Sheffield United vs Coventry City

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36 UTB ▲ Life in Sheffield in 1941 as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to the Steel City today. Little in the way of social media, no televisions in every home with only those with a few quid affording the luxury of a radio to keep abreast of the news. Post war Britain is hard to imagine in any colour other than black and white. Long after fighting had ceased there was still rationing, cities like Sheffield were still filled with bomb sites and queues. I would imagine that often, people wondered just what they had actually been fighting for in the first place. The Coronation of the Queen seems to have kick-started hope for the post war generation. Along with old football programmes which my dad had, I recall the Picture Post Coronation Special Mum had kept - a young Queen resplendent in glorious colour on the cover must have seemed like a rainbow cutting through the austerity that was day-to-day life. To me, it signalled the explosion of advancements and changes that have, as historians look back, defined her reign. It was her mother who had handed the winning medals to the Sheffield United team at Wembley Stadium on April 25th 1925, after defeating Cardiff City in the FA Cup final and her father who uttered the words, “I believe this is yours, Mr. Gillespie” as he handed the coveted trophy to our skipper. Elizabeth was born nearly a year to the day later in 1926, the same year as my mum, as she always liked to point out. The King sadly died on February 6th 1952. On that day Sheffield United met West Ham at Bramall Lane in an FA Cup fourth round game in front of just shy of 40,000 people. His death had been officially announced by the Palace at 11am, and you can only assume that, as the kick offs for many games of football were only a few short hours away, it was deemed impossible to start cancelling them. Even back then, it was a significant crowd, and you have to wonder whether more turned out to be able to stand side-by-side with others to pay tribute. Before games, Abide With Me was sung. United won 4-2 on the day, with goals from Derek Hawksworth (2), Alf Ringstead and Len Browning. Three days later, Fulham played Newcastle United in a League game and the protocol SHEFFIELD UNITED vs COVENTRY CITY
UTB 37 of silence and armbands by way of tribute were observed. We travelled to Swansea Town that night losing 3-1 and met Leeds at Bramall Lane on the 16th, winning the Yorkshire Derby 1-0 The Coronation of Elizabeth came the following year at Westminster Abbey on June 2nd, a few short weeks after we added the Second Division Championship to our honours board in a season that saw all the forward line get into double figures. The changes over the last 70 years in life alone have been truly incredible. When you stop for a minute and think of what has changed in the world full stop it’s nothing short of amazing. It’s also sadly sobering in terms of how society has changed, and not for the better. Elizabeth inherited the last days of the Empire to a certain extent. When she ascended, it’s astounding to understand that she was monarch to over a quarter of the planet’s land mass and also over a quarter of its population. I said earlier that, in my young mind, that magazine cover from the day she was crowned seemed to have signalled the change from black and white to colour and, as the ‘60s arrived, it exploded into life and this country became the epicenter of all that was cool, all that was important, and all the world turned its eyes once again to Britain. Queen Elizabeth was there to see arguably the greatest day in English football history as Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup for what is, so far, the only time we have achieved the accolade. In fact, the 1953 ‘Matthews Final’ - regarded as the first with a huge televised audience had the figures attributed to the fact many households had rented sets to watch her Coronation a few weeks later. Her last final for many years was in 1976, but she returned for the first game at a re-vamped stadium when it re-opened. As said, my parents were huge supporters of the Royal Family, but in her lifetime and indeed mine, I never got near her. We weren’t the wealthiest of families, so trips to London were fairly non- existent, so to me Buckingham Palace was like some far away mansion of fiction. I recall a visit to Sheffield during her Jubilee year in 1977, and that was to Hillsborough Park as part of the celebrations. I was taken along by Mum to see if a glimpse could be caught and, to be honest, there were so many there that I didn’t see her, but it sticks out in my mind as a show of how that generation held her in such esteem. Every child in the country received a commemorative spoon too, as I recall. It would be fair to say that our highs and lows were many over that 70-year reign. The Championship won in the year of her Coronation would prove to be one of a limited number of highlights over that ▲ Derek Hawksworth was the last player to pass away who played in the United side just after the death of King George SHEFFIELD UNITED vs COVENTRY CITY
Page 1 and 2: THE OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME OF
Page 3 and 4: UTB 03 CONTACT US Main Switchboard
Page 5 and 6: UTB 05 Paul Heckingbot tom MANAGER
Page 7 and 8: UTB 07 STRENGTH OF GROUP SHOWING, S
Page 9: UTB 09 PREPARATION PAYS OFF FOR JOH
Page 13 and 14: UTB 13 UTB: Let’s reflect on the
Page 15 and 16: UTB 15 to be and how proud I was to
Page 17 and 18: UTB 17 played internationally for a
Page 19 and 20: UTB 19 25 YEARS OF UNITED’S DIGIT
Page 21 and 22: UTB 21 UNDER-21s UPDATE United’s
Page 23 and 24: UTB 23 UNDER-18s UPDATE The recent
Page 25 and 26: UTB 25 United Women’s FA Cup thir
Page 28 and 29: 28 UTB We’re a family run busines
Page 30 and 31: 30 UTB SHEFFIELD UNITED vs COVENTRY
Page 32 and 33: 32 UTB MATCH ACTION 0 - 1 - WILES 3
Page 34 and 35: GAME CHANGER footballfoundation.org
Page 38 and 39: *Effective against enveloped viruse
Page 40 and 41: 40 UTB WHAT’S THE STORY? In every
Page 42 and 43: 42 UTB NZONE FAN NE FANZONE FANZO A
Page 44 and 45: 44 UTB NZONE FAN NE FANZONE FANZO A
Page 46 and 47: 46 UTB MATCH ACTION 0 - 1 - BALDOCK
Page 48 and 49: 48 UTB BLAST FROM THE PAST Each wee
Page 50 and 51: 50 UTB WHO WOULD BE A MANAGER? Our
Page 52 and 53: 52 UTB AVAILABLE AT SHEFFIELD UNITE
Page 54 and 55: HOLE NEW BALL GAME A WHOLE NEW BALL
Page 66 and 67: 66 UTB Your winning local law firm!
Page 68 and 69: 68 UTB Sheffield United Community F
Page 70 and 71: 70 UTB RY CITY CO Y COVENTRY CITY C
Page 78 and 79: RY CITY CO Y COVENTRY CITY C TRY CI
Page 80 and 81: 80 UTB AWAY TICKETS & TRAVEL OPENIN
Page 82 and 83: 82 UTB THE EX-FILES David McGoldric
Page 84 and 85: KIT SPONSORS Do you want to sponsor
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86 UTB MATCH ACTION 1 - 0 SHARP 15
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88 UTB ANYONE WHO ENTERS THE PITCH
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HERE’S A ST AT I BET YOU DIDN’T
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92 UTB FACTS&FIGURES 2022-23 SHEFFI
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94 UTB SHEFFIELD UNITED vs COVENTRY
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96 UTB SEASON STATS 2022-23 AUG SEP
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98 UTB BLADES STATISTICIAN ANDREW K
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Sheffield United vs Coventry City

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