Last week, Sheffield United held a one-week training camp and pre-season tour for the Blades fans in Malta. The scope of the training camp was beyond just football and served to cement the flourishing relationship between Sheffield and Malta.
In fact, manager Kevin Blackwell, who hailed Malta as a “second home for Sheffield United”, has left his mark permanently on the island, in the shape of his handprint in the Hall of Fame of the Bay Street complex in St Julians.
The rest of the week unfolded with a news conference for the fans travelling with the team, where they could question the management on their plans for SUFC this season. A beach BBQ followed on the Wednesday night where the fans had the opportunity to meet the players and get autographs and have a taste of Maltese hospitality. This event also served as the official launch of the local SUFC fan club.
In the mornings, the team engaged in intensive training sessions during which recent Maltese signing Daniel Bogdanovic made his first appearance in the Blades colours.
One of these sessions was also open to the public.
However, the team were also given the opportunity to rest and have some fun together to help improve the bonding between players. They were taken on a whirlwind trip on cabin cruisers to sample some of Malta’s finest swimming spots.
The highlight of the trip was the courtesy call to Margaret Abela, the wife of President George Abela, at San Anton Palace by Trevor Birch, CEO of Sheffield United and Mike Farnan, Group Executive Director.
They presented a donation to the Community Chest Fund, a gesture which reflects both the strong sense of community SUFC have and the warm relationship between both sides of the sponsorship agreement by the MTA.
The week came to a close with a triangular tournament, which saw SUFC play Hibernians and fellow Premier League side Vittoriosa Stars, with SUFC being the ultimate winners.
Asked to comment on the week’s events, MTA CEO Josef Formosa Gauci said: “Our ties with Sheffield United go far deeper than a simple commercial agreement.
“This is made all the more clear by the increasing number of spin-off initiatives that are being created, benefiting both the club as well as – more importantly for us – the promotional potential for Malta and Gozo in the UK.
“The ground-breaking relationship created two years ago between Malta and Sheffield Utd continues to grow stronger and bear fruit, bringing both Sheffield and the Maltese islands much closer on many levels.
“The very high-profile Football League conference held in Malta recently is just one example. Another is the Blades’ pre-season tour of Malta, for the second year running, which was a tremend-ous success all round. We augur that this relationship will cont-inue to reap benefits for all concerned.”