Well it only seems like yesterday that Yeovil defeated Brentford to close the 2012-13 League One season - well 62 days to be exact. But already the ball has started rolling for the beginning of the new 2013-14 League One season.
And as part of my build up for a new season where i will be covering as many of the Gillingham games as I physically can, I have recruited fans from all 24 clubs from League One and get their options for their clubs as the new season starts on August the 3rd.
Today we reach the half way point of the previews and we continue with looking at two sides with the United name and are only split by only a few miles. One team achieved promotion last season where the other team failed again to achieve promotion back to a division their fans feel that they belong. I'm talking about Sheffield United and Rotherham United.
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Name: Mark Swift @marksablade
Occupation away from
supporting your club:
Sales and Marketing
Assistant
How long have you been a
supporter of Sheffield United and how did you start supporting them?
I’ve been a supporter of
the Blades for as long as I can remember, I begged my dad to take me to games
all the time and even if I missed one I cried. He eventually caved in and
purchased a season ticket when we were promoted to the Premier League, he didn’t
want me missing any of the big teams! The only football connection in my family
is my Grandad who is a Sheffield Wednesday fan and although my very first game was one of theirs I just ended up
supporting the Blades, probably because I am in the ‘United half of the city’.
Let’s get this ball rolling:
What would be your Dream
season?
Dream season? Well, I would
say to win the league on a dramatic final day but with the luck we’ve had in
the play-offs I think to go up via the play-offs would be more of a dream than
winning the league. Also to pick up the JPT trophy – not a huge trophy I know
but would you turn down the chance to see your team lift silverware at Wembley?
And what will make it a
Nightmare season for you?
It would take a
dramatically bad season for us to be relegated so being as realistic as I can I
would say a nightmare season would be to finish 17th/18th
with getting knocked out to Sheffield FC in the first round of the FA Cup.
Our own fans think our team
is…
Awful, if you were to
follow me on Twitter you would see I do moan about our fans a heck of a lot.
It’s a disgrace the way they slag players off all game, Stephen Quinn was one
of our best players and he got abused all game every game – then the minute he left
everyone praised him? Nick Montgomery another one of the whipping boys, gave
100% every game but got abused every game until he left “what a great servant”
etc. Yet another player, Michael Doyle, personally think he is up there with
the best midfielders in the league but the average fan wants him gone. They
don’t seem to appreciate the effort and commitment he puts in. So yes, in
general our fans think our players are terrible and that the board are morons
(to put it nicely) - which I personally disagree with and thank the players for
the effort, we’ve always had players giving 100% and thank the board for
keeping us financially stable.
Other teams’ fans think our
team is…
I’m not sure what they
think our team is but we are generally hated as a club by a lot of other teams’
fans. I think this started with the West Ham saga when we sued them for
fielding ineligible Carlos Tevez; we were slaughtered for not accepting it and
blaming others for our relegation. Put yourself in our shoes, you wouldn’t have
accepted relegation – respect to Wigan fans for singing “we all hate West Ham”
at the end of the game. However it isn’t just the West Ham saga that caused
fans to slowly hate us, the Ched Evans case 2 years ago definitely didn’t make
us any friends. After he was sent to prison for rape one idiotic fan said “hey
lets sing and chant his name in the 9th minute against Stevenage
live on TV” which obviously was picked up from the newspapers and the headlines
were “United fans to applaud rapist” which obviously, did not happen. Although
admittedly it is a shame some of our fans say “Justice for Ched” 4 judges who
are paid a lot, a lot of money have all said he raped the girl and for me, that
is that.
The new season:
How has Pre-Season been for
you this time around?
Pretty good so far, I say
touching wood. We brought in a new manager in David Weir and the fans have
warmed to him which is a relief after having ex Wednesday man Wilson in charge.
We’ve managed to bag some really good players in McGinn, Brandy and Taylor as
well as retaining Maguire and Long (so far). Results wise you can never really
tell in any pre-season as it’s just not a competitive game for either team.
Have you got the right
manager and how popular is he?
Have we got the right
manager? Who knows? That will be answered at the end of the season, but we’re
happy with him, he seems to be saying and doing the right things so there is
always hope and optimism. He’s very popular actually, we were linked with a
good 15 managers in the summer and I think about 13 of them were not popular
with the fans at all and after being rejected by Karl Robinson and Stuart
McCall we did all fear the worse.
Are there any new signings
that you are excited about?
Yes, I’m looking forward to
seeing Stephen McGinn mainly. He’s always a player I’ve liked – one of those
you look at signing on Football Manager or FIFA. I hope we use Febian Brandy in
the right role as well, which for me is out wide on the wing. From what I have
seen, he could not hit a barn door from 2 yards out but he can beat his man and
put a ball in the box. Also, I’m intrigued to see how Lyle Taylor does after
scoring 29 goals for Falkirk last year.
Name the player that you
would happily drive to his next club (and pay for the taxi as well)...
Usually there is at least
one but as I said earlier all our players do give 100% commitment when playing
and if they don’t, they’re gone. I am not saying we don’t have bad players
because we definitely do but I wouldn’t say I’d happily drive anyone to his next
club as it would be unfair, However to name a bad player, Marcus Williams.
Name an opposition player
you despise...
Joey Barton. I am saying no
more.
Name an opposition player
you would love to have at your club?
Again, I’d like to be
realistic and at the start of the transfer window I was saying how great it
would be to have Jon Stead back, sadly he went to Huddersfield but we do need
that type of player in our team, hopefully Lyle Taylor is the guy – he stands
at 6” 2 so it’s a possibility. Getting back to the question though I would have
to say another striker as we are short on them and I would say Paddy Maden from
Yeovil – what a player he was last season, lovely quick movement on the
shoulders of the defender and a great finish to go with it.
If I was to visit your club
on an away trip this season, name one thing I must do in your town? (Can be
anything, football-related or otherwise... from visiting a famous sight, to
making sure you don’t park your car somewhere, to find a certain drink in a pub
or a nice place to eat)
Visit “The Moor” which isn’t too far from the ground. The
council are relaying it for the 3rd time in the past 15 years - must be something special about it? Surely? It’s not as though 90% of the shops on
there are now bordered up.
Onto other important matters
You have been stuck in
League One for three seasons now, and when it comes to the crunch, the Blades
fail to show up, why do you think the team bottles it when it matters?
Who knows? I would blame
bad luck followed by the ‘expectation’ to fail. After losing one or two
play-off final and last day dramas our fans have gone into the ‘crunch’ games
with the attitude of ‘we’ll **** it up again’. For example when we went into the
play offs this season I saw pictures of “Another play-off campaign for the
Blades… give me hope” those are not the sort of things that should be branded
around before a play-off campaign. So yes, the reason we bottle is it because
we are expected to bottle it which in turn actually puts pressure on the
players.
Is there a concern that
your club could turn into a Bradford City and get stuck in the lower divisions
for a number of years?
Yes of course it’s a
concern and as much as I’d love us to do well, gain promotion and push on from
there. I’m really enjoying League 1 and
looking at the Championship from an outsider’s point of view makes me realise
that it’s turning into the Premier League, full of foreign owners and players
who are just concerned about money and money only. Give me a season like Bradford’s
last year over doing well in the Championship for 5-10 years anytime. You have
much more of a “pure football” vibe down in League 1 and having been to League
2 teams in cups, you get the same feeling. Although as mentioned, you always
want your team to succeed.
What would happen to the
club if you DON’T get promoted this season?
I would say it’s now or
never for us in terms of gaining promotion but when you look at League 1 any
team can earn promotion really. How many people would have said Yeovil to go up
last year? Not many I bet, so although it would be another big step back to not
gain promotion it wouldn’t be the end of our chances. Saying that, the longer
we stay in this league the closer the teams at the bottom get to us.
And now onto the really important stuff:
Who do you think will be
the top 6 at the end of the season?
Very tough call, you would
expect all 3 teams who have come down to be in the top 6 so Wolves,
Peterborough and Bristol City. Then you’ve got to look at the rest of League 1
and honestly, I think some of the promoted teams such as Rotherham and
Gillingham have a chance of top 6 if they play well enough and take the
momentum from last season. Again, it is basically impossible to say with
confidence but the final 3 teams I would say is us, Leyton Orient and Preston
North End.
Who do you think will go
down to League 2?
The same as who will finish
top 6, it could be 4 of many teams. Personally I think Port Vale may struggle
to adapt and if Oldham hadn’t had that good cup run last season I have a
feeling they may have gone down due to confidence levels being less and not
having the same momentum. All of the problems that Coventry City are having
can’t be good for team morale so I’d add them to the list followed by
Stevenage.
And finally, in all
honesty, where do you think you will finish this season?
End of last season I said
12th then we brought in Weir I said 8th this was followed
by more optimism in not getting rid of Maguire and Long straight away (could
still happen) so I said 6th. It’s amazing what getting closer to a
new season does to you though isn’t it? As I am starting to imagine “what if we
got top 2?” but that’s optimism talking, realism talking I’d have to say
outside the play-offs, placed around 9th but football is a funny
game and sometimes, just sometimes, you get that little bit of joy that makes
you realize why you love the game so much.
ROTHERHAM UNITED
Name: Daniel Scott
Occupation away
from supporting your club:
I work as a cashier at William
hill bookies
How long have you
been a supporter of Rotherham and how did you start supporting them?
Around 22 years and got a free
ticket to watch us against Cambridge one Tuesday night was a 1-1 draw been
addicted since then
Let’s get this
ball rolling:
What would be your
Dream season?
Obviously
promotion to championship and a league double over Sheffield United would be
nice also beating Sheffield Wednesday (pigs) in the cup would be magic.
And what will make
it a Nightmare season for you?
A struggle in
league as I think were more than capable of been in top half
Our own fans think
our team is…
Going places
Other teams’ fans
think our team is…
Well most other teams’
fans detest us because of Steve Evans
The new season:
How has Pre-Season
been for you this time around?
Been quiet good we
had a tour of Scotland in which we came back undefeated we’ve beat a couple of
non league sides easily but the highlight was beating a full strength Bolton
side on Tuesday night 2-1, we yesterday matched Huddersfield for 87mins until
they nicked a winner losing 1-0
Have you got the
right manager and how popular is he?
In my eyes yeah
his record of promotions says it all, plenty of fans weren't happy at his
appointment after what happened at Boston United a few years ago, I’ve spoke to
some fans who hated him at first who now worship him
Are there any new
signings that you are excited about?
Danny Hylton could
be a decent signing I know Aldershot rated him highly, I like to watch them a
few times first before I decide whether there good for the side or not, but
have a feeling Danny Hylton could be a cracking signing
Name the player
that you would happily drive to his next club (and pay for the taxi as well)...
They isn’t one
sorry
Name an opposition
player you despise...
You probably get
this answer a lot but Lee Hughes is a proper cockend. I can’t stand his girlie
celebration
Name an opposition
player you would love to have at your club?
Jacques Maghoma – I’m
quiet gutted the pigs have signed him to be honest and Matt Tubbs but we could
yet sign him.
If I was to visit
your club on an away trip this season, name one thing I must do in your town? (Can
be anything, football-related or otherwise... from visiting a famous sight, to
making sure you don’t park your car somewhere, to find a certain drink in a pub
or a nice place to eat)
New York stadium
is the only place to visit lol!!! If you come over let me know I'll have
a drink with you.
Onto other
important matters:
You got the
promotion that you finally have been seeking for, but manager Steve Evans is
already talking about a second successive promotion, do you think that can
happen or is Evans living in a fantasy world?
Well Evans is used
to promotion I'll take a top half finish see what happens from there.
What do you think
it will take for Rotherham to adjust back to League One football?
I don’t think
there’s much between the bottom 2 tiers so I think we'll adjust quiet well
I have to admit,
your New York Stadium is a very impressive stadium; do you think that you have
settled in at your new home back in Rotherham?
Last season was a mixed bag of
results at home but yeah it’s a great stadium
And now onto the
really important stuff:
Who do you think
will be the top 6 at the end of the season?
Preston, Sheffield
United, Mk Dons, Wolves, Bristol city And Rotherham!
Who do you think
will go down to League 2?
Port Vale,
Shrewsbury, Coventry
And finally, in
all honesty, where do you think you will
finish this season?
I’m going to say playoffs
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Over the next few days, more fans from clubs in League One will be given their chance to speak out on the new season which begins soon.
To be continued...
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