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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 nicknamed the 'Black Cats'. They moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997 after 99 years at Roker Park.

Sunderland's traditional local rivals are Newcastle United.

Sunderland A.F.C. Women is the women's football club affiliated with Sunderland A.F.C. They play in the Premier Division.

Before the Second World War, Sunderland were league champions six times. Their last triumph came in 1936. Their only major trophy since the Second World War was the F.A Cup, which was secured in 1973 thanks to a shock 1-0 win over Leeds United.

On July 3 2006, it was confirmed that an offer valuing the club at around £10m had been accepted from the Drumaville Consortium, led by former Sunderland and Republic of Ireland player Niall Quinn. Quinn also confirmed his intention to become Sunderland chairman once the takeover is formally finalised and that he had been given permission to begin the search for a replacement for former manager Mick McCarthy.

History

Main Article: Sunderland A.F.C. History

Formed in 1879, Sunderland were admitted into The Football League in 1892, becoming the 13th professional team in the country. During the late 19th century, they were known as the "Team of All Talents" - between 1892 and 1902 they won the league three times and were runners-up a further three times. Sunderland have been English Champions six times in total (last time was 1936), and won the FA Cup most famously as a Second Division club in 1973 (previously winning the FA Cup in 1937), when they beat the then mighty Leeds United 1 - 0.

After World War II, Sunderland's fortunes faded, and in 1958, following an illegal-payment scandal which saw the club heavily fined, they were relegated for the first time in their history. At the time Sunderland was the last remaining club never to have been relegated. Since the war, the 1973 FA Cup has been the only major trophy won.

Since the late 1960's, Sunderland have moved up and down divisions at regular intervals, rarely settling for more than five years. In 1987, they were relegated to the third division. They spent only one season there; their only season outside of the top two divisions.

In 1997, Sunderland moved from Roker Park, home for 99 years, to the Stadium of Light, a 42,000 seater stadium (later increased to 49,000) on the banks of the River Wear. The stadium brought huge crowds and after two seasons they were promoted to the Premiership. Around this time, Sunderland also began to lay plans for the Academy of Light, a new world-class training academy for young stars.

After a promising few seasons in the Premiership, the club was eventually relegated back to the Championship, with heavy debts.

After another two seasons in the second-level of English football, Mick McCarthy took the club back up as Champions. The return to England's top flight however has seen a return to the depressing days of the 2002-03 season when wins, goals, and points were scarce. Sunderland, for the first time in their history, failed to win a home game before Christmas. By the end of February they had still not won a home game and the embarrassment was compounded when they were knocked-out of the FA Cup at the 4th round stage by League One side Brentford.

On March 6 2006, McCarthy was sacked by the club. Former club captain and Academy coach Kevin Ball took control as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season.

The almost-inevitable relegation was mathematically confirmed on April 14th 2006, when in a very creditable display they drew 0-0 against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

A modicum of self respect was achieved in beating Fulham 2-1 in their last home game of the season. In doing so they avoided the ignomy of being the only club in the history of the premiership, to never win at home all season. At least this gave the fans something to cheer about.

However they compounded the fans' misery by only gaining 15 points which has never been achieved by any other team in the Premier League's 13 year existence (nor indeed in any division of the English league, if allowance is made for the change from 2 to 3 points for a victory in 1981-82). This outstanding league total saw them fall 24 points short of nearest surviving team Portsmouth F.C.

Since their demise new hope has been given to the club in the form of ex-player Niall Quinn. The crowd favourite who along with his Drumaville Consortium, successfully launched a bid to buy out former chairman Bob Murray. With Kevin Richardson currently acting as first team coach, several different names have been linked with the manager's job. It has been rumoured that Peter Reid will be re-appointed, but the biggest name linked with the job is Martin O'Neill - who achieved enormous success with Leicester City and Celtic.

Statistics

Main article: Sunderland A.F.C. Statistics
Current season: 2005-06 Season for Sunderland A.F.C.

Having played the final game of the season, Sunderland lie bottom of the Premier League. This is their 105th full professional league season, and their 76th in England's top division. In 115 years 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.

Nicknames

In 2000 following a poll on the official SAFC website, Sunderland announced the new club nickname would be "The Black Cats". The other options at the time were: "The Light Brigade", "The SOLs", "The Miners" and the "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 resident 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.

Honours

Top Flight

  • Football League Champions: 6
    • 1891/1892, 1892/1893, 1894/1895, 1901/1902, 1912/1913, 1935/1936

  • Football League runners-up: 5
    • 1893/1894, 1897/1898, 1900/1901, 1922/1923, 1934/1935

Second Flight

Third Flight

Cup Competitions

  • FA Cup beaten finalists: 2
    • 1913, 1992

Club Records

  • 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 of consecutive league wins: 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)
    • Least points in season: 15 (Premier League, 2005/06)(English league record)

Current squad

As of 18 May, 2006:

Number Player Position Year Signed Previous Club
Goalkeepers
1 Kelvin Davis GK 2005 Ipswich Town
13 Ben Alnwick GK 2003 Academy of Light
Defenders
2 Stephen Wright RB 2002 Liverpool F.C.
3 George McCartney LB/CB 1998 Academy of Light
6 Steven Caldwell CB 2004 Newcastle United
12 Nyron Nosworthy RB 2005 Gillingham F.C.
15 Danny Collins CB/LB 2004 Chester City
28 Dan Smith LB 2003 Academy of Light
33 Julio Arca LB/LW 2000 Argentinos Juniors
Midfielders / Wingers
4 Rory Delap CM/RW 2006 Southampton F.C.
7 Liam Lawrence RW 2004 Mansfield Town
8 Dean Whitehead CM/RW 2004 Oxford United
11 Andy Welsh LM 2004 Stockport County F.C.
14 Tommy Miller CM 2005 Ipswich Town
23 Grant Leadbitter CM 1997 Academy of Light
31 Christian Bassila DM 2005 RC Strasbourg
Forwards
9 Jonathan Stead CF 2005 Blackburn Rovers
10 Stephen Elliott CF 2004 Manchester City
16 Kevin Kyle CF 2000 Academy of Light
20 Chris Brown CF 2002 Academy of Light
26 Daryl Murphy CF 2005 Waterford United
21 Kevin Smith CF 2006 Leeds United
Manager
- - Position vacant - - -

Grounds

Managerial History

  • 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
(c) - Caretaker Manager

Notable Managerial Achievements

  • Bob Stokoe - Guided Sunderland to their finest moment in 1973, when as a Second Division side they achieved a shock 1-0 win over Leeds United - then one of Europe's most feared sides - in the F.A Cup final.

  • Denis Smith - Took Sunderland to the old Third Division title in 1988 and into the First Division two years later. Under his management, they also reached the 1992 F.A Cup final but lost 2-0 to Liverpool.

  • Peter Reid - Took over during the 1994-95 season when Sunderland were struggling in Division One, and during eight seasons at the helm he oversaw the relocation to a new stadium and an upturn in on-the-field fortunes which saw the Wearsiders achieved two seventh-placed finishes which followed their second promotion to the Premiership in 1999.

Notable Sunderland players

 

Trivia

  • Sunderland received the first 4-figure transfer-fee in football history; £1,000 was paid by Middlesbrough F.C. for Alf Common.
  • Arsenal's highest ever attendance at Highbury was against Sunderland; a crowd of 73,295 watched a First Division game on March 9 1935. The record attendance of Arsenal's local rivals Tottenham Hotspur was also against Sunderland - On March 5 1938 75,038 fans watched the game at White Hart Lane.
  • Sunderland were also the visitors for record attendances of Leeds United F.C. (57,892 at Elland Road on March 15 1967), Watford F.C. (all-seater record, 21,590 at Vicarage Road on November 27 1999), Bristol Rovers F.C. (record at the Memorial Ground, 11,433 on October 31 2000) and Yeovil Town F.C. in one of the most embarrassing moments in Sunderland's history, when they lost 2-1 to the then non-league club at Huish Park on January 29 1949 in the FA Cup 4th Round.
  • Sunderland's record attendance of 75,118 at Roker Park is the 5th highest record attendance of all league clubs - behind Manchester City (84,569), Chelsea F.C. (82,905), Everton F.C. (78,299) and Aston Villa (76,588).
  • Sunderland have broken the British football transfer record on at least five different occasions, and they have been the selling club on at least three occasions.
  • In 1895, after winning the English league for the 3rd time, Scottish champions Hearts challenged Sunderland to an exhibition match, billed as the 'Championship of the World'. Sunderland won the game 5-3.
  • In 1903, Sunderland fans - disgruntled following a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. - stoned the referee and the Wednesday team bus. The FA banned Sunderland from playing their next game at Roker Park; instead they had to play it at St. James' Park in Newcastle.
  • Sunderland's record win, 9-1 at Newcastle United is still a record away win in England's top division.
  • Between 2003 and 2006, Sunderland held two very distinct English professional league records; both the highest number of points in a season (105 in First Division (now known as the Championship)in 1998/99) and also the lowest number of points in a season (19 in the Premiership in 2002/03). In 2006, Reading broke the record for the highest number of points with 106, and in the same season, Sunderland broke the record for the lowest number of points with 15 in the Premiership.

References

External links

Official website

Other sites

English football clubs | Sunderland A.F.C. | United Soccer Association teams | Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange | Sport in Tyne and Wear | FA Premier League clubs

Sunderland AFC | FC Sunderland | Sunderland Association Football Club | Sunderland Association Football Club | Sunderland A.F.C. | Sunderland AFC | サンダーランドAFC | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland A.F.C. | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland AFC | Sunderland A.F.C. | 桑德兰足球俱乐部

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Sunderland A.F.C.".

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