Sunderland ill-prepared for what lay ahead after promotion
In corners of the North East, the summer of 1990 is a subject that needs to be broached with caution.
It was a summer which saw football and finance combine to form a perfect storm; one which saw the acrimony between Sunderland and Newcastle grow to new levels.
For while the Black Cats have been the victim sofa play off controversy this season, they were the beneficiaries three decades ago–in a tale unlike any seen since.
Here, in the third and concluding part, we continue the story through the memories of the people at the heart of it – 30 years on … The story continues ...
As communities so often do during times of hardship, the people of Swindon rallied together. An appeal was quickly launched by the Robins, who felt a two-tier demotion - and the prospect of third division football - was an unproportionate punishment. The legal wrangle led to a tumultuous summer.
“There was an immediate appeal that went in, but it was a struggle ,” admits Vic Morgan.
Swindon were ultimately spared from relegation to the third division and reinstated in the second tier, but the place in the top tier was Sunderland’s.
Back on Wearside, Gary Bennett was whisked away to his photoshoot and the Black Cats were left to prepare for life back in the top flight.
“It wasn’t the ideal way to go up,” admits Gordon Armstrong. “But it wasn’t anything to do with us. They’d crossed the line with breaking rules and what they’d done, and the powers that be decided they shouldn’t be in Division One.”
“It was a sense of relief,” says Bennett.
In the board room, however, the decision was met with far more caution. The Black Cats, too, would be faced with a difficult summer.
Plans were hastily re drawn. For manager Denis Smith, it meant recruitment plans changed - with a shortened summer making his pursuit of new players trickier than normal.
While Sunderland celebrated, there was fur ore in another corner of the North East - and, to a lesser extent, in South Yorkshire.
“Newcastle felt they should have gone up because they finished third, and Sheffield Wednesday thought they should have been allowed to stay up ,” explains former chairman Bob Murray.
“Our case was that we followed the competition rules. We played, we finished sixth, we got through to the play-off final, and Sunderland were the only club who could get promoted.”
While Murray was in one corner, in the other was Gordon McKeag - Newcastle United’s club chairman and a former solicitor, who would later go on to run the Football League.
His argument hinged on the fact that under old Football League rules, prior to the introduction of the play-offs, it would have been Newcastle who had gained promotion having finished third.
“Of course we should have gone up,” argues John Burridge. “The top three should have been promoted and it was a disgraceful decision.”
Bennett was slightly more sympathetic, saying: “You can understand where they’re coming from. They finished a fair few points ahead of us, and felt promotion should have gone to the team in third place. But they were the rules.”
Murray’s fear that Sunderland had come too far, too quickly was well-founded.
With the FA verdict not delivered until mid-June, the Black Cats were ill-equipped for the top-flight and Denis Smith endured a difficult summer transfer window with only two new players arriving at Roker Park – Kevin Ball was signed from Portsmouth, while defender Ian Sampson signed from non-league Goole Town.
Two key players in the run to the play-offs also departed the club on the eve of the 199091 season, with experienced duo John MacPhail and Eric Gates heading to Hartlepool United and Carlisle United respectively.
Sunderland won just one of their first eight league games with the lack of preparation – caused by the uncertainty over the summer months – extremely evident.
The one win was an eyecatching one, as Gary Owers and Bennett struck to seal a 2-1 win over Manchester United, but defeats to Norwich, Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa sent the Black Cats plummeting down the table.
Ultimately there was little Smith could do to stave off relegation. Sunderland won just three times all season and were relegated straight back to the first division with a meagre 34 points.
On the other side of the River Tyne, Jim Smith was sacked only nine months after the decision to promote Sunderland and was replaced in the dug out by Ardiles – who had managed Swindon to that play-off final victory less than 12 months before.
Shortly after Newcastle were denied promo ti on, stepped down as chairman and was replaced by local business man George Forbes. In 1991, he was followed through the door by John Hall.
The local entrepreneur picked up the club at its lowest ebb, and helped return them to the Premier League before selling his stake to Fr eddy Shepherd in 1997.
It was under Hall that Newcastle enjoyed some of their fondest recent memories, with his appointment of Kevin Keegan in February 1992 proving an inspired decision.
Swindon, meanwhile, took their place back in Division Two, but were again the victims of a tumultuous summer which gave them little time to plan. The Rob ins finished 20 th in the second tier, clear of relegation, but were left to wonder what might have been.
Morgan admitted: “The thought that we could have been rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest clubs in the country, and then watching Sunderland actually play them….that was devastating really.
“Every football fan in the country wants to see their team play at the top level, and that had been taken away.”