How Sheffield United's lowest ebb left an impression on new boy Charlie Goode

Sunday May 8, 2016, and a 2-0 defeat for the Blades at home to Scunthorpe United. The Blades had limped to an 11th-placed finish in League One and would compete in the third tier of English football for a sixth season the following campaign.

Nigel Adkins, then the Blades boss, decided to lead his side on a post-match ‘lap of appreciation’ that was turned more into a walk of shame in the eyes of those Unitedites who had even bothered to stay behind to voice their frustrations.

In a damning sign of how far United had fallen, most of their fans merely shrugged their shoulders and went home.

It turned out to be the start of a new dawn for the Blades, as Adkins was sacked and his replacement Chris Wilder led his boyhood club all the way into the Premier League, and so nearly beyond.

And it was a day that resonated with Goode, too. The giant centre-half was in the Scunthorpe squad that triumphed 2-0 at Bramall Lane, to cap a miserable season for United.

Is this United's strongest side after transfer window slammed shut?

But despite all that, United’s fanbase left a lasting impressing on the now-26-year-old, who admitted to being “a big fan of everything about the club” in his first meeting with the media since arriving at Bramall Lane on loan from Brentford earlier this week.

“The fans have been incredible, one of the best I’ve played in front of, and to see them rise from League One to the Premier League was a special watch, to be honest, from the outside,” Goode admitted.

“I played against them in League One and it was a no-brainer to come here. I could have stayed at Brentford but I wanted to play some games.

“Looking at the table, the results the boys have had recently and the games in hand, I can’t see any reason why we can’t fly up it.

“There’s no reason why we can’t do something here.”

The chances of United replicating what was such a special journey under Wilder appear slim, but his successor Heckingbottom has gone about things in his own way and in an understated, but successful manner.

Blades boss teases possibility of permanent deal for Brentford loanee Goode

The United manager teased the possibility of the Blades signing Goode on a permanent basis in the summer but for now, the arrangement is purely a loan – and in some eyes, a chance for Goode to put himself in the shop window for a possible move.

Not that the man himself is necessarily looking at it that way.

“You’re always in the shop window when you’re on that pitch,” he said diplomatically, before reminding that he is under contract at Brentford for two more years in the summer.

“If you ask any player, when you’re not playing it’s not nice.

“Whoever they are. I’m not going to be happy to sit in the background at a Premier League club and get a game here and there. I want to be a part of it.”

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