History of Sheffield United F.C.

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,[2] with gate receipts of £574.

[3][4] United made waves straight away by securing promotion to the First Division in 1892–93, after finishing second to Small Heath and beating Accrington 1–0 in the Test Match on 22 April.

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 1897–98 and were runners up in 1896–97 and 1899–1900.

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.

After a couple of middling seasons, featuring many 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.

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.

They finally lost the top spot in Division One in a memorable encounter with Manchester United at Old Trafford on 2 October 1971, The Blades losing out 2–0 on that occasion.

The remarkable success in the early 1970s 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.

The failure to qualify for the UEFA Cup by one point after failing to beat Birmingham City at St Andrew's in the final game of the season was followed by relegation to the Second Division in 1976.

Revenue from the transfer of club legend Tony Currie and season ticket sales was quickly swallowed up and the bank declined to make further loans unless they could be underwritten by personal guarantees from Board members.

Jimmy Sirrel left on 27 September 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.

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.

Alan Woodward left for the United States as did Bruce Rioch whose short loan spell brought a mini-revival in the club's fortunes.

1966 World Cup winner Martin Peters succeeded him, but then the team went into free fall, winning only three of the last sixteen games and were relegated to the Fourth Division.

However, injury and bad results saw the club's fortunes falter, and the crowd's anger turn on Porterfield, who after a 5–2 defeat to Norwich, was sacked after a car-park demonstration.

Although he soon restored Edwards to the side, the talented forward became disillusioned, and at the end of the 1985–86 season, left for rivals Leeds United for £125,000, and the club finished in 7th position.

They were the subject of a BBC2 documentary "United", shown over a 6-week period towards the end of the 1989–90 season, with the fortunes of the club being played out in front of an audience of millions.

The BBC got their fairytale ending – United gaining promotion on a glorious day at Leicester, winning 5–2 with goals from Paul Wood, Brian Deane, Wilf Rostron, and 2 from Tony Agana.

This would later be borrowed for Eric Cantona, but Booker maintains in the book "Match of My Life – Sheffield United" by Nick Johnson, that the chant was originally started by fans of the club.

They also ended Manchester United's double bid with a 2–1 win at Bramall Lane in the FA Cup fifth round, going on to reach the semi-finals, where they lost to local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.

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.

After beating Cardiff 1–0 on Good Friday and never being outside of the top two places all season, United required only one point from their final three games to secure their promotion.

On 13 May, Sheffield United played Wigan Athletic at home in the last game of the season, needing to avoid defeat to ensure Premiership status.

Sheffield United mounted a legal challenge against their relegation on the basis that West Ham should have been docked points over irregularities with the transfers of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

A claim for compensation against West Ham was finally settled out of court in August 2013, with Sheffield United reportedly receiving £10m payable in instalments over a five-year period.

Bryan Robson was named as his successor, but was sacked on 14 February 2008 following a goalless draw at previous club West Bromwich Albion, with the Blades languishing in the bottom half of the Championship.

After a caretaker spell by John Carver, the club subsequently appointed Micky Adams, without an improvement in results, leaving the Blades bottom of the table by early April.

Ironically, Wednesday would narrowly pip United to automatic promotion that season, as a late run of poor form saw the Blades finish third.

The rest of the 2013–14 season was a considerable improvement, as the club finished seventh and were only kept out of the play-offs by their dismal early-season form, though the real story was a run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they were ultimately eliminated 5–3 by Hull City.

[27] By the end of the season, Heckingbottom had guided United back to the Premier League, securing automatic promotion with a second place finish.