OTD: CRAIG RUSSELL DEBUT
On this day in 1991, former Sunderland forward/left back Craig Russell made his debut for the club in a 3-1 Second Division win over Watford. He would go on to make over 170 appearances for the Lads, with the highlight being winning promotion to the Premier League in 1996.
His parents were Sunderland fans and this factored in to his decision when he joined the club as a schoolboy, despite strong interest from Manchester United. Russell was once a mascot at Roker Park for a match against Liverpool, which perhaps made the decision to join Sunderland even more attractive. Craig has always claimed he was conceived on the night of the 1973 FA Cup Final. Do the math (he was born in February 1974), he's probably correct!
He turned professional in 1992 having already made his debut for the Lads as a 17-year-old in 1991. John Byrne scored his first Sunderland goal in that game against Watford, with his brace coming along with a Gordon Armstrong strike. In the same week as his debut, he had played in the FA Youth Cup and also made his debut in the Central League. The 1992/93 season was when Russell broke into the first team in a campaign under the stewardship of Malcolm Crosby and latterly, Terry Butcher. In the 1995/96 season he finished as the clubs top scorer with 14 goals in all competitions and we won the First Division with Peter Reid in charge.
Russell would also finish as top scorer in the following Premier League season... albeit tied with Paul Stewart on just four goals. As you would expect with such meagre goal scoring returns, we were relegated from the Premier League although we did manage to get the 40 points which usually guarantees safety. Russell was in and out of the side but once he managed to get a run of games up front on his own, the forward managed three goals in three games against Derby County, Everton and Chelsea. His injury against West Ham United meant that he was in and out of the side again towards the end of the season. Russell was replaced in 1997, exchanged for Manchester City’s Nicky Summerbee and we drafted in Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn. It’s safe to say the duo more than adequately made up for the loss of Russell and with Craig being a boyhood Sunderland fan, I have no doubt he would’ve been delighted to see the pair scoring for fun.
At City, he didn’t fare to well. After signing under Frank Clark and scoring four goals for the club, the incoming Joe Royle essentially spelled the end to his time at the club. Under Royle his lack of game time meant that he ended up on loan at Tranmere Rovers, where he made four goalless appearances and then went to fellow First Division side Port Vale, faring slightly better with one goal in eight games. He never played for City again and, in the 1999/00 season, joined Darlington on loan in the Third Division before signing for Oxford United later in the same season, also on loan, in the Second Division. Russell then changed loan clubs again in the '99/00 campaign, this time joining St Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League.
After he scored on his debut, the deal was made permanent. He made 42 appearances and scored four goals. He played for Carlisle United and went back to Darlington before dropping into the semi-professional leagues in 2005. In non-League, he turned out for Newcastle Blue Star and South Shields of the Northern League. After retiring, he joined rugby union outfit Newcastle Falcons as a masseur and has since worked in the backroom staff at both Newcastle United and Sunderland.
He played over 350 games in his career, of which 174 were in Red and White. He scored 34 goals for the Lads.
