[FM07] Waking the Sleeping Giant

FM07 because it is my favourite Football Manager game and because it runs better than the newer versions of the game on my rubbish laptop!

Club History

Founded in 1879, Sunderland AFC is one of the oldest and most traditional football clubs in Britain. With six league titles garnered to date, Sunderland have won more titles than clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham and Newcastle United, the club has also won the FA Cup on two occasions. Although not a founder member of the Football League in the early 1890's, Sunderand became the first club to gain election to the fledgling competition at the expense of Stoke City, the other clubs choosing Sunderland ahead of the Potters because they believed the Wearsiders would provide more of a challenge and also because the club had offered to cover the costs of travel to the North East when other teams visited for an away game. In the club's first season in the league (1890/91) a creditable mid-table finish was secured, but the following season with Sunderland having adjusted to the demands of competitive league football the title was won. More triumphs followed in 1893 and 1895, managed by the great Tom Watson (a manager who would later provide success for Liverpool FC) a fourth league crown was secured in 1902.

Sunderland's rivals Newcastle emerged as a force in the early 1900's and already there was a taste of things to come when a derby game in 1901 had to be abandoned after 70,000 people tried to cram into St James' Park even though the ground had a capacity of around 30,000. Violence broke out amongst spectators when it became clear the teams weren't going to emerge from the tunnel and one of the most famous and fervent derby matches in football had begun. Sunderland won a fifth league title in 1913 just before the First World War and indeed if it wasn't for football being cacelled due to the hostilities then that useful team probably could have went on to win more trophies. Although proving strong in the league the club seemed to have become jinxed in the FA Cup with the main culprits stopping Sunderland from winning the covetted trophy being Aston Villa, indeed Sunderland could have become the first ever club to win the double of league and cup in that season 1912/13 when they got all the way to the FA Cup final at Crystal Palace only for Villa to win the game 1-0.

After the war it took a while for the club to become competitive again having lost players who'd either died or been wounded fighting bravely in the British Army. Towards the end of the 1920's however things started to pick up with talented coach Johhny Cochrane assembling a fine young team, one of Sunderland's greatest ever goalscorers was in his pomp during that period. Dave Halliday arrived on Wearside from Dundee in 1925 and the big Scot would score at least 35 goals per season for Sunderland in England's top flight between the years of 1925-1929 with his best total being 43 in his final season at the club. He left Sunderland for Arsenal having scored 156 goals in 166 games.

By the mid-30's the promising young team was beginning to blossom, led by two local lads and two of the club's greatest ever players, Raich Carter and Bobby Gurney. Carter would become club captain and aswell as being a stalwart for Sunderland, he was recognised as being the England national team's lynchpin. He was probably the greatest player of his generation and he would surely have gone onto have had even greater success if War hadn't stole many years from his career. Bobby Gurney was just as integral to the team as Carter, he remains Sunderland's greatest ever goalscorer having amassed 228 goals for the club in 388 appearances, again it would undoubtedly been many many more if not for the Second World War. Gurney joined the club in 1925 and didn't leave until 25 years later in 1950.

Herbert Chapman's legendary Arsenal side were running rampant in English football at the time so it was going to take an extraordinary team to stop them. Sunderland were up to the task and a record equalling sixth title was secured in 1936 followed by a first ever Charity Shield a few months later in which Arsenal were beaten and then finally in 1937 that first FA Cup was won. Gurney and Carter working their magic as Preston North End were defeated 3-1 at Wembley. Once more however, war would get in the way of a Sunderland team at the height of its power.

Following the end of the war football took a few years to get back into its stride but with attendances peaking in the 1950's it seemed to the only way was up. Sunderland were backed by a group of rich investors and the amount of money spent on new players led to the team being dubbed "The Bank of England club". A seventh title was seemingly secured in 1950 but for a late collapse which meant the team ended up in 3rd place. Strutting his stuff at Roker Park in those days was a certain Len Shackleton, Shack was one of the greats and has been acknowledged as such by recently receiving his most deserving place in the football Hall of Fame. Shackleton would entertain the kids in the carpark at Roker by juggling a 50 pence piece on either foot before flicking it up with his heel and catching it in his breast pocket. There wasn't a thing this man couldn't do with a football and his many tricks included playing one-two's with the corner flag to beat his man! On one memorable occasion in the mid-50's he dribbled the ball around the entire opposition defence and goalkeeper before sitting with the ball on the goal line to show how much time he had! Even with the talent of Shackleton trophies proved elusive and a first ever relegation was suffered in 1957/58 thus bringing to an end an unbroken run of 68 consecutive years in the top flight, it was a record at the time as Sunderland could boast about being the last club that could claim it had only ever played its football in the top flight.

One of England's greatest clubs at the time, the demise was swift and sharp, an FA Cup was secure in 1973 but generation of supporters who had grown up listening to stories of Carter, Shackleton et al were now watching a once proud club scraping survival in the Second Division. The best it got for fans in the 80's was five successive years in the top flight, but the team always struggled and relegation was inevitable. Then, the nadir was reached with relegation to the Third Division coming in 1987. An instant return to the Second Division was secured however and come 1990 the club was once again mixing it with the big boys in the First Division although yet another relegation meant that by the time the Premiership came into being, the club was in danger of missing out on football's gravy train. Another promotion was secured in 1996 as Sunderland played in the Premiership for the first time but yet again it ended in agony with another relegation, the club's plight contrasting sharply with hated rivals Newcastle whose fans could enjoy entertaining winning football as their team slugged it out with not only England's but Europe's big guns. Peter Reid looked to have the ability to build a team good enough to get Sunderland back to where the fans feel they belonged though and when the 42,000 Stadium of Light was opened in 1997, it signalled the beginning of a new era.

Promotion was again secured in 1999 but unlike on previous occasions, the club actually looked to be in a position where it could build solid foundations in the Premiership and progress, led by the incomparable Kevin Phillips (the only Englishman to win the European golden boot and probably Sunderland's greatest modern player) who scored 30 league goals in 1999/2000 a 7th place finish was secured with the team playing some brilliant football and enjoying some great results along the way, Newcastle were beaten 2-1 at St James' Park and the tide seemed to be turning in Sunderland's favour. Such was the demand for tickets that the Stadium of Light was expanded to hold 48,707 spectators and the money was flowing in to such an extent that Sunderland were one of only 3 clubs making a profit in the Premier League. Season 2000/2001 promised so much and with team strengthened with numerous international stars and with Kevin Phillips at the height of his powers Champions League football looked to be on the cards in February. Unfortunately another slump meant another 7th place finish but all the good work done on and off the pitch would be completely destroyed by the end of the next campaign. Come Boxing Day in season 2001/02 Sunderland sat comfortably in the top half of the table, but a disastrous run after New Year meant that relegation was avoided by the narrowest of margins on the final day of the season. The pressure was on Peter Reid and after a bad start to season 2002/03 he lost his job. Successive managers couldn't halt the slide and relegation back to the second tier was confirmed in April with the club finishing the seasn with the embarrassing total of 19 points.

Mick McCarthy had by now taken over managers role but with the club now heavily in debt following relegation his hands were tied, the Yorkshireman managed to get Sunderland promoted at the second attempt but a Premier League season even worse than the last was about to follow as Sunderland managed only 3 wins all season amassing the embarrassing total of just 15 points in season 2005/06. That Summer, Chairman Bob Murray was bought out by former player Niall Quinn and his Consortium of mainly Irish businessmen, a revolution to drag what was formerely one of England's greatest clubs out of the abyss and back to where they belong was about to begin...

Football Manager 2007 Club Information

Nation: England

Founded: 1879

Status: Professional

Reputation: National

Chairman Status: Loves the Club

Fierce Rivals: Newcastle

Other Rivals: Middlesbrough, Leeds

Finances: Okay

Estimated Value: £17.5m

Stadium: Stadium of Light

Capacity: 49,000 Capacity al lseaster with undersoil heating

Reserve Stadium: The Hetton Centre, Sunderland

Training Facilities: Good training facilities

Youth Facilities: Average Youth facilities & Youth academy

Continental Competition: None

Media Prediction: 3rd

Squad Average Age: 27

Squad Personality: Determined

Board Expectations

Chairman Status: Loves the club

Expectations: The board expects the club to win the Championship this season

Fan Expectations: The fans expect the club to win promotion

Transfer Budget: £4m

As a Sunderland fan I am looking forward to reading this, any chance of a screenshot of the squad?

As someone who was born in Newcastle, I take issue with calling Sunderland a "Sleeping Giant"

All the best though

Sunderland AFC - Season 2006/07 - Championship

Transfers

In

Eddie Johnson (CF) - Kansas City - £1.1m

Jason Koumas (AMRLC) - West Bromwich Albion - £3m

Andy O'Brien (DC) - Portsmouth - £2m

Gareth Bale (DL) - Southampton - £2.5m

Out

Grant Leadbitter (AMC) - Fulham - £1.2m

Nyron Nosworthy (DRC) - Norwich - £500k

Danny Collins (DLC) - Leicester - £85k

Tommy Miller (MC) - Cardiff - £210k

Overview

Obviously the target was promotion and with a squad probably already capable of achieveing that target I was quite confident going into the campaign. Actually when I say the squad was good I was a little worried about our defence particularly at centre-back where Kenny Cunningham and Stan Varga were both pushing retirement age, I felt they could be exposed by fast forwards so made getting in a centre-back a priority. In the end I plumped for Andy O'Brien who has a wealth of Premier League experience and sure enough he became a key feature for me throughout the campaign. Although we have a few centre-forwards on our books I decided that Eddie Johnson was well worth the £1.1m fee due to his great potential, he took a while to settle and didn't hit the back of the net too often in the first half the season but started to find his form towards the end of the campaign. Gareth Bale is obviously another player with great potential on the game but I felt he was probably better than my left-back at the time so plumped for him and managed to get him ahead of a few Premier League clubs with the promise of first-team football and also a healthy wage tempting him to Wearside. Jason Koumas also turned out to be a rather astute buy as he made the right wing slot his own throughout the season. Probably the player of the season for me though was David Connolly, the Irish international hitting over 30 goals as we stormed to the title.

Championship Review

We started the season with successive away games at Burnley and fellow promotion hopefuls West Brom, although we managed to win the first game 3-1 we couldn't stop the Baggies from running rampant at the Hawthorns with John Hartson tearing us apart. A 3-2 win was the least the Midlands team deserved. After that defeat however performances perked up and we went on a lengthy unbeaten run. We won six of the next seven before a narrow defeat at the Ricoh Arena against Coventry, again by a scoreline of 3 goals to 2. That defeat was followed up by two wins over Crystal Palace (3-0) and Birmingham (1-0) before we recieved a good stuffing away to Wolves where the 5-0 scoreline did not flatter the home team. At this stage of the season (mid-October) our relatively good form still wasn't enough to warrant a place at the top of the league where West Brom and surprise package Derby were proving hard to catch. Indeed the Rams showed just how tough a proposition they would be our next game when they earned a deserved 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light. We got back to winning games after that with two 4-2 results away from home against QPR and Southampton before Hull City were comfortably dispatched by 2 goals to nil at the Stadium of Light on Remembrance Day.

Our form remained relatively good up until the New Year with just the one defeat away at Leicester and there were some fine performances thrown in including a great 4-2 win over rivals Leeds at home when the Yorkshire club had taken a 2-0 lead. After struggling Luton were overcome 1-0 on New Years Day we finally reached the summit of the league table and never looked back after that. A strong Birmingham team were beaten 1-0 away from home before Plymouth were saw off at the Stadium of Light. Stoke inflicted a rare defeat upon us at the Britannia at the end of January and our away form seemed to be deteriorating a little as Ipswich nicked a 1-0 win against us at Portman Road before a plucky Crystal Palace team kept us at bay to secure a 0-0 result at Selhurst Park. There would be just two more defeats between then and the end of the season as we won a further 8 times including defeating Leeds again this time by 2 goals to 0 at Elland Road. Promotion was secure with some games to spare and the title wrapped up with 3 games to go. I had struggled to find a tactic that worked wel for us at one point earlier in the season but I had settled on a counter-attacking style with a fast pair of wingers and strikers and it seemed to be working a treat for us. We finished 10 points clear of West Brom which meant we were to once again mix it with the big boys the following season!

Domestic Cups

Our League Cup campaign came to an end in the Fourth Round with a 2-0 defeat at Bolton whilst we were unlucky to draw Manchester United away in the fourth round of the FA Cup, they had little trouble in swatting us away with a 3-0 win.

Finances

Despite me spending £8.5m on new players at the start of the season the club continued to record profits and by the end of the season there was £20m in the bank. More to come with the extra revenue guarenteed from playing in the Premier League next season.

Other

Playerd of the Year: David Connolly

Average Attendance: 33,593

Highest Attendance: 48,990 V Leeds United

Highest Gate Receipts: £1.1m V Leeds United

Next Season

The board will hopefully back me in the transfer market although the Chairman has since announced that the club's youth facilities are going to be upgraded so there will be a chunk of my budget going missing on that. The aim is obviously just to survive in the top flight and hopefully do well in the derby games against Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

From memory, Jason Joumas was an absolute beast in FM07. Did he perform well?

From memory, Jason Joumas was an absolute beast in FM07. Did he perform well?

Yeah, lots of assists and a few quality goals, he'll be integral to me in the first few years in the Premier League.

Sunderland - Season 2007/08 - Premier League

Transfers

In

Giles Barnes (AMRC) - Derby County - £3.5m

Gaizka Mendieta (MRC) - Middlesbrough - £80k

Alexandre Song (DM) - Arsenal - £2.7m

Darryl Flahavan (GK) - Southend - £775k

Fabrice Muamba (DM) - Arsenal - £3.8m

Danny Mills (DRC) - Manchester City - £325k

Jermaine Pennant (AMR) - Free Transfer

John O'Shea (DRLC) - Loan

Carlos Vela (ST) - Loan

Out

Kenny Cunningham + 5 Reserves - Free Transfers

Overview

Upon our promotion to the Premier League I was expecting us to struggle a little and the measly transfer budget of £8m meant I thought my task would be even harder. However, after a strong start to the campaign we never looked back with Carlos Vela in particular proving a fantastic signing whilst Fabrice Muamba looked the part in central midfield. Giles Barnes has developed into one of the most exciting youngsters in the country and there is a youthful look about the team complemented by a few experienced players to guide us through. A 3rd place finish was very well deserved in the end and there were some great results secured including giving arch rivals Newcastle a 5-1 walloping at St James' Park. I tried to make good use of the free transfer list as there were some big names on there but as yet my reputation isn't really all that good and the best I could do was landing Jermaine Pennant on from Liverpool to give Barnes some stiff competition on the wing. Gareth Bale proved a revelation in the Premiership at left-back whereas Eddie Johnson has comfortably stepped up to the highest level scoring a shed load of goals. I managed to persuade the board to invest in improving the club's youth facilities as they aren't the best so we're progressing not only off the pitch but on it aswell. Financially it was a brilliant year, my players aren't really on stellar contracts and with the money from tv rights and increased attendances coming in we made a healthy profit of £30m come May.

Premier League Review

The season started off with a mouth-watering away trip at Middlesbrough which looked a tough game as the Boro have got some decent players sprinkled about their team, we gave a good account of ourselves though and Eddie Johnson popped up with a fine winner in the second half. Liverpool were up next for the first home game of the season and a crowd of 48,000 witnessed another great performance as the Scousers were sent packing when Jason Koumas pounced on a loose ball early on to make it 1-0, we held off the attacking talents of Gerrard and co to make it two wins on the belt. Unbelievably Aston Villa then came north and with the likes of Darren Bent running at my defence I was a little concerned we could be overrun and it looked as though we were going to suffer a trouncing when the former Charlton man scored early on, we improved in the second half though with Carlos Vela getting his first goals for the club as we ran out 3-1 winners.

Our first defeat of the season came in our next game away at Man City but our home form was holding up well with Bolton beaten 2-0 at the Stadium of Light before Watford were beaten 3-2. A tough trip to the Emirates brought the expected 3-0 defeat but the team were looking up not down and we continued to play well and win our home games. Late November brought two fantastic results as Eddie Johnson single-handedly dismantled Newcastle at St James' scoring a hat-trick as we dominated the second half to run out 5-1 winners. Manchester United were then beaten 1-0 at home as we remained unbeaten at the Stadium of Light. Unfortunately we undid some of our hard work with a turgid display away at Wigan in our next game where the Latics earned a deserved 2-1 win.

We hit our best form of the season before Xmas beating two tough teams in the shape of Everton and Spurs by 1 goal to 0 at home before securing two away wins on the bounce aswell, Reading and West Brom were beaten 3-0 and 2-0 respectively. Chelsea undersevedly beat us at the Stadium of Light in a cracker of a game which eventually ended 3-2 as we lost for the first time at home during the season just days before Xmas. We recovered well though and went the next 14 games unbeaten including victories over Boro and Newcastle as we did the double over our North East rivals. Other notable results included a draw at Anfield (where we were 2-0 up until the final 10 minutes) and a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane. Man United expectedly ended our good run with a 3-0 drubbing at Old Trafford on March 29th. We ended the campaign well winning four of our last six games, two defeats came away at Chelsea and away at Blackburn. A brilliant season then and with Champions League football secured it means even more money to spend, although we never really threatened challenging for the title we always looked a sure bet to secure European football and it was wrapped up with a few games to spare. The one negative was that Newcastle looked a good bet to go down in April but a change of manager saved them at the last minute.

Domestic Cups

We were knocked out of the League Cup away at Portsmouth in Round Four whilst we were unfortunate to land Man United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup sixth round where we were hammered 6-0. Prior to that game we had knocked out Stafford, West Ham and West Brom. This year was all about consolidation in the top flight so I didn't really take the cups seriously, I definitely will be next year though.

Finances

The finances are looking really healthy with over £30m now in the bank, with the extra revenue from the Champions League coming in next year we can hopefully really push on, one thing we need is a more lucrative sponsor with the current deal nowhere near good enough for a club of our size.

Other

Player of the Year: Eddie Johnson

Highest Attendance: 48,988 V Newcastle United

Average Attendance: 41,921 (Up from 33,593 previous year)

Highest Gate Receipts: £1.9m V Newcastle United

Club Value: £37.5m

Next Season

What 65,000 seater Stadium of Light would look like

The board have already announced plans for an expansion of the Stadium of Light by 16,000 seats. The work will take 6 months to complete leaving me with a reduced stadium capacity of 42,000 for the time being. The extra revenue generated from a 65,000 seater stadium should come in handy. I know which areas of the squad need improved and its all about being able to attract the right kind of player now. Expectations are for another Champions League finish but the fans seem to have gone a bit wild expecting us to win the league next year. The domestic cups are of bigger interest to us now too.

Sunderland AFC - Season 2008/09 - Premier League

Transfers

In

Niko Krancjar (AMLC) - £7m - Portsmouth

Diego Lugano (DC) - £3.4m - Fenerbahce

Per Kroldrup (DC) - £3.4m - Fiorentina

Eduardo Ratinho (DR) - £4m - Corinthians

Hernan Crespo (ST) - Free Transfer

Alexis Sanchez (AMRL/ST) - £7m - Udinese

Out

Anthony Stokes (ST) - £1.8m - Manchester City

David Connolly (ST) - £700k - Sheffield United

Darren Ward (GK) - Free Transfer - Rangers

11 Others - Released including Dwight Yorke and Stan Varga

Overview

Another great season of overachievement although my squad is starting to take shape now with average players gradually being moved on and replaced by players who can help us compete at the higher end of the league. Of the players brought in Lugano and Krancjar were the two who really stood out, I bought Alexis Sanchez to play on the wing but after a series of inept performances I moved him up front where he started to perform a little better but he doesn't score enough goals. He's only young but I definitely think he should be contributing more to the team's play. If our away form had matched our home form then we would have swept to the title, we managed to win every single game at the Stadium of Light but away from home it was a different story. Of the current crop of players Eddie Johnson, Giles Barnes and Gareth Bale look to be shining beacons of hope for the future, it seems only a matter of time before bigger clubs come sniffing around for some of my better younger players. In December it was announced that the planned expansion of the Stadium of Light by 15,000 seats had been completed, I wasn't sure whether we would fill it but I needn't have worried with the fans flocking to the improved ground, playing half the season with a low capacity did affect our average gate which by the end of the season would stand at 49,000. Testament to the famed loyalty of the Sunderland supporters.

Premier League Review

Final Table

Home Record

Away Record

As you can see the contrast between home and away form was quite staggering, 12 defeats away from home was simply not good enough, had our home form not held up we could easily have finished in mid-table. It would infuriate me because one week after stuffing the Arsenal's and Chelsea's of this world at the Stadium of Light I would then go and lose to somebody like bottom of the table Charlton away from home the next week. We started the campaign with successive home games against Derby and Arsenal, we managed to win both games 2-0 and 1-0 respectively, then however came two abject performances away from home with a 1-1 draw away at Middlesrough being followed up with a 1-0 loss at Wigan. This inconsistency was to haunt us as we beat Liverpool 2-1 at home the next week before losing by the same scorline at Villa Park. We had a tough start to the season in all fairness and our next two fixtures were away at Man Utd and home to Chelsea, we managed to take maximum points from both games with probably our best performance of the campaign coming at Old Trafford with Eddie Johnson in inspiring form grabbing two goals as we won 2-1, it was the same scoreline a week later against the Blues at the Stadium of Light.

Those last two performances had rocketed me up into a Champions League place where we would remain all season despite our disastrous away record. Ironically we recorded most of our away wins in the opening couple of months so I didn't think there was much of a problem, Reading were pumped 4-2 at the Madejski after a good win at home over Blackburn which meant four wins on the bounce. Come late November we were comfortably ensconced at the top of the table after a great 2-0 away win at Goodison was followed up by a nervy 1-0 win over rivals Newcastle at home. That Everton result was as good as it got with defeats at Man City (1-0), Spurs (3-0) and Derby (1-0) sandwiching a 0-0 draw with West Brom at the Hawthorns. We improved over the Xmas period to smash Boro 3-0 at home in the first game at our newly expanded 65,000 seater Stadium of Light, we then hammered West Ham 3-0 at Upton Park, that last game took place on the 30th December and there was to be just one more away victory for us from that point until the end of the season.

2009 got underway with a 1-0 loss at the Emirates which was no disgrace, we then bear Aston Villa 4-0 and Manchester United by 1 goal to 0 in front of a crowd of 65,000 at the Stadium of Light. Our worst performance of the campaign came at mid-table Blackburn in late February, an abject display led to a 4-1 defeat at Ewood Park, several players were warned about their conduct after that debacle. It meant no away win in 2 months and with the derby game at Newcastle coming up I was seriously worried we may take a pummelling. After that Blackburn game we lost 1-0 at Chelsea, beat Reading 2-0 at home before a pathetic 2-1 defeat at a Charlton team who finish the season bottom of the table. We were looking over our shoulders all the time expecting Man United and Liverpool who were both having bad seasons themselves to catch us, we sat in 3rd with surprise package Manchester City in fourth whikst United and the Scousers trailed in 5th and 6th as April approached. Our inconsistency was driving me mad, we beat a good Spurs side 4-0 at the Stadium of Light before losing 4-1 at Bolton the following week. We again followed that away defeat up with a home win in a corker of a game against Everton, we were 2-0 up and cruising but the Toffees fought considerably well and got back into the game with 2 goals from Tim Cahill, in the fourth minute of injurt time at the end of the game, Giles Barnes turned his man 30 yards from goal before smashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner, 3-2 it finished but it got even better the following week.

It was nearing four months with no away win now and next up were Newcastle at St James', the one thing I could take solace from was that Newcasle had been poor at home all season and were struggling just above the relegation zone, after putting us under some early pressure they faded away and the goals started to flow for us with Eddie Johnson and Sanchez running riot, the final score of 5-0 didn't flatter us and our fifth and final away win of the campaign was secured! With 3 games left we secured 3rd place for the second season running at home to Manchester City with a 3-1 win, the blues had enjoyed a good season and looked likely to claim fourth spot but for a late slump which saw them finish 6th. United would eventually finish ahead of Liverpool in Sir Alex Ferguson's last season in charge at the Old Trafford club. We ended the campaign with a 1-0 win over West Brom at the Stadium of Light and a 1-0 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Domestic Cups

Our FA Cup story was ended in the Quarter-finals by Newcastle! A poor performance at the Stadium of Light saw the Geordies topple us by 1 goal to 0, Martins grabbing the only goal of the game in the 5th minute. In the League Cup however, we managed to go all the way for my first major trophy as Sunderland manager, after defeating Portsmouth and Coventry in Rounds 3 and 4, we landed Liverpool in the Quarter-finals at the Stadium of Light, a good game saw us emerge victorious by two goals to one. We landed the hardest team left in the competition in the semi-finals: Chelsea. A 3-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the 1st leg left us in with a shout and we absolutely blew the Londoners away in the 2nd leg, scoring six times to secure a 6-1 win and an 8-3 aggregate scoreline. Everton were the opposition at Wembley and an unusually poor display by the Toffees saw us win comfortably 2-0 with goals from Johnson and Barnes.

Europe

Our first season in the Champions League then, finishing 3rd meant we had to negotiate our way through the premilinary qualifying rounds and a tough tie against Glasgow giants Celtic. We won the away leg 1-0 to put us in the driving seat before smashing The Bhoys 4-0 at the Stadium of Light. I was drawn in Group B with Lens and European giants Barcelona and Bayern Munich, I thought we would struggle but a good 5-1 win over Lens in our first game set us up nicely and by the time we had beaten Bayern 1-0 at the Olypiastadion in our second game I was very confidet of progression. A 1-1 draw flattered Barcelona at the Stadium of Light but the Catalans showed their class in the return game at the Nou Camp with a 1-0 win over us. We beat Lens 2-1 away from home to secure second place behind Barca with Bayern finishing 3rd after drawing 1-1 with us at the SoL.

We were handed a tough looking last 16 match with Inter Milan in February and a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light meant the Italian side just needed to keep a clean sheet at the San Siro to progress, thankfully we performed valiantly and Eddie Johnson got the only goal of the game despite a siege by the Italian's late on. We were drawn against Group Stage rivals Barclona in the quarter-finals and I was confident that this would be where our tournament ended. However, we game them a real shock at the Nou Camp going 2-0 up at one stage before they bounced back to grab 2-2 draw, we had home advantage in the 2nd leg and with the crowd behind us secured a memorable 2-0 win. That result meant a semi-final date with Roma, I was confident we could beat the Italians who I viewed as inferior to the likes of Inter and Barca, perhaps I should have shown more respect as they beat us 3-2 at the SoL before comfortably making the tie safe in the 2nd leg at home with a 2-0 win. They would lose the final against Manchester United as Sir Alex went out on a high with a 3rd successive European Cup victory for the Reds.

End of Season Checkup

Premier League: 3rd

League Cup: Winners

FA Cup: Last 8

Champs League: Last 4

Finances

Following a season of Champions League football, turnover exceeded the £100m mark for the first time in Sunderland's history, I also managed to secure Japanese club Nagoya Stolz as a feeder club meaning more revenue from shirt sales etc... come May our bank balance came to a healthy £50m.

Awards and Attendance

Player of the Year: Eddie Johnson

Highest Attendance: 64,992 V Chelsea - League Cup semi-final

Average Attendance: 49,908

Highest Gate Reciepts: £2.8m V Roma - Champs Lge semi-final

Club Value: £70m

Next Season

Improve that damned away form! In all seriousness I think that given a few more quality signings we could really challenge for the title, I also really want to win the FA Cup for the first time since 1973 and obviously do well in the Champions League again.