Sunderland made a hugely successful return to Premier League action yesterday for the first time since 2017, but this wasn’t the first wait the club has had to endure before making it back into the big time.
In 1996 the top division was known as the Premiership, and since its formation four years prior to that, the riches and glamour associated with the new breakaway division had revolutionised the game in England. Sleeping giants at the time and languishing in the second tier, Sunderland had to watch
on with envy as other teams enjoyed the fame and fortune brought to them by increased TV coverage, and some supporters had genuine fears that the Lads would never be able to catch back up.
With a new stadium in the offing though, and a new man in charge, things did start to look up as the decade went on. Manager Peter Reid fostered a winning mentality that in 1996 unexpectedly brought the Division One title back to Roker Park, meaning that the ground’s final season would see it hosting games on the biggest stage, albeit the opener would be against fellow promoted side Leicester City, who had gone up via the play-offs after finishing 12 points adrift of the champions.
The two teams had done battle at the start of the previous season and were paired up again for the first game of 1996-97. Reid had recently added experience to the ranks in the shape of Tony Coton and Niall Quinn and the pair both featured against the Foxes, with goalkeeper Coton named in the starting XI and looking steady throughout; giving exactly the type of composed performance that was hoped of him.
Meanwhile, Quinn’s introduction from the bench in the second half sparked a surge from the Lads – they had already gone close in the first half when a Steve Agnew header had to be tipped over the bar by Kasey Keller, and within seconds of his arrival Quinn put the ball in the back of the Roker End net, but only after referee Stephen Lodge had whistled against the striker for a shove. The pressure continued thereafter, as Quinn continued to threaten, but there was a moment of worry at the other end too when Emile Heskey latched onto a soft back pass and raced through before being denied by Coton, and come the final whistle everybody just had to settle for a point.
Both sides would have possibly targeted a win from the fixture, but a draw and a clean sheet despite the stifling heat was still considered to be a decent platform and will have given some encouragement to Reid, who expected his team to be hard to beat no matter what. His counterpart Martin O’Neill presumably enjoyed the clash too having grown up supporting Sunderland, whilst another future Stadium of Light gaffer, Simon Grayson, featured on the pitch – as did former winger Jamie Lawrence.
It hadn’t been the glitzy affair many supporters had envisaged when dreaming of the promised land of the Premiership in the years before, but it was an improvement at least on the club’s last topflight outing, which had been a heartbreaking and relegation confirming defeat to Manchester City in 1991. Back then, Quinn and Reid had been part of the City camp, whereas they were now part of the group saying hello to the new league, whilst at the same time starting the long goodbye to a ground that had been called home for nearly a century.
Saturday 17 August 1996
FA Carling Premiership
Sunderland 0
Leicester City 0
Sunderland: Coton; Kubicki, Melville, Ord, Scott; Gray (Aiston 56’), Bracewell, Ball, Agnew (Bridges 73’); Stewart, Kelly (Quinn 56’). Unused: Preece, Hall.
Roker Park, attendance 19,262
