A look back at some of the brilliant, beautiful and bitter comments from our first season back in The Championship…..
Most Arrogant Fans: NOTTINGHAM FOREST
(Previous winners: Norwich, West Brom and Brentford)
Some may say their promotion showed the confidence of Forest fans was well placed but there really couldn’t be any other winner for this award. The sense of entitlement leading up to their biggest game in 25 years was off the scale. From saying they had the biggest ticket demand in Wembley history (in your face Wednesday) to saying the Premier League “deserves them” to finally saying finishing 4th in The Championship was one of sports biggest ever achievements (the backlash to this one even led to the tweet and article being deleted).
Forest undoubtedly had the last laugh this season and they full deserve another award for their spectacular achievements .
Most Respectful Fans: MIDDLESBROUGH
(Previous winners: Liverpool, Blackburn and Derby)
Middlesbrough were above us in the table when Chris Wilder returned to The Lane in March but United put in one of the best performances of the season recording a 4-1 win to go above the Teeside club. It must have been hard to take but the ‘Boro fans were very complimentary of United after the game:
“We played badly but Blades would have beaten any team in this league and most in the league above tonight”
“They would d*ck Spurs, that’s for sure.”
“Sheff Utd were good, better than I thought they were. Very aggressive and strong.”
” I have to say I think Sheffield United were superb all over the pitch – probably the best we’ve faced all season including a couple of Premier League teams.”
“Think they were full value for this win, fair play to them.”
“SU game us a master class about how to up a game when it was needed, Boro once again fail to deliver when it matters the most.”
” know we haven’t played well by any means but lets not take anything away from them. Their pressing and their attacking play is one of the biggest reasons we’ve looked ordinary.”
“SU have played very well. Real pressing game and our guys just could not cope.”
” Sheff Utd were absolutely on it.”
“Well beaten by the better side on the night. They were physically, mentally and tactically better. We never got into our stride because they closed us down all over the park and as we couldn’t play through them our strikers inability to hold the ball up meant we had no plan b.”
“We were second best right across the pitch and hardly won a challenge”
“To use a footballing cliche… They wanted it more than us. A lot more than us. Been given a lesson by a good side tonight. “
” Sheff Utd overpowered us tonight, we couldn’t cope with their intensity, is that a result of us having tired legs? None of us really know. I think the Barnsley result was more affected by us being complacent and I’d put that down to the cup run than tonight to be honest. “
“No doubt about it, they’ve battered us. But we haven’t exactly made it difficult for them.”
“They blew us away and that’s exactly how you get out of this league. They pressed and pressured us in our usual comfortable areas and the mistakes came, as their management team knew they would. This casual trippy happy amongst the back 3 really came unstuck tonight, and basically, they did to us what we did to Spurs.”
” We looked short, a bit tired, sort of shell-shocked by how aggressive Sheffield United were”.
As the play off race reached it’s climax, I collected comments from the clubs competing for a top 6 spot and once again the ‘Boro fans were very respectful of The Blades:
“Luton, Us, Sheff Utd & Forest to finish in the play offs, however the last one I’d want to face is Sheff Utd.
Give me Forest any day, and I’d fancy our chances against Luton over 2 legs.”“Top 6- Fulham, Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest”
“1. Fulham 2. Bournemouth 3. Sheff Utd 4. Forest 5. Boro 6. Blackburn”
“Luton, Us, Sheff Utd & Forest to finish in the play offs, however the last one I’d want to face is Sheff Utd.
Give me Forest any day, and I’d fancy our chances against Luton over 2 legs.”“I worry about either of Forest or Sheff Utd in the playoffs. I know we have beaten Forest twice but we beat Norwich twice too. I feel ok about facing anyone else but those two I get an bad feeling about. “
“Sheff Utd would be the one to avoid in the play offs for me, you want somewhere where Boro fans are the dominant noise in the away leg”
Hopefully we are again battling with Middlesbrough at the top of the table next season.
Funniest Fans: PETERBOROUGH
(Previous winners: Sheffield Wednesday ,Spurs and Milwall)
United beat Peterborough with an aggregate score of 8-2 over our two games this season but on the whole, The Posh fans took it with good grace. The reason they win this category is mainly because of this exchange after our 2-0 at London Road in January:
“Mick McCarthy saying everyone on the Sheff Utd bench would get in the Peterborough team, which is pretty damning.
and when you look at their bench too true. ““Mick McCarthy could probably get in our team”.
“I’d say there’s a fair few Sheffield United players watching at home on TV that would too. “
Hopefully they will fare better against our neighbours from S6 in League One next season.
Mardiest Fans: BLACKBURN ROVERS
(Previous winners: Man City and,Norwich (twice)
A few years ago Blackburn fans won my “Most Respectful Fans” award and since I have being doing The View From they have usually been very fair. The following comments show what conceding a last minute goal does to even the best of us. After the Blades 90th minute winner at The Lane in February The Rovers fans had this to say:
“Sheffield United taught a lesson on set pieces.
They’re a nasty team though. Great ref, they could have had more yellows and another red though, but no complaints.”“Sickening result but after a shaky start we took the game to Sheffield who resorted to cheating tactics. They could and should have ended the match with 9 men. “
” I had a nasty feeling when the referee bottled giving a second yellow to Berge.
Definitely not deserved”” I haven’t seen as thuggish a team since the 70s. Ref lost it when he ignored the Nyambe faceplant.
One good shot all game, from Pickering, great save to be fair.”“We were dominant, against a disgracefully desperate team of cynical cloggers.”
“The THUGS win”
“According to Radio Sheffield we were the thugs who came to stop them playing.
The BBC shouldn’t be allowed to do this. ““We deserved a point against a team of twats. “
“Dirty United bastards. “
“If we somehow hang on for a play off place i hope we play these dirty bastards in it and give them a kicking. “
” Ref let their players scream in his face all night.
Didn’t even attempt to stop or warn them”“I wish i was there tonight,watching it on SKY isn’t the same as being able to tell the Sheff Utd players they’re Dirty Bastards where they can hear me rather than shouting it at the TV”
I suppose we should hope they are this angry after both games next season too!
Most Knowledgeable Fans: HIBERNIAN
(Previous winners: Man Utd ,Huddersfield and Brighton)
When United sacked Slavisa jokanovic and appointed Paul Heckingbottom as manager in November most of the footballing world (along with our own fans) were baffled. Slav was the Championship promotion king and Heckngbottom’s last job at Leeds saw him finish with the worst managerial record of all the bosses that had ever been in the hotseat at Elland Road. Heckngbottom though lifted United from 16th in the Championship table and guided us to a very credible 5th placed finish. Only one set of fans saw the merits in Heckinbottom’s appointment and that was one of his former club Hibernian . Despite a disappointing end to his time in Scotland, Hibs fans saw qualities in our gaffer that others hadn’t:
“Delighted for him. Didn’t work out up here but had a chance to chat with him once and he was a very clever chap, fantastic football knowledge and spoke well of the club.
Hope he does well. ““Good luck to them.”
“Had Doidge not missed about 20 chances in Heckys time he’d prob still be here. Now we have Nisbet missing so it will be JR that’s punted next. Small margins is the saying I believe. “
“Pleased for him. Never worked out at Hibs but as said if Doidge had his shooting boots on could have been different. He also had Boyle out for pretty much his whole time at Hibs and we know what a difference that makes to us. I think he was very unlucky to get his jotters”
“I was fortunate along with some others to visit the training centre when Hibs.net sponsorship funded the gps stuff. He was not much longer in charge and you got a bit of a sense of defensiveness but to be fair he fielded and handled the questions well and in details.
what I took from that was – he was intense, a deep thinker of the game. He talked about the importance of fitness and sports science – you’re not an athlete you just won’t be considered down South – so if we want to sell there essential. He also acknowledged it needed to be more that fitness and that psychology has a part to play. He didn’t come out and say a lot of the challengers were in the players heads but I think that’s what he was hinting at”“Good luck to him.
He had the right ideas but needs to improve his motivational skills. Hopefully the time out has helped”“We’ve had worse. I think he had a lot of good ideas, I don’t think you take the lead that often without some idea of how to set up a team. Injuries to key players hurt him a lot.”
“Marvin Bartley (who didn’t really get
Much game time with him) says that Hecky was the best coach he’s ever worked with”
Hecky came so close to bringing Premier League football back to Bramall Lane last season. Maybe next season he can finish the job and prove all the doubters wrong.
Most Depressed Fans: HUDDERSFIELD
(Previous winners: Leicester City ,Middlesbrough and Ipswich)
Huddersfield had a fantastic 21/22 campaign and if Jon Moss could keep up with play or Paul Tireney knew the rules of the game he officiates in they could have ended the season back in the top flight. All season though their fans had major doubts about their team. Even back in August when they were top 6 and United were rock bottom without a goal, The Terriers fans were not in confident mood:
“Wouldn’t be surprised to see them get off the mark, 3-0 win to the blunts and a straightforward win. We’ll then get a beating from Everton and hope for better against Reading. Can’t see beyond that presently.”
“We will get tonked”
“We always get dicked by teams who are out of form or short on confidence”
“I am hoping for a win of course but can only see us losing this one”
“I can’t see anything other than the Blades finding abit of form and winning”“Should be going there looking to put pressure on them after their slow start.. but Town being Town we’ll roll over and let them get their season started.”
“They will probably find their scoring boots.”
Fast forward to the return game in February and United had joined their Yorkshire rivals in the play-off places. Huddersfield were still above The Blades but you wouldn’t have thought so judging by their comments. Once again it seemed like their fans were just waiting for it to all go wrong
“Play like we did against Preston against Sheff U & we’ll get murdered.”
“We’ll need to buck up our ideas big time to get anything on Saturday,. I can see us being brought down to earth with a bang. “
“Its unlikely we will come out of our own box at Craven Cottage.This is why I’m more than a bit pissed off with the negativity yet again. This was the one to go for. God help us if we score early on Saturday.”
“Beat Sheff U and it’s a brilliant week. Can’t see it happening on that showing and with the form they are in”
“we are what we are, a team that has cost less than 1 million, At least we battle and we can cause some teams a problem getting to the playoffs even if we may( probably) will fall short ourselves.”
A 0-0 draw at The John Smith’s Stadium saw both sides remain in the top 6. This still didn’t do much to lift the mood of the Huddersfield supporters though:
“Another point gained and, whilst Sheff Utd were made to look average, we are very boring to watch.”
“Very difficult to watch us. “
“We are so dull to watch.”
“The Sheffield United keeper was not extended once.”
“I’m amazed people thought we played well, it was better than Wednesday but overall it was a poor performance, Sheffield United were no better. Did their keeper have a save to make? We’re a solid unit but we seem obsessed with retaining possession, sideways and backwards, it’s not good. The disallowed goal,its either a penalty or a goal,certainly not a foul on the keeper.”
God knows what they will be like if they are involved in a relegation battle next season!
The “We Didnt Know You Cared So Much” Award: COVENTRY CITY
(Previous winners: Scotland and,Hull (twice)
Coventry fans seem to have disliked United ever since that game in 2016 when their supporters disrupted the match whilst protesting against their board. You’d think a 4-1 victory for the Sky Blues at The Wasps Arena would have maybe brightened up their day but it turns out the resentment runs deeper than we thought:
“A Sheffield United fan on their forum has actually just said ” imagine the score if we played a good side today ” they really don’t like us”
“Feelings mutual bunch of northern cloggers.”
“We are not interested in their style of football even though they have stayed true to it and it has served them well. However route 1 aerial tennis with a football and taekwondo without it is not what Coventry fans are used to seeing even in our darkest of days. We are particularly interested in their specialist module entitled how to get results when outclassed”
“To any blades lurking .. we’ve shit all over you , enjoy your trip home”
“Worst 4k down here for a while too , quiet as fook”
“Faces on them outside after was comedy. Not happy with being told it was their big day out”
“I would say the fan base of Sheffield United & Cov. Are similar up when doing well, down when when not. Sheffield Wednesday is bigger than both.”
“Sean bean
Neil warnock
Marcelo and houldsworth that scored against us in the 98 quarter final
Anna Walker
Jessica Ennis hill
The shithouse fans that cheered for sisu that bloke from The chase
you’re boys took a hell of a beating”
Can’t wait for the reaction if we beat them next time out…