Choose another club Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Chelsea Everton Fulham Hull Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Portsmouth Stoke Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Brom West Ham United Wigan Athletic Founded: 1879 | Nickname: The Black Cats, The Mackems| Ground: Stadium of Light | Capacity: 49,000 Sunderland Association Football Club Sunderland Stadium of Light, Sunderland SR5 1SU Tel: 0191 551 5000 Visit Official Site > Buy Tickets > Club Shop > Stadium Directions >

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. Famed for their large support, Sunderland fans were voted the loudest supporters in the Premier League 2007-08 season following a survey which was carried out at every ground in the league.[3][4]

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.[5] Sunderland's only 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.

They have a long-standing rivalry with local team Newcastle United. The Tyne-Wear derby has been contested since 1898.

History

Sunderland A.F.C. club badge, used from 1972 until changed in 1997 at the time of the club's move to the Stadium of Light

Sunderland A.F.C. badge before the 1970s

Glasgow born Sunderland-based school teacher James Allan started the Sunderland & 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 late 19th century.

Ironically it was James Allan who founded Albion following dissatisfaction with the way that Sunderland AFC were being run as professionalism was creeping into football.

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.

In January 1949 Sunderland were involved in what is often regarded as the first case of a player transferring himself when they paid £18,000 for Carlisle United player-manager Ivor Broadis.[6] This along with Sunderland spending the likes of record breaking transfer fees on Len Shackleton and Wales' Trevor Ford led to the club being known at this time as 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 2008) 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 club's stay in the top flight was short-lived; Sunderland finished on another new record-low total of 15 points. McCarthy left the club in mid-season and was replaced temporarily by Kevin Ball, a former player. The record-low fifteen-point performance was surpassed in 2007-08 by Derby County, who finished on eleven points.

Following their relegation, the club was taken over by the Irish Drumaville Consortium, headed by ex-player Niall Quinn who replaced former chair Bob Murray in July 2006. The consortium appointed former Manchester United captain Roy Keane 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.

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 was far better than that demonstrated during their last season in the Premier League, and despite ending 2007 in 18th position, January signings helped the club improve during the second half of the season, eventually finishing in 15th with 39 points, retaining Premier League status for the 2008-09 season.

After a turbulant period of instability the club appear ambitious for success and improvement, with chariman Niall Quinn and his backers investing greatly in the squad for the 08/09 season, instiling a sense of optimisum amoung fans.

Club colours

Sunderland began playing in an all-blue kit, then red and white halved shirts, settling on red-and-white stripes in 1887,[7] 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 08/09 season, the away kit is blue with black stripes. The 3rd kit is all white with red on the shoulders (it was used as the club's away kit in the 2007/2008 season).

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.

The club also boast one of the biggest supports in English football along with Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Newcastle United.

Nicknames

In 2000 following a poll on the official Sunderland A.F.C. website, Sunderland confirmed the football club's traditional nickname of "the Mackems", however, this name along with the initials SMB was considered derogatory and so they changed it and went with 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 [8] 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 [9]. An annotation to the 1984 published version of Raine's Eye Plan [8] 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.[citation needed]

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".[citation needed]

Fanzines

The current fanzine of choice is A Love Supreme[10]. 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).

Sponsorship

Sunderland A.F.C. is currently sponsored by the Irish bookmaker Boylesports, who signed a four year contract with the club in 2007 worth up to £12 million which will see the company become the main shirt sponsors until 2011.[11] The club were sponsored by the Vaux breweries between 1985 and 1999, and subsequently Sunderland car room Reg Vardy from 1999-2007. They have also been sponsored for a small period by transport company "Cowies," which later became Arriva.

Honours

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 (this honour now rests with Derby County who amassed just 11 points and 1 win in season 2007/8).

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. Out of all the current league teams that have played in the third tier of English football Sunderland A.F.C. is the only one to have won the Championship in their one and only season, although there are still 8 clubs yet to descend to that level.

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.

The club's only other F.A. Cup win came against Leeds United in 1973, with Ian Porterfield scoring the only goal of the game.

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)
  • 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 (1949-50 season at Roker Park)
  • Highest average league attendance (Stadium of Light): 46,790 (2000-01 season)
  • Highest ratio between average league attendance and stadium capacity: 97% (1999-2000 season)

• Scorelines
  • Biggest victory (League): 1-9 (v Newcastle United, Division One, 5 December 1908)
  • Biggest victory (cup): 11-1 (v Fairfield, FA Cup First round, 2 February 1895)
    
  • Biggest Defeat: 8-0 (v West Ham United (19 October 1968), 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 goals per game ratio: 165 goals in 175 games = 0.943 goals per game - Dave Halliday, 1925-29
  • Highest number of hat tricks: 12 - Dave Halliday, 1925-29
  • Highest transfer fee paid: £7m (rising to £9m)[12] (Craig Gordon from Hearts) (British record - highest ever fee paid for a goalkeeper)

• 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)

Players

As of 8 August 2008.[13]

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Craig Gordon 2 DF Philip Bardsley 4 MF Teemu Tainio 5 DF Nyron Nosworthy 6 MF Dean Whitehead (captain) 7 MF Carlos Edwards 8 MF Steed Malbranque 10 MF Kieran Richardson 11 FW El-Hadji Diouf 12 MF Liam Miller 13 GK Darren Ward 14 FW Daryl Murphy 15 DF Danny Collins 16 FW Michael Chopra 17 FW Kenwyne Jones 18 MF Grant Leadbitter 19 MF Dwight Yorke (vice-captain) 20 MF Andy Reid 21 DF Pascal Chimbonda 22 DF Danny Higginbotham 24 GK Trevor Carson 25 DF Jean-Yves Mvoto

No. Position Player 26 MF Dickson Etuhu 27 DF Russell Anderson 28 MF Graham Kavanagh 29 DF Peter Hartley 30 DF Paul McShane 31 FW David Connolly 32 GK Márton Fülöp 33 DF Michael Liddle 34 MF Jack Colback 35 DF Michael Kay 36 MF Nathan Luscombe 37 MF Robbie Weir 38 MF Jamie Chandler 39 FW Martyn Waghorn 40 FW David Dowson 41 MF David Meyler 42 MF Jordan Henderson 43 MF Conor Hourihane 44 FW Anthony Stokes 45 FW Rade Prica 46 GK Nick Colgan

Out on loan

No. Position Player 23 FW Roy O'Donovan (at Dundee United until the end of the 2008–09 season) –– MF Arnau Riera (at Falkirk until the end of the 2008–09 season) –– DF Greg Halford (at Sheffield United until the end of the 2008–09 season) –– MF Ross Wallace (at Preston North End until the end of the 2008–09 season)

Management

Directors

• Chairman: Niall Quinn
• Vice Chairman (Non-Executive): John Hays
• Chief Executive: Peter Walker
• Communications & Marketing Director: Lesley Callaghan
• Non-Executive Directors: Bill Garrett, Paul Keogh, Denis McCoy & John Ryan

Football Management

• Manager: Roy Keane[14]
• Assistant Manager: Tony Loughlan[15]
• First Team Coach: Ricky Sbragia[16]
• Goalkeeping Coach: Raimond van der Gouw[17]
• Reserve Team Coach: Neil Bailey
• Chief Scout Mick Brown
• Club Doctor & Head of Medical Department: Glen Rae
• Club Doctor: David Gough
• Head of Sports Medicine: Pete Friar[18]
• Senior Physiotherapist: David Binningsley
• Strength and Conditioning Coach: Mike Clegg[19]
• Fitness Coach: Scott Ainsley[20]
• Academy Manager: Ged McNamee[21]
• Assistant Academy Managers: Kevin Ball[22] and Elliott Dickman[23]
• Development Centre Co-ordinator: Wayne Walls
• Academy Doctor: Richard Pickworth

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.

Source: [24]

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 (Division 1) (2nd Tier)
Managerless games				35	13	7	15
Total Club Record		November 1879	Present	4830	1975	1158	1697

Sources:
Soccerbase
The Stat Cat

Grounds

• 1879-1882 - Blue House Field, Hendon
• 1882-1883 - Groves Field, Ashbrooke
• 1883-1884 - Horatio Street, Roker
• 1884-1886 - Abbs Field, Fulwell
• 1886-1898 - Newcastle Road, Monkwearmouth
• 1898-1997 - Roker Park, Roker
• 1997-present - Stadium of Light, Monkwearmouth

Notable players

England internationals

The following players have appeared for the England national team while on the books of Sunderland.[25]

Scotland internationals

The following players have appeared for Scotland while on the books of Sunderland.[26]

Wales internationals

The following players have appeared for Wales while on the books of Sunderland.

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