Terry Butcher’s plans to build on Sunderland’s impressive Coca Cola Cup win over Premiership Leeds United were hit when plans to sign an international striker on loan collapsed at the last minute.
While Sunderland’s first choice strike partnership of Don Goodman and Phil Gray were more than good enough for First Division action, Gray’s impending three game ban for a red card away at Watford meant Butcher was left short up front – and he didn’t want to lose the little bit of momentum that had built
over the past five unbeaten games – after beating Leeds twice, and picking up five points from three league fixtures.
The striker in question was Mo Johnston – a former Rangers teammate of Butcher’s, who had signed for Everton for £1.5m 18 months later. Johnston hadn’t quite made the impact expected of him at Goodison Park – but had still scored 10 in 34 for Howard Kendall’s team.
Johnston, who’d previously played in England for Watford, was a controversial character in Scottish football. He had signed for Rangers in 1989, having previously agreed to rejoin his former club Celtic – even having publicity shots taken in a Celtic shirt before having a change of heart.
Throw into the mix his religion, and it’s understandable why the controversy around Johnston took some time to settle down.
Deemed surplus to requirements at Everton, Johnston was on the look out for his next move – and Butcher had pounced, seemingly agreeing a month’s loan to cover Gray’s suspension.
Everything looked set to happen ahead of Sunderland’s game against Birmingham at Roker Park, however at the very last moment the deal fell over – Everton deciding to cut their losses and release Johnston on a free.
This changed the dynamic of the negotiation completely, and put Butcher back to square one.
Circumstances have changed and I was not in a position to bring Mo Johnston here before today’s deadline.
I have spoken to his agent and everything looked to be on. There is still a possibility we could sort something out next week.
So Sunderland took on Birmingham without Johnston in the line up, and a move for the striker failed to materialise, as he took up Heart’s offer of a long-term contract shortly afterwards.
Regardless of being available on a free, the finances involved in anything but a loan at this point would have rendered the deal virtually impossible. After Butcher’s £3m summer spending spree, which had seen Gray arrive at the club as well as Andy Melville, Ian Rodgerson, Derek Ferguson and Alec Chamberlain, the coffers were bare. Indeed, the club’s accounts, also released on this day, showed a £802,086 financial loss to the year ending 31 May – before any of Butcher’s spending was accounted for.
It was a significant swing from the £540,269 profit the club had made to the year ending 31 May 1992 (making the refusal to offer Paul Bracewell a decent deal even more infuriating). The club put the loss down to player recruitment and keeping the ground in condition to host professional games. Crosby’s signings of Shaun Cunnington, John Colquhoun and Butcher himself, who while being signed on a free wouldn’t have come cheap, accounting for a decent percentage of that deficit, while gate receipts had fallen by over £1m, from £3.2m in 1991-92 to £2.1 in 1992-93; the FA Cup run providing a significant financial boost.
The financial future of the club looked increasingly perilous – and Sunderland were going to have to tread very carefully indeed.
On the field, Butcher would have little option but to throw Lee Howey into the mix – and the following day the big striker would prove a point by scoring an excellent goal to secure all three points against Birmingham; however the clock was ticking both for Butcher and for Bob Murray.
