On this day in 1981, Alan Durban was appointed as Sunderland manager. Joining the Black Cats from Stoke, Durban claims that one of the main reasons behind the surprise move was because Sunderland offered to buy his house in Shrewsbury for the same price he bought it.
Durban joined a pretty poor Sunderland side, and attempted to reinvigorate the squad by adding young players with time to develop and mature. The new-look team included a new record signing, 18-year-old Ally McCoist for £400,000. Despite a promising start, the team’s form dropped off and they only survived relegation in the last game of the season. Mick Buckley scored the only goal of the match in a win against Manchester City.
However, the manager struggled with boardroom interference and a quickly deteriorating relationship with chairman Sir Tom Cowie meant the side struggled in Durban’s second season. Funds were extremely tight, and there were even stories that players were made to take showers rather than baths! The side finished safe from the drop, but the owner became impatient.
Durban was able to bring in two high quality midfielders, Paul Bracewell and Mark Proctor, but had to sell McCoist to Rangers in order to free up the funds. At Christmas, Sunderland were comfortably 12th and fans were finally seeing some stability and a long-term plan in place. However, Durban was surprisingly sacked after an FA Cup third round defeat and a spell of games without a win.
Since leaving Sunderland, the Welshman had a brief spell in charge at Willington before suffering two consecutive relegations with Cardiff City. More recently, a book was released about Durban’s time in management which mostly focuses on his time at Sunderland and his struggles with Sir Tom Cowie.
