The myth of our Play Off 'curse'

[Jan Age]

We are shit in play offs

 

[programmechap]

Agree we weren’t shit, they were all close matches, very competitive.

The Leicester trilogy in 1961 were all close and could have gone either way.
However we hardly crested a single chance against Wednesday, they had loads of clear chances, a miracle we only lose 2-1.
Hardly created a chance against Newcastle, altho they hardly crested anything too.
Hardly created a chance against Arsenal part from the Pesky header and Jags follow up.
Didn’t create much against Man City, just remember the clear chance for N’Diaye in the 1st minute.
Again we were competitive for most of the match, until we fell away, still blame Max Lowe for passing the ball straight to Mahrez on the centre circle.

We played well in both league semis against top.level teams in Liverpool and Spurs losing by the odd goal over 2 legs (and extra time in 2003).

 

[Large Mendonca]

My take on the 4 play-off finals:-

1997 - Injuries ravaged us pretty much, and Hutchison going off after 20 mins didn't help. Play near full strength and we would have won.
2003 - A combination of bad tactics by Warnock, and an explosive first 45 mins from Wolves. Fair fucks to them - it happens.
2009 - 1-0 defeat flattered us. Burnley had already beaten us twice that season and they were the better team by far.
2012 - Again, a case of injuries and "Ched". We didn't have Williamson from memory, and didn't our safe bet Will Hoskins hardly play a game due to being injured, when there was a chance that Ched wouldn't finish the season? He was signed for that very reason goddamit!!

No curses.

Oh, and while we're fucking at it:-

Pigs winning two, against 10-men Hartlepool (AET) and 10-men Barnsley (AET) can fuck right off. Bit of a pattern forming with them spozzy gets isn't there?

 

[Gimli]

Reading this thread it's not hard to see why we've never won a play off or cup

Luckily enough wilder isn't your typical blade and is resilient and mentally tough
As are the players
Maybe it would be best for us a fanbase to. Win one rather than autos and perhaps we could finally bury the tag of being the biggest fannies fans In The country

Blame the fans all you like but it’s not us that have been on the pitch on each of those occasions.

 

[Sheffsteel]

The Hudds penalty shoot out went thus..Huddersfield went first

Round 1 both miss
Round 2 Hudds miss United score
Round 3 both miss
(So Hudds missed all their first 3 leaving us 1-0 up with 3 pens left)
Round 4 Hudds score we miss
Round 5 both score.

So all square at 2-2 at the end of 5 rounds. Remarkably with the allegedly good takers only managing to.score 40% , the next 5 allegedly not so good takers on both.teams had a 100% record.

So at 7-7, only the goalies were left...

I don’t think it was like that.
Didn’t Huddersfield MISS there first 2 penalties and we scored our first 2 penalties, so we were 2-0 up after round 2.
Then Matt Lawton stepped up, score and we’d have been 3-0 in front……surely we’d be promoted from that position.

But in round 3, Lowton missed and they scored…..making it us 2-1 up.
Maybe my memory is going but I’m sure they missed their 1st 2 penalties and we were well and truly in the driving seat.
I do remember that in the early rounds Huddersfield couldn’t seem to score any penalties and I’m thinking it’s fate and we’re finally going to win a play-off.

 

[Gimli]

I don’t think it was like that.
Didn’t Huddersfield MISS there first 2 penalties and we scored our first 2 penalties, so we were 2-0 up after round 2.
Then Matt Lawton stepped up, score and we’d have been 3-0 in front……surely we’d be promoted from that position.

But in round 3, Lowton missed and they scored…..making it us 2-1 up.

It was as programmechap recalls.

We were taking second, and after hudds 3rd penalty we were 1-0 up with a penalty in hand (we missed)
Then they scored and the ‘penalty specialist’ Andy Taylor, who’d been brought on in 119 mins for specifically a pen, hit the post…

 

[programmechap]

I don’t think it was like that.
Didn’t Huddersfield MISS there first 2 penalties and we scored our first 2 penalties, so we were 2-0 up after round 2.
Then Matt Lawton stepped up, score and we’d have been 3-0 in front……surely we’d be promoted from that position.

But in round 3, Lowton missed and they scored…..making it us 2-1 up.
Maybe my memory is going but I’m sure they missed their 1st 2 penalties and we were well and truly in the driving seat.
I do remember that in the early rounds Huddersfield couldn’t seem to score any penalties and I’m thinking it’s fate and we’re finally going to win a play-off.

No, we were in the driving seat because they had missed their first 3 and we had scored one of our two, with three still to take.

 

[programmechap]

It was as programmechap recalls.

We were taking second, and after hudds 3rd penalty we were 1-0 up with a penalty in hand (we missed)
Then they scored and the ‘penalty specialist’ Andy Taylor, who’d been brought on in 119 mins for specifically a pen, hit the post…

Fine margins. Had his shot been a few inches the other way, we would have been 2-0 up and virtually certain to win...

 

[Large Mendonca]

My memory is it was the worst game of football ever seen at Wembley stadium, we were disgraceful literally hoping for penalties, we didn't go near their box once. Disgraceful performance

I recall us going very close with a Chris Porter header on about 87/88 mins that took a deflection to stop it going in.........

Other than that, it was complete dogger.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

The missed penalty at Cardiff was the killer. My late Wolves mate was still nervous at half time and agreed that the game could have swung had that gone in.

I knew Brown would miss that penalty before he even kicked the ball. Matt Murray suckered him in. He stood off centre leaving one side open compared to the other. As soon as I spotted that I knew what was coming. Brown took the bait and Murray easily saved it. I always had respect for Murray for that. He played a blinder in that moment.

 

[brownblade]

In most of the play off games we got what we deserved. Against Wolves Warnock dropped McCall for Rankine and Windass for Asaba and didn't even bring Windass. I'm still convinced to this day that if we'd started McCall and Windass we'd have played better and won.

Against Burnley we had sold Beattie and replaced him with Jamie Ward and Craig Beattie. It didn't help that Ward got sent off in the second half when we were already behind. It also didn't help that Blackwell was a very limited manager whose only tactics were kick the crap out of players and hoof it.

The Ched situation derailed that play off campaign and we only lost on sudden death penalties with Simonsen being the final taker, a rare situation.

I don't think we're cursed or destined to never win in the play offs. The above were all down to either our own doing or just bad luck.

Has Warnock ever explained why he swapped Rankine for McCall?! One of the strangest moves in football history if there wasn't an injury/illness.

If he wasn't a Blade I'd have considered it match fixing.

The heartbreak of the game coming back to me now, thanks... Remember the brief optimism when we got a penalty?! FML.

 

[BalticBlade]

No, we were in the driving seat because they had missed their first 3 and we had scored one of our two, with three still to take.

There can't be many examples of a team missing their first three penalties in a shootout but still winning.

 

[Dkc]

We have had 9 play offs not 8, as follows,

• 1988 division 2 finished 3rd bottom and entered league one semi final play offs and lost to Bristol City. So relegated to division 3.
• 1997 championship lost final 1-0 to Palace.
• 2022 championship lost on penalties to Forest in semi’s.
• 1998 championship lost to Sunderland in semi finals.
• 2003 championship lost final 3-0 to Wolves.
• 2009 championship lost final 1-0 to Burnley.
• 2012 league one final lost on penalties to Huddersfield 8-7.
• 2013 league one semi-final lost to Yeovil.
• 2015 league one semi-final lost to Swindon.

I've watched every single one of those games either live or on TV apart from the 1988 away game which I listened to on the radio. By my reckoning that's 20 games with no success unless you count making the final.

Interesting that most home semi finals have had a lower gate than our average leage attendance for that season.

 

[Balham]

There can't be many examples of a team missing their first three penalties in a shootout but still winning.

As an extension, there can't be many examples of a penalty shootout being 1-1 after four penalties per side.

2012 - Again, a case of injuries and "Ched". We didn't have Williamson from memory, and didn't our safe bet Will Hoskins hardly play a game due to being injured, when there was a chance that Ched wouldn't finish the season? He was signed for that very reason goddamit!!

Williamson played - he missed our first spot kick. Hoskins had a hernia issue and missed most of the end of the season, only playing at MK Dons after Evans' conviction. This meant we had to field a half-fit Richard Cresswell in the play off final, he came off for the equally unfit Chris Porter.

Oh, and while we're fucking at it:-

Pigs winning two, against 10-men Hartlepool (AET) and 10-men Barnsley (AET) can fuck right off. Bit of a pattern forming with them spozzy gets isn't there?

I was at the Barnsley match. That will never, ever happen again: a wrongly awarded red card to the opposition, a clear penalty for the opposition turned down (despite having VAR!) then a winner with 6 seconds left.

 

[programmechap]

As an extension, there can't be many examples of a penalty shootout being 1-1 after four penalties per side.


Williamson played - he missed our first spot kick. Hoskins had a hernia issue and missed most of the end of the season, only playing at MK Dons after Evans' conviction. This meant we had to field a half-fit Richard Cresswell in the play off final, he came off for the equally unfit Chris Porter.


I was at the Barnsley match. That will never, ever happen again: a wrongly awarded red card to the opposition, a clear penalty for the opposition turned down (despite having VAR!) then a winner with 6 seconds left.

In the 1986 European Cup Final, Steua Bucharest beat Barcelona 2-0 in a 8 shot penalty shoot out as Barca missed all 4 of theirs.

 

[Selly]

Hudds did take first - this was the sequence:


The Lowton miss was the killer - 2-0 with only 2 pens left and you'd think we'd have gone up...

 

[WalkelyFan]

In most of the play off games we got what we deserved. Against Wolves Warnock dropped McCall for Rankine and Windass for Asaba and didn't even bring Windass. I'm still convinced to this day that if we'd started McCall and Windass we'd have played better and won.

Against Burnley we had sold Beattie and replaced him with Jamie Ward and Craig Beattie. It didn't help that Ward got sent off in the second half when we were already behind. It also didn't help that Blackwell was a very limited manager whose only tactics were kick the crap out of players and hoof it.

The Ched situation derailed that play off campaign and we only lost on sudden death penalties with Simonsen being the final taker, a rare situation.

I don't think we're cursed or destined to never win in the play offs. The above were all down to either our own doing or just bad luck.

As I remember this we had a penalty near the beginning of the second-half and Brown missed it. I think we would have done a lot better had it gone in.

 

[Beans]

As I remember this we had a penalty near the beginning of the second-half and Brown missed it. I think we would have done a lot better had it gone in.

I have a distinct memory that Matt Murray (Wolves' keeper) was announced as man of the match at the end. I can't bring myself to rewatch that game in its entirety but I do feel like we battered Wolves in the second half - hit the post, someone missed a sitter from close range - what I don't know is how much of that was Wolves just thinking "fuck it, we're 3-0 up".

Overturning a 3-0 happens once in a blue moon but I really do think it's fair to wonder if we might have done it had the pen gone in. We'd finished ahead of Wolves, put six goals past them in the two league games and basically built our entire season around dramatic comebacks.

 

[Large Mendonca]

As an extension, there can't be many examples of a penalty shootout being 1-1 after four penalties per side.


Williamson played - he missed our first spot kick. Hoskins had a hernia issue and missed most of the end of the season, only playing at MK Dons after Evans' conviction. This meant we had to field a half-fit Richard Cresswell in the play off final, he came off for the equally unfit Chris Porter.


I was at the Barnsley match. That will never, ever happen again: a wrongly awarded red card to the opposition, a clear penalty for the opposition turned down (despite having VAR!) then a winner with 6 seconds left.

Yeah that's right - I remember him being not right though. Wasn't he struggling with an injury and not his fluid self?

 

[Guesty]

There can't be many examples of a team missing their first three penalties in a shootout but still winning.

I heard at the time that we were the first team this happened to, but I can't be sure.

 

[SwissBlade]

The consensus amongst many Unitedites is that it's autos or bust this season, with many already fearing the worst if we have to settle for the play offs.

Many feel we have a play off 'curse' having failed to win promotion in our eight promotion play off campaigns to date. But if you step back and take an analytical approach you soon see the 'curse' is a myth and that should we miss out on automatic promotion things may be very different in the play offs this time around.

These are are final positions and points tallies we achieved in those eight previous play off seasons:

96/97
League position: 5th
Points: 73

97/98
League position: 6th
Points: 74 (16 points behind 3rd place Sunderland)

02/03
League position: 3rd
Points: 80 (1 point ahead of 4th and 4 points ahead of Play Off winners Wolves)

08/09
League position: 3rd
Points: 90 (3 points ahead of 4th and 4 points ahead of Play Off winners Burnley)

11/12
League position: 3rd
Points: 90 (9 points ahead of fourth placed Huddersfield)

12/13
League position: 5th
Points: 75

14/15
League position: 5th
Points: 71 (18 points behind 3rd place)

21/22
League position: 5th
Points: 75 (7 points behind third place)

As you can see, in the majority of those seasons we finished either 5th or 6th in the league and were well off the pace of the teams at the top. We were outsiders in these seasons and it is no real surprise that we missed out on winning the Play Offs.

In three of the eight seasons we finished third, so maybe could have been considered favourites to win the play offs. In two of those seasons the gap between us and the teams immediately below was very small.

The only exception is the 11/12 season when we finished in third place and were 9 clear points ahead of fourth placed Huddersfield, the team we lost to in the final. I'd say only that play off campaign could be considered a genuine failure and even then there is the mitigation of losing Ched Evans with a few games left and a rather freakish penalty shoot out.

There is no 'curse' and what happened previously has no bearing on what might happen this season. This season is completely different, for a number of reasons.

After 39 games we have already amassed more points (considerably more in some cases) than we did all the above seasons, bar the 11/12 season, but we look set to comfortably top that.

We are already guaranteed a place in the play offs at a minimum and if that is the case (barring a bizarre set of results in the final 7 games) we will almost certainly finish third, comfortably ahead of Sunderland and with a gaping chasm between ourselves and the other two play off teams.

I've heard people say this season that our record against the teams in around the play off places isn't very good. I beg to differ.

We played Sunderland twice during our trickiest spell of the season where we had a lot of back to back games and our squad was threadbare. We won one and lost one with a 2-2 aggregate score.

Same with West Brom, played them twice in quick succession during that tricky spell and drew both games.

Last Friday night we saw the gulf in class between ourselves and Coventry.

Boro beat us when we had that tricky couple of games after the death of George Baldock but we were a class above when we faced them with a much stronger squad a couple of months back.

Bristol City - we won one and drew one.

Our current team has shown time and time again this season they can handle the big pressure. One other thing we didn't have in the eight previous play off campaigns was Chris Wilder as manager.

We're in a great position. We've got a very good chance of autos and at the very worst we'll have to settle for the play offs. At the end of the day that wouldn't be the end of the world and we'd have a great chance of breaking this non-existant 'curse'.

Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, let's just f*ckin' enjoy it!

I’m not sure many people, if anyone has seriously referred to our play off record as a ‘curse’. It’s just an awful record.

Looking at your analysis, it’s not conclusive one way or another, we have finished in 3rd, 5th and 6th but never 4th. Statistically there is no stand out data. The positioning tells us little.

I’d sincerely hope we don’t make the play offs as in practical terms it means that we’ve failed to achieve top two from a position at the start of April where we’re top of the league and it would suggest a drop in form, which can never be good at the end of the season with potentially 3 additional games to play for the teams going into the play offs

The games themselves are not so much the concern though, the concern for the winning side would be the late end to the season and the delayed preparation for the following season. The two sides playing in the final will end their season a full 3 weeks after everyone else

 

[Guesty]

Williamson played - he missed our first spot kick. Hoskins had a hernia issue and missed most of the end of the season, only playing at MK Dons after Evans' conviction. This meant we had to field a half-fit Richard Cresswell in the play off final, he came off for the equally unfit Chris Porter.

Don't forget that absolute walloper James Beattie, whose only contributions in his second spell (bar a ludicrous missed sitter at home to Stevenage) were to get sent off twice, this being suspended for the entire play-off campaign.

Wanker.

 

[Selly]

I have a distinct memory that Matt Murray (Wolves' keeper) was announced as man of the match at the end. I can't bring myself to rewatch that game in its entirety but I do feel like we battered Wolves in the second half - hit the post, someone missed a sitter from close range - what I don't know is how much of that was Wolves just thinking "fuck it, we're 3-0 up".

Overturning a 3-0 happens once in a blue moon but I really do think it's fair to wonder if we might have done it had the pen gone in. We'd finished ahead of Wolves, put six goals past them in the two league games and basically built our entire season around dramatic comebacks.

As I recall.

brown missed a penalty
We hit the post with a free kick
we had one cleared off the line (possibly with the assistance of a hand - I was certainly shouting for a pen)

and yes, their keeper was MotM - the pen goes in and who knows what happens

 

[Selly]

I’m not sure many people, if anyone has seriously referred to our play off record as a ‘curse’. It’s just an awful record.

Looking at your analysis, it’s not conclusive one way or another, we have finished in 3rd, 5th and 6th but never 4th. Statistically there is no stand out data. The positioning tells us little.

I’d sincerely hope we don’t make the play offs as in practical terms it means that we’ve failed to achieve top two from a position at the start of April where we’re top of the league and it would suggest a drop in form, which can never be good at the end of the season with potentially 3 additional games to play for the teams going into the play offs

The games themselves are not so much the concern though, the concern for the winning side would be the late end to the season and the delayed preparation for the following season. The two sides playing in the final will end their season a full 3 weeks after everyone else

The nature of the Playoff is that you are either disappointed from missing out on the autos, or simply not as good as one or more of the other teams - there is always a reason for failure in the PO.

It might sound daft but I still think our best chance of going up in the playoffs (in terms of as we entered the PO semi) was 3 years ago under Hecky - yes we finished 5th, but that was a little bit of a "false" position due to Slav's tenure.

On the occasions we finished 3rd we were:

• knackered from a 60 game season
• playing under Blackwell
• just lost out on promotion to "them lot"

 

[programmechap]

As I recall.

brown missed a penalty
We hit the post with a free kick
we had one cleared off the line (possibly with the assistance of a hand - I was certainly shouting for a pen)

and yes, their keeper was MotM - the pen goes in and who knows what happens

Yes. The pen came on 48 mins. Had we scored that, we would have had over 40 minutes to get 2 goals. Given the boost, a goal at that stage would have given to morale, I reckon we would have done it and won in extra time...

 

[programmechap]

The nature of the Playoff is that you are either disappointed from missing out on the autos, or simply not as good as one or more of the other teams - there is always a reason for failure in the PO.

It might sound daft but I still think our best chance of going up in the playoffs (in terms of as we entered the PO semi) was 3 years ago under Hecky - yes we finished 5th, but that was a little bit of a "false" position due to Slav's tenure.

On the occasions we finished 3rd we were:

• knackered from a 60 game season
• playing under Blackwell
• just lost out on promotion to "them lot"

Side issue, but I couldn't face following the penalties live in 2022, so just clicked on the BBC website when they were over "Sheffield United win 4-2 on penalties" it said on the list of results. A massive "yessss" sees me click on the match report which tells me Forest have won 4-2 on pens.

If I ever catch the Intern the BBC gave the job of typing the results to, I'll be going down for a long time.

 

[Tickhill Blade]

I knew Brown would miss that penalty before he even kicked the ball. Matt Murray suckered him in. He stood off centre leaving one side open compared to the other. As soon as I spotted that I knew what was coming. Brown took the bait and Murray easily saved it. I always had respect for Murray for that. He played a blinder in that moment.

I'm surprised more keepers don't try that as a psychological thing, never seen another keeper try it

 

[Champagneblade]

The more I read the OP, the more I felt it confirmed our curse!

 

[programmechap]

I'm surprised more keepers don't try that as a psychological thing, never seen another keeper try it

View attachment 207979

It's a bit risky isn't it? If the penalty is struck low and with power into the open corner, the keeper has no chance.

Browns was saved because it was a poor penalty. Shoulder height, not far from the centre and not much power.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

It's a bit risky isn't it? If the penalty is struck low and with power into the open corner, the keeper has no chance.

Browns was saved because it was a poor penalty. Shoulder height, not far from the centre and not much power.

Should have let Rankine take it,