I had a great time reminiscing the other day with Malcolm - now a resident in a local care home. Malcolm is an elderly gent & a lifelong Blades fan.
He used to reside in Ecclesall Rd, Sheffield and has some priceless memories of his team from the pre- & post-war years. His wife kindly agreed I could share some with you on SMN! So here goes:
1. Best player ever for the Blades was inside-forward Jimmy Hagan. Malcolm remembers his Dad taking him to Villa Park where Hagan scored "a blinder of a goal" - this was probably about 1945. It was a draw and Malcolm refers to the Aston Villa players at that time as a team of "has-beens"!
2. Malcolm recalls that as a lad he used to play football in a group on the rec against Wednesday boys. They took great pleasure in doing whatever was necessary football-wise & by whatever means to break the Wednesday net! The Wednesday lads used to refer to United as "the bacon team" because of the red & white stripes - perhaps they still do? !!
3. He remembers the United manager Teddy Davison from just before & just after the War - “the little man in a flat cap” - who in his earlier days had played for Wednesday.
4. Malcolm also saw “Doddy” (Jock Dodds) play a few times in the late 1930's – he remembers the big man's move to Blackpool who had a very strong team at the time what with Stanley Matthews & Stan Mortenson.
5. Jack Pickering was also recalled in our session. Malcolm thinks he may have captained United occasionally, but also recalls that his own Mum used to tell Malcolm that Pickering should never have been a footballer because he was really a trained accountant!
6. In 1936, Malcolm tells me that he went down with others in the car to London to the Arsenal v Sheffield United FA Cup Final. They decorated the car in red and white strips and he recalls that they were cheered by many on their long journey south – up to about half-way that is. Then the cheers were increasingly replaced by boos & jeering over the latter half of the trip! The Blades lost 1-0 although Malcolm remembers that right at the end Jack Pickering had the ball at his feet by the Arsenal goal but just couldn't put it in the net!
7. Finally he fondly recalls the ball-boys of his time at Bramhall Lane. They always played a good backup role on match days – the speed with which they retrieved the ball was determined solely by which team wanted it, and what the score was at that time. Nothing's new then!
I hope for Malcolm's sake that you have enjoyed reading his great memories of 60-70 years ago – for all I know there may be a few inaccuracies here but remember Malcolm is now a delightfully friendly old man in a Residential Home. But you now know that he still loves his football & Sheffield United !!
Memory added on October 30, 2013
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