A West Ham United star has paid a touching tribute to ex Sheffield United hero George Baldock following his tragic death.
Make no mistake about it, there’s no love lost between West Ham and Sheffield United.
Nearly two decades have passed since the Carlos Tevez affair which spawned one of English football’s more recent rivalries between the Hammers and the Blades.
The memory of Tevez and the court cases that saw West Ham ordered to pay out £35million in compensation to Sheffield United – as well as being hit with an additional £5.5m Premier League fine remains – as inflammatory as it is unprecedented.
Nothing like it happened before or since.
Plenty of water has passed under the bridge since. The Blades have been down to League One and back up to the Premier League twice.
Rivalry rendered meaningless as tragedy strikes
Sheffield United now reside in the Championship following relegation last season.
Time has moved on but old wounds have not quite healed for some.
The man who was in charge of Sheffield United – Kevin McCabe – admitted just last month he remains bitter all these years on.
They always say football has a wonderful power to bring people together.
In times of tragedy, the football community rallies around for the greater good.
Just recently two Millwall fans were raising money for a young West Ham academy star stricken with cancer. They were doing a walk while wearing Hammers shirts.
It sends a powerful message when rivalries are set aside.
Tragedy struck Sheffield United and the wider football community last week.
West Ham star’s touching tribute to ex Blades hero Baldock
News emerged that full-back George Baldock had died in his swimming pool in Greece.
The brother of former West Ham striker Sam had landed a dream move to Greek giants Panathinaikos in the summer – signing a three-year contract as a free agent.
Baldock came through the system at MK Dons and established himself in the side before making his move to Sheffield United in the summer of 2017, having made more than 100 appearances.
Baldock helped Sheffield United from League One up to the Premier League twice.
The former Blades favourite was capped 12 times by Greece due to having a Greek grandfather.
That’s how he knows one big Hammer very well indeed.
Now West Ham star Konstantinos Mavropanos has paid a touching tribute to ex Sheffield United hero Baldock.
The Greek centre-back starred as he helped his country to an historic win over England before beating Ireland over the international break.
There were emotional scenes among the players as they paid the perfect tribute to Baldock.
On his return to West Ham training this week, Mavropanos paid a heartfelt tribute to his former teammate.
‘George was such a beloved guy’ says Dinos
“The whole thing, we were shocked when we heard about the news when we found out what happened,” Mavropanos told West Ham’s website.
“Everyone was so close with George.
“He was two years in the national team. He was such a beloved guy, always smiling and he gave everything to everything he did, so it was a tough, tough time for us.
“I think all of us, we are so close together because we’ve been more or less the same group in the last two or three years and he was one of us. We grew up as a team and he was part of this.
“After this bad news, this tragedy, we just had a bit of more desire to do well for him. It was against England, so it was special to give everything for him as well.
“In terms of football, it was a successful week with two good performances and results as well, but of course the news about George meant we were sad rather than happy.”
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