Words: Jack Simpson
“You know, he’s one of the best players to have ever pulled on a United shirt,” I slurred, as United’s number 17 cut inside, held off his marker, and then rolled the ball out to the left wing. “Yeah, I know Jack, you’ve said already,” came the reply.
It was a Tuesday night, we were playing Millwall, I had brought a friend to Bramall Lane (a non-Blade) and I was two Jaipurs down. Now, like most people, when I drink the beer Jaipur, I am prone to do two things. The first thing I tend to do is repeat myself, and the second thing is to slip into hyperbole. Judging by my mate’s response, the repetition was now in full flow. But I hadn’t reached step two. This gushing description wasn’t hyperbole – not when talking about David McGoldrick.
When the (not totally unexpected) news broke on Friday, that the player us Blades fans lovingly refer to as Didzy hadn’t had his contract extended, I, like I expect most Blades, felt a pang of disappointment. This was followed by a pause, before I grabbed my phone, flicked on Youtube and started typing the words “Sheffield United Chelsea Bramall Lane”.
David McGoldrick signs
There aren’t many players loved more by Blades fans than David McGoldrick: there won’t be many who will be missed more, either. I can’t really remember the moment when we signed David McGoldrick (that’s what we called him then) – it barely registered. After a promotion campaign the year before that fizzled out, largely because of a lack of firepower, the introduction of a man who had scored only 15 goals in the previous three seasons was, well, underwhelming.
We’d seen these strikers like this at the Lane before, I thought; Caolan Lavery, James Hanson, Clayton Donaldson. All decent enough, but would be distinctly average for a season or so, and then move on. And the early days didn’t do much to change that perception. I remember when I first saw him for the Blades at Loftus Road. It was 1-1 when he came on after 64 minutes. The 20 minutes he was on the pitch would go like this; win penalty, score penalty, get injured, hobble off. It was a cameo that seemed to sum up his career so far. Clearly, he could influence games, but could he stay on the pitch long enough for fans to see that?
But then something changed. Whether, as the rumour goes, it was the fact he no longer had to make the five-hour-plus round trip (I’ve checked on Google Maps) to Ipswich from Nottingham every day, or something else, Didzy started stringing games – and good performances – together.
I remember when I first fell in love with Didzy: Preston at home. It was not just the fact that he bagged the 87th-minute winner, although that did help, but Didzy was immense that day. I came away thinking he could do everything; dribble, pass, tackle and score. In that season he embodied everything about “those journeymen” who defied the odds. And if this was a “journey to the Prem”, Didzy was the pilot.
When talisman Billy Sharp was injured in the final weeks, who was there to take up the goalscoring mantle? Didzy. He scored so many crucial goals that season. The lob against Derby, the header against Brentford when the “Great Wall of Sheffield” had kept The Bees at bay for so long, and the crucial tap-in at Deepdale. Then there was that glorious afternoon in Hull.
On a journey
He quite rightly won the Players’ Player of the Season award that year, showing that Didzy was loved by his teammates almost as much as the fans, and this continued into the Prem. The 31-year-old, whose career looked destined for League One when released by Ipswich just 12 months earlier, was now playing in the Premier League. And not only playing but picking up Man of the Match performances.
While he wasn’t scoring (we’ll get onto that later), he was doing everything else. Who can ever forget how he outpaced, outmuscled and outclassed Jorginho (yes, UEFA Men’s Player of the Year 2020/21, Jorginho) in our 3-0 demolition of Chelsea at Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane in May 2020? Even in our Premier League relegation season, when few came out with any credit, Didzy was the outfield exception in a sea of mediocrity. How he managed to get eight league goals that season in a team devoid of skill, confidence or goal-threat was superhuman. But as every Blades fan knows, Didzy was (pains me using the past tense) more than the goals.
There were the passes. I still watch the Ipswich promotion clincher highlights from 2019/20, just to watch his defence-splitting pass to George Baldock (see below) that nobody in the ground apart from him saw. There were slaloming runs, the ones where it never quite looked like he was in control of the ball, but you knew he would never lose it.
And Didzy worked hard too. While you won’t find them in many highlight reels, there would usually be one point in every match where a full-tilt McGoldrick running back towards his own goal would nick the ball off a completely bewildered midfielder looking for his next pass.
Then there was the celebration. Mr Socko aside, is there a more iconic Blades celebration than the McGoldrick muscle flex? Standing there in front of the Kop, arms up, like some sort of Superman figure.
But like Superman, Didzy did have his Kryptonite. Unfortunately for this striker, it was often a 24ft by 8ft structure, which had a net in the middle of it. You won’t often hear Blades fans use the names Connor Sammon and David McGoldrick in the same sentence, but when they come alongside the words “horrible” and “misses”, they might pop up a few times.
A few spring to my mind. There was one against Rotherham, where less than a yard out he managed to hit the defender’s shin when he had the whole goal to hit. There was the outstretched leg against Palace for United’s first home game of the first Premier League season, where he managed to find the keeper’s midriff, rather than the open goal in front of him. And then there was Brighton away. Having rounded the keeper, with the whole goal to aim at, and fans holding their breath in expectation, he hits the net. Problem was, it’s the wrong side of net and it goes out for a goal kick. In many ways, the misses endeared Didzy to us that bit more.
Who can tell me that the hurt of having that goal scratched off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium didn't hurt that little bit more because it was Didzy? And equally, who can say they didn’t cheer just that little bit louder when he finally broke the duck against Chelsea?
His inability to score at times became a joke for many non-Blades, with the uneducated football fans labelling him “the worst striker in the Premier League” after looking at his goal return and Fantasy Premier League points. But let’s be honest, these idiots still think John Lundstram is the best goalscoring centre-back since John Terry.
The driving force
Us Blades knew differently; we knew what a great player we had. And his greatness on the pitch was matched by his exploits off it. Many people forget that it was David McGoldrick who was the driving force behind players taking the knee before the Aston Villa Vs Sheffield United game in 2020, the first Premier League game to be played after Black Lives Matter protests surrounding the death of George Floyd.
After years of racist abuse on the pitch and online, he had had enough and wanted a symbol that brought everyone together in football to say no to racism. Organising his teammates and his opponents before the match, Blades and Villa players took the knee as the whistle blew. The legacy of this act still lives on today.
The hard goodbye
As all football fans know, all good things must come to an end: and with the release list on Friday, that means no more Didzy. It’s difficult to process that we’ll never again see him wheeling away, muscles flexed, as the Kop sings the words, “Ooooh, David McGoldrick”. But Bladesmen and women, we did get to see it. Let’s be thankful for that. See you later, Didzy: it’s been a blast.
Jack Simpson is a London-born Blade. Growing up in New Cross, naturally, he had to support the football club 165 miles away. He blames his dad for this. He is currently a full-time journalist and is assistant editor looking after news and investigations at magazine Inside Housing. You can follow him @JSimpsonjourno
Lovely tribute. Didzy one of the few players who’s ability and general contribution massively outweighed his sometimes questionable finishing. Said it before but I feel honored to have seen him play in a Blades shirt.
One other comment watching the Chelsea highlights; McBurnie looks like a different player to the current version. He looks sharp, mobile, sets one up with some good play and scores another. It shows that there is clearly something physically wrong with him at the moment, I hope a summer recovering sees a return of that player, could be a real boost.
Brilliant