Sunderland: 10 Most Costly Mistakes In Black Cats History
2. The Horrific McMenemy Era
Few individuals have entered Wearside as a hero only to be virtually chased out within eighteen months, in the manner of Lawrie McMenemy. After his heroics at lowly Southampton, Sunderland, fans greeted near enough a homecoming happily, and as reportedly the highest paid manager in England when he accepted the Black Cats job, great things were expected. Promises were made; while Sunderland kept up their end of the bargain and backed their chosen man to the hilt, McMenemys judgment and expensively assembled squad failed to cut the muster. Results under McMenemy were poor, matched by Sunderlands performances due to the stale, dated brand of football played. The high hopes had quickly receded, but the spending continued and the strategy of buying experience remained. Though that appears to sum up the disastrous era very well, Sunderland were overpaying for over-the-hill players past their peak. Into his second season as Black Cats manager, it finally dawned that Lawrie McMenemy was also past his best. Instead of promotion at the second time of asking the club were dragged down into a dramatic relegation dogfight. In 1987 McMenemy hurriedly left the club, leaving us to sink to relegation to the English third tier for the first time in the clubs history, thanks to arguably the most disastrous managerial appointment for Sunderland, ever
