Why did you first support the blades answer for J Phipps.

[brownie4583]

My first games at BDTBL were v Wolves W1-0 8/3/1975 then v Stoke W2-0 12/4/1975 when a kid.
We just missed out on europe that season,the following season were relegated,and i ended up with a season ticket in the south stand in the 4th division by 1981!
I remember attending the 1st game that season,a 2-2 draw with Hereford,sat in the stand with a full length plaster on my leg,having broken it crashing my motorbike on Abbeydale Road a couple of weeks before!
I also ended up on away end at Port Vale when Edwards scored,think it was 2-0,also with crutches.
I have suffered a lot thru the years but have many good memories with The Blades,promotions at Darlington and Leicester etc.also the bad memories,boxing day 1979 gutted on the lep,and all semis and finals attended

My dad and a friends dad used to take us to alternate home games from 1975 and dad still has a season ticket in the south stand and never misses a game,now well into his 70's!
I have a photo of my friend and i on our back lawn around 1975 both in Blades kit,he had 7 and i had 10 on our shorts!

 

[shorehamview]

My being a Blade is down to one person - my Grandma. My dad's side of the family are from the Stoke/general Potteries area, his dad moving to Sheffield to start an apprenticeship at the Yorkshire Engine Company around 1937. They were all keen cyclists, none of them bothered about football in any way. My mum's side of the family are Sheffielders going back to the age of the dinosaurs though, and of those that followed football all supported United. One uncle was a referee, and went on to coach kids at United.

My Grandma was a football fanatic. She went to watch United when she was younger, and when she got older and a bit unsteady on her legs spent every match day glued to Radio Sheffield with the telly on mute, back when Radio Sheff was good. She took me to my first United match when I was about 8 or 9, but she had brainwashed me into the Righteous Way Of Support long before that. She used to buy me a new United shirt every year from Suggs along with a pair of football boots for the new school year.

So it's my Grandma I have to thank for me being a Blade. And indirectly through a great-grandparent she never knew that's why my daughter is a Blade - registered as a Junior Blade by me at the ripe old age of four hours old.

And as for why I continue to support United, it's simple. My Grandma taught me that we support United because that makes us better than everyone else. And It's true. Thanks, Grandma, for showing me the way.