On this day in 1987, one Denis Smith was appointed as Sunderland manager, tasked with turning around our fortunes and getting us out of the Third Division, which he did in his first season and would later take us back to the top flight in 1990 after that play-off against Swindon!
A native of Stoke-on-Trent, Smith enjoyed a long playing career for the Potters spanning between 1968 and 1982 before he joined York City, the club he would start his managerial career whilst also playing out his final days as player/manager. He called the setup at Bootham Crescent "a shambles" and would bring in Viv Busby as a player/coach, someone who would later follow Smith to Roker Park in 1987. He also signed defender Ricky Sbragia who would later go on to manage Sunderland in the 2008/09 campaign.
In 1985 he led York to the 5th round of the FA Cup in a tie with Liverpool at Bootham Crescent and would force the former European champions to a replay and extra time at Anfield where they finally fell to a 3-1 defeat although they had a goal disallowed which would've put York in front. Smith was hot property by the time 1987 came around and Sunderland had been relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history, despite the best efforts of caretaker manager Bob Stokoe who had replaced Lawrie McMenemy towards the end of the 1986/87 season.
The Ministermen demanded £20,000 compensation from Sunderland who were only willing to pay £10k but Smith was keen to take on the task of turning the fortunes of a wounded SAFC so he agreed that if he didn't get us back to Division 2 in his first season, he would pay the additional £10,000 to York out of his own pocket! He raided his former club and brought in a young striker named Marco Gabbiadini to partner veteran frontman Eric Gates up top and a big Scottish defender named John MacPhail at centre half, also from his former club, to shore up the back line and partner Gary Bennett, he also signed someone who would go on to be a cult hero, John Kay at right back.
He established Sunderland in Division 2 in the 1988/89 season before guiding us to the play-offs in the following season where we defeated Newcastle United over two legs, including that famous 2-0 victory at St. James' Park thanks to goals from 'G-force', Eric Gates and Marco Gabbiadini. He would also break the club's transfer record to sign goalkeeper Tony Norman for £500,000 to replace Iain Hesford. We were beaten at Wembley in that play-off final in 1990 but the discovery of financial irregularities and misconduct meant that we took their place in rising to Division 1!
We were relegated from England's top tier in 1991 after failing to get the result on the final day of the season, and then allowed Gates and MacPhail to leave on free transfers to free up wages and would bring in Kevin Ball and Peter Davenport. In an attempt to chase promotion in the 19912/92 season, he sold Gabbiadini to Crystal Palace in order to raise funds and would replace him with Don Goodman, John Byrne and also Anton Rogan but he would be dismissed in December 1991 and replaced by his assistant Malcolm Crosby. Crosby would lead us to the FA Cup final later that season, only to be defeated by Liverpool.
