PUT TO THE SWORD
If there is one positive Sheffield United fans can cling to after Sunday’s shellacking by Newcastle, it’s that no team that has ever shipped eight or more goals in a Premier League match has ever gone on to be relegated that season. Unless, of course, you want to be pedantic and count Ipswich Town, who went down after losing 9-0 at Old Trafford in March 1995. Or Nottingham Forest, who finished rock-bottom of the table after losing 8-1 at home to Lord Ferg’s treble-winners of 1999. Or the Blades’ rivals Sheffield Wednesday, who dropped through the trap-door at the end of a campaign in which they also lost 8-0 to Newcastle, a game in which Alan Shearer spanked five goals past an increasingly glum Kevin Pressman.
