This time 23 years ago, hope was a rare commodity at Sunderland. Relegated on 19 points after a dismal campaign under Howard Wilkinson, it had been the unenviable task of Mick McCarthy to watch over the dying embers and then begin the rebuild.
Off the field, the club was trying to move players on to give McCarthy some room for manoeuvre, but to date only Gavin McCann had departed, joining Villa for a pitiful £2.25m, significantly less than the fee the influential midfielder should have commanded.
It was something we’d have to get used to, with players moving on for a small fraction of their actual value in the market due to Sunderland’s perilous financial position.
Jody Craddock was on the verge of leaving, too – his £1.75m move to Wolves was due to go through imminently, while the likes of Kevin Phillips, Thomas Sorensen, Kevin Kilbane and Claudio Reyna were expected to leave sooner rather than later.
To replace Craddock, McCarthy had lined up Gary Breen, while the former Cambridge defender’s departure was also set to free up the wages to be able to offer a contract to trialist Jeff Whitley.
The start of the new season, of course, was fast approaching regardless of which players the club could get off the books, and Whitley was in the starting line up as Sunderland took on Hearts at Tynecastle in our sixth pre season fixture.
A 4-0 win against Durham at New Ferens Park, and a 5-0 win over York at Bootham Crescent had got the summer off to a good start results wise, but a 1-1 draw at Grimsby and a 2-0 defeat to Huddersfield (which included an impressive performance and goal from Jon Stead) dampened spirits a little.
A few days before the Hearts fixture, Sunderland played out a 2-2 draw at Hibs with a late John Oster goal levelling the game. And, against a Hearts team that featured a 20 year old keeper by the name of Craig Gordon, Sunderland did little to give supporters much hope.
Entering the final 20 minutes, Sunderland were two down – ex Boro midfielder Phil Stamp and Mark De Vries getting first half goals. The Sunderland supporters in the crowd weren’t impressed – chants for the departing Jody Craddock, as well as for former captain Kevin Ball, were noticeable above the disgruntlement.
The chants for Bally were interesting. He’d been brought back to the club by Howard Wilkinson, and while McCarthy had been dealt a tough hand, he hadn’t yet won the backing of the supporters, and poor pre-season form wasn’t helping his case. At the time, there were plenty of suggestions that Ball should be given the manager’s job, and I still reckon that, given a decent crack of the whip, he’d have made a good manager somewhere.
The game changed, however, with the introduction of Sean Thornton. The youngster had been a bright spark in the dismal final throes of the previous season and made an immediate impact. Within five minutes of being on the field, he scored a direct free kick from 25 yards and put a header past Gordon to make it 2-2.
Sean Thornton’s definitely a ‘what could have been’. A supremely talented player, he’s someone who could have played at the very highest level, for a long, long time, had his attitude been right. Such a shame.
Anyway, back to the Hearts game and Graeme Anderson, reporting in The Sunderland Echo, wasn’t impressed, despite Thornton’s rescue act.
The local press in 2003 still played that very important, traditional role, supporting when appropriate, criticising when deserved, and holding to account when needed.
And Anderson thought it only fair to share the opening to his match report, as it was before Thornton’s introduction changed the course of the game:
Here are the first six paragraphs of the Echo’s match report, as it stood until the 70th minute, when Hearts were leading Sunderland two goals to nil:
“Hearts 2 Sunderland 0”
“On this evidence, the question is not whether Sunderland will win promotion from the First Division this season, but whether they will avoid relegation.
“Someone needs to say it, and – for a change – why shouldn’t it be the Echo.
“Unlike those in newspapers and on the radio who genuinely delight in doing down the club at every opportunity – and you know who they are – the Echo tries to back the club whenever possible.
“But there’s a difference between positive support and turning a blind eye.
“The Echo slated the club in the last half of their Premiership season – they deserved it – but the sad fact is that there’s been little in the way of improvement shown in the close-season so far.
“Last night Sunderland offered nothing to suggest they might in any way trouble the leading teams in the Nationwide First Division. In fact their performance suggested exactly the opposite.”
It was fair criticism, and only underlines the seismic task McCarthy had on his hands.
Things would get worse before they’d get better. The team travelled to Kilmarnock a few days later, losing 4-2 to a team that included former Sunderland assistant manager James Fowler, while Craig Salmon, who was also part of Jack Ross’s coaching staff, was also on the bench.
