Suzanne Liversidge
President of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce
ALTHOUGH I vowed never to put myself through it again after the loss to Burnley, of course I have secured my place at Wembley and will be there, travelling on the Blades train. Once a Blade, always a Blade! I will be watching it with my family and the McCabe family.
We have enjoyed a great season, bar the last few weeks, with plenty of goals and an impressive record. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t do it automatically, and I am sure Danny and the lads are ready to make their season performance count.
We are a Premiership club and deserve to get back up there. On the day the team simply need to believe (and score !!).
Peter Charlton
Editorial Director for Yorkshire Post Newspapers
ALL season, I have said – to anyone that cared to listen – that I would not be going to the play-offs should the Blades drop out of the automatic promotion positions.
After the Millennium Stadium, where the match was effectively over after 11 minutes, and Wembley, where we failed to show up against Burnley, it just seemed too painful...
However, the decision was taken for me as I have to be in London on Friday – so we’re making a weekend of it. This time I’m gambling on the tactical nous of Danny Wilson to see us through.
My partner, Joan, and I are going as guests of the sponsors, npower. There was talk of an invite from Huddersfield Town and I do know at least one colleague is going with them, but that would have been too difficult to comprehend: I would have had to wear blue… and sit on my hands!
Whatever happens, this is the last we’ll see of this team: if we stay in League One, there will be wholesale changes and if we are promoted, half the team will be moved on… but at least under this manager we’ve tried to play football.
Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Webster
Sky Sports presenter
OF course I will be there, positively giving all my support. No negativeness or mention of our play-off record.
I just keep having visions though of 2009 when we might as well have just given a free Premier League pass to Burnley. It was so disappointing that United just didn’t turn up. I was with my Grandma at Wembley last time, I had to hold her back from running on the pitch and giving our players a kick up the backside. This time she is refusing to go with me as she says she can’t cope with the heartache and let-down.
I still haven’t decided who I’m going with – my Grandma’s refusing to come, she’ll be watching from behind the settee. Especially as she has an Owl sat right next to her in my Grandad.
I have a good feeling about this time around. I’ve absolutely loved this season, probably because we’ve actually won games – in all seriousness, though, the rivalry has been fantastic and the football we’ve been playing has been a joy to watch.
The end of the season has been unfortunate but I’m proud of the way we got through the semis and I think Danny Wilson did a great job with an out-of-form team.
Paul Blomfield
MP for Sheffield Central
AFTER my experience at the last three play-off finals, like a lot of Blades, I swore I’d never go to another one. But of course I’ll be there.
After such an exciting season, Wembley is a disappointment, but we’ve got to get behind the team and get back into the Championship.
JP Bean
Local historian and writer
I’VE been watching United since I was eight and I’m not of an optimistic disposition so I never expect a good outcome, although I hope for one. It’s a long way back from Wembley if you lose so I’ll watch it on television.
Jon Parry
Research Manager, Skills for Justice
CAN I face watching another play-off? Yes, but with trepidation and through my fingers. I will be at home with a beer, my wife and two youngest sons – one of whom is a Swansea fan! Oh and our new gecko (with cat watching him more closely than the match). My weekend will be punctuated by birthday celebrations, my son Dan’s birthday being postponed until the Sunday and my mother’s 70th similarly re-accommodated to ensure I can watch the inevitable.
This season has been great – however the signs for this Saturday aren’t good. I suffered the heartache of the last play-off final from a bar in Italy and this year we’re going to Italy again.
Vieni su di voi Blades! (which means Come on You Blades).
Roger Glossop
Stage designer and director of the World of Beatrix Potter, Windermere
LAST time we were on a cycling holiday down the Danube and sitting in our hotel at the famous Schlogen bend when our son, Samuel, rang to tell us Burnley had won.
The only previous play-off final I’ve seen was the Crystal Palace one but I am going this time, though I’m not sure my presence will influence the outcome. But at least I will see the new Wembley for the first time. The whole family are going, it will be a day out. Last week Samuel suffered a nasty football injury which left him with a broken cheek and is going into hospital and having a plate put in. He’s supposed to convalesce for two weeks but says he’s coming. That’s the sort of thing you do if you’re a Blade.
Mark Frith
Editorial Director of FHM, Grazia, Zoo and Empire magazines.
I WAS there in 97, to see that heart-breaking last-minute goal with my own eyes. Then we found a puncture on our car as we got to the car park. And, being hopeless, I had to call on a Palace fan to mend it. Not good.
I wasn’t there when Wolves thrashed us (can you blame me?) but I will be there this Saturday. In a season of craziness, where odder things have happened, could it really be our year? Hope over experience. Believe, my friends...
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Hoyle swaps saddle for Royal Box seat hoping for Town’s ascension - yorkshirepost
WHEN Dean Hoyle catches his first glimpse this afternoon of the Wembley arch that has become such a familiar landmark on the North London skyline, he will breathe a sigh of relief.
Not only will it mean his gruelling 210-mile charity bike ride is almost at an end but a moment the Huddersfield Town chairman has dreamed about will also be that bit closer.
Tomorrow, the Terriers will walk out at the rebuilt national stadium for the first time as they prepare to take on Sheffield United in the League One play-off final.
Hoyle, a lifelong fan whose business acumen allowed him to realise his ambition of buying the club, will look on from the Royal Box with a sense of pride only bettered by the day of his wedding and the birth of his children.
“To see the team you support at Wembley is great for any fan,” says the Town chairman ahead of today’s final 83-mile leg of the bike ride that began in Huddersfield on Wednesday lunchtime.
“But for that team to also be the one you own and are chairman of, I am expecting that when the players come out will be an incredibly emotional moment.
“I have been (to Wembley) quite a few times since it re-opened but to see your own team there will, I imagine, be a totally different experience and one I can’t wait to happen – even if I will be taking my place in the Royal Box with two white goggle eyes from the sun.”
Town’s road to tomorrow’s final at Wembley may not have been quite as tortuous as the one endured by Hoyle, who spent Wednesday night in Worksop and last night in Peterborough.
But, nevertheless, it has been a turbulent and dramatic one for the club and their supporters with a record unbeaten run, collapses in form and a change of manager all having combined to test everyone’s nerves to the full.
If, however, Simon Grayson’s men can prevail against the Blades then 2011-12 will be judged as an overwhelming success – not least because it will realise a major ambition of the club’s chairman.
“Getting to the Championship is everything for Huddersfield,” says Hoyle. “We would rather be playing Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County, Wolves, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers (next season).
“No disrespect to Walsall and people like that but there is definitely a step up. We have been out for 11 years now and we want to be back.
“It is where this club deserves to be but, equally, we have no right to get there. There is a lot riding on it, though I am certain if we are not successful then we will have another go next season, as will Sheffield United.
“I would imagine the neutrals are looking forward to an all-Yorkshire final. It has caught the imagination in Huddersfield and Sheffield because playing a local rival always brings an extra edge. I’d also imagine Leicester Forest services are looking forward to a busy day and takings doubling.
“The bottom line is Yorkshire is going to Wembley and there is a lot riding on the day. It is great for the county.
“Sheffield United probably believe they deserved to get automatic promotion but, at the same time, we felt very similar last year.
“We finished a long way in front of anyone else but it wasn’t to be. To get promoted, you have to earn that right and that is what both teams will be attempting to do.”
Town expect to be cheered on by more than 22,000 fans tomorrow as they look to make it third time lucky after losing in the play-off final to Peterborough United last year and Millwall in the 2010 semi-finals.
When the season kicked off, automatic promotion was the target at the Galpharm Stadium but a run of three straight defeats in eight days around Easter put paid to those plans.
Since then, the focus has been on reaching Wembley – something that was achieved courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate victory over Milton Keynes Dons in the semi-finals.
It was after the final whistle blew at the end of the second leg that Hoyle, fresh from a charity bike ride from Yeovil to Huddersfield that raised £250,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, revealed his plan to get back in the saddle once again and pedal all the way to Wembley.
This time, underprivileged children in Huddersfield are the beneficiaries with the £50,000 raised being used to take one thousand to tomorrow’s final.
Hoyle says: “People did ask if I was mad to plan another bike ride so soon after Yeovil and I suppose it does seem a bit bonkers.
“But I want Huddersfield Town to be the very heart of this community and that means doing our bit whenever we can.
“I only live three or four miles away from the ground so I live in the centre of what we are trying to do.
“I am a local lad who built my business up locally. I have supported the team for 35 years and am true to my roots.
“To be able to take kids who would otherwise never get the chance to visit Wembley is great and a big thank you is owed to the people of Kirklees and Huddersfield for chipping in when times are hard and money is tight.
“To be honest, these kids might never get the chance to watch a game here at Huddersfield, never mind London. So, to be able to allow them the chance to see Wembley and all the magic that goes with it makes the effort worthwhile.”
As for Hoyle, taking on the challenge of cycling more than 200 miles to London has had an unexpected bonus in this most nervy and tense of weeks.
“It has taken my mind off the game,” he says. “It means I won’t be as nervous as maybe I would have been because my time will have been spent concentrating on cycling there.”
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
Free Watford health checks to battle dog obesity epidemic - Watford Observer
Free Watford health checks to battle dog obesity epidemic
11:30am Friday 25th May 2012 in News By Mike Wright
Dogwalkers in Watford will be able to get free health checks for their pets as part of a new scheme to combat the obesity epidemic afflicting the nation’s canine population.
PetCheck units will be in parks in Watford and Garston over the next few weeks to give dog owners advise on what weight and shape their dog should be.
The veterinary charity PDSA said a recent study showed that 58 per cent of dogs in the South East are fed junk food and fatty treats by their owners on a daily basis, leading to ballooning collar lines.
As with humans, obesity in dogs can lead to potentially fatal illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and arthritis.
Sean Wensley, a PDSA senior veterinary surgeon, said: “These figures highlight the importance of our Petcheck tour in helping owners to have a deeper understanding of their pet’s health and welfare needs and how to meet them.”
The scheme, which is being run by Watford Borough Council and PDSA, will start in Garston Park on Wednesday 6 June, Callowlands Park on Thursday 7 June and Cassiobury Park on Friday 8 June.
All sessions will run from 10am to 5pm.
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Source: www.watfordobserver.co.uk
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