It's a strange thing saying you love something isn't it? Whether it be a person or an object or either an idealism it's tough. It always seems that you get those swell of butterfly's in your stomach, your heart beats that little bit faster, stuff like that. Love can make you feel like a million dollars at times, at others it can break you. Love is strange and I think it will continue to be so but, there is one thing I can say with certainty that I love and that I will continue to love for the rest of my life no matter what happens. If you've read the title of this article you'll already know what the thing I'm talking about is but if you didn't, well, the thing that I love is Sheffield United Football Club.
Football for me wasn't that big a deal until I was about six years old. At that point in life, I think I was much more interested in Power Rangers and Karate among other things like most young kids my age were into. But I always had football kits. Those football kits were Sheffield United kits. There are pictures of me with my mum and dad with me in the famous red and white. I'd probably attribute my initial interest in United as nothing more than that they played in red. Most of the things I liked back then were red, the Red Ranger and Clifford the Red Dog for example so when it came to choosing between teams I gravitated towards the red and white. Even though I live in Hillsborough literally a stones throw away from their stadium with most of my friends being one of them, I always said I was a Blade. I went to my first United game in January of 2006. It was a mid season friendly between United and the newly acquired Chengdu Blades, a real glamour tie for a first game. I went with my dad and we sat in the South Stand (then known as the GAC Stand, now known as the Tony Currie Stand) and as a six year old the ground was daunting. Although it holds a modest 32,000+, to my tiny six year old brain it seemed to be more like 320,000! We seemed to be sat miles away from the pitch and it was enough to make me slightly dizzy. That dizziness soon subsidised as I buried my head into the match programme. Yes, rather than watch the match I read the programme it was a little bit before the likes of Minecraft and Fortnite were readily available on most mobile devices. I was so engrossed that I missed United opening the scoring. I think the crowd cheering the goal did bring me back to focus on the game and just as I started paying attention, Chengdu Blades equalised. The match ended 1-1 and even though I didn't see much of the match due to the programme I did enjoy myself and wanted to come back to Bramall Lane again. Although not packed out like it is usually for regular matchdays the ground itself was enough to leave me wanting more. The gargantuan (to a six year old) South Stand left me in awe. It left me wanting more. I remember relegation to the Championship left me in tears in my old bedroom. My mum tried comforting me saying we'd be back there soon but in that moment I couldn't believe that something like this could happen to my club! How could we get relegated? (I didn't really fully grasp the whole no points for a loss thing yet) this led to hatreds of West Ham and Carlos Tevez and later on, Phil Jagielka who moved on to Everton that summer (he still had a contract! How naïve I was...) I was a little bit older by now and started going to more games with my dad and grandad. It was usually the quid a kid games to start out with. Games against QPR and Burnley stand out during this period with United always seeming to win whenever I went. After finishing third in the league that season a playoff final beckoned against Burnley. As United went to battle at Wembley I was in Blackpool with my family but still proudly decked out in a full United away kit (I was young, what can I say?) as news filtered through that we had lost and that we wouldn't be heading back to the Premier League I found myself to be upset, but not crying. I think this was the point when I realised that football wasn't fair. You aren't entitled to turn up and expect glory. There will be disappointments along the way and you should learn to roll with the punches as well as enjoy the highs when they happen. Well for Sheffield United, the lowest lows were just around the corner. The League One relegation season saw me go to one game. My mum won tickets to see us play Scunthorpe at The Lane. Again I went for my dad and I was hopeful of a united win with my unbeaten streak still in tact. We lost 4-0. The season didn't get much better after that and even after a last gasp dash for safety inspired by Jordan Slew (remember him?) United were relegated to the third tier for the first time in nearly 25 years. This is around the time when I started going regularly to The Lane with the first season in League One seeing us take the League by storm. We scored the third most goals in the world and were spearheaded by an on fire Ched Evans. However that didn't end well either with Evans being locked up for rape and losing automatic promotion to our dear neighbours even though we finished with a massive 90 points. Play offs again and again, we lost. Another season in League One beckoned. I'll save a little bit of time by fast forwarding to my first season as a season ticket holder. Lets just say there were definitely highs (FA Cup semi final 2014) but mostly lows (still in League One) The first season as a season tickets holder brought a new found sense of independence. I was old enough to go to the matches on my own now and that was a big thing. I was a little bit nervous but that went away when I saw that pitch. It. Was. Glorious. I took my seat and watched as we inevitably lost to Bristol City. That should have been an indicator of how the season was going to go but that hadn't hit me yet. Plus, we had a cup run! And what a cup run! The games against Southampton and the second leg of the semi final against Spurs are up there with my favourite moments being a Blade. There was a real sense of togetherness as the atmosphere crackled around the ground for both ties, if only Louis Reed's shot had gone in... apart from that though, the season was largely forgettable and ended with the play offs again and myself spending a lot of the night of the semi final first leg in hospital after being hit in the face by a Jay McEverly clearance. I'll gloss over the Adkins season because it was bad and this is getting long. So, Chris Wilder, he's done a good job hasn't he? It seems incredible that after losing our first three games of that season that we'd finish champions with 100 points. It was magical on the pitch but off it I was a mess. I wasn't really enjoying my life at all during this period but there was always one thing that kept me going during that first year of college and that was Sheffield United. I couldn't wait for the weekend just so I could go to the Lane and just forget about everything and join my fellow Blades in cheering home the boys. Another great day was obviously the day at Sixfields. Although I left it late, I got my ticket for the beam back and watched on as United secured promotion back to the second tier at the 6th time of asking. It was mental. Hugs were shared, tears were shed, a conga line started it was just so... fun! It's one of the days that I will probably never forget for the rest of my life. It was incredible. Lets skip to now and after 1 and 3/4 seasons of brilliant football we're knocking on the door of top flight football again. We really shouldn't be but we're giving it our best go and I couldn't be prouder. Players like O'Connell, Duffy, Fleck and of course Billy Sharp are giving youngsters excellent role models to look up to and the football! Well... it's exquisite (overlapping centre backs!?) it's been a crazy few years and I for one hope that it isn't over yet. So conclusions? Well, yeah times might get tough. There might be times when I feel like the walls are closing in and I feel all alone and I have no one to turn to. But when those time come, I think of one thing. I think of those red and white strips and everything becomes better. Sheffield United might not be the biggest or the best team. We might not have your exotic foreign names or your rich owners. But we do have heart. We have eleven lads who'll give their all for the club no matter what and we have support that will stand by them no matter what. That's why I love Sheffield United. I don't care how much they hurt me I'll always come back. After all, we're all Blades aren't we? As ever, UTB.
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AuthorHi my name is John and i will be giving my thoughts on the blades matches and all blades related news in this section Archives
November 2022
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