Sheffield United vs Bristol City

UTB 39
though. My older brother ran coaches
for the club for years, some of the older
readers may remember the caravan that
used to be parked up against the wall of
the gents when you came into the Kop from
the turnstiles at the top end of Shoreham
near to Cherry Street, and the trip to
Wembley for the ‘Sheffield Semi Final’ was
made with him from The Royal Standard.
I will never forget him checking the last
Blade on before saying “right, next stop
Wembley, I have been waiting for 40 years
to say that” it brought a lump to my throat
even though it wasn’t technically true as we
had to stop at the services for a pee break.
Then again, I also don’t suppose “Next stop
Watford Gap for a pee” has quite the same
romance, does it?
So, here we are on the verge of another
trip down the M1. We may have even been
when this article gets printed, so if you
are reading this and the game has been
and gone, I hope you all had a great time,
and the lads did us proud. If it gets printed
before, then hopefully I will see most of you
down there taking out a loan for a hotdog
and pint and you an your family have a time
that you will always talk about whatever
the result, because Wembley really is one
of the best stadiums in the world and the
place where every football player wants to
strut his or her stuff – the venue of legends
and of that, there is no doubt. All I ask is
don’t bring too much tat back!
I used to go and have a cup of tea with
an old boy that lived in the shadow of the
ground by the name of Les, and what an
interesting man he was. Les had lived in
the same house most of his life and had
been born to a very different Sheffield at
the turn of the 1900s. He could recall the
team winning the 1915 FA Cup Final at Old
Trafford as a real young un, but his father
had taken him in 1925 to see Gillespie lead
them to glory in a Wembley that was still
shiny, new and a trek out of London back
then, let alone from Sheffield. Many of the
Empire exhibition buildings were still open
to visit back then, in fact a fair few still
survive to this day at the Wembley Park
end of Wembley Way in the form of Kwik Fit
and other businesses. Each represented a
part of the Empire and it must have made
fascinating viewing for a young Les. For
him, prior to that, the furthest he had been
was Cleethorpes for the day.
Now, what do you think he chose to bring
back as a souvenir of this piece of Blades’
history?
“NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK HE
CHOSE TO BRING BACK AS A
SOUVENIR OF THIS PIECE OF BLADES’
HISTORY? A PROGRAMME? TOO
EXPENSIVE BACK THEN. THEY
WERE FOR THE POSH FOLKS. NO
HALF AND HALF SCARVES THANK
GOODNESS, NO COLOURED JESTER
HATS, NO WEMBLEY T-SHIRTS.
LES BROUGHT BACK A SPOON”
A programme? Too expensive back
then. They were for the posh folks. No
half and half scarves thank goodness,
no coloured jester hats, no Wembley
T-shirts. Les brought back a spoon. It’s a
nice spoon, enamel top lettered “British
Empire Exhibition, Wembley 1923” but it’s a
spoon. Simple.
Now I can tell you that it was treasured
by him as a memory of success that was
personal. He went in 1936 when we lost to
Arsenal, and he was working then so he
bought a programme and even a rosette,
but his souvenir of the finest moment of
triumph he ever saw as Blade was a simple
teaspoon, and it meant the world. He gave
it to me, and I still have it. In fact, I may
even take it with me back there as my
mascot for the day. Believe me, I have tried
everything else!
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs BRISTOL CITY