My First Game: The day I watched Sheffield United slide into Division Four... and haven't looked back since!

Today, Mark Percival remembers the day he first saw United – their infamous game against Walsall in 1981, when the Blades slid into the old Fourth Division.

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My mate invited me to the game and I thought 'why not? It'll be a laugh'. I was told the Blades needed a draw to stay in Division Three and Walsall HAD to win, so what could go wrong?

We got into Sheffield and did the usual matchday thing of going to the Chippy and then getting a pint or two. We parked up on Myrtle Road and started to walk up to Bramall Lane with other groups of fans, I found this quite exciting and felt part of an army.

You could cut the air with a knife and I was loving this atmosphere, I'd never experienced anything quite like it. We got into the ground, Kop end, and bought the traditional meat and potato pie - which was bloody hot but pretty good at that time - and then we wondered onto the Kop and picked our spot (standing).

I remember the atmosphere building towards kick-off and my mate telling me the importance of the game. For me, it was a day out and a chance to see Martin Peters play. The game itself was a tight scrappy affair with few chances but, at 0-0, my mate's team were staying up and the fans were well behind their club.

I seem to recall the ref getting laid out and being replaced by the lino at some stage, anyway with five mins to go Walsall get a penalty and scored. S**t.

The atmosphere changed badly at that point with fans climbing the barriers in anger but then the Blades get a penalty and the fans are going mad. Don Givens was tasked with taking the pen, he put the ball on the spot and stepped back... I'm sure I recall he put the shot to his left, it was a very soft shot and the goalkeeper saved it.

A few minutes later the final whistle blew and Blades were relegated. I remember fans climbing over the barriers en mass and getting onto the pitch before the players had got off. Some fans attacked the Walsall players, which was such a bad sight to see.

On the Kop grown men were crying and I thought 'wow, this club means so much to these guys that they are in floods of tears.' I started to attend the following season's friendlies and went to as many Fourth Division games as I could afford. I haven't looked back since.