It is a second in FA Cup folklore that can all the time have a spot within the hearts of Sheffield United supporters however person who the ones of a Manchester City persuasion don’t cling relatively so dearly. It was once January 2008 and Sven-Göran Eriksson arrived at a blustery Bramall Lane made up our minds to growth to the 5th spherical however inside 12 mins his City staff had been reeling from a way of injustice after trailing to a freakish purpose.
Bamboozled by way of a smattering of balloons within the City field thrown from the away finish, left-back Michael Ball swiped at skinny air as he went to transparent a pass and offered Luton Shelton with a easy end. “I’m getting all the trauma back now,” says former City defender Nedum Onuoha prior to Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, the groups’ first assembly within the festival for the reason that notorious balloon-gate incident.
Brian Kidd, the previous Manchester United ahead, was once assistant to the then Sheffield United supervisor Bryan Robson, some other former Old Trafford favorite. Lee Martin, on mortgage from Manchester United, confronted as much as City centre-back Richard Dunne and despatched in a low pass with the outdoor of his proper boot. The ball took a deflection off Dunne prior to skidding alongside the threshold of the six-yard field, cannoning right into a sky-blue balloon prior to bumbling right into a white one. Ball tried to sidefoot the ball transparent along with his proper foot however its surprising route threw him off. “It took a decent deflection off a balloon – you couldn’t tell where the ball was going to go,” says the previous Sheffield United midfielder Stephen Quinn.
Eriksson and his training body of workers had requested the fourth legitimate to inform the referee, Alan Wiley, to “kill the balloons” however play was once allowed to proceed and controversy ensued. Eriksson felt it was once unfair and unsporting that the referee requested the City goalkeeper, Joe Hart, to eliminate the balloons whilst play was once on the different finish. Hart had spent the former 10 mins furiously stamping with each toes to burst the balloons however his clean-up operation proved insufficient. “I made my debut against Joe [for Sheffield United v Shrewsbury, in 2005] and I’ve come across him quite a few times over the years,” says Quinn. “He was furious, absolutely livid.”
City complained to the Football Association, claiming the goal should have been disallowed. Eriksson argued the balloons played “a one-two with Michael Ball”. The most similar incident since came the following year, when Darren Bent scored for Sunderland against Liverpool when his shot cannoned in via a beachball. “I think now you would never get away with something like it and I suppose the fact it was blue and white balloons, not red and white, made it all a little funnier,” says the former Sheffield United striker Jon Stead, who freed Martin for the first goal and scored the second in a 2–1 victory. “Those balloons gained a lot of attention, but I do still feel that we deserved to win regardless.”
City struggled to deal with a bobbly pitch and raucous home crowd. “I believe we didn’t protest much because we were playing the game with balloons on the field,” Onuoha says. “If there was an issue the ref would have stopped the game. We were playing as if that was just the way the game was going to be. I felt most sorry for Michael Ball. He was trying to explain that the ball hit a balloon. But what do you say to him? He’ll be seen as the villain but, actually, he was the victim. But realistically what sympathy is he going to get? I think we made sure to pop all the balloons from that point.”
City players were somewhere between outraged and astonished. “It is one of those blind spots because you could say to the ref, ‘Well, it’s hit a balloon,’ but it happens so rarely that you don’t know how to respond,” Onuoha says. “It was like: ‘What now?’ Do you run to the referee to say: ‘Can you take that goal off please because the ball has hit a balloon?'” It was a sore defeat to swallow. “It is probably iconic for them but one we wanted to forget as quickly as possible.”
In the buildup there was plenty of noise around the city for the right reasons. They were seventh in the Premier League, two points off the top four. Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former prime minister, appointed Eriksson on a three-year deal and sanctioned a flurry of exotic signings, including Elano and Geovanni, both of whom featured. A teenage Daniel Sturridge, who volleyed in his first City goal in the second half, was breaking through. “Sven would have been disappointed because he came in to be successful,” says Onuoha. “We went on a little of a nasty run round that point.”
For Sheffield United, also then of the Championship, it was the perfect tonic after a derby defeat at Hillsborough the previous weekend. “Nowadays I feel they’d forestall the sport for somewhat bit and transparent the balloons away,” says former Sheffield United defender Leigh Bromby. “You could tell something happened with the balloons but it wasn’t until after the game that you fully realized that you got a little bit of luck in the game and that it’s gone for you.”
Rewatching photos of Shelton’s purpose, Stead admits it was once absurd. “It’s crazy how much it affected the ball’s movement,” he says. “It played havoc with both Luton and Michael Ball. I think it put Luton off as much as the defender but luckily the ball stopped at his feet after it bobbled across.”
Much has changed since the clubs’ last FA Cup meeting. City have won the Cup twice and six Premier League titles. Shelton died in 2021, aged 35. Gary Speed, also in the Sheffield United starting lineup, died 10 years earlier, aged 42. Billy Sharp, a second-half substitute in 2008, will probably captain his boyhood club at Wembley but at an age where AI-powered technology is used to speed up VAR calls, it is almost incomprehensible to imagine the scenario that played out at Bramall Lane repeating itself. “It shouldn’t do, but I would never say it wouldn’t,” Onuoha says.