having a worldie for us in a FA Cup tie v Charlton at the Lane where we went 3 up early doors and the team collectively pissed off to the pub after 30 mins and left Tracey to it. We won 3-1 and he saved us from getting a battering second half. Top keeper in his hey day.

In fact id rate Tracey as the best I've seen for United, closely followed by Alan Kelly. Nothing between them really. Then maybe Henderson then Paddy K. Rees was also very good but didn't really play enough games for us to get a proper comparison. Mentions also to John Burridge and Roger Hansbury who did well for us on loan from Brum before he broke his leg. Tom McCallister was just before my time but very highly rated before his bad injury v Man City.

Strangely enough a certain Hand Segers was fairly decent for us in a 3 month loan spell....before he turned into a money orientated cheating corrupt wanker. But then I think half of Wimbledon FC (John Fashanu anyone) were also up for taking the odd bung.
 
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Simon Tracey came to my house once.

My brother broke his leg playing at High Storrs, at that football academy that John Gannon ran. To cheer my brother up ( and to make sure my parents didn't sue, I shouldn't wonder, although they wouldn't have), Gannon brought his mate Simon to see him.

I wonder how often footballers have to do stuff like that to bail their mates out?
 

InTheNick rocking the fake Blades shirt. Stands to reason.
 
1. Hodgy
2.McAllister
3 Tracey
4 Kelly



No one else comes close apart from Hendo possibly 5th possibly the late great Mel Rees and when you consider we had Tracey and Kelly together we we’re certainly blessed
 
originaltrueblade said:
1. Hodgy
2.McAllister
3 Tracey
4 Kelly



No one else comes close apart from Hendo possibly 5th possibly the late great Mel Rees and when you consider we had Tracey and Kelly together we we’re certainly blessed
Click to expand...

Henderson reminded me of the old Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobelaar.
A bit of a loose cannon, capable of the odd blunder, not always making good decisions when to come off his line but a truly brilliant shot stopper.

Hendo was great at 2 things which made him stand out,
1: He was an inspirational character, very confident, got the crowd going with his gestures and will to win, a very popular figure amongst the Lane faithful.
2: His strength was pulling off great saves, especially when opposition players were clean through with one on ones.

Think Fodders is more consistent but doesn't pull off any where near the number of works class saves.
 
One of the biggest conundrums of my Blades supporting life is whether Kelly or Tracey was the better keeper. My personal favourite was Tracey but there wasn't much in it.

Good interview and I like the points he made about having to learn how to control and pass a ball part way through his career, this must have fundamentally changed how keepers played and trained at the time. When you think about distribution back then, even the kicks they made were big hoofs as far as they could and % football. Now keepers look to place the ball even when kicking out of their hands.
 
Excellent interview.
Didn't need much prompting to give us his stories.
Though found myself distracted by him constantly moving his head to the side, was he watching something on TV?
Then there was the fly above him at one point?
Joking apart it was another fascinating insight into a time when Utd insight was much harder to get.
Keep up the good work guys.
 
In my opinion Tracey was the best we've had in my lifetime and I go back to Hodgy at the end of his career. Unfortunately Trace got a bad injury and after that was never quite the same, but in his best spell he was unbelievably good.
 
I always say it's a close call between Tracey and Alan Kelly in my time, with Paddy in third place.

I generally think Tracey is more remembered for one or two howlers, and many people forget what a top quality keeper he was.
 
Enjoyed this interview, and had completely forgotten he was still around in 2003. Could have sworn he has left quite a few years before.

Great keeper and part of my time when I used to go home and away to most games
 
I was expecting some crazy story’s about what he got upto with the likes of Billy Whitehurst and co then at the end it got to his current job, and it all made sense. Amazing job he has got himself and the last thing he wants is to be telling story’s about drunken fights and things like that and laughing and joking about all the shenanigans they got upto.

When he retires I’m sure if Hal gets him on again the story’s will be a lot more colourful.

Great interview of a Blades legend 👏
 
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I just had a thing that Tracey was more a 'United' character at the time than Kelly, if that makes any sense. Kelly was a fantastic keeper of course but if I had to choose a keeper to play in the semi final it would be McAllister.
 
I like how he still calls us “we” and his son is a true Blade. 👍
 
Always remember him as looking/being miserable all the time but loved him as a keeper.
Shit story time.......
Went to some shopping centre (or something like that) when I was about 9/10 because all of the players were there to do autographs/photos etc.
the likes of Deane and Agana were there happily smiling for photos and couldn't do enough for the fans.
I got round to Ian Bryson and my marker pen had started to fade so ended up asking for my t shirt signing with a biro!
He looked down at all the other signatures in marker pen, looked at the biro and said (totally dismayed) in a thick Scottish accent "Och, have you no got a better pen?" before autographing my shirt (taking 3 attempts) and ruffling my hair.
We eventually found Simon Tracey, leaning up against a pillar looking like someone had just wiped dogshit under his nose. He was hardly even looking at the people that wanted an autograph. I went and got my shirt signed (with the afore mentioned biro) and started to ask for a photograph.
My Mum, never one to mince her words and a terrible temper, looked at him before looking at me as said "No don't bother getting a photo with that miserable twat. He needs to remember it's us that pay his wages!"
Simon Tracey does nothing more than glance up at her, roll his eyes, and goes back to signing autographs with absolutely ZERO fucks given!
 

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