On this day in 1993, Terry Butcher was named player/manager at Sunderland following the sacking of Malcolm Crosby.
He was winding down his career as player-manager at Coventry before SAFC, retiring as a player after one season making six appearances. The following season, in 1991/92, Butcher was a full-time manager and achieved impressive results such as a 5-0 hammering of Luton, and a shock 2-1 win over Arsenal. However, results dipped massively and Butcher was dismissed in January 1992, with Coventry just six points above the relegation zone.
Butcher re-registered himself as a player in August 1992, when Malcom Crosby brought him to Wearside at the recommendation of assistant manager Bobby Ferguson. Sunderland were in Division One, the second tier of English football after the formation of the Premier League. He was an experienced head to help us push for promotion, but Crosby was soon sacked despite reaching the FA Cup final the previous year.
Butcher became player-manager due to his prior experience as a manager, but failed to turn around the team’s form. He was promptly sent off on his managerial debut against Swindon. The lads finished four places behind their position when Crosby left, surviving on the last day due to other teams’ results. As a player, it seemed that Butcher simply arrived at Sunderland too late in his career. His leap wasn't as powerful as it was at Ipswich and Rangers, nor his turn of pace as fast.
Despite poor results, Butcher was given a £2 million war chest which was spent on the likes of Andy Melville, Derek Ferguson, Phil Gray and Ian Rodgerson. However, the signings got off to a fairly poor start as they were all involved in a car accident which left them injured for varying amounts of time...
After a very poor start to the season, Sunderland were sat in 20th by November, just one point above the relegation zone. Everything came to a head a day before the lads were set to face Nottingham Forest, with the press gathered around Roker Park claiming that the club’s directors were in the boardroom, planning a new manager.
Butcher infamously claimed that: “If I’ve been dismissed, then I must have missed it”. An hour later, with his tail between his legs, Butcher came and announced to the press that himself and his assistant Ian Atkins were no longer employed at Sunderland, although there was no official statement from the club itself! It was later revealed that Bob Murray had resigned as chairman, with his last act in charge being the sacking of Butcher on the 26th of November.
The best thing you could say about his managerial stint at Roker Park was that he did that whole fist pumping thing to gee the fans up, which I seem to recall he got a warning or a fine for.
