Last weekend me and my cousin did the Sheffield Weekender!
We first visited Hillsborough the home of Sheffield Wednesday on the Saturday and then Bramall Lane, the home of Sheffield United on the Sunday.
Saturdays opponents for the newly promoted Owls side who are currently in the relegation zone and fighting for safety was last season’s championship play-off finalists Coventry City who are firmly in the hunt for the play-offs once again.
Hillsborough is a 39,732 seated stadium, opened in 1899 and was used for many FA Cup semi-finals over the years and hosted 4 games at the 1966 World Cup tournament.
On Sunday, The Blades who are rock bottom and fighting for safety after gaining promotion last season to the Premier League face West Ham United the current European Conference League Champions and a team that has had a fantastic season so far but are facing an injury and AFCON crisis.
Bramall Lane is a 32,050 seated stadium and was opened in 1855 and has been renovated and expanded over the years.
We set off early doors from London on Saturday morning up to Sheffield, we parked the car near Hillsborough and when we got out of the car it was absolutely freezing! I had to put my gloves, hat, and my neck warmer on to keep me warm.
As we walked towards the ground, I was filled with excitement on seeing this historic
iconic stadium before me, a ground with its huge vast stands but one that is also sadly etched into history with the tragic loss of 97 Liverpool fans back in 1989 at the FA Cup Semi-Final against Nottingham Forest.
Onto the game, firstly, I got my programme, if you know me, you'll know I'm a lover of football programmes and wherever I go I’ve got to have one!
It cost £3 and the programme was a decent one and it had everything In It you could ask for!
We then made our way into the club shop, it was tiny and a bit overpriced on everything, but I bought a keyring as I always usually buy something to remind me of my time at a new ground.
Then we waited at the gates to see if any players would come by, and I was very fortunate to meet The Owls captain Barry Bannan!
We had a lovely walk around the ground, and grabbed a burger which was very nice and was a decent price at £4.
We headed up to the turnstiles which were proper old-fashioned and very different to what you see nowadays.
The Stadium was stunning and old school which I like. I was seated in the Kop end which is the noisy stand and home to the Sheffield Wednesday barmy army with their drums and trumpets and when kick-off loomed it was filled up in good numbers.
The players came out and the travelling Coventry city fans who were their in big numbers made their voices heard welcoming the Sky Blues onto the pitch before being drowned out by a rendition of “Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday!”
The atmosphere was amazing from both sets of supporters and helped by the fact it was such an exciting game, I loved it and to be honest, the best team won by taking their chances with Coventry City winning the game by 2 goals to 1 with two great goals by Ben Sheaf that put Coventry fans into raptures and absolute Limbs!
Sheffield Wednesday got a late goal back, but it was to little too late.
Sadly, the match was overshadowed just before the end of the game when Coventry's Kasey Palmer was racially abused by a Sheffield Wednesday Supporter in the Kop end, there is no place for this anywhere in football or society and we hope the culprit is dealt with severely, we wish Kasey Palmer the very best and hope it doesn't affect him to much going forward.
With the game finished we walked back to the car and travelled back to our hotel in the middle of city which was called OYO Flagship.
We then headed out for dinner and had a great night out in Sheffield, if you haven't been before we fully recommend it!
Sunday Morning, we woke up early to another cold Sheffield day on what was to be an Away Day for my beloved West Ham United!
We had a good night's sleep, so after a quick shower and new clobber for the day we headed down for a bit of breakfast that wasn't much cop to be honest!
We checked out and headed to the hotel car park dropped our bags in the boot and set off on what was a 25-minute walk to Bramall Lane and took in some of the sites of the beautiful city.
We arrived at the ground and the outside was a bit odd, so we kept on walking around the stadium till we got to the main entrance, it looked amazing!
We ventured into the club shop, and you know the drill by now as I bought another programme which was £3.50 and full of decent content, I also purchased another keyring similar to the one I bought at Sheffield Wednesday to keep as a souvenir.
The shop itself was very decent and had cheaper prices than their City rival’s who are a Championship team! Afterwards, we did the same thing at Sheffield Wednesday and waited to see if the managers and players would stop before the game, and we met Blades manager Chris Wilder, new signing Ben Breton Diaz, and Gustavo Hamer sadly the Hammers players did not want to stop which was a disappointment.
We then made our way around to away end and headed through the turnstile after having our tickets scanned and a quick search by the stewards.
When I walked up the stairs, I was blown away, it was stunning, I loved the stadium and the stands were just like a sea of red in the Sheffield sunshine!
With the stands starting to fill up we ventured onto the concourse with our fellow West Ham fans who were as noisy and vociferous as always on their travels, we then found our seats and settled down just in time for the teams to come out with the Sheffield United fans singing their famous anthem “Greasy Chip Butty” whilst the hammers gave a rendition of “I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.” It was a great atmosphere from both sets of supporters once again!
The game was an entertaining one with plenty of drama including both teams going down to 10 men, the Hammers looked like they was going back to East London with all three points, but the referee made two big late calls, he gave Sheffield United a chance to equalise from the penalty spot 13 minutes into extra time, which they scored to make it 2-2 and then a minute later West Ham had a big appeal for a penalty of their own when Bowen looked like he had been fouled but the referee wasn't interested, like most weeks in the Premier League the refs and VAR caused plenty of debate and both of these incidents was certainly talked about by the press and on sky sports referee watch on Monday morning.
After the game we waited to see the West Ham players get onto the coach and I met James Ward-Prowse, Danny Ings, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Aaron Cresswell, and Kevin Nolan as they were heading to their private taxis.
Then we headed back to the car and hit the motorway towards home.
We had a great weekend in Sheffield and I cannot wait for the next trip.
Thanks for reading!
Sheffield Wednesday 1 – 2 Coventry City – Attendance: 28,129
Sheffield United 2 – 2 West Ham Utd – Attendance: 29,164
By Bailey Howard
Thanks for sharing your weekend Ground hop double header in Sheffield with us Bailey!
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