Читать книгу Steel City Rivals - One City. Two Football Clubs, One Mutually Shared Hatred - Steve Cowens - Страница 12

Wednesday knew they had the upper hand but their arrogance during the late 70s and early 80s was to prove their downfall. It was quite weird at times in our city; both sets of lads would often drink together in the Blue Bell in town. People like Smids from United were good mates with Bender from Wednesday and in certain situations the two groups would drink in the same pub without a hint of trouble.

Leeds United’s visit to Hillsborough in September 1982 confirmed this when an 80-strong United firm went in the Blue Bell on High Street. Inside were over 100 Wednesday. Both groups didn’t really mingle together: our mob was at one end of the pub, the other firm were at the opposite end and the middle ground was for the few people that knew each other, keeping a sort of peaceful barrier between the two mobs, as there was no doubt a few who wanted to knock seven shades out of each other but in the name of Sheffield they bottled their hatred up for once. Even though Sheffield turned out over 200 mixed lads, they would not fight side by side as this day proved.

Leeds actually got into town and Wednesday left the Bell to engage them in combat. United stayed put, which, looking back, was weird really. News came back that Wednesday had been done by Leeds and that Leeds were heading our way via the hole in the road. We left the Bell via the back doors and in the little alley between the Dove and Rainbow and the Bell it kicked off with Leeds. Ribina shoe shop was raided and stiletto heels were used by United’s lads against Sheffield’s most hated city. The stilettos were the last thing Leeds had to worry about as Trimmer had a ratchet screwdriver and he twice plunged it into the back of the neck of some poor Leeds lad.

Leeds backed off and we argued that we had done Wednesday’s work for them as they weren’t up to it. Later that night, the unlikely peace between Wednesday and United turned into violence as both sides clashed in town. It was probably the last time the two groups tolerated each other. It had been a situation that seems unbelievable nowadays and one that most lads didn’t want in the first place but, because a few respected lads knew each other and got on, the others tried to keep the cart on the rails.

The shoots of a new breed of fan at Bramall Lane were beginning to stir around this time. United’s plight on the pitch was at an all-time low, and defeat to Walsall in the final game of the 1979–80 season saw the Blades ply their trade for the first time in English football’s basement, the Fourth Division. Wednesday fans mockingly call the day United were relegated ‘Thank Givens Day’, after Don Givens missed a last-minute penalty that would have kept United up.

Perversely, the relegation actually made the club’s fans stronger; everywhere we went we took big numbers and, to 16-year-old lads like me, it was an ideal time for serving an apprenticeship in terms of football violence. The youngsters, of which we had many, surfaced into this new world, a world of tennis, golf and designer wear and fighting at football, the Casual movement had erupted on to the scene and, with it, a new breed of football hooligan.

Wednesday, for their part, failed to see this new breed emerging in big numbers across the city. They treated our firm with contempt and that was Wednesday’s downfall. Three years later and with numerous battles under our belts, we were ready to take it to Wednesday and take it to Wednesday we did, with bells on.

The older United lads began to realise that these young lads in Fila and Tacchini were well up for the challenge and a new optimism swept the hooligan corridors around Bramall Lane. It was time for a shift in power in the Steel City.