2008–09 Sheffield United F.C. season

During the 2008–09 English football season, Sheffield United F.C. competed in the Football League Championship.

Sheffield United F.C.

2008–09 season
Manager	Kevin Blackwell
Stadium	Bramall Lane
Championship	3rd (qualified for play-offs)
Playoffs	Runners-up
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: James Beattie (12) All: James Beattie (12)[1]
Highest home attendance	30,786 (vs. Sheffield Wednesday, 7 February 2009)
Lowest home attendance	23,045 (vs. Crystal Palace, 20 December 2008)
Average home league attendance	26,023[2]
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Season summary

Despite the sale of the previous season's top scorer, James Beattie, to Premier League newcomers Stoke City during the season, Sheffield United improved on the previous season's unsatisfactory form and were unlucky to finish the season in third place, three points behind Birmingham City. With this third-place finish came qualification for the playoffs: after narrowly defeating Preston North End 2–1 over two legs in the semi-final, United reached the playoff final, against Burnley, at Wembley. United lost 1–0, to a 13th-minute strike from Wade Elliott, which saw United consigned to a third consecutive season in the Championship.

Kit

Sheffield United continued their kit manufacturing agreement with French company Le Coq Sportif, who produced a new kit for the season, designed by United season ticket holder Ben Frost. A black away kit with silver trim, chosen by the club's players, was also introduced. The previous season's black and fluorescent green away kit was retained as the third kit.

The club ended their kit sponsorship agreement with American bank Capital One at the end of the previous season. The new kit sponsor for the season was visit Malta.com.

Competitions

Championship

Main article: 2008–09 Football League Championship

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers (C, P)	46	27	9	10	80	52	+28	90	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Birmingham City (P)	46	23	14	9	54	37	+17	83
3	Sheffield United	46	22	14	10	64	39	+25	80	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Reading	46	21	14	11	72	40	+32	77
5	Burnley (O, P)	46	21	13	12	72	60	+12	76

Updated to match(es) played on 3 May 2009. Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Matches

Championship match details

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	League[3] position	Ref.
9 August 2008	Birmingham City	Away	0–1		24,019	19th	[4]
16 August 2008	Queens Park Rangers	Home	3–0	Sharp 3', 13', 51'	25,273	11th	[5]
23 August 2008	Blackpool	Away	3–1	S. Quinn 21', Speed 57' pen., Halford 78'	8,611	5th	[6]
30 August 2008	Cardiff City	Home	0–0		29,226	5th	[7]
13 September 2008	Derby County	Away	1–2	Henderson 26'	28,473	6th	[8]
16 September 2008	Coventry City	Home	1–1	Sharp 56'	24,130	9th	[9]
20 September 2008	Norwich City	Away	0–1		24,175	15th	[10]
27 September 2008	Watford	Home	2–1	Speed 1', Beattie 66'	24,427	10th	[11]
30 September 2008	Doncaster Rovers	Away	2–0	Roberts 14' o.g., S. Quinn 60'	14,242	6th	[12]
4 October 2008	Bristol City	Home	3–0	Beattie 45', 69', Fontaine 56' o.g.	24,712	4th	[13]
19 October 2008	Sheffield Wednesday	Away	0–1		30,441	6th	[14]
21 October 2008	Southampton	Home	0–0		25,642	7th	[15]
25 October 2008	Preston North End	Home	1–0	Ehiogu 50'	24,445	5th	[16]
28 October 2008	Bristol City	Away	0–0		16,798	6th	[17]
1 November 2008	Plymouth Argyle	Home	2–0	Beattie 49' pen., 57'	25,601	5th	[18]
8 November 2008	Barnsley	Away	2–1	Beattie 20', 85' pen.	19,002	4th	[19]
15 November 2008	Reading	Home	0–2		25,065	5th	[20]
22 November 2008	Charlton Athletic	Away	5–2	Beattie 7', Speed 29', Kilgallon 45', Youga 48' o.g., S. Quinn 53'	20,328	4th	[21]
25 November 2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Home	1–3	Spring 75'	27,111	4th	[22]
29 November 2008	Ipswich Town	Away	1–1	Beattie 90' pen.	19,785	5th	[23]
6 December 2008	Burnley	Home	2–3	Beattie 36' pen., S. Quinn 87'	24,702	6th	[24]
9 December 2008	Nottingham Forest	Away	1–0	Howard 31'	19,541	5th	[25]
13 December 2008	Swansea City	Away	1–1	Morgan 87'	14,744	7th	[26]
20 December 2008	Crystal Palace	Home	2–2	Dyer 41', Beattie 88' pen.	23,045	6th	[27]
26 December 2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Away	1–1	Beattie 22'	27,106	8th	[28]
28 December 2008	Charlton Athletic	Home	3–1	S. Quinn 65', 79', Webber 72'	24,717	6th	[29]
10 January 2009	Norwich City	Home	1–0	Henderson 17'	27,267	4th	[30]
17 January 2009	Watford	Away	2–0	Webber 52', Henderson 67'	14,555	4th	[31]
27 January 2009	Doncaster Rovers	Home	0–1		26,555	4th	[32]
31 January 2009	Preston North End	Away	0–0		14,889	5th	[33]
3 February 2009	Southampton	Away	2–1	Halford 35', Ward 90'	13,257	4th	[34]
7 February 2009	Sheffield Wednesday	Home	1–2	Lupoli 5'	30,786	5th	[35]
21 February 2009	Plymouth Argyle	Away	2–2	Webber 63', Halford 72'	10,044	6th	[36]
1 March 2009	Birmingham City	Home	2–1	Webber 44', Cotterill 83' pen.	24,232	5th	[37]
4 March 2009	Coventry City	Away	2–1	Bromby 45', Morgan 54'	16,300	4th	[38]
7 March 2009	Queens Park Rangers	Away	0–0		13,718	5th	[39]
10 March 2009	Blackpool	Home	2–2	Coid 5 o.g., Cotterill 73 pen.	25,273	4th	[40]
14 March 2009	Derby County	Home	4–2	Naughton 7', Henderson 21', 62', Beattie 90'	27,565	4th	[41]
22 March 2009	Cardiff City	Away	3–0	Cotterill 25' pen., Ward 46', S. Quinn 87'	17,942	4th	[42]
4 April 2009	Ipswich Town	Home	2–0	Halford 19', Henderson 27'	25,315	4th	[43]
7 April 2009	Barnsley	Home	2–1	O'Toole 82', Lupoli 87'	27,061	3rd	[44]
10 April 2009	Reading	Away	1–0	Howard 59'	20,756	2nd	[45]
13 April 2009	Nottingham Forest	Home	0–0		28,374	3rd	[46]
20 April 2009	Burnley	Away	0–1		14,884	3rd	[47]
25 April 2009	Swansea City	Home	1–0	Cotterill 37' pen.	28,010	3rd	[48]
3 May 2009	Crystal Palace	Away	0–0		22,824	3rd	[49]

Play-offs

Play-off match details

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
Semi-final first leg	8 May 2009	Preston North End	Away	1–1	Howard 46'	19,840	[50]
Semi-final second leg	11 May 2009	Preston North End	Home	1–0 (2–1 agg.)	Halford 59'	26,354	[51]
Final	25 May 2009	Burnley	Neutral	0–1		80,518	[52]

FA Cup

FA Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
Third round	13 January 2009	Leyton Orient	Away	4–1	Halford 59', 78', Sharp 62', Naughton 69'	4,527	[53]
Fourth round	24 January 2009	Charlton Athletic	Home	2–1	Webber 26', Hendrie 62'	15,957	[54]
Fifth round	14 February 2009	Hull City	Home	1–1	Halford 7'	22,283	[55]
Fifth round replay	26 February 2009	Hull City	Away	1–2	Sharp 32'	17,239	[56]

League Cup

League Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
First round	13 August 2008	Port Vale	Home	3–1	Hendrie 41', S. Quinn 71', Webber 90' pen.	7,694	[57]
Second round	27 August 2008	Huddersfield Town	Away	2–1	Henderson 82', Naughton 83'	15,189	[58]
Third round	23 September 2008	Arsenal	Away	0–6		56,632	[59]

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of 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 1 GK  IRL Paddy Kenny[notes 1] 2 DF  ENG Greg Halford (on loan from Sunderland) 3 DF  SCO Gary Naysmith 4 MF  WAL David Cotterill 5 DF  ENG Chris Morgan 6 DF  ENG Matthew Kilgallon 7 FW  ENG Darius Henderson 9 FW  ITA Arturo Lupoli (on loan from Fiorentina) 10 FW  ENG Danny Webber 11 MF  ENG Lee Hendrie 12 DF  CHN Sun Jihai 13 GK  ENG Ian Bennett 15 MF  WAL Gary Speed 17 MF  SCO Nick Montgomery[notes 2] 18 MF  NIR Jamie Ward[notes 3]

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  SCO Craig Beattie (on loan from West Bromwich Albion) 20 MF  ENG Brian Howard 21 MF  IRL John-Joe O'Toole[notes 4] (on loan from Watford) 22 GK  MLT Justin Haber 24 FW  ENG Billy Sharp 25 MF  ALG Aymen Tahar 26 DF  ENG Derek Geary 27 MF  IRL Keith Quinn 28 MF  IRL Stephen Quinn 30 DF  ENG Kyle Naughton 31 MF  POL Ben Starosta[notes 5] 32 DF  ENG Leigh Bromby (on loan from Watford) 33 DF  ENG Ugo Ehiogu 34 DF  ENG Kyle Walker

Out on loan

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 14 DF  AUS David Carney (on loan at Norwich City)

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 FW  ENG Jordan Robertson (on loan to Ferencváros)

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 8 FW  ENG Jon Stead (to Ipswich Town) 8 FW  IRL Anthony Stokes (on loan from Sunderland) 9 FW  ENG James Beattie (to Stoke City) 18 MF  ENG Michael Tonge (to Stoke City)

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  ENG Nathan Dyer (on loan from Southampton) 19 MF  NIR Keith Gillespie (released) 20 DF  SCO Chris Armstrong[notes 6] (to Reading) 25 MF  ENG Matthew Spring (on loan from Luton Town)

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Championship		Play-offs		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	IRL	Paddy Kenny	50	0	44	0	3	0	2	0	1	0
13	GK	ENG	Ian Bennett	6	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
Defenders
2	DF	ENG	Greg Halford	49	8	31+10	4	3	1	4	3	1	0
3	DF	SCO	Gary Naysmith	43	0	37+2	0	0	0	3	0	1	0
5	DF	ENG	Chris Morgan	50	2	40+1	2	3	0	4	0	2	0
6	DF	ENG	Matthew Kilgallon	49	1	39+1	1	3	0	3	0	3	0
12	DF	CHN	Sun Jihai	17	1	11+1	1	0	0	3+1	0	1	0
26	DF	IRL	Derek Geary	3	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
30	DF	ENG	Kyle Naughton	50	3	39+1	1	3	0	3+1	1	0+3	1
32	DF	ENG	Leigh Bromby	13	1	6+6	1	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
33	DF	ENG	Ugo Ehiogu	17	1	11+5	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
34	DF	ENG	Kyle Walker	7	0	2	0	3	0	2	0	0	0
Midfielders
4	MF	WAL	David Cotterill	32	4	17+7	4	2	0	3	0	3	0
11	MF	ENG	Lee Hendrie	12	2	0+5	0	0+1	0	2+2	1	1+1	1
15	MF	WAL	Gary Speed	18	3	17	3	0	0	0	0	1	0
17	MF	SCO	Nick Montgomery	35	0	26+2	0	3	0	3	0	1	0
18	MF	NIR	Jamie Ward	18	2	7+9	2	1+1	0	0	0	0	0
20	MF	ENG	Brian Howard	32	3	22+4	2	3	1	1+2	0	0	0
21	MF	IRL	John-Joe O'Toole	9	1	5+4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	MF	ALG	Aymen Tahar	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
28	MF	IRL	Stephen Quinn	50	8	43	7	3	0	2	0	2	1
Forwards
7	FW	ENG	Darius Henderson	37	7	25+7	6	1	0	2	0	2	1
9	FW	ITA	Arturo Lupoli	11	2	2+7	2	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
10	FW	ENG	Danny Webber	41	6	21+15	4	0	0	1+1	1	2+1	1
19	FW	SCO	Craig Beattie	16	1	1+12	1	2+1	0	0	0	0	0
24	FW	ENG	Billy Sharp	27	6	17+5	4	0	0	4	2	0+1	0
Players left during the season
8	FW	ENG	Jon Stead	2	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
8	FW	IRL	Anthony Stokes	13	0	5+7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
9	FW	ENG	James Beattie	24	12	21+2	12	0	0	0	0	1	0
14	DF	AUS	David Carney	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
18	MF	ENG	Michael Tonge	5	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
18	FW	ENG	Nathan Dyer	7	1	3+4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF	NIR	Keith Gillespie	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	DF	SCO	Chris Armstrong	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
25	FW	ENG	Matthew Spring	13	1	8+3	1	0	0	0	0	2	0

Source:^[60]

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Name	Club From	Fee	Reference
2 July 2008	DF	Sun Jihai	Manchester City	Free	[61]
23 July 2008	FW	Darius Henderson	Watford	£2,000,000	[62]
31 July 2008	MF	David Cotterill	Wigan Athletic	Undisclosed	[63]
31 July 2008	GK	Justin Haber	Haidari F.C.	Free	[63]
19 January 2009	MF	Jamie Ward	Chesterfield	£400,000	[64]

Out

Date	Position	Name	Club To	Fee	Reference
4 July 2008	DF	Chris Lucketti	Huddersfield Town	Free	[65]
21 July 2008	FW	Rob Hulse	Derby County	£1,750,000	[66]
24 July 2008	FW	Luton Shelton	Valerenga	£1,000,000	[67]
2 September 2008	MF	Michael Tonge	Stoke City	£2,000,000	[68]
15 September 2008	FW	Jon Stead	Ipswich Town	Undisclosed	[69]
12 January 2009	FW	James Beattie	Stoke City	£3,500,000	[70]
30 January 2009	MF	Keith Gillespie	None	Released	[71]

Loan In

Date	Position	Name	Club From	Length	Reference
2 July 2008	DF	Greg Halford	Sunderland	Full-Season	[61]
31 July 2008	MF	Matthew Spring	Luton Town	Full-Season (ended 9 January)	[63]
2 February 2009	FW	Arturo Lupoli	Fiorentina	Until end of season	[72]

Loan Out

Date	Position	Name	Club To	Length	Reference
23 July 2008	DF	Ben Starosta	Aldershot Town	One Month	[73]
1 September 2008	FW	Jon Stead	Ipswich Town	Six Months (made permanent 15 September)	[74]
2 September 2008	DF	Ben Starosta	Lechia Gdansk	Six Months	[75]
28 January 2009	MF	David Carney	Norwich City	Until end of season	[76]