West Brom were awarded three points and a 3-0 win over Sheffield United on this day in 2002 as the fallout continued after ‘the Battle of Bramall Lane’.
Five days after Sheffield United’s Division One clash with West Brom had been abandoned by referee Eddie Wolstenholme, the Blades were left to deal with the repercussions of a shameful afternoon.
After goalkeeper Simon Tracey had been sent off for handling outside his penalty area – after just nine minutes – events turned significantly more toxic when Derek McInnes added to Scott Dobie’s first-half diving header for the visitors.
Seconds after his arrival as a 64th-minute substitute, defender Georges Santos – who had suffered a fractured eye socket courtesy of Andy Johnson’s elbow the previous season – was set off after launching into a two-footed tackle on the Baggies midfielder.
In the subsequent mass brawl, fellow sub Patrick Suffo was also dismissed after head-butting McInnes.
Dobie made it 3-0 before Michel Brown and Rob Ullathorne both limped off, leaving the Blades with six men on the field, resulting in the match being abandoned with eight minutes remaining due to there not being the required number of minimum players present, prompting a war of words between West Brom boss Gary Megson and counterpart Neil Warnock.
The Football League subsequently ruled the result should stand and Sheffield United were later fined £10,000 for failing to control their players.
There were also fines for Warnock and captain Keith Curle and six-match bans for Suffo and Santos.
