As we left Part 1 of the interview, Keith had left Peterborough and had joined up with former Sunderland team-mate Ian Porterfield at Bramall Lane. The challenge was to help lift the Blades, in the 4th Division for the first time in their history, back to the 3rd Division at the first attempt.
"We
made a slowish start, the addition of new players and the hangover from
relegation for those who were still there. I think we lost a couple of games
early on, but from October onwards we started to progress. The signings of
Keith Edwards and Colin Morris were important. Keith had already scored past
me, playing for Hull, earlier in the season. As you might imagine, knowing
Keith, he didn't let me forget it!"
Colin remains one of
Keith's good friends now, visiting the former winger in his new home in
Portugal.
“I
think that the belief of the players increased as the season went on. There
were huge expectations from onlookers, we were the big fish in a little pond,
and as I said I think at the start of the season that some of the squad were
suffering a hangover from relegation, new players were fitting in. The win at
Bradford City was when things started to click. The momentum grew. We had a
hiccup three quarters of the way through the season but it was like a snowball
effect, picking up results and growing in confidence until we were unstoppable
nearer the end of the season.”
“I think we believed we were good for
promotion when we beat Peterborough 4-0 at London Road in late April, we knew
then that non-one was going to stop us. In fact we did the double over
Peterborough that season winning 4-0 in our final home game to secure promotion.
“There
were other highlights, beating Arsenal 1-0 at home in the League Cup (United
lost on aggregate), beating Bradford City 2-0 when they were top of the league.
On a personal level I think I save a few penalties that season and I remember
saving a last minute penalty in the 1-1 draw at Tranmere Rovers. I think we
only lost 4 games all season.”
Keith also has a bad
memory of that season. It was rare for 4th Division games to get much TV
coverage, so when the Match of the Day cameras went to Layer Road, Colchester
for United's visit hopes of putting on a show for the cameras must have been
high. Things first started to go wrong when United had to play in the
Colchester away kit, due to the sponsors on United's shirts not being allowed
on television coverage at the time. As for the game…..
"I
still have nightmares about the match. It was one of those games and it just
had to be on Match of the Day. Nothing went right, I had an absolute stinker
and we lost 5-2. I just couldn't bring myself to watch it that night.
Afterwards Ian (Porterfield) was great. He said, "It is a one-off game,
you have had a great season so far, put it behind you." I got clean sheets
in the next two games which we both won 4-0 and the confidence came back
quickly."
United had secured
promotion by the time they travelled to Feethams, Darlington for the final game
of the season in a match that has gone down in Blades folklore.
"I
have never played in a game like it. You would not have believed that you were
playing away from home. United fans must have been on three sides of the
ground, all in fancy dress. It was a real carnival atmosphere. We still had to
remain focused though and despite all that was going on around us (fans were
sat virtually on the touchline) we took the game really seriously. I remember
Ian Porterfield telling us all, "We have got to win the league, we have
come this far. Yes we are promoted, but promotion means nothing, unless we win
the title.""
With the 4th Division
title in the bag, United carried great momentum into the following season.
Sadly for Keith, injury was about to disrupt his plans.
"I
was playing in our final pre-season game at Lincoln and I broke my collarbone.
It kept me out for three months and Steve Conroy started the season in goal. I
tried coming back but it was too soon and I broke it again. It was a nightmare.
After such a fantastic start at United, that second season was soured by that
injury."
Keith eventually
returned to the first team in December and remained first choice until the end
of the season, with United finishing 11th.
"The
season after I was back in and playing okay when I got an abscess on my leg, it
was really horrendous and if I had landed on it, it would have been terrible. I
missed a game and Tommo (Paul Tomlinson) came in and did really well. They kept
him in the team and I never really got my place back."
That season was a
successful season for United as they were promoted for the second time in three
years with a third place finish in Division Three, but it had been tough for
Keith watching on from the side-lines after 16 league appearances at the start
of the season.
"After
my injury setbacks in the second and third seasons I was determined to come
back and win back my place the following season. I was really focused in
pre-season and worked my guts out to be in tip top condition. I was absolutely
flying. In pre-season Ian Porterfield said what was in the past was past and
that he was going to pick the best player. For our opening league game versus
Wolves I played which we drew 2-2. I was probably playing the best football of
my career and then in mid-October we lost 3-0 to Boro and following that game
he left me out. I was absolutely devastated. He didn’t even give me an explanation
as to why he had left me out, nothing. I was so down, I was so gutted."
After that Keith never
really played for United again. Paul Tomlinson was back in the number 1 jersey
and then the club signed John Burridge. The writing was on the wall, leaving
Keith a disappointed man.
"The
end at United was so sad. I loved the place, the people, where we lived. My
kids were born in the city. I had come to the realisation that I didn’t have a
future there and would have to move on."
"I
went on loan to Cambridge to get games. My old United team-mate John Ryan had
taken charge there and I had four games with them. Then I went to Bristol City
on loan. They wanted to sign me, but the clubs were haggling about fees so I
decided to sit it out til my contract was up in the summer."
Keith signed for City
on a free in the summer and was joining a club that was slowly on its way back
from the brink. Three years previously the club had been declared bankrupt and
8 players had accepted termination of their contracts on vastly reduced deals
for the good of the club. Terry Cooper had brought them out of the 4th Division
12 months previously and they were now consolidating their position in Division
3. Keith was about to have what he now describes as “four great seasons at
Bristol City.”
"City
had gone from the 1st Division to the 4th and hit financial problems. Terry
Cooper was steering them back and he was really good manager to work for; a
fantastic, salt of the earth football man."
Within 12 months at
Ashton Gate Keith was to fulfil boyhood dreams and add a medal to his trophy
cabinet.
"In
my first season at City we reached Wembley in the Freight Rover Trophy, beating
Bolton Wanderers 3-0 in front of 60,000 fans. The fact that it was the Freight
Rover Trophy didn't degrade it; I was playing at Wembley, a childhood
dream."
"I
was so excited before the game. I remember going out on to the pitch and the
turf being so lush. City had taken a fantastic following, they were a really
well supported club and I remember our end of Wembley was packed out like it
would be for a FA Cup final and they made a tremendous noise. It certainly
wasn’t a lesser game; it was a cup final for us.”
“We
gave the fans a convincing win and what made it special for me was that my
parents were there watching me; knowing how proud they were about it all. They
had been brilliant throughout my career and I wouldn’t have achieved what I did
without what my parents gave to me all the way through. It was a reward for
them as much as it was for me. It was a magical experience; the best."
"We
returned the following year in the same competition, but lost on penalties to
Mansfield. I made a conscious decision to go the same way for every penalty in
the shoot-out. I reckoned on the law of averages they would put at least one
down that side and I saved the second penalty from Keith Cassells and decided
to keep going with it."
In the end it was a
former United team-mate who was to beat him with the winning penalty.
"Yes,
Mr Tony Kenworthy took their winning penalty and I was used to facing him in
training for United. He was a great penalty taker and took all United’s
penalties until Colin Morris took over. I've spoken with him since and I think
he was really nervous, but they had twigged that I was going the same way each
time. To be fair, I think he just closed his eyes and smashed it! I was
gutted."
“In
my third season we faced United in the play offs, pushing for promotion as
United were trying to hold on to their 2nd Division status. We took
a 1-0 lead from the first leg to Bramall Lane and I remember there was an
awesome noise generated. We drew 1-1 and Colin (Morris) scored a brilliant goal
past me. It felt like the Alamo second half as United battered us, but we held
out. I felt very sad for United being relegated in those circumstances.”
It was Colin Morris’s
final game for United and a great sign off. Meanwhile Keith was preparing for
what should have been a two legged final versus Walsall. City lost the home leg
3-1, but then went to Fellows Park and won 2-0. In the absence of away goals
counting the match went to a replay the following Bank Holiday Monday, again at
Walsall. Sadly for Keith and City, the Saddlers ran out 4-0 winners.
The 1988-89 season
saw City close in on more knockout cup success, the 3rd Division
side reaching the League Cup Semi Finals, only to lose 2-1 over two legs to
Nottingham Forest. They were defeated only after an extra time defeat in the
second leg at Ashton Gate.
“Forest
had a great team at the time with a few internationals and to lose the second
leg 1-0 in extra time, live on TV, was desperately disappointing.”
In Part 3 we look at Keith's decision to leave Bristol, his time at Coventry and Watford and a few reflections on his career and football today.
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