Sunderland
Crest
about the team
The special relationship between the club and its fans is perhaps epitomised by an incident at Bristol airport in 2007. When Sunderland supporters were asked to leave a plane for singing their anthem "Niall Quinn’s Discopants" a little too loudly, and the flight home was subsequently cancelled, Niall Quinn himself came to their rescue. The one-time striker turned club chairman forked out £8000 for a fleet of taxis to take 80 stranded Mackems the 310 mile journey back to Sunderland. Whereupon they composed a new ditty in his honour - "Niall Quinn’s Taxi cabs".
Honours
Football League - 1891-2, 1892-93, 1894-95, 1901-02, 1912-13, 1935-36; FA Cup - 1936-37, 1972-73
Finest Hours
Just one year after being elected to the Football League, Tom Watson's multi-national "team of all the talents" rattled off 14 wins in a row on the way to the first of three league titles in four seasons in the 1890s, instantly establishing the newcomers as major players. Johnny Cochrane's entertaining side scored a then-record 109 goals en route to the 1936 title, a whopping 48 more than second-placed Derby County, before adding the club's first FA Cup victory the following season.
Nearly four decades later, Bob Stokoe led his underdogs from the old Second Division on an unlikely odyssey back to Wembley. Having overcome Manchester City in a fifth-round replay often regarded as the greatest game ever to be played at Roker Park, their prize for humbling Arsenal in the semis was to face all-conquering Leeds United in the final. Ian Porterfield's goal gave the team an unlikely lead and heroic goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery pulled off a miraculous double save from Trevor Cherry and Peter Lorimar to clinch the most famous Cu p triumph of all.
Folk Heroes
On that first great Sunderland side of the 1890s bulwarked by his fellow Scots Hughie Wilson and Jimmy Millar, goalkeeper Ned Doig was so revered he's still regarded by many as the club's greatest ever player. Mesmeric inside-forward Charlie Buchan delighted Roker Park in the twenties, Bobby Gurney and Raich Carter, a pair of local boys and best friends, provided the creativity and the goals for the team of the thirties, while Len "The Clown Prince of Football" Shackleton and "King" Charlie Hurley earned royal titles for their regal performances in red and white.
If Porterfield and Montgomery secured their places in fans' hearts at Wembley in 1973, Gary Rowell and Kevin Ball later developed cult followings for prolific goalscoring in one case and red-blooded defending in the other. Before Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent hooked up to delight the current generation, it was the striking tandem of "SuperKev" Phillips and future chairman Niall Quinn that wreaked havoc on defences an d moved supporters to sing strange anthems like "Niall Quinn's Discopants!"
Fans
A couple of years back, a survey of the noise made at every Premier League ground found that the decibel level was highest at the Stadium of Light. Supporters there regularly reach a pitch that resembles the sound of a jet engine taking off. There's no more appropriate gauge of the passion and commitment felt by a set of devout fans whose support never wavered even during intermittent periods of exile from the top flight.
All Time Best XI
Ned Doig, Hugh Wilson, Charlie Hurley, Charlie Thomson, Raich Carter, Len Shackleton, Charlie Buchan, Patsy Gallacher, Bobby Gurney, Johnny Campbell, George Holley
facts
Founded:
1879
Nickname:
Black Cats
Ground:
Stadium of Light
Manager:
Martin O'Neill
League:
English Premier League
Top Goal Scorer:
Bobby Gurney, 227 goals
Famous Fans:
Paul Collingwood (cricket), Steve Cram (athlete), Tasmin Archer (singer), Kate Adie (journalist), Sir Tim Rice (composer)
Anthem:
Can't help falling in love with…
Kit:
Red and white stripes
Mascot:
Samson the black cat
Motto:
Consectatio Excellentiae – in pursuit of excellence
