Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. They currently play in the English Football League Championship. They play at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, and play in red and white striped shirts.
Their nickname is 'The Blades'. The club emblem is said to have been designed by former player Jimmy Hagan.They have the nickname The Blades due to Sheffield's worldwide reputation of steel production. The emblem was first used for the 1977–78 season, replacing the city's coat of arms that had been used since 1966. Like all clubs, Sheffield United have a great range of songs and chants sung by their fans, including the most notable: their unofficial anthem, The Greasy Chip Butty Song, which is sung before each half, and often after the game if the team has performed well. Sheffield United won the League in 1898 and the FA Cup in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925. They were beaten finalists in the FA Cup in 1901 and 1936. Their best performance in the League Cup was reaching the semi finals in 2003.
The first time a crest appeared on the shirt was actually in the 1891–92 season, when a red crest appeared on the white shirt, but this disappeared the following season. United used the city of Sheffield's coat of arms from 1965–77, when a new crest was used, introduced by former manager Jimmy Sirrel, but designed apparently over 20 years previously by former player Jimmy Hagan. This consisted of two white crossed swords, or blades, the club's nickname, with a Yorkshire Rose (white) above, on a black background. This is surrounded by a red ring with "Sheffield United F.C." written around the top and "1889", the year the club was founded, underneath. This had been altered very slightly a few times, with a simple black embroidered crest appearing on shirts from 1987–90, and an all-white crest on a red-edged black shield for the 1992–99 seasons, when shields were in fashion with English football clubs, but from 2000–present it has reverted to its original form.
The kit manufacturer is Le Coq Sportif, they have been the kit supplier since 2002 and also in 1997–2000. The 2008–09 season home shirt was designed by a season ticket holder, and the all black away kit was chosen by the players and will be made by Le Coq Sportif. In August 2008 the club unveiled a new sponsor, the country of Malta to be represented on the shirts by , the tourism board of the Mediterranean country.
Their other sponsor is Australian property company Valad, who have their logo on the back of the shirts and shorts.Sheffield United have numerous rivalries. The most outstanding rivalry is with their city neighbours Sheffield Wednesday. Both teams have chants which aim to berate the other, as with many rivals. United and Wednesday's meeting has come to be known as the Steel City derby; to date 119 matches have been played in the Steel City derby, with United winning 44, Wednesday 41, and 37 draws. Sheffield United's other rivals are mainly other teams from Yorkshire, such as Leeds United, Barnsley and Rotherham United. Sheffield Wednesday remain United's main rivals as meetings between United and Wednesday have occurred the most, and most of Sheffield supports one of the two teams. Sheffield United have not done the league double over Sheffield Wednesday since the 2005–06 season. It is generally accepted that United remain the smaller cousin of their rivals Wednesday.
Sheffield United, also have, along with many other sports teams across Yorkshire, a strong rivalry with Nottingham Forest. This can be attributed to the miners strikes of the 1980s, where workers in the pits of Nottinghamshire did not join the strike, and honoured their contracts, whereas miners from Yorkshire were on strike. Another smaller rivalry that has recently developed is with Reading arising from their match in January 2007 at the Madejski Stadium where Wally Downes attacked United manager Neil Warnock due to a misinterpretation of words from Warnock to a Reading player. This led to a mutual and bitter dislike between the two clubs that is still evident today. Also in October 2005 at the Madejski, there was an altercation with Blades winger Keith Gillespie, as he thought he should have had a last minute penalty, only to be turned down.
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