For the past 3 years, Chris Wilder has built a successful football team with virtually no foreign players in sight (even Lavery, who was born in Canada, was technically Northern Irish). This tactic has brought him both praise and negativity. On one hand, Wilder is buying in the market he knows best and with all the squad speaking the same language, communication is made much easier. We have however been unfairly branded as being leaders in 'Brexit' brand of football and Wilder has even been branded a racist for his unwillingness to buy abroad. However, this may all be changing. Rumours are swirling that a certain French Brentford forward is on the verge of joining our campaign in the top flight of English football. So with this rumour coming to the front, I've decided to compile a Sheffield United international XI! Quick side note, I'll be using a traditional 4-4-2 formation for this team and the players mentioned may not be the players who made the most appearances for United. Anyway, with that out of the way, lets have a look at the team!
Goalkeeper: Mihkel Aksalu Country: Estonia Years played for United: 2010-2012 Total Appearances/goals: 0/0 We're off to a great start appearance wise! Aksalu joined United from top flight Estonian club FC Flora during the January transfer window of 2010. Signed for a fee of around £180,000, United's manager at the time Kevin Blackwell said Aksalu was the best goalkeeper he'd ever seen on trial at the club. So why he never played a game for United under his tenure is a mystery. However, once Blackwell was sacked, Aksalu failed to impress the late, great Gary Speed and on October 6th of 2010 was allowed to join then Conference North team Mansfield Town on a two month loan. His development was halted however due to a abdominal muscle problem that allowed him to only make three appearances for The Stags before returning to Sheffield. A back injury led to further surgery being needed and eventually he was released by United in January of 2012. After being released, Aksalu returned to FC Flora and made 7 appearances in his first season back. The following year, Aksalu joined Finnish club SJK and has gone on to make 169 appearances for the club as of the time of me writing this article. Not only has Aksalu managed to get his career back on track, but he's also become the regular no.1 for Estonia and has made 44 appearances for his country. Defence: Lecsinel Jean-Francois Country: Haiti Years played for United: 2011-2013 Total Appearances/goals: 25/0 Although he plied his international trade for Haiti, Jean-Francois was born in Cayenne in France and was snapped up early on by PSG. He went on to make 2 appearances for PSG's B team before he moved to Sedan B. Following spells in Scotland and a return to France with Guingamp, Jean-Francois ended up at Swindon Town under the management of Danny Wilson. Two years later and Jean-Francois re-joined Wilson at United, he enjoyed a good start to his career with the Blades but a cruciate ligament injury sustained in March put an end to his season and he didn't return until October when he played out the last 15 minutes of a 4-1 victory over Notts County in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy (now the Checkatrade Trophy). The return was short lived however and a knee injury saw Jean-Francois miss another two months. After failing to regain fitness, Jean-Francois was released by United in June 2013. He did return briefly in December 2013 to continue his rehabilitation but was never offered a contract to play. Although he is only 32, Jean-Francois has not managed to gain a contract with any other club and looks to have retired from football. A real shame for a player who showed some early potential at the Lane. Jean-Francois made 3 appearances for Haiti and money from a match between Swindon and Leeds was donated to help people affected by the Haiti earthquake of 2010. Defence: Roger Nilsen Country: Norway Years played for United: 1993-1999 Total Appearances/goals: 166/0 Starting out his career at his hometown team Tromso, Nilsen was signed by Dave Bassett in November 1993 shortly after fellow countryman Jostein Flo. Believed to have cost around £500,000, Nilsen plied his trade at left back, however his signing wasn't enough to halt relegation and soon he was adapting to life in the second tier of English football. During his six seasons at the club, Nilsen became popular with the fans and had his most memorable moment for the club when he scored a penalty that contributed to the defeat of Coventry City in the 1998 FA Cup quarter final that set up a semi final date with Newcastle. Nilsen last appeared in a Blades shirt in a 3-0 win over West Brom in February 1999 before a surprise move to Spurs saw him back in the Premier League. Nilsen made only two appearances for Spurs before moving to Austrian club Grazer AK. He spent a season at Grazer before moving back to his native Norway finishing up his playing career with spells at Molde and Bryne. Nilsen has gone on to mange in Norway, starting at Stavanger and after a spell as assistant manger of Viking, he currently manages Floya's women's team. Nilsen represented his nation 32 times at senior level and even managed to make the squad for the 1994 World Cup however, he didn't play at the tournament. Defence: Shaun Murphy Country: Australia Years played for United: 1999-2003 Total Appearances/goals: 158/9 For a player who made over 150 appearances for United, not much has been written about Australian international Shaun Murphy. From what I can find, Murphy began his career at Perth Italia in 1990 and then went on to spend 5 years at Notts County where he won their player of the year award for two years running in 1995 and 1996. He then spent three years at West Brom and then came to Bramall Lane. He did win the Blades player of the year award in 2001 and after a loan spell at Crystal Palace went back home to Australia where he finished his career at Perth Glory. Murphy did represent his country in various high profile competitions including the 1992 Olympics and the 2001 Confederation Cup. He made 18 appearances for Australia and scored 3 goals. Olivier Tebily Country: Ivory Coast Years played for United: 1999 Total Appearances/goals: 8/0 Tebily is another strange one. Once again, very little is mentioned about his time at United (to be honest, he did only make 8 appearances for us) but there is other stuff! So, that's a start. Tebily began his career at Ligue 2 side Niort in 1993 and spent another 5 years there before moving to a newly promoted Ligue 1 side Chateauroux in 1998. He spent a year with the club and after relegation, joined United in 1999 for a fee of around £200,000. Despite the then hefty fee, Tebily made very few appearances for United and was moved on to Celtic for around £1.25 million. After two years and after earning the nickname 'bombscare', Tebily moved back to England with Birmingham City. He went on to be a pretty useful player for City and even played a game with damaged knee ligaments. After his role at City became much smaller, Tebily left for the MLS, joining Toronto FC in 2008. After 4 appearances for the Canadian team, Tebily was released due to homesickness and returned to France. Tebily made 18 appearance for the Ivory Coast spread over 5 years between 1999 to 2004. Vassilios Borbokis Country: Greece Years played for United: 1997-1999 Total Appearances/goals: 55/6 A vastly popular figure at The Lane during his short spell at the club, Borbokis is probably best remembered for his bombastic performances on the right flank and his penchant to score screamers probably best demonstrated when he scored against Sunderland on the opening day of the 1997-98 season. After earlier assisting for Jan Aage Fjortoft for the opener, Borbokis burst into the box unmarked by the Sunderland defence and after an absolutely magical ball from Fjortoft, Borbokis smashed the ball first time into the top right hand corner of the net. It's a sublime finish and showed the class and ability that Borbokis had. Unfortunately, he didn't stay long at The Lane and was sold to Derby at the beginning of the 1999-2000 season. Borbokis only actually spent 3 years outside of his native Greece and after his Derby stint returned to Greece with PAOK Thessaloniki. He then went on to have spells with AEK Athens and Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta. After retiring in 2005, Borbokis returned to football in 2013 as AEK Athens assistant coach. he then left AEK for fellow Greek club Atromitos and currently is the assistant coach at Panetolikos. During his career, Borbokis represented Greece twice at senior level with both caps coming in 1998. David Carney Country: Australia Years played for United: 2007-2009 Total Appearances/goals: 21/2 Starting his career at the New South Wales Institute of Sport, Carney moved to Everton at the age of just 16 after impressing in a trial game. Carney played in various youth teams at The Toffees and was playing in the same youth groups as future Man Utd and England captain Wayne Rooney. After appearing in the 2002 FA Youth Cup final it was expected that Carney would kick on with Everton however that wasn't the case. After his release from Everton, Carney took in spells at Oldham, Halifax and Hamilton before returning to Australia and Sydney FC. Carney went on to be a success at Sydney and would score crucial goals in both the Club World Championship and the Oceania Club Championship. After an impressive 2005-06 A League season, where he would make 24 appearances for Sydney, scoring 6 goals and getting 6 assists, Carney returned to Europe for trials with Monchengladbach and Alemannia Aachen. He scored twice in a trial match for Aachen and was offered a contract but declined it and returned to Sydney. After a season hampered by injury, Carney joined United in the summer of 2007 for around A$125,000 (£69,650). Carney started well at United which led to reported interest from teams like Bayern Munich, Vfl Bochum and Kaiserslautern and a bid of around £2.3 million was placed by Belgian outfit Anderlecht. However when Kevin Blackwell became manger in early 2008, Carney was frozen out of the team with Blackwell even naming one less substitute than was required as a way to force Carney out of the club. Carney was allowed to leave Bramall Lane on loan and after a stint at Norwich, was sold to Dutch outfit Twente. A brief return to England with Blackpool followed soon after with Carney representing clubs like New York Red Bulls and Bunyodkor before ending his career in 2018 back at Sydney FC. Carney had a pretty successful international career and represented Australia 48 times scoring 6 goals. This included representing his country at the 2010 World Cup appearing in games against Ghana and Serbia. Ahmed Fathy Country: Egypt Years played for United: 2007 Total Appearances/goals: 3/0 Beginning his career at Ismaily, Fathy joined United in January 2007 for a fee of around £700,000. He signed a three and a half year deal and made his debut as a substitute in a 2-1 against Tottenham not long after signing. He made his full debut for United against Liverpool at the end of February but would only go onto make one more appearance for United before departing back to Egypt eight months after he left. Al Ahly payed a reported £675,000 for Fathy and after 7 years at the club (which took in loan spells at Kazma and Hull City) he joined Qatari club Umm Salal in 2014. Fathy would spend a year with Salal before rejoining Al Ahly where he continues to play to this day. Although his club career has been pretty haphazard, Fathy has enjoyed immense success with the Egyptian national team. Becoming Egypt's youngest international at just 17 in 2001, Fathy has played over 130 times for his country and was named player of the tournament at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and represented his nation at the 2018 World Cup in Russia where he scored an own goal for the home nation in a group game. Paul Ifill Country: Barbados Years played for United: 2005-2007 Total Appearances/goals: 42/9 Born in Brighton, Ifill qualifies to play for Barbados thanks to his parents heritage. Ifill started his career with a local Brighton club called Saltdean United after rejection from Watford's academy. Millwall were recommended signing him and after 6 goals in a month, Ifill became a regular at The New Den. He did however suffer various injuries that hampered his playing time with a recurring back injury almost ending his career due to it not allowing him to sprint. He was a member of the Millwall team that reached the 2004 FA Cup final, losing out to Manchester United 3-0. United payed a handsome fee of around £800,000 to bring Ifill to The Lane and was instrumental in helping United to reach the top flight for the first time since the early 90's. Ifill fell out of favour In the top flight however and was placed on the transfer list. Crystal Palace gave United around £800,000 for him but he once again struggled with injury and was released 2 years after joining in May 2009 after making 61 appearances for Palace. However, Ifill has managed to reinvent himself after moving to New Zealand in the summer of 2009. Spells with Wellington Phoenix, Hawke's Bay United and Tasman United has seen him make 157 appearances over the course of 10 years. He is currently the player/assistant manager of Hawke's Bay United. Ifill made 10 appearances for Barbados between 2004 and 2008 and managed to score 6 goals for the Caribbean nation. he made various appearances in the Caribbean Nations Cup and scored all his international goals in this tournament. He also captained Barbados against the USA in two qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. Barbados lost both matches with an aggregate score of 9-0. Daniel Bogdanovic Country: Malta Years played for United: 2010-2011 Total Appearances/goals: 34/5 In a career spanning 19 years, Bogdanovic has represented 18 clubs across 5 countries. Starting his career in Malta with Sliema Wanderers, Bogdanovic would then go on to play for clubs like Naxxar Lions, Cherno More, Marsaxlokk, Lokomotiv Sofia and Barnsley before coming to Bramall Lane during the summer of 2010. Bogdanovic found it difficult to hold down a place in United's starting XI and although he made 33 appearances in his debut season, most were from the bench. United sold Bogdanovic to Blackpool for around £250,000 and another dismal season followed, only making 8 appearances for The Tangerines. He was released at the end of the 2011-12 season and returned to Malta with Mosta. Bogdanovic has moved around Malta since his return and currently ply's his trade for Xewkjia Tigers. A ten year career for Malta saw him score 1 goal in 41 games with his singular goal coming in 2003 against Kazakhstan. Jostein Flo Country: Norway Years played for United: 1993-1996 Total Appearances/goals: 84/19 Standing at 6ft 4in, Jostein Flo is not a hard man to miss in the street and although he was mainly used as a target man, he was also sometimes deployed as a winger with the behemoth being instrumental in Norway coach Egil Olsen's 4-5-1 formation. in Olsen's system, the left back would launch balls in the direction of Flo who would knock the ball down to either a midfielder or the singular striker. This became known as the 'Flo Pass'. Signed from Sogndal, Flo would go onto have a pretty decent first season in English football with United. Bagging 9 goals in 33 games this contribution however, wasn't enough to save United from relegation and he would go on to score 10 goals over the next two seasons for United before leaving for Norwegian club Stomsgodset. Flo was a regular in the Norway squad of the mid 90's and would go on to represent his country 53 times, scoring 11 goals. He was part of the Norway squad for both the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and left his mark on defending champions Brazil in the 98 group stages when he came on and led his team to a shock 2-1 over the defending champions. So that's the XI I came up with. It's safe to say it's a pretty eclectic mix of players with each one having various degrees of success at Bramall Lane. Hopefully our next international signing will go on to be fondly remembered at The Lane and not be the next Daniel Bogdanovic. As ever, thanks for reading and UTB.
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Well it's been a while since a wrote about Dem Blades. The last time I did we lost to Bristol City the next day and it looked like we'd dealt ourselves a huge blow in the race for automatic promotion. Since then, I vowed not to write about United until the end of the season in case I somehow jinxed our hopes of hitting the big time. Three months have passed and we did it. We actually did it. 12 Years after our last sojourn into the Premier League we're back in the big leagues with the big boys. It's been a rollercoaster of a season once again we've laughed, we've cried and now it's all lead to this. Pre season is usually a time for reflection. A time to take stock on the season just gone so that's what I'm going to do. Let's take a collective time warp back to the halcyon days of having Lee Evans as our lead creative midfielder... On second thoughts, do we really have to do that? I guess we do... Well on with the show I guess.
Sheffield United vs Swansea city Date: August 4th 2018 Score: 1-2 Goal scorers: George Baldock (Sheffield United)/ Oli McBurnie, Yan Dhanda (Swansea City) Blades starting XI: Henderson, Baldock, Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Basham, Lundstram, Evans, Clarke, Egan, McGoldrick Good start to the season this, United went ahead via a rare goal from George Baldock and then proceeded to throw it all away by conceding two pretty soft goals. The game itself was played in boiling heat and it seemed to take its toll on the United players with everyone looking a little bit sluggish as the game approached the final third. Oh well, a little bit of ring rust is natural in football! We always start season's slowly! We have nothing to worry about! we'll be fine... Sheffield United vs Middlesbrough Date: August 7th 2018 Score: 0-3 Goal scorers: Martin Braithwaite, Aden Flint, Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough) Blades starting XI: Henderson, Baldock, Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Basham, Lundstram, Evans, Clarke, Egan, McGoldrick It wasn't fine. Holy moly where to start with this? After the disappointment of the opening day loss, United outdid themselves by losing a 90 minute game within 25 minutes. Boro ran riot with United looking toothless and lost as we were condemned to our second loss of the season. At this point it looked like the malaise that had set in at the back end of last season hadn't gone over the summer. It looked like it was here to stay and that our time in the Championship could be up after a year. The next fixture against QPR already looked make our break, how did United respond? Sheffield United vs QPR Date: August 11th 2018 Score: 2-1 Goal scorers: Billy Sharp, David McGoldrick (Sheffield United)/ Ebere Eze (QPR) Blades starting XI: Henderson, Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Basham, Clarke, Sharp, Egan, Freeman, Stearman, Duffy We're up and running people! a Billy Sharp tap in and a David McGoldrick penalty was enough to overcome QPR who led early on through an Ebere Eze strike. After that early set back, heads could have dropped but they didn't. United fought back to take control of the game and equalised just before the break and then after a contentious penalty was converted, went on to win the match comfortably with QPR not really showing anything late on. It might not have been pretty, but it was three points on the board. Sheffield United vs Hull City Date: August 14th 2018 Score: 1-1 (Hull won 4-5 on penalties) Goal scorers: Billy Sharp (Sheffield United)/ Jon Toral (Hull City) Blades starting XI: Moore, Stevens, O'Connell, Lundstram, Clarke, Woodburn, Egan, Leonard, Norwood, Freeman, Duffy The first sighting of the midfield maestro Oliver Norwood was a special one. After United sold Lee Evans on deadline day it looked like Wilder had gone mad. Although Evans hadn't exactly set the world on fire in a United shirt he had been a regular starter since joining in January 2018. The fact that he was allowed to leave had to mean we had a good replacement lined up surely? Oh boy did we. Oliver Norwood lit up the pitch against Hull. He ran the midfield to perfection and was spraying balls everywhere with pinpoint accuracy. The only blemish on this stellar debut was his penalty miss in the shootout. We did go on to lose the game on penalties but it felt like we'd turned a corner. After conceding early, we went on to dominate the game and after Sharp scored the equaliser, United hit the post and had a goal disallowed. It was a disappointing loss but there were more positives than negatives. Sheffield United vs Norwich City Date: August 18th 2018 Score: 2-1 Goal scorers: John Egan, Billy Sharp (Sheffield United)/ Jordan Rhodes (Norwich City) Blades starting XI: Henderson, Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Basham, Clarke, Sharp, Woodburn, Egan, Norwood, Freeman Late, late drama at the lane saw United come away with a second win of the season. After John Egan's header was deemed to have crossed the line thanks to goal line technology, it looked like the Blades were on the way to an easy win. Not exactly, as soon after Jordan Rhodes fired in from close range in front of the Kop to bring Norwich back on level terms however, just as it looked like we'd have to settle for a draw, up popped Billy Sharp to get on the end of a David McGoldrick knock down which sent Bramall Lane into bedlam. After a slow start to the season, The Blades were building momentum so in the words of Goldberg, who's next? Sheffield United vs Bolton Wanderers Date: August 25th 2018 Score: 3-0 Goal scorers: Mark Duffy, Kieron Freeman, John Fleck (Sheffield United Blades starting XI: Henderson, Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Basham, Clarke, Sharp, Egan, Norwood, Freeman, Duffy The Blades ended the month with a third straight league win and it was done in convincing style. Old foes Bolton were flying high at the top end of the table when United visited however they were put to the sword thanks to two early goals and a late third thanks to John Fleck. So, after starting the month with two straight losses, United recovered handsomely and went into September on form. How would they get on in that month? You'll have to wait to find out! (Or just look up either highlights or read match reports from the time, its up to you.) Until next time, UTB. |
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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