Sunderland Association Football Club (SAFC) History

• October, 1879 - the club was founded by James Allan, Glaswegian school-teacher. The first name was Sunderland and District Teachers' Association Football Club. After a year the name was changed to Sunderland. Their first home ground was the Blue House Field at Hendon.
• November 13, 1880 - the first club's match against Ferryhill Athletic. Unfortunately, Sunderland were defeated 1-0.
• 1881 - in order to solve some financial problems, the name Sunderland was changed to Sunderland Association Football Club.
• 1884 - Sunderland won the Durham Senior Cup. It was the first trophy of the team.
• 1885 - the club turned professional.
• 1886 - the team moved to a new ground. It was Newcastle Road.
• 1887 - the club was almost destroyed. James Allan many of the best players left the team. They formed their own team called Albion F.C. The Football League gave admission for only one football club.
• 1889 - Aston Villa were beaten by Sunderland 7 - 2.
• 1890 - 1891 - Sunderland FC joined the Football League. Sunderland Albion Football Club remained an amateur club, and gradually faded from the scene. Sunderland's the first league game was a 3-2 home defeat by Burnley. Then the club was beaten Wolves 4-3. Teddy Doig from Scotland became a new goalkeeper. The team lost only one home match during the next six years.
• 1891 - 1892 - the club became league champions. The same fortune was in 1893 and 1895. Thus Sunderland Association became the first club to win three championships
• 1893 - 1894 - Sunderland Association Football Club were runners-up of the First Division.
• 1894 - 1895 - Thomas MM Hemy depicted the battles between Aston Villa and Sunderland. It was the first painting of a football league game. Now the painting stands in the doorway of the club's The Stadium of Light.
• 1898 - the club moved to Roker Park with a capacity of 30, 000.
• September 10, 1898 - the first game against Liverpool took place at the new stadium. The result of the match was a 1-0 victory of Sunderland.
• 1901 - 1902 - the club won a title of league championship.
• 1905 - the team have financial problems. Due to it they sold Alf Common to Middlesbrough for a fee of £1,000.
• 1912 - 1913 - 25 wins from 31 matches led to the fifth victory of the league football trophy.
• April 19, 1913 - Sunderland for the first time in their history reached the FA Cup final, but they lost 1-0 to Aston Villa at Crystal Palace.
• 1920 - 1921 - the Football League created Three South and North Divisions.
• 1925 - Charles Buchan was sold for £2,000 plus £100 per goal scored. A young player Bobby Gurney from Silksworth joined the club.
• 1933 - Horatio ("Raich") Carter played his first game.
• 1933 - a record crowd of 75,118 spectators watched FA Cup replay with Derby County.
• 1936 - this season brought the victory. Sunderland won the league championship again. The team scored 109 goals.
• 1937 - the club reached the FA Cup final and won the title, beating Preston 3-1 at Wembley. Gurney, Carter and Eddie Burbanks scored the goals.
• 1941 - 1942 - Len Shackleton was signed for a record fee of £20,500.
• 1949 - after the Second World War The Black Cats lost 2-1 to non-league Yeovil Town. Sunderland finished third that year.
• 1950 - for a succession of expensive transfer the club earned the title "Bank of England Club".
• 1955 - Sunderland finished in 4th place.
• 1957 -1958 - after the illegal-payments scandal the club was relegated for the first time in their history. During 68 years they were in the top flight of the Football League.
• 1960 - Alan Brown, the manager of the team, enriched the club with Jim Montgomery, Len Ashurst, George Herd, Brian Clough.
• 1962 - Brian Clough was injured and finished his career at the age of 28. During his time in the team he scored 63 goals in 68 matches.
• 1964 - Sunderland got a promotion to the First Division.
• 1970 - the team was unable to finish higher than 15th place and as a result the club was relegated for the second time.
• May 5, 1973 - The Black Cats won the FA Cup, beating Manchester City and Arsenal and eventually Leeds United in the FA Cup Final. It was the first time when a second division club won the cup in over 40 years.
• 1976 - Sunderland Association Football Club won the Second Division title and got a promotion to the First Division.
• 1977 - 1979 - poor results led to relegation of the club, but in 1980 they won a promotion again. Chris Turner, Barry Venison, Gary Rowell, Gordon Chisholm, Mark Proctor, Paul Bracewell, Stan Cummins, Nick Pickering and Iain Munro were famous in this period.
• 1985 - Sunderland reached the first League Cup in their history, but lost 1-0 to Norwich City at Wembley. At the end of the season the team was relegated back to the Second Division.
• 1987 - 1988 - for the first time in the club's history The Black Cats were relegated to the Third Division, losing in a two-leg play-off to Gillingham F.C.
• 1988 - Denis Smith was appointed as manager and the club gained a promotion from the first attempt. They became the Third Division champions.
• May 16, 1990 - Newcastle United were defeated 2-0 and Sunderland FC reached the Second Division playoff final. Then the team lost 1-0 to Swindon Town at Wembley. Nevertheless the club was promoted.
• May 9, 1992 - Sunderland reached the FA CUp final but lost to Liverpool 2-0.
• 1995 - 1996 - the club won the First Division. The team began to look for a new stadium.
• 1996 - 1997 - in spite of victories over Manchester United 2-1, Arsenal 1-0, Chelsea 3-0 the club was beaten by Wimbledon 1-0 at Selhurst Park. As the result they were relegated. After 99 years Sunderland left Roker Park and moved to Stadium of Light at Monkwearmouth.
• 1997 - 1998 - the vivid match of this season was a game against Charlton Athletic which ended 4-4 after extra time.
• 1998 - 1999 - after a record 105 league points the team became the First Division champions for the 8th time. They also reached the Worthington Cup semi final.
• 1999 - the club finished 7th. Average attendances at the Stadium of Light were some of the highest in the club's history.
• August 7, 1999 - a 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge. The Black Cats lost to Chelsea.
• December 4, 1999 - the club return match, beating Chelsea 4-1.
• 2000 - 2001 - the club ended the season the seventh best team in England with 57 points.
• 2001 - 2002 - this season wasn't successful. The team had only 28 goals and was almost relegated.
• 2002 - 2003 - the worst result - only 4 wins and 19 points. Peter Reid was dismissed and Howard Wilkinson was brought in. But the situation wasn't improved.The club was relegated. Mick McCarthy became a new manager. He signed Tore André Flo and Marcus Stewart for a fee of £10m. As a result of relegation and expensive signings Sunderland had to sell many of the best players and some club's shops.
• 2003 - 2004 - McCarthy brought in some players from lower divisions. Nevertheless the team reached the 3d place.
• 2004 - 2005 - Sunderland became the Coca-Cola Championship winners.
• 2006 - 2007 - Roy Keane was appointed a manager. The club defeated Luton town 5-0 and became champions of the football league.
• 2007 - Keane spent 40 million on new players for the squad, among them were: Andy Cole, Michael Chopra, Kieran Richardson and Craig Gordon for a record fee of 9 million. These changes brought a 1-0 home victory over Tottenham to the club. The goal was scored by Michael Chopra.