Sheffield United F.C.
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| Full name | Sheffield United Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Blades | ||
| Founded | 1889 | ||
| Ground | Bramall Lane, Sheffield | ||
| Capacity | 30,936 | ||
| Chairman |  Derek Dooley | ||
| Manager | Neil Warnock | ||
| League | FA Premier League | ||
| 2005-06 | Championship, 2nd (promoted) | ||
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Sheffield United Football Club are a professional football club based in the City of Sheffield, England.
They will play next season (2006-07) in the FA Premier League, after achieving promotion from the football league championship. The current manager is Neil Warnock, and the team play at Bramall Lane, in Highfield (just south of Sheffield city centre), wearing a strip of red and white striped shirts.
Their nickname is The Blades, which can be seen on the team emblem that is said to have been designed by a former manager, Jimmy Sirrel. The emblem was first used for the 1977-78 season, replacing the city coat of arms that had been used since 1966. Like all clubs, Sheffield United have a great range of songs and chants sung by their fans, including the most notable: their unofficial anthem, The Greasy Chip Butty Song, which is famous and recognised by many as one of the great football anthems.
Sheffield United won the League in 1898 and the FA Cup in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925. They were beaten finalists in the FA Cup in 1901 and 1936. Their best performance in the League Cup was reaching the semi finals in 2003.
United are the first foreign team to own a Chinese football club. Chengdu Blades, formerly known as Chengdu Five Bulls, play in the China League which is the Chinese equivalent of the English Championship division, one division below the Chinese Super League.
History
Sheffield United is born
The Sheffield United football team were formed by the Sheffield United Cricket Club in Sheffield, on March 22, 1889. The cricket club itself had been going since 1854 and were the first of English club to use United in its name, however, the now-defunct Plymouth United, formed in 1886 three years before Sheffield United, and thus were the first English football club to be named United.
The team was formed six days after a crowd of 22,688 paid to watch the FA Cup semi-final played at Bramall Lane between Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion. They were a professional club almost from the start and played their first game against Notts Rangers of the Midland Counties League on September 7 1889 losing 4-1 at Meadow Lane. Their first game at Bramall Lane did not come until September 28 1889 against Birmingham St George of the Football Alliance which they also lost 4-0.
United's first season was comprised of friendlies and local cup matches, but notable for them reaching the second round of the FA Cup at their first attempt by beating Football League side Burnley 2-1 at home. However, the next cup game against Bolton Wanderers gave United their record defeat 13-0 and persuaded the committee that regular competitive league games were required.
They joined the Midland Counties League for the 1890-91 finishing fifth, then competed the following season in the Northern League finishing third. At the end of the season they applied to join the Football League First Division, which was expanding from 14 to 16 clubs for the 1892 season, but polled only 5 votes and were instead admitted as one of the twelve founder members of the Second Division.
Glory Years
United secured promotion to the First Division in 1892-3, after finishing second to Small Heath and beating Accrington 1-0. United enjoyed an unbroken 37-season spell in the top flight (which remains a record for a newly promoted team) winning the League Championship in 1898 and were runners up in 1897 and 1900. After the League Championship, United played and won an unofficial two-legged "Champions of Great Britain" title against Celtic, who had won that year's Scottish League Championship.
They won their first FA Cup Final on April 15, 1899, beating Derby County 4-1 at Crystal Palace, returning to the London venue to play Tottenham Hotspur on April 20, 1901. Despite the Spurs being then a non-League club, they took The Blades to a replay with a 2-2 draw. Seven days later, at Burnden Park in Bolton, the London side won 3-1.
United returned to Crystal Palace the following year on April 19, and were again taken to a replay. This time Southampton drew 1-1 but the replay exactly a week later, on the same ground was won 2-1 by the Blades.
The next final appearance came on April 24, 1915 at Old Trafford when United beat Chelsea 3-0 to win "The Khaki Cup final", the last game before the Football League and FA Cup competition was suspended until the end of the First World War.
The fourth and final win came with their first Wembley Cup Final, beating Cardiff City 1-0 on April 25 1925. Their last appearance in a final came on April 25, 1936, losing 1-0 to Arsenal.
Relegation
After several close shaves - including 1919-20 when they won just 6 matches, and 1929-30 when a 5-1 win at Old Trafford on the final day pulled them out of the bottom spot - they finished bottom of the First Division in 1934 and were relegated for the first time.
A contributory factor to relegation was the decision to sell Irish centre forward Jimmy Dunne, who scored over 140 goals for the club in just 6 seasons, to Arsenal early in the 1933-4 season. Dunne scored over 30 top division goals in each of 3 consecutive seasons between 1930-1 and 1932-3, a feat which was not performed again until Alan Shearer managed it in 1993-96. This included 41 goals in 1930-31, which remains the club record and also the record single season tally by an Irishman.
During the 1920's United equalled their record victory with a 10-0 home win against Burnley in January 1930, and also beat Cardiff City 11-2 in 1926. Their record league defeat, 3-10 at Middlesbrough, occurred in their relegation season.
They fell just short in promotion battles in 1936 and 1938 - finishing third in the Second Division on each occasion - but it was third time lucky when they pipped local rivals Wednesday for second spot in 1939, winning their last game 6-1 vs Tottenham. They started the 1939-40 season brightly with 2 wins and a draw before World War II curtailed the campaign.
Up... then down again
The restart of League competition after the war came a year too late for The Blades as they won League North - a regional competition featuring the Northern clubs from the top two Divisions - in 1945-46. This good form carried over into the following year with a 6th place finish, combined with reaching the FA Cup Quarter Finals. United wrecked Stoke City's chances of winning the league by beating them 2-1 in the last game of the season when victory for Stoke would have seen them win the League for the first (and so far only) time.
This good form was not to last, as the club were relegated again in 1948-49, and suffered the agony of missing out on an instant promotion the following season when Wednesday gained revenge for 1939 and pipped them for second place and promotion on goal average with a 0-0 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur when a scoring draw or defeat would have sent The Blades up instead. After a couple of middling seasons, featuring lots of goals (including 7-3 and 3-1 wins against the Owls in the Steel City Derby 1951-2) but inconsistent results, Teddy Davison ended his 20 year managerial career at the Lane. He was replaced by Rotherham United's Reg Freeman, who guided the Blades to the Second Division Championship in 1952-53, scoring 97 goals along the way. Two seasons of struggle, but survival, in the First Division followed before Freeman died in the summer of 1955. His replacement, Joe Mercer, was unable to stave off relegation in 1956.
Another revival
Mercer left the club in 1958 to join Aston Villa (who were promptly relegated) and was replaced by former Chelsea captain John Harris, who inherited a team with a backbone of good homegrown talent, including Joe Shaw, a centre half who played over 600 games for the club, and Alan Hodgkinson, a young goalkeeper capped 5 times by England (he remains England's youngest ever goalkeeper) who also went on to play over 600 league games, and half-back Graham Shaw. The team was always in the promotion frame and had some good cup runs, reaching the quarter finals in 1959 and 1960, and finally achieved promotion in 1961 as runners up to Ipswich Town. In the same season, they reached the FA Cup semi finals but went down 0-2 to Leicester City in a second replay after 2 scoreless draws.
Back among the elite
Sheffield United's most memorable post-war run was in 1971. Ending the 1970/71 season with six victories and five draws to win promotion from Division Two. The following season United took the First Division by storm. Led by such players as Tony Currie, Alan Woodward, Eddie Colquhoun, Len Badger, Ted Hemsley, Trevor Hockey, Alan Hodgkinson, Gil Reece and Bill Dearden they played the first ten games without defeat, recording eight victories and two draws. With one League Cup victory during this period, United had had an unbeaten run of 22 matches. They finally lost the top spot in Division One in a memorable encounter with Manchester United at Old Trafford on October 2,1971, The Blades losing out 2-0 on that occasion. The goal scored by George Best six minutes from the end is still replayed by television as proof of his genius.
The remarkable success in the early 1970's brought to a head the long-standing argument about the desirability of playing football and cricket at the same ground and a decision was taken to build a new stand to provide a fourth side to what was essentially a three-sided stadium. This stand (originally known as 'The South Stand') with a seating capacity of 7746 people, was opened in 1975.
Another relegation
Unfortunately, this coincided with a slump in the team's fortunes, despite finishing that season sixth in Division One. The failure to qualify for the UEFA Cup by one point after failing to beat Birmingham City at St. Andrews in final game of the season was followed by relegation to the Second Division in 1976.
Relegation was a financial disaster and the drop in season ticket sales meant limited funds for strenthening the team. The team's bank was reluctant to give additional loans on top of the club's debt on the new South Stand. The sale of club legend Tony Currie and the season ticket revenue was swallowed up with new monies refused unless backed up with personal guarantees from the Board.
Jimmy Sirrel left on September 27, 1977 with United next to bottom of the Second Division and was replaced on a temporary basis by Cec Coldwell who had previously taken control between the reign of John Harris and Ken Furphy. Results picked up but the lack of funds for new players was matched by the lack of reserve players suitable for the step up to the first team.
A bad run in January led to the appointment of Harry Haslam, a wheeler dealer who had successfully managed a Luton Town side in similar circumstances for nine years. "Happy Harry" brought in Danny Bergara, a Uruguayan as Assistant Manager.
With a reputation for finding talent, Haslam brought in a number of players, most notably Alex Sabella but were forced to sell promising players such as Keith Edwards, Imre Varadi and Simon Stainrod. Alan Woodward left for America as did Bruce Rioch whose short loan spell brought a mini-revival in the club's fortunes.
Plummeting to an all-time low
The 1978-79 season ended with relegation to the Third Division. United's first ever season outside the top two division's started promisingly with the team at the top of the table at Christmas but only three games were won after Christmas and the crippling debt of the South Stand meant that Sabella was sold to Leeds.
Chairman John Hassall brought in new directors willing to bring in money into the club including Reg Brearley. The manager brought in experienced players such as Martin Peters, Stewart Houston and Bob Hatton. However, the team could not keep up in the promotion race and Haslam was sacked in Janaury 1981 with United twelfth, their lowest ever league position at that point.
Martin Peters took over as manager but the team was in free fall, winning only three of the last sixteen games and were relegated to the Fourth Division. The 1981 relegation came as a result of a last minute miss from a penalty kick in the final game of the season against Walsall, who would have been relegated instead had the kick (by Don Givens) been successful. Never can there have been a more dramatic or unhappy climax to a season.
Dave Bassett
Dave Bassett is the most famous Sheffield United manager of the last 20 years, taking charge on January 21, 1988 shortly before the club's relegation to the Third Division and masterminding two successive promotions which saw them in the First Division for the 1990-91 season. Promotion to the top division was clinched with a 5-2 final game thrashing of Leicester City at Filbert Street on 5 May 1990.
A key player in Bassett's side was the high-scoring striker Brian Deane (born 1968), who later turned out for Leeds United, Benfica and Leicester City as well as making three England appearances before rejoining United in 2005.
From 1990, Sheffield United were in the top division of English football for four seasons - including the first two Premier League campaigns. Brian Deane scored the first ever Premiership goal against Manchester United on a 2-1 win for the Blades. However, the first season was very nearly their last. They had to wait until December 22nd for their first win against Nottingham Forest, having been the butt of everyone's jokes for much of the season. Having been a certainty for relegation for the first half of the season, they were on Championship form for the second-half with only Arsenal matching them for points won in the New year.
The Blades failed to win any of their first 10 league games in the 1991-92 First Division campaign, before another remarkable turnaround in fortunes saw them climb to an impressive ninth place in the final table. Had it not been for their dismal early season form, the Blades could have qualified for the UEFA Cup or even challenged for the league title.
Sheffield United were founder members of the Premiership and finished 14th in its first season, as well as reaching the semi finals of the F.A Cup.
Brian Deane was sold to Leeds United in the summer of 1993, and the Blades were unable to find a suitable replacement. They found it increasingly difficult to score goals in 1993-94, and were relegated on the final day of the season when a last minute goal gave Chelsea a 3-2 win. In the end, a 2-2 draw would have been enough to ensure United's safety and send Ipswich down instead.
1994-95 saw the Blades finish eighth in Division One - not enough for even a playoff place.
Waiting for promotion
Dave Bassett resigned as manager in November 1995 to be replaced by Howard Kendall, who was at the helm for 18 months before being lured back to Everton for his third spell as manager at the end of the 1996-97 season, just a few weeks after Sheffield United blew the chance of a return to the Premiership by losing 1-0 to Crystal Palace in the Division One Play-Off Final.
Over the next two-and-a-half years, Sheffield United had three unsuccessful managers - Nigel Spackman, Steve Bruce and Adrian Heath - although they reached the FA Cup semi final again in 1998. In December 1999 the club turned to Neil Warnock (who had won promotion five times previously in his managerial career as well as being a self confessed Sheffield United fan) in a bid to re-establish the club as promotion challengers. At this time the club was over £20m in debt and the priority was cutting costs, so Warnock's first three seasons in charge ended in mid-table finishes in Division One.
2002-03 was a promising season for Sheffield United, when they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup & Worthington Cup, losing both ties to Premiership clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool. They also reached the Division One playoff final, but were soundly beaten 3-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Millennium Stadium.
In both 2003-04 and 2004-05, Sheffield United narrowly missed out on a place in the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League finishing 8th in both seasons.
2005-06 is their 12th straight season at the second level of the English pyramid, which is longer than any other team currently in the Championship and is their longest spell in any Division since 1934. They started the season well, winning nine of their first ten games including a run of eight consecutive victories, tying the club record. They have completed the "double" over local rivals, Sheffield Wednesday.
Promoted at last
After beating Cardiff 1-0 on Good Friday, United only needed one point from their final three games, later that evening promotion rivals Watford failed to beat Wolves meaning only Leeds United could in theory catch Sheffield United.
The following day, April 15 2006, Leeds failed to beat Reading at Elland Road confirming promotion for the Blades. After many disappointments in the previous few seasons, Sheffield United were finally back in the Premiership.
Survival will be the ultimate target for Sheffield United in their 2006-07 Premiership campaign.
Blades Firsts
Over the years the club has been involved in many notable firsts:
- They were the first, and to-date only, League club to score ten goals in an away fixture; versus Burslem Port Vale in 1892
- They were the first team in the world to be promoted; a test match victory against Accrington in 1892-93
- They were involved in the first British radio commentary of a football match; versus Arsenal at Highbury in 1927
- They were the first club to sell two £100,000 players; Mick Jones to Leeds United and Alan Birchenall to Chelsea
- Sheffield United scored the first goal in the Premiership; Brian Deane scoring after 5 minutes v Manchester United in August 1992
- Bramall Lane was the first ground to have floodlights installed
- They were the first club to receive a plate for finishing runners-up in an English League competition; the Football League Championship in 2005-06
Sponsorship
Sheffield United currently has a few sponsorship deals. All of their stands are sponsored by companies including The Hallam FM Kop, The Global Windows Stand, The Gordon Lamb Stand, The Streetwise Sports Corner and the Capital One Stand. Capital One will also be the new shirt sponsors of the Blades from next season taking over from HFS Loans, who were bought out recently by the credit giant.
League History
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- Seasons spent at Level 1 of the football league system: 59
- Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 37
- Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 5
- Seasons spent at Level 4 of the football league system: 1
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Pos = Position; P = Played; W = Won; D = Drawn; L = Lost; F = Goals For; A = Goals Against; Pts = Points
Honours
- FA Premier League Best Season: 9th in 1993-94
- Football League Division One Champions: 1897-98, Runners-up: 1896-97, 1899-1900
- The Championship Runners-up: 2005-06
- Football League Division Two Champions: 1952-53, Runners-up: 1892-93, 1938-39, 1960-61, 1970-71, 1989-90
- Football League Division Four Champions: 1981-82
- F.A. Cup Winners : 1899, 1902, 1915, 1925, Runners-up: 1901, 1936
- League Cup Best Season: Semi-Finalists in 2003
Club Records
- Record League Win: 10-0 away v Port Vale, Division Two, December 10, 1992 and 10-0 home v Burnley, Division One, January 19, 1929
- Record Cup Win: 6-1 on 3 occasions. the last being at home v Lincoln City, League Cup 1st Round, August 22, 2000
- Record League Defeat: 3-10 away v Middlesbrough , Division One, November 18, 1933
- Record Cup Defeat: 0-13 home v Bolton Wanderers, FA Cup 2nd Round, February 1, 1890
- Highest Attendance: 68,287 v Leeds United, FA Cup 5th Round, February 15, 1936
- Most League Points in a Season (2 points for a win): 60 in Division Two, 1952-53
- Most League Points in a Season (3 points for a win): 96 in Division Four, 1981-82
- Most League Goals: 102 in Division One, 1925-26
- Most League Appearances: Joe Shaw made 632 appearances between 1948-1966
- Most Consecutive Appearances: Jack (JC) Smith made 203 consecutive appearances between 1935-1948
- Most League Goals in Total Aggregate: Harry Johnson scored 201 goals in 313 games between 1919-1930
- Higgest League Scorer in a Season: Jimmy Dunne 41 goals from 41 appearances, Division One, 1930-31
- Most League Goals in One Match: 5 Harry Hammond v Bootle, Division Two, 1892, and 5 Harry Johnson v West Ham United, Division One, December 26, 1927
- Scoring in Consecutive Games: Jimmy Dunne scored in 12 consecutive games in 1930-1931
- Most Capped Player: Billy Gillespie made 25 appearances for Northern Ireland
- Record Transfer Fee Paid: £1.75 million for Ade Akinbiyi to Burnley in January, 2006
- Record Transfer Fee Received: £3 million for Lee Morris from Derby County in October, 1999
- Longest Sequence of League Wins: 8 matches between September 14, 1960 to October 22, 1960
- Longest Sequence of League Defeats: 7 matches between August 19, 1975 to September 20, 1975
- Longest Sequence of League Draws: 6 matches between May 6, 2001 to September 8, 2001
- Longest Sequence of Unbeaten League Matches: 22 matches between September 2, 1899 to January 13, 1900
- Longest Sequence Without a League Win: 19 matches between September 27, 1975 to February 7, 1976
- Successive Scoring Runs: 34 matches from March 20, 1956
- Successive Non-scoring Runs: 6 matches from December 4, 1993
Managers
- John Wostinholm 1889-1899 (as Secretary-Manager)
- John Nicholson 1899-1932 (as Secretary)
- Teddy Davison 1932-1952 (as Secretary-Manager)
- Reg Freeman 1952-1955
- Joe Mercer 1955-1958
- Archie Clarke 1958-1959 (as Acting Manager)
- John Harris 1959-1968
- Arthur Rowley 1968-1969
- John Harris 1969-1973
- Ken Furphy 1973-1975
- Cec Coldwell 1975 (as Acting Manager)
- Jimmy Sirrel 1975-1977
- Cec Coldwell 1977-1978 (as Acting Manager)
- Harry Haslam 1978-1981
- Martin Peters 1981
- Ian Porterfield 1981-1986
- Billy McEwan 1986-1988
- Dave Bassett 1988-1995
- Howard Kendall 1995-1997
- Nigel Spackman 1997-1998
- Steve Thompson 1998 (As Acting Manager)
- Steve Bruce 1998-1999
- Adrian Heath 1999
- Neil Warnock 1999-Present
Notable former players
Listed according to year of Sheffield United first-team debut (year in parentheses):
- 1890s: Ernest 'Nudger' Needham (1891), William 'Fatty' Foulke (1894).
- 1900s: Alf Common (1901).
- 1910s: Billy Gillespie (1911).
- 1920s: Jimmy Dunne (1926).
- 1930s: Jock Dodds (1934), Jimmy Hagan (1938).
- 1940s: Joe Shaw (1945), Ted Burgin (1949).
- 1950s: Graham Shaw (1951), Alan Hodgkinson (1953).
- 1960s: Mick Jones (1962), Alan Woodward (1962), Tony Currie (1968).
- 1970s: Trevor Hockey (1971), Keith Edwards (1975), Alex Sabella (1978).
- 1980s: Brian Deane (1988).
- 1990s: Michael Brown (1999),
- 2000s: Paul Peschisolido (2001)
Current first team squad
As of May 10 2006: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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