Sheffield United F.C.

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Sheffield United Football Club are a professional English football club based in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

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 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.

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.

History

Early Years

Sheffield United 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 English sports club to use United in its name. However, the now-defunct Plymouth United, formed in 1886 three years before Sheffield United Football Club, 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 season, finishing fifth, they 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 Spurs being 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.

Disappointment and 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 six 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 Sheffield Wednesday for second spot in 1939, winning their last game 6-1 against Tottenham. They started the 1939-40 season brightly before World War II curtailed the campaign.

After the War

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.

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 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 five 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 two scoreless draws.

Back among the elite

Sheffield United's most memorable post-war run was in 1971. Ending the 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 memorable goal scored by George Best six minutes from the end is still replayed on television to this day.

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 the United States 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.

Revival under 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, who later turned out for Leeds United and Benfica 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. 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 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.

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 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 & League Cup, losing both ties to Premiership clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool. They also reached the Division One playoff final, but were 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.

The team celebrating promotion

2005-06 was the team's twelfth straight season at the second level of the English football pyramid - a period longer than any other team currently in the Championship, and their longest spell in any Division since 1934.

After beating Cardiff 1-0 on Good Friday, United required only one point from their final three games to secure their promotion. Results later that evening meant only Leeds United could in theory catch Sheffield United, but the following day, April 15 2006, they failed to beat Reading at Elland Road. After many disappointments in the previous few seasons, Sheffield United were finally back in the Premiership.

Current squad

As of July 26 2006:

Players out on loan

Reserves and Academy Teams

* Sheffield United Reserves A currently play in the Pontin's Holidays League - Div One Central. They finished 2005-06 in 4th place.
* Sheffield United Reserves B currently play in the Pontin's Holidays League - Div One East. They finished 2005-06 in 2nd place.
* Sheffield United Academy U18s currently play in the FA Premier Academy League - U18s Group D.

League History

*1892-1893 Division 2
*1893-1934 Division 1
*1934-1939 Division 2
*1946-1949 Division 1
*1949-1953 Division 2
*1953-1956 Division 1
*1956-1961 Division 2
*1961-1968 Division 1
*1968-1971 Division 2
*1971-1976 Division 1
*1976-1979 Division 2
*1979-1981 Division 3
*1981-1982 Division 4
*1982-1984 Division 3
*1984-1988 Division 2
*1988-1989 Division 3
*1989-1990 Division 2
*1990-1992 Division 1
*1992-1994 FA Premier League
*1994-2004 Division 1
*2004-2006 Championship
*2006- FA Premier League>

*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

Season	League	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1996-97	Division One	5	46	20	13	13	75	52	73
1997-98	Division One	6	46	19	17	10	69	54	74
1998-99	Division One	8	46	18	13	15	71	66	67
1999-2000	Division One	16	46	13	15	18	59	71	54
2000-01	Division One	10	46	19	11	16	52	49	68
2001-02	Division One	13	46	15	15	16	53	54	60
2002-03	Division One	3	46	23	11	12	72	52	80
2003-04	Division One	8	46	20	11	15	65	56	71
2004-05	Championship	8	46	18	13	15	57	56	67
2005-06	Championship	2	46	26	12	08	76	46	90
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Sheffield United F.C.: Encyclopedia BETA

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