Everton v Sunderland

Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) were founded as St. Domingo F.C. in 1878 in order that people from the parish of St. Domingo's Church could play a sport outside of the summer months (during which time cricket was played). A year later the club were renamed Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) F.C. after the surrounding area, as people outside the parish wished to participate. They were founder members of the Football League in 1888, and won their first League Championship title in 1890–91. They won the FA Cup in 1905–06 and League title again in 1914–15, but it was not until 1927 that Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets)'s first sustained period of success began. In 1925 the club signed Dixie Dean who, in 1927–28, set the record for league goals in a single season (60 goals in 39 league games, a record that still stands to this day), helping Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) to achieve their third league title.

Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) were relegated to the Second Division two years later but won the title and thus promotion at the first attempt. On their return to the top flight in 1931–32, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) wasted no time in reaffirming their status and won a fourth League title at the first opportunity. They also won their second FA Cup in 1932–33 with a 3–0 win against Manchester City in the final. The era ended in 1938–39 with a fifth League title. The advent of World War II saw the suspension of League football, and once official competition restarted in 1946, the Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) team had been split up and paled in comparison to their pre-war incarnation. Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) were relegated again in 1950–51 and did not return until 1953–54, when they finished as runners-up in their third season in the Second Division. The club have been a top flight presence ever since.

Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets)'s second successful era started when Harry Catterick was made manager in 1961. In 1962–63, his second season in charge, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) won the League title and in 1966 followed with a 3–2 FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday. Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) again reached the final two years later, but this time were unable to overcome West Bromwich Albion at Wembley. A year later in 1969–70, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) won the First Division, nine points clear of nearest rivals Leeds United. However, the success did not last; the team finished fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and seventh in the following seasons. Catterick retired but his successors failed to win any silverware for the remainder of the 1970s. Though the club mounted title challenges and finished third in 1977–78 and fourth the following season, manager Gordon Lee resigned in 1981, after Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) slid down the table and fell further behind local rivals Liverpool.

Howard Kendall took over as manager and guided Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) to their most successful era. Domestically, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) won the FA Cup in 1983–84 and two league titles in 1984–85 and 1986–87. They were also runners-up to neighbouring Liverpool in both league and cup competitions in 1985–86 and were again on the losing side to Liverpool in the 1984 League Cup final and the 1988–89 FA Cup final. In Europe, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) won their first and only trophy in the shape of the 1984–85 European Cup Winners' Cup. After beating University College Dublin, Inter Bratislava and Fortuna Sittard, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) defeated German giants Bayern Munich 3–1 in the semi-finals, despite trailing at half time (in a match voted the greatest in Goodison Park history) and recorded the same scoreline over Austrian club Rapid Vienna in the final. Having also won the league title that season, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) came very close to winning a treble, but lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

After the Heysel Stadium disaster and the subsequent ban of all English clubs from continental football, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) lost the chance to compete for more European trophies. A large proportion of the title-winning side was broken up following the ban; Kendall himself moved to Athletic Bilbao after the 1987 title triumph and was succeeded by assistant Colin Harvey. Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) were founder members of the Premier League in 1992, but struggled to find the right manager. Howard Kendall had returned in 1990 but could not repeat his previous success, while his successor, Mike Walker, was statistically the least successful Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) manager to date. When former Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) player Joe Royle took over in 1994 the club's form started to improve; his first game in charge was a 2–0 victory over derby rivals Liverpool. Royle dragged Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) clear of relegation, and also led the club to the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history, defeating Manchester United 1–0 in the final. The cup triumph was also Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets)'s passport to the Cup Winners' Cup — their first European campaign in the post-Heysel era. Progress under Joe Royle continued in 1995–96 as they climbed to sixth place in the Premiership.

The following season, 1996–97, was not as successful and the club finished in fifteenth place. Royle quit in March. Club captain, Dave Watson, was given the manager's job temporarily and he helped the club to Premiership survival. Howard Kendall was appointed Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) manager for the third time in 1997, but the appointment proved unsuccessful as Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) finished seventeenth in the Premiership; only avoiding relegation due to their superior goal difference over Bolton Wanderers. Former Rangers manager Walter Smith then took over from Kendall in the summer of 1998 but only managed three successive finishes in the bottom half of the table.

The Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) board finally ran out of patience with Smith and he was sacked in March 2002 with Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) in real danger of relegation. The current manager, David Moyes, was his replacement and delivered Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) to a safe finish in fifteenth place. After that harrowing season, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) finished seventh, seventeenth, fourth (their highest ever Premiership finish) and eleventh. It was under his management that Wayne Rooney broke into the first team, before being sold to Manchester United for a club record fee of £23 million.

Moyes has broken the club record for highest transfer fee paid on three occasions, signing James Beattie for £6 million in January 2005, Andy Johnson for £8.6 million in Summer 2006, and Yakubu Aiyegbeni for £11.25 million in summer 2007.

2006–07 saw Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) finish sixth in the league and attain UEFA Cup qualification. In 2007, Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) completed the takeover of the Toxteth Tigers basketball team, with the rebranding of Liverpool's first ever top-flight basketball franchise, the Everton(Click here to buy Everton tickets) Tigers.

Glasgow born Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)-based school teacher James Allan started the ‘Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) and District Teachers Association Football Club’ formed Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) A.F.C. on 17 October 1879. On 16 October 1880 the club changed its name to "Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) Teachers Association Football Club" ie the Teachers bit remained, but the statement which announced this indicated that the club opened its membership to all in order to relax financial troubles and increase the pool of players available to it. Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) Teachers AFC became Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) AFC on limited company status. Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) enjoyed an extremely "unhealthy" rivalry with Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) Albion F.C. (who confusingly had the same initials) until their demise in the early 20th century.

Ironically it was James Allan who founded Albion after being voted off the Committee of Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) AFC although he had formed Albion prior to the meeting.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) were admitted into The Football League for the 1890-91 season, replacing Stoke. It was the first time a new club had joined the league since its inauguration in 1989. During the late 19th century they were still famously declared as the "Team of All Talents" by William McGregor, the founder of the league, after a 6 v 1 over Aston Villa at Perry Barr (erroneously up to now attributed to a 7 v 2 home win against Aston Villa); and between 1892 and 1902 the team won the league three times and were runners-up a further three times.

In 1913, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) again won the league and lost their first FA Cup Final 1-0 to Aston Villa. It was the closest the club has ever gone to The Double.

The club's sixth (and to this day last) league championship came in the 1935-36 season, and the next season the club finally won the F.A. Cup after a 3-1 victory against Preston North End at Wembley Stadium.

Following the Second World War, the club suffered a downturn in fortunes, despite breaking a number of transfer records and being labelled 'The Bank of England Club'. In 1957 the club were implicated in a major financial scandal (the second in their history after the Andrew MacCombie scandal in 1904), resulting in an unprecedented fine of £5,000 and the suspension of the club chair and three directors. In 1958 Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) were relegated from the top-flight for the first time in their 68-year league history.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) won their last major trophy in 1973 courtesy of 1-0 victory over Leeds United in the FA Cup Final. Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets), a second division club at the time, won the game thanks to an amazing double save of Jimmy Montgomery to deny Peter Lorimer, described by many as the greatest save at Wembley, and by some even as the greatest save of all time. Ian Porterfield scored a stunning volley in the 30th minute to stun Leeds and take the win. Since 1973 only two other clubs (Southampton in 1976 and West Ham United in 1980) have equalled Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s achievement of lifting the FA Cup while playing outside the top tier of English football.

In 1985, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) appeared in their first and only (to 2007) League Cup final, losing 1-0 to Norwich City.

1987 saw one of the lowest points in Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s history, as they were relegated to the third division of the English league for the first and only time.

Under new Chairman Bob Murray and new manager Denis Smith the club were promoted as champions the following season. In 1990, they were promoted back to the top flight, after losing to Swindon Town in the play off final, but Swindon's victory being revoked after being found guilty of financial irregularities. They stayed up for one year before being relegated on the final day of the season.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s last outing in a major final came in 1992 when, as a second division club, they returned to the FA Cup Final. There was to be no repeat of the heroics of 1973, with Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) losing 2-0 to Liverpool.

The early 1990s was a turbulent period for the club. In 1995, they faced the prospect of a return the third-tier of English football. Peter Reid was brought in, and quickly turned things around. Reid's time in charge had a stabilising effect; he remained manager for seven years, one of the longest tenures in Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s history.

In 1997, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) left Roker Park, their home for 99 years. They moved to the Stadium of Light, a 42,000-seat arena that, at the time, was the biggest new stadium built in England since World War II. The move saw a renaissance at the club, as attendances jumped dramatically. The Stadium capacity was later increased to 49,000.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) returned to the top-flight as champions in 1999 with a then record points total of 105. Two consecutive seventh place finishes in the Premier League were followed by two less successful seasons and they were relegated to the second-tier with a record low points total of 19 in 2003.

Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy took over at the club and in 2005 he took Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) up as champions (the third time in under ten years). However, the following season was a disaster; Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) finished on a new record-low total of 15 points. McCarthy left the club in mid-season and was replaced temporarily by Kevin Ball, a former player.

Following their relegation new hope was given to the club by ex-player Niall Quinn, along with the Irish Drumaville Consortium, successfully launched a bid to buy out former chair Bob Murray in July 2006. The consortium appointed former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, a former international team mate of chairman Niall Quinn, as their new manager. Quinn had been in charge for the first few games of the season in a disastrous start. However, under Keane the club rose steadily up the table with an unbeaten run of seventeen games from the start of 2007. Along with Birmingham City FC, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) clinched promotion to the FA Premier League for the upcoming 2007-2008 season, following Derby County's 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on April 29th. Roy Keane was informed via a text message that Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) AFC had been promoted while walking his dog Triggs. On May 6th 2007 Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) were crowned winners of Championship after beating Luton Town 5-0 at Kenilworth Road.

Their form in the 2007-08 season has been better than the form they showed last time round at this level, and as of early November they occupy 15th place after 11 games and 9 points.