Sunderland A.F.C.
Niall Quinn|
manager = Niall Quinn|
league =
The Championship | season =
2005-06 | position =
FA Premier League, 20th (Relegated) |
shirtsupplier= Lonsdale |
shirtsponsors= Reg Vardy |
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leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=000000|socks1=000000|
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thindkbluesides|pattern_ra2=|
leftarm2=00CCFF|body2=00CCFF|rightarm2=00CCFF|shorts2=000033|socks2=000033|
Sunderland Association Football Club (
Sunderland AFC or
SAFC) is a professional football club, based at the
Stadium of Light in
Sunderland,
Tyne & Wear,
North-East England. They are currently nicknamed the 'Black Cats', after being previously known as 'The Rokerites'. They moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997 after 99 years at
Roker Park.
Sunderland's traditional local rivals are
Newcastle United and
Middlesbrough Football Club, the former rivalry generally being thought of as one of the most fierce in English football.
Before the Second World War, Sunderland were league champions six times- in 1892, 1893, 1894, 1902, 1913, and most recently in 1936, when they became they last football club to win the English football league who wear striped shirts. They were elected into the football league in 1890, becoming the first team to join the league after its birth in 1888; and stayed in the top flight of English football until 1958, a record of consecutive seasons which only Arsenal have bettered in 1992. The club won their first F.A. Cup in 1937 with a 3-1 victory over Preston North End.
Since then Sunderland A.F.C. have consistently struggled, and their only major trophy since the Second World War was the club's second F.A Cup, which was secured in 1973 thanks to a shock 1-0 win over Leeds United.
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Old club badge, used from 1972 until changed in 1997 at the time of the club's move to the Stadium of Light |
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Sunderland A.F.C. badge before the 1970's. |
Main article: Sunderland A.F.C. History
Sunderland A.F.C. were formed in
1879 by Glaswegian schoolteacher James Allan as 'Sunderland and District Teachers Association Football Club', to provide "recreational amusement" for the area's schoolteachers. The club's first competitive game is thought to be against Ferryhill Athletic on the 13th November 1880, with Sunderland losing 1-0 and wearing an all blue strip, in a sharp contrast to the now famous red and white stripes. In 1881, the club opened its membership to all in order to relax financial troubles, and therefore becoming Sunderland A.F.C. The club's first stadia was the 'Blue House Field' in Hendon, close to James Allan's boarding school, and would change their home a further four times in seven years before settling at the 'Newcastle Road' ground in 1886. James Allan remained in charge of the club until the late 1880s, when he left to found a rival club called 'Sunderland Albion', which eventually folded.
Sunderland were admitted into
The Football League in
1890, replacing Stoke. During the late 19th century they were declared as the "Team of All Talents" by
William McGregor, the founder of the English Football League, and between 1892 and 1902 the team which included Ned Doig, John Campbell and Hughie Wilson won the league three times and were runners-up a further three times. The 1894/95 season also saw the club as being declared the "Champions of the World" in a specially arranged match against Scottish champions
Hearts, which Sunderland won 5-3. The club shared this period of dominance with
Aston Villa, and the battles between these clubs were immortalised in a famous
Charles Napier Hemy painting of the two clubs in action during the 1894/1895 season, the first ever painting of a competitive football league match. The painting now stands in the doorway of the club's current stadium,
The Stadium of Light. During the later period of this dominance the club moved to the Roker Park stadium in 1898, and stayed there for 99 years up until 1997.
In 1904 the club was rocked by a financial scandal involving the club's right back Andrew McCombie, in which Sunderland's board of Directors gave the player £100 in order to start up in business, with the view that his benefit game would see him repay the money. McCombie however saw the money as a gift and refused to pay back the club.
The Football Association lauched an inquiry and agreed with McCombie, stating that it was a "resigning/win/draw bonus" and furthermore the books of Sunderland showing financial irregularities, and so violating the rules of the game. Sunderland were fined £250, with six directors being suspended for two and a half years. Furthermore, Alex McCombie would go onto sign for Newcastle United, and be instrumental in Newcastle's spell of league dominance of the era. The club were shook heavily by this and began to struggle in the league, the only true bright point of the remainder of the decade being a 1-9 hammering of Newcastle United away in 1908, which is still the biggest away victory of any team the top flight. Also, in 1905 the club were involved in the first ever £1,000 transfer fee for a player when
Alf Common signed for Middlesbrough.
The season of 1912/1913 could be described as the club's greatest, as the Wearsiders won the league and lost 1-0 to Aston Villa in Sunderland's first ever F.A. Cup final, staged at the Crystal Palace stadium, going the closest the club has ever gone to a 'double' (winning two trophies in one season). This decade in the clubs history also saw the goalscoring prowess of
Charles Buchan, who played in the 1913 cup final and would go onto score 224 goals for the club, which means he stands today as the second highest marksman in the club's history after Bob Gurney's record of 228.
Since then the club would prove to be a decent force in English football, and often be outside contenders for the league, until under the managerial guidance of Johnny Cochrane the club would put together a young side that featured local boy
Raich Carter, club record goalscorer Bob Gurney, Charles Thompson and Patsy Gallacher that would at last be serious contenders for top honours. The club's sixth (and to this day last) league championship came in the 1935/36 season, and the next season the club finally won the elusive F.A. Cup after a 3-1 victory against
Preston North End at
Wembley Stadium curtesy of goals from Gurney, Carter and Eddie Burbanks responding to Preston's Frank O'Donnell strike. The team looked set to win many more trophies in the seasons ahead before the misery of the
second world war broke out. The football league was suspended and the run was prematurely over.
In the 1950's the club, now under the guidance of Bill Murray, adopted a heavy spending regime that saw Sunderland gain a new nickname - 'The Bank of England Club'. This team consisted of names such as Billy Elliot, Trevor Ford, Billy Bingham & Ray Daniel, but the one to become the most famous of all was the great
Len Shackleton. Signed from Newcastle for £20,050, his masterworks on the football pitch would become football legend. Such stories as sitting on the football to tease bedraggled defenders, turning the goalkeeper and dribbling the ball onto the goal, only to stop the ball on the line and yell to the beaten keeper "It's not over the line yet!", and many others became folklore and the reason why his name is still the by-word for soccer showmanship and trickery. However, this team failed to win top honours with Sunderland and in 1957 the club were hit with another major financial scandal, when an anonymous person named as 'Mr. Smith' handed a letter onto the desk of the football league which detailed allegations that Sunderland had made illegal payments to players. The implications of the following inquiry were that the club were fined £5,000, then the highest ever fine the league had imposed, and the chairman, Edward Ditchburn, along with three directors were permanently suspended from the game. The findings tore the club apart and the next season resulted in the club's first ever relegation from the English top division.
In the 60's, despite the names of player of the century
Charlie Hurley,
Jim Baxter and
Brian Clough, the Sunderland ship failed to steady itself and indeed ever since the scandal the club has failed to consolidate in any division for a long period of time. The club won back promotion in 1964 but failed to impress back in the big time and were ultimately relegated once more in 1970.
The 1970's saw the famous F.A. Cup victory in 1973, when under the reign of
Bob Stokoe Sunderland beat
Leeds United 1-0 thanks to an Ian Porterfield strike and the amazing double save of
Jimmy Montgomery to deny
Peter Lorimer, described by many as the greatest save at Wembley, and by some even as the greatest save of all time. In the league, however, Sunderland were consigned mostly to Division Two, enjoying brief promotions in 1976 and 1980.
The 1980's brought similar inconsistency, as relegation occurred again in 1985 in the same season as a 1-0 league cup final defeat against
Norwich City. Two years later, however, disaster struck as the management of
Lawrie McMenemy was held in account for seeing Sunderland relegated to the third divsion of the English league. However Sunderland wouldn't stay down for long, and under new Chairman
Bob Murray and new manager
Denis Smith the club would easily win the division title and by the end of the decade be back in the top flight, after loosing the 1990 play off final but the victors
Swindon Town being relegated to divsion two after being found guilty of financial irregularities, and therefore Sunderland being promoted by default.
The first season back in the top flight saw Sunderland being relegated on the last game of the season. However the next few seasons saw the club dangerously flirt with relegation back to the game's third flight, despite an F.A. Cup final place against
Liverpool which was lost 2-0. The appointment of
Peter Reid saw a new era for the club and in his first full season in 1995/96 lifted Sunderland to the division championsip, and promotion for the first time into the new
Premier League. Just like last time though, the club were relegated on the last game of the campaign, and this season would also be the last ever one played at
Roker Park. The season also marked the start of the club as a
plc.
The
Stadium of Light, a stadium intitally housing 42,000 supporters but since being increased to 49,000, would see the first season back in the second flight go to a heart braking penalty shoot out defeat in the play-off final against
Charlton Atheltic. The second season however saw the Wearside club taking the division by storm and notching up a then record points tally of 105 points. The next season saw the club shock the Premier League by finishing in 7th place, the club's highest league position since finishing 4th in 1955. With the now legendary attacking partnership of
Niall Quinn and
Kevin Phillips, the club repeated it's feat in the next season. However due to bad management leading to heavy debts and failure to build on this good spell the club soon plumetted and in the 2003/04 season the club were relegated with 19 points - then the lowest points score total in the history of the league.
New manager
Mick McCarthy was installed and in two seasons he pulled the club back up into the Premier League, but the season would prove to be an absolute disaster, with the club beating their own record lowest points tally, this time reaching a total of 15.
Following their relegation, new hope was given to the club by ex-player Niall Quinn who, along with his
Drumaville Consortium, successfully launched a bid to buy out former chairman
Bob Murray due to massive supporter power, with the takeover formally finalised on 27 July 2006. After failing to attract a "world-class" manager - Quinn was reportedly rebuffed by
Sam Allardyce and
Martin O'Neill due to the club's position in the second tier of English football - Quinn eventually named himself the new manager of the Black Cats on 25 July 2006 with the hope of attracting a big name in the near future.
Main article: Sunderland A.F.C. Statistics
Previous season: 2005-06 Season for Sunderland A.F.C.Current season: 2006-07 Season for Sunderland A.F.C.Following relegation from the
Premier League in the previous season, Sunderland are about to start their 106th full professional league season in the Football League Championship. In 116 years (76 in the top division) they have played over 4000 league games, of which they have won 41%, drawn 24% and lost 35%. Sunderland have an all-time positive league goal-difference of over 600.
Sunderland last won the league in 1936. Since then, their highest league finish was 3rd in 1950, although they did reach 7th in consecutive seasons at the turn of the 21st century. Since they were first relegated in 1958, Sunderland have not spent longer than 6 years in a division without being promoted or relegated.
In
2000 following a poll on the official SAFC website, Sunderland announced the new club nickname would be "The Black Cats".The alterntives were, "The SOLs", "The Miners" and "the
Mackems".The club had been without a nickname since
1997 when it moved away from
Roker Park - the nickname "The Rokerites" was no longer relevant.
There is a long historical link between
Black Cats and Sunderland; including the "Black Cat Battery", a battery gun based on the
River Wear. Black Cats have appeared in numerous photos around the club, and a black cat was even Manager at Roker Park for a number of years, his entrance sparking a long winning-streak. This link is reinforced by
folklore in which the black cat is said to bring
luck. Since the 1960's the emblem of the
Sunderland AFC Supporters Association has been a black cat.After
2000, Sunderland's
Mascot became "Samson the Cat" and a few years later he was joined by Delilah.
Samson was originally named after shirt sponsor at the time (
Vaux Samson
bitter).
Delilah was given her name to create the "
Samson and Delilah" pairing; the name of a
biblical couple.
As well as the "Team of All Talents" at the turn of the
20th century, Sunderland were also known as the "
Bank of England club" during the 1950's. This was due to the club's huge spending on the
transfer market at the time, which saw the transfer-record broken twice.
In recent years, despite
corporate attempts to introduce nicknames (such as the unpopular "Rokermen" and "Rokerites"), Sunderland fans have generally adopted their own unofficial nickname - including, rather simply, "The Lads" (The phrase "Ha'way the Lads" is emblazoned across the North Stand seats at the Stadium of Light), and also the "
Mackems" which was originally coined as an insult by
Geordies but has since been adopted by the people of Sunderland.
The current most popular club
fanzine is 'A Love Supreme', others have included 'It's The Hope I Can't Stand', 'Sex and Chocolate', and 'The Roker Roar' (later 'The Wearside Roar').
The most popular medium for opinion regarding the club and its fans is
Sunderland Message Board which is the joint venture of A Love Supreme and the online fan site ReadyToGo.net
Top Flight
Reached the First Division in 1890 and over the next 50 years were league champions six times.
Were relegated from the First Division for the first time in 1958. For nearly 50 years since then, they have struggled to establish themselves back in the top flight.
Reached their first League Cup final in 1985 but lost to Norwich City. They were both relegated from the First Division weeks later.
Played their first Premiership season in 1996-97, which ended in relegation on the final day of the season.
Returned to the Premiership in 1999 and finished seventh in both of their first two seasons back at the highest level.
Were relegated from the Premiership in 2003 with a record low of 4 wins, 21 goals and 19 points.
Returned to the Premiership in 2005 but went down after just one season, breaking their own record by attaining just 3 wins and 15 points.
Second Flight
Have spent most of their time since 1958 bouncing between the top two tiers of the English professional league.
Were Division One champions in 1999 with an English league record of 105 points, which remained unbroken for seven years until Reading topped the same table with 106 points.
Third Flight
Spent one season in the Third Division (1987-88). The managerial expertise of Dennis Smith and frequent goalscoring of Marco Gabbiadini ensured that their stay at this level was a short one and they went straight back up as champions.
Cup Competitions
Lost their first F.A Cup final 1-0 to Aston Villa in 1913.
Won their first F.A. Cup in 1937 after beating Preston North End 3-1 thanks to goals from Bob Gurney, Raich Carter and Eddie Burbanks.
Achieved a famous 1-0 victory over Leeds United in the 1973 F.A Cup final thanks to an Ian Porterfield goal and a Jim Montgomery wonder save.
Lost the 1984 League Cup 1-0 against Norwich City.
Most recent cup final was the 1992 FA Cup final, which was lost 2-0 to Liverpool.
* Attendance
**Highest (Roker Park):
75,118 (v
Derby County,
FA Cup 6th Round Replay, March 8th,
1933)
**Highest (Stadium of Light):
48,355 (vs
Liverpool,
FA Premiership, April 13th,
2002)
**Lowest (Stadium of Light):
11,450 (vs
Chester City,
Carling Cup First Round, August 24th,
2004)
* Scorelines
**Biggest victory (League):
9-1 (v
Newcastle United, Division One, 5th December
1908)
**Biggest victory (cup):
11-1 (v
Fairfield,
FA Cup First round, 2nd February
1895)
**Biggest Defeat:
8-0 (v
West Ham United (19 October
1968); v
Watford (25 September
1982))
* Players
**All-time appearances:
623 -
Jimmy Montgomery (537 league, 78 cup, 8 other)
**All-time goalscorer:
228 -
Bobby Gurney**Post-war goalscorer:
113 -
Kevin Phillips**Most goals in a season:
43 - Dave Halliday, 1928/29 season
**Highest transfer fee paid:
£8m (
Tore Andre Flo from
Rangers)
* Sequences
**Most back-to-back league wins:
13 (November 14th,
1891 - April 2nd,
1892)
**Most back-to-back league draws:
6 (March 26th,
1949 - April 19th,
1949)
**Most back-to-back league losses:
17 (January 18th,
2003 - August 23rd,
2003)
**Longest run without a league defeat:
19 (May 3rd,
1998 - November 11th,
1998)
**Longest run without a league win:
22 (December 21st,
2002 - August 23rd,
2003)
* Points
**Most points in a season:
105 (Football League Division One, 1998/99) (English league record at the time)
**Fewest points in season:
15 (Premier League, 2005/06) (English league record since the advent of three-points-for-a-win)
As of 4 August, 2006:
* 1879-1882 - Blue House Field,
Hendon* 1882-1883 - Groves Field,
Ashbrooke* 1883-1884 - Horatio Street
* 1884-1886 - Abbs Field,
Fulwell* 1886-1898 - Newcastle Road
* 1898-1997 -
Roker Park* 1997-present -
Stadium of Light{|valign="top"|
* 1888 -
Tom Watson * 1896 - Bob Campbell
* 1899 - Alex Mackie
* 1905 - Bob Kyle
* 1928 - Johnny Cochrane - Gave Sunderland their most recent league title triumph
* 1939 - Bill Murray
* 1957 - Alan Brown
* 1964 -
George Hardwick * 1965 - Ian McColl
* 1968 - Alan Brown
* 1972 -
Bob Stokoe - Guided Sunderland to a shock F.A Cup win over Leeds United in 1973
* 1976 (c) - Ian MacFarlane
* 1976 -
Jimmy Adamson * 1978 (c) -
David Merrington * 1978 - Billy Elliott
* 1979 - Ken Knighton
* 1981 (c) - Mick Docherty
* 1981 -
Alan Durban * 1984 (c) -
Bryan (Pop) Robson * 1984 -
Len Ashurst * 1985 -
Lawrie McMenemy * 1987 (c) -
Bob Stokoe * 1987 -
Denis Smith - Reversed Sunderland's decline in the later part of the 1980s, taking them from the Third Division to the First in the space of three seasons
* 1991 -
Malcolm Crosby * 1993 -
Terry Butcher * 1993 -
Mick Buxton * 1995 -
Peter Reid - Spent nearly eight years at the helm, winning promotion twice and coming within a whisker of a UEFA Cup place twice
* 2002 -
Howard Wilkinson - Sacked after winning just 2 out of 20 Premiership games in charge
* 2003 -
Mick McCarthy - Took Sunderland to an F.A Cup semi final and back into the Premiership before their terrible form cost him his job
* 2006 (c) -
Kevin Ball - Took over from Mick McCarthy but was unable to stave off inevitable relegation
* 2006 -
Niall Quinn - became manager after becoming club chairman.
