2005–06 Sheffield United F.C. season

During the 2005–06 English football season, Sheffield United competed in the Football League Championship.

Sheffield United

2005–06 season
Chairman	Kevin McCabe
Manager	Neil Warnock
Stadium	Bramall Lane
Championship	2nd (promoted)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Shipperley (11) All: Shipperley (11)[1]
Average home league attendance	23,650
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

Season summary

The 2005–06 season was Sheffield United's twelfth straight season at the second level of the English football pyramid – a period longer than any other team currently in the Championship, and their longest spell in any Division since 1934.

After beating Cardiff City 1–0 on Good Friday and never being outside of the top two places all season, the Blades required only one point from their final three games to secure their promotion. A day later, however, Leeds United failed to beat Reading at Elland Road, which saw Sheffield United promoted back to the Premiership after many disappointments in the previous few seasons.^[2]

Kit

United's kit was manufactured by French company Le Coq Sportif and sponsored by HFS Loans.

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Paddy Kenny[notes 1] 2 DF  ENG Leigh Bromby 3 MF  ENG Garry Flitcroft 4 DF  ENG Craig Short 5 DF  ENG Chris Morgan (captain) 6 MF  ENG Phil Jagielka (vice captain) 7 MF  BRB Paul Ifill[notes 2] 8 FW  NGA Ade Akinbiyi[notes 3] 9 FW  ENG Neil Shipperley 10 FW  ENG Danny Webber 11 FW  ENG Steve Kabba 12 MF  IRL Alan Quinn 13 GK  ENG Phil Barnes 14 FW  ENG Bruce Dyer[notes 4] 15 DF  ENG Rob Kozluk 16 DF  ENG Simon Francis 17 MF  SCO Nick Montgomery[notes 5] 18 MF  ENG Michael Tonge 19 MF  NIR Keith Gillespie 20 DF  ENG Chris Armstrong

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 FW  ENG Jonathan Forte[notes 6] 22 MF  ENG Ian Ross 23 MF  ENG Kevan Hurst 24 DF  ENG David Unsworth 25 DF  ENG Alan Wright 26 DF  IRL Derek Geary 27 FW  ENG Brian Deane 29 FW  ENG Luke Beckett 30 FW  ENG Geoff Horsfield (on loan from West Bromwich Albion) 31 DF  ENG Nicky Law 32 DF  ENG Kyle McFadzean 34 FW  IRL Gary Mulligan 35 FW  ENG Colin Marrison 36 DF  ENG Evan Horwood 37 MF  ENG Kyle Nix[notes 7] 38 MF  IRL Stephen Quinn 39 FW  CHN Hao Haidong 40 GK  ENG Jamie Annerson 44 DF  ENG Chris Lucketti

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  ENG Jon Harley (to Burnley) 8 FW  SCO Andy Gray[notes 8] (to Sunderland)} 8 FW  FRA Vincent Péricard[notes 9] (on loan from Portsmouth) 14 MF  FRA Lilian Nalis (to Plymouth Argyle)

No. Pos. Nation Player 28 FW  ENG Billy Sharp (to Scunthorpe United) 28 DF  SCO Neill Collins (on loan from Sunderland) 30 FW  ENG Paul Shaw (to Rotherham United) — FW  ENG Jake Speight (to Scarborough)

Reserve squad

The following players did not appear for the first-team this season.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  CAN Ryan Gyaki

Transfers

In

Summer

Squad #	Position	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Source
4	DF	Craig Short	Blackburn Rovers	Free	29 June 2005
34	FW	Gary Mulligan	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Free	3 July 2005
37	MF	Kyle Nix	Aston Villa	Free	5 July 2005
9	FW	Neil Shipperley	Crystal Palace	Free	20 July 2005
19	MF	Keith Gillespie	Leicester City	Free	5 August 2005
24	DF	David Unsworth	Portsmouth	Free	22 August 2005

Winter

Squad #	Position	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Source
27	FW	Brian Deane	Perth Glory	Free	23 December 2005
3	DF	Gary Flitcroft	Blackburn Rovers	Free	12 January 2006
8	FW	Ade Akinbyi	Burnley	£1.75m	26 January 2006
14	FW	Bruce Dyer	Stoke City	Free	26 January 2006

Final league table

Main article: 2005–06 Football League Championship

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Reading (C, P)	46	31	13	2	99	32	+67	106	Promotion to the FA Premier League
2	Sheffield United (P)	46	26	12	8	76	46	+30	90
3	Watford (O, P)	46	22	15	9	77	53	+24	81	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Preston North End	46	20	20	6	59	30	+29	80
5	Leeds United	46	21	15	10	57	38	+19	78

Updated to match(es) played on 2 December 2011. Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

Sheffield United's score comes first^[4]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Championship

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
6 August 2005	Leicester City	H	4–1	18,224	Gray (pen), Kabba (pen), Ifill, Bromby
9 August 2005	Burnley	A	2–1	11,802	Shipperley, Morgan
13 August 2005	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–2	13,497	Kabba
20 August 2005	Preston North End	H	2–1	20,519	Shipperley, Webber
27 August 2005	Coventry City	H	2–1	17,739	Kabba, Unsworth (pen)
29 August 2005	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–1	7,501	Shipperley, Quinn, Kabba
10 September 2005	Ipswich Town	H	2–0	21,059	Kabba (2)
13 September 2005	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–0	6,553	Jagielka
17 September 2005	Watford	A	3–2	15,399	Jagielka, Ifill, Carlisle (own goal)
24 September 2005	Derby County	H	2–1	22,192	Unsworth, Ifill
27 September 2005	Plymouth Argyle	H	2–0	20,111	Shipperley, Quinn
1 October 2005	Reading	A	1–2	22,068	Kabba
15 October 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	25,533	Shipperley
18 October 2005	Millwall	A	4–0	9,148	Webber (2), Péricard, Quinn
21 October 2005	Leeds United	A	1–1	23,600	Kabba
29 October 2005	Cardiff City	H	0–0	25,311
1 November 2005	Luton Town	H	4–0	22,554	Jagielka (2), Morgan, Péricard
5 November 2005	Crystal Palace	A	3–2	20,344	Jagielka, Ifill, Shipperley
19 November 2005	Millwall	H	2–2	22,292	Unsworth, Webber
22 November 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–0	24,240
26 November 2005	Leicester City	A	2–4	22,382	Kabba, Webber
3 December 2005	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–0	30,558	Quinn
10 December 2005	Burnley	H	3–0	23,118	Shipperley (2), Webber
16 December 2005	Preston North End	A	0–0	14,378
26 December 2005	Norwich City	H	1–3	26,505	Jagielka
28 December 2005	Southampton	A	1–0	27,443	Shipperley
31 December 2005	Stoke City	H	2–1	21,279	Montgomery, Morgan
3 January 2006	Hull City	A	3–1	21,929	Ifill, Webber, Armstrong
14 January 2006	Ipswich Town	A	1–1	23,794	Webber
21 January 2006	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	3–1	27,514	Jagielka, Ifill, Tonge
1 February 2006	Derby County	A	1–0	26,275	Akinbiyi
6 February 2006	Watford	H	1–4	20,791	Ifill
11 February 2006	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–0	15,017
14 February 2006	Reading	H	1–1	25,011	Dyer
18 February 2006	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2–1	33,439	Tonge, Akinbiyi
25 February 2006	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–3	25,360	Akinbiyi, Bircham (own goal)
3 March 2006	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–0	22,691
11 March 2006	Coventry City	A	0–2	23,506
18 March 2006	Norwich City	A	1–2	25,346	Armstrong
25 March 2006	Southampton	H	3–0	22,824	Jagielka, Ifill, Shipperley
1 April 2006	Stoke City	A	1–1	17,544	Webber
8 April 2006	Hull City	H	3–2	26,324	Shipperley, Ifill, Unsworth
14 April 2006	Cardiff City	A	1–0	11,006	Webber
18 April 2006	Leeds United	H	1–1	29,329	Bakke (own goal)
22 April 2006	Luton Town	A	1–1	10,248	Tonge
30 April 2006	Crystal Palace	H	1–0	27,120	Morgan

FA Cup

Main article: 2005–06 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	7 January 2006	Colchester United	H	1–2	11,820	Kabba

League Cup

Main article: 2005–06 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	23 August 2005	Boston United	H	1–0	6,014	Ross
R2	20 September 2005	Shrewsbury Town	A	0–0 (won 4–3 on pens)	4,250
R3	25 October 2005	Reading	A	0–2	11,607