On This Day (March 21st 1981): Sunderland’s Huge 3-0 Win vs Coventry

SUnderland squad for the 1980-81 season. (back l-r) Joe Bolton, Gordon Chisholm, Claudio Marangoni, Chris Turner, Rob Hindmarch, Kevin Arnott and Steve Whitworth. (middle row l-r) Jimmy Greenhaigh (chief Scout), Jack Watson (scout), Shaun Elliott, Sam Allardyce, Jeff CLarke, John Hawley, Joe Hinnigan, Alan Brown, Barry Dunn, Bryan Robson, John Watters (Physio) and Charlie Ferguson (Youth Development Officer).

(front row l-r) Mick Docherty (coach), Mick Buckley, Stan Cummins, Ken Knighton (Manager), Frank Clarke (assistant manager), John Cooke, Gary Rowell and Peter Eustace (coach). (Photo by Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images There aren’t many seasons in Sunderland AFC’s history that don’t involve some sort of drama towards the end of a campaign, whether that be at the top end of whatever league we happen to be competing in, or at the ‘wrong’ end of the table. The 1980–81 season was no different, and it took a fantastic last-day win away to Liverpool with a Stan Cummins strike to give us last-day survival at Anfield.

Before that nail-biting result, we had only won 3 of our last 10 games, with no draws, to put us in that precarious position. One of those 3 wins came on 21 March 1981 at home to our good friends Coventry City, all of 45 years ago. As with this current season, it was our first one back in the top flight, and it had started in a positive fashion.

We were 8th in mid-October, after being in the top 5 until the end of September, but the slide continued, and by the middle of November had slipped into the bottom half of the table. When tension rears its ugly head, clashes ensue, and manager Ken Knighton was shown the door in the new year by the then chairman Tom Cowie. Mick Docherty was put in caretaker charge.