The Strange Case of the 23-Minute Half-Time

Matthew Bell on the man with the chainsaw boots and the result that served him right

Words: Matthew Bell

The 2004/05 season ended up being a frustrating one for Sheffield United, as they missed out on the play-offs by losing their last two home matches to Derby County and Millwall. Following the latter game, Neil Warnock was booed and jeered as he walked around the pitch to acknowledge the fans, many of whom wanted him sacked. However, chairman Kevin McCabe stood firm, deciding to give Warnock one more season, and was rewarded with promotion to the Premier League in 2005/06.

2004/05 was a season of more downs than ups, but the first time United and Millwall met, at the New Den in December 2004, it proved to be one of the season’s most dramatic games, featuring a half-time interval of a duration possibly never matched in the history of football. The match started off quietly enough with a goalless first half, but as the teams left the pitch there was a kerfuffle in the tunnel, witnessed close up by adjacent supporters and from afar by those in line with the tunnel in the stand opposite. With the Australian international defender Kevin “Chainsaw Boots” Muscat in the Millwall line-up, it was not surprising that something was going on, even though it was hard to tell exactly what.