21. Bramall Lane-Sheffield United

Sheffield United 3-2 Crystal Palace
Football League Championship
20.11.10

Admission: Adults: £10-£34 Children: £5-£12
Programme: £3 (68 pp)
Attendance: 20,240
Capacity: 32,702
Seated: 32,702
Covered: 32,702
Town: Heeley, Sheffield
Club Shop: Yes
Floodlights: Yes
Step: 2

Heeley is a suburb of the city Sheffield. It has existed since 1343 at the earliest. Sheffield itself holds the main attractions in the city, particularly the Millenium Galleries. The Tropical Butterfly house, The Peace Gardens, Kelham Island Museum and City Museum are all recommended by Trip Advisor. Sheffield's industry is, of course, in Steel. However the 21st century has seen the city change and most factories are now nothing but tourist attractions. The city currently has a population of 534,500.
Sheffield is home to several football clubs. They include Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United and Hallam. It is also home to several ECB Yorkshire Premier sides, Sheffield Eagles RLFC, Sheffield RUFC and Sheffield Tigers RUFC.

Sheffield United were founded in 1889 as a Football/Bandy club. Unioted were champions of England in 1898. They have one 4 FA Cup titles, however the last one was in 1925. However in 1976, during one of the clubs worst ever spells, they were relegated to the Second Division. Three years later they were relegated again to the Third Division. Then 2 years later they were relegated to the Fourth Division. However three years later they were back in the Second Division. In 1988 they were back in ther Third Division, but manager David Bassett masterminded a plan that saw them return to the First Division in 1990. In 1994 they were relegated from the new FA Premier League. In 1999 Neil Warnock was appointed manager and in 2006 Sheffield United were back in the Premier League. They were relegated after one season. United have had a poor season in 2010-11 with relegation looking more likely than promotion.

Bramall Lane is 156 years old, being built in 1855. It is the oldest major stadium in the world still to be holding professional football. The ground has held an Ashes Test, England internationals and a FA Cup final replay. The record attendance is 68, 287. This was a FA Cup tie between United and Leeds United in 1936. The first floodlit game was played in 1878 between a 'blue' team and a 'red' team. The first stand was built in 1896. It held 6,000.

Today's match was a 17:20 kick off due to its coverage from Sky. After doing some Christmas shopping in Sheffield city centre, we headed down to Bramall Lane. You have to buy tickets before the game from the ticket office behind the South Stand. This was fairly quick and we walked back round to the West stand turnstiles. Once inside you are in a cramped concourse with a couple of food stalls and toilets. There are a few entrances to the stand however some had police tape over them. We went in and took some seats nearby. I instantly began to take photos, but was stopped by a steward who claimed that the flash 'can damage the electrical equipment around the ground. For God's sake. Why can't clubs just come out and admit they don't want people to use pictures for commercial use. Frustrated that I couldn't take photos, I began to watch the game. Palace scored a penalty not long into the second half, but this was cancelled out by a Cresswell goal. The sides went off at half time with the scores level. Palace then took the lead again through a Vaughan goal. However with 5 minutes to go Evans scored for United, and two minutes later Bogdanovic scored a penalty to seal the points for United. Overall both sides were pretty awful and a goalless draw might have reflected the football on show better. The stand I was in was two tiered with away fans in the lower.
The Bramall Lane stand holds 5,680 seats with BLADES picked out in the top tier. The South Stand holds 7,500 stands. The opposite end is the Kop. It holds over 10,000 with SUFC picked out. The North Stand holds 7,000. The ground is very well kept and certainly doesn't look its age. Unlike some grounds its attendances fit its cazpacity, so that not everyone is cramped together, but the majority of seats are filled.

The programme, titled 'The Blade', is 68 pages long. It has 16 pages of ads which is pretty good compared to some programmes. There are player interviews, opposition low down, match reports, stats, a league table and line ups. One thing I particularly liked was the then and now section for the visitors which compared their ground in the past and now. It includes some good pictures. Everything you could need in a programme really. 9/10

Bramall Lane is a must visit for all Football League hoppers. However I recommend getting a visitors pass that allows you to take pictures. 9/10