JJ Sefton
Live, Laugh, Love
It wasn’t all good news for United though as they lost some important players at the end of the season. Bob Cain and Kenny McKay were approached by up and coming non league side Tottenham Hotspur. This caused a lot of ill feeling in Sheffield as the Blades would receive no fee for them moving to a non league outfit. They cancelled the order for Cain’s Championship medal and withdrew his £20 bonus. The move was a bad one for Cain however and he was unhappy in London and asked to return to Bramall Lane but was snubbed. John Cunningham was sold to Aston Villa.
Cain’s replacement at left back was Peter Boyle from Sunderland who became United’s first Irish international. He was tough tackler often called ‘dirty’ and despite a successful spell with United he left the club under a cloud in 1904. In front of him in the half back line Harry Johnson had made the right half slot his own towards the end of the Championship winning season starting a family association with the club which would last until 1941. He had been offered terms by Barnsley but had chosen the Blades actually joining the club back in 1895. A contemporary said that he could “play on the heaviest ground without turning a hair, was resolute to a degree, a fair but strenuous player whose heading was almost perfect”. Needham described him as
“one of the most promising half backs I know, and a thoroughly hardworking member of the team. He is fairly rapid, can play a good individual game, and yet feeds his forwards well without being showy. He can shoot for goal with the strength of a Hercules”
He was personally popular too, “scrupulously fair, a cheery companion and wonderfully clever”. Like Boyle he would live to see a son play for the Blades. Up front inside right George Hedley turned professional and inside left Billy Beer and centre forward Charles ‘Oakey’ Field came through.
United’s 1898 – 1899 League season was dismal after a bright start that saw them top of the League in October until they went to Anfield on the 29th. George Allan, the Liverpool centre forward and Scotland international, had “sworn before the match to knock Foulke into the back of the net” and whenever he was close to Foulke, whether the ball was there or not, Allan would charge full pelt into the United keeper. After a while Foulke parried a shot into touch and the inevitable charge came from Allan. What happened next grew into one of the most famous stories attached to Foulke; that of picking up centre forwards and throwing them around. The Liverpool Daily Post was unequivocal
“Allan charged at Foulke in the goalmouth, and the big man, losing his temper, seized him by the leg and turned him upside down”
Foulke remembered it a little differently
“In reality Allan and I were quite good friends off the field. On it we were opponents, of course, and there’s no doubt he was ready to give chaff for chaff with me. What actually happened on the occasion referred to was that Allan (a big strong chap, mind you) once bore down on me with all his weight when I was saving.
I bent forward to protect myself, and Allan, striking my shoulder, flew right over me and fell heavily. He had a shaking up, I admit, but quite the worst thing about the whole business was that the referee (Mr Thomas, who had refused to abandon the game against Villa a couple of years before) gave a penalty against us and it cost Sheffield United the match”
After this United’s form tailed off and they finished third from bottom. United did however maintain their good record against Wednesday earning a 1-1 draw at Olive Grove in front of 16,000 in October and winning 2-1 at the Lane before a crowd of 32,000 in December. These results would have disastrous consequences for Wednesday at the end of the season.
But the season still went down in history as United overturned a decade of underperformance in the Cup and went on to win it for the first time. Needham said at the start of the season that he thought United had the ability to do well and the management were clearly taking the Cup seriously sending the players to Lytham to train. The campaign opened on January 28th 1899 away at First Division high flyers Burnley in a 2-2 draw with Beer getting both United’s goals on a frozen pitch. The replay was on the following Thursday and Bennett soon put the Blades in front until Boyle gave away a penalty from which Ross hit the equaliser. It looked like being another replay until Tommy Morren scored a rare goal.
After a decent result like Burnley United were unfortunate to draw First Division opposition in the next round, Preston North End away. United were in the lead at Deepdale after Hedley and Bennett scored but Preston fought back to force another replay. This was another tense affair after Chalmers put Preston ahead and Needham had a penalty saved by the outstanding Peter McBride. But United threw everything at Preston and eventually they cracked. Needham hit a cross into the box only to see it turned in by a defender and when United were awarded a second penalty Needham made up for his earlier miss. The Blades were through to the third round of the Cup for the first time.
Unfortunately it was another tough draw, away to Cup holders Nottingham Forest on February 25th. Britain was in the middle of a cold snap and pitches around the country were frozen solid but 9,000 Unitedites made the trip to Trent Bridge to swell the crowd to a massive 33,500. One fan recalled that “the two Sheffield train stations were besieged by intending passengers…”
This support did not help United initially and the Blades soon suffered a setback as John Almond was injured early on and had to go off at half time. United were a man down for the second half and Forest pushed with Capes hitting a vicious shot to the top corner. Amazingly Foulke threw all twenty stones across the goal and got a fingertip to it, according to the Telegraph it was “worthy of the greatest goalkeeper in the world”. But in doing so he tore a muscle in his right thigh and had to be carried off, after much effort, by six men to the derision of the Forest fans. Desperate to take advantage Forest kicked Needham from one end of the pitch to the other but it failed to pay off when, four minutes from the end, Beer roasted the Forest full back and laid on a cross on a plate for Fred Priest to fire home.
United traveled back to Nottingham on March 18th to play Liverpool in the semi final. When the Liverpool keeper Storer was flattened by one of his own defenders Hedley took advantage to put United in front but George Allan returned to haunt United and grabbed an equalizer. By half time Liverpool were in the lead when a communication break down between Thickett and Foulke allowed Morgan to nip in and score. With time running out Needham burst up the left, crossed and Bennett reacted to hook it into the net and earn another replay.
On the following Thursday Liverpool and United faced each other at Bolton. The first half finished with Liverpool one up thanks to a goal from Walker who scored through Foulke’s legs. Six minutes into the second half United’s nemesis, George Allan, took a free kick which crept in to double their lead. United fought back and turned the tide of a thrilling game and within two minutes Beer had pegged it back and Bennett pulled United level after the hour mark. This time it was Liverpool’s turn to attack and they raced back into a two goal lead with only eight minutes remaining after Allan completed his hat trick and Captain Alec Raisbeck scored. Needham looked at his dejected team mates and urged them “We have nothing to lose: if they score again we’ll be no worse off, but one last effort might save the day”. Needham recalled “I took the chance of having only one back, one half back, and thus eight forwards”. It soon paid off as Fred Priest scored with a long shot and the delirious crowd swept onto the pitch. No sooner had order been restored and the game restarted than Storer fumbled a shot and Priest popped up to peg Liverpool back to 4-4.
The third attempt to separate the two teams was held at Fallowfield in Manchester, the ground which had hosted the chaotic Cup final of 1893. It was totally inadequate for the 32,500 who turned up and play was frequently stopped because of the crowd spilling onto the pitch, one stoppage lasting 50 minutes while the fans had a game themselves. United had Bennett and Johnson out through injury and Tommy Morren was missing for a large part of the game. George Allan resumed his vendetta with Foulke and the Liverpool player was “laid out for a short time” but he carried on his phenomenal record against the Blades that season with a goal after six minutes. But when half time was reached (an hour and a half after kick off) it was apparent that the match could not continue in the circumstances. Worried that the fans would try and get their money back, the players were persuaded to go back onto the pitch while the match proceeds were whisked away for safe keeping.
Two thoroughly exhausted teams arrived at Bolton for the third replay on Thursday March 30th. Morren had not recovered from a knock he’d picked up at Fallowfield and Needham stepped into the centre half slot despite being taken ill in the dressing room before kick off. Even so he kept George Allan quiet and for the first time he failed to score. Liverpool adopted tough tactics to take advantage of United’s tiredness by booting them whenever they could, indeed, after the match three Liverpool players were suspended and two severely censured. Like two punch drunk heavyweights the teams looked lead footed and the deadlock was only broken five minutes from the end when Billy Beer hit the long awaited winner. As a sad post script to this titanic clash George Allan was dead by the end of the year after contracting tuberculosis.
For their first Cup final United went away to Skegness to train. The day before the match the team traveled to London and stayed in the Court Royal Hotel near Crystal Palace and were shown around Parliament by Sir Howard Vincent, the Conservative MP for Sheffield Central.
On April 15th 1899, an afternoon which switched from bright sunshine to light drizzle, Sheffield United faced the previous years FA Cup runners up Derby County in front of 78,833. Harry Thickett started the game with broken ribs from the semi finals, but it is a myth that he was wrapped in forty yards of bandages. It was also untrue that he drank a bottle of champagne at half time. Derby had selection headaches too. Archie Goodall was severely punished for his failure to turn up for a pre semi final training session and had been suspended.
United won the toss up but the predictions of an easy United victory were quickly cast into doubt. In the first fifteen minutes Derby forced a succession of corners and when one of these fell to England centre forward Steve Bloomer he whipped in a cross which caught out the United defence and John Boag put the Rams one up after 12 minutes. Indeed, United were actually on the back foot for much of the first half and they went into the changing room trailing by one goal and a little downhearted. Director Tom Bott remembered how
“Billy (Beer) said we were sure to win. He said the Derby lads were all puffing and blowing and he mentioned one opposing player who was calling his colleagues names and causing them to fall out with one another”.
He continued, “I went back to my seat for the second half a lot more confident”.
Even so the early second half pressure came from Derby. Bloomer was one on one with Foulke but hit it wide and another shot from him was only stopped with a stunning save. This geed United up and just before the hour mark Needham broke away down the left and sent in a cross. It looked as though Fryer, the Derby keeper, had it covered but Walter Bennett slipped away from his marker and headed it in from his fingertips. Six minutes later United took the lead when Billy Beer jinked through the Derby defence and slotted home.
The Blades were now in total control of the game and on the 70 minute mark John Almond poked home a Bennett cross and there was a further blow for Derby when they lost the injured left half Johnny May. From a Harry Johnson free kick Fred Priest scored late on and United ran out 4-1 winners and FA Cup holders for the first time in their history. Needham said that it had been the easiest game of the tournament and looking back at the grueling journey to Crystal Palace it is easy to see why but Derby had been the best side for an hour and had the usually prolific Steve Bloomer been on form (a phenomenal 238 goals from 375 games for Derby) the match may well have gone differently.
Understandably there was little mood for such introspection on the day. Outside the ground Needham climbed onto a table in front of a wild crowd and said
“I think we have earned this cup. We have had to play hard for it, and I’m sure there is no man in this ground more proud than I am now. I am also proud of having such a team to play with”.
Later on Bloomer asked him if he could hold the Cup. Despite being the best goal scorer of his day, with 28 goals for England in 23 appearances, that was as close as he ever got to the Cup.
Football’s popularity was now such that a plenty of celebrities of the day turned out to watch the game. Lord Kinnaird the great amateur player was joined by former Liberal Prime Minister Earl Rosebery, Imperial jack of all trades Cecil Rhodes and future Prime Minister Arthur Balfour who presented the Cup. A Telegraph reporter asked Foulke what his opinion of Balfour was. He simply said that he “didn’t think much of him”.
United’s fame had even spread as far as Brazil where one newspaper reported that
“At the football match which took place yesterday at Crystal Palace, there were 70,000 spectators. Lord Rosebery made a speech in favour of athletic sports. The first prize fell to Mr. Sheffield.”
When they arrived home Unitedites had further cause for celebration. Wednesday had not only been beaten by Newcastle and relegated but kicked out of Olive Grove and forced to move to the site of an old pig farm at Owlerton on the outskirts of the city.
Cain’s replacement at left back was Peter Boyle from Sunderland who became United’s first Irish international. He was tough tackler often called ‘dirty’ and despite a successful spell with United he left the club under a cloud in 1904. In front of him in the half back line Harry Johnson had made the right half slot his own towards the end of the Championship winning season starting a family association with the club which would last until 1941. He had been offered terms by Barnsley but had chosen the Blades actually joining the club back in 1895. A contemporary said that he could “play on the heaviest ground without turning a hair, was resolute to a degree, a fair but strenuous player whose heading was almost perfect”. Needham described him as
“one of the most promising half backs I know, and a thoroughly hardworking member of the team. He is fairly rapid, can play a good individual game, and yet feeds his forwards well without being showy. He can shoot for goal with the strength of a Hercules”
He was personally popular too, “scrupulously fair, a cheery companion and wonderfully clever”. Like Boyle he would live to see a son play for the Blades. Up front inside right George Hedley turned professional and inside left Billy Beer and centre forward Charles ‘Oakey’ Field came through.
United’s 1898 – 1899 League season was dismal after a bright start that saw them top of the League in October until they went to Anfield on the 29th. George Allan, the Liverpool centre forward and Scotland international, had “sworn before the match to knock Foulke into the back of the net” and whenever he was close to Foulke, whether the ball was there or not, Allan would charge full pelt into the United keeper. After a while Foulke parried a shot into touch and the inevitable charge came from Allan. What happened next grew into one of the most famous stories attached to Foulke; that of picking up centre forwards and throwing them around. The Liverpool Daily Post was unequivocal
“Allan charged at Foulke in the goalmouth, and the big man, losing his temper, seized him by the leg and turned him upside down”
Foulke remembered it a little differently
“In reality Allan and I were quite good friends off the field. On it we were opponents, of course, and there’s no doubt he was ready to give chaff for chaff with me. What actually happened on the occasion referred to was that Allan (a big strong chap, mind you) once bore down on me with all his weight when I was saving.
I bent forward to protect myself, and Allan, striking my shoulder, flew right over me and fell heavily. He had a shaking up, I admit, but quite the worst thing about the whole business was that the referee (Mr Thomas, who had refused to abandon the game against Villa a couple of years before) gave a penalty against us and it cost Sheffield United the match”
After this United’s form tailed off and they finished third from bottom. United did however maintain their good record against Wednesday earning a 1-1 draw at Olive Grove in front of 16,000 in October and winning 2-1 at the Lane before a crowd of 32,000 in December. These results would have disastrous consequences for Wednesday at the end of the season.
But the season still went down in history as United overturned a decade of underperformance in the Cup and went on to win it for the first time. Needham said at the start of the season that he thought United had the ability to do well and the management were clearly taking the Cup seriously sending the players to Lytham to train. The campaign opened on January 28th 1899 away at First Division high flyers Burnley in a 2-2 draw with Beer getting both United’s goals on a frozen pitch. The replay was on the following Thursday and Bennett soon put the Blades in front until Boyle gave away a penalty from which Ross hit the equaliser. It looked like being another replay until Tommy Morren scored a rare goal.
After a decent result like Burnley United were unfortunate to draw First Division opposition in the next round, Preston North End away. United were in the lead at Deepdale after Hedley and Bennett scored but Preston fought back to force another replay. This was another tense affair after Chalmers put Preston ahead and Needham had a penalty saved by the outstanding Peter McBride. But United threw everything at Preston and eventually they cracked. Needham hit a cross into the box only to see it turned in by a defender and when United were awarded a second penalty Needham made up for his earlier miss. The Blades were through to the third round of the Cup for the first time.
Unfortunately it was another tough draw, away to Cup holders Nottingham Forest on February 25th. Britain was in the middle of a cold snap and pitches around the country were frozen solid but 9,000 Unitedites made the trip to Trent Bridge to swell the crowd to a massive 33,500. One fan recalled that “the two Sheffield train stations were besieged by intending passengers…”
This support did not help United initially and the Blades soon suffered a setback as John Almond was injured early on and had to go off at half time. United were a man down for the second half and Forest pushed with Capes hitting a vicious shot to the top corner. Amazingly Foulke threw all twenty stones across the goal and got a fingertip to it, according to the Telegraph it was “worthy of the greatest goalkeeper in the world”. But in doing so he tore a muscle in his right thigh and had to be carried off, after much effort, by six men to the derision of the Forest fans. Desperate to take advantage Forest kicked Needham from one end of the pitch to the other but it failed to pay off when, four minutes from the end, Beer roasted the Forest full back and laid on a cross on a plate for Fred Priest to fire home.
United traveled back to Nottingham on March 18th to play Liverpool in the semi final. When the Liverpool keeper Storer was flattened by one of his own defenders Hedley took advantage to put United in front but George Allan returned to haunt United and grabbed an equalizer. By half time Liverpool were in the lead when a communication break down between Thickett and Foulke allowed Morgan to nip in and score. With time running out Needham burst up the left, crossed and Bennett reacted to hook it into the net and earn another replay.
On the following Thursday Liverpool and United faced each other at Bolton. The first half finished with Liverpool one up thanks to a goal from Walker who scored through Foulke’s legs. Six minutes into the second half United’s nemesis, George Allan, took a free kick which crept in to double their lead. United fought back and turned the tide of a thrilling game and within two minutes Beer had pegged it back and Bennett pulled United level after the hour mark. This time it was Liverpool’s turn to attack and they raced back into a two goal lead with only eight minutes remaining after Allan completed his hat trick and Captain Alec Raisbeck scored. Needham looked at his dejected team mates and urged them “We have nothing to lose: if they score again we’ll be no worse off, but one last effort might save the day”. Needham recalled “I took the chance of having only one back, one half back, and thus eight forwards”. It soon paid off as Fred Priest scored with a long shot and the delirious crowd swept onto the pitch. No sooner had order been restored and the game restarted than Storer fumbled a shot and Priest popped up to peg Liverpool back to 4-4.
The third attempt to separate the two teams was held at Fallowfield in Manchester, the ground which had hosted the chaotic Cup final of 1893. It was totally inadequate for the 32,500 who turned up and play was frequently stopped because of the crowd spilling onto the pitch, one stoppage lasting 50 minutes while the fans had a game themselves. United had Bennett and Johnson out through injury and Tommy Morren was missing for a large part of the game. George Allan resumed his vendetta with Foulke and the Liverpool player was “laid out for a short time” but he carried on his phenomenal record against the Blades that season with a goal after six minutes. But when half time was reached (an hour and a half after kick off) it was apparent that the match could not continue in the circumstances. Worried that the fans would try and get their money back, the players were persuaded to go back onto the pitch while the match proceeds were whisked away for safe keeping.
Two thoroughly exhausted teams arrived at Bolton for the third replay on Thursday March 30th. Morren had not recovered from a knock he’d picked up at Fallowfield and Needham stepped into the centre half slot despite being taken ill in the dressing room before kick off. Even so he kept George Allan quiet and for the first time he failed to score. Liverpool adopted tough tactics to take advantage of United’s tiredness by booting them whenever they could, indeed, after the match three Liverpool players were suspended and two severely censured. Like two punch drunk heavyweights the teams looked lead footed and the deadlock was only broken five minutes from the end when Billy Beer hit the long awaited winner. As a sad post script to this titanic clash George Allan was dead by the end of the year after contracting tuberculosis.
For their first Cup final United went away to Skegness to train. The day before the match the team traveled to London and stayed in the Court Royal Hotel near Crystal Palace and were shown around Parliament by Sir Howard Vincent, the Conservative MP for Sheffield Central.
On April 15th 1899, an afternoon which switched from bright sunshine to light drizzle, Sheffield United faced the previous years FA Cup runners up Derby County in front of 78,833. Harry Thickett started the game with broken ribs from the semi finals, but it is a myth that he was wrapped in forty yards of bandages. It was also untrue that he drank a bottle of champagne at half time. Derby had selection headaches too. Archie Goodall was severely punished for his failure to turn up for a pre semi final training session and had been suspended.
United won the toss up but the predictions of an easy United victory were quickly cast into doubt. In the first fifteen minutes Derby forced a succession of corners and when one of these fell to England centre forward Steve Bloomer he whipped in a cross which caught out the United defence and John Boag put the Rams one up after 12 minutes. Indeed, United were actually on the back foot for much of the first half and they went into the changing room trailing by one goal and a little downhearted. Director Tom Bott remembered how
“Billy (Beer) said we were sure to win. He said the Derby lads were all puffing and blowing and he mentioned one opposing player who was calling his colleagues names and causing them to fall out with one another”.
He continued, “I went back to my seat for the second half a lot more confident”.
Even so the early second half pressure came from Derby. Bloomer was one on one with Foulke but hit it wide and another shot from him was only stopped with a stunning save. This geed United up and just before the hour mark Needham broke away down the left and sent in a cross. It looked as though Fryer, the Derby keeper, had it covered but Walter Bennett slipped away from his marker and headed it in from his fingertips. Six minutes later United took the lead when Billy Beer jinked through the Derby defence and slotted home.
The Blades were now in total control of the game and on the 70 minute mark John Almond poked home a Bennett cross and there was a further blow for Derby when they lost the injured left half Johnny May. From a Harry Johnson free kick Fred Priest scored late on and United ran out 4-1 winners and FA Cup holders for the first time in their history. Needham said that it had been the easiest game of the tournament and looking back at the grueling journey to Crystal Palace it is easy to see why but Derby had been the best side for an hour and had the usually prolific Steve Bloomer been on form (a phenomenal 238 goals from 375 games for Derby) the match may well have gone differently.
Understandably there was little mood for such introspection on the day. Outside the ground Needham climbed onto a table in front of a wild crowd and said
“I think we have earned this cup. We have had to play hard for it, and I’m sure there is no man in this ground more proud than I am now. I am also proud of having such a team to play with”.
Later on Bloomer asked him if he could hold the Cup. Despite being the best goal scorer of his day, with 28 goals for England in 23 appearances, that was as close as he ever got to the Cup.
Football’s popularity was now such that a plenty of celebrities of the day turned out to watch the game. Lord Kinnaird the great amateur player was joined by former Liberal Prime Minister Earl Rosebery, Imperial jack of all trades Cecil Rhodes and future Prime Minister Arthur Balfour who presented the Cup. A Telegraph reporter asked Foulke what his opinion of Balfour was. He simply said that he “didn’t think much of him”.
United’s fame had even spread as far as Brazil where one newspaper reported that
“At the football match which took place yesterday at Crystal Palace, there were 70,000 spectators. Lord Rosebery made a speech in favour of athletic sports. The first prize fell to Mr. Sheffield.”
When they arrived home Unitedites had further cause for celebration. Wednesday had not only been beaten by Newcastle and relegated but kicked out of Olive Grove and forced to move to the site of an old pig farm at Owlerton on the outskirts of the city.
