On This Day for 3rd November looks at the Sunderland programme from the 1990/91 season. The full review is shown below and you can click here to see all the Division One programmes from that season.
Sunderland’s Roker Review was a 32-page issue that featured 24 pages of content. The issue for the game against Manchester City featured forwards Peter Davenport and Marco Gabbiadini celebrating a recent goal, whilst Gabbiadini was also shown in full-flight on a double-page photo across the programme’s centre pages.
The inside front cover contained four pictures, mostly from recent games. This was followed by columns from manager Denis Smith and captain Gary Bennett, and a two-page profile of Sunderland midfielder Gordon Armstrong. The feature includes Armstrong’s career stats and an article that stressed how important the Newcastle born player had become to the Black Cats. ‘Nationwide’ provided updates from around the leagues, reporting on each of the previous weekend’s top-flight games. The column also had an eye out for the fortunes of other north-east clubs, including Bishop Auckland and Whitley Bay who had made it through to the first round of the FA Cup. ‘Scene Locally’ expanded on this coverage, featuring information on the fortunes of non-league teams in the area and encouraging Sunderland fans to support the game at that level.
The best reading in the programme was provided by ‘Comment’. This was an excellent, well-written article, with the unidentified author praising a recent proposal from the Football League that the two main bodies in English football administration be amalgamated. The article set out some of the issues with the contemporary setup, suggesting that part of the earnings clubs achieved from television fees be put into a general pot for the wider good of the game. It would be fascinating to know the author’s thoughts on the establishment of the Premier League less than two years later!
The programme offered four impressively in-depth pages of coverage of Manchester City. An introductory article remarked on the positive early season form shown by City, with an opening day defeat at Tottenham their only reverse of the campaign at that point. The column also discussed the the transfer activity carried out by boss Howard Kendall after he took over from Mel Machin the previous season. The section included profiles of the City squad and manager whilst the final page had a more historical slant, noting that City shared (with Leicester City) the record for the number of second division championship wins. The section also included details of the last meeting between the two clubs, as well as a colour team group picture, a form guide, and a five-year record. This was one of the best examples of opposition coverage of any Division One programme in the 1990/91 season.
Roker Review also featured one of the best statistics sections of any programme. Spread over five pages, the section included the usual first-team results and fixtures pages, but also offered the same detail for the club’s reserve and youth sides, including reports of recent matches and each team’s league table. There was also a page of goalscoring stats for the first-team and another providing detailed match reports. As comprehensive as any Sunderland supporter could surely have wished for!
This was a high-class issue from Sunderland, offering an excellent mix of readable content, stats, and opposition coverage, certainly deserving of a place among the best Division One issues of the season.