Sheffield United’s maiden outing at Wembley Stadium failed to impress the Yorkshire Post’s “Football Representative”. Perhaps he would have been more delighted if he had realised that 100 years later, the Blades were still hunting for their second triumph there.
In their first 40 years, what he referred to as “the men from the cutlery city” found it far easier to reach FA Cup finals and even win them.
The 50th FA Cup final, between Sheffield United and Cardiff City in April 1925, was already the Blades’ sixth, with their lone loss being to non-league Tottenham Hotspur following a replay in 1901.
Only two years old, Sir Robert McAlpine’s £750,000 stadium was more about the British Empire Exhibition – a post-World War One display of strength and financial devastation – than the sport, and one yearly event in particular that came to define it.
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