The conclusion of the 2024/25 football season marks a full century since Sheffield United FC last won a major trophy. In the intervening period, 43 other clubs have won the league, the FA Cup or the League Cup, and yet more have played in European competitions. Sheffield United have done none of these things. Winning isn't Everything seeks an explanation as to why United were so good in their first 36 years but have suffered a somewhat unfulfilled century ever since. The book delves into diverse features such as player recruitment, managerial appointments, finances, strategic planning, governance and the composition of the board of directors. Other paths of inquiry question less obvious possible causes: local religious leanings, geography and topography, regional politics and just plain old bad luck.

Dr Gary Armstrong is Sheffield born and raised. He has held the position of Reader in Criminology at City St George’s, University of London since 2018. He previously lectured in the Sociology of Sport at Brunel University and prior to that in Criminology at the University of Westminster and the University of Reading.

Matthew Bell is also Sheffield born and raised. A mechanical engineer by trade, he has a keen interest in sport and local history. Armstrong and Bell have previously collaborated to explore various aspects of sport in Sheffield, with the publications: Fit and Proper? Conflicts and Conscience in an English Football Club (2010); Steel and Grace: Sheffield’s Olympic Track and Field Medallists (2014) and A Social History of Sheffield Boxing in two volumes titled Rings of Steel and Scrap Merchants (2021).