We may be talking about a game that occurred on this day in 1992, but to begin the tale, I need to take you back to 1969. I’m still gutted that in my late-teens I wasn’t able to go off around Europe to see Peter Reid’s Sunderland take on the continents finest, but back when I was a young’un, the romance of the (what I thought was newly-formed) Anglo-Italian Cup entered my life.
However, little did I know that this was the rehashing of a competition whose origins began in 1969, and was born out of a two
legged play-off between Swindon Town and Roma to play in the Fairs Cup in the late 60’s when QPR could not take their place as UEFA did not allow third-tier teams to compete.
Those games between Swindon Town and Roma gave rise to the idea that this should be a regular occurrence, and in May 1969, we took part in its inaugural year, although the timing couldn’t have been much worse.
Sunderland had suffered our second relegation from top-flight, finishing one point below Crystal Palace, and around a fortnight or so after our final game of the season – which ended in a 1-0 defeat at Anfield – we began our group stage in a group with Lazio and Fiorentina.
We began by taking on both sides at Roker, beating Lazio 3-1 and earning a 2-2 draw against Fiorentina, before heading out to Italy, where we were beaten by both sides and knocked out at the group stage.
We returned to the competition back at the end of the 1971/72 season after finishing 5th in Division Two, and this time Atalanta and Cagliari were our group opponents. This time our first two fixtures were away and we lost to Atalanta 3-2 and beat Cagliari 3-1, but drew the two games at Roker, with crowds of less than 6,000 seeing us knocked out once again in the group stage.
As in the 90s we didn’t get past the initial group stage but due to the original format, we had Italian opposition in every game. Lazio, Fiorentina, Atalanta and Cagliari were our opponents across the two years.
So, the reintroduction of the competition for the 1992-93 season had me dreaming of taking on Italian opposition at a time when Italian football had arguably the biggest profile in Europe. Malcolm Crosby was the man in charge, having taken the Lads to the FA Cup final the previous season and optimism was high(ish) for the season ahead.
The blow of losing Paul Bracewell to our nearest and dearest up the road for next to nothing was softened slightly by the fact that we’d spend a whopping £650,000 on the captain of Grimsby Town, Shaun Cunnington. This was backed up with the signing of John Colquhoun from Millwall and former England centre-half Terry Butcher.
The opening day of the season was pretty solid, starting with a narrow defeat at Glenn Hoddle’s Swindon Town, who were eventually promoted through the play-offs and had Nicky Summerbee in their line-up. A 1-0 victory against Tranmere Rovers, courtesy of Cunnington scoring on his debut, gained us an early three points, which was backed up by a solid draw at Ashton Gate against Denis Smith’s Bristol City. These games coming either side of being knocked out of the League Cup by Huddersfield Town.
We then kicked off our Anglo-Italian Cup campaign, but the format had changed and you had to get through a group of your peers before you faced Italian opponents. Cambridge United were up first and we gained a 1-1 draw at the Abbey Stadium.
A defeat at Charlton Athletic and a win at Oxford United followed before Terry Cooper’s Birmingham City came to Town to complete our group stage fixtures. In front of 5,871 hardy souls, a Mark Sale goal separated the two sides on a forgettable evening to knock the Lads out, and destroy my hopes of facing Serie B sides that year.
Anglo-Italian Cup – Group Stage
Roker Park
Sunderland 0-1 Birmingham City
[Sale 24’]
Sunderland: Carter, Williams (Mar. Gray), Bennett, Rogan, Ord, Cunnington, Ball, Atkinson, Armstrong, Rush (Davenport), Goodman
Birmingham City: Gosney, Clarkson, Frain, Hicks, Rogers, Matthewson, Donowa, Tait, Sale, Gleghorn, Rowbotham Substitute not used: Cooper, Sturridge
Attendance: 5,871
