Sheffield United Reserves - The Glory Years

[Silent Blade]

Remember going to all the Central League matches in the early to mid 1960's. I think the team that won the Central League in the mid 1960's was made up of a number of players that had grown too old for the first team. Cec Coldwell is one name mentioned. There is a book about the Blades that devotes a whole chapter to a chap called Roy Ridge who I think it's fair to say never appeared for the first team but was quite happy to be a reserve team player season after season. My dad always called Denis Shields 'the world's worst footballer.' Used to go to Northern Inrtermediate matches. In those days our juniors were up there with the best. Remember Sunderland being pretty useful.

It seemed an age before I went to a first team match. But the first time I went through the turnstile on Bramall Lane (about where the hotel is now) and walked up those steps and saw the full Shoreham end. OMG. That was it. Never wanted to be anywhere else.

Do you remember the Robinson twins? George's grandson is a good friend of my son's. George is a top bloke and allowed me to borrow his photos and paper cuttings of his time as a youth player and as a reserve team player so that I could look through them.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Remember Woodward playing for the reserves to regain fitness - scored 4 at a canter.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Reserve games were great for autographs after the game. I was there on John Street every week in the late 50's and early 60's. Anyone else with such a misspent youth?

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

My first United first-team game was September 19, 1964: United v Birmingham. I was six. I think I'd already been to a reserve game before that and I was certainly a fairly regular attender at Saturday afternoon Central League matches between 1964 and 1968. I remember seeing Len Allchurch quite often and that must have been after Woody replaced him in the first team in September 1964. Allchurch left at the end of the 1964-65 season. I used to go on the John Street terrace and I remember you could buy a cup of Bovril which is something I only ever drank at reserve team matches. Presumably, there was too much of a queue at first-team matches for me to buy one. Football rattles were still seen, although they were dying out by 1964, and I've a recollection I used to take mine to reserve team games but possibly not to first-team matches, for some reason.

In either 64-5 or 65-6 we were at the top of the Central League along with Man Utd and there was a game which was said to have attracted a really big crowd. I didn't go myself and I can't remember what the crowd figure was.

I can certainly confirm the excitement and suspense when you saw the scoreboard man making a move. It's hard to convey to people today how little information was available even for someone who had a transistor radio with him.

I can definitely recall being at an FA Youth Cup game in March 1968 when United were away at West Ham in the FA Cup 5th round. We were in the Bramall Lane stand and there was huge rejoicing when the news came through that we'd won 2-1.

 

[bornablade]

Do you remember the Robinson twins? George's grandson is a good friend of my son's. George is a top bloke and allowed me to borrow his photos and paper cuttings of his time as a youth player and as a reserve team player so that I could look through them.

Can't remember the Robinson twins.

Reserve games were great for autographs after the game. I was there on John Street every week in the late 50's and early 60's. Anyone else with such a misspent youth?

We used to go to BDTBL during school holidays and watch the players train. The players were always generous in giving autographs. More often than not we would arrive at the ground and be told they were training up at the Ball Inn ground. We would walk down Shoreham Street and then have to trek up Myrtle Road. Remember once Reg Matthewson driving up and seeing us in our colours stopped and gave us a lift. Footballers in those days all had little football boots hanging from their rear view mirror. Can't imagine Premier League players today treating fans in the same way. A different era.

When I started secondary school there was a kid in our year whose dad was groundsman at the Ball Inn. I thought his dad had one of the best jobs in Sheffield.

Was anyone a member of the Junior Blades. I still have my membership card - joined September 1966. By my calculations that gives me about one million loyalty points !!

 

[United Aren't Back.]

I hardly ever went to see the reserves but there was a period in the early seventies when the "Stop Press" column on the front

page of the Green 'Un would frequently contain the single entry:

STEVE CAMMACK scores for Sheffield Utd Reserves.

And mid 70s it would read
EDWARDS SHEFF UTD RES 65
STAINROD SHEFF UTD RES 76
EDWARDS SHEFF UTD RES 87....
I got free entry to reserve matches from 1975 as my mum worked at the Lane for Stadia catering.
Jack from Shirecliffe used to ensure I got free pies, coffee, etc , every time I went. He woprked for Stadia too.
I saw, and predicted great things , at my age of 11, for Stainrod, Ludlam, Edwards, Kenworthy, Hamson.
Later, about 1978, I saw the reserves hit a bad patch, with Man City winning 5 1 with Colin Bell starring, and Forest winning 10 2.
Some old men gave the latter game the same slow handclap treatment the Lane end upper gave the first team in the disaster zone that was 75 76.
Great times were had at reserve games, Edwards was a real prolific scorer there.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Remember a game against Liverpool Reserves early 70s they turned out a really strong side John St terrace and stand was packed.

Or Jimmy Johnstones reserves debut in 1975, where he signed my autograph book, said "ok ked" and the crowd was several thousand that night.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Our reserves were crap in the late 70's and early 80's. We finished bottom of the Central League for about 3 seasons running if memory serves and notable games included a 10-0 defeat at Villa in 77-8 (when future N. Ireland World Cup player Mal Donaghy had a trial) and a 10-2 defeat at home to Forest in 79-80.

All of sudden in 81-82, the reserves turned good and there were some good games that season with United beating strong First Division reserve teams like Wolves (4-0) and Man City (5-0).

Thanks for putting the date in for 10 2 at home to Forest. I was present that day.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Can't remember the Robinson twins.



We used to go to BDTBL during school holidays and watch the players train. The players were always generous in giving autographs. More often than not we would arrive at the ground and be told they were training up at the Ball Inn ground. We would walk down Shoreham Street and then have to trek up Myrtle Road. Remember once Reg Matthewson driving up and seeing us in our colours stopped and gave us a lift. Footballers in those days all had little football boots hanging from their rear view mirror. Can't imagine Premier League players today treating fans in the same way. A different era.

When I started secondary school there was a kid in our year whose dad was groundsman at the Ball Inn. I thought his dad had one of the best jobs in Sheffield.

Was anyone a member of the Junior Blades. I still have my membership card - joined September 1966. By my calculations that gives me about one million loyalty points !!

Yes I was a junior Blade in the 70s, do you recall the Educated dedicated supporters pen, John street, near the kop?

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Can't remember the Robinson twins.



We used to go to BDTBL during school holidays and watch the players train. The players were always generous in giving autographs. More often than not we would arrive at the ground and be told they were training up at the Ball Inn ground. We would walk down Shoreham Street and then have to trek up Myrtle Road. Remember once Reg Matthewson driving up and seeing us in our colours stopped and gave us a lift. Footballers in those days all had little football boots hanging from their rear view mirror. Can't imagine Premier League players today treating fans in the same way. A different era.

When I started secondary school there was a kid in our year whose dad was groundsman at the Ball Inn. I thought his dad had one of the best jobs in Sheffield.

Was anyone a member of the Junior Blades. I still have my membership card - joined September 1966. By my calculations that gives me about one million loyalty points !!

My mum twice sat near Keith Edwards on the 42 and 53 bus service, after reserve matches in the 1970s. How times have changed.

 

[stateonstainrod]

Talking of hanging around for autographs, after the promotion winning 3-0 match v Watford in 1971 as we waited for out heroes to come out, Roger Kirkpatrick that tubby little ref with the knees hitting his chin when he ran gets into his Capri, revs off down John Street with his car horn playing I wish I was in Dixie.

Can't remember Chris Foy doing that.

 

[super_pig]

first game i ever went to was a 3-1 victory against Huddersfield reserves as a trial run. went to my first game the week after

 

[Silent Blade]

Talking of hanging around for autographs, after the promotion winning 3-0 match v Watford in 1971 as we waited for out heroes to come out, Roger Kirkpatrick that tubby little ref with the knees hitting his chin when he ran gets into his Capri, revs off down John Street with his car horn playing I wish I was in Dixie.

Can't remember Chris Foy doing that.

Watch Roger Kirkpatrick's eccentricities in the second half of the below match

 

[Large Mendonca]

I also seem to remember Bobby Davison playing for us,must have been around the time he scored 2 at the sty in our 3-1 win!

Can't remember our team, but I seem to remember it was a strong one, and we got hammered out of sight.....

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

Watch Roger Kirkpatrick's eccentricities in the second half of the below match

My favourite referee of all time. It's just a pity the footage doesn't capture him running backwards which is the thing I most remember about him. Crowds loved him and for all his theatrical flourishes he was a good ref - very fair.

 

[MightyBlades]

Just watched that clip.

Bloody love that ref! What a performance!

Poor football though, but to be fair, that pitch was atrocious.

 

[BerksBlade]

Remember Roger Kirkpatrick as one of the better refs. Looking at that clip he's a bit camper than I remember, but the gestures make it clear what he's giving free-kicks for.
Pitch not great, but compared to somewhere like the Baseball Ground it's like a billiard table!

 

[Silent Blade]

My favourite referee of all time. It's just a pity the footage doesn't capture him running backwards which is the thing I most remember about him. Crowds loved him and for all his theatrical flourishes he was a good ref - very fair.

Sometimes he would blow his whistle for a foul and then he gets a chance to show off his ball skills (causing the fans to cheer loudly) before putting his foot on the ball to place it for the free kick to be taken

 

[bricktop]

Talking of reserve games. Does anyone else remember a reserve Derby game at Hillsborough about 20 odd years ago. It drew a bumper crowd of about 15-20k, mainly because David Hirst was making a comeback, but i remember a fair few Blades being there as well.

 

[TAMUS]

9254 to be precise

 

[georgebernardshaw]

Used to go to every game and was there when we won the Central League, joined in the pitch invasion and all. The great Cec Coldwell held up the trophy, maybe the only one we've won since I started in 1955!! Oh no, there was an odd County Cup or two!!

Our neighbour, Herbert Bray, used to give us a lift to reserve matches, and boy was he passionate. He particularly targeted referees and on the terrace in small crowds the officials could hear every word. One week at the final whistle he launched himself at the wire netting which protected the players as they left the pitch. His false teeth fell through the netting and fell at the feet of a linesman who passed them back politely. In his rage Mr Bray put them straight back in his mouth and resumed his tirade. Fond memories.

Another journeyman perpetual reserve was Dennis Shiels, Irish lad, not so good. Remember moaning one cup match at West Ham when his name was announced in the team. We were big underdogs but defied all the odds and Shiels scored both goals. Every dog has its day as they say.

Another name I associate with those days was Des Thompson, heavy, serious, not an athlete, holes in his jumper I seem t o recall.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

9254 to be precise

That will equate to 20K at Swillsboro' then

 

[JJ Sefton]

I have mentioned before that this is my 50th season watching the Blades so I thought I would put something together on where it all started, watching the reserves in the 1960’s. I realise that this is of limited interest but I am sure there are a few out there who were similarly dragged along by their dad to get them out of the house on a Saturday.
The reserves played at home, at the Lane, on Saturdays when the first team were playing away. I never understood why they scrapped this format. The only part of the ground that opened was the terrace and the old wooden stand behind, ideal for the 2-3000 that attended. Ideal for taking your offspring to their first game in a safe environment.
One of the great attractions was that the first team scores were displayed on a low-tech scoreboard attached to the old cricket pavilion. The man put the scores up every 15 minutes following a phone call to the away ground. There was no local radio, five live, internet, mobile phones and BBC national radio covered one match only. The scoreboard man was all powerful. I remember willing him to conjure up an equaliser in the 6th round tie at Leeds in 1968, but not to be. Five times he marched straight past Leeds early goal and our dreams were over for another year.
The team played in the central league and won it in 1965-66 with a fairly consistent line up. The mainstays of the team were Bob Widdowson in goal, Mick Heaton, Dennis Finnigan and Charlie Bell, with Jack Parks banging in the goals. All these players spent several seasons at the Lane with only a handful of first team appearances between them. Parks must have scored 30 goals in 1965-66 without making one first team appearance and gets no mention in the Official Blades Encyclopaedia.
Squads hadn’t been invented and substitutes were not used until 1965-66, both situations restricting the opportunities for the reserves. I suspect that a distinct lack of ambition was another restricting factor.
Lots of youngsters did make the first team though, notably Badger, Shaw, Munks, Wagstaff brothers, Fenoughty, Woodward, Birchenall, Salmons, Barlow, Jones and Hill. Testimony to the great scouting done by Archie Clark in this era in the Dearne Valley area.
Eventually I progressed to the first team and saw my last reserve game in 1971. A night match this time and the scoreboard man played an absolute blinder with a 1-0 win at Arsenal.
Happy days.

Most of this seems a bit after my time. I remember when we won the Central League and I was one of those who ran on the pitch afterwards.

I mentioned Des Thompson the goalkeeper. Bob Widdowson followed him. Widdowson seemed to model himself on Hodgy but didn’t have the skill levels. He used to come off his line to “smother” an attack, just like Hodgy, but he always timed it wrong and got stranded with the attacker facing an open goal.

We had some good centre-forwards in the reserves – Laverty; John Turley (very good). Jack Parks was good. Dennis Shiels was better than he is given credit for here. When Hodgy got injured and carried off after the Tommy Johnston incident (yes, the same one) Shiels went in goal and did all right. There was also an inside-forward called Bobby Rooney. I thought he might be ok but never got established. Particularly in 1960-61 the right-wing was a problem between Kevin Lewis leaving and Len Allchurch joining. One bloke tried out was Andy Wilson who looked a possibility but didn’t get established. There was another inside-forward called Nibloe whose dad, I think, had played for Wednesday. I think he got killed in an accident after leaving United. Another inside-forward was J.A.S. Richardson. I wonder if he was related to Rocco ?

The blokes mentioned on the site as coming up through the reserves actually started out in the Junior team together. They spent little time in the reserves, moving quickly from Juniors to 1st team. Wardonia Blade has got it right – Len Badger; Bernard Shaw; Dave Munks; Tony and Barry Wagstaff; Tom Fenoughty (I know the family); Barlow; Mick Jones and Alan Birchenall.

- Walth Snr

 

[metalblade]

My favourite referee of all time. It's just a pity the footage doesn't capture him running backwards which is the thing I most remember about him. Crowds loved him and for all his theatrical flourishes he was a good ref - very fair.

Yeah good ref he always let the crowd know why he gave a free kick and he always got a great reception from the Shoreham.

 

[cooperblade]

I remember going to a United v weds reserve match, probably in the early 90s, with a load of lads from school. Half of us were Blades and the other half were pigs.

We decided this would be a great opportunity to have a friendly game of football hooligans and agreed to have a brawl after every goal. It finished 4-4 and it was great fun bouncing over the seats 8 times to smack, and get smacked by, our mates!! What a bunch of clowns

Think United had a foreign trialist up front who scored 2 or 3 - Soren Anderson(?).

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

When I was young and stupid, I used to regularly go to reserve games in the 80's. That's when they started playing them at night and you often saw some good stuff. Games that spring out are a 4-3 win over Bury in 1982 with us coming from 3-0 down and Del Chambers (who?) getting a hat trick and Alan "perma-injured" Young, the winner and a 5-5 draw with Sunderland in 1987 with Philliskirk getting 4.

Was that the same reserve game where Billy Brealey and Piggy Curran (playing for the Mackems) had a running slanging match throughout the 90 minutes?

Saw the reserves quite a bit in the 80s and still have a team sheet from a game v Newcastle, who included a young Paul Gascoigne. Always remember Tony Philliskirk as nearly always being the best player on the park in the reserves but could never translate it to the first team.

 

[Silent Blade]

There was another inside-forward called Nibloe whose dad, I think, had played for Wednesday. I think he got killed in an accident after leaving United.

John Nibloe went to Stoke, then Doncaster and Stockport. He was a Stockport player when he died in a car accident near Stocksbridge in November 1964. The Blades and Stoke (including Stan Matthews) played a friendly match in memory of John. He is on the right of the photo. andy Wilson and Barry Hartle are the other players

 

[blade too long]

What annoyed me was we were never asked to compete in the European Reserves Cup

 

[him behind you]

I have mentioned before that this is my 50th season watching the Blades so I thought I would put something together on where it all started, watching the reserves in the 1960’s. I realise that this is of limited interest but I am sure there are a few out there who were similarly dragged along by their dad to get them out of the house on a Saturday.
The reserves played at home, at the Lane, on Saturdays when the first team were playing away. I never understood why they scrapped this format. The only part of the ground that opened was the terrace and the old wooden stand behind, ideal for the 2-3000 that attended. Ideal for taking your offspring to their first game in a safe environment.
One of the great attractions was that the first team scores were displayed on a low-tech scoreboard attached to the old cricket pavilion. The man put the scores up every 15 minutes following a phone call to the away ground. There was no local radio, five live, internet, mobile phones and BBC national radio covered one match only. The scoreboard man was all powerful. I remember willing him to conjure up an equaliser in the 6th round tie at Leeds in 1968, but not to be. Five times he marched straight past Leeds early goal and our dreams were over for another year.
The team played in the central league and won it in 1965-66 with a fairly consistent line up. The mainstays of the team were Bob Widdowson in goal, Mick Heaton, Dennis Finnigan and Charlie Bell, with Jack Parks banging in the goals. All these players spent several seasons at the Lane with only a handful of first team appearances between them. Parks must have scored 30 goals in 1965-66 without making one first team appearance and gets no mention in the Official Blades Encyclopaedia.
Squads hadn’t been invented and substitutes were not used until 1965-66, both situations restricting the opportunities for the reserves. I suspect that a distinct lack of ambition was another restricting factor.
Lots of youngsters did make the first team though, notably Badger, Shaw, Munks, Wagstaff brothers, Fenoughty, Woodward, Birchenall, Salmons, Barlow, Jones and Hill. Testimony to the great scouting done by Archie Clark in this era in the Dearne Valley area.
Eventually I progressed to the first team and saw my last reserve game in 1971. A night match this time and the scoreboard man played an absolute blinder with a 1-0 win at Arsenal.
Happy days.

Remember those days well mate. Use to love going down to the lane, 1st team one week, reserves the next because my uncle couldn't afford to take me to the away games.
Got me reminiscing so I just wondered, does anyone know of any websites where I could find results and scorers from reserve team matches in the early to mid 60s when I started?

 

[1973Blade]

I've been reading this fascinating thread and thought I'd give it a 'bump' about United's reserve teams in the past.