It was the day after the loss of an institution at Sunderland, as a meeting at Roker Park the previous day ended with the club parting company with manager Alana Brown “by mutual agreement”.
Brown walked out of Roker Park immediately after a meeting with Sunderland directors, including chairman Keith Collings, without saying goodbye to the players.
But a day had gone by, and Brown was tracked down at his home by journalists and had given his reaction:
I’ve been in this game much too long for anything
to come as a surprise. I feel no bitterness towards anyone. In fact I shall continue to be a Sunderland supporter. I always have been, ever since I was a toddler. I shall go to watch them play whenever I can. I still believe that the club can be one of the forces in the game within five years.
They have so many talented young players if only they are allowed time to develop. I shan’t have any personal contact with them now. Not that I don’t want to but I think it would be unfair to whoever takes over to interfere with him in any way. I still think I have a lot left to give the game. There’s no fitter man than me in the game today. There’s no rush but I’ll start looking around eventually.
I have no desire to go round stabbing anyone in the back because of what has happened today. I don’t want to know what the directors have said in their statement. That is entirely a matter for them. My only immediate thought is that I am sorry to have to leave behind what I still consider to be a fine bunch of players.
For what it is worth, I thought when I went to the ground today that it might be for the final time. But I really didn’t think about it a great deal. There were a lot of other things to be getting on with. I think you can safely say that my association with the club is over once and for all. If you look at my history you will see that I don’t go anywhere more than twice.
That’s what my life is these days, I don’t know in what capacity. I have no thoughts about whether it will be another manager’s job or coaching or something else. I have nothing fixed up for the immediate future.
The chairman had not made himself available for comment, but in a short statement, the club said:
At a meeting this morning it was unanimously agreed that Mr. Alan Brown’s contract be terminated forthwith. No decision has been made as to his successor and this will be discussed at tomorrow’s board meeting.
Brown’s contract was due to expire at the end of the season and were reported to be £250,000 in debt and losing £2,000 a week and the previous week, three new directors joined the Roker Park board, a move described by Mr. Collings as “the first stage in putting the club in order.”
What’s Next?
Then there was the question of the successor and the debate on whether the club would decide to advertise the job or make a direct approach if they had a particular individual in mind, but a day later a veil of silence fell over the situation.
The names mentioned on the unofficial short-list in the local media were reported in the Journal to be:
• BILLY BINGHAM, now successful manager of the Greek national team, formerly part-time boss of the Northern Ireland team.
• BRIAN CLOUGH, who has only just signed a new five-year contract with Derby County, but has often commented on the “wonderful Roker Park supporters.”
• LEN ASHURST, still in the process of learning management with Hartlepool, but proving quite successful to date.
• TOMMY DOCHERTY, vociferous Scottish international manager, who last time Brown left Sunderland, in 1966, the eventuality brought in Ian McColl, who held the job the Doc holds today.
• DAVE MACKAY, who yesterday quit as manager of Swindon, although managerless Nottingham Forest are also being linked with the former Tottenham star.
• BRIAN DOYLE, of League Cup shock team Stockport, is one of the most exciting up-and-coming managers.
• JIMMY HAGAN, at present managing Benfica, of Portugal, would surely jump at a chance to move back to his native North-East.
Billy Elliott was to take over as caretaker manager until the new man arrived and would take over first team duties to play Aston Villa at Roker Park in the next fixture. But the working theory was that the club would think big to help pull back the missing thousands who had deserted Roker Park, and they were already expecting a massive boost at the gate days later.
In the end, it was a case of the fans talking with their feet; with 30,000 lost supporters from Roker, they gave the board no choice.
