Sunderland A.F.C.

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Sunderland
Sunderland F.C. crest
Full nameSunderland Association
Football Club
Nickname(s)The Black Cats
Founded1879
GroundStadium of Light, Sunderland
Capacity49,000
ChairmanEnglish Bob Murray
ManagerEnglish Kevin Ball (caretaker)
LeagueFA Premier League
2005-06FA Premier League, 20th (Relegated)

Sunderland Association Football Club (Sunderland AFC or SAFC) is a Premiership football club (however, they have been relegated to the Championship for the 2006-2007 season), based at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, North-East England. They are nicknamed the 'Black Cats'.

Sunderland's traditional local rivals are Newcastle United and, to a lesser extent, Middlesbrough.

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

History

File:Bigcrestold.gif
Old club crest, changed in 1997 at the time of the club's move to the Stadium of Light
Main Article: Sunderland A.F.C. History

Formed in 1879, Sunderland entered The Football League in only its third season, 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 four 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 twice; most famously as a Second Division club in 1973, when they beat the then-mighty Leeds United.

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. 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. They still failed to win a home game by the end of February 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 they drew, 0-0, against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Statistics

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

Sunderland are currently lying 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. This nickname was not officially adopted by Sunderland AFC because it refers specifically to a resident of Sunderland, and the club did not wish to alienate it's fans from further afield.

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)

Current squad

As of 3 March, 2006:

Number Player Position Year Signed Previous Club
Goalkeepers
1 England Kelvin Davis GK 2005 Ipswich Town
13 England Ben Alnwick GK 2003 Academy of Light
30 Republic of Ireland Joe Murphy GK 2005 West Brom
Defenders
2 England Stephen Wright RB 2002 Liverpool F.C.
3 Northern Ireland George McCartney LB/CB 1998 Academy of Light
5 Republic of Ireland Gary Breen (captain) CB 2003 West Ham United
6 Scotland Steven Caldwell CB 2004 Newcastle United
12 England Nyron Nosworthy RB 2005 Gillingham F.C.
15 Wales Danny Collins CB/LB 2004 Chester City
27 England Ben Christensen CB 2000 Wallsend Boys Club
28 England Dan Smith LB 2003 Academy of Light
29 England Sean Taylor CB 1995 Alnwick Town
32 England Justin Hoyte CB/RB/LB 2005 (on loan from Arsenal)
33 Argentina Julio Arca LB/LW 2000 Argentinos Juniors
Midfielders / Wingers
4 Republic of Ireland Rory Delap CM/RW 2006 Southampton F.C.
7 England Liam Lawrence RW 2004 Mansfield Town
8 England Dean Whitehead CM/RW 2004 Oxford United
14 Scotland Tommy Miller CM 2005 Ipswich Town
17 France Anthony Le Tallec CM/AM/CF 2005 (On season long loan from Liverpool F.C.)
19 Scotland Martin Woods CM 2005 Leeds United
23 England Grant Leadbitter CM 1997 Academy of Light
31 France Christian Bassila DM 2005 RC Strasbourg
Forwards
9 England Jonathan Stead CF 2005 Blackburn Rovers
10 Republic of Ireland Stephen Elliott CF 2004 Manchester City
16 Scotland Kevin Kyle CF 2000 Academy of Light
20 England Chris Brown CF 2002 Academy of Light
26 Republic of Ireland Daryl Murphy CF 2005 Waterford United
- Scotland Kevin Smith CF 2006 Leeds United
Manager
- England Kevin Ball - 2006 Sunderland

Players out on loan

Grounds

Managerial History

 

(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.
  • 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.
  • The 105 points Sunderland finished the 1998/99 season with is an English league record.
  • 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.
  • In the 2002/03 season Sunderland finished the Premiership season with only 19 points, the lowest points tally ever recorded in the Premiership. They are on pace to break their own unwanted record during the current 2005/06 season- as of April 14 they have only 12 points. Things weren't made better for them when they lost to local rivals Newcastle United 4-1 at the Stadium Of Light on Easter Monday of 2006.

References

Official website

Other sites

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