‘Proud’ Chris Basham’s Sheffield United love affair laid bare on ninth arrival anniversary

Then a 25-year-old midfielder, Basham arrived under Nigel Clough and signed an initial three-year deal in South Yorkshire. Almost a decade on he remains very much part of the furniture at Bramall Lane and helped the Blades to a third promotion in seven seasons earlier this year, to ensure he will celebrate his 10th campaign in United colours at the very top level.

Basham’s Bramall Lane story is punctuated by highs and lows. A member of the Clough squad that reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, and the Nigel Adkins side that stumbled to 11th in League One a year later, Basham was the biggest beneficiary of the 3-5-2 tactical tweak employed by Chris Wilder early in his reign and, unleashed as an attacking right-sided defender, helped the Blades storm their way from League One and into the Premier League in the space of just three seasons.

Both the 34-year-old’s ability and attitude have made him a fans’ favourite on the United terraces and despite growing up in the north east, 110 miles from Bramall Lane, few embody what it means to represent this football club more than Basham, who made his 500th career appearance during United’s 2022/23 promotion campaign.

“I’m awfully proud of that achievement, for sure,” Basham admitted. “From the lads I was at the academy at Newcastle with, only a handful made it [into the professional game] and it just shows how hard it is.

“To stick at it and get to 500, and be up there with everyone else who has done that, proves I have had the belief of coaches and managers over the years. And had belief in myself, too. I’m still going and hopefully I can carry it on for a good few years yet.”

Memories to last a lifetime

After almost a decade of service it took the signing of Anel Ahmedhodzic, a player with Champions League experience who looks destined to reach such heights again, for Basham to lose his regular place in the United line-up but he still made 35 appearances as Paul Heckingbottom’s side saw off the challenges of Luton Town and Middlesbrough to seal their place in the Premier League next season.

He has another year to run on his Bramall Lane deal - taking him to 10 years as a Blade and a likely testimonial - and already memories to last a lifetime. For many, the highlight of his United career so far was his crucial goal at Elland Road to seal victory over Leeds, at a time when the two were neck-and-neck for automatic promotion. United went on to seal it and Basham’s strike, guided into the bottom corner as he slipped on the wet turf, was named the goal of the season - with United’s media staff joking with the man himself that it was the first tackle to win the award.

There is a wonderful sense of self-deprecation about Basham as a person and whenever that goal is brought up, he is the first to point out that he was having a bit of a nightmare in the game up to that point. Redeployed as a midfielder, he fluffed an early chance in the first half and was expecting to be dragged at half-time. In typical Basham fashion, he kept his head down, kept going, and reaped the rewards as he slid across the turf in iconic celebration.

When United followed up promotion with an amazing attempt at qualifying for Europe - who knows what could have been but for Covid-19? - and United shocked the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs to ultimately finish ninth in the Premier League, it was Basham who was voted player of the year. With 385 appearances now on his Blades CV, he goes into the new season with the target of joining the 400 club firmly in his sights.

‘Everything can change in a heartbeat’

“Everyone talks about the Leeds goal but it wasn’t my best performance,” he said, with a wry smile, when pressed for a highlight of his United story to date. “It was just a massive goal. It just shows how quickly football can change, in a heartbeat.

“Looking back, Arsenal and West Ham in the Premier League at home were big ones. The Premier League is such a demanding and focused league, with all the television and the media, so to have a good season and get player of the year was massive for me.

“For me it’s about characteristics. Be good in what you do and try not to change too much. The Blades have seen that for a long time and I leave it all out there, give 100 per cent. And I think that stands me in good stead. Everything that comes along with that is a bonus. I think that's why managers have taken to us, because they know what they're going to get. There might be the odd mistake there, I'll hold my hands up, but in the next game I'm sure it'll be better. 

“There were always goals as a player and a club and the main one when I first came was to get out of League One. It took three years and that was tough going, under three managers. To get the promotion how we did and how it went from there, under Chris Wilder, was amazing.

“The formation, I'll always be grateful to him for that and we're still playing the system now. Open-top buses for promotions, you dream of things like that as a kid. And to do it at Sheffield United has been amazing.”