Ranked: 101 best Sheffield United players of the last 25 years

Part one: Ben Meakin ranks the best Blades of the past quarter-century from 101 down to 60.

Words: Ben Meakin

With United clinching a spot at Wembley in the FA Cup semifinal, I’ve been doing a bit of reminiscing about how eventful it’s been to be a United fan during my time watching the Blades. In the last 25 years we’ve reached four FA Cup semifinals, two League Cup semifinals, been promoted three times (hopefully four by the end of this season), relegated three times, finished in the top ten of the Premier League, won League One, and been to three playoff finals. And alright, we lost all three of those (plus the one in 1997), but the semi-final wins were enjoyable…

Twenty-five years with a lot of good, bad, and some ugly – there have been very few dull seasons watching the Blades in the last quarter of a century. Here, I’ve attempted to rank the 101 best Sheffield United players of those last 25 years.

A few ground rules that I set myself that I invite you to read before you start asking “weerz Player X”:

• This is ranked not necessarily on footballing ability (although that helps) or what a player did internationally or at other clubs. How much of a contribution each player made to United over these 25 years is a factor. On the flip side, simply playing a lot of games for us isn’t enough – what a player actually did in those games is what I’m interested in. I’ve also taken into account the level at which a player played for us – someone who did well in the Premier League might be ranked higher than someone who did equally well in League One.
  

• A player has to have made at least 25 appearances for United (all competitions) since the start of the 1997/98 season to be eligible. This means players like Jan Aage Fjortoft (16 appearances in 1997/98),  Brian Deane (24 appearances split across 1997/98 and 2005/06) and Paul McGrath (11 appearances) don’t qualify. Sorry boys.

• This is a ranking of the last 25 years, so I’m effectively ignoring anything that happened before the 1997/98 season. If a player was phenomenal in 1996 and the first part of 1997 then merely good in 1998 and 1999, their position on (or absence from) this list will reflect this.

I’ve included appearances and goals (clean sheets for keepers) – all data taken from Transfermarkt.

Let’s get started by counting down the first 40 players in my 101.

101) Laurent D’Jaffo – 73 appearances, 12 goals

“The Lion of Hillsborough” sneaks onto this list chiefly for a winning goal scored against Sheffield Wednesday in April 2001, smashing one past Kevin Pressman in a 2-1 win. D’Jaffo represented the African nation Benin at international level, and became a scout in retirement – where he once recommended a young Didier Drogba to Neil Warnock, whose pricetag of £100,000 proved to be out of United’s price range. Merde.

100) Neill Collins – 216 appearances, 14 goals

A player synonymous with some bleak seasons in League One, Collins’ best times with us came when shepherding a young Harry Maguire through his first proper years of men’s football. Collins played for five different Blades’ managers in his time, including a brief loan spell in 2006 where he made his debut for Neil Warnock in another win at Hillsborough barely 48 hours after signing.

99) Marcus Bent – 63 appearances, 23 goals

Bent had two spells with United, 11 years apart, the second of which was hardly memorable. The first, however, was very good: his goals fired the Blades out of an Adrian Heath-induced rut as he scored 13 times between December 1999 and March 2000, including a hat-trick in the 6-0 thrashing of West Brom. Blackburn paid £2m for him at the end of that year, barely 12 months after the Blades had spent £375,000 to buy him.

98) Richard Cresswell – 141 appearances, 30 goals

The first former Wednesday player to appear on this list, but certainly not the last: Cresswell’s time with the Blades was rarely spectacular, but he was a reliable, hard-working presence. Top-scored with 14 goals in 2009/10, and formed a strong partnership with Ched Evans in League One. Ended up re-negotiating his contract to become a non-coaching player-coach to overcome the odd situation where United were too cash-strapped to actually play him.

97) Andy Gray – 65 appearances, 28 goals

Gray’s time with the Blades was slightly forgettable, falling between the two best Neil Warnock seasons in 2002/03 and 2005/06. Nonetheless, he was a solid goalscorer in a team that was going through some transition, scoring 15 times in the league in 2004/05. Being a good penalty taker helped – he converted a late one at Highbury in the FA Cup to force a replay with Arsenal – and he was bought by Premier League Sunderland one match into the following season. He scored on his debut for the Black Cats – but never found the net for them again.

96) Conor Coady – 50 appearances, 6 goals

Coady has gone on to have an excellent career at the highest level, playing consistently in the Premier League and making the England squad for Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup. His season on loan at United took a while to get going as the Blades struggled under David Weir, but he flourished as a box-to-box midfielder once Nigel Clough took over. Coady scored a crucial equaliser against Forest in the FA Cup and I – like many – was gutted that we weren’t able to sign him permanently the following season. Coady moved to Championship side Huddersfield before becoming club captain at Wolves.

95) Lee Morris – 29 appearances, 8 goals

My initial draft of this list had Morris quite a bit higher, until I realised how few games he played for us. But for one glorious season, I was convinced that our answer to Michael Owen had broken into our first team (I was, admittedly, an impressionable teenager at this point). Son of Blades great Colin, teenage Lee burst onto the scene in January 1999. He was so impressive that Derby stumped up £3m for him later that year. Sadly, injuries wrecked a promising career, although he has since moved into coaching including a spell with the Rams’ academy.

94) Ched Evans – 126 appearances, 48 goals

It’s impossible to overlook the off-field incident that saw Evans convicted of rape in 2012 (he was found not guilty in a 2016 retrial). That made him a highly-divisive figure among United’s fanbase, which he remains to this day – exacerbated by United’s strange choice to re-sign him from Chesterfield in 2017. Evans originally signed in 2009 for £3m but it wasn’t until 2011 that he started to repay that fee on the pitch, where he scored 35 times in 42 games before his criminal conviction.

93) Georges Santos – 68 appearances, 6 goals

You can talk me into Santos being lower down on this list – or possibly missing out altogether – but his contribution to Blades folklore if not actual success means I couldn’t possibly leave him off. The man at the centre of the Battle of Bramall Lane in 1999 for his revenge-fuelled tackle on West Brom’s Andy Johnson was already known as a combative midfielder in the red and white. That day took it to new levels and arguably reinforced the stereotype of United sides (particularly under then-manager Neil Warnock) as physical, aggressive, dare-I-say dirty – a tag we were still struggling to shake off even when trotting out a midfield of tiny people 15 years later.

92) Ryan Flynn – 195 appearances, 19 goals

I could uncharitably say that the fact Flynn was first-choice in our side for so long is indicative of why we spent six years in the third tier – but that’s more a criticism of the club than the player. An (extremely) slight winger, Flynn turned up in the big games: scoring a brilliant individual winner at Villa Park in the FA Cup, plus guiding in the opener against Charlton in the quarter-final. He was also superb filling in at right-back against Spurs in the League Cup semi-final a year later, sending in an inch-perfect cross for Che Adams to score at the Lane.

91) Gary Naysmith – 88 appearances, 0 goals

Solid if unspectacular, Naysmith was an important part of the no-nonsense Kevin Blackwell side that lost in the playoff final to Burnley in 2009. After playing a big role in United fielding the second-strongest defence in the league in terms of goals conceded, he suffered a serious injury just three games from the end of that season. Infuriatingly, Huddersfield – then of the league below – made him a more attractive contract offer than United were willing to fork out when his deal expired. Naysmith left on a free and United shuffled through a litany of terrible left-backs for the next six or seven years.

90) Traianos Dellas – 27 appearances, 3 goals

Spoiler alert – this is the only player on the 101 to have won the European Championships. I don’t think United totally knew what to do with the giant Greek, who played midfield a lot of the time (he would later settle in as an international-class centre-back). Dellas’ 25-yarder (seriously, it was a lot closer than you remember) against Portsmouth was so thunderous, I’m pretty sure the crossbar at the Kop end is still shaking to this day from the way the ball ricocheted in off it.

89) Nicky Marker – 62 appearances, 5 goals

The man with a good name for a central defender, Marker was United’s player of the season in 1998. Always calm on the ball – still a rarity for a centre-back at that time, particularly in the second tier – he also played in midfield on occasion. Unfortunately, after two good seasons with the Blades, injuries forced him into early retirement at the age of 35.

88) Chris Armstrong – 105 appearances, 6 goals

Another player who had to retire early, Armstrong was a popular figure throughout his career, winning Reading’s player of the season in 2009 and Blackpool’s player of the month during a loan spell in 2005. “Stretch” was part of the side that won promotion to the top flight under Neil Warnock and performed admirably when he got there. Overcame a serious knee injury shortly after signing for the Blades, but was sadly forced into retirement aged 29, later revealing he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

87) Danny Lafferty – 52 appearances, 5 goals

Gary Naysmith left the Blades in 2010 – here are some of the people who played left-back in the next six years: Andy Taylor. Jordan Stewart. Stephen Jordan. Lescinel Jean-Francois. Matt Hill. Marcus Williams. Bob Harris. Jay McEveley. Chris Hussey. If you shuddered through most of that, you’ll probably also remember the sheer relief at realising United had signed a competent left-back in Danny Lafferty, who played an understated but important role in Chris Wilder’s Blades revolution. With United switching to a back three, Lafferty was excellent as a wingback and chipped in with a decent share of goals – including the final one of the season as the Blades finished with 100 points.

86) Neil Shipperley – 39 appearances, 10 goals

A free transfer from Crystal Palace, Shipperley was a classic Warnock signing: cheap, nearing the end of his career, and surprisingly effective. Ten goals might not sound like a lot, but Ship was a stalwart in this promotion side thanks to his hold-up play. He might well have scored more goals had Warnock not somewhat needlessly bought Ade Akinbiyi and Geoff Horsfield in January, and tried to shoehorn them into the side. It’s no coincidence that United’s promotion-winning form resumed once Shipperley got back in the team. No real need to mention his off-field activities in 2019, but I suppose I just did.

85) Ethan Ebanks-Landell – 34 appearances, 5 goals

“This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to Ebanks-Landell…” EEL was more than just a catchy song. Signed just after United’s alarmingly slow start to the 2016/17 season, Ebanks-Landell’s arrival coincided with a turnaround in form. He was a regular goalscorer too, with a late header salvaging a point at Fleetwood and a calm finish in the 93rd minute to finally break through 9-man Bury.

84) Jack Robinson – 75 appearances, 5 goals (to date)

By no means would I have had Jack Robinson anywhere near this list as recently as twelve months ago, but since then he’s gone from disaster defender to an important part of the side. “Jackie Long Throw” is more than just someone who can chuck the ball a long way: his aggressive tackling and knack for a big goal have moved him from a joke figure to a player who may well get a new contract with us in the coming months.

83) Richard Stearman – 50 appearances, 4 goals

Stearman fits the description of “model pro”: a player brought in ostensibly as a starter after we were promoted to the Championship, but soon bumped behind John Egan in the pecking order at centre-back. He never complained and always put in a strong showing when called on, chipping in with a handful of goals. But of course, he’s mainly remembered for his iconically hammered state after winning promotion to the Premier League, when “getting Stearmanned” entered the local lexicon.

82) Andy Liddell – 39 appearances, 6 goals

Liddell’s time with United was brief, but impactful. The winger was one of the best crossers of a ball that I’ve seen in this quarter-century of watching, and racked up 11 assists in 33 appearances in 2004/05. His biggest moments came in the FA Cup: scoring twice to knock out Premier League Aston Villa (the first of which was DEFINITELY NOT offside), and once more in the replay against West Ham in the next round. He even converted the decisive penalty in one of United’s very, very rare shootout wins.

81) Jamie Ward – 70 appearances, 11 goals

A lively forward picked up from Chesterfield, Ward was infamously sent off at Wembley in our 2009 playoff final after picking up two yellow cards within 22 minutes of being subbed on. That aside, his goals and assists got United off to a good start to the following season, including a strike in the 3-2 win over Wednesday. He went off injured in that game, United failed to win any of their next eight, and the slide towards mediocrity – and eventually League One – was on.

80) Jayden Bogle – 61 appearances, 9 goals (to date)

I’m still at a loss as to why Chris Wilder waited almost four months to give Bogle his debut (if he was injured, it was never disclosed). United had lost 12 of their 13 Premier League games by the time Bogle got on the pitch – he gave the Blades the lead at Brighton despite us being down to ten men. Still only 22, the right wingback could be a lot higher on this list in a couple of years’ time, particularly if he keeps finding the net with such regularity.

79) Simon Moore – 74 appearances, 23 clean sheets

Goalkeeper was a problem position for United basically from the moment Paddy Kenny was banned for nine months for failing a drug test: Steve Simonsen, Mark Bunn, Mark Howard and George Long were just some of the men struggling in the sticks for the Blades. Then Chris Wilder signed Simon Moore, and suddenly we had a decent goalkeeper again. Moore was an immediate upgrade on his predecessors, made it into the League One Team of the Year and settled in well as a rotation / backup keeper in the Championship. I’ll forever be grateful for one massive save from an Adam Reach shot during one of Wednesday’s many 0-0 victories in the coming years.

78) Wes Foderingham – 74 appearances, 33 clean sheets (to date)

It was hard to separate these two keepers on this list, but in the end “League One Wes” just gets the nod over Simon Moore by virtue of having played more games at a higher level. Like Jack Robinson, Foderingham has gone through a redemption arc where I grimaced at seeing his name on the teamsheet to now being an effective, largely-reliable presence in the side. He was outstanding last season as United went months without conceding at home and blew into the playoffs off the back of a strong finish to the campaign.

77) Dean Saunders – 43 appearances, 16 goals

Undoubtedly one of the more talented players to appear on this list so far, Saunders was a lifeline following the sale of Brian Deane and Jan Aage Fjortoft. Still in his prime at this point, he was a wily forward who had hit seven goals by November under Steve Bruce – before Bruce turned up one morning to find that Saunders had been sold. Saunders scored one of the more famous Blades goals in recent memory: cheekily throwing the ball off the Port Vale goalkeeper’s backside and rolling it into an empty net. Sidenote: I really miss those red nets.

76) Matt Kilgallon – 124 appearances, 4 goals

Kilgallon was signed in the Premier League for around £2m, but it was only over the next couple of seasons that he cemented his place in the side. A classy defender, it was no real surprise to see him sold to a Premier League club (Sunderland) a few years later as United failed to win promotion back to the top flight. “Killa” was voted as the club’s Player of the Season in 2009 as United conceded just 39 goals in their 46 games.

75) Aaron Ramsdale – 46 appearances, 8 clean sheets

A tricky one to place on this list – how much value do you place on one very good half-season, balanced against a shoddy other half? In the end, this position feels about right for Ramsdale, who – despite looking very shaky for the first six months of 2020/21, did end up winning our Player of the Season award after a brilliant finish. Swiftly damaged those good vibes by going on strike to get his move to Arsenal, although to be fair to him it’s a move that has worked well for all parties: United received a ton of much-needed cash, Arsenal are on their way to a possible league title.

74) Wayne Allison – 88 appearances, 10 goals

I was stunned to see that Allison only scored 10 goals for us until I remembered just how much else he did for us when on the pitch. Warnock certainly loved a non-scoring striker and arguably spent years (and millions of pounds) trying to find one as effective as “Chief”. A classic target man, Allison was immense in the air and made a superb focal point for a rotating cast of attackers around him. He’s now “the Doctor” as well as “the Chief”, having completed his PhD at Hallam in 2010.

73) Jon Stead – 47 appearances, 11 goals

There wasn’t a huge amount of fanfare around Stead’s signing from Sunderland in January: at that time he was seen as just another striker that Neil Warnock had added to the collection. Then Rob Hulse broke his leg at Chelsea, and Stead stepped up in a big way. Five goals in 14 Premier League appearances may not look like a lot, but in United’s low-scoring side, it was huge. He curled in a beauty against West Ham, scored a vital late equaliser at Charlton, and then headed in one of the greatest “lost” goals in United’s history on the final day of the season against Wigan. Stead got absolutely clobbered for his trouble – had United drawn that game and stayed up, it would probably be talked about as an iconic Blades moment.

72) Rob Hulse – 52 appearances, 8 goals

After what I just wrote about Stead, it may look a little odd to put Hulse ahead of him despite fewer goals in more games. However, as admirable as Stead’s efforts were that season, there can’t be many Blades out there who aren’t convinced United would have stayed up had Hulse not gotten injured in March. We were incredibly reliant on him – after ten games of the 2006/07 season, Hulse had scored 75% of all our goals. He never scored for us again after that leg break – hilariously, his next career goal arrived 16 months later for Derby… against Sheffield United. Well, I can laugh about it now.

71) Greg Halford – 49 appearances, 8 goals

There aren’t enough utility players these days. Halford played right-back, centre-back, on the wing (both sides), and finished the 2008/09 season as an emergency striker. He had an epic long throw and I once saw him hit the bar from the halfway line at Charlton (from a shot, not a throw). Scorer of a brilliant header to beat Preston in the playoffs, Halford gave his all no matter where we played him. Now plays for Hashtag United of the Isthmian League and was recently seen throwing his ex-girlfriends belongings out of a window.

70) Jack Lester – 50 appearances, 16 goals

Now part of the coaching staff at United, Lester scored some important goals in 2003/04 as United struggled with the hangover of missing out the previous year. He was a master of “drawing a foul” in the box, which was good for the Blades because he was also a superb penalty taker: eight out of eight from the spot while in red and white. Hopefully he can start to pass on some tips to the current squad, seeing as we’ve only been awarded two penalties all season and missed them both.

69) Anel Ahmedhodzic – 33 appearances, 5 goals (to date)

The big Bosnian has only been here for a season – and who knows, he might not be here next year, such has been the impact he’s made. One of the better signings in recent years, Ahmedhodzic has effortlessly displaced Chris Basham on the right side of our defence, bringing plenty of attacking contributions along with it. A star turn in the middle of the back three against Spurs suggested that Ahmedhodzic might have another level to which to climb.

68) Stefan Scougall – 100 appearances, 10 goals

Somehow still only 30 years old, “Scoogs” was a player I was grateful to have after a few bleak seasons of supporting the Blades. He scored goals (sometimes)! You could chant his name in a funny way (I once heard someone near me shout “Scoogy Dooby Doo” when he came on)! And of course, he scored the second goal at Wembley against Hull in the FA Cup which, although ultimately for nothing, was one of the single best moments supporting United during this time. I will always remember how I reacted to it, and the next 20-25 minutes (including half-time) of just utter giddy glee. Can’t let this entry finish without mentioning the Bradford sumo throw, either.   

67) Chris Porter – 118 appearances, 23 goals

“If Porter scores, we’re on the pitch”. One of the first names that springs to mind when I think of “Blades cult heroes”, United kept trying to get rid of Porter but he just kept coming back. After falling out of favour and being sent on loan to Shrewsbury and Chesterfield under Danny Wilson and David Weir, he suddenly became a key player again under Nigel Clough, scoring 11 goals in 2013/14. Loved an FA Cup goal, with a brace off the bench against Forest and an equaliser against Premier League Fulham in the previous round. Also scored the only goal the year we knocked Stevenage (?!) out of the playoffs.

66) Ben Osborn – 108 appearances, 5 goals (to date)

Osborn signed four years ago, ostensibly as a backup left wingback, but his versatility has led to over a century of appearances for the Blades. Arguably some of his best showings came as an attacking midfielder under Slavisa Jokanovic. A popular team-mate (he reads books, you know) and a valuable player to have around thanks to his ability to play multiple positions. Osborn / Osborne / Osbourn is also guaranteed a spot in the Frequently-Misspelt Blades XI alongside the likes of Matt Kilgannon, Billy Sharpe, Michael Tongue, Jay McEverley and the next person on this list. 

65) David Brooks – 37 appearances, 3 goals

Brooks (or should that be Brookes) was all set to go on loan to Chesterfield at the start of the 2017/18 season before Chris Wilder had second thoughts. Brooks then scored a preseason wondergoal against the Spireites, just to rub it in, and became a first-team player in the Championship rather than League Two. The Welsh youngster was sensational in the 4-2 win at Hillsborough, reducing Jack Hunt to meme status and bamboozling the Wednesday defence all afternoon long. His United career was stalled by glandular fever, and he later moved to Bournemouth for around £12 million. He was diagnosed with cancer in October 2021, and it was fantastic to see him return to first-team football in March this year after announcing that he was cancer-free last May.

64) Shaun Derry – 76 appearances, 1 goal

Derry was already at the club when Neil Warnock arrived, but was every inch a Warnock player: he ran hard and tackled harder to make up for a relative lack of technical quality. That said, he was a solid right-back who moved into midfield later in his career. A fiery character, he proved too spicy even for Warnock in the end, who responded to Derry querying his tactics after a loss by immediately selling him to Portsmouth. Neil soon calmed down though and later re-signed Derry for both Palace and QPR.

63) Michael Doyle – 231 appearances, 10 goals

In my head, I often conflate Doyle with Neill Collins, as two players who were near-constants in some of the lamest United sides of the last 25 years. Doyle, though, deserves to sit much higher in this list thanks to his work-rate and the part he played in us reaching the FA Cup semifinal in 2015. His highlight moment, though, came in the other cup competition: slotting home the winning penalty against West Ham – our first meeting since the whole Tevez malarkey – celebrating by breaking into a Cockney walk.

62) Bobby Ford – 167 appearances, 6 goals

Ford brought a bit of class to United’s midfield around the turn of the century, at a time before the emergence of Michael Tonge and Michael Brown as genuine attacking threats. Signed from Oxford for £400,000, Ford was a neat passer of the ball and a cool penalty taker. He drilled one in against Wednesday and was on target during the shootout win over Coventry in 1998. He scored just a single United goal in his first two seasons with the club – a winner against his former side, Oxford.

61) Keith Gillespie – 103 appearances, 4 goals

Closing out the first part of my top 101, it’s KEEEEEEEEEEEEEF. Gillespie was more of an impact player as United won promotion to the Premier League, but came into his own once the Blades got there, starting most weeks. He was a superb crosser of the ball and even made it into probably the greatest Goal of the Month competition ever with a thunderous volley against Charlton. Keef also had historians reaching for the record books after getting sent off within 10 seconds of coming on against Reading for throwing an elbow – play hadn’t even restarted. Gillespie came out of retirement at the age of 45 to join FC Mindwell, a club dedicated to helping people with mental health issues.

That’s all folks - part two coming soon.

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Ben Meakin is the creator and co-host of BladesPod, a Sheffield United podcast. You can follow him on Twitter and find BladesPod wherever you get your podcasts.