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Sheffield United v QPR
Rangers first away league game of the season is at Sheffield United on Saturday August 16th. Ticket news If you haven't got a ticket now you won't get any loyalty points but you will have no trouble getting in by paying on the day. Betting Odds
Current Form
Team News Rangers are still without key players ahead of this tough looking trip to Sheffield United but should still have a strong side. Iain Dowie has plenty of options especially in goal where he must choose between Lee Camp and Radek Cerny after seeing them both in action this week. My vote would go to Lee Camp but it remains to be seen what Dowie thinks. Dowie will make changes in defence with Stewart dropping out for the returning Fitz Hall but Matthew Connolly should continue at right back. Gavin Mahon will be hoping to shake off a slight knock and return in midfield which is where the real headache for Iain Dowie could be. Martin Rowlands sits out the last of his three match suspension and may struggle to get back in the side. If Dowie opts to continue with a 4-4-2 then Mahon may well find himself on the bench with the impressive Daniel Parejo likely to start along with Mikele Leigterwood. It will be an interesting afternoon for Parejo and Ledesma who will face a first real test of English football and how they cope with it could well give us a hint of what is to come this season. Lee Cook once again showed signs of his quality at Swindon and should play on the left whilst up front Angelo Balanta did more than enough to stay in the side ahead of Agyemang. It's certainly nice to have options and Rangers bench on Saturday will surely feature several players who would have walked into the QPR side a year ago and players like Hogan Ephraim will struggle to even make the bench. As for the hosts they rested several players on Wednesday for the Carling Cup victory and will be looking for a first league win after they were more than a little unlucky to lose at Birmingham last week. Lee Hendrie will hope that his impressive display in midweek will earn him a start in the league but he is likely to return to the bench. Darius Henderson should make a home debut with James Beattie still out with his knee injury. Kevin Blackwell has no fresh injury worries though and is feeling confident ahead of the game. He told the Official Sheffield United website: "That last performance was good in many ways and several players did well so it is a selection dilemma, but one that every manager wants. Our bench is looking very strong and illustrates our squad strength." "Darius Henderson, David Cotterill and Matthew Spring all needed that game to help them sharpen up and all three improved as the game wore on. I think that one, or possibly two, of those will start on Saturday." This will be a very tough game for Rangers as United never make it easy for visiting teams and it will be a good chance to test how good we actually are at the moment. I think we may well surprise a few and do better than expected at Bramal Lane. The home side are quite rightly the
favourites and should win the game but if Rangers can get Parejo
and Ledesma on the ball and creating chances then the travelling
fans could be in for a treat. What’s the Ground
Like? QPR fans will probably be in the lower tier which has room for 3,000 fans. If we are in the lower tier the view is pretty good and similar to the Lower Loft at QPR. They do a decent range of food with the usual football treats such as pies, burgers and more pies on offer and last time we went you could get a beer in the away end although that was in the upper tier, I’m not 100% sure about the rules on alcohol in the lower tier as from memory you can see the pitch from the concourse and that usually means they don't sell it. For those wanting food and drink before hand you have a few choices although it is best to avoid a few of the home fan pubs such as Sheaf House, Railway Hotel, Golden Lion and Railway ' & ' Cricketers which can usually be spotted by the number of bouncers on the door. The recommended pub on the football ground guide site is the Royal Standard which is on St Marys Road near to McDonalds Perhaps the best pub I’ve been to in Sheffield is the Devonshire cat which is a student pub which serves a wide variety of ales. The food was also very good and the place was packed with QPR fans and extreme Morris dancers on the day we won promotion at Sheffield Wednesday. It’s about a twenty minute walk from the station but worth it if you arrive early. Plenty of other options around the town centre and the ever helpful Sheffield police may decide to march fans to a pub of their choice. For more information and directions go to http://www.devonshirecat.co.uk There are also plenty of pubs along the river and in the town center. Wetherspoons and Lloyds Bar are next to the City Hall concert venue in town center and a short walk from the station. The Howard is the most obvious pub for those going
by train and is opposite the station but a walk past there into
town the Globe, the Graduate the Old Monk which should allow QPR
fans in. How to Get There By Car Directions from http://www.footballgroundguide.com From the South Leave M1 at Junction 33 and take the A630 into Sheffield City Centre. On reaching the inner ring road follow signs for A621 Bakewell, the ground is about a 1/4 of a mile the other side of the city centre. It is located on the A621 ( Bramall Lane ). Street Parking. Alternatively, if you want to avoid Sheffield City Centre, then you may find it easier to park at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, just by Junction 34, of the M1, where you can park for free. You can then take a yellow tram to the City Centre and then walk to the ground. The tram journey time is around 20 minutes and costs less than £2 return. Mark Needham adds; ' it ' s worth noting that if you are coming up from the South, that you can leave the M1 at Junction 29 ( Chesterfield ) and follow signs for Sheffield A61. This is particularly useful if the M1 is slow around J30, as it often is! ' From The North: Leave the M1 at Junction 36 and follow the A61 into Sheffield . Follow the A61 into Sheffield passing Hillsborough Stadium on your right. Continue along the A61, which becomes the ring road around the western side of the city centre. You will eventually reach a roundabout at the junction with the A621. At the roundabout turn right onto the A621 Bramall Lane . The ground is a short way down on the left. By Train Trains to Sheffield go direct from St Pancras station. You can sometimes find cheaper deals by going from Kings cross to Doncaster and changing to a local service to Sheffield . Some cheap deals are still available. Go to the Trainline.com and make sure you click on the two singles may be cheaper option when you return results come up. At the time of writing the following deals are available. 09.25 from St Pancras direct to Sheffield arrive at 11.46 is £21 for a single A later train at 11.25 gets you into Sheffield at 13.47 and will cost £24 for a single. Coming back on the 17.27 from Sheffield is also £21 for a single. The 18.27 back to London is £24 for a single. Prices will obviously change the more of you that go but shop around and you should be able to get a bargain if you book in advance When you arrive in Sheffield the ground is
about a 15 minute walk away. Come out of the station and bear
left towards the main road which will split in two. Take the right
fork which is Shoreham Street and continue straight down this
road to the ground. Previous
Players Leigterwood was suspended for the trip to Bramall Lane last season and joined QPR from Sheffield United last August. He spent just over a year in Sheffield making just over twenty appearances during the sides stay in the Premiership. There are also two legends who have played for both clubs. Tony Currie is perhaps the most famous of them. Currie was a fantastic midfield player a real creative ball player who had skill vision and a great eye for goal. He played in an era where shirts outside your shorts and a mullet usually meant you were the creative player and that was Currie all over. He was a cheeky player who liked a laugh and really entertained at both clubs. He came to QPR towards the end of his career and did really well for us helping the club reach the FA Cup final in 1982 where he came so close to lifting the trophy. Another legend for perhaps different reasons is Georges Santos. Big Georges was a strange player, he would play like Bobby Moore one minute reading the game and cutting out danger before spraying a 50 yard pass forward onto the forwards foot. The next he would miss control a simple ball forward and fall on his arse. In his last game at Loftus Road he managed to score an own goal from a header by his own corner flag. Santos had a good spell at Sheffield United and is probably best remembered for allegedly being sent on with the instructions to get sent off by Neil Warnock and get a match abandoned, a claim both deny of course but still makes for a good story. The highlight of his time at QPR was probably when he came on a sub against Norwich and was booed by the home fans, he then proceeded to run the game from midfield and smash a great volley into the top corner leaving those who booed feeling a bit silly. Georges played in every position for QPR expect goalkeeper during his time at QPR and an injury crisis ahead of Ian Holloways last game in charge meant Santos was actually on standby to go in goal if we couldn’t sign a keeper in time. Who Are they?
The idea was to form the club as a way of keeping the Sheffield United Cricket Club together during the winter close season, and generating income revenues from Bramall Lane over the winter. As the years went by the football club began to take over and in 1975 the cricket team moved away from the clubs Bramall Lane home. Sheffield United’s heyday came in the early 20th century. They were champions of England in 1898 and runners up the following years. They became known as a great cup side winning the famous FA Cup in 1899 and 1902. They seemed to have a great affinity with the competition and won it again 1915 and were runners up in 1901. The clubs won it again in 1925 but that proved to be the last major honour the club have won. United never reached the heights of the early 1900’s again and during the 1970’s they dropped down with three relegations to sit in division four. They once again rose to prominence in the last 1980’s when Dave Bassett became manager and was featured in a fly on the wall documentary on the BBC. The programme followed Bassett behind the scenes at Sheffield United as they looked to win promotion. It was a fascinating insight in seeing a team bond together and win promotion to division two. In 1990 they got themselves back into the top flight under Dave Bassett and faced a hell of a fight to survive. The 1990-91 season they did not win a single league game until December 22nd when they beat Nottingham Forest 3-2. It still looked too late for them to stay up but they responded with an amazing run. They beat QPR 2-1 on New Years Day and beat us again at Loftus Road in April to guarantee safety. There amazing run saw them beat the likes of Manchester united, Chelsea and a strong Aston Villa side on their way to safety. They did the same in the 91-92 season getting off to a poor start but recovering well to stay up again. Staying up meant they would play in the first Premier League season. After the previous years run after Christmas Dave Bassett decided to hold the clubs Christmas party in August and the team responded by winning their opening game of the premier League season against Manchester United. Sheffield Untied stayed up again and reached the FA Cup semi final that season which was played at Wembley. They faced local rivals Sheffield Wednesday at the famous old stadium where Alan Cork gave them a first half lead. Unfortunately for them though a Chris Waddle inspired Wednesday ran out 2-1 winners. In 1994 they suffered the heartbreak of relegation in the final minute of the season with defeat at Chelsea and a late winner for Everton at home to Bassetts old club Wimbledon bringing an end to their spell in the top flight.
United struggled to return to the top flight and after several managers including Steve Bruce tried and failed they went for Neil Warnock and enjoyed a fruitful few years. Warnock had an amazing season in 2002/03 he got his side to the Carling Cup semi final where they lost to Liverpool and they were controversially beaten by Arsenal in the FA Cup semi final. They did manage to win the Playoff semi final and appeared at Cardiff to face Wolves in a battle of the Championship under achievers. Wolves won it 3-0 and left United fans heartbroken. Warnock refused to give up though and in 2006 he finally took his beloved blades into the Premiership finishing second behind Reading . The clubs stay in the premiership was short and hugely controversial. United looked safe going into the last day of the season after a good second half of the season saw them beat Arsenal at home and thrash fellow strugglers West Ham. The last day brought heartbreak as Wigan won 2-1 at Brammall Lane with former Blade David Unsworth getting the winner. The Carlos Tevez affair which should have seen West Ham deducted points but instead saw them fined meant that West Ham stayed up and Sheffield United went down. Previous Meetings QPR have had plenty of encounters with Sheffield United since this web site was created. In the 1998/99 season we lost 2-1 at Loftus Road when Steve Bruce was in charge at the Sheffield club. Bruce's men did the double over us that season with a 2-0 win later in the season and on the way home I met legendary manager Malcolm Allison on the train who described QPR as "Fucking Rubbish" which was a fair assessment at the time. The following season a much improved Rangers did far better in the two games. We thrashed them 3-1 at home with Stuart Wardley among the goal scorers. Mikkel Beck scored in the away game as we drew 1-1 live on Sky. Our relegation season gave us a point at Bramall Lane, something of a miracle considering our away form that year Sammy Koejoe scored for us and Lee Harper saved a twice taken penalty to send us home with a point. The game at Loftus Road was Ian Holloway's first in charge and saw a pitiful display which ended several QPR players careers. Georges Santos was among the goalscorers in a 3-1 win for Sheffield United. During our promotion season we travelled North with more hope than expectation in the Carling Cup. Rangers turned it on big time though producing our best performance of the season. We played a strong Sheffield United side off the pitch winning 2-0. The 2004/05 saw Sheffield United do the double over Rangers. The game at Loftus Road was not a good night for Rangers. Injuries to Forbes and Furlong meant that we were well under strength and needed to ply Richard Edghill as a central defender. Edghill's lack of height was exposed when Andy Gray headed the Blades ahead in the first half. Despite an improved second half display Rangers never looked like scoring without Paul Furlong and went home with nothing. The away game saw Rangers without several players again through injury. Furlong was again missing along with Matthew Rose meaning Georges Santos started up front. Rangers did well in the first half and took the lead through Martin Rowlands. Rowlands then picked up a knock and was replaced by debutant Stefan Bailey who had an impressive debut. Before half time Sheffield United drew level through Danny Webber and the on loan man made it 2-1 after half time. Kevin Gallen smashed in a deserved equaliser and as the game was heading for a draw the referee had a breakdown and gave an unbelievable penalty in the dying minutes. Andy Gray made no mistake and to make matters worse Andrew Davies was then sent off. Gallen was within inches of getting a very late equaliser but it wasn't to be and the home side ran out 3-2 winners. The 2005/06 season was better for Rangers. A screamer from Marc Bircham helped us go top of the league in August 2005. The return game was possibly Gary Waddock's best day in charge as we shocked the promotion chasers 3-2 at Brammel Lane. Last season Rangers new look side lost 2-1 to Bryan Robsons side. Patrick Agyemang scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 defeat. The return game saw a new manager for United with Kevin Blackwell in charge and he helped his side to a 1-1 draw as Angelo Balanta scored his first goal for QPR. Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.
Club Websites
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Sheffield
United were formed back in 1889 at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield
which is now the site of the Crucible Theatre where the World
Snooker championships are played every year.