On September 25, the eighth round of the Championship arrived, an away match against Leeds United.
Gilbert's suspension had been announced yesterday. The investigation and hearing had taken so long that it was clear Gareth Speed's efforts behind the scenes had played a part.
In the end, he was handed a three-match ban and fined £3,000.
It was a lenient punishment, basically right at the minimum. Gareth Speed and the club must have put in quite a lot of work.
As for assigning responsibility in this farce, the referee on duty was also punished for his poor officiating.
He was suspended for two matches. The FA ultimately determined that his hesitant decisions were one of the main reasons that led to the later "retaliatory act."
With that, the incident came to an end.
To make up for his brother's gloom at not being able to take part in the match, Maël wrote Gilbert's name on his shin guards and promised that if he scored in the next three matches, he would celebrate by throwing his shin guards.
Carrying that expectation with him, Maël sat alone in the back row of the club bus for the first time that season, traveling in silence all the way to Leeds United's home ground.
The match kicked off at 3:30 that afternoon. Leeds United were slightly stronger than Sheffield United, but the latter had higher morale, and they did not suffer on the pitch.
"Just three minutes into the match, Leeds United's Snodgrass has picked up a yellow card. He's very fired up, and his movements in every area are a little reckless.
"They need to be careful with actions like that. Judging from what happened in Sheffield United's last match, if you provoke them, you definitely won't get anything good out of it!"