As I write this right now it is approaching 12.30pm on the day of the League 1 Play-Off final. This year this game has more meaning to me being a Blades fan as they are one of the two teams competing in it for a place in next years Championship.
It has been quite a while since I have been to a live game but I still have memories dating back many years. I recall watching Sheffield United win 5-1 at Oldham back in the mid-80's having been a goal down in under a minute when Roger Palmer scored. By half time we were leading 4-1 with Peter Withe of all people spear-heading the attack and a certain Phil Thompson playing in defence. Being right in the middle of the Blades fans behind the goal was a great experience and when we celebrated each goal it seemed as if we had more fans in the ground than Oldham did. On leaving Boundary Park after the game I still remember the quagmire we found ourselves having to walk through to get anywhere.
At Home Park, Plymouth on a August bank holiday evening, I got talking to a Plymouth fan who seemed to be making his way around four sides of the ground unopposed and talking to whoever he bumped into. He even warned me not to leave the ground the same way that we had come in as this was where the Plymouth hooligans tended to gather. As it worked out we were actually led across the pitch to the main exit once the game was over.
In 1989, I was at the County Ground in Northampton. On the rare occasions that TV cameras had turned up there, the TV gantry was always set up looking towards the stand. What you would not see was the length of the pitch where the gantry was which only had one row of fans along it and a chain fence as behind it was the remainder of the cricket pitch. This was the era of inflatables which I believe was started by Manchester City fans and their bananas. Naturally our fans were carrying inflatable steel swords. That day the Blades won 1-0 but the memory that will never leave me of it was what happened at the full time whistle. The players were still just shaking hands when an announcement was made informing us all of the tragic events that had happened at Hillsborough that same afternoon in the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Being with fans actually from Sheffield, the news was still rather sketchy so there was a real sense of worry leaving the ground and all fans were allowed to leave at the same time for a change. It was very subdued in the streets outside as people just quickly made their way back to their cars or turned on their transistor radios.
At Carrow Road, Norwich I saw Vinnie Jones make his debut for the Blades and for some reason we wore an all white kit that day. Unable to get in with the Blades fans I stood quietly in the middle of home fans but at the same end as the segregated visitors. There was plenty of banter between the fans with Blades supporters getting the upper hand with many songs and jeers aimed at Norwich being a somewhat country bumpkin team and to join the fan club you must be able to drive a tractor. With the Blades two up, it was the Canaries that would have the last laugh though with two late cracking goals from Robert Fleck.
It has been quite a while since I have been to a live game but I still have memories dating back many years. I recall watching Sheffield United win 5-1 at Oldham back in the mid-80's having been a goal down in under a minute when Roger Palmer scored. By half time we were leading 4-1 with Peter Withe of all people spear-heading the attack and a certain Phil Thompson playing in defence. Being right in the middle of the Blades fans behind the goal was a great experience and when we celebrated each goal it seemed as if we had more fans in the ground than Oldham did. On leaving Boundary Park after the game I still remember the quagmire we found ourselves having to walk through to get anywhere.
At Home Park, Plymouth on a August bank holiday evening, I got talking to a Plymouth fan who seemed to be making his way around four sides of the ground unopposed and talking to whoever he bumped into. He even warned me not to leave the ground the same way that we had come in as this was where the Plymouth hooligans tended to gather. As it worked out we were actually led across the pitch to the main exit once the game was over.
In 1989, I was at the County Ground in Northampton. On the rare occasions that TV cameras had turned up there, the TV gantry was always set up looking towards the stand. What you would not see was the length of the pitch where the gantry was which only had one row of fans along it and a chain fence as behind it was the remainder of the cricket pitch. This was the era of inflatables which I believe was started by Manchester City fans and their bananas. Naturally our fans were carrying inflatable steel swords. That day the Blades won 1-0 but the memory that will never leave me of it was what happened at the full time whistle. The players were still just shaking hands when an announcement was made informing us all of the tragic events that had happened at Hillsborough that same afternoon in the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Being with fans actually from Sheffield, the news was still rather sketchy so there was a real sense of worry leaving the ground and all fans were allowed to leave at the same time for a change. It was very subdued in the streets outside as people just quickly made their way back to their cars or turned on their transistor radios.
At Carrow Road, Norwich I saw Vinnie Jones make his debut for the Blades and for some reason we wore an all white kit that day. Unable to get in with the Blades fans I stood quietly in the middle of home fans but at the same end as the segregated visitors. There was plenty of banter between the fans with Blades supporters getting the upper hand with many songs and jeers aimed at Norwich being a somewhat country bumpkin team and to join the fan club you must be able to drive a tractor. With the Blades two up, it was the Canaries that would have the last laugh though with two late cracking goals from Robert Fleck.
I have also seen John Burridge head-butt the post at Luton and jumped up and down in the rain behind the old open end for visiting fans at Selhurst Park. The £3 investment on an umbrella before that match was the best £3 I had ever spent back then as it just poured down (being polite) through the entire game. I was also at The Hawthorns on the day the hi-vis second choice shirt made its debut and stood with the team as they entered the ground which included goal scorers Tony Agana and Brian Deane on their way to finishing second that season and promotion to the top flight under Dave Bassett.
Since the early 90's I have sadly become more of an armchair fan as far as the Blades are concerned. A new job back then meant working just about every Saturday and that just killed any chance of being able to continue to go. Nowadays I just think it is way to expensive - especially taking into account fuel costs etc. Two really awful relegations from the Premier League have followed (but that is for another time) but since then for the best part we have been locked into the second tier of English football.
We always tended to be considered to be one of the front-runners and apart from 2006 when the Blades and Reading absolutely stormed the two promotion spots, at best we have hoped for is the play-offs. Back in 1988, the early days of the play-offs saw us relegated through them as back then the team finishing third from bottom were not automatically relegated. A 2-1 aggregate defeat to Bristol City in the semi-finals saw us go down and Walsall beat City in the final.
Since the play-offs changed to using the same rules as they are today, the Blades have reached the Championship final three times. The first one saw us lose to an injury time goal scored by David Hopkin for Crystal Palace in 1997. In 2003 at the Millenium Stadium we lost 3-0 to Wolves and were three down by half-time! In 2009 we were beaten 1-0 by Burnley.
All three of those play-off finals were for a place in the Premier League. We have not even scored a goal yet get a positive result in any of them. In fact our last goal at Wembley was against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup semi-final back in 1993 which we also still lost 1-2. This season the players are pictured celebrating that they are going to a Wembley final not for a Premier League place but a Championship place! Do me a favour! Our top striker is banged up in jail and our other forwards are either banned from the play-offs or suffering with eye infections. We blew the chance of automatic promotion in big style and of all teams our neighbours too the spot - and we have a manager that has repeatedly failed at even lower levels than this.
We are also up against a buoyant Huddersfield team with a natural goalscorer in Jordan Rhodes that are determined to right the awful play-off final they suffered last season when they lost to Peterborough. I am trying to find some hope through all of this but everything is pointing to a Terriers win. To think that the winners of this game will face the likes of Blackburn, Wolves, Bolton, Leeds, Middlesbrough etc next season whilst the losers will be facing Crawley Town, Stevenage and Yeovil (I mention these three because they were not that long ago all non-league sides).
When you look at it like that, maybe then you begin to realise that this play-off final in many ways is bigger than the one from the league above it. I am dreading this afternoon as at best all I can see from us is a workmanlike performance and really grinding out at best a 1-0 or winning on penalties. All the other options point to Huddersfield to wipe the floor with us. I am going to hate the red and white balloons that no doubt will be thrown on the pitch before kick-off with loads of fans going for the day out and that normally do not go to regular games throughout the season when the team needed them the most. I will also hate it when the cameras zoom in on some more poor sod after the game (probably some young child) crying their eyes out because their team did not win.
Perhaps a few hours from now I will think back to this article and find that much that I have written is baloney and we have gone up in style - but can I honestly see that? The clock is ticking ever closer - it is now nearly 1.30pm - only an hour and a half to go. Could we at least score today - that would be a start!
Since the early 90's I have sadly become more of an armchair fan as far as the Blades are concerned. A new job back then meant working just about every Saturday and that just killed any chance of being able to continue to go. Nowadays I just think it is way to expensive - especially taking into account fuel costs etc. Two really awful relegations from the Premier League have followed (but that is for another time) but since then for the best part we have been locked into the second tier of English football.
We always tended to be considered to be one of the front-runners and apart from 2006 when the Blades and Reading absolutely stormed the two promotion spots, at best we have hoped for is the play-offs. Back in 1988, the early days of the play-offs saw us relegated through them as back then the team finishing third from bottom were not automatically relegated. A 2-1 aggregate defeat to Bristol City in the semi-finals saw us go down and Walsall beat City in the final.
Since the play-offs changed to using the same rules as they are today, the Blades have reached the Championship final three times. The first one saw us lose to an injury time goal scored by David Hopkin for Crystal Palace in 1997. In 2003 at the Millenium Stadium we lost 3-0 to Wolves and were three down by half-time! In 2009 we were beaten 1-0 by Burnley.
All three of those play-off finals were for a place in the Premier League. We have not even scored a goal yet get a positive result in any of them. In fact our last goal at Wembley was against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup semi-final back in 1993 which we also still lost 1-2. This season the players are pictured celebrating that they are going to a Wembley final not for a Premier League place but a Championship place! Do me a favour! Our top striker is banged up in jail and our other forwards are either banned from the play-offs or suffering with eye infections. We blew the chance of automatic promotion in big style and of all teams our neighbours too the spot - and we have a manager that has repeatedly failed at even lower levels than this.
We are also up against a buoyant Huddersfield team with a natural goalscorer in Jordan Rhodes that are determined to right the awful play-off final they suffered last season when they lost to Peterborough. I am trying to find some hope through all of this but everything is pointing to a Terriers win. To think that the winners of this game will face the likes of Blackburn, Wolves, Bolton, Leeds, Middlesbrough etc next season whilst the losers will be facing Crawley Town, Stevenage and Yeovil (I mention these three because they were not that long ago all non-league sides).
When you look at it like that, maybe then you begin to realise that this play-off final in many ways is bigger than the one from the league above it. I am dreading this afternoon as at best all I can see from us is a workmanlike performance and really grinding out at best a 1-0 or winning on penalties. All the other options point to Huddersfield to wipe the floor with us. I am going to hate the red and white balloons that no doubt will be thrown on the pitch before kick-off with loads of fans going for the day out and that normally do not go to regular games throughout the season when the team needed them the most. I will also hate it when the cameras zoom in on some more poor sod after the game (probably some young child) crying their eyes out because their team did not win.
Perhaps a few hours from now I will think back to this article and find that much that I have written is baloney and we have gone up in style - but can I honestly see that? The clock is ticking ever closer - it is now nearly 1.30pm - only an hour and a half to go. Could we at least score today - that would be a start!
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