'A' is for Anderson, Viv Anderson..

[flynnroy 10]

one for the B's

Chris Bart-williams

[JFKvsNixon 11]

one for the B's

Chris Bart-williams

 

A top top top player in Championship Manager.

[speedy69 10]

D is for Marc Degryse...

 

Marc Degryse

 

Came to Wednesday from Anderlecht in 1995, a skilful, hardworking midfield player who never got a fair crack of the whip at Hillsborough under the baffling David Pleat. One season at the club and was voted player of the year and then sold him to PSV Eindhoven.

 

Other noticeable 'D's'

 

Derek Dooley- the legend, 62 goals in 61 games until tragedy struck. A great service to both Sheffield clubs and sadly missed by all.

 

O'neil Donaldson-3 goals in 14 games in the 90's, ran with his head down and ran all day, unfortunately he was behing about half a dozen strikers at the time.

 

Michele Di Piedi-Played wearing an Alice band, played like a girl the majority of the time. Scored a couple of stunning goals but was useless from a yard out.

[stpetre 12]

There,s knowone in my time who can equal the goalscoring record of centre forward David " BRONCO" Layne , left foot, right foot,or with his head it finished in the net. Fifty eight goals in eighty one games say,s it all. My boyhood hero.

 

David Layne scored two goals in the Owl's last away win against the Arsenal at Highbury in August 1962. Of course the 'Gunner's ' have relocated since but after today, who knows?

I thought that Derek Dooley's record (I hope not to contradict anyone) was 62 goals from 61 games.John Fantham wasn't bad either -tho' really not a 'Centre Forward' but those three were Sheffield born, (so was Keith Ellis-Handsworth ) Layne from Tinsley, the other two were from Pitsmoor. Another Sheffield lad was David Ford.

Edited April 30, 2016 by stpetre
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[sheff71 10]

There is really only one 'D' that matters - Brian Deane. Probably the single most important and best United player since Currie?

[top4718 838]

There is really only one 'D' that matters - Brian Deane. Probably the single most important and best United player since Currie?

 

You've not had many more "important and best" ones to choose from.

[speedy69 10]

E is for Eustace, Peter Eustace...

 

Peter Eustace

 

Nicknamed 'The squire of Stocksbridge' Peter Eustace made his Wednesday debut aged 18 in 1962. He was a cultured midfield player and had an eye for a goal. he was subsequently sold to West Ham in 1970 for a club record fee of £90,000 only return back to Hillsborough in 1972.

 

He joined Howard Wilkinson's management team in 1983 eventually taking over from Wilkinson in 1988. He lasted just 90 days in the job and was christened 'Useless Eustace' before being succeeded by Ron Atkinson.

 

Other notable 'E's'

 

Sam Ellis-A gritty centre half who played in the Everton cup final loss of 1966.

 

Efan Ekoku-A tall, journey man Nigerian striker who played 50 odd games for Wednesday (scoring 14 goals) most noticeable the 2 goals in 1 game against United.

 

Chris Eagles-a winger that wasn't good enough for Man U (or Wednesday for that fact)

[atticus 97]

Nobody puts the ball in the net like Edwards....Keith Edwards...Ooh, Ooh,Ooh

So good he had a terrible song about him

[speedy69 10]

F is for Froggatt, Redfern Froggatt..

 

Redfern Froggatt

 

Redfern Froggatt (or Red as he was affectionately known) was Mr Sheffield Wednesday, he played for the Owls from 1945 to 1960 amassing 498 appearances and scoring, as a forward, 140 goals. 'Red' was capped only 4 times by England but scored 2 goals in these games.

 

Other noticeable 'F's'

 

Peter Fox-A goalkeeper who became Wednesdays youngest player (at 15 years and 8 months) Peter lost his place when Jack Charlton came along and was sold to Stoke.

 

Trevor Francis-Signed in 1990 Francis was part of the squad that got relegated and subsequently promoted back to the 1st Division the year after (the season when we won the League cup) Francis then became player- manager when Atkinson left. As player-manager is most famous achievement was bringing him self on for a game against Forest (when 1-0 down) setting up the equaliser, scoring the winner then taking himself back off.

 

Gregg Fee- Spent 3 season with the club (1987-90) and was part of the 'Bad centre halves club' that we had at that time (accompanying Ian Cranson and Larry May)

[sheff71 10]

Arguably the largest character in Sheffield football, at least in one respect - William 'Fatty' Foulke - legendary blades goalkeeper who won more than half of the blades major honours (two FA Cups and the League title). Apparently 6ft 4in and weighing in around 24 stone towards the end of his career, he must've been an imposing sight!

 

The following are from Wikipedia, so take with the usual tub of salt...

 

Legend has it that 'the "Who ate all the pies?" chant was first sung in 1894 by Sheffield United supporters, and directed at Foulke (300 lb)'...

 

At the end of the first match in the 1902 Cup Final Foulke protested to the officials that Southampton's equalising goal should not have been allowed. Foulke left his dressing room unclothed and pursued the referee, Tom Kirkham, who took refuge in a broom cupboard. Foulke had to be stopped by a group of F.A. officials from wrenching the cupboard door from its hinges to reach the hapless referee.

 

After moving to Chelsea in 1905, 'If he thought his defenders were not trying hard enough, he would walk off the field. Opposing forwards who incurred his displeasure would be picked up and thrown bodily into his goal. '

 

 

Can you imagine if he was around today? It'd be like a real life Peter Griffin!

 

So this is clearly where United are going wrong, they need to start fattening George Long up asap!

[potlegs 10]

Arguably the largest character in Sheffield football, at least in one respect - William 'Fatty' Foulke - legendary blades goalkeeper who won more than half of the blades major honours (two FA Cups and the League title). Apparently 6ft 4in and weighing in around 24 stone towards the end of his career, he must've been an imposing sight!

 

The following are from Wikipedia, so take with the usual tub of salt...

 

Legend has it that 'the "Who ate all the pies?" chant was first sung in 1894 by Sheffield United supporters, and directed at Foulke (300 lb)'...

 

At the end of the first match in the 1902 Cup Final Foulke protested to the officials that Southampton's equalising goal should not have been allowed. Foulke left his dressing room unclothed and pursued the referee, Tom Kirkham, who took refuge in a broom cupboard. Foulke had to be stopped by a group of F.A. officials from wrenching the cupboard door from its hinges to reach the hapless referee.

 

After moving to Chelsea in 1905, 'If he thought his defenders were not trying hard enough, he would walk off the field. Opposing forwards who incurred his displeasure would be picked up and thrown bodily into his goal. '

 

 

Can you imagine if he was around today? It'd be like a real life Peter Griffin!

 

So this is clearly where United are going wrong, they need to start fattening George Long up asap!

 

Enjoyed reading that sheff

[sheff71 10]

G is for Billy Gillespie, played from 1911 to 1931 (missing the 1915 Cup Final with a broken leg). 25 international caps and captained the blades to our most recent/last major honour, the 1925 FA Cup win. A proper club legend, up there with the likes of Hagan, Currie, Deane, Shaw and Edwards.

 

Gillespie went onto manage Derry City, where 'Gillespie was held in such regard that the club agreed to change their strip to red and white stripes in recognition of his career at Sheffield United'. Can't imagine anyone doing that now for Dean Hammond, can you...

 

Honourable mentions for:

 

Keith Gillespie - a very talented player on his day, but also apparently troubled too - and forever remembered for coming on as a sub at Reading, and being sent off before he'd touched the ball...

 

Derek Geary - converted from the other side into a very lively and exciting attacking fullback, he overcame the stigma of playing for the other team in Sheffield and went on to be a very popular player with the fans - we could do with someone with his drive now.

 

John Gannon - a member of the Dave Bassett side that earned back to back promotions from 1989-90, and in the top flight for four years - was perhaps unfairly seen as the weak link at times, but was very important to that side - and went onto over 150 games for the blades, many in the top division.

 

 

Also - a glaring omission for the D's... Jimmy Dunne, striker from the 1920s and 30s, who set all sorts of goalscoring records for the club at the time, and was back in the news this season when Jamie Vardy set the Premier League record (11) for scoring in consecutive PL games - but was unable to equal the top flight record of 12 that Dunne set with the blades in 1931-32, and scored 30 or more in the top flight for three straight seasons, including the record all time for an Irishman, of 41 in a season.

 

Unfortunately though, United hit financial trouble in 1933, and had to sell Dunne to Arsenal, where he won the first division title. United were relegated for the first time that season (1933-34), back into the second tier for the first time since 1893...and the history we know of selling our best players was born!