I just don’t think Sunderland were in a position to keep up with where Denis Smith took us at the beginning of the 1990’s. Smith took three years to take Sunderland from Division Three back up to the top-flight of English football.
The second promotion that took us out of the second division, included beating Newcastle United in the play-off semi-final, who themselves were big favourites having just come down and then spending big on Mark McGhee to partner Micky Quinn. But Smith Sunderland were built
on a shoestring budget and relied on prospects from the youth system.
The defeat against Swindon Town at Wembley highlighted that we weren’t exactly world beaters when it came to the second tier and had only finished sixth. But having said that, Swindon were found guilty of having built their squad in ways that didn’t exactly follow the rules, so it might not be the best example – but the point remains that we were fortunate in many ways to find ourselves in Division One at the beginning of the 1990-91 season.
The summer of 1990 proved that we weren’t in a position to even try and take advantage of this fortunate set of circumstances as Denis Smith described:
At our first board meeting after we’d confirmed as replacing Swindon in the First Division, I asked, “what money have you got to strengthen?”. At that meeting my budget for transfer fees was set at £500,000, but I was not given an increase in wage budget. So if I wanted to bring anyone in I would have to prune my existing squad first.
Try as I might I just couldn’t get the support from chairman and board I felt would be essential to be able to compete. I will maintain to my dying day that had chairman Bob Murray allowed me to spend the money I wanted – and I’m not talking silly money – we would have established ourselves in the First Division.
This meant Eric Gates left for Carlisle United and was replaced by Peter Davenport from Middlesbrough. Davenport was a player with a lot of experience, including playing under Brian Clough and being part of the Manchester United squad when Alex Ferguson arrived from Aberdeen. He had also managed to provide the assist for Gary Lineker to open his account for England in his one and only cap for his country.
The other player to arrive was Kevin Ball, who signed for £350,000 from Portsmouth, but as Ball began the season suspended for the season opener, the man who would make way, John MacPhail made his one and only appearance in the top flight in a career that spanned more than 600 appearances before he moved on, but Smith would regret having to let MacPhail leave:
Unfortunately another player I now know I let go too early was our captain, centre-half John MacPhail. Monty was a different case to Gates. After appearing in our opening game, he was offered the opportunity to join Hartlepool United as player-coach, where he helped them to promotion from Division Four at the first time of asking, playing over 40 games.
It’s ridiculous to admit this, but as well as the attraction of beginning the path towards a coaching or managerial career, part of the attraction of joining Hartlepool was they were also paying John more money than he’d been earning at Roker.
Davenport would be the only player making his debut at Carrow Road on the opening day of the season on a scorching hot day on this day in 1990 and after nearly ten minutes the travelling fans realised things might get a little tough in Division One.
A long ball forward was flicked on by Ruel Fox into the path of Dale Gordon, who took one touch and with his left foot from the edge of the box half-volleyed the ball into the top corner past Tony Norman. A couple of minutes before half-time it got worse, when a quick throw-in caught Sunderland cold and Fox dribbled down the right and crossed low at the near post to find the run of Tim Sherwood who finished to double the lead.
After some choice words from Smith at half-time, Sunderland came out and pushed forward without much to lose and got their rewards after ten minutes of the second half played. Gary Bennett played a long ball forward to Gordon Armstrong and the ball fell to Davenport who hit a first time shot that rebounded back off the post and back into his path for him to score on his debut and get the Lads back in the game.
Just after the hour it was all square with a goal that had the national press sitting up and taking notice of Sunderland’s style of play. Neat work between Paul Bracewell, Gary Owers and John Kay down the right saw the ball end up with Bennett on the edge of the area, who neatly flicked the ball back to Marco Gabbiadini who smashed it first time into the far corner of the net from all of 25 yards out.
However, as it was on so many occasions during the 1990-91 season, Sunderland went behind after getting themselves into a good position. A cross from Ian Crook eventually fell to Ruel Fox in the box around six yards out and he once again gave the home side the lead. Smith’s side couldn’t find another way back into the game and started the season in defeat with the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to Roker coming up in midweek.
Barclays League Division One
Carrow Road
Norwich City 3-2 Sunderland
[Gordon 9’, Sherwood 43’, Fox 71’ – Davenport 54’, Gabbiadini 63’]
Sunderland: Norman, Kay, Bennett, MacPhail, Agboola, Owers, Bracewell, Atkinson (Cullen), Armstrong, Davenport, Gabbiadini (Hauser)
Norwich City: Gunn, Blades, Bowen, Sherwood, Polston, Butterworth, Gordon, Fox, Crook, Rosario, Phillips Substitute not used: Goss, Fleck
Attendance: 17,247
