A New Football Season begins in a new division at Bramall Lane.
The football season begins. 5 August 2017
One way or another, there is a lot of hope for everyone on the first day. If United don't win, don't worry. Jesus will still love you regardless, apparently.
This low-tech poster advertising the match gets a "meh" from these 2 fans.
New shirts need to be filled with burger-fed tums.
"The Original United". Take that, all you other Uniteds.
The Shoreham End fills with fans and with expectation before kick-off.
The Greasy Chip Butty Song about to begin, with the two teams ready for kick-off.
Brentford are in green shirts because both sides wear red & white stripes as first choice.
It's all over. United 1 Brentford 0....
...and it feels good.
It was a cracking game, actually. Brentford have a good side, with Ryan Wells and Jota outstanding in midfield, but the Blades matched them in the first half and could have scored more goals in the second. Both teams (United twice, Brentford once) hit the woodwork and there was lots to enjoy.
The winning goal was scored before half time. Following a corner that wasn't cleared, Leon Clarke popped the ball back into the box. In spite of being marked by much taller players, Billy Sharp got his head to the ball and guided it, via the goalie's fingers, just inside the post.
The key man for United was probably new goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who made some very fine saves.
The key man for United was probably new goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who made some very fine saves.
Non-Pig News reports that “the key man for United was probably new goalkeeper Jamal Blackman”. I understand Blackman is on loan from Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteChelsea must have an awful lot of goalkeepers. During the pre-season friendlies I saw one who was on loan at Forest Green Rovers. The very next week I watched another who had been farmed out to Chippenham Town
Wiki lists thirteen current Chelsea custodians (let’s get that word in early). I may have miscounted. Wiki may even be wrong.
Such is my lack of interest in football scores these days I had to return to Non-Pig News for the result of the Brentford game at Bramall Lane to finally register. I thought Wednesday may have lost at North End that day but still needed to go and check. I like referring to Preston's football team as "North End" because it's reminder I lived there for six years. I've also lived in Sheffield. Not once but twice. The first was as a student between 1974 and 1977; the second for a late middle-age return visit during 2012-2014. I've been reflecting recently about my feelings towards the city's football.
ReplyDeleteMy time as a student was a time of footballing discovery. I'd grown up in a town with a lower-level Football League club which I watched with interest and affection but no great passion. Most of the time I thought they were crap and, as for the town, I was desperate to get away. The fact that it was just the sort of seaside resort that Sheffielders went for their holidays and honeymoons made no difference. Once in Sheffield I divided my football watching three ways. I was keen to watch big-time stuff and made plenty of trips to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. I also watched my hometown team all over the show which - unbeknown to me - was the start of forty years "on the road" as one of the diehards.
United and Wednesday were, of course, on my doorstep. United in the top flight; you'll probably be able to recall that side from memory. Wednesday were in the second tier but not very good. Wednesday were relegated in my first year; United in my second year. My third season in Sheffield was definitely less glamorous than the first. I saw the bigger names and teams at the Lane; the most vivid memory of all is of the Southend United game when Wednesday nearly went down again. On balance I probably liked United more than Wednesday but there wasn't much in it and I kept tabs on both teams for four or five years afterwards. Then I lost interest in Sheffield football. By this time I'd lived in several places and other towns and teams had captured my interest. "Football travelling" took me to both Sheffield grounds roughly once a decade thereafter but that was about it. The city meanwhile was knocking things down that were relatively new when I was a student.
I was aware I'd missed a lot during those intervening years - the whole eventful 1990s for example - but Sheffield football wasn't too much different upon my return. United had gone down a league; Wednesday up one. Sheffield football doing a passable imitation of Bristol's once again. Again there were to be three strands to my football watching. Firstly, a "groundhopping" element. Mainly non-league to be honest; I was not to know how I was about to fall under the influence of precisely the right (or wrong?) type of company for this. Then there was the hometown team still in the fourth tier but looking more precarious by the minute. If last time had been an introduction to the lower league grounds of the northern counties, this was to be something of a "farewell tour". The rest was to be professional football of varying descriptions. Mainly United and Wednesday, the nearby clubs and whatever might materialise. Oddly this included a surprising amount of European football at Newcastle United during the first season.
To be continued...
Continued....
ReplyDeleteI ended up mainly watching United and Wednesday on midweek evenings. I was absorbed rather than excited to be truthful. I couldn't get my head around United. A bigger ground than to which I had become accustomed but third tier football nonetheless watched by a largely subdued and sullen audience. Who'd have thought it that I was seeing merely the second and third seasons of a six-year stint at that level? The undoubted highlights were the cup games against Fulham, Forest and Charlton. Visits to Hillsborough perhaps held more allure with that certain sense of grandeur and altogether better opposition. Plenty of good games for the neutral even if the memories are not at all vivid. Players rather than games in the main.
People asked me which ground was closest and which team I preferred. I suspected I was near enough equidistant to each. I checked a new app; I was 1.82 miles from the centre spot of both grounds. Honestly. Nor can I claim a preference. I thought it daft to attempt to "support" each; to choose one was unnecessarily divisive and the effort or purpose was lacking anyway. I was interested but neutral; I'd have found it more straightforward living in either Barnsley of Huddersfield where I'm sure I may have developed a degree of affection towards the town team.
One difference to the 1970s was that I was now interested in non-league football. I had no idea of Hallam FC when I was a student. If I'd passed the ground then I wonder if I'd even have noticed. Now it was my local ground - just up the inevitable Sheffield hill - and I probably saw ten games there in two years. I'm not actually sure what to think. I get the "1860" angle and find it a charming ground for both cricket and football. The stand and clubhouse are superb for that level. The trouble is that sloping pitches shared with cricket grounds are not ideal to rising up the leagues should a club have that in mind. Yet at Hallam the ground is central to everything and a large part of the club's identity. I guess they'd never think of moving.
Sheffield FC is another matter. These are the nomads of local football decamped over the city boundary with big plans for the future. Is it all talk; is rather too much made of being the world's first football club? Do all those "friendships" with big European clubs really add up to much? I've not been following the story recently; it'll be intriguing to see what happens. I guess the club is in a better state than it once was even though, from a distance, it appears becalmed at the moment.
I had to look up Parramore to see what they are called these days and in which county they play. Now known as Handsworth Parramore and still playing at Worksop albeit with a "Made in Sheffield" motto. Is that right? I'm sure they've a decent team even if the aim of bringing Conference North football to Sheffield hasn't quite come to fruition.
And I shall use the official City of Sheffield boundaries to declare that the home of Stocksbridge Park Steels is my favourite Sheffield ground. If you've not been go there; maybe at this time of the year for an evening game with a setting sun. I remember my first visit was for a 4-5 defeat against Chorley after Stocksbridge had lost a 4-2 lead with twenty minutes to play. On the bus afterwards I met a student from China who had a spare-time job reporting football scores. I'm sure there was nothing untoward. A lovely sunny Friday evening too.