On This Day (6th April 1994): Keller Becomes Roker Target After Clash With Don

DON GOODMAN, SUNDERLAND JUMPS OVER MARK BOSNICH, ASTON VILLA (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/EMPICS via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images Sunderland had just drifted aimlessly since dropping out of the top tier in May 1991. Reaching the cup final in 1992 provided a big distraction from just how bad things were, but we ended up with a manager in Malcolm Crosby that chairman Bob Murray just didn’t want. Roker Park was falling to bits, there was nothing in the coffers to rebuild, that lot up the road were on the journey with Keegan and the Honey Monster and things looked bleak.

Despite his record as player-manager of Coventry City and the fact he was brought to the club by his predecessor, it says a lot that there was an initial excitement around the appointment of Terry Butcher. Although it may have been anticipation of him not appearing in the back four after he gave Julian Joachim a thirty-yard head start at Filbert Street and was still beaten to the ball. If nothing else, Butcher was ambitious.

I’m still not sure how he pulled it off, but Denis Smith had been given virtually nothing to spend in his time in the Roker hotseat, but the new man was handed the credit card in the summer of 1993 and was told to go nuts. Alec Chamberlain arrived from Luton Town on a free transfer, which offered value for money given the age of first-choice keeper Tony Norman. Another arrival from Luton was striker Phil Gray who was wanted by a few clubs, which pushed the value up to around £750,000.

Butcher went up to his old stomping ground north of the border and took highly rated Derek Ferguson for around the same price from Glasgow Rangers. Defender Andy Melville signed in a swap deal plus cash from Oxford United that saw Anton Rogan move in the opposite direction, and highly-rated Ian Rodgerson signed from Birmingham City. All this happened in one summer which hadn’t been seen at Roker for some time.