I don't begrudge players getting well paid Dooley said but I find these ridiculous sums now very hard to take in

"I don't begrudge players getting well paid," Dooley said, "but I find these ridiculous sums now very hard to take in. I read Andy Cole in the paper saying, `I can't go on the buses because I'm well known.' Well, I've got news for him... I used to travel on the tram and the bus to matches and on Christmas morning I used to walk to the ground."You can read more about those good old days when Keith Farnsworth eventually gets a chance to publish his definitive biography of Sheffield's favourite sporting son. "We'd just about finished it," Dooley said, "and then I became chairman We've been adding a bit this morning, actually. It cost pounds 2,100, small change from a Roy Keane wage packet in 1999.

There's no guarantee that if we merged the teams together they would be successful and where they would play God in heaven knows."Back when the Don Valley Stadium was being built we went along just to take a look at the site and there was an absolute outrage at the thought of Sheffield United moving from Bramall Lane, let alone merging."Born and bred in Sheffield, Dooley himself has never moved from the semi- detached house he bought at Norton from the proceeds of his testimonial at Hillsborough in 1955. If Wednesday were fourth in the Premiership and we were fourth in the First Division I don't think all this talk would have ever cropped up. There may be trouble ahead, though, with Rushden and Diamonds due at Bramall Lane in the third round of the FA Cup this afternoon and fixtures against Blackburn, Birmingham and Fulham to follow.And, of course, the plight of United is only one half of the doom-and- gloom football picture in Sheffield. The prospect of a merger has been increasingly mentioned in dispatches but Dooley dismisses the idea altogether. "I firmly believe there's room for two first-class clubs in the city of Sheffield," he said "I don't think a merger will ever happen.

And wherever he's been he's never had a lot of cash to spend. That's obviously going to be the case here, at least until we get a more stable base. Neil knows he's going to have to wheel and deal and get free transfers."Warnock is already in credit on the playing side, having announced his arrival with a 1-0 home win against Portsmouth eight days ago - United's first victory in 10 matches. He's got a great track record in terms of getting teams promoted. In replacing Adrian Heath, who resigned the same night as Mike McDonald quit as chairman, Dooley and his fellow directors appointed Neil Warnock - a Sheffield native and lifelong United fan - as manager."People say: `Why didn't you go for a Graeme Souness or a Joe Kinnear?' Well, there were two reasons - firstly neither of them applied for it, and secondly I doubt if we could afford somebody of that ilk," Dooley said."Neil fitted the bill.

I know we're not going to suddenly get gates of 15,000 again - not until we start going up the League again or look like we're going in the right direction."At least one Unitedite has been lured back to Bramall Lane. And the gates have gone down to 10,000."I can understand why the fans have become frustrated. They've seen us sell some of our better players, not just because we needed the money but because their wages were so high, and they've seen us go down the League We've been down this avenue before and I feel for the fans I really do. When you're down among the dead men it's not easy to climb out."We haven't got a lot of money We've got a wage bill we're finding it hard to cope with The commercial revenue has gone down. "I enjoyed spending time with my grandkids," he said, "particularly going fishing with my grandson - he's Derek Dooley, like me, but everyone calls him Del."So why, then, did Del Dooley's grandad plunge back into the deep end - at nigh on 70, with a club some pounds 4m in debt and fourth bottom of the First Division ? "Because I've got a feeling for the club," he said "I'm fully aware that it's not going to be an easy job. He retired from day-to-day affairs at the club three years ago, resigning from the board and accepting the honorary post of vice-president.

She'll never forget that Christmas Eve."For 25 years now, Dooley has been on the United side of town, at Bramall Lane. He has served Wednesday's rivals as commercial manager, managing director, chief executive and chairman, briefly, once before. When they named the restaurant there after me she wouldn't go for the opening ceremony. And not so long ago, when they held the `100 years of Hillsborough' function, Sheila wouldn't go then either. The sack was delivered on Christmas Eve."I vowed never to go to Hillsborough again," he said "So did my wife and she still hasn't been back.