Sheffield Utd v Bristol City

[super_pig]

Check out the line-ups from our first game of the 2014-15 season....

View attachment 44008

This featured the strange Clough 'experiment' of starting with the untried centre-back pairing of McGahey and Alcock.

Thankfully, times have changed!

christ what a nightmare
they had some decent players didn’t they?

 

[Plymouthblade]

Am I still having a nightmare ? Think I’ve just woke up.
Heavy one though and I was racking my brain to think who Ben Davies is

 

[Deleted member 875]

I remember that game well. Remember seeing the team sheet and not even having a clue about how it would all fit together. Higdon looked decent for the first half hour, he looked strong, powerful and led the line well for all of about the first 25 minutes and from there it just went downhill.

Clough did rectify his central defensive woes though, he brought in Jay McEveley, I still have nightmare thinking about that clown at centre half

 

[Plymouthblade]

I remember that game well. Remember seeing the team sheet and not even having a clue about how it would all fit together. Higdon looked decent for the first half hour, he looked strong, powerful and led the line well for all of about the first 25 minutes and from there it just went downhill.

Clough did rectify his central defensive woes though, he brought in Jay McEveley, I still have nightmare thinking about that clown at centre half

Blonde scouser ? What a difference to what we got today

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

The real quality in that squad (Bash aside)

 

[Davie Blade]

This thread should be enlightening reading for anyone who gave Clough more than 4/10 on a recent Chris Basham thread.
Truly incredible considering he had about the biggest budget in the league.
What a legacy, what a shower of shite.

 

[penthouseblade]

Anyone know how many tickets we got allocated ? Working in Bristol ( nailsea ) at the minute in my camper van directly on the bus route to Ashton gate free electric in my building site compound ! Bringing my mrs next Friday they saying away end 3600 how many they given us ?
I’m on it Monday general sale UTB

2000, more if there is the demand.

 

[Deleted member 875]

Blonde scouser ? What a difference to what we got today

There is a fundamental difference, the blonde scouser we have today is a very talented footballer and is one of the most intelligent footballers I’ve seen play for United.

Just imagine if Clough had signed Duffy, he would have been used wide, told to beat his man and put crosses in, hooked after 60 minutes, frequently dropped for JCR and probably have been exiled to have loan spells at Tranmere Rovers.

 

[Plymouthblade]

2000, more if there is the demand.

Should be ok Monday then when they on general

 

[mattbianco1]

Higdon, signed Friday. Captain saturday. Shit by Tuesday

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I wouldn't recognise Alcock or McGahey if I passed them on the street.

There you go mate! Just in case you pass them in the street - you can say hello now. You'll still need to work out which one is which though!

 

[Cerberus Blade]

1 Mark Howard: currently first choice keeper for League One Blackpool

16 Ben Davies: still playing at the age of 37, plying his trade in the National League North for Boston
2 Craig Alcock: released by Doncaster at the end of last season and has yet to find a new club
17 Harrison McGahey: first choice centre half for Rochdale in League One
3 Bob Harris: playing for AFC Telford in the National League North

10 Stefan Scougall: back in Scotland playing for SPL side St Johnstone where he has one goal in six appearances so far this season
6 Chris Basham: the sole representative of that awful game still at United (and deservedly so)
22 Louis Reed: benchwarming for Peterborough in League One
7 Ryan Flynn: also back in Scotland playing for SPL side St Mirren

21 Michael Higdon: retired 18 months ago, last seen putting in some awful on-pitch but outstanding in-canteen performances for Bangor in the Welsh Premier League
9 Jamie Murphy: now at Rangers but out for the season with knee-knack

Subs
13 George Willis: quit the professional game, now (I think) coaching at United's academy
15 Neill Collins: managing Tampa Bay Rowdies in the second tier of the US league
8 Michael Doyle: still playing at Coventry in League One
20 Jamal Campbell-Ryce: signed for Stevenage in League Two in July but has yet to make a league appearance
11 Jose Baxter: back from a second drugs ban, now at League Two Oldham (with current Blades loanee Sam Graham)
12 Marc McNulty: aside from Basham, the only member of this squad to be in the Championship. Now at Reading
18 Chris Porter: becoming a cult hero back at Crewe; three goals in six appearances this season (two goals in the Chuckaturd Trophy win at Tranmere)

So:
2 in the Championship (Basham & McNulty)
3 in the Scottish Premiership (Murphy, Flynn & Scougall)
4 in League One (Howard, McGahey, Reed, Doyle)
3 in League Two (Campbell-Ryce, Baxter, Porter)
2 in the National League North (Harris, Davies)
2 retired (Willis, Higdon)
1 in America (Collins)
1 without a club (Alcock)

Interesting to see where they've ended up. It's strong evidence that very few of that side had the ability to compete at the next level up. And that's the difference in the managers we've had before in recent years, and Wilder. Wilder builds a side that is capable of competing at the next level up, the other managers built a side that was barely capable of competing at the level we were at.

When we took League 1 by storm in Wilder's first season and finished with 100 points, the S6 experts told us we'd be in for a big shock competing in the Championship. Jonathan Buchan, on Radio Sheffield, struggled to mention the name "Sheffield United" without following it with a reference to "relegation" or "survival" in the Championship. Well...all these "experts" failed to recognise one thing - we'd built a side that was playing Championship class football in League 1. That's why we didn't have any problem adapting to the Championship when we went up.

And that display against Villa last week makes me think we're now building a side that can compete at the next level up as well.

 

[Bladesman]

7 midgets in that side and as soon as I saw that dwarf Alcock was at centre half I knew Clough had lost his marbles

It was the game that started to unravel all the good work he had done which eventually led to the crippling of John Brayford as well. John has never properly recovered from his injury with us and I blame Clough for it.

Clough just went nuts playing players out of their best positions and we had what can only be described as a clusterfuck of a defence.

 

[cahill]

There you go mate! Just in case you pass them in the street - you can say hello now. You'll still need to work out which one is which though!

McGahey in the Blades shirt, Alcock t’other. I claim my chocolate Noddy prize

 

[SteveBlade]

 

[Cerberus Blade]

7 midgets in that side and as soon as I saw that dwarf Alcock was at centre half I knew Clough had lost his marbles

View attachment 44148

Barry Butlin?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Someone do a "where are they now" post.

Someone should do a "where were they then" post.

 

[Beans]

As miserable as that side was, we finished 5th that season and knocked off QPR in the FA Cup, plus West Ham and Southampton on the way to giving Spurs a hell of a battle in the League Cup semis.

I genuinely have no idea how we managed that with so many poor players. Maybe Clough was good after all?

Edit - I've had to go and triple-check to make sure I got that right. It was also the season we signed Coutts.

I also love that someone went to incredibly laborious effort to detail that season on Wikipedia, then got bored in March and didn't finish it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014–15_Sheffield_United_F.C._season

 

[North somerset blade]

I just checked on the 2016-17 season

Disastrous 0-3 reverse at home to Southend (whereby we all thought, 'here we go again') an expoected loss to Millwall, a surprising win vs Oxford and then 0-1 down at Gillingham on telly.

Then Freeman scores a scrappy, typically battling goal and we press to get the penalty at the death. Talk about wrestling victory from defeat.

The start of the revolution for me. Suddenly I started to believe.

pommpey

Same here, saw that gillingham game on tv and thought ‘we’re going up this season’

 

[North somerset blade]

Anyone know how many tickets we got allocated ? Working in Bristol ( nailsea ) at the minute in my camper van directly on the bus route to Ashton gate free electric in my building site compound ! Bringing my mrs next Friday they saying away end 3600 how many they given us ?
I’m on it Monday general sale UTB

2000 initially