Waiting For Promotion
Dave Bassett resigned as manager in November 1995 to be replaced by Howard Kendall, who was at the helm for 18 months before being lured back to Everton for his third spell as manager at the end of the 1996–97 season, just a few weeks after Sheffield United blew the chance of a return to the Premiership by losing 1–0 to Crystal Palace in the Division One Play-Off Final.
Over the next two-and-a-half years, Sheffield United had three unsuccessful managers – Nigel Spackman, Steve Bruce and Adrian Heath – although they reached the FA Cup semi final again in 1998. In December 1999 the club turned to Neil Warnock in a bid to re-establish the club as promotion challengers. At this time the club was over £20m in debt and the priority was cutting costs, so Warnock's first three seasons in charge ended in mid-table finishes in Division One.
2002–03 was a promising season for Sheffield United, when they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and League Cup, losing both ties to Premiership clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool respectively. They also reached the Division One playoff final, but were beaten 3–0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Millennium Stadium.
In both 2003–04 and 2004–05, Sheffield United narrowly missed out on a place in the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League finishing 8th in both seasons.
2005–06 was the team's twelfth straight season at the second level of the English football pyramid – a period longer than any other team currently in the Championship, and their longest spell in any Division since 1934.
After beating Cardiff 1–0 on Good Friday and never being outside of the top two places all season, United required only one point from their final three games to secure their promotion. Results later that evening meant only Leeds United could in theory catch Sheffield United, but the following day, 15 April 2006, they failed to beat Reading at Elland Road. After many disappointments in the previous few seasons, Sheffield United finally won promotion back into the Premiership.
Read more about this topic: History Of Sheffield United F.C.
Famous quotes containing the words waiting for, waiting and/or promotion:
“Youth! There is nothing like youth. The middle-aged are mortgaged to Life. The old are in Life’s lumber-room. But youth is the Lord of Life. Youth has a kingdom waiting for it. Every one is born a king, and most people die in exile.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“What is the waiting head doing? It looks the same.
Will it lean forward as I turn to go?
I think I can hear it call to me below
but no one came no one came.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)