Post-war
The restart of League competition after the war came a year too late for The Blades as they won League North – a regional competition featuring the Northern clubs from the top two Divisions – in 1945–46. This good form carried over into the following year with a 6th place finish, combined with reaching the FA Cup Quarter Finals.
This good form was not to last, as the club were relegated again in 1948–49, and suffered the agony of missing out on an instant promotion the following season when Wednesday gained revenge for 1939 and pipped them for second place and promotion on goal average with a 0–0 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur when a scoring draw or defeat would have sent The Blades up instead.
After a couple of middling seasons, featuring lots of goals (including 7–3 and 3–1 wins against the Owls in the Steel City Derby 1951-2) but inconsistent results, Teddy Davison ended his 20 year managerial career at the Lane. He was replaced by Reg Freeman, who guided the Blades to the Second Division Championship in 1952–53, scoring 97 goals along the way. Two seasons of struggle, but survival, in the First Division followed before Freeman died in the summer of 1955. His replacement, Joe Mercer, was unable to stave off relegation in 1956.
Read more about this topic: History Of Sheffield United F.C.
Famous quotes containing the word post-war:
“Much of what Mr. Wallace calls his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still “globaloney.” Mr. Wallace’s warp of sense and his woof of nonsense is very tricky cloth out of which to cut the pattern of a post-war world.”
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987)