Roy's View On Blades Social Media
Andrew “Roy Panchero Weirdo” Hague Takes a look at what has caught his eye on social media in September
The Blades had finished off August with a fabulous 4-0 over Reading to go top of the Championship for the first time this season. Despite the feel-good factor around the club, there was still a sense of anxiety in the air. Deadline Day was approaching, and our star Norwegian international, Sander Berge, had been linked with a move to Merseyside giants Liverpool. Whilst Berge did play in the demolition of Reading, one Blades fan on the S2 forum noticed there was something different about him:
Thankfully the Liverpool rumours never became reality, but for a long time on Deadline Day, it did seem as if Berge was going to leave Bramall Lane, with his likely destination being Belgium. Current Jupiler Pro League champions, Club Brugge, were widely reported to have completed a deal for Berge. However, in a turn of events that went against the very tradition of Sheffield United Football Club, the boardroom held firm and rejected all bids. Unless a club were willing to pay the release clause, Sander Berge would remain a Blade. United’s defiant stance was represented by a famous scene from The Full Monty:
Nobody did stump up for Berge, and thus he was included in the next league game away at Hull. The Tigers had a 100% home record, but another goal from McBurnie was followed up with a second from the big Norweigian fella himself, and United cruised to a 2-0 victory to remain top of the tree. Iliman Ndiaye in particular seemed to enjoy the result:
The post-match scenes were captured by The Shoreham View Vlog with the highlight undoubtedly being Sander kissing the United badge:
He was looking at all of us Matt. He was looking at all of us.
Scheduled next was a home game against Rotherham, but this, along with the rest of that weekend’s fixtures, was cancelled following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
As a nation came to terms with the loss of our longest-serving Monarch it was unclear if the midweek game away at Swansea would go ahead, but the EFL declared it was game on, and the Blades travelled to Wales to play their first game under the new King.
The game itself wasn’t a classic, but the very last minute of it will be remembered for a long, long time. With the match drifting away to a goalless draw, United nicked the three points when Rhian Brewster got the better of former blade Kyle Naughton to set up Reda Khadra. Khadra made no mistake in registering his first goal for United. The victory was all the sweeter due to certain sections of the Swansea crowd refusing to give the ball back to United players in a bid to waste time. This was something that George Baldock was only too happy to remind them of following the winning goal:
A trip to Deepdale to play Preston finished off what was a short month in terms of games for United. The Lilywhites had made a curious start to the season. Whilst they held the best defensive record in the league by conceding just two goals, they had only scored three themselves. A 2-0 win for the Blades meant that, astonishingly, United had now scored more goals at Preston’s home ground than Preston had! N’diaye and McBurnie got the goals that meant United went into the international break in first place and with a three-point lead. Hal Stewart from the Sheff Utd Way YouTube channel was in a confident mood:
In fact, it seems that the only thing that can stop the Blades is injuries. Almost as soon as the United players selected for international duty left Bramall Lane to join up with their countries, it was revealed by the Bosnian FA that Anel Ahmedhodžić had pulled out of their squad due to an injury. Nobody is quite sure at the time of writing how or where he picked it up, but maybe our players can take advice from John Egan on how to avoid injury:
There really isn’t much to complain about, though, as the Blades head into October. If United are still top by the time November comes around, then surely we will all start to really believe this is happening? Who knows: maybe even a familiar face will want to jump on the ride….
See you next time!
Andrew Hague is a friend first, podcaster second, probably entertainer third. He runs Roy’s View From and you can find him arguing with opposition fans on Twitter @Panchero.
Well done Andrew. Thank you for another great article...............we Blades normally find summat to moan about but at least we can have a good laugh & importantly at ourselves 😁
“There really isn’t much to complain about, though, as the Blades head into October. If United are still top by the time November comes around, then surely we will all start to really believe this is happening?”
Aye, the giddiness factor increases!!
Thanks as always, Andrew, for your humorous guide to a serious business!!
Sue.