There were a number of credible options, but the board appointed from within…
Malcolm Crosby’s sacking on the back of a pools panel verdict summed up a lot about the way Sunderland were being ran in the early 1990s, and the immediate days after his dismissal saw a flurry of names mentioned as possible replacements.
Steve Coppell, the Crystal Palace manager, had allegedly been offered the job in November as doubts emerged over Crosby’s long-term viability, but Bob Murray’s approach had been rebuffed by Coppell and Palace chairman Ron Noades.
A poor run of form had seen Coppell’s Palace future seem uncertain, however, and with the job now available, it seemed a relatively safe bet the former Manchester United winger would soon take residence in the manager’s office at Roker Park.
Caretaker boss Bobby Ferguson, the former Ipswich manager and Crosby’s assistant, had ruled himself out of the running immediately. And, as well as Coppell, Hearts manager Joe Jordan, Bolton manager Bruce Rioch, his assistant manager Colin Todd, recently sacked Notts County manager Neil Warnock, Sheffield United boss Dave Bassett, Leicester’s Brian Little, and Manchester United captain Bryan Robson were listed as strong contenders for the job.
Chelsea boss Ian Porterfield, Middlesbrough’s Lennie Lawrence and Hartlepool’s Alan Murray were also rumoured to be in contention – as was Denis Smith, who’d recently been sacked by Bristol City.
Another name in the frame was Terry Butcher, who’d made a very positive impression at Roker Park since joining as a player in the summer. Butcher, 34, had been one of the better-performing players in Crosby’s struggling side, however, while listing him as a 16-1 shot for the job, local press were of the view that, ‘while his wholehearted attitude has endeared him to fans and board alike, his mediocre managerial pedigree at Coventry begs questions’.
Crosby was sacked on Monday, 1st of February, and given our weekend fixture at Tranmere had been called off, and his sacking took place ten days after our last outing, the logical assumption was that the board had a top-quality manager lined up.
Wishful thinking.
After four days of pretty intense speculation, rumours and counter rumours, it was Butcher who was appointed on the eve of Sunderland’s home fixture against Swindon Town.
The fact that Butcher wasn’t appointed immediately suggests that the board didn’t have a firm idea of what they were going to do. The timing of Crosby’s sacking remains a mystery to this day.
The likes of Coppell, Rioch, Warnock and Little in particular would have been excellent appointments, but caretaker boss Ferguson – who had Murray’s ear – had been a vocal supporter of Butcher, and it was felt the outcome was one both parties had ultimately envisaged when arriving at Roker Park the previous summer.
In Butcher’s press conference after being appointed, he spoke about wanting to ‘bring quality players into the club’, which no doubt went down will with the players he’d been playing and training with all season, while comparisons were made with what another former England skipper, Kevin Keegan, had done in similar circumstances up the road. This likely came into the thinking of Murray, who was often focused on going one better than Newcastle, often to his detriment.
Butcher had little time to think about too much, however, as his former England teammate Glenn Hoddle was bringing his team to Roker, and while officially named ‘manager’ rather than ‘player manager’, Butcher was intending to carry on playing ‘until Bobby Ferguson tells me I’m not up to it anymore’. Ferguson, of course, was staying in his role as assistant.
Butcher lined up alongside Kevin Ball in defence, but had a poor game as Sunderland lost 1-0 to the Robins. It could have been very different, however, as after just 11 minutes Gordon Armstrong had the opportunity to put the lads ahead from the spot. It was a penalty awarded for a handball – an extremely harsh decision – but Fraser Digby in the Swindon goal saved Armstrong’s spot kick.
Sunderland actually performed pretty well for the first half – Anthony Smith and Michael Gray on the left flank caused the away team all sorts of problems, with Hoddle – playing as sweeper – kept busy.
Just after the penalty miss, Brian Mooney set up a great chance after an excellent dribble, but Brian Atkinson put the ball wide.
Just after half time, however, Swindon went in front. Martin Ling, who was perennially linked with the club during the early 90s, set up Paul Bodin – another who we’d tried to sign a couple of years earlier – and the Wales full back drove the ball past Tony Norman.
Shortly afterwards, Butcher’s day could have got a whole lot worse. He dragged down striker Dave Mitchell when the Australian was clean through, but the referee Kevin Lynch just game a yellow.
After the game, Butcher said:
My heart was in my mouth. The ref told me he was only giving me a yellow because other players were getting back. Quite where they were, I don’t know. But I’m pleased the ref saw them.
The game was still 1-0 to the visitors in injury time, and Sunderland were awarded another controversial penalty. A corner from Atkinson say the linesman flag furiously, and after consultation ref Lynch awarded another spot kick. With the full time whistle imminent, skipper Kevin Ball put the penalty wide, leaving Butcher, who’d broken his hand in the lead up to the corner, with a defeat on his Sunderland managerial debut.
Butcher admitted that, while he didn’t think either penalty should have been awarded, he’d left it to the players to decide on who would step up from 12 yards.
To be honest I don’t think either was a penalty, so justice was done.
Choosing a penalty taker was the one thing I hadn’t organised before the game, but as long as someone is confident enough to pick up the ball and put it on the spot, that’s fine by me.
Unfortunately for Butcher, and for chairman Murray, it wasn’t an appointment that was destined to succeed.
Category: General Sports
