Six of the worst - the worst performances I have seen at Bramall Lane

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Port Vale at home was up there, it immediately came to mind when I saw the thread title.

Newcastle this season was pathetic but the performance on Saturday was worse still, somehow. If they'd have taken their chances it could've been a similar scoreline.

Was it the Exeter game at home in L1 where we lost what looked like a thriller on paper but the reality was far, far worse. The game George Long got pelters from memory.

Coventry at home, around 91/92 perhaps? Think we lost 3-0 and it was fucking baltic.

Remember us shipping 4 at home to Scunthorpe in L1 too? I've blocked some of these results out clearly but it was awful.
 

I should coco said:
Good call from a poster not prone to hyperbole, but IMHO, I'd have to chuck the Port Vale home game in there too.
Click to expand...
I’m sure you’re right about how bad it was, but unlike everyone else who ever talks about this game, I was not there!

Not quite at the same level as Oldham/Newcastle, but a couple of 1980s shockers I did see:

1984-5: United 0 Boro 3. Awful, with a joke pen for Boro thrown in.

1985-6: United 1 Millwall 3. A mutinous crowd, some of whom started cheering for Millwall at the end and Eckhardt’s consolation header got some light booing! John Fashanu ripped us to shreds and Colin Morris missed a pen.
 
Jolly Buffer said:
No mention of Wigan at home?
Not that long ago and many of you would have been there. Relegated us last game of season on a wet Sunday afternoon.
Absolutely guttless performance by Warnock and the players considering what was at stake.
Utterly piss poor. I stayed in the ground until it was almost empty in disbelief at how crap we had just been with what was at stake. Saw Sean Bean come out of the directors gangway on the now empty south stand on his own looking furious and later learned what had happened.
I've seen some shit in the years before this game and plenty more since but Wigan is right up there for me.
Click to expand...

I think there’s some accommodation being given for the magnitude of the game and the pressure. But yes it was as bad as any in terms of its execution (although I never doubted the players’ commitment).


coaxingstar71 said:
When it worked Bassett's team was great to watch, direct but exciting, when it didn't, it was truly dreadful.
Click to expand...

This is a great sub genre of shite. I was young, but I distinctly remember two games in particular from Bassett’s Prem years. A loss at home to Southampton and another to Villa. Literally all we did in both games was launch it up front where Paul McGrath and (guessing) Ken Monkou headed it away. Mind numbingly repetitively awful attempts at playing football.
 
Wards said:
Port Vale at home was up there, it immediately came to mind when I saw the thread title.

Newcastle this season was pathetic but the performance on Saturday was worse still, somehow. If they'd have taken their chances it could've been a similar scoreline.

Was it the Exeter game at home in L1 where we lost what looked like a thriller on paper but the reality was far, far worse. The game George Long got pelters from memory.

Coventry at home, around 91/92 perhaps? Think we lost 3-0 and it was fucking baltic.

Remember us shipping 4 at home to Scunthorpe in L1 too? I've blocked some of these results out clearly but it was awful.
Click to expand...
Talking of Baltic, but did I dream it but remember being absolutely frozen when we played Villa in the cup once when Milosevic scored for Villa?!
 
Lane Ender said:
Surely Walsall was the worst day in the clubs history
Click to expand...
The 0-1 loss and relegation to Div4 was an absolute horror show.

What set up the nightmare last 10-15 minutes was the players knowing from the start that a draw would keep us up, so not taking the bold course of going all out for a win.

Walking down John Street after the game I saw fans on the pitch looking for trouble and then suddenly these same fans were dancing in delight. Apparently, "news" had come through of a surprise result elsewhere (Swindon?) that saved us from the drop.

As I made my way home in those pre iPhone days I was thinking that that was a very convenient piece of news for Sth Yorks Police in avoiding disorder. I was right to be cynical.
 
Jolly Buffer said:
No mention of Wigan at home?
Not that long ago and many of you would have been there. Relegated us last game of season on a wet Sunday afternoon.
Absolutely guttless performance by Warnock and the players considering what was at stake.
Utterly piss poor. I stayed in the ground until it was almost empty in disbelief at how crap we had just been with what was at stake. Saw Sean Bean come out of the directors gangway on the now empty south stand on his own looking furious and later learned what had happened.
I've seen some shit in the years before this game and plenty more since but Wigan is right up there for me.
Click to expand...
He went straight to the railway pub after because we were in there and he still looked furious!
Lets just say he wasn't a warnock fan
 
Bladepicker said:
80,000 say they were there.


I actually was there.
Click to expand...
That’s a bit like The Clash’s first ever gig at the Boardwalk, supporting the Pistols. Most of Sheffield claim to have been there. Sadly, I wasn’t.

But I was at that Port Vale match.
 
Wards said:
Port Vale at home was up there, it immediately came to mind when I saw the thread title.

Newcastle this season was pathetic but the performance on Saturday was worse still, somehow. If they'd have taken their chances it could've been a similar scoreline.

Was it the Exeter game at home in L1 where we lost what looked like a thriller on paper but the reality was far, far worse. The game George Long got pelters from memory.

Coventry at home, around 91/92 perhaps? Think we lost 3-0 and it was fucking baltic.

Remember us shipping 4 at home to Scunthorpe in L1 too? I've blocked some of these results out clearly but it was awful.
Click to expand...
Coventry 0-3 was Boxing Day. No buses so I walked from the top of East Bank Road to the game (fine) and back (not so much fun. Pretty sure I got frostbite)
 
Pigs 79. 4-0
Walsall 81. 0-1
Altrincham 81 3-0
Oldham. 88. 0-5
Boro 88 6-0
Sunderland 98. 0-4
Port Vale 96 1-3
Wolves 03. 0-3
Newcastle 23. 0-8
B’mth 23. 1-3

Atttended all those & some of those were absolutely fkg dire ... sadly I think the 2023/24 column is gonna have more added to it ⚔️
 
Last edited:
Sportbilly said:
Talking of Baltic, but did I dream it but remember being absolutely frozen when we played Villa in the cup once when Milosevic scored for Villa?!
Click to expand...

Milosevic dived for the penalty but it was Dwight Yorke who scored it, a little Paneka style dink down the middle.

Everything about that game was shit. We were shit, Villa were shit, the penalty was a bad decision (as I recall) and it was fucking freezing.
 
Guesty said:
Milosevic dived for the penalty but it was Dwight Yorke who scored it, a little Paneka style dink down the middle.

Everything about that game was shit. We were shit, Villa were shit, the penalty was a bad decision (as I recall) and it was fucking freezing.
Click to expand...
That was when a number of our players got pissed up
The day before, thinking we wouldn’t play. Arseholes.
 

1973Blade said:
Saturday's awful performance against Bournemouth got me thinking about where it stands in my all time worst matches I have seen at Bramall Lane.
1. United 0 Oldham 5 1988. Surely no result can ever be this bad. Being thrashed by Oldham Athletic! It was so bad it led to a carpark protest and the end of Billy McEwan's time in charge. On a bright note, if this result had never happened maybe we wouldn't have had Bassett as manager and all the drama that occurred as a result.
2. United 0 Newcastle 8 2023. Such a bad result - if James Alexander Gordon was still around it would have been one of those rare occasions that he repeated the score to a disbelieving audience. I was just glad that it didn't end up being double figures.
3. United 0 Stoke 3 2007. Peak Bryan Robson, on a freezing cold Tuesday night (I can't actually remember if it was cold but losing heavily to Tony Pulis' Stoke it must have been). Three down within 20 minutes many were leaving before halftime.
4. United 0 Sunderland 4 1998. Not sure if Michael Bridges is the only away player to score four at Bramall Lane. It did persuade Steve Brice to finally hang up his boots
5. United 1 Bournemouth 3 2023. I don't think I have seen United play so poorly from minute one. We were totally outplayed to relegation rivals
6. United 1 Crawley 0 2014 OK we won, but to me a low point watching United was seeing our players heading to the corner flag on 82 minutes trying to count down the clcok at home to Crawley!! One of the few times I booed the players (I even avoided it on Saturday).
Click to expand...
At the lane, the Sunderland 0-4 was pretty shocking

2-4 versus Shrewsbury was awful

I can't recall a specific shit show under Wier, but it was all terrible.

Losing 2-3 to Millwall in the division 3 relegation season was also 'special'. 2-0 up at half time but more by luck than anything else. The 3 goal second half was a shocker. A prelude to the Walsall game a few weeks later
 
Guesty said:
Milosevic dived for the penalty but it was Dwight Yorke who scored it, a little Paneka style dink down the middle.

Everything about that game was shit. We were shit, Villa were shit, the penalty was a bad decision (as I recall) and it was fucking freezing.
Click to expand...
Was that the game where the TV interviewer asked Milosevic in the post game interview if the win made up for the war happening back home in Serbia?
 
blade67 said:
Was that the game where the TV interviewer asked Milosevic in the post game interview if the win made up for the war happening back home in Serbia?
Click to expand...

It was definitely the right time for that to be the case, I was only about eight years old but that sounds like it could be right. If so, fucking hell!
 
Got thrashed 5-1 by Blackpool at the Lane on April 12th, 1977 very poor game. The only consolation Edwards scored in so many consecutive matches if my memory serves me right. the season we got relegated to the old third division, Blackburn Millwall the worst was the Walsall game and that penalty that Givens missed because another player bottled it. not forgetting the two defeats against Newcastle and Bournemouth this season.
 
Wards said:
Was it the Exeter game at home in L1 where we lost what looked like a thriller on paper but the reality was far, far worse. The game George Long got pelters from memory.

Remember us shipping 4 at home to Scunthorpe in L1 too? I've blocked some of these results out clearly but it was awful.
Click to expand...
Exeter was L1 and finished 4-4. The crowd sarcastically cheering 18-year-old George Long in goal was a real low.

Scunthorpe was Championship relegation season: 0-4 under Speed. One of those games where one side took all its chances while the other contrived to miss a series of sitters.

Low for me - as an exile I don't get to many games - was probably the Preston game mentioned by Zipwire. I found a quote from my match report:
Balham Blade said:
I'm normally pretty patient but that second half was as bad as anything I've seen at the Lane. Weir is surely on borrowed time now.
Click to expand...

One which I don't think has been mentioned yet is the Swansea cup tie under Warnock (2007) which we lost 3-0.

If we're widening the net to away games then this season's at Arsenal was pretty horrible.
 
wak1889 said:
Also if I recall August 2016, 0-3 at home to Southend after 15 minutes , but no one remembers that one , 1-3 at home to chesterfield as well sticks in the mind too
Click to expand...
the chezzie game was first home natch. i loved it despite the result.
 
i know it was away but didn't blackpool beat us 3-0 in the cup? basset wasn't there so geoff taylor was in charge. clearly something happened in the dressing room because basset went mad afterwards. i think pembo was made scapegoat.
 
I vaguely remember going to Peterborough and losing 1-0 on a Tuesday night, mackail smith scored for them and I'm pretty sure we didn't have a single shot all night on or off target
 
Sunderland at home was just a terrible day. It pissed it down. Didn’t someone, maybe Curtis Woodhouse miss a one on one at the very end to pull a goal back?

Last I can remember being visibly annoyed before this season was when Shrewsbury dicked on us. Hated that squad with a passion.
 
N20 Blade said:
i know it was away but didn't blackpool beat us 3-0 in the cup? basset wasn't there so geoff taylor was in charge. clearly something happened in the dressing room because basset went mad afterwards. i think pembo was made scapegoat.
Click to expand...
Wirmola was a shadow of the player he was against Wimbledon
 
0-0 at home to Scunthorpe and the Robson shoes off debacle in the car park afterwards springs to mind.

Scunthorpe had 10 men for most of that game and we couldn't lay a glove on them.
 

Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn said:
v Wulvs, Sirrell relegation season - battered 1-4 & they were awful - proved by the fact that (jumbo) Jinky Jimmy Johnstone netted !
With his head !!
A ‘diving’ header !!!
Click to expand...
Remember us getting battered by Wolves when I was fairly young , seem to remember Steve Kindon , as he always did against us ,running us ragged with a skull cap on cos he’d fractured his skull, or am I dreaming this ..?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom