The choice of venue for all three is not as coincidental as it might appear. Sir Charles Clegg was President of the Cricket Club, with cricket matches being staged at Bramall Lane, and even Wednesday playing some of their early games at the same venue. When Wednesday moved out and into their own designated ground at Olive Grove, there was a need to generate income at Bramall Lane, and so Sheffield United were formed to bridge the gap.

The South Stand at Bramall Lane - you'll find the main Ticket Office outside this one. Photo © 2013 Ciderspace

Despite them holding equal status to their city rivals, the majority of United's silverware has come over 100 years ago. They won the Football League in 1897-98, and were runners up in 1896-97 and 1899-00. They were FA Cup winners in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925, whilst were runners up in 1901 and 1936. Aside from that, their honours include two lower division titles, along with miscellaneous promotions.

Whilst seeing Sheffield United playing third tier football is unusual, this is by no means their low point. That began with a top flight relegation at the start of the 1974-75 season, which then saw them tumble downwards, reaching the old fourth division in the summer of 1981. They only spent one season at that level before winning the Fourth Division title in 1981-82.

Like many sides that have fallen out of the Premier League in recent seasons, their fall from grace has been very swift, although this one was shrouded in controversy. The 2005-06 season had seen them promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 1994, but that stay only lasted one season, as they were relegated, and embroiled in a bitter row with West Ham United over the Carlos Tevez affair. Neil Warnock, who had been with Blades for nearly eight years, resigned, and they went through a string of managers with Bryan Robson, Kevin Blackwell, Gary Speed, John Carver and Micky Adams in the space of a few seasons, with the latter four all part of a nightmare 2010-11 season that saw them relegated.

Now they lie back in Third Tier football for their first spell since the 1988-89 season. Danny Wilson was given the task of getting them back up to the Championship, and on the whole he was doing okay - a third place finish with defeat only in the play-offs - although Blades fans won't have appreciated the fact that their city neighbours got promotion one place ahead of them. This season it was more of the same, and with the expectancy for Blades fans being the automatic slots, rather than the play-offs again, on April 10th 2013, after a 0-2 defeat against Crawley Town, their board pressed the gamble button - sacking the experienced man, and giving the Caretaker manager job to Chris Morgan to take them through their remaining games. In terms of stature at Bramall Lane, he's a bit of a 'Terry Skiverton' in that he has spent ten years there as a popular central defender. But now he's been thrust into management, after working as a Reserve Team and First Team coach from 2010 onwards. Will that gamble work, and can he get them out of Third Tier football? We will of course be hoping that it doesn't turn out that way.

The Kennedy Kop at Bramall Lane - at the opposite end of the ground to the away end. Photo © 2013 Ciderspace

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RECENT RESULTS

09/04/2013	Crawley Town	Home	NPL1	L	0-2	18680
13/04/2013	Swindon Town	Home	NPL1	W	2-0	19298		Porter 37, Kitson 82
16/04/2013	Brentford	Home	NPL1	D	2-2	23431		Robson 62, Kitson 68
20/04/2013	Portsmouth	Away	NPL1	L	0-3	18433
23/04/2013	Crewe Alexandra	Away	NPL1	L	0-1	5379
27/04/2013	Preston North End	Home	NPL1	D	0-0	19888

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

CLUB GOALSCORERS

Name	LGE	FAC	FAT	LGC	CC	Total
Nick Blackman	11	2	0	1	0	14
Dave Kitson	11	1	0	0	0	12
Shaun Miller	4	2	0	2	0	8
Harry Maguire	3	0	0	2	0	5
Neill Collins	4	0	0	1	0	5
Chris Porter	3	1	0	0	0	4
Michael Doyle	3	0	0	0	0	3
Ryan Flynn	3	0	0	0	0	3
Tony McMahon	2	1	0	0	0	3
David McAllister	1	0	0	2	0	3
Barry Robson	2	0	0	0	0	2
Jamie Murphy	2	0	0	0	0	2
John Cofie	2	0	0	0	0	2
Kevin McDonald	1	0	0	0	0	1
Jonathan Forte	1	0	0	0	0	1
Paul Gallagher	1	0	0	0	0	1
Richard Cresswell	1	0	0	0	0	1
Own Goals	1	0	0	0	0	1

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

Highest League Attendance: 23431, vs Brentford, 16/04/2013
Lowest League Attendance: 8790, vs AFC Bournemouth, 01/09/2012
Average League Attendance: 18177

CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS

Games Without A Win:	4		Games Without A Home Win:	2
Games Without An Away Win:	3		Games Without Defeat:	1
Games Without A Home Defeat:	3		Games Without An Away Defeat:	0
Games Without A Draw:	0		Games Without A Score Draw:	3
Games Without A No-Score Draw:	0		Games Without Scoring:	3
Games Without Conceding:	1		Home Results Sequence:	DDLWDD
Away Results Sequence:	WLWDLL		Overall Results Sequence:	LWDLLD

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The John Street Stand at Bramall Lane - to the left of you as you look from the away end. Photo © 2013 Ciderspace

General

Most Yeovil fans will be familiar with the M5 --> M42 --> M1 route that takes us up to the cluster of Yorkshire clubs around Chesterfield, Doncaster and of course Sheffield Wednesday by now. Bramall Lane is a lot more central to the city than Hillsborough is - situated on the south side of the inner ring road.

By Road

From The South: The very large majority of Yeovil Town fans will want to take this route: Exit the M1 at Junction 29 and take the A617 towards Chesterfield. Continue into Chesterfield and at the roundabout junction with the A61 take the third exit towards Sheffield. Continue on the A61 through Dronfield and into Sheffield. Continue past the Earl of Arundel and Surrey Public House on the left. Take the next left onto Bramall Lane and the ground is on the right.

From The West: Take the A57 into Sheffield and take the fourth exit at roundabout into Upper Hanover Street and at the second roundabout take the third exit into Bramall Lane.

From The North: Exit the M1 at Junction 33, following signs to Sheffield (A57). Continue along the Sheffield parkway until you reach the Park Square roundabout. Take the third exit and follow the A61 Sheaf Street. Sheffield Railway Station is on your left. At the Sheaf Street roundabout, continue ahead onto Suffolk Street. At the Granville Square roundabout turn right onto St Mary's Road. Take the second left into Shoreham Street and the ground is on the right.

From The East: Exit the M1 at Junction 31 or 33 and take the A57 to the Park Square roundabout. Take the third exit onto Sheaf Street then follow directions as per those coming from the North.

The John Street Stand at Bramall Lane as viewed from the street itself. Photo © 2013 Ciderspace

Parking

Parking at the ground is for permit holders only. You can pick up plenty of street parking in the area, although obviously the further south you go, the better your chances given that you're moving away from the city centre area. Once you get inside the inner ring road expect your chances of parking to diminish. Note that Sheffield city centre operates a residents permit parking scheme that exists Monday to Saturday from 8.00a.m. until 6.30p.m. with a mix of residents-only spaces and pay-and-display spaces. Make sure you know the precise boxed space that you are occupying in this area.

There are pay-and-display car parks operating in the city centre at Sheffield Railway Station and Upper Hanover Street on the south-west side of the Inner Ring Road. Matilda Street, Sidney Street and Eyre Street are also other city centre car parks. There are also numerous informal private and unofficial car parking schemes - e.g. local companies that open up their car parks for a fiver a time on matchdays.

By Supporters Coaches

The Green and White Supporters Club are running coaches to the match for this 2012-13 season League One Play-Off Semi-Final fixture as follows:

Coaches will depart from Huish Park at 12.30p.m. Note that there will be no pick-up from Yeovil Bus Station on this occasion. Cost of travel will be £26.00 for Adults, with concessions available at £24.00. Non-GWSC members are welcomed and will pay two pounds extra.

To place your booking, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 or Rich Rendell on 01935 427072 (Evenings).

The unsponsored name of this stand tends to be the Kop Corner or North-East Corner - adojoing the Kop End and John Street Stand. Photo © 2013 Ciderspace

By Rail

The best route for those travelling from Yeovil is from Pen Mill, that goes via Bristol Temple Meads and is then direct to Sheffield. Journey time a tad under 5 hours. There are alternatives from Yeovil Junction that take you via London Waterloo, London Kings Cross, and Doncaster to get there.

Going back, as this is an evening fixture, you're on your own and almost certainly needing to stop overnight.

Sheffield Station itself has the London St Pancras line as its main backbone service, going via Leicester and Nottingham (or Derby) which is run by Midland Mainline. However, there are also more cross-country services running direct from places like Liverpool, Norwich, Bristol and York.

Check the National Rail Enquiries site for details of services.

By Bus

You're unlikely to need a bus unless you're travelling around the city before heading to the game. However the relevant bus routes the run towards the ground are as follows:

Bus Nos. 47 and 48 will take you to Shoreham Street.
Bus No. 53 (Low Edges) will take you to Queens Road.
From Arundel Gate Bus Nos. 33, 43, 44/44a (Chesterfield) or 252 will take you to Bramall Lane.
From the High Street, Bus Nos 20/20a, 25/25a, 75, 76, 97 or 98 will take you to London Road/John Street.

By Supertram

They don't just have Trams in Sheffield, they have Supertrams! It's unlikely that Yeovil fans will need to take one unless you're doing a day of it. The nearest stop to the ground is around 10 minutes walk and is the Granville Road (Sheffield College) Tram Stop. This is on the Blue and Purple routes from the city centre - expect the trams to be marked for Halfway (Blue) and Herdings Park (Purple).

A map of the Supertram service can be viewed here. Services run up until midnight (on diminishing frequency after 7.30p.m.) so catching them after the game is not an issue.

Anyone travelling by First Class with East Midlands Trains into Sheffield can print out this voucher to get free travel on the trams in conjunction with their first class rail ticket.

By Taxi

A selection of Sheffield taxi companies can be found here.

The Bramall Lane Stand that holds away supporters. The netting is because home fans sometimes use the upper tier. Photo © 2012-13 Ciderspace

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As a large City, it's no surprise to find that there are a number of local brewery companies with the Sheffield Brewery Company, Abbeydale Brewery, Kelham Island Brewery and The Brew Company all worth looking out for. Whilst there are pubs that serve up the more mainstream 'national' real ale brands, the Abbeydale and Kelham Island varieties feature quite strongly throughout the better pubs, thus giving the city its own identity.

The pick of the pub crawls in the city is the 'Vale of Ale' which runs from the city centre out on the north side. Unfortunately, that means you're running away from the Bramall Lane area and on the opposite side of the city. If you've got serious time to burn and are prepared to do that, we'd recommend you head to the Sheffield Wednesday guide and pick out the pubs listed there.

Club Bar :

There is no club bar accessible to away supporters. However, inside the ground you'll find alcohol is available before the game and at half time, along with the usual football concourse over-priced style food and soft drinks.

Local Pubs :

Rutland Arms: Situated between the ground and the railway station and city centre area. Around 10 real ales on tap, plus a couple of real ciders. Many are from local brewers such as the Sheffield Brewery and Abbeydale Brewery, and very little in the way of mainstream ales. Add in a choice of typical pub grub (burgers, steaks, pies, fish and chips etc) and this is well worth a visit. Open: Sunday to Wednesday, noon - 11.00p.m., Thursday/Friday/Saturday, noon to midnight. Food Served noon - 9.00p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon - 6.00p.m. Sunday. Rutland Arms, 86 Brown Street, Sheffield, Yorkshire, S1 2BS. Tel: 0114 2729003. Email: rutlandarms@hotmail.co.uk. Website: Click Here. Map: Click Here.

Sheaf View: Don't confuse this pub with the similarly named Sheaf House which is considered to be a 'home pub'. This one is situated south of Bramall Lane, and on the south side of the railway tracks. Its name comes from the local River Sheaf - you're crossing the valley to get there. You're heading up a small side-road with a view of a rusting railway bridge in front of you. Inside is a renovated pub with a deceptively large interior - they've revamped the original pub and built from within. Many real ales on tap, largely from local microbreweries, plus a choice of continental lagers. Friendly reputation. Only down side is that it doesn't do any food. Sheaf View, 25 Gleadless Road, Heeley, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S2 3AA. Tel: 0114 2496455. Map: Click Here.

Sheffield Tap: The perfect place to be if you're waiting for a train out of Sheffield. This pub is situated inside the station - accessible from Platform 1a or from Sheaf Street. They serve 10 ales direct from the cask, plus 12 more from the tap. No point in trying to tell you what they've got on, because it rotates heavily, and besides, we're talking obscure microbreweries who they appear to import their whole range from, as a sort of a rolling 'theme'. They admit though that they keep coming back to the Thornbridge brewery. Opening times are 11.00am - 11.30pm Sunday - Thursday and 10.00am - 12.30am on Friday and Saturday. Doesn't appear to do food, so all you're going to be able to do is drink ... and hope your train is running late for once. Sheffield Tap, Platform 1B, Sheffield Station, Sheaf Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2BP. Tel: 0114 273 7558. Website: Click Here. Map: Click Here.

Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You :

Sheffield is a University city, and so is quite used to outsiders. It's not quite Last of the Summer Wine country though.

Top-Tip :

If West Ham United are your second club, then maybe don't speak too loudly about how good Premier League football is. Ditto if you have a big admiration for Carlos Tevez.

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[No responsibilty is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice.]

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