'How Sheffield Wednesday "entitlement" sense drove me on to score iconic Sheffield United derby goal'

It’s almost 24 years since Carl Asaba’s magic moment at Wednesday but when the former Sheffield United striker closes his eyes and thinks back to that day in 2001, he can still picture it in every vivid detail. The red-and-white mass behind the goal in the Leppings Lane end. Paul Devlin’s lofted cross. And the thoughts that rushed through his head as the ball fell towards him and time seemed to stand completely still.

“I was thinking: ‘Gee, if you get your head on this, Carl, you’ve done well!’” Asaba admitted in a chat with The Star ahead of Sunday’s derby between the best of enemies on that same patch of turf. “You asked me if I fancied it ... do you not remember me as a striker?!

“But seriously, it was just one of those moments ... the ball was going away from goal and if anything, I was a little bit in front of the cross. I knew I had to try and shape it on target. It wasn’t the greatest header as far as power and everything goes. But I look back now, like a few of my goals in my career, and I couldn’t do it again.

“It was just the perfect header for me to do that one time. I think of the number of managers who would have screamed at me over the years,, asking: ‘How can’t he get it on target?’ But in this match, you know, it all came good. And the commentator at the time said: ‘Oh, it wasn’t a great header from Asaba, let’s be fair.’ It couldn’t have been any better!

“It was right in the corner. They had Kevin Pressman scurrying across the line and he couldn’t get there. The feeling was just incredible. And then the scenes in the stands ... it was bouncing. It was an incredible occasion. You could see the joy that it brought to the Blades fans, and we were with them. I still get goosebumps now because, you know, 24 years on now, it’s still so vivid in my mind. I get stopped all the time by people who remember it and it meant so much to them. So, I’m massively proud that I was involved in that.”

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Asaba’s header sealed a 2-1 victory for the Blades after he helped set up Laurent D’Jaffo for the opener - “I was more proud of that, to be honest, because you’re hearing my name alongside the legend that is Des Walker” - and the 52-year-old will be an interested observer this weekend when Chris Wilder’s men take the same journey across the Steel City. Back then Asaba was still settling into life in Sheffield after a bargain move from Gillingham - for whom he had scored at Hillsborough less than a month earlier.

“I was still living in a hotel and at the time I wasn’t aware just how huge a match it was,” Asaba continued. “You used to be able to go up the high street and go shopping back then, and people would stop you and say: ‘You can’t lose this match. You’ve got to do it.’ Then the nerves started building.

“Maybe because I was quite new to it, that helped in a way. In lots of derbies you see crazy tackles going in, where, the emotion and the occasion gets the better of people. They act in a way that they wouldn’t normally do. I’d played in big matches before. At Wembley against Man City in front of 80,000. But the atmosphere that day at Hillsborough was bouncing.

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“I wasn’t prepared for what it was going to be like. Even on the drive from Bramall Lane, there were people everywhere. I can still see the colours. It was April Fool’s Day. I was definitely going to score, because it was my day! But seriously, it’s a massive occasion and you’ve really got to focus on the game in hand and not get carried away.”

Wednesday had not long been relegated from the Premiership and still had a strong team - including two future Blades in Leigh Bromby and Alan Quinn. United were more in a transition period, with Bury loanee Darren Bullock given a full debut against England international Carlton Palmer. “I was so proud, because we were a hodge-podge team,” Asaba smiled.

“We were rag-tag, really, weren’t we? Darren came in on loan and Carlton Palmer was having a go at him but he just didn’t care. He just got on with it. My next door neighbour Trond Soltvedt was in there, they had Gilles De Bilde and Gerald Sibon. It was a really, really top team but we went there and we gave everything.”

Entitlement

As a young striker looking to seize the chance at a club the size of United, Asaba needed little extra motivation to perform in a game of the derby’s magnitude. But if he did, he was provided it on his previous visit to S6 with the Gills. “I didn’t enjoy it,” he said. “The way some people who worked at the club spoke and acted to us, it got my back up. I won’t go into it too much but they did offend a lot of us.

“So I was delighted to score there and I went back remembering what the occasion was like as Gillingham. To be fair, the fans weren’t bothered about Gillingham! There was no added spice. So I thought it would be similar, maybe just a little bit intense. But it was crazy.

“They’d just come down and still had a lot of massive stars. Up to that point, the Owls were the bigger team. And you felt there was a sense of entitlement because of that. But I think that’s when the changing of the guard really happened, and the Blades went on to become the stronger team in the city.”

“This club means everything”

Since then United have been promoted to the Premier League three times and hope to make that four this season, with Londoner Asaba watching every kick from afar after stepping back from matchday punditry duties to focus on his two sons’ own promising careers.

“This club means everything to me,” he admitted. “I’ve had three children born up here and I don’t understand half the stuff they say, because they’ve got the full Sheffield accent! But I love living up here. The Sheffield people have been wonderful to me and the club. It’s a massive part of my life.

“I’m missing doing the co-commentary. I’m not sure too many of the fans are missing me doing it, but I loved doing it and being part of everything. I’m getting to watch the team. Hopefully the red half will get the result we want, but I am happy that the blue team are coming back because their fans deserve stuff to cheer. They’ve had such lows over the last couple of years. The rivalry is good. I just hope we nick it.”