Sheffield United F.C.

Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at Bramall Lane since their formation. For most of the club's history, United have played in red and white striped shirts with black shorts. Their main rivals are Sheffield Wednesday, with whom they contest the Steel City derby.

Sheffield United was formed as an offshoot of Sheffield United Cricket Club in 1889. Following strong performances in the Midland League and Northern League, they were invited to become a founding member of the Football League Second Division in 1892. They won promotion to the First Division at the end of the 1892–93 season, the first team to do so, and went on to be crowned English football champions in 1897–98. United went on to win the FA Cup on four occasions: 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925; and were beaten finalists in 1901. They spent 41 years in the top-flight before being relegated in 1934. United finished as FA Cup runners-up in 1936 and were promoted as runners-up of the Second Division in 1938–39.

United won the Second Division title in 1952–53, following relegation in 1949. They spent the next three decades between the First and Second Divisions, winning promotions in 1960–61 and 1970–71 after relegations in 1956 and 1968. However, a slow decline saw the club drop to the fourth tier by 1982, though they would win an immediate promotion as Fourth Division champions in 1981–82; this achievement meant that Sheffield United are one of only five sides to have won all four professional divisions of English football. Promoted in 1983–84, they recovered from relegation in 1988 to win consecutive promotions into the top-flight at the end of the 1989–90 campaign.

Sheffield United were founding members of the Premier League in the 1992–93 season, during which they scored the first ever goal of the competition. They were relegated in 1994 and after losing play-off finals in 1997 and 2003, the club finally regained their Premier League status at the end of the 2005–06 campaign under the stewardship of manager Neil Warnock. However, United were relegated the following year and dropped into League One in 2011. They spent six seasons in the third tier, losing in three play-off campaigns, before manager Chris Wilder led the club to promotion as champions in 2016–17. Promotion to the Premier League followed in 2018–19, though they returned to the Championship in 2021. The club played in the Premier League following a promotion from the EFL Championship in the 2022–23 season, but were relegated in the following season.

The club was formed by members of the Sheffield United Cricket Club, formed in 1854 and the first English sports club to use 'United' in its name. Sheffield United's predominant nickname is "The Blades", a reference to Sheffield's status as the major producer of cutlery in the United Kingdom. United's original nickname was in fact "The Cutlers" from 1889 to 1912. City rivals Wednesday held the nickname "The Blades" in their early years, however in 1907 Wednesday officially became "The Owls", in reference to their new ground in Owlerton, and United would later claim "The Blades" nickname for themselves.

Sheffield United officially formed on 22 March 1889 at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield (now the site of the Crucible Theatre) by the President of the Cricket Club, Sir Charles Clegg. The Wednesday had moved from Bramall Lane to their own ground at Olive Grove after a dispute over gate receipts and the tenants of Bramall Lane needed to create a new team to generate income. Sir Charles Clegg was incidentally also the president of The Wednesday.

Undoubtedly United's heyday was the 30-year period from 1895 to 1925, when they were champions of England in 1897–98 and runners-up in 1896–97 and 1899–1900, and FA Cup winners in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925. United have not won a trophy since 1925, bar those associated with promotion from lower leagues, their best performances in the cup competitions being several semi-final appearances in the FA Cup and League Cup.

Their darkest days came between 1975 and 1981. After finishing sixth in the First Division at the end of the 1974–75 season, they were relegated to the Second Division the following season, and three years after that setback they fell into the Third Division. They reached an absolute low in 1981 when they were relegated to the Fourth Division, but were champions in their first season in the league's basement division and two years afterwards they won promotion to the Second Division.