The demise of our best ever team

[Sean Thornton]

I could be wrong but I recall us and Arsenal had the best form post-Christmas.

So not the two best teams but the two in form teams.

I think you may be right on that as Leeds and Man Utd both had sticky patches after Christmas.

 

[Sean Thornton]

It wouldn't really be "fairer" to include only one team's relegation season. Why not include both?

1970-1976 Record:-
Div 2 2nd (Promoted)
Div 1 10th
Div 1 14th
Div 1 13th
Div 1 6th
Div 1 22nd
FA Cup - None
Lge Cup - 1 QF

1989-1994 Record
Div 3 2nd (Promoted)
Div 2 2nd (Promoted)
Div 1 13th
Div 1 9th
Div 1 14th
Div 1 20th
Fa Cup - 1 SF, 1 QF, 2 5R
Lge Cup - None

Just include the top flight finishes then. The only difference then is the fa cup record of one semi final really.

 

[Sean Thornton]

If Gayle hadn't been prone to errors he would have played for one of the top teams. He was good in the air, strong in the tackle and a great organiser of the defence. But he did make mistakes and could have bad games. Which is why he ended up with us.

I think we sold Agana to fund the purchase and although I was gutted we sold him I think hindsight shows it was necessary and bringing in Gayle was key in us staying up.

Didn't Bassett lend the club money to get the deal over the line?

 

[BushBlade]

Didn't Bassett lend the club money to get the deal over the line?

Can't remember tbh. He did with one player but I'm not sure if it was Gayle. I think it may have been.

 

[Revolution]

Can't remember tbh. He did with one player but I'm not sure if it was Gayle. I think it may have been.

Yes, it was Gayle.

 

[Silent Blade]

Didn't Bassett lend the club money to get the deal over the line?

Yes Bassett offered to lend the club money but the board found another way to fund the fee without borrowing Bassett's money

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Yes Bassett offered to lend the club money but the board found another way to fund the fee without borrowing Bassett's money

Selling Tony Agana two months later?

 

[Silent Blade]

Selling Tony Agana two months later?

Cant remember the arrangement but the money we got for Agana was very good because he kept getting injured that year

 

[Sean Thornton]

Selling Tony Agana two months later?

In fairness that turned out to be a good deal as TA had injury problems that he never got over.

 

[Revolution]

In fairness that turned out to be a good deal as TA had injury problems that he never got over.

I wrote about this the other day, but that was a very well timed sale, in the mould of the Jordan Slew, Wayne Quinn and Curtis Woodhouse deals. The greatest was Lee Morris.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Cant remember the arrangement but the money we got for Agana was very good because he kept getting injured that year

In fairness that turned out to be a good deal as TA had injury problems that he never got over.

I wrote about this the other day, but that was a very well timed sale, in the mould of the Jordan Slew, Wayne Quinn and Curtis Woodhouse deals. The greatest was Lee Morris.

Agana went on to play 145 games for Notts County, so he wasn’t a total crock.
(He also went on loan to Leeds and played twice for them when they won the league title).
However, it’s true that he never regained the sort of form he showed for us in our double-promotion seasons.

I would say that it turned out to be good deal overall because:-

1. We invested the money received in a key player/leader that the manager desperately wanted.
   
   
2. We brought in Gayle before Agana left so it wasn’t the usual case of “We’ve sold Murphy/Maguire/Blackman but we haven’t been able to sign who we wanted and needed”
   
   
3. As far as I’m aware, the manager Bassett was fully aware of and involved in both deals. A typical example of how he “wheeled and dealed” to improve the team overall. (He did a very similar move with Francis and Wood as shown in the United documentary)

 

[Revolution]

Agana went on to play 145 games for Notts County, so he wasn’t a total crock.
(He also went on loan to Leeds and played twice for them when they won the league title).
However, it’s true that he never regained the sort of form he showed for us in our double-promotion seasons.

I would say that it turned out to be good deal overall because:-

1. We invested the money received in a key player/leader that the manager desperately wanted.
   
   
2. We brought in Gayle before Agana left so it wasn’t the usual case of “We’ve sold Murphy/Maguire/Blackman but we haven’t been able to sign who we wanted and needed”
   
   
3. As far as I’m aware, the manager Bassett was fully aware of and involved in both deals. A typical example of how he “wheeled and dealed” to improve the team overall. (He did a very similar move with Francis and Wood as shown in the United documentary)

All good points, though Agana played those games for County over 5 years as that team slid down the leagues. They played him on the wing, which was not his best position.

I lived in Nottingham in 1994-5 and Agana scored 2 great goals when County beat Spurs 3-0 in the league cup. The local consensus was that he rarely, if ever, played that well.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Agana went on to play 145 games for Notts County, so he wasn’t a total crock.
(He also went on loan to Leeds and played twice for them when they won the league title).
However, it’s true that he never regained the sort of form he showed for us in our double-promotion seasons.

I would say that it turned out to be good deal overall because:-

1. We invested the money received in a key player/leader that the manager desperately wanted.
   
   
2. We brought in Gayle before Agana left so it wasn’t the usual case of “We’ve sold Murphy/Maguire/Blackman but we haven’t been able to sign who we wanted and needed”
   
   
3. As far as I’m aware, the manager Bassett was fully aware of and involved in both deals. A typical example of how he “wheeled and dealed” to improve the team overall. (He did a very similar move with Francis and Wood as shown in the United documentary)

145 games in over five and a half years though.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

145 games in over five and a half years though.

26 games a season. Some of our recent injury-troubled players can only dream of that sort of record.

 

[coaxingstar71]

Well, he was my favourite of all time. And I tell you why..

He wasn't the most skilful : that was TC. A player who could literally carry the ball into the corner flag and be harassed by 2 or 3 defenders then walk it out past them, bamboozling them with his feet, and leave them for dead, Or, put a 70 yard pass on a sixpence for Woody or Dearden to gobble up. No, I've never seen that talent before or since in a United shirt.

He wasn't the most consistent or best striker of a ball. That was Alan Woodward. That bloke could make a ball do anything - he could blast it and bend it like no other player I've seen. And he did it week in - week our. In my opinion Woodward is the all round greatest player I've ever seen for United - because he did it every week.

But Hockey was something else. First of all - he was an eccentric. I like eccentrics- they dare to do what most of us wouldn't dare to do. They break the mould of what is the expected norm. They set the bar at a different level. They offend and delight in equal measure. They make us question what is "normal".

He had a green suede covered car and played a pink piano!

Hockey had one task to do and he did it impeccably. Win the ball and give it to Currie. He was like a little pit bull running around the pitch, snapping at everybody's ankles.

When taunted by Man Utd fans in that top of the first Division clash back in the 70/71 season (our 16 game unbeaten run) he stood laughing at the Stretford end and conducted them as they sang "Hockey is a werewolf".

He was the fiercest competitor I ever saw in a United shirt and I doubt we'll see another like him. He gave everything to our club and he epitomised everything that is Sheffield United to me. Spirit, integrity, humour, endless effort and determination - even in the most adverse situations.

I wrote something about him on a national website some years ago and a Brum fan chipped in with a tale about him too. He said some local kids were playing in the park and Hockey joined them for a kick-about. He was never too big or important to relate to his fans and I really respect that.

Sadly the poor lad died early. A heart attack I think. But what memories he's left behind for any of us who were privileged enough to see him.

I didn't mean this thread to be depressing btw - but it's a fact that for many of my generation some of the greatest ever players from our best ever team are slipping off the mortal coil. It's easy to post a RIP when they've gone but I just want to appreciate them before they do.

And I know that very soon we'll be lamenting the loss of more from that early 1970's team of legends.

It comes with the territory of reaching a certain age I'm afraid.

(And how any of this makes me a "pig fan at heart" I've really no idea!)

I've enjoyed reading your posts and it's true that the next one from that era will undoubtedly not be long. There is another who left us too early from that side, Gil Reece, cancer wasn't it?

 

[Silent Blade]

I've enjoyed reading your posts and it's true that the next one from that era will undoubtedly not be long. There is another who left us too early from that side, Gil Reece, cancer wasn't it?

Yes in 2003 at the age of 61. Another player who played a few games that season, Mick Heaton, died in a car crash at Oswaldtwisle in 1995 aged 48

 

[blade too long]

possibly the best ever
lost in fa cup final to spurs in 1901 n a replay after a draw in front of the worlds first ever 100k plus crowd won the only ever british championship over celtic 2-1 on agg
then won the cup in 1902

 

[blade67]

Arsenals unbeaten run included many draws and they never bothered Leeds or Man Utd points wise. Uniteds huge unbeaten run was six games. How that relates to the best two teams in the country I have no idea. Although it was a good game at BL, Arsenal were never title contenders though they did beat the Pigs 7-1.

We'd picked up 32 points from the previous 14 games, so not an unbeaten run but probably top of any form table. Can't be Arsed to check up on Arsenal's results but my memory was they had a shocking start and were on a great run when we played them.

Don't fuck with my great memories anyway ;-)

changed my mind on arsenal. 13 games unbeaten and 29 points. Leeds won the title with just under 2 points a game. So I was right. FACT.

 

[Jonboy60]

My dad never forgave United for dismantling its best ever chance to be a top English side. After the sale of Tony Currie, he only went 3 more times before he died in 2013, and that's only because I kept mithering him.

To push previously fanatical supporters to the point where they just don't give a toss anymore is a sad thing. I hope I don't get like that.

Trouble is TD United selling players in your dads era wouldn't be as common as it is now. Anyone born after the sales of mick Jones, Currie etc would just see it as a norm.

 

[Sean Thornton]

26 games a season. Some of our recent injury-troubled players can only dream of that sort of record.

Not really televant to the point is it?

 

[Tyler Durden]

Trouble is TD United selling players in your dads era wouldn't be as common as it is now. Anyone born after the sales of mick Jones, Currie etc would just see it as a norm.

It's all I've ever known. In my first season that I started going, we sold Deane and Fjortoft at the same time!

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Not really televant to the point is it?

When discussing a player's injury problems, is it relevant that he was still able to play an average of 26 games a season?

Yes, I think so.

 

[Sean Thornton]

When discussing a player's injury problems, is it relevant that he was still able to play an average of 26 games a season?

Yes, I think so.

The comparison to some of our current players is irrelevant. The point was , as you are aware, that it turned out to be good business, despite reservations at the time, because he never achieved the form he had here and his injury issues kept him to 145 games in five and a half years, two Leeds apps apart, in a declining team. One of my favourite players but Bassett was right to sell him. Which was where we started.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

The comparison to some of our current players is irrelevant. The point was , as you are aware, that it turned out to be good business, despite reservations at the time, because he never achieved the form he had here and his injury issues kept him to 145 games in five and a half years, two Leeds apps apart, in a declining team. One of my favourite players but Bassett was right to sell him. Which was where we started.

All of which I agreed with earlier in the thread.

 

[Sean Thornton]

All of which I agreed with earlier in the thread.

After your original comment that we'd funded the Gayle signing by selling him, albeit two months later. That's how it read to me anyway.

Let's leave it.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

After your original comment that we'd funded the Gayle signing by selling him, albeit two months later. That's how it read to me anyway.

Let's leave it.

It turned out to be a good deal because we pre-invested the money in a player the manager really wanted and who improved the team overall.

I said that after my original comment which referred to Bassett generating his own funds ultimately rather than being gifted an investment by The Board.

Agreed its been discussed to death now and we should leave it.

 

[JJBlade]

These players that we let go too soon from the glory team. Who were they?

I think thou misunderstand me
I'm saying it wasn't that good a team, there was no glory during our so called "glory years"

I don't complain about players leaving Bramall Lane, all clubs sell players
I just complain about them never being replaced properly. Only this club consistently replaces sold players with shyte