The Sheffield derby had everything - well, almost everything

By David Anderson

Published 08:30 22/09/09

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I had the pleasure of attending the Steel City derby last Friday, and what a game.

As Kevin Blackwell said afterwards it had everything - great goals, poor goals, great play and some poor defending.

But there was one ingredient missing, which would have made it an even better occasion - a full house.

Bramall Lane was 1,700 fans short of capacity, while at Hillsborough it is an even worse story.

For the last two seasons, the derby has been 8,000 short of being a sell-out at the home of Sheffield Wednesday.

That's a sad reflection on the Sheffield footballing public, especially when they try and talk the game up as one of the country's biggest derbies.

But then as one wag said to me on Friday, it's the biggest derby in the world which doesn't sell out.

Before anyone mentions tight Yorkshiremen, there were 38,000 at Elland Road on Tuesday to watch Leeds play Liverpool reserves.

It's also disappointing because the Sheffield 2018 committee chose the game to champion their bid to be a host city if England wins the right to stage the World Cup in nine years' time.

Their efforts won't have been helped by a below-capacity crowd and the fans really need to turn out in force if they are serious about being a host city.

God forbid that two Lancashire cities - Liverpool and Manchester - should get in ahead of them or, worse still, Leeds.

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