How humble hero was spurred on to Sheffield United magic moment by unwelcome Sheffield Wednesday feeling
How humble hero was spurred on to Sheffield United magic moment by Sheffield Wednesday “entitlement” feeling
On Sunday morning, when he climbs the steps of Hillsborough’s south stand and sees the green of the pitch beneath him, Carl Asaba’s eyes may instinctively be drawn to his left. It was at that end of the stadium, after all, where he made Sheffield United history almost a quarter of a decade ago.
It was April Fool’s Day in 2001 and the striker had not long since been a United player, making a move north from Gillingham as one of the many signed during a period in which Neil Warnock collected strikers like kids collected football cards. But few made as much of an impact, or as quickly. Asaba’s winning goal that day against Wednesday was his second in three United appearances.
Earlier he had set up Laurent D’Jaffo’s opener before glancing a header past a stricken Kevin Pressman, in front of a jubilant Leppings Lane end. It was the 100th league Steel City Derby between the two old rivals, and Asaba had made himself its hero.
“You asked me if I fancied it ... do you not remember me as a striker?!” laughed Asaba as he recalled his magical moment in a chat with The Star, in his typical self-deprecating manner. But to find a way past Pressman, who transformed into the second coming of Lev Yashin whenever United were in town, took some going at the time and even if it may not have been the goal he dreamed about when his head hit the pillow the previous evening, it has since been cemented in Blades folklore.
“It was just one of those moments,” Asaba, now 52, admitted. “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.
Humble hero spurred on to Sheffield United magic moment by unwelcome Sheffield Wednesday feeling
“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.”
On Sunday he will be back at Hillsborough in his post-retirement capacity as an expert summariser for local radio, having made a popular return from hiatus last season. He is now a signed-up northern native, fully immersed in the spirit and history of United as a football club.
Back in 2001, though, he was still settling into life in the Steel City after being tempted north following spells with Brentford, Colchester United, Reading and the Gills - 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 added. “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.
“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, so I was definitely going to score. 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.”
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, it was provided to him on a plate 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.
I love living up here. The Sheffield people have been wonderful to me and the club. It’s a massive part of my life.
“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.”
And the humble Asaba went on to make himself a Blades icon. Even if he doesn’t really believe so.