1997 witnessed a summer of change on Wearside, as Sunderland AFC prepared for a new challenge in a new environment.
An unfortunate relegation from the Premiership on the final day of 1996/1997 meant that the brand new ‘Wearmouth Stadium’ — as it was commonly referred to prior officially being named as the Stadium of Light — would start out by hosting second-tier football and boss Peter Reid was looking to whip his players into shape ahead of the next campaign with a pre-season tour of Ireland.
Fixtures
against St. Patrick’s Athletic, Portadown in the north, and Shelbourne were duly lined up, but a spanner was thrown into the works when it was realised that Newcastle United were also planning a trip to the Republic.
With the Mags due to play either Celtic or Derry City at Lansdowne Road the evening before Sunderland were set to play in Dublin, and the Wear-Tyne derbies of 1996/1997 featuring an away fan ban, it had been feared that St. Pat’s were going to postpone their hosting of the Lads.
With the two North East outfits likely to bring large followings, Irish police were also said to have had concerns, but a Sunderland spokesperson announced that the club had “Been in touch with the FAI and FA and both have said there is no problem with the fixture, so the tour will go ahead exactly as planned.”
The positive news was reported on this day by The Echo’s football writer Nick Alexander and was a boost given that the club already had enough on its plate to deal with.
Whereas the ground move was taking up a lot of the focus, Alexander went on in his back page piece to outline that Reid’s ongoing search for a striker looked had been dealt a blow due to perennial target David Connolly being linked with a Bosman move to Strasbourg, whilst another centre forward was also reported to be giving him headaches.
Ronen Harazi, the Beitar Jerusalem man whose proposed move to England had fallen through months earlier due to a failed medical, was due back in the country that week to commence a compensation claim against the club.
He too had his own issues to work through however, as according to The Echo (in turn quoting World Soccer magazine), the Israel international had recently been arrested and released on bail following a raid on his club by local tax authorities during which it was discovered that he hadn’t declared all his ‘income and perks, among them his wedding’.
Later in the week, readers were informed that a busy Harazi, who at the same time was finalising a switch to Salamanca in Spain, had been unable to travel to Sunderland due to his wife recently giving birth.
Instead, Secretary Mark Blackbourne had met with Harazi’s agent in London and conducted further talks over the telephone, seeking to reach a compromise due to a six-figure fee being claimed amid allegations that after a successful trial the player had signed a four-year contract only for the deal to later collapse.
There was one sale that had gone through of Sunderland at least, with the 23 June edition of The Echo covering that weekend’s Roker Park auction.
While Alexander dealt with the footballing matters, his colleague Ian Laws in the front pages quoted Peter Cauldwell of asset consultants Henry Butcher congratulating supporters on record sales. The boardroom table went for £2,000, whereas prices went up to £320 for signs and £650 for turnstiles.
Lee Knox of Gateshead got Peter Reid’s office chair for £200 and Horden resident Ray Taylor purchased the Roker End penalty spot for £120, while other sections of the pitch were cut up and sold for £2.50 each.
Also up for sale was the registration number for the Roker Rover, which was bought for £800 by John Downey to gift to his brother Paul. At the time, the pair ran the city’s Fry Fry fish and chip shop chain.
