This city, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and you are why we do what we do

I have adopted this city as my own, though, because in it I have everything I want in a home – beautiful surroundings, fantastic people, enviable musical heritage and... football.

Of course, before I moved here I knew about football in Sheffield; I knew about Wembley, about promotions, about Waddle, about Bassett, Hirst, Deane, Kelly, Sheridan and thanks to a huge bundle of Shoot! magazines from the ‘70s being handed down to me by an uncle, I even knew a little about Curran and Currie.

But it took me to move here to realise just how much football means to the people here, for it is at the heart of everything.

It forms the basis of conversation wherever I go… at the bus stop, in the queue at the post office, in the coffee shop, on the school run, in the pub…

People can talk about Manchester or Merseyside or Glasgow or the North East or Birmingham, in terms of cities and regions where the game envelops the lives of its citizens but Sheffield people are every bit as fanatical and passionate about their clubs as those who might follow Manchester United or Liverpool, or Newcastle or Rangers.

In fact, given the long, dark times that both Wednesday and United have been through over the years, yet still packed into Hillsborough and Bramall Lane in their thousands each and every week, the love for their clubs runs much deeper than many.

Here at The Star, we love Sheffield’s football clubs. We feel the pain and anguish and celebrate the great days – if only in our words from where we’re watching, rather than in our actions.

We’ve been everywhere; up and down the country, up and down the divisions and for each and every match - we do that so we can inform you about what your clubs are doing and share in the highs and lows.

We want to keep doing that. We want to be writing tales of triumph for many years to come.

From James Shield’s unique and unrivalled insight on what goes on at Bramall Lane and Shirecliffe and Danny Hall’s encylopedic knowledge of the Blades, to Joe Crann and Alex Miller’s exclusive transfer news and fascinating in-depth interviews on those in and around Wednesday past and present, we have everything covered and we do it all with the passion that’s inspired by you, the supporters, our readers.

This week, The Star launched something new for the city's football fans. Since last year we had been offering subscription packages to help maintain the best local journalism that The Star offers.

However, we now realise that for many of you, football is what you come to us for. We also know that while we serve Sheffield, United and Wednesday have fans all over the country, indeed the world, and that maybe news from Broomhill or Batemoor isn’t what interests them.

So, with that in mind, we can now provide a discounted subscription sports package, that gives you all the football and sports news you want, without the rest of it that you may not want.

Dozens of fresh articles every day – reports, live blogs, previews, post-match analysis, interviews with the key figures, podcasts, nostalgia. In time, we’ll also be providing special offers and hosting exclusive events for our subscribers. All of this comes to the equivalent of less than £1 a week.

Local journalism costs, so If you value what we do, in bringing you the best coverage of United and Wednesday, then please consider subscribing to our sports package. You’ll find all the details at thestar.co.uk/subscriptions/sports

Chris Holt, Football Editor