From Sheff Utd Rivals, could have been written after the fulham game by a city fan .....

As Blades begin to look ahead to trips to Scunthorpe and Colchester, derbies against the Pigs and Friday-night kick-offs, Deadbat reflects on United's last-gasp relegation, and can't avoid the obvious conclusion.

I sat in my house watching the rain thumping down. It could easily have been another drab and dreary Sunday afternoon as I contemplated another week of work. However, this evening was different.

After waiting what seemed like an eternity to see my football club finally get back to the highest level, I along with thousands of other Blades fans, felt like this was the beginning of something special. If we could just survive the first season, then the riches and the potential to get better players would see the club moving onwards and upwards with the potential to be an established Premiership club.

Right up to the end it seemed like this would be the case until the final day of the season saw a final twist in the heart as United once again snatched agony from the jaws of glory.

It is almost a joke how this so-called proud club keep promising so much but then throwing it away in the most implausible of situations. Goal difference, so-called match fixing scenarios, alleged illegal players, you name it, United can find a way to toss things away.

You want a last minute play off final defeat? You got it with United.

You want the worst performance for years in another playoff final. You got it.

How about an FA Cup semi final defeat? You got it. Once, twice, three times. Throw in a defeat against the hated city rivals.

Go down on goal difference. Happened once, surely not again? How about going down by a goal and losing to the team that overtakes you? Don't be silly. You are really having a laugh?

As one man who left Bramall Lane said to his son, 'This club are losers. They always will be. They will never do anything.' It could have been my own Dad saying it to me 20 years ago as I trooped away from the Lane after another relegation, to Bristol City.

I have argued and argued and always kept the faith but even my resolution, my patience is wearing thin. Sure I will keep going. Sure I will always have hope but is this club ever going to do anything? Is it ever going to surprise me and win a massive game? I fear not. I have renewed my season ticket for next year and will be there in August but I have a nagging feeling that today, just like Chelsea in '94, will be a day in 10, 12 or 15 years we will all remember.

I cannot see us coming straight back up. I cannot even see us being in the shake-up next year. Truth be told, the team is poorer now than the team that came up. Nobody will come in for our players as none of them are good enough. Yesterday they only had to draw but were out-battled, out-footballed and deservedly beat by a team that played its guts out.

For one of the first times this season the opposition had more heart and deserved to win the game. The way they took the game to us from the start spoke volumes of how they felt. The way we shirked responsibility, lost vital tackles, aerial battles and one-on-one contests all over the field got us exactly what we deserved; relegation.

I would love to write a long, flowery report of the game but I am afraid I do not have the heart. At the end of the day the cliché that I took with me as I walked down Shoreham Street and saw a mixture of upset, children crying and anger, with wheely bins being booted over, was simply that we were not good enough.

Forget appeals against West Ham. Forget blaming incidents, the Liverpool penalty, the points lost at home against Portsmouth and Everton, the goal at West Ham, the freekick at Blackburn. We were not good enough and history tells us that for much of our existence this has been the case. Sheffield United: Not good enough.

I am sure many may reply and say get behind the team, the club and support them. I for one will do that but yesterday told me that I should have listened to my Dad as he said, 'Always expect the worse. They will always disappoint you.' He said it time and time again. I did not listen. I should have. How true those words are.

Have a good summer.

Posted By: BSE Canary, May 14, 20:47:46