Sheffield United’s Bob Booker on his proudest day and the missing armband

May 5, 1990. A scorching day at Filbert Street where a blistering performance from Sheffield United saw them reach the sunlit upwards of the top-flight after an absence of 14 years in some style with a 5-2 win at Leicester City.

It was celebrated in fitting fashion by 10,000 Blades fans who colonised one part of the East Midlands for the afternoon. Many may have been sweltering in fancy dress gear, but they scarcely noticed on an occasion where it was raining goals.

The honour of leading the Blades – resplendent in their fluorescent yellow away kit – to promotion was bestowed upon Booker in the absence of injured regular captain Paul Stancliffe.

For the midfielder, a cult hero in his time at Bramall Lane, it was the perfect day. Well, almost.

Booker told The Yorkshire Post: “I remember coming out of the ground and was having a nice cold lager and was met by my family as my dad and sister had travelled down; they used to come to most of the games.

“I gave my armband away to a lad and I am still trying to trace that back!

“But what a day it was. Walking down that tunnel with that group of players behind coming out to that group of support we had that day – I’d probably say 60 per cent were in fancy dress that day...

“I have done a lot of things in my career as a player and staff member – I played at Wembley and had promotions – but that afternoon with the armband on was probably my greatest memory as a footballer. It was a fantastic day.

“To be given the armband was probably the biggest accolade I could have expected.

“Harry (Dave Bassett) pulled me on the Tuesday or Wednesday and said that ‘Stan’ was not going to make it with a hamstring.

“It was his downfall to my gain and I will be forever grateful – not for Stan getting injured – but for Harry to pick me out of the players.

“There were the likes of Chrissy Wilder there, a Sheffield boy, and Mark Morris and Deano (Brian Deane).”

On the Blades holding their nerve to get over the line, he added: “We got a bit of a tonking at Leeds United five or six games in and then went on a bit of a run – you felt as if it was there, but you could never take it for granted. As a group of players, nothing was going to deter us from our focus for that last game – nothing at all.

“There were too many big characters. If anyone dropped off their guard, they’d have been on you – not matter who it was.

“It was a strong and vicious dressing room with the banter. You had to be strong. If you didn’t survive that dressing room, you had no chance. It was highly-charged and everyone was on the same wavelength.

“We played hard, worked hard and partied hard.”

Bassett’s final words to his players before kick-off famously featured in a six-part BBC2 documentary called “United”.

The Londoner, whose side were pitted in a three-way final-day battle for automatic promotion with Leeds and Newcastle, said: “If you are sh*tting yourself, just imagine what me and ‘Bag’ (assistant Geoff Taylor) are doing...’

A 4-2 interval lead in a six-goal first-half which saw scores of delirious Unitedites party on the pitch eased the nerves, not that Bassett – in typically grounded fashion – was particularly happy. Although he probably was inwardly.

On his words beforehand and at the break, Booker said: “It was typical Harry and he was trying to keep our feet on the ground at the start and we were charged up anyway.

“Then we were 4-2 up at half-time and him and Geoff were having a bit of a row about the zone man (for a Leicester goal) which was quite comical really.

“We were all sitting around getting cold towels around us as it was so hot and thought: ‘we’re cruising.’

“But Harry didn’t want to take his foot off the pedal. That was his skill and he didn’t let us get above our station and his feet were always on the floor and his man-management was fantastic.”

The Blades stayed on message in the second half – as they had throughout a vintage season which ended in a second successive promotion – with Tony Agana (2), Paul Wood, Deane and Wilf Rostron all netting on that feted occasion.

After the game, thousands of Unitedites flooded onto the pitch, with Bassett famously stripped down to his underpants.

The party continued back at the Lane, yet for Booker, a quiet night with family and friends back in his home town of Watford followed an exhilarating, but emotionally draining day.

It was on the Sunday morning that glorious reality truly sunk in. “I actually went back to Watford. I think the team went back to the Lane and got mobbed in the car park. I was in another car going back to Watford.

“When I got back, all the street had been decorated with banners saying: ‘congratulations Bob’ and ‘Sheffield United – promoted.’

“That was nice as I hadn’t been home for a couple of months.

“It was such an emotional day that I was physically drained by then. But the dressing-room celebrations were next to none.

“I took it all in the next day reading the papers that we were promoted to the Promised Land. It really sunk in then.

“I was at the back end of my playing career and thinking: ‘Blimey, you are going to be playing the Liverpools, Man Uniteds, Chelseas and Arsenals of this world’.”

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