Your proudest moment of being a Blade.

[bornablade]

I have had a multitude of proud moments as a blades fan but I will dwell on 2.

The first is that Deano scored the first premiership goal. This is the moment that keeps on giving. It allows me to point out with pride that the blades have a recent history as well as a distant one.
The second moments are when I have brought friends over for the first time. On many occasions I have brought non blades fans to the lane and they have been hugely impressed by the stadium, fan base and the overwhelming sense of a proper football club. So much so that many of them are desperately keen to return year on year ( despite supporting other clubs).

Incidentally I was hoping for another proud moment this weekend when I bring another 2 fellas to the lane (1 is a bdtbl virgin). They were very keen to go on the stadium tour and find out more about the history of the club and the development of football in the city. You can imagine my disappointment when I contacted the ticket office and was informed that there are no plans for a tour this Saturday. They would have loved to sit in the directors box and listen to John Garrett wax lyrical about Sheffield as the home of football. Opportunity for another proud moment missed.

Great shout about Deano's goal.

It was meant to be.

The glitz and glamour of the new Premier league had arrived. But BDTBL the oldest professional football ground in the world was going to make sure that after 4 minutes the pre-1992 football that we'd all been brought up on was going to offer a two finger salute to Murdoch and all the other 'suits' that had put together their 'the rich will prosper' bandwagon.

The fact it was against Manchester United and we actually won was rubbing salt into the wound. This is not what they'd planned.

Twice they've made sure we've left the Premier league under suspicious circumstances but they can never remove us from that moment in history.

 

[Bert]

I was sat in the A row of the BLUT

Bert on the Kop

 

[JJ Sefton]

The entire period 1988 - 1994, my first six years. 1988-1989, went up, 1989-1990 favourites for the drop, went up, 1990-1991 favourites for the drop, stayed up in spectacular circumstances, 1991-1992 favourites for the drop, stayed up in spectacular circumstances again, and beat the Pigs twice on the way...

 

[Billyblade]

Leicester 1990.
Great day made even better by the unclean failing to beat the drop.
Coming back to Sheffield and going out on the lash that night was legendary.

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

That Chelsea game, look at the attendance all you fookers who say we would never fill a 40,000 seater stadium. 40,651

The ground was packed week in and week out at the time. People will always come to watch thrilling, attacking football and United were delivering it in spades. My next door neighbour in Barnsley is a chap in his early sixties so he'd have been in his mid-teens back then. He's Barnsley born and bred with no affinity for either Sheffield club but he's quite open about the fact that he regularly travelled to the Lane in those days, principally to watch Tony Currie but he also sings the praises of Woodward and Salmons and Reece.

It's great to read the newspaper reports of the Chelsea game which Silent has kindly uploaded. It was the high point of my 54 years (and counting) of watching United, too. I seem to recall that in the programme for the next home game there was a terrific picture of Scullion and Currie celebrating the goal in front of the Kop. Can anyone oblige and post it?

Those of us who saw the 1971 side were very lucky and I'm aware it must cheese off those who didn't. In fairness, I'd have to say that Scougall's shot hitting the back of the net at Wembley in 2014 is right up there with my best memories of the last 54 years.

 

[Paisley Blade]

I was sat in the A row of the BLUT

Me as well, Row E BLUT .

 

[oldblade]

I understand what you say and I was much the same. Years and decades later, however, the collateral damage is generations of Blades who now think that’s the way to play and an enduring reputation, despite the last two years of evidence to the contrary, that indeed we do (still) play that way.

There were not 30,000 at the Liverpool game, then we got a pitiful 21,000 against Man City. There were plenty of people, my dad included, who voted with their absence in the Bassett years. That’s partly why there is a huge pro-hoof majority on here. Plenty of proper football fans stayed away.

As I say, DD was the right man at the right time and I followed the team all over the land in his era, but there was many a time when I silently thought ‘what the fuck was that?’ Once Deane was gone, through no fault of his own, Bassett really hadn’t a clue. His (lack of) style contemplated one way and one way only. Jostein Flo. Jostein Fucking Flo. The results began to reflect the dire anti-football and he was rightly sacked.

It is true that our attendances at that time were generally significantly lower than they are now. We got 27,000 for that Liverpool game and averaged around 21,500 for the season. Today we would probably sell out against Liverpool and average comfortably over 30,000 for the season.

However, attendances in general throughout the leagues were a lot lower than they are now, not just at Bramall Lane. For the 1990-1 season the average first division (premier league) attendance was 22,766 compared with 38,310 for the 2017-18 season. So in comparison to the present day our attendances were proportionately no lower than any other clubs attendances.

Quite clearly, there were other factors than Mr Bassett involved in those attendance statistics.

Anyway, you can't have it both ways. You consistently bracket Warnock and Bassett together in football terms. And yet under Warnock we averaged over 30,000 in the premier league. During his time at Bramall lane our attendances more than doubled. In your mind he (like Bassett) is a footballing dinosaur, an antichrist. By your logic our attendances should have fallen. In reality, the opposite happened.

 

[bladesfan]

My birth.

 

[Pinchy]

It is true that our attendances at that time were generally significantly lower than they are now. We got 27,000 for that Liverpool game and averaged around 21,500 for the season. Today we would probably sell out against Liverpool and average comfortably over 30,000 for the season.

However, attendances in general throughout the leagues were a lot lower than they are now, not just at Bramall Lane. For the 1990-1 season the average first division (premier league) attendance was 22,766 compared with 38,310 for the 2017-18 season. So in comparison to the present day our attendances were proportionately no lower than any other clubs attendances.

Quite clearly, there were other factors than Mr Bassett involved in those attendance statistics.

Anyway, you can't have it both ways. You consistently bracket Warnock and Bassett together in football terms. And yet under Warnock we averaged over 30,000 in the premier league. During his time at Bramall lane our attendances more than doubled. In your mind he (like Bassett) is a footballing dinosaur, an antichrist. By your logic our attendances should have fallen. In reality, the opposite happened.

You make some good points. Warnock’s football, though, was a bit more refined than Bassett though still not my cup of tea.

Bassett, as you will no doubt remember, was not universally liked and didn’t go without stick from the fans, many of whom were none too happy with the style. I guess they don’t have my stamina and have faded away so we are left with a somewhat skewed viewpoint on here.

Do you agree that Bassett had no Plan B, his Plan A being everyone else’s Plan B?

 

[Pinchy]

That Chelsea game, look at the attendance all you fookers who say we would never fill a 40,000 seater stadium. 40,651

Not an isolated case, either, as I’m sure Silent could confirm.

In the Premiership we would. Maybe not each and every week but you don’t have to do that to justify (financially) an increased capacity.

 

[Geordie Blade]

You make some good points. Warnock’s football, though, was a bit more refined than Bassett though still not my cup of tea.

Bassett, as you will no doubt remember, was not universally liked and didn’t go without stick from the fans, many of whom were none too happy with the style. I guess they don’t have my stamina and have faded away so we are left with a somewhat skewed viewpoint on here.

Do you agree that Bassett had no Plan B, his Plan A being everyone else’s Plan B?

Technical answer to your last point: Everyone else's Plan B was to launch it long into the box hoping for a scramble (this is what routinely happens when teams need a last-minute equaliser). Bassett's Plan A was to launch it long into the channels behind the full backs, and work to (i) get a cross in, (ii) win a corner, or (iii) win a chance for a long throw-in.

I will (partly) defend you on your first point though. Fans were no different in those days, and there was a lot of whinging about the style of football. I can remember a 0-0 draw at home with Wimbledon, where the two teams cancelled each other out in a way I've never really seen before or since, it was so formulaic on both sides. The bloke who had a season ticket in front of me left five minutes before half time, telling us that it was the worst garbage he'd ever seen. That said, plenty of fans were whinging last season under Wilder, despite it being an utterly incredible season. So I don't think the fact that some fans moan proves anything one way or the other.

I realise you've heard this a thousand times before and won't change your argument, but in my 35 years of watching the Blades, the period in which I look back most fondly and romantically was the 1988-1993 period and I wouldn't change a thing. And despite the long-ball stuff, there were more stand out moments of magic that linger in my mind in those five years than in the other 30 years put together.

 

[Pinchy]

Technical answer to your last point: Everyone else's Plan B was to launch it long into the box hoping for a scramble (this is what routinely happens when teams need a last-minute equaliser). Bassett's Plan A was to launch it long into the channels behind the full backs, and work to (i) get a cross in, (ii) win a corner, or (iii) win a chance for a long throw-in.

I will (partly) defend you on your first point though. Fans were no different in those days, and there was a lot of whinging about the style of football. I can remember a 0-0 draw at home with Wimbledon, where the two teams cancelled each other out in a way I've never really seen before or since, it was so formulaic on both sides. The bloke who had a season ticket in front of me left five minutes before half time, telling us that it was the worst garbage he'd ever seen. That said, plenty of fans were whinging last season under Wilder, despite it being an utterly incredible season. So I don't think the fact that some fans moan proves anything one way or the other.

I realise you've heard this a thousand times before and won't change your argument, but in my 35 years of watching the Blades, the period in which I look back most fondly and romantically was the 1988-1993 period and I wouldn't change a thing. And despite the long-ball stuff, there were more stand out moments of magic that linger in my mind in those five years than in the other 30 years put together.

Well argued enough for a like. I don’t agree with everything you say but you’ve already anticipated that, which is good advocacy.

 

[oldblade]

You make some good points. Warnock’s football, though, was a bit more refined than Bassett though still not my cup of tea.

Bassett, as you will no doubt remember, was not universally liked and didn’t go without stick from the fans, many of whom were none too happy with the style. I guess they don’t have my stamina and have faded away so we are left with a somewhat skewed viewpoint on here.

Do you agree that Bassett had no Plan B, his Plan A being everyone else’s Plan B?

Bassett wasn't universally liked and particularly during the beginning of the 1995-6 season a growing amount of discontent was voiced from the terraces. However, I think Warnock was subjected to a lot more stick than Bassett and yet, as you say, his football was much easier on the eye than Bassett's. In Bassett's defence I would say that Warnock inherited better players than Bassett and at times was given sufficient money to sign better players, particularly during the 2005-6 promotion season.

I've never really thought about whether or not Bassett had a plan B. I know he didn't always set the side up the same. In the third division away match against Bristol Rovers Deane didn't play, so Agana was the main striker. My memory (which could have distorted things over time!) of that game was that we played it far more to feet than we usually did. We drew the match 1-1 after falling behind. Agana equalised with a well taken goal.

You are probably right that during matches we didn't really alter our approach much, other than by trying to change the pace of the game.

 

[JJ Sefton]

Technical answer to your last point: Everyone else's Plan B was to launch it long into the box hoping for a scramble (this is what routinely happens when teams need a last-minute equaliser). Bassett's Plan A was to launch it long into the channels behind the full backs, and work to (i) get a cross in, (ii) win a corner, or (iii) win a chance for a long throw-in.

I will (partly) defend you on your first point though. Fans were no different in those days, and there was a lot of whinging about the style of football. I can remember a 0-0 draw at home with Wimbledon, where the two teams cancelled each other out in a way I've never really seen before or since, it was so formulaic on both sides. The bloke who had a season ticket in front of me left five minutes before half time, telling us that it was the worst garbage he'd ever seen. That said, plenty of fans were whinging last season under Wilder, despite it being an utterly incredible season. So I don't think the fact that some fans moan proves anything one way or the other.

I realise you've heard this a thousand times before and won't change your argument, but in my 35 years of watching the Blades, the period in which I look back most fondly and romantically was the 1988-1993 period and I wouldn't change a thing. And despite the long-ball stuff, there were more stand out moments of magic that linger in my mind in those five years than in the other 30 years put together.

People also forget that back then 'long ball' wasn't just something served up by Sheffield United. Apart from Liverpool and Manchester United, most sides were playing pretty direct.

 

[Silent Blade]

Fantastic to read those reports after all these years. Just looking at the league table I still have to pinch myself to believe we were top. Second highest crowd of the day as well. I must be just out of picture on the left of the photo at the top as I sat on row A seat 67 of the Bramall Lane stand.

I was row A seat 85

 

[Bashar Al Asaba]

Anything that happened between 1999 and 2007 is void, so I'd say my proudest moment was watching the bus pull up in Bramall Lane car park after Northampton and Chris Wilder and Our Billy singing the songs. Brought a lump to the throat.

 

[Willie Carlin]

Following on from GCB's most influential decade of being a Blade. This thread got me feeling all Bladey, Blade & got me thinking about those moments that gave me that warm fuzzy feeling of "thank god I'm a Blade".

Mine was the Cup semi against Hull. Separated by an entire division, we were huge under dogs. A crack pot team who were on the verge of relegation from England's 3rd division, bottom of the division after 10 games and well known short comings at Wembley. The turnaround shown that season was nothing short of a miracle. Before that game even kicked off, listening the the near 40,000 Unitedites belting out the GCB put a lump in my throat. It was a huge occasion. I'd never seen United score a goal at Wembley before that day... 19 minutes in, Jose Baxter steps up and fires United into the lead. Queue mass hysteria in the United end. Nearly 40,000 people lose their minds in the captial.

The game ultimately ended in defeat, but that didn't matter to me. My side went on to score 3 goals against a Premier League team. I'd been to watch United play in play off finals against Crystal Palace, Wolves, Burnley and Huddersfield and barely turn up in any of them. This was different. It was the first time I'd seen my team turn up in a big game and fucking take it to the opposition. We had no right to be in that game looking at the quality of the players on show, but my god they did me proud that day.

Watching my grandsons on their Mascot days. Lump to throat!!

 

[Geordie Blade]

People also forget that back then 'long ball' wasn't just something served up by Sheffield United. Apart from Liverpool and Manchester United, most sides were playing pretty direct.

And even then, those two teams didn't mind launching it up whenever they felt like it. Possession football hadn't caught on properly yet, let alone the more modern thinking of deliberately letting the other team have the ball and lure them into committing people forward before pouncing with a counterattack. Nearly all teams play 'by the numbers' one way or another.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Liverpool at home August 1990.

First time I ever saw my team in the top flight. So proud we got there, even though we lost that day. Loved the early 90s under Bassett felt like we were relevant in English football again.

I like that match as well. For all the younger viewers, back in those days, Liverpool were a big, big club. They are a big club now, but then, they were comparable with Real or Barca. The trophies that they'd won during the previous 15 years was incredible, and if not for the post Heysel ban, they'd have won a lot more. When they took the lead, it was to be expected, but when Deane equalised.........That moment will live with me forever. Just for a brief, wonderful moment, anything & everything seemed possible.

 

[SW12 to S12 to S18]

I was row A seat 85

Looks like several of us on here were close neighbours back then.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Technical answer to your last point: Everyone else's Plan B was to launch it long into the box hoping for a scramble (this is what routinely happens when teams need a last-minute equaliser). Bassett's Plan A was to launch it long into the channels behind the full backs, and work to (i) get a cross in, (ii) win a corner, or (iii) win a chance for a long throw-in.

I will (partly) defend you on your first point though. Fans were no different in those days, and there was a lot of whinging about the style of football. I can remember a 0-0 draw at home with Wimbledon, where the two teams cancelled each other out in a way I've never really seen before or since, it was so formulaic on both sides. The bloke who had a season ticket in front of me left five minutes before half time, telling us that it was the worst garbage he'd ever seen. That said, plenty of fans were whinging last season under Wilder, despite it being an utterly incredible season. So I don't think the fact that some fans moan proves anything one way or the other.

I realise you've heard this a thousand times before and won't change your argument, but in my 35 years of watching the Blades, the period in which I look back most fondly and romantically was the 1988-1993 period and I wouldn't change a thing. And despite the long-ball stuff, there were more stand out moments of magic that linger in my mind in those five years than in the other 30 years put together.

Metaphorically speaking, I'd been bummed enough as a United fan not to be bothered one iota how our success came (and I'm still not). Eventually, every dog has it's fucking day, and '88 to '93 was ours. At it's pomp it was fast paced, direct, pressure football, and when we had the right pegs in the right holes it was a joy to behold. The wheels began to come off when he could bring in the required quality or the right type of replacement. The night we went through those Wednesday bastards like a knife through butter was a joy to behold, last season at their place was good, but 92 was better.

 

[JJ Sefton]

And even then, those two teams didn't mind launching it up whenever they felt like it. Possession football hadn't caught on properly yet, let alone the more modern thinking of deliberately letting the other team have the ball and lure them into committing people forward before pouncing with a counterattack. Nearly all teams play 'by the numbers' one way or another.

Indeed. My memory is that, back then, both teams generally played a defence high up the pitch and tried to compress the game into a very narrow strip of the pitch in midfield. Arsenal were the best at this. Very effective but dull as fuck to watch. In fact, from that era I would say we were one of the more interesting sides to watch in terms of how much incident we generated on the pitch.

 

[Iron blade]

Great question! Half time at Wembley against Hull. Although beating Liverpool 2:1 in the cup semi final first leg at the Lane, a close second. Of course there are so many, another favourite, hearing Hanson I think it was, after we’d beaten Arsenal in Cup saying he’d never known an atmosphere as loud. Some praise considering a three sided ground.

 

[JJ Sefton]

During that 2002-2003 season, there were lots of times where people said to me "I saw your lot on the TV the other night, looked very good", and as the season went on that happened more and more often. I also remember that during that season was the first time someone asked "You a United fan?" after I told them I was from Sheffield. Before that it was always "You a Wednesday fan?" That was quite a moment.

 

[Silent Blade]

It's great to read the newspaper reports of the Chelsea game which Silent has kindly uploaded. It was the high point of my 54 years (and counting) of watching United, too. I seem to recall that in the programme for the next home game there was a terrific picture of Scullion and Currie celebrating the goal in front of the Kop. Can anyone oblige and post it?

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

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Brilliant! Thank you, Silent. Great photos.

I love that top one in particular. It’s the one I had in mind. Ecstatic celebrations from the fans on the John Street Terrace. Gil Reece, Harry Latham and Cec Coldwell a bit more restrained in the dug-out.

 

[WhiteHawk]

The Hull FA Cup Semi when we all stood up and applauded the team after Hull scored their 5th. That was a proper goosebumps moment.

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

You make some good points. Warnock’s football, though, was a bit more refined than Bassett though still not my cup of tea.

Bassett, as you will no doubt remember, was not universally liked and didn’t go without stick from the fans, many of whom were none too happy with the style. I guess they don’t have my stamina and have faded away so we are left with a somewhat skewed viewpoint on here.

Do you agree that Bassett had no Plan B, his Plan A being everyone else’s Plan B?

They've not all faded away Pinch and I'm one of them .

Whilst I will always be grateful to Basset for his almost miraculous transformation of both a team and a club who were both in an appalling mess , it eventually got to the stage where his style , tactics and team selection became a joke , and not a very funny one at that .

I once described the latter as being like a game of Musical Shirts and he was not 'appeh .

My overall assessment of his time with us is very similar to the one I have of Warnock - excellent at getting us to where they did but , having got us there , seemed to completely lose the plot and was glad to see the back of them .

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

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Silent , is the second photo the incredible double save that Jim Brown made against Chelsea , going down to his left to tip a fierce shot against the post then , almost miraculously recovering to hurl himself across the goal to stop the player scoring from the rebound ?

I've often described that as the best save I ever saw at BDTBL but I might be doing him an injustice . On reflection , it's probably the greatest save I've ever seen , including the ones by Banks and Seaman .

 

[Silent Blade]

Silent , is the second photo the incredible double save that Jim Brown made against Chelsea , going down to his left to tip a fierce shot against the post then , almost miraculously recovering to hurl himself across the goal to stop the player scoring from the rebound ?

I've often described that as the best save I ever saw at BDTBL but I might be doing him an injustice . On reflection , it's probably the greatest save I've ever seen , including the ones by Banks and Seaman .

It was Bonetti trying to stop Scullion's goal in Sept 1971. Brown joined us in March 1974