8: Javier Mascherano, Argentina, Topps Match Attax Trading Card Game, England Collector Binder

We’re in the capable hands of Mat Jolin-Beech today as he takes a look at one of the most questionable transfers of all time and why, in 2007, even more people decided to hate West Ham than usual. Personally I cleaned up on a 40/1 shot when Tevez scored the goal that kept them up and sent Sheffield United down so I remember this all a bit differently. Over to Mat.

Every club has a rival, that other team they hate, and that hatred is ingrained from the moment fandom is bestowed upon you. Chelsea and Fulham. Liverpool and Everton. Bristol City and Bristol Rovers. Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.

But, all fans have that other club they hate almost as much. Liverpool; Millwall; any club managed by Jose Mourinho (apart from if he’s the gaffer at your team); Liverpool. For Blades fans, that club is West Ham United.

It dates back to the 2006/07 season and the impossible was becoming a reality for Alan Pardew’s Hammers. The final day of the summer transfer window, and deadline day rumours were filtering through that West Ham were beating Europe’s elite to the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Those rumours were true.


Long story short – questions about the ownership of both players, third parties involved, a lot of money, some shady dealings, an independent commission investigation and a record £5.5m fine ensued. For the Hammers, a tumultuous season saw them narrowly avoid relegation and condemn, unfairly in the view of Blades’ supporters, Sheffield United to relegation.

However, whether it is Karma, these things often have a way of eventually righting themselves. West Ham have bumbled along the middle-to-lower reaches of the best league in the world for years. Some highlights have been in there – like Dimitri Payet becoming a cult hero before pissing off fans and heading to continental Europe. For Sheffield United things have been a bit more of a roller coaster. After relegation there was a failed playoff attempt, then relegation to League One under multiple managers, a Saudi takeover and the rapid climb from the third tier to the top table for the start of this season.

Astute loan signings, Dean Henderson predominantly, and other smart deals such as bringing the experience of Phil Jagielka back to Bramall Lane; Scot Ollie McBurnie and Frenchman Lys Mousset from Swansea and Bournemouth for £20m and £10m respectively. Blades fans are flying high and in the mix for Champions League football. They find themselves seventh and only two points (or five depending on the Manchester City ban) from making it into Europe’s elite club competition. They’re playing great football masterminded by their very own Chris Wilder and his unique overlapping centre back philosophy. Plus there is steel (sorry – I had to) in his team. They are fifth in the clean sheet standing – behind Liverpool, Burnley, Leicester City and Man City.

At the suspension of the Premier League, hilariously halting Liverpool’s march towards the title, West Ham found themselves struggling at the wrong end of the table.  Title winning manager Manuel Pellegrini was sacked before the turn of the year for a combination of poor results and not playing the West Ham way. Their saviour, their chosen one: one David Moyes. Again. But this has failed to turn their season around. Sixteenth; 29 games played; 27 points; only out of the relegation zone on goal difference – by three goals in their favour. No wonder the London Stadium faithful are willing the season to be cancelled!

The Blades are dreaming big and looking forward to the resumption of the season, if it happens, and to next season. West Ham are hoping the season is cancelled, and somehow someone will find a way out of their drudgery and misery. David Moyes anyone? Oh, wait….The Blades are basking in the brilliance of their football and believing anything can happen and especially laughing at West Ham - who tried to mug them, and everyone else, off with the troubled double ‘signings’ of Tevez and Mascherano.

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