Roy Remembers: "Blades Christmas Cracker"

Roy dives deep into a frankly baffling VHS release from Christmas 1992.

Andrew “Roy” Hague

Welcome back to Roy Remembers, a series of articles where I look back at United-related media from the past. Today in part three of four of my review of old VHS releases,  I focus on “Blades Christmas Cracker”. You can watch the video in the link below:

Blades Christmas Cracker

Released in December 1992, “Blades Christmas Cracker” was produced with every intention to capitalize on the profitable Christmas market. In essence, the VHS comprises season highlights from August to December in the 1992-93 season, with a few peeks at “behind the scenes” footage to stretch the whole thing out. It may not be valuable, but it is I think an example of the first-ever “half season” United VHS release.

I’m not sure how many clubs were making these sorts of Christmas cash-in videos around this time. It might well have been the trendy thing to do. But in the case of United, we do at least have a festive focal point right at the start of the video. In August, just before the start of the season, manager Dave Bassett organised a Christmas Party.

Why? … Well, this was due to United’s fantastic post-Christmas results in the previous two seasons. In the last two campaigns, United had gone into December firmly entrenched in the relegation zone only to finish the season comfortably in mid-table. 

It’s this summertime Christmas Party that kicks off “Blades Christmas Crackers.” And we’re sent right in there. We see the staff and players all dressed in festive outfits posing for the cameras. The party itself did nothing in terms of helping United on the pitch but it is a great illustration of Bassett’s often unorthodox approach to building team spirit.

Two seasons previous he had brought in a sports psychologist (mockingly referred to as “Simon the psycho” by the players)  to help the squad overcome their losing mentality. Although now common in the game, this was a novel approach at the time and you sense there was a certain method to Bassett’s madness in organizing a Christmas Party at a time when most people would have been out having barbecues. 

August 1992

As with all Blades videos in the late 80s and 90s, narration is provided by the late, great Dave Kilner. However, he doesn’t get off to a great start, incorrectly saying that United’s only pre-season signing was goalkeeper Alan Kelly from Blackpool. Kelly had actually been signed from Preston and the mistake probably shows how little was made of his signing at the time. Few could have imagined at the time that he would go on to become one of United’s all-time great goalkeepers.  

The first in-game highlights arrive with the opening game of the first-ever Premier League season as the Blades took on Manchester United. This game would go into the history books thanks to striker Brian Deane scoring the first-ever goal of the new competition. But it’s also worth noting that this was the first competitive fixture United played following the introduction of the new “back pass” rule. Early in the highlights a simple pass is played back to Blades ‘keeper Simon Tracey and Radio Sheffield’s Simon Clark on commentary says “Tracey will have to be wary here with the new back pass rule”. Tracey, in typical United fashion at the time deals with the situation by launching the ball deep into the opposition’s half.

United would win the opening game 2-1. However, this was a rare high amidst the desperate opening weeks of the season. Despite the Christmas decorations,  United got off to a terrible start and were in the relegation places in the first few months of the season. We don’t even get to see the losses to Spurs and Boro and instead just hear Dave Bassett telling us that all the goals we conceded in this period were “dubious”.

What we get instead of these games is what can only be described as the “We need to stretch this video out for over an hour or people will think it’s just a cheap cash grab” section of the video. 

We are treated to footage of the Blades players Go-Karting against the backdrop of some energetic 8-bit music that sounds like it was knocked up in a kid’s bedroom within 10 minutes. You aren’t told who wins the race, though it looks like Carl Bradshaw is the one spraying the bubbly at the end. Bassett says there are some good racers in the team and others like Charlie Hartfield, who “prefer ploughing through the tyres”.

Ian Bryson and Carl Bradshaw

Next up we get extended highlights of the Blades’ 1-0 home win against Liverpool. This was not a vintage Liverpool side under the stewardship of Graeme Souness but it still shows United’s ability during this era to get wins against the country's most illustrious clubs. The game was decided by a goal from striker Adrian Littlejohn. This was Littejohn’s most successful season with the Blades, scoring 8 goals and striking up a nice partnership with star man Brian Deane.

Deane himself was having a tough period at this time. The goals had dried up and he had fallen down the pecking order for Graham Taylor’s England team. Deane is interviewed and is open about missing too many chances and wanting to regain his form, hopefully forcing himself back into the England squad. Unfortunately, Deane, despite going on to have a great career,  would never win another cap for his country.

It is probably a testament to how bad United started this season (at no point throughout the video are we told where United are in the league) that one of the longest highlights packages is from our 4-1 home win against second-tier Bristol City in the League Cup 2nd round. This is notable for a young Andrew Cole scoring for The Robins. 

Following this we get a ludicrously long section on injuries. United’s physio at the time Derek French was one of the popular characters at the club, but do we really need ten whole minutes on how he treats injuries? …I suppose we should be thankful Frenchy didn’t have the deal with the amount of injuries the current squad has or it could have taken up an hour. 

Derek French

Following footage of an away win against Chelsea we get to see extended highlights of the first Steel City Derby of the season. The Sky Cameras were at Bramall Lane for this one so we get their coverage and the commentary team of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray.  This game is somewhat forgotten, sandwiched between the derby double from the previous season and the all-Sheffield FA Cup semi-final later this season, but it is packed with incidents.

Kelly makes a truly superb save from Mark Bright before Deane, described by Tyler as “a monumental force”, hits the bar with a good header from a corner. It’s not until the second half though that the scoring starts and once again Wednesday goalie Chris Woods endears himself to Blades fans by being out-jumped by Deane from a corner leading to a flicked tap in on the line from Littlejohn.

United have a couple more chances to score a second, but Wednesday grow into the game and equalize through David Hirst. Deane and Hirst were the two heroes of Sheffield during this period and both were battling it out to replace the recently retired Gary Lineker as England’s first-choice striker. As it turned out, Hirst, just like Deane, only received 3 caps for his country after his career was blighted by injury. 

The Derby game brings us, fairly abruptly, to the end of the video. Dave Bassett has the final words saying he wants the fans to get behind the team more in the new year as Bramall Lane can be quiet…it’s an age-old problem! Then comes the end credits, which run alongside some quite lovely Christmas music. The fun isn’t over though as following the credits we see Bassett dressed as Santa Clause saying: “Ho ho ho happy Christmas everybody and in particular success to Sheffield United”

I can understand why this video might have been a nice present for Blades fans on Christmas Day. With TV Footage of United still fairly limited, there may have been stuff here that you hadn’t seen before but for someone watching in 2023, you might as well just watch the full 92/93 season review. This season did end up being a memorable one, with the Blades getting to Wembley for the first time since 1936 and finishing a respectable 14th in the new Premier League, but the best bits of the campaign had yet to happen at the time of this release. For the modern viewer, there is little here that serves of much interest.