'Mr Angry' George Baldock leaves indelible mark on Sheffield United after seven-year love affair

Just weeks later, Baldock was a Blade and during his first newspaper interview, spoke in glowing terms about what he had witnessed - the red and white invasion of the sleepy city in his native Buckinghamshire. It was his first real taste of both what United was, and what it could be, but even he couldn't imagine the journey they would both go on together. Inside less than two years he had helped United into the Premier League - a year later and they were challenging for Europe before Covid-19 spread across the globe and wrecked their dreams.

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Baldock attacked the Premier League like a man who had been waiting for the chance his entire life. A man who had experienced life in what is now the National League with Tamworth, and a spell in Iceland on loan at ÍBV, scored his first Premier League goal in front of almost 60,000 at a shiny Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so new that you could still smell the paint on the walls. It wasn't quite Roy of the Rovers stuff but still Baldock's own football fairytale, testament to one man's determination to squeeze every drop out of his career.

It didn't take long for him to establish himself as a fans' favourite, seeing off competition from Keiron Freeman to establish himself as United's first-choice right-back. Unitedites appreciate flair and finesse more than they are given credit for but the prerequisite will always be passion and commitment, traits that Baldock possessed in spades.

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The 'Furious George' nickname amongst supporters was well earned, the bulging-bicep on-field aggression seen as a way to even the odds a little and get an edge over whichever poor left-winger happened to be in his firing line that afternoon. It was born out of a sheer love - desperation, even - to win. He even hated losing at pool in the players' lounge next to the press conference room at United's Shirecliffe training ground, although he readily admitted he was more adept at kicking balls than potting them.

That passion wasn't posturing for the fans; they saw a man who represented their club like a man born in Beighton or Birley, rather than Buckinghamshire, and that won instant respect and affection which went the other way as well.

A nightmare to come up against, a dream to deal with. In our first interview he was wide-eyed at the challenge of competing in the Championship; in our last, he was talking about what it was like to come up against Kylian Mbappe and the rest of France's World Cup-winning cohort with Greece. 

He became an international footballer at United, helped forge the most exciting journey in the club's recent history. He made a home in the Steel City, became a father. He will forever be known as a Legend at the Lane. The Starman, running down the right.