Suppose you think Sunderland were given no chance of staying up when we were promoted back in May after Tommy Watson’s last minute winner against Sheffield United. In that case, you can imagine what the predictions looked like back in 1990 when we were promoted after being beaten in the Play-Off final.
Ossie Ardiles’ Swindon Town had run us ragged at Wembley, despite the fact we were riding the crest of a wave after beating the mags 2-0 at St James’ Park. On a sweltering day in the capital, we were chasing
shadows and looked way off the pace, and on the pitch the Robins deserved their place in the top flight.
The authorities however felt otherwise. Due to their “irregular payments” (listen back to our Bill Bradshaw interview on our ’Haway The Podcast’ for the full story!), they were initially told they would be relegated to Division Three, which on appeal was changed to a punishment of just not being promoted. This meant someone would have to take their place.
Ron Atkinson believed his Sheffield Wednesday side should retain their top flight status after occupying the final relegation place, the mags thought they should take the place as they finished third and Sunderland, plus thankfully the Football Association, believed it should be Sunderland and we were promoted in bizarre fashion.
We can go into the discussion of whether or not the club were able to keep up with the fact Denis Smith had dragged the club from Division Three back up to the top flight in three years, but the fact is that Smith was given around £500,000 to spend, without an increase in the wage budget to keep us up.
This meant Eric Gates left for Carlisle United and Peter Davenport was signed from Middlesbrough to become the new foil for Marco Gabbiadini, and after starting the first game, John MacPhail went to Hartlepool United and was replaced by Kevin Ball, who signed from Portsmouth for around £350,000. Otherwise it was the same squad that took us up and it would be a tough ask to stay up.
However, we began the season with a tough trip to Norwich City, who boasted the likes of Byan Gunn, Ruel Fox and Tim Sherwood in their side and after coming back from 2-0 down to make it 2-2 with half an hour remaining, we conceded again and came away with nothing after deserving at least a point.
Next up we deservedly got a point at home to Terry Venables’ Spurs side that contained World Cup heroes Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne, and then we beat Manchester United at Roker, which saw us in the top half after three games.
A trip to Chelsea came next and twice we came from behind to be level at 2-2, but with fifteen minutes remaining a Dennis Wise penalty gave the home side all three point. We returned back to Roker and it was a similar story when the Lads twice took the lead, only to be pegged on each occasion against Colin Harvey’s Everton to draw 2-2.
Up next was a trip to Plough Lane to take on Ray Harford’s Wimbledon, and from the off reports said “Sunderland were battered and bruised and at times completely bemused by the Wimbledon aerial assault”. But, the first big moment came on fourteen minutes when Gabbiadini went through on goal and Wimbledon goalkeeper handled the ball outside of his area to stop the Sunderland striker going beyond him to score.
Sunderland demanded a red card, but Wimbledon boss Ray Harford knew otherwise when he said afterwards “a referee’s assessor told us that deliberate handball is not considered a professional foul”, which was a loophole in the new FIFA law laid down that summer. Referee Mike Reed had no choice but to follow the rules and showed Segars a yellow card.
Despite this, Sunderland broke away five minutes before half-time and sprang the offside trap to allow Gordon Armstrong to open the scoring, and when Davenport fired home with twenty minutes left, it looked like the Lads would take all three points.
Three minutes later, the nerves were already jangling when Detzi Krusznski hit a stunning volley to make it 2-1, and in typical Sunderland style we held out with two minutes remaining when John Scales headed home to see Smith’s side pegged back once again.
Barclays League Division One
Plough Lane
Wimbledon 2-2 Sunderland
[Kruszynski 75’, Scales 88’ – Armstrong 39’, Davenport 72’]
Sunderland: Norman, Kay, Bennett, Ball, Ord, Owers, Bracewell, Armstrong, Hardyman, Davenport, Gabbiadini (Hauser) Substitute not used: Brady
Wimbledon: Segars, Joseph, Phelan, Barton, Scales, Curle, Gayle, Kruszynski, Fashanu (M. Bennett), Sanchez, Fairweather (Cork)
Attendance: 6,143
