James Shield: A secret Sheffield United conversation, Katie Price and the FA Cup

Earlier this month, when Sheffield United were last preparing to face Blackburn Rovers, I had an off-the-record conversation with one of their former players about whether or not he'd prefer to lift the FA Cup or gain promotion to the Premier League. He won’t mind me referencing it, for the purposes of this column. And can I quickly state, there’s no reason why United can’t do both. Providing they beat Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side at Bramall Lane tomorrow, avenging their defeat at Ewood Park in the process.

Anyway, back to that chat in Rovers’ pre-match media room. And the totally made-up scenario we debated. My opinion was, given that the overwhelming majority of footballers finish their careers without ever winning a trophy, that surely it would be better to triumph at Wembley and secure some silverware? “No,” came the answer. “Definitely not. I never played at the highest level and that was something I always wanted to do. To be able to say I’d competed against the best in the country and, let’s be honest, some of the very best in the world.”

I could see where my pal was coming from. Even if I didn’t agree. Granted I’ve never competed as a professional. Maybe my opinion would be different if I had. But I’m firmly of the Fernando Torres school of thought. “My biggest ambition is still to win the European Cup,” he said, before doing exactly that with Chelsea. “I want to have a picture of that to look at later. I want to have that medal. You can have a contract that is better than your friends. But no one ever says I won more money.”

Admittedly, that’s easy for a multi-millionaire to say. And I’m not suggesting for a moment my mate was only ever in it for the dosh. But I still think people remember medals more than promotions. Aren’t the names Billy Gillespie and Fred Tunstall, members of the side which beat Cardiff City in the final 98 years ago, more indelibly written into United history than, say with all due respect, Garry Flitcroft, Bruce Dyer and Phil Barnes? Okay, so I’ve been a little mischievous with my choice of names, from Neil Warnock’s 2006 promotion winning squad. But you get my drift.

United, now six points clear of third-placed Middlesbrough with nine league matches remaining this season, might be feeling the effects of chasing success on two fronts. The scheduling of their fixtures at the end of the campaign might yet cause a problem too. But that’s another argument, for the governing bodies to sort. But the moral of this column is that it’s possible to progress in both. And that it would be a dereliction of duty if United passed up the opportunity to secure a semi-final berth. Knowing them as I do, they won’t.

•Now, for something altogether different. A comment which, even though it’s actually not meant as a jibe, will probably wind the other side of the Steel City up. Both United and Sheffield Wednesday have had stadium issues this season, albeit for different reasons. The latter’s has been in the news once again lately after complaints by Newcastle supporters following their recent visit there about safety issues. Now it has emerged, after initially giving the impression that there was ‘nothing to see here’, that the council has cut capacity in the stand where they were housed. This only became public knowledge because of an FOI request. Meanwhile, United have been threatened with some pretty tough sanctions following alleged persistent standing on The Kop. Openly and publicly. Is there any wonder - and no fault is attached to Wednesday for this - that many United fans feel as if there are rules for them and rules for us?

•Back, via a not-so-seamless link, to United’s pursuit of Premier League football. Which, before Wednesday’s night’s win over Sunderland, was beginning to falter. A run of four defeats in six outings en route to the Stadium of Light meant that by the time they travel to Norwich City next month, they could have been out of the automatic promotion positions. That would have been a huge test of character, after apparently being destined to sail off into the sunset, hand in hand with runaway leaders Burnley, only five weeks or so ago.

Heckingbottom has insisted there will be plenty of twists and turns before the Fat Lady bursts into song. As results went south, his repeated reminders were dismissed by plenty of observers as simply being an attempt to paint his own squad’s troubles in a positive light. To some extent they were, and you can’t blame him for that. But they were also a statement of fact, as the performance of Michael Carrick’s side during Tuesday’s draw with Stoke City demonstrated.

For me, one of the best strategic thinkers in the second tier, City’s Alex Neil was always going to devise a game plan to trouble Middlesbrough. The question was, ahead of that match, could his players execute it. They did, unlucky to come away with only a point from the contest after Ji-Jana Hoever responded to Chuba Akpom’s opener.

Carrick won’t have been distraught with the result. And nor should he have been. But the body of work his players produced highlighted what pressure can do to even highly trained and skilled professionals. Mark my words, no matter what their manager or those under his command say publicly, Middlesbrough’s upcoming assignments will feel very different now they know they have a very real chance of going straight up. It’s relatively easy to chase when that’s only a faint possibility. Not so when the dream threatens to become a reality.