On This Day (27th April 1996): Sunderland’s Second Tier Life At Roker Ends With A Trophy!

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - April 27: Peter Reid manager of Sunderland celebrates after winning the League Division 1 match between Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion at Roker Park on April 27, 1996 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Graham Whitby Boot/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images) | Getty Images As much as the owners of Wrexham thought they might throw up a Hollywood-style script or two when they took charge of the then National League side, they probably didn’t realise that football has a habit of throwing up these scripts year after year. It’s why we love it so much.

Look at the story arc Sunderland are on at the moment for instance, Leicester being relegated to League One ten years after winning the Premier League – which in itself will likely be made into a movie at some point, and I’m getting grey enough to throw my hat in the ring to play Ranieri by the way – and well, let’s see what happens at Spurs in the coming weeks. But going back to the mid-1990’s, there was a crazy rebirth of Sunderland AFC that got going – and we didn’t have a clue where the ride would end up. Like any good Disney movie, however, you have to hit the big low early on in the story – and ours occurs at Oakwell on a cold Friday evening at the end of March 1995.

Mick Buxton’s Sunderland go into the game against Barnsley having lost five out of the last six, and sit just two points and two places above the drop to the third tier. Add to that the fact that the two sides below us, Stoke City and Swindon Town, have played fewer games than we have. In Stoke’s case, they have three games in hand, and Steve McMahon’s Swindon have two.

At this point, relegation looks a formality. Our game at Oakwell is a last throw of the dice, coming just after the transfer deadline. New investment from John Fickling (~£600,000) all went on the signature of Brett Angell from Everton, and a young Dominic Matteo joined on loan from Liverpool.