AL’S PLEA TO CATS
Kennedy wants to keep ‘worst’ tag
ALAN KENNEDY is rightly proud of being one of the most decorated defenders in Liverpool’s history.
He is feted for scoring the winner in the 1981 European Cup final against Real Madrid.
But he is also remembered as a member of what is widely regarded as Sunderland’s worst side. And he’s praying he can keep that unenviable record after this season.
So are former Black Cats stalwarts Gary Bennett – who spent 11 years at the club – and midfielder Mark Proctor who, like Kennedy, suffered relegation into football’s third tier in 1987.
Flopped
It was the only time so far that Sunderland have fallen so low. But with Chris Coleman’s men five points adrift of safety with eight games to play, the class of 2017-18 look like emulating their not-so-illustrious predecessors.
The team that flopped 31 years ago was packed with players who had performed at the highest level.
Eric Gates won the UEFA Cup at Ipswich, George Burley and Frank Gray had been Scotland regulars and Dave Swindlehurst and Keith Bertschin were proven top-flight goalscorers.
“Manager Lawrie McMenemy built a team designed to get us out of the old Second Division,” said Proctor.
“He succeeded – but not in the way anyone envisaged.”
Wearside-born Kennedy had enjoyed the good times at Liverpool and thought that the club he supported could provide him ® with a fitting finale, but it proved to be a turbulent time.
“People thought Lawrie would repeat what he did at Southampton,” says Kennedy, now 63.
“There he signed a lot of experienced players such as Kevin Keegan and Alan Ball and they finished runners-up one year.
“He did the same at Sunderland but unfortunately we just never gelled. It became a real slog and in the end I used to dread going into training every day.
“Relegation really hurt. Sunderland was my club and it’s not very nice having the stigma of being in the side regarded as the worst ever.”
That is a title they are about to lose reckons Bennett, who watches every game as a pundit for BBC local radio. Back then, the Black Cats went down via the relegation play-offs.
Bennett said: “I’m not saying it was a great team but there was a feeling we could bounce back at the first attempt and so it proved.
“If Sunderland go down this season, which I think they will, you won’t find many fans believing it will be a brief stay in League One.”