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Sunderland A.F.C.

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Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional association football team based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in North-East England. They play in the Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having won six First Division titles and two FA Cups. They moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997 after 99 years at Roker Park. The Sunderland fans were recently voted the loudest in the Premier League following a survey which was carried out at every ground in the league.

Before the Second World War, Sunderland were league champions six times - in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and most recently in 1936, when they became the last team wearing striped shirts to win the league. They were elected into the football league in 1890, becoming the first team to join after the league's birth in 1888. Sunderland stayed in the top flight until 1958, a record which only Arsenal have bettered since, in 1992. The club won their first FA Cup in 1937 with a 3-1 victory over Preston North End.

Sunderland's major triumph post World War II was the club's second FA Cup victory in 1973, when the club secured a 1-0 victory over Leeds United thanks to an Ian Porterfield goal and a terrific double save from Jimmy Montgomery (who has the record number of appearances for Sunderland).

History

Glasgow born Sunderland-based school teacher James Allan started the "Sunderland and District Teachers Association Football Club" formed Sunderland A.F.C. on 17 October 1879. On 16 October 1880 the club changed its name to "Sunderland Teachers Association Football Club" i.e. the Teachers bit remained, but the statement which announced this indicated that the club opened its membership to all in order to relax financial troubles and increase the pool of players available to it. Sunderland Teachers A.F.C. became Sunderland A.F.C. on limited company status. Sunderland enjoyed an extremely "unhealthy" rivalry with Sunderland Albion F.C. (who confusingly had the same initials) until their demise in the early 20th century.

Ironically it was James Allan who founded Albion after being voted off the Committee of Sunderland A.F.C. although he had formed Albion prior to the meeting. Sunderland were admitted into The Football League for the 1890-91 season, replacing Stoke. It was the first time a new club had joined the league since its inauguration in 1888. During the late 19th century they were still famously declared as the "Team of All Talents" by William McGregor, the founder of the league, after a 6–1 over Aston Villa at Perry Barr (erroneously up to now attributed to a 7–2 home win against Aston Villa); and between 1892 and 1902 the team won the league three times and were runners-up a further three times.

In 1913, Sunderland again won the league and lost their first FA Cup Final 1–0 to Aston Villa. It was the closest the club has ever come to The Double.

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 F.A. Cup after a 3–1 victory against Preston North End at Wembley Stadium.

Following the Second World War, the club suffered a downturn in fortunes, despite breaking a number of transfer records and being labelled 'The Bank of England Club'. In 1957 the club were implicated in a major financial scandal (the second in their history after the Andrew MacCombie scandal in 1904), resulting in an unprecedented fine of £5,000 and the suspension of the club chair and three directors. In 1958 Sunderland were relegated from the top-flight for the first time in their 68-year league history.

Sunderland won their last major trophy in 1973 courtesy of 1–0 victory over Leeds United in the FA Cup Final. Sunderland, a second division club at the time, won the game thanks to an amazing double save of Jimmy Montgomery to deny Peter Lorimer, described by many as the greatest save at Wembley, and even, by some, as the greatest save of all time. Ian Porterfield scored a stunning volley in the 30th minute to stun Leeds and take the win. Since 1973 only two other clubs (Southampton in 1976 and West Ham United in 1980) have equalled Sunderland's achievement of lifting the FA Cup while playing outside the top tier of English football.

In 1985, Sunderland appeared in their first and only (to 2007) League Cup final, losing 1–0 to Norwich City.

1987 saw one of the lowest points in Sunderland's history, as they were relegated to the third division of the English league for the first and only time.

Under new Chairman Bob Murray and new manager Denis Smith the club were promoted as champions the following season. In 1990, they were promoted back to the top flight, after losing to Swindon Town in the play off final, but Swindon's victory being revoked after being found guilty of financial irregularities. They stayed up for one year before being relegated on the final day of the season.

Sunderland's last outing in a major final came in 1992 when, as a second division club, they returned to the FA Cup Final. There was to be no repeat of the heroics of 1973, with Sunderland losing 2–0 to Liverpool.

The early 1990s was a turbulent period for the club. In 1995, they faced the prospect of a return the third-tier of English football. Peter Reid was brought in, and quickly turned things around. Reid's time in charge had a stabilising effect; he remained manager for seven years, one of the longest tenures in Sunderland's history.

In 1997, Sunderland left Roker Park, their home for 99 years. They moved to the Stadium of Light, a 42,000-seat arena that, at the time, was the biggest new stadium built in England since World War II. The move saw a renaissance at the club, as attendances jumped dramatically. The Stadium capacity was later increased to 49,000.

Sunderland returned to the top-flight as champions in 1999 with a then record points total of 105. Two consecutive seventh place finishes in the Premier League were followed by two less successful seasons and they were relegated to the second-tier with a record low points total of 19 in 2003.

Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy took over at the club and in 2005 he took Sunderland up as champions (the third time in under ten years). However, the following season was a disaster; Sunderland finished on a new record-low total of 15 points. McCarthy left the club in mid-season and was replaced temporarily by Kevin Ball, a former player.

Following their relegation new hope was given to the club by ex-player Niall Quinn who, along with the Irish Drumaville Consortium, successfully launched a bid to buy out former chair Bob Murray in July 2006. The consortium appointed former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, a former international team mate of chairman Niall Quinn, as their new manager. Quinn had been in charge for the first few games of the season in a disastrous start. However, under Keane the club rose steadily up the table with an unbeaten run of seventeen games from the start of 2007. Along with Birmingham City F.C., Sunderland clinched promotion to the FA Premier League for the upcoming 2007–08 season, following Derby County's 2–0 defeat to Crystal Palace on April 29. Roy Keane was informed via a text message that Sunderland A.F.C. had been promoted while walking his dog Triggs.

On May 6 2007 Sunderland were crowned winners of Championship after beating Luton Town 5–0 at Kenilworth Road.

The club's form in the 2007–08 season has been far better than the form demonstrated during the last season in the Premier League. The team have been able to create a 'never say die' attitude and this has been shown in the team's ability to regularly score goals late in matches. Nevertheless, the team finished 2007 in 18th position, one of the relegation places, and found themselves relying on Keane to make some purchases during the January transfer window. Since then Sunderland have risen to 14th in the premier league table.

Club Colours

Sunderland began playing in an all-blue kit, then red and white halved shirts, settling on red-and-white stripes in 1887, parading this new kit in a game against Notts Mellors. The red and white stripes can be traced back to a gift from fellow North East team South Bank F.C. who helped Sunderland out when they faced financial difficulties. They donated a set of red-and-white striped kits, complete with black shorts, and Sunderland have been wearing those colours ever since. For the 07/08 season, the away kit is all white, which continues a tradition of Sunderland A.F.C. wearing the colour (the team wore white on the first game at Roker Park in 1898). There is also a third kit, which is all blue.

Statistics

In 117 years (76 in the top division), they have played over 4700 league games, of which they have won 41%, drawn 24% and lost 35%. Sunderland has 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 seventh in consecutive seasons at the turn of the 21st century. Since they were first relegated in 1958, Sunderland has not spent longer than 6 years in a division without being promoted or relegated.

Nicknames

In 2000 following a poll on the official Sunderland A.F.C. website, Sunderland confirmed the football club's traditional nickname of "The Black Cats".

There is a long historical link between Black Cats and Sunderland; including the "Black Cat Battery", a battery gun based on the River Wear, according to Sunderland A.F.C.. This link is reinforced by folklore in which the black cat is said to bring luck.

Raine's "Eye Plan" of c.1785-90 shows two of the (ultimately four) gun batteries on the south side of the Wear which guarded the rivermouth during the Napoleonic wars. This battery site would later evolve into Militia Barracks during the course of the nineteenth century . An annotation to the 1984 published version of Raine's Eye Plan states that one of the two batteries was named the John Paul Jones Battery after the American naval hero who sailed down the English East coast in 1779 with a squadron of warships intending to disrupt the coal trade. In 1805 the battery was manned by local militia, the Sunderland Loyal Volunteers, one of whom was a cooper by trade named Joshua Dunn. He, it was said, "fled from the howling of an approaching black cat, convinced by the influence of the full moon and a warming dram or two that it was the devil incarnate". From that point onwards the John Paul Jones Battery was known as the Black Cat Battery.

A Sunderland supporter (Billy Morris) took a Black Cat to the 1937 FA Cup Final in his top pocket as a good luck charm, it worked as Sunderland brought home the trophy for the first time. During the 1960s a Black Cat lived in Roker Park and was fed and watered by the football club; its reward for catching mice and rats.

Since the 1960s, the emblem of the Sunderland A.F.C. Supporters Association has been a black cat. After 2000, Sunderland's Mascot became "Samson the Cat" and a few years later, Delilah joined him. 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 was also known as the "Bank of England club" during the 1950s. This was due to the club's huge spending on the transfer market at the time, which saw the transfer-record broken twice.

At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, the purchase of the club by the Irish Drumaville consortium, the appointments of Niall Quinn and Roy Keane to their respective roles as chairman and manager, as well as the relatively large number of Irish players in the squad (nine players out of 34) led some fans to jokingly dub the team "Sund-Ireland".

Fanzines

The current fanzine of choice is A Love Supreme. Others in the past have been It's The Hope I Can't Stand, Sex and Chocolate, Wise Men Say, and The Roker Roar (later The Wearside Roar).

Honours

Honours Times

Years
League
First Division Top Flight Champions 6 1891/1892, 1892/1893, 1894/1895, 1901/1902, 1912/1913, 1935/1936
First Division Top Flight Runners-up 5 1893/1894, 1897/1898, 1900/1901, 1922/1923, 1934/1935
Championship Second Flight Champions 2 2004/2005, 2006/2007
'New' First Division Second Flight Champions 2 1995/1996, 1998/1999
'Old' Second Division Second Flight Champions 1 1975/1976
'Old' Second Division Second Flight Runners-up 1 1963/1964
'Old' Third Division Third Flight Champions 1 1987/1988
Cups
FA Cup Winners 2 1936/1937, 1972/1973
FA Cup Runners-up 3 1912/1913, 1941/1942, 1991/1992
FA Youth Cup 2 1967, 1969
League Cup Runners-up 1 1984/1985
War Cup Runners-up 1 1942
Charity Shield Winners 1 1936/1937
Sheriff of London Charity Shield Winners 1 1902/1903
Charity Shield Runners-up 1 1937/1938

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, making 68 consecutive seasons spent in the English top league, still the second highest total in English football. Since then though, they have struggled to establish themselves back in the top flight.

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 four wins, 21 goals and 19 points.

They returned to the Premiership in 2005/2006 season, but went down after just one season, breaking their own record by attaining just 3 wins and 15 points.

They then returned to England's top flight after a successful 2006/07 season in the Championship, winning it under the leadership of manager Roy Keane.

Second flight

Have spent most of their time since 1958 bouncing between the top two tiers of the English professional league.

Were Division 1 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.

In 2006-2007, following a terrible start to the season - losing their first four games, Sunderland A.F.C. went on to win The Championship once again. This meant that they had won the Football League Champions Trophy for the 10th time in their history - albeit it 4 of them being at the second level. However, it was a monumental achievement following the debacle of the previous season. The driving factors of this transformation were the financial takeover of the club by the Drumaville consortium led by Niall Quinn, and more importantly, the appointment of Roy Keane as the manager of the first team.

Third flight

Spent one season in the Third Division (1987-88). The managerial expertise of Denis Smith and frequent goal scoring of Marco Gabbiadini and striking partner Eric Gates, ensured that their stay at this level was a short one and they went straight back up as champions.

Cup competitions

FA Cup runners up to Aston Villa in 1913.

The team inspired by local boy Raich Carter won the clubs first F.A. Cup in 1937, beating Preston North End 3-1.

Achieved a famous 1-0 victory over the then mighty Leeds United in the 1973 F.A. Cup final thanks to an Ian Porterfield goal and a Jim Montgomery wonder save.

Reached the final of the League Cup in 1985, in which they were beaten 1-0 by Norwich City. Following this game the 'Friendship Trophy' was instituted, reflecting the excellent camaraderie between the fans of the two clubs. It is competed for each time the clubs meet and is currently held by Sunderland.

Most recent cup final was the 1992 FA Cup final, which was lost to Liverpool.

Club records

  • Home Attendance (Professional competitive games only)

    • Highest (Overall): 75,118 (v Derby County, FA Cup 6th Round Replay, March 8, 1933 at Roker Park)
    • Highest (League): 68,004 (v Newcastle United, March 4 1950 at Roker Park) although it is thought there where up to 90000 against Manchester United in 1964 at Roker park
    • Highest (Stadium of Light): 48,355 (vs Liverpool, FA Premiership, April 13, 2002)
    • Additionally, Sunderland hold the record for the highest attendance outside the top flight of English football since the advent of the Premier League: 47,350 (vs Stoke City, Coca-Cola Championship, May 8, 2005)

    • Lowest (Overall): 1,000? (v Fairfield, FA Cup First round, 2 February 1895 at Newcastle Road) (estimate)
    • Lowest (League): 2,000? (v Everton April 10 1910 or Burnley December 12 1914) (both estimates and both at Roker Park)
    • Lowest (Stadium of Light): 11,450 (vs Chester City, Carling Cup First Round, August 24, 2004)
    • Lowest (Stadium of Light, League): 22,167 (vs Wigan Athletic, December 2 2003)

    • Highest average league attendance (Overall): 47,976 (1949-1950 season at Roker Park)
    • Highest average league attendance (Stadium of Light): 46,790 (2000-2001 season)
    • Highest ratio between average league attendance and stadium capacity: 97% (1999-2000 season)

  • Scorelines

  • Players

  • Sequences

    • Most back-to-back league wins: 13 (November 14, 1891 - April 2, 1892)
    • Most back-to-back league draws: 6 (March 26, 1949 - April 19, 1949)
    • Most back-to-back league losses: 17 (January 18, 2003 - August 23, 2003)
    • Longest run without a league defeat: 19 (May 3, 1998 - November 11, 1998)
    • Longest run without a league win: 22 (December 21, 2002 - August 23, 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)

Players

As of 24 January 2008.

Current squad

Out on loan

Management

Current management and coaching staff

  • Chairman: Niall Quinn
  • Manager: Roy Keane
  • Head Coach: Tony Loughlan
  • First Team Coach: Ricky Sbragia
  • Goalkeeping Coach: Raimond van der Gouw
  • Reserve Team Coach: Neil Bailey
  • Head of Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy: Pete Friar
  • Senior Physiotherapist: David Binningsley
  • Strength and Conditioning Coach: Mike Clegg
  • Fitness Coach: Scott Ainsley
  • Academy Manager: Ged McNamee
  • Assistant Academy Managers: Kevin Ball and Elliott Dickman
  • Chief Scout Mick Brown

Chairman history

19 men have chaired Sunderland A.F.C. since it became a limited company in 1895 with an average tenure of 5 and a half years. The longest serving chair is Bob Murray who chaired the club for 18 years in two separate spells (of which the second - 11 years between 1995 and 2006 - was the longest continuous spell of any chair).

Fred Taylor escaped suspension following the 1904 illegal payments scandal, a feat not matched by Bill Ditchburn following a similar scandal in 1957. Ditchburn became the first and only Sunderland chair to be suspended during his tenure. The five proceeding chairs, Turnbull, Ritson, Parker and father and son Syd and Keith Collings, were all directors on the board during the scandal.

  • 1879-1895 - Run by a committee
  • 1895-1903 - James Henderson (Moved Sunderland from Newcastle Road to Roker Park)
  • 1903-1904 - Sinclair Todd
  • 1904-1913 - Fred Taylor
  • 1913-1921 - Samuel Wilson
  • 1921-1930 - William Bell
  • 1930-1938 - Walter Raine (Former mayor of Sunderland.)
  • 1938-1940 - Duncan White
  • 1940-1949 - Joespeh Prior
  • 1949-1957 - Bill Ditchburn (Former mayor of Sunderland, he was suspended from football by the FA after the 1957 financial irregularities scandal.)

 

  • 1957-1958 - John Turnbull
  • 1958-1960 - Stanley Ritson
  • 1960-1968 - Syd Collings
  • 1968-1971 - Jack Parker
  • 1971-1980 - Keith Collings
  • 1980-1986 - Tom Cowie
  • 1986-1993 - Bob Murray
  • 1993-1995 - John Featherstone
  • 1995-2006 - Bob Murray (Moved Sunderland from Roker Park to Stadium of Light; Floated the club on the Stock Exchange. Longest serving chair in total.)
  • 2006-Present - Niall Quinn (Only chair to simultaneously manage team. First former player to become chair. First chairman from outside the United Kingdom).

Source:

Managerial history

Start and end dates of early managers are estimates. Records are only for competitive games.

Name Nat. From To Record Notes
P W D L
Tom Watson August 1 1888 August 1 1896

 191 119 28 44 3 League Championships.
Statistically, Sunderland's most successful manager.
Bob Campbell August 1 1896 April 1 1899

 103 41 22 40
Alex Mackie August 1 1899 June 1 1905

 214 104 46 64 1 League Championship.
Bob Kyle August 1 1905 March 1 1928

 817 371 155 291 1 League Championship.
Johnny Cochrane May 1 1928 March 31 1939

 500 212 122 166 1 League Championship, 1 FA Cup.
Bill Murray April 1 1939 June 1 1957

 512 186 140 186
Alan Brown June 1 1957 May 31 1964

 332 138 88 106
George Hardwick November 1 1964 May 31 1965

 29 14 3 12
Ian McColl June 1 1965 February 1 1968

 124 39 27 58
Alan Brown February 2 1968 November 1 1972

 219 63 68 88
Billy Elliott November 1 1972 November 23 1972

 4 0 2 2 Caretaker
Bob Stokoe November 23 1972 August 18 1976

 197 92 49 56 1 FA Cup.
Ian MacFarlane August 18 1976 December 1 1976

 7 2 1 4 Caretaker
Jimmy Adamson December 1 1976 August 25 1978

 88 29 28 31
David Merrington August 25 1978 December 13 1978

 8 4 2 2 Caretaker
Billy Elliott December 13 1978 May 24 1979

 26 14 7 5 Caretaker
Ken Knighton June 7 1979 April 1 1981

 94 34 25 35
Mick Docherty April 1 1981 June 1 1981

 4 2 0 2 Caretaker
Alan Durban June 1 1981 March 2 1984

 130 37 40 53
Bryan (Pop) Robson March 2 1984 March 4 1984

 1 0 1 0 Caretaker
Len Ashurst March 4 1984 May 23 1985

 66 21 16 29
Lawrie McMenemy June 8 1985 April 16 1987

 90 27 24 39
Bob Stokoe April 16 1987 June 9 1987

 9 3 2 4 Caretaker
Denis Smith June 9 1987 December 30 1991

 238 91 64 83
Malcolm Crosby December 30 1991 February 1 1993

 60 21 15 24
Terry Butcher February 5 1993 November 26 1993

 45 14 8 23
Mick Buxton November 26 1993 March 29 1995

 76 25 24 27
Peter Reid March 29 1995 November 7 2002

 353 159 95 99
Howard Wilkinson November 10 2002 March 10 2003

 27 4 8 15 Statistically, Sunderland's least successful permanent manager.
Mick McCarthy March 12 2003 March 6 2006

 147 63 26 58
Kevin Ball March 7 2006 May 31 2006

 10 1 2 7 Caretaker
Niall Quinn July 25 2006 August 30 2006

 6 1 0 5 Chairman / Caretaker manager
Roy Keane August 30 2006 Present

 69 33 12 24 1 championship (divsion 1)
 
Managerless games

35 13 7 15
Total Club Record November 1879 Present

 4830 1975 1158 1697

Sources:
Soccerbase
The Stat Cat

Grounds

Notable players

See Sunderland A.F.C. players

 

 

References

External links

Official website

Unoffical websites



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 01:28:53 PDT (GMT -0700)
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