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Sunderland Association Football Club is a football club based in Sunderland, on Wearside in the North-East of England.
For most of the late 1990s, under the management of Peter Reid, they were in the FA Premier League; however, after a dreadful run of results they finished bottom of the league in 2002-2003 (with a record-low 19 points) and were relegated to the Football League First Division (now called the Football League Championship). During the 2002-2003 season Sunderland appointed two new managers in quick succession — Howard Wilkinson and, after Wilkinson's disastrous spell in charge, Mick McCarthy. While McCarthy led the club to ten consecutive Premiership defeats, he largely escaped criticism for the club's relegation having inherited a team low in morale. 2003-2004 saw the club shed its highest earning players—including post-war top scorer Kevin Phillips and USA international captain Claudio Reyna—as they struggled to cope with the financial constraints of Division One. McCarthy restored the team spirit that had been sadly lacking over the previous season and steered the club to a 3rd placed finish. Only a disputed injury-time goal against Crystal Palace forced them into a penalty shootout, which they lost, and prevented Sunderland from reaching the playoff final.
They are known as the "Black Cats"; formerly they were the "Rokermen" after Roker Park, which was their stadium from 1898 until 1997. They now play in the newly built Stadium of Light. They have been the English champions six times, but the last time was 1936. They have also won the FA Cup twice, most famously as a Second Division club in 1973, when they beat the then-mighty Leeds United.
History
Sunderland A.F.C was founded in 1879 under the name of 'Sunderland & District Teachers Association'. The team quickly changed its name to Sunderland AFC and began to recruit players who were not teachers. SAFC turned professional in 1885, the same year they recruited a number of Scotsmen, their first international players.
In 1887 the club was split in two due to the influx of paid professional players pushing the local men out of the first team. In protest over this many of the best local players left the club and formed their own team Sunderland Albion FC. In 1890 the rivalry between the two teams came to a peak with the promise of admission to the English league for one of the teams, SAFC won the game held to decide this leaving Sunderland Albion as an amateur club to gradually fade into obscurity. In the early years of the English league the SAF were the most northerly top flight team and often had to pay their opposition's travel expenses. Over six seasons they lost only one home game and were the first side to win the league three times.
The club moved to their long-standing home Roker Park in 1898, having previously played at the unfortunately named Newcastle Road from 1886-98; Newcastle United F.C. is the team's traditional local rival.
In 1913 Sunderland narrowly missed out on becoming one of the first clubs to win the double when they were beaten by Aston Villa — their major rivals for silverware at the time — in the FA Cup final.
When the league restarted after World War II, Sunderland’s fortunes took a turn for the worse; in 1958 they were relegated from Division One for the first time in their history (until recent times when it was surpassed by Arsenal Sunderland's 68 unbroken years in the top league was a record) . In the following years they had several spells in the top flight, such as from 1964-70; however, they have yet to permanently regain their place in the top flight of English football.
1986-87 was the worst season in the history of Sunderland football club when they were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history. Denis Smith was appointed as a new manager and the following season led Sunderland to their worst ever league position as champions of division 3. In 1990 Sunderland lost in the second division play off final against Swindon Town however it later came to light about Swindon's financial irregularities allowing Sunderland entry to the first division. This spell in the top flight only lasted one season however with Sunderland being relegated in part of the formation of the premier league, Sunderland had to wait until 1996 to play their first premiership match. This first spell in the Premiership, however, ended in tears with Sunderland being relegated, with Coventry forcing Sunderland into the relegation zone on the last day of the season.
1997 was a year of big changes for Sunderland, they moved to their current home at the Stadium of Light after 99 years at Roker Park and changed their club crest from their traditional simple shield-shaped one to a logo more like a coat of arms.
Sunderland's first season in their new home yet again involved them being pipped to the post ending third in a tougher then usual Division One so missing out on automatic promotion, they reached the playoff final however despite dominating the game they were beaten on penalties by Charlton Athletic. One conciliation of this season however involved Kevin Phillips scoring a club-best 35 league goals in one season. The following season saw little challenge in the first division with Sunderland running out champions with a record 105 points.
In the 1999/2000 season, Sunderland finished seventh in the Premiership- their highest finish since 4th place in1955, the team again was pipped at the post on the last day of the season this time missing out on a place in a European competition. The next season followed in a similar vein with a seventh place narrowly missing out on Europe finish and involved Kevin Phillips becoming the third Sunderland player since the war to score 100 goals, this season also saw the expansion of the Stadium of Light from a capacity of 42,000 to 48,300.
The 2001/02 season however was very disappointing with Sunderland struggling in mid table for much of the season on the last days of the season coming precariuously close to the relegation zone. The next season seemed to be going similar to the end of the last and so Peter Reid was sacked in October 2002 after nearly eight years as manager being replaced by Howard Wilkinson . Wilkinson however proved to be a terrible manager winning just 2 out of 20 games and dragging Sunderland into the relegation struggle. In March 2003the former Republic of Ireland national coach Mick McCarthy was appointed as a new manager however the team was suffering from terrible moral problems due to the loss of two managers in one season and their run of bad games leaving McCarthy's appointment as too late to do anything about avoiding relegation.
Due to their successful spell in the premiership players like Kevin Phillips and Thomas Sorensen had came to the attention of the country and so to tackle debt problems Sunderland faced a premiership relegation sell off. The 2003/2004 season did not go as bad as expected with many suggesting Sunderland would be fighting against relegation from the first division, McCarthy however managed to rebuild a team spirit and brought the club to a 3rd place finish. Luck was not on Sunderland's side during the play off semi final however and they were landed with a not entirely competent referee forcing the team into a penalty shoot out which they lost leaving the club in the first division for another season. In this season Sunderland reached their best F.A Cup position for 11 years reaching the semi finals.
In the 2004/2005 season Sunderland are one of the favourites to win the newly formed Championship.
Past Sunderland players
Honours Old division 1 champions:
1891/1892 1892/1893 1894/1895 1901/1902 1912/1913 1935/1936
Old division 1 runners up:
1893/1894 1897/1898 1900/1901 1922/1923 1934/1935
New division 1 champions:
1995/1996 1998/1999
Old division 2 champions:
1975/1976
Old division 2 runners up:
1963/1964
Old division 3 champions:
1987/1988
FA Cup winners:
1936/1937 1972/1973
FA Cup runners up:
1912/1912 1941/1942 1991/1992
League Cup runners up:
1984/1985
Charity Shield winners:
1901/1902 1936/1937
Charity Shield runners up:
1937/1938
Current Squad
Goalkeepers
Defenders
External Link Ready To Go (http://www.readytogo.net) Sunderland A.F.C. Official Website (http://www.safc.com/)
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