Sheffield United Football Club - History & Notable Players

Sheffield United FC


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Details


  • Name: Sheffield United Football Club

  • Nickname: The Blades

  • Founded: 1889

  • Ground: Bramall Lane

  • Ground capacity: 32,609

Bramall Lane


picture of Bramall Lane

The stands
The ground has been an all-seater stadium since 1994 and is now made up of four main stands and two corner infill stands in the north-east and south-west corners. The north-west corner (as well as a lot of the land under the John Street Stand) contains the Blades Enterprise Centre, and the south-east corner is still open, although there are plans to fill it with seating as part of the strategy to build a leisure complex at the back of the South Stand.

Redbrik Estate Agency Stand
Formerly the Bramall Lane stand, this is the oldest existing stand at Bramall Lane, this two-tiered structure was opened in 1966 behind the goal at the Bramall Lane end, opposite the Kop. The bottom tier is generally occupied by away fans whilst the upper tier, which links into the south-west corner infill stand, is given to home fans (although part of the upper tier may be offered to away fans for cup fixtures if demand is sufficient). This is in contrast to previous seasons, when away fans had the upper tier (and hence the marginally better view) much to the annoyance of home fans. During the 2005–06 season, the outside of the Bramall Lane Stand was reclad in red-and-white, with the stand sponsors and the club crest on the outside of the stand, while the wooden seats of the upper tier were replaced with newer plastic seats with the words "BLADES" written into them.

When the corner infill stand was built during the closed season, the roof over the Bramall Lane Stand was extended toward the pitch to provide better cover for the lower tier and to remove the supporting pillars from the upper tier. There are approximately 2,700 seats in the upper tier, and 2,990 in the lower, giving a total capacity of 5,680. This stand has for many years housed a basic LCD scoreboard and clock between the upper and lower tiers, however at the start of the 2006–07 season both were replaced by a modern colour video scoreboard. In 2012, the club announced that the stand would be named after Olympic Champion and United fan Jessica Ennis (now known as Jessica Ennis-Hill).

In November 2014, Ennis-Hill stated a request to have her name removed from the stand if the club offered Ched Evans (a former United player wrongly convicted of rape) a contract. Due to this, and other objections, he was not offered a contract. Ahead of the 2015–16 season, the stand was renamed after local company Redbrik Estate Agency on a three-year contract. In October 2016 the charges against Evans were dropped, he was found not guilty of the offence and he restarted his playing career at Chesterfield F.C. He re-joined United in May 2017.

The Tony Currie Stand
The Tony Currie Stand is also known as the "South Stand", however some fans still refer to it as the "Laver Stand" (after the stand's long-term sponsors in the 1990s) or even the "New Stand" by many older fans since there was no stand on the South end of the pitch until 1975, where previously it was used as the cricket pitch's outfield.

Opened in August 1975, the South Stand is situated alongside the pitch and is for home fans who wish to have a side-view when watching the match (the John Street Stand is for families only). During the 2005–06 season, this stand was renovated, with a re-clad of the outside of the stand and the old wooden seats replaced by newer red plastic seats and white plastic seats forming an emblem of two swords. The box-seats were also upgraded.

This stand holds approximately 7,500 fans, and most of the ground's amenities, including the box office, newly expanded and renovated for the 2006–07 season Blades Superstore, Platinum Suite, "Legends of the Lane" museum, "1889" award-winning restaurant (formerly known as Bosworth's of Bramall Lane), the former police control centre (now relocated to the Blades Enterprise Centre between the Bramall Lane and John Street Stands), newly refurbished reception, press box, players entrance, administrative offices and television gantry attached to the roof of the stand.

The bottom of the stand, facing into the club car park, has been made into a fans "Wall of Fame". Built of the ground's signature mark red bricks, each one is etched with an individual supporters' name or nickname. The wall was launched as a commercial venture by the club in the 1990s and is still offered today for other sections of the ground. In 2018 the stand was named after Sheffield United legend Tony Currie.

The Kop Stand
Seated since 1991, this is the area in which the most boisterous home fans sit, such that former assistant manager (1999–2003) and manager (2008–10) Kevin Blackwell named the noise coming from this stand as the "Bramall Roar" after the 2003 play-off semi-final second-leg against Nottingham Forest, which the Blades won 4–3, coming from 0–2 down. The stand is currently sponsored by Kennedy's Law and, was formerly sponsored by Hallam FM. The stand itself is built into a hillside situated behind the goal, at the east end of the stadium. This places the stand along Shoreham Street, hence the often-heard chant of "Hello! Hello! We are the Shoreham Boys" coming from this stand on matchdays.

It has the club's initials "SUFC" written into the seats, and holds 10,221 fans, making this the largest stand at Bramall Lane. The facilities are of lower quality in the Kop because there is no indoor concourse, although an outdoor bar was completed in September 2007 to complement the fast-food takeaway, but in spite of this it is still a firm favourite amongst the fans, and usually full on matchday. At a Shareholders' meeting in November 2007 the club announced that it intended to expand the Kop by 3,500 (making it the largest 'kop' in the country) and to upgrade all the facilities and cover the concourse areas. However, since then, former chief executive Trevor Birch announced that the extension will not be taken into consideration until the club can gain and maintain Premier League status. United submitted a revised application for the redevelopment of the stand in 2015, which would see 3,215 seats added to its current capacity.

John Street Stand
The John Street stand, completed in 1996, is used as a family enclosure for home fans and is situated along the north side of the pitch, boasting great views of the playing action. Sponsored by the Maltese Tourist Board, in a combined stand and shirt sponsorship deal, it has the word "BLADES" written in the seats, and holds just under 7,000 fans. This is also where the home disabled supporters may sit. The stand is home to a small club shop as well as the Marstons & Malta Executive Suites and "Tunnel Bar". There is also a row of 31, individual executive boxes with private facilities and their own balconies along the back of the stand.

Kop Corner
Also called the Northeast Corner or Pukka Pies Stand after its sponsorship deal, this stand was completed in 2001 and is between the Kop and the John Street stand. It is fully linked to the John Street Stand, and is also used as a family enclosure holding around 900 fans (after the installation of new restricted-view seats after the 2006–07 campaign. This section of the ground has always been part of the Kop stand structure and the lower half was historically used as a family standing enclosure until it was demolished as part of the main Kop re-development.

Westfield Health Stand
Also known as the "new" corner infill, this stand is in the south-west corner of the stadium, between the Bramall Lane Stand and the South Stand and is sponsored by Westfield Health. It is linked to the Bramall Lane stand (upper tier), sharing its facilities, turnstiles and exits. It is always used by home fans, and reputedly has the best views of the ground. Season tickets for the 2017-18 campaign are available within this stand for the first time since its completion. The stand holds approximately 2,000 fans.

Blades Enterprise Centre
The north-west corner is filled in by rentable offices, known as the Blades Enterprise Centre, one of many examples of United diversifying their off-the-field activities to maximise income streams. Completed in 2002, the Enterprise centre provides office space for smaller and new companies in the block between the John Street and Bramall Lane stands, and also underneath the John Street stand itself.


Chris Wilder


Picture of Chris Wilder

The Facts


Sheffield United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.

The team gained promotion to the Premier League for the 2019–20 season.

The football club was formed in 1889 as an offshoot of Sheffield United Cricket Club, and are nicknamed The Blades due to Sheffield's history of steel production.

The club have played their home games at Bramall Lane since their formation in 1889. Bramall Lane is an all-seater ground with a capacity of 32,609.

Sheffield United won the original Football 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, and reached the semi-finals in 1961, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2014.

They reached the semi-finals of the League Cup in 2003 and 2015.

For most of the club's history they have played in red and white striped shirts with black shorts. Their closest rivals are Sheffield Wednesday, with whom they contest the Steel City derby.

For further information check out their Official website


Notable Players


Picture of Joseph Shaw

Joe Shaw - 1945 - 1966



Picture of James Hagan

Jimmy Hagan - 1938 - 1958



Picture of Alan Hodgkinson

Alan Hodgkinson - 1954 - 1971



Picture of Ogden's Cigarette card

History


Picture of Sheffield United team with trophy

Sheffield United formed on 22 March 1889 at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield (now the site of the Crucible Theatre) by the President of the Cricket Club Sir Charles Clegg. The Wednesday had moved from Bramall Lane to their own ground at Olive Grove after a dispute over gate receipts and the tenants of Bramall Lane needed to create a new team to generate income. Sir Charles Clegg was incidentally also the president of The Wednesday.

Undoubtedly United's heyday was the 30-year period from 1895–1925, when they were champions of England in 1897–98 and runners up in 1896–97 and 1899–00, and FA Cup winners in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925, finishing runners up in 1901, and also eleven years after their cup final win in 1936. United have not won a trophy since 1925, bar those associated with promotion from lower-leagues, their best performances in the cup competitions being several semi-final appearances in the FA Cup and Football League Cup.

Their darkest days came between 1975 and 1981. After finishing sixth in the First Division at the end of the 1974–75 season, they were relegated to the Second Division the following season and three years after that setback they fell into the Third Division. They reached an absolute low in 1981 when they were relegated to the Fourth Division, but were champions in their first season in the league's basement division and two years afterwards they won promotion to the Second Division.

They did fall back into the Third Division in 1988, but new manager Dave Bassett masterminded a quick revival which launched the Blades towards one of the most successful eras in their history. Successive promotions in the aftermath of the 1988 relegation saw them return to the First Division in 1990 after a 14-year exile. They survived at this level for four seasons (being founder members of the new FA Premier League in 1992 after peaking with a ninth-place finish in the last season of the old First Division) and reached an FA Cup semi-final in the 1992–93 season before being relegated in 1994.

They would remain outside the top flight for the next 12 years, although they did qualify for the play-offs under Bassett's successor Howard Kendall in 1997 and caretaker manager Steve Thompson in 1998. They were struggling at the wrong end of Division One when Neil Warnock was appointed manager in December 1999, and a financial crisis was preventing the club from being able to boost their squad, but in 2002–03 they enjoyed their most successful season for a decade, reaching the semi-finals of both domestic cups and also reaching the Division One play-off final, where they were beaten 3–0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Three years later, however, Warnock delivered a Premier League return as the Blades finished runners-up in the rebranded Championship. They lasted just one season back amongst the elite, before being relegated from the Premier League amidst the controversy surrounding Carlos Tevez, the player who was controversially signed by West Ham United and whose performances played a big part in their remarkable escape from relegation. Neil Warnock resigned as manager after the Blades went down.

The club struggled to come to terms with life back in the Championship, with a spiralling wage bill not being matched by the quality of the players brought in, and a succession of managers within a short period of time. The Blades did reach the Championship playoff final in 2009 under Kevin Blackwell, but a period of decline then set in. The 2010–11 season proved disastrous, with the club employing three different managers in the space of a season, which ultimately ended in relegation to League One under Micky Adams, meaning they would play in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1989, only five years after gaining promotion to the Premiership. In the 2011–12 season, the club finished third in League One, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to rivals Sheffield Wednesday, and entered the playoffs. With victory over Stevenage in the semi-final, United missed out on an immediate return to the Championship after suffering a penalty shootout defeat to Huddersfield Town. The Blades again made it to the League One playoffs in 2012–13 after a fifth-place finish, but were knocked out by eventual promotion winners Yeovil Town on an 85th-minute goal in the second leg of the semi-finals.

On 3 September 2013 it was confirmed that Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Musa'ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the royal House of Saud had bought a 50% stake in United's parent company 'Blades Leisure Ltd' for the fee of £1 with the promise of providing "substantial new capital" with the aim of returning the Blades to the Premier League as "quickly as possible". In 2014 the Blades began to be described by areas of the media as "giant-killers", having reached the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley, losing 5–3 to Hull City. In 2014–15 the team reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and semi-finals of the Football League Cup, and despite being eliminated they remained in contention for promotion to the Championship.

United secured promotion back to the second tier of English football in the 2016–17 season under the management of lifelong fan and former Blades player Chris Wilder, winning the League One title with 100 points. The Blades finished 10th in their first season back in the Championship, having spent much of the season in and around the play-off positions.

In the 2018–19 season, the team enjoyed a highly successful campaign in achieving automatic promotion to the Premier League, with United having spent almost all of the season in the top six of the Championship, fighting for automatic promotion until clinching second place over Leeds United with a game to spare, by beating already relegated Ipswich Town 2–0 at Bramall Lane on 27 April 2019. Leeds' 1–1 home draw with Aston Villa the next day ensured top flight football for The Blades for the first time in 12 years.

On 13th March 2021, Chris Wilder left his role as manager of Sheffield United after nearly five years in charge, with Paul Heckingbottom named interim boss until the end of the season. However, following a 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 17th April 2021, Sheffield were relegated to the Championship with 6 games still to play. At the end of the 2022-2023 season, Sheffield United returned to the Premier League, after finishing Runners Up in The Championship.


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