‘Alright, bin-dipper?!!’ Many years ago, I lived in Sheffield and spent a year working in a gym. As with every workplace in the Steel City, there was a split. You were either a Blade or an Owl, plus that one token Rotherham fan for good measure. Two of the duty supervisors had a years-long battle of back-biting banter. It centred around whether one had once fished a still-sealed sandwich out of a bin for their lunch. No-one knew the truth anymore, but a nickname was born. What powered its continual use, however, was that one of these middle-managers supported Sheffield United and the other, Sheffield Wednesday. A continually bubbling squabble, ready to boil over. It’s the Steel City Derby in a nutshell.
We live in polarising times. No doubt Sunday’s game will be billed as tribal warfare. The picture of an Orwellian Hate Week painted for the rest of the world to work themselves into a frenzy. It’s much simpler than that. This is a huge rivalry and indeed it takes over the city. This time around, it is high stakes for two-upwardly mobile sides. By Monday it will manifest in relentless ribbing from building site to Microsoft Teams meeting. It’s Chris Wilder, standing on a pub table changing the Wednesday chant for Danny Röhl, to ‘Sausage Roll’. And for the victor, sore heads will be quickly cured by looking at the league table and seeing how close they will be to the Premier League.
The table doesn’t lie – or does it?
Looking at the current table, Leeds United cruised to victory against Millwall to go back to the top of the Championship in midweek. After beating Preston last weekend, Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said that it “does his nut in” that the standings do not include the club’s two point deduction. That was for defaulting on payments to other clubs in 2022-23. After dropping another two points by conceding an equaliser deep in to injury time against Bristol City on Tuesday his mood would have darkened further.
“Lethargic, leggy, and no energy really.” That’s how the Blades boss described their performance in their 1-1 draw. The boyhood Sheffield United fan is disarmingly honest in his interviews, and I’m sure his players will know what’s expected this weekend.
Wonderful week for Wednesday
As for Danny Röhl and Sheffield Wednesday, a chastening 4-0 defeat to Burnley in February was followed up by defeat at home to Sunderland two weekends ago. At that point, it looked like the season was done. Having saved them from relegation last season, the ex-German national team assistant could ride off into the sunset, with supporters serenading him with Bony M’s Daddy Cool, as he moved to pastures new. All that’s on pause now, thanks to a plundering at Plymouth and a Carrow Road comeback. Results that have seen them move back to within five points of the play-offs.
2-0 down at half-time in Norwich, the 35-year-old switched things up, telling his team to press higher and added a presence up front in Michael Smith. Smith is a bit of a strange one. A big man, who’s better with the ball at his feet than lumped up to him, but he’s able to draw defenders towards him and create space elsewhere, as capitalised upon by Djeidi Gassama and Josh Windass.
Gassama is having a breakout season going forward but digging deeper, the left-winger’s work rate across the pitch has been a huge boost for Wednesday. He excels at recovering the ball and has bulked up this season. The ex-PSG youngster is a handful on the ball and even if you get your hands on him, he’s got the strength to hold you off. He demonstrated that perfectly with his finish in their 3-0 victory at Argyle and was in the right place to tap home the winner from Windass’ cross at Norwich. The calls for a new contract for the 21-year-old are getting louder.
It’s the time of the season when everyone is exhausted, so I should also give a special mention to Callum Patterson. So often he’s been a utility-man, given a bit part despite being ready to start. His greying mop may shout tired dad, but the 30-year-old has entered the fray full of energy. Two goals in his last three games has propelled him to top the Championship charts for goals per 90 minutes. It looks like he’s getting a run of games, after revealing that the struggle of being on the fringes of the team had been affecting his mental health.
Shea Charles not getting booked against Norwich is another huge boost. Whilst we can read into why Chris Wilder didn’t start star defender Anel Ahmedhodzic in the week, Danny Röhl kept his midfielder in the XI. Both were one yellow from a two-match ban. That EFL rule of ten by match-day 37 is now cleared and for Wednesday, their midfield all-rounder has the chance to shine.
Campbell all souped up
I’ll be at Hillsborough on Sunday and call me cancelled but I have a feeling Wednesday will win this. Coming into the game off the back of those morale-boosting away trips, with the crowd onside and a team on the up, it may be enough to sway proceedings in their favour.
Having said all that, United will arrive with that midweek tiredness out of their system and when you look at just how jubilant Chris Wilder was at full time in the reverse fixture, you know they will be ready and have the quality to tear into Wednesday.
Tyrese Campbell got the well-taken winner back in November and like his forward runs, he’s timed his form to perfection; three goals in three games and it’s a perfect showreel for the 25-year-old. A swivel, set and drive from outside the box turned out to be the winner against QPR. That was followed up by a diving header full of desire against Preston, matched with perfect poise into the box against Bristol City.
He too has had a difficult season. Losing his father, the great Kevin Campbell last June, his contract was not renewed by Stoke City and he joined Blades with a point to prove. He emphatically did that scoring against his old club in October but only now are we seeing the best of him.
It’s at the back though where this Sheffield United team is truly built. They’ve missed the combative Vini de Souza in midfield and the loss of the talented Ollie Arblaster has been a blow but in Michael Cooper, they have a goalkeeper who gives the entire team confidence.
Once you remove the statistical freak that is Burnley’s James Trafford, Cooper tops the charts for save percentages and has the third most clean sheets (18) in the division, behind Trafford and Leeds’ Illan Meslier. Those numbers are more impressive given he’s made the 12th most saves in the division, Trafford and Meslier have made the least, which tells you United give teams more of a chance than either of their promotion rivals.
We could go through each player and no doubt that conversation is going on right now, across workplaces in South Yorkshire. It’s a fixture that runs through the history of our game and by Sunday evening, the pubs will be packed as the bleary-eyed belt out anthems and rattle cages. Let’s just hope that by the time we get to close of play on Monday, there’s been no calls to HR!
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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