The football clubs embody the city...

[Espania blade]

I’m born and bred Sheffield and will always love the city but it has always seemed like other northern cities are ahead of us both in real life and in football. Look at Leeds and Manchester and the cultural powerhouses they’ve become in comparison to Sheffield where there is very little investment other than Chinese student living. This reflects the football sides who have both become close (one more so than the other) to being a regular premier league fixture yet a lack of investment has led to their downfall. Sheffield is the birthplace of football yet it’s hardly made a fuss out of- if it was in Manchester you know there’d be museums and a lot more info about it nationwide. Just seems like this city is always gonna be second best.

Successive Labour councilors running the Town Hall, in the past tells you everything you need to know.

 

[BushBlade]

I wrote a negative post about industry and commerce aspect of Sheffield.
The city leaders think small time and the people are generally pessimistic regards big ideas and success....so this becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

I think our lack of commercial success is down to geography and capatalism.
Take IKEA, their business plan to to have their stores next to the motorway covering all major cities.
We have Manchester 30 miles to the west, Leeds 30 mile to the north and Nottingham 30 mile to the south.
Therefore for many years they by passed Sheffield because we were already covered by several IKEAS 30 mile away.

So we do have other big cities close by.
Hence regards investment it’s easy to be overlooked and go to Manchester, Leeds and Nottingham instead.

Im now in my 50’s and over the decades I’ve worked with loads of outsiders (most were ex students) who decided to lay roots in and around Sheffield.
I ask “what’s the attraction of living in Sheffield” and always tended to receive similar positive comments like.

1: Location: Regards national travel the location is fantastic....virtually the dead centre of England and next to the motorway.
2: Green city: Sheffield has loads of parks and trees in every street. Outsiders are often shocked at how green Sheffield is.
3: Beautiful countryside: They always say we don’t realise how lucky we are to be able to drive just 20 minutes and be surrounded by countryside.
4: The special village atmosphere: Many have commented that Sheffield has the facilties of a large city but the intimate feel of a small town.
Someone said that it might be the hilly terrain forming natural boundaries but Sheffield does feel like a collection of villages.
5: Low crime rate. Ive worked with people who use to live in Manchester and Liverpool and say that crime wise Sheffield has a much much safer vibe.
6: Friendly people. Outsiders used to comment then when you catch a bus in Sheffield you always have strangers talking to you. They say they’ve never experienced it any where else.

Many students from out of town...fall in love with the city and end up staying. Think it’s important to appreciate that Sheffield does have qualities.

Do you mind if I ask what these ex-students did as a job? I’ve always been sceptical about the stat that more students stay in Sheffield than elsewhere. I stayed in Brighton after uni, for about a year. The uni did get in touch shortly after to see where I was (as part of a general questionnaire) but nothing since. So they have no idea if I stayed in Brighton or not (I didn’t). But for their stats, I did.
So I question how the stat itself can be established and verified.
Secondly, I can see how many students that study medicine would stay in Sheffield, why not, we’ve got hospitals, similarly there’s work in the public sector, in local government and civil service but there’s very little in the private sector compared with, say Manchester. There are loads of posters on here that had to leave Sheffield to find work in IT, professional services, media, management and others who commute to Manchester and Leeds. If the locals struggle to find work surely it’s the same for graduates who came to the city to study? All my cousins’ kids went to uni and left the area, like I did, like my sister did.
They’ve been churning out this stat about students for about 30 years, you’d expect the majority of people in Sheffield to be graduates by now but I don’t think that’s the case.

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

I was born in Sheffield, but moved away as a child, and interesting to read many of the not so positive comments about Sheffield.

Is the city really that bad? Has the centre not been modified?

People need to go and visit Birmingham. I lived there for 5 years, and that is a complete shithole. Parts of the centre (Brindley Place) have been modernised, but the inner city ring around Birmingham has to be worse than Sheffield. A complete crime ridden, hell hole.

 

[Espania blade]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say Leeds is a cultural powerhouse. It's good at copying what other places do, but that's it. There's nothing unique about the place at all, other than the high concentration of lowlife football fans.

Manchester on the other hand - totally different kettle of fish.

Leeds city centre is light years ahead of Sheffield and the amount of new housing/urban living along the canal is brilliant, go have a look, Sheffield has the river Don and has never capitalised on it, Sheffield has a wonderful centre, now look at it, it's a mess.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

By "Wedding Cake" I assume you are referring to the Registry Office. Another one of SCCs wastes of money. Build some shit, get bored, knock it down. Dig a big hole in the ground, get bored, then fill it in. All while rate payers are still paying for it.

Not forgetting the huge missed opportunity that was Don Valley

 

[FlamingLip]

I moved back to sheff after nearly 15 yrs in South, Leeds and Northwest. I don't regret it as I do love the place - sounds duplicitous, but I almost like the reasons that make it more villagey and probably hold it back. Note Ive loved all the places I've lived and Leeds in particular is a great place.

I work for a global consultancy who acquired a company in sheff hence we've an office in the centre. It's an important engineering hub for us and the facility really ought to be used more - unfortunately a repeated complaint from colleagues and customers overseas is it's poor links. You can't easily nip over to Sheffield from the continent and we really do suffer from it. I don't know how this year of madness will reboot company plans but arguably would make sense to relocate to Manchester.

 

[gordoncharles]

I can't add much to the impressions above, as a city it's suffered from losing it's industrial heritage and not being able to replace it with anything meaningful. Bradford is probably the only post-industrial city that's fared worse.

However, let's not kid ourselves that Sheffield "invented" football. It just so happened that some former public schoolboys were the first to set up a club outside of the confines of education. It's something to be proud of because of it's place in history, but it's no more than that.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Do you mind if I ask what these ex-students did as a job? I’ve always been sceptical about the stat that more students stay in Sheffield than elsewhere. I stayed in Brighton after uni, for about a year. The uni did get in touch shortly after to see where I was (as part of a general questionnaire) but nothing since. So they have no idea if I stayed in Brighton or not (I didn’t). But for their stats, I did.
So I question how the stat itself can be established and verified.
Secondly, I can see how many students that study medicine would stay in Sheffield, why not, we’ve got hospitals, similarly there’s work in the public sector, in local government and civil service but there’s very little in the private sector compared with, say Manchester. There are loads of posters on here that had to leave Sheffield to find work in IT, professional services, media, management and others who commute to Manchester and Leeds. If the locals struggle to find work surely it’s the same for graduates who came to the city to study? All my cousins’ kids went to uni and left the area, like I did, like my sister did.
They’ve been churning out this stat about students for about 30 years, you’d expect the majority of people in Sheffield to be graduates by now but I don’t think that’s the case.

All council Town Hall administration jobs.

In the 80’s and 90’s I used to work in the Education Dept...then the Housing Dept before we were privatised.
There were quite a lot of ex students from other parts of the country.
They tended to have degrees in Art, textiles, archeology, Geography, English literature, philosophy, politics.
The type where’s there’s no obvious job waiting for them....so they just take a decent level office job with decent prospects.

 

[JJBlade]

That was never going to happen here, because of the hard left-wing policies of our council. In that respect we're very similar to Liverpool, who've suffered the same fate. If you want to attract the business sector into your city then you have to lower your taxes and be much cannier about how you spend your money. That has always been an anathema to this council, who put ideology before people.

And yet Liverpool is still a hundred times better than Sheffield, It has completely re-invented itself, it's not known for it's left wing militant image anymore and hasn't allowed it to blight their future by half heartedly continuing with it.
Liverpool's skyline is impressive and it has more beautiful Georgian and Victorian buildings than any other city outside of London, so the so called militants didn't do that good a job of destroying it, unlike a real left wing, backward, silently militant mob that we've had in charge for most of our lives.

 

[PrestwichBlade]

I've lived over in Manchester now for approaching 7 years, however prior to that had always, other than 3 years away at university, lived in Sheffield all my life. It will always be my home at heart. In the back of my mind when I moved here, I'd always thought I'd move back to Sheffield, but now? I don't think so. Unless there was a big change in my life. I do miss the hills, open space and views of course, but in reality it doesn't take all that much longer to find that from where I am anyhow.
For obvious reasons I haven't been over to Sheffield much this past year, but would previously enjoyed seeing how things had changed and developed. I'd then return to Manchester and realise everything done in Sheffield was on such a smaller scale. I think it's well beyond trying to compare the 2 now, it is what it is.
What does always amaze me though is when I tell people where I'm from, just how little concept some folk have even of where Sheffield is, let alone what it's like or its history! You might get the odd comment about Meadowhall, but that's about it.
So anyway, about football. Yeah, a museum might be nice, but honestly, when I remind folk of the original United thing, and where the current incarnation of football started, the truth is, no one is that fussed.
I will still always love Sheffield though.

 

[Killamarshblades]

The lack of an airport has surely done the city in, in the modern era. Everywhere else has one bar us, cant be good for attracting global / european business / investment to the area. Even Donny airport is a good 45-60 mins away, more if the traffics against you! that and a lack of marketing of what the city could / can offer also must be a reason. Late 90's we had the best sports facilities in the country, rarely got mentioned. Nowadays places like Kelham Island should be a goldmine but they remain a secret.
Im in my early 40's but its always seemed like the city is behind others in the county, London (clearly head and shoulders the best place!), Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, York, Leeds, Newcastle and potentially Nottingham (although not been there for years) are way way out in front of Sheffield.

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

I can't add much to the impressions above, as a city it's suffered from losing it's industrial heritage and not being able to replace it with anything meaningful. Bradford is probably the only post-industrial city that's fared worse.

However, let's not kid ourselves that Sheffield "invented" football. It just so happened that some former public schoolboys were the first to set up a club outside of the confines of education. It's something to be proud of because of it's place in history, but it's no more than that.

Totally get what you mean it’s not worth making a song and dance about but I think it’s worth been proud of I’m confident if Manchester had oldest club they’d have done more but thing is Sheffield FC have plans for a new ground at Olive Grove which surely would make the area around BL better and better for local pubs shops etc that blades go to most Saturdays it’d be money well spent in my opinion same with a lot of things we should’ve done as a whole but we haven’t but it is what it is agree with Bradford as well

 

[Danny_Blade]

I can think of AMRC Boeing and McLaren you'd class as big firms (and even then those aren't their biggest hubs within the UK) being located in Sheffield and even then they're more or less on the border with Rotherham.

There are some digital firms (forgot their names) that are now located here so that's a bit of future industry at least.

But other than that I'm struggling to think of any other big companies/organisations?

As for embracing some of our history, how about the possibility of painting a mural of Sheffield FC's club crest (which actually says on it 'World's First Football Club') onto one of the red brick walls right beside the tracks at the Station?

I think a mural this way would look immense (because it's the world's oldest football club on a typical hundred year old red brick wall). Yes the location might be dark and dank but I think that's what would make it so vivid in people's mind seeing that just before the train nears the platform.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

Not forgetting the huge missed opportunity that was Don Valley

Who could forget that?

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

I can think of AMRC Boeing and McLaren you'd class as big firms (and even then those aren't their biggest hubs within the UK) being located in Sheffield and even then they're more or less on the border with Rotherham.

There are some digital firms (forgot their names) that are now located here so that's a bit of future industry at least.

But other than that I'm struggling to think of any other big companies/organisations?

As for embracing some of our history, how about the possibility of painting a mural of Sheffield FC's club crest (which actually says on it 'World's First Football Club') onto one of the red brick walls right beside the tracks at the Station?

I think a mural this way would look immense (because it's the world's oldest football club on a typical hundred year old red brick wall). Yes the location might be dark and dank but I think that's what would make it so vivid in people's mind seeing that just before the train nears the platform.

I might be wrong but where the silver bull use to be on the side of the M1 for the people that know now outokumpu sign they were rumours to build a big steel football to represent the city and football but it obviously never went ahead I thought that was a great idea personally, last post as I’m anxious this should be in general blades chat

 

[JJBlade]

This city has got Labour written all over it. Dumbing down standards, unambitious with not an ounce of entrepreneurial spirit. They should start calling the local councillors 'comrades'. Always amazes me how the South West of the city remains so affluent.

It's not that affluent though is it
Not really, not when compared to the creme de la creme of other cities.
There are apartments in Manchester that cost £4 million
There are apartments in Newcastle that cost £3.5 million
There are apartments in Liverpool that cost £2 million
There are apartments in Leeds that cost £1.8 million and there are £5 million houses all over the place in various suburbs.

£2 million in Sheffield buys you a 7 bedroom Manor House in the affluent South West.
It's affluent for Sheffield but that doesn't say much really.

 

[CentralQuay]

Some right nonsense in here.

The City has no reflection on the performance of a football club.

Leicester City Centre is a hole, and I certainly don't regret living up here instead.

 

[ghandi]

Successive Labour councilors running the Town Hall, in the past tells you everything you need to know.

Democratically elected each year by the citizens of Sheffield.

 

[metalblade]

They always used to say if you want summat somebody in Sheffield will be able to make it for you, it was probably true up until the 1970's as we were the powerhouse of the country. Sheffield was hit really hard by the demise of the steel industry followed a few years later by the coal industry but rather than working with the government of the time to get help to regenerate the council in Sheffield decided to go into a war they could never win against the Tories. A left wing Labour council anti car, anti military, anti this, anti that, rather than actually doing some thing for the city. Who else would decide to build a huge office block across a major route into the city centre or build a new town hall extension then knock it down a few years later. Then there was all the massive investment for the student games most of the facilities were sold off before they had been paid for because no one thought about how to use them or how to pay to keep them going afterwards. The city airport sold off for a quid the list of failures goes on and on for this council who have done more damage to Sheffield than Hitler's Luftwaffe could ever have imagined 80 years ago this month. We were going to have a "Man of Steel" sculpture sat overlooking the Don Valley we can't even get that made now. No Airport, no decent rail links the council have even fucked up the HS2 plans no hope, no future, Sheffield the forgotten City.

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

Some right nonsense in here.

The City has no reflection on the performance of a football club.

Leicester City Centre is a hole, and I certainly don't regret living up here instead.

I don’t think people are meaning performances and maybe there’s been too many negative posts me included but no doubt it’s my home that I love and there is positives

 

[ghandi]

The lack of an airport has surely done the city in, in the modern era. Everywhere else has one bar us, cant be good for attracting global / european business / investment to the area. Even Donny airport is a good 45-60 mins away, more if the traffics against you! that and a lack of marketing of what the city could / can offer also must be a reason. Late 90's we had the best sports facilities in the country, rarely got mentioned. Nowadays places like Kelham Island should be a goldmine but they remain a secret.
Im in my early 40's but its always seemed like the city is behind others in the county, London (clearly head and shoulders the best place!), Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, York, Leeds, Newcastle and potentially Nottingham (although not been there for years) are way way out in front of Sheffield.

Manchester Airport is in Stockport probably the same reason the airport located in Doncaster is called Doncaster/Sheffield.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Echo what most people have put on this thread about Sheffield's small time mentality. Lot's of examples have been given to highlight this. Here's mine, just one example (there's many more I could use). When they proposed building Leeds Arena, what did the people in power in Sheffield do here, at first they tried to block it (fair enough) but it was always going to get built. What they should have done was build another tier on our Arena so it had a much bigger capacity to ensure we stayed on the tour circuit for all the big hitters. What they did do was install new seats (which is fine, given the seats at the side were shite to start with) and increased capacity slightly (it's roughly the same size as Leeds Arena), the result being most bands now miss out Sheffield and go to Leeds instead. One example of the tin pot, small time mentality in Sheffield. As I said there's many more to go at (and don't get me started on our train station).

 

[Bert]

Echo what most people have put on this thread about Sheffield's small time mentality. Lot's of examples have been given to highlight this. Here's mine, just one example (there's many more I could use). When they proposed building Leeds Arena, what did the people in power in Sheffield do here, at first they tried to block it (fair enough) but it was always going to get built. What they should have done was build another tier on our Arena so it had a much bigger capacity to ensure we stayed on the tour circuit for all the big hitters. What they did do was install new seats (which is fine, given the seats at the side were shite to start with) and increased capacity slightly (it's roughly the same size as Leeds Arena), the result being most bands now miss out Sheffield and go to Leeds instead. One example of the tin pot, small time mentality in Sheffield. As I said there's many more to go at (and don't get me started on our train station).

Train station? Is that the one with one of the finest bars in the North of England?

 

[drblade]

Yorkshire as a whole, has a poor history of footballing success.

 

[metalblade]

Echo what most people have put on this thread about Sheffield's small time mentality. Lot's of examples have been given to highlight this. Here's mine, just one example (there's many more I could use). When they proposed building Leeds Arena, what did the people in power in Sheffield do here, at first they tried to block it (fair enough) but it was always going to get built. What they should have done was build another tier on our Arena so it had a much bigger capacity to ensure we stayed on the tour circuit for all the big hitters. What they did do was install new seats (which is fine, given the seats at the side were shite to start with) and increased capacity slightly (it's roughly the same size as Leeds Arena), the result being most bands now miss out Sheffield and go to Leeds instead. One example of the tin pot, small time mentality in Sheffield. As I said there's many more to go at (and don't get me started on our train station).

Train station it's like something you see on these heritage railways it is so out of date.

 

[JJBlade]

Some right nonsense in here.

The City has no reflection on the performance of a football club.

Leicester City Centre is a hole, and I certainly don't regret living up here instead.

The City's image has a much bigger influence on football than you might think. Why didn't Maupay sign ?
Football being a business is just like any other business. Footballers personal lives are about WAGS, Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton, Ferraris and Lamborghinis

There is a blueprint for a successful City, the blueprint worldwide is the same, no matter where in the world you are, no matter what size the city, the blueprints for being a successful city are the same.

The people that managed Sheffield for decades didn't want success for the City, they wanted failure, they wanted a downtrodden, poorly educated, they wanted the public to be either unemployed or stuck in dead end job, they wanted them poorly paid working in shit conditions. That way they could use the left wing militant tactic and blame everybody else to obtain their votes as the party that was fighting on their behalf.

The damage is done now, it's terminal, no matter what it does now Sheffield will always be trying to catch up in a Fiat Punto whilst other cities continue to race away in a Lamborghini.

The world's population has doubled since I left school 40 years ago, and urbanisation on a truly massive scale has become a chronic problem for Cities worldwide, but in amongst all of this Sheffield's population is actually less than it was in the 1960's. And this is the problem, Sheffield has not attracted new residents because there's fuck all here for them

 

[JJBlade]

Train station it's like something you see on these heritage railways it is so out of date.

Exactly
The purpose of a train station is to attract trains, to connect cities and develop business links.

But Sheffield people along with the city management think sandblasting it, building a garden and a steel structure that looks like a knife outside, means job done.
And whilst all this was going on it's missed out on HS2 and has less train links than Doncaster.
But hey it's lovely on the outside (arguably)

 

[Rochdaleblade]

As an outsider it seems to me that Sheffield Council is quite anti-business, compared to Leeds and Manchester despite being of a similar political spectrum. They also seem to fall out quite regularly with the other South Yorkshire authorities. However, they seem to get voted in every time.

 

[Killamarshblades]

Manchester Airport is in Stockport probably the same reason the airport located in Doncaster is called Doncaster/Sheffield.

Granted, but its got well established transport links to get into Manchester (8 miles away) where as Donny Sheffield is 25 miles and only in the last year or so a link road has been established. Its been open best part of 15 /20 years. Plus Manc Airport has grown and grown with three terminals and flights worldwide daily, not sure Finningley is on the same level!

 

[Bellypork]

Wednesday embodied the city, because when the maximum wage was abolished they didn't react. They stuck with the same system in which there are thousands of small shareholders and no owner. Democratic, at least on paper, but unable to generate the wealth required. In the same way, Sheffield didn't react. We couldn't possibly have maintained the same industry once the empire went, as it gave us a monopoly of trade in the world. Add to that foreign competition and a gradual deindustrialization in the West and it's not difficult to see why what happened came to pass. Other cities suffered equally, but they regenerated themselves and diversified. But that requires an economically-astute council... Nuff said!