OTD: CROSBY APPOINTED

On this day in 1991, Malcolm Crosby was appointed as manager of Sunderland (initially as caretaker), he was in charge until 1993 and is best remembered for getting us to the 1992 FA Cup final.

Crosby took over as caretaker manager when Denis Smith was sacked but Sunderland struggled to find a permanent replacement. While caretaker, the former midfielder took the lads to Sunderland’s fourth FA Cup final in our history, which brought calls from fans to give him the job.

Before the FA Cup final, Crosby was officially given the manager’s job. We were midtable a the time and although Malcolm was a really nice bloke, there was a slight feeling that the board "had" to give him the job because he'd led us to a final. However, Sunderland lost the final 2-0 to Liverpool and left London without silverware. Despite taking the lads to Wembley, the new manager was unable to inspire his side in the league, treading water in the second tier.

Crosby was relieved of his duties in 1993, with Terry Butcher taking over as manager. After leaving Wearside, the Sunderland fan became assistant manager at Oxford United before briefly taking over as caretaker.

Crosby was then the assistant at West Bromwich Albion and Derby County, then he became the reserve manager at Middlesbrough in July 2004. In 2006, he was promoted to the assistant manager of the first team under boss Gareth Southgate but was released in 2009 after the club were relegated out of the Premier League. In September of the same year, he became a coach at Northampton Town and then took over as caretaker manager in 2011. In May 2011, Crosby took the job of Head of Youth Development at Oxford.

July 2012 saw him move again, this time to take up a position as Chief Scout at Birmingham City and in 2014 he was again made a caretaker manager, although this time on a joint basis with two others. In November 2014, he was made the Head of Recruitment at Blackpool and in summer 2015 he took his first full time managerial gig with Gateshead since leaving Sunderand 22 years earlier. Despite leading the club to its best ever start in the fifth tier, he was relieved of his duties in November because new owners bought the club.

Since then, he's been a Chief Scout at Wigan Athletic and a Senior Scout for Derby and is currently working at Exeter City as Chief Scout.