By now rumours were surfacing that manager bob Stokoe was having personal health problems, perhaps the pressure that comes with managing Sunderland was beginning to tell. Whatever these allegations would gain credence not long into what would become an unbelievable roller coaster campaign, ending, as it had so often in disappointment and relegation.

There were 4 major signings to bolster the squad, and a total outlay of £400,000.

Bob Lee joined from Leicester City, Jim Holton and Alan Foggon from Manchester United and goalkeeper Barry siddall from Bolton Wanderers.

The higher standard of football was emphasised as Sunderland failed to win any of their opening 4 games, although 3 draws was a fair start. A 1 v 4 thrashing at Ashton Gate set the alarm bells ringing, and with no wins from the opening 9 fixtures Manager bob Stokoe resigned. In hindsight this was probably a mistake, but no one knows but "The Messiah" was doing to his life.

Bob Stokoe resigned, would turn up again some 10 or so years later, and with him he took the gratitude of perhaps a million people. He will always be fondly remembered.

16 October and Ian MacFarlane took over as Caretaker Manager, but he couldn’t arrest the slide. By now Sunderland were rock bottom and fighting for their top flight lives; once again, and then came 23 November; why that date?

From this point until 11 February Sunderland would 8 games on the trot, fail to score in 10 consecutive and were basically down and out. There seemed no way back.....or so it seemed. But hey, this is Sunderland, it isn’t the same without those twists and turns that we know so well....

30 November had seen the appointment of former Burnley man jimmy Adamson and he had the above baptism of fire. MacFarlane was dismissed and Dave Merrington took over as Deputy.

With Pop Robson gone, sold back to West Ham United, the question was, "who would score the goals", step forward bob Lee and Mel Holden.

15 January saw Sunderland travel to Filbert Street and 3 young players had been thrown into the fray and would serve Sunderland well. Shaun Elliott, a marvellous centre back, Kevin Arnott a superb midfield schemer and the one and only Gary Rowell. The Seaham born striker would convert Roker fans into living in his "world" and how they loved it. He was brilliant.

But back to Holden. The Roker faithful carried banners with "Mel rules The Sky" emblazoned on then. White butchers coats, pre eminent in the Fulwell end at that time carried his name and he didn’t disappoint. Together with the man from Filbert Street they set about demolishing top flight defences and would score 17 goals between them having had "that" wretched scoring record, no mean feat. By the time the Rowell, Elliott, Arnott combination started Sunderland had 9 points from 23 games.

With Colin Waldron brought in from Burnley, Mick Docherty from Manchester city, the make up of the team was so different from the start of the campaign, and my did they respond.

And so to 11 February and Roker Park, Bristol city and a 1 v 0 victory. Played on the Friday night Mel Holden scored and the weight of the world seemed to be lifted from Sunderlands shoulders. The last 17 games would produce only 3 defeats.

3 home games followed where one of the most amazing Sunderland scoring sequences took place, very reminiscent of the late 19th century and the Campbell era. Middlesbrough were demolished 4 v 0; West Bromwich Albion 6 v 1 and the crowning performance a 6 v 0 annihilation of West Ham United.

There was a momentary lapse at Maine Road where Sunderland looked to have taken a deserved lead through Mel Holden only for the goal to be ruled out. It was a cruel blow as city won 1 v 0.

We then beat Bobby Robson's high flying Ipswich Town on Wearside, but then bogey side Aston villa decided to do us no favours at all and thrashed us 1 v 4. If we thought that confidence would be dented then we were wrong. We came out fighting.

We defeated Queens Park Rangers, let Newcastle United come back from 2 down to equalise, drew at Elland Road. True to form we defeated Manchester United 2 v 1, with Arnott and Towers bringing the crowd to their feet.

A brilliant fighting performance at Tottenham and a Towers inspired point against Derby saw us make the trek to The Midlands, The Hawthorns and the home of West Bromwich Albion. In front of 22,072 Tony Towers had the game of his life and scored two, one a penalty to claim 2 precious points.

We had 3 games left, had pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and incredibly we were in with a chance of survival. It got better; we defeated Birmingham City at home, Trevor Francis missing a sitter at the Roker End.

There were now 2 away games left, and the first saw Sunderland make the long trek to East Anglia and Norwich city. At Carrow Road, the Match of the Day cameras, and the 12,000 strong travelling Roker Roar watched on in horror as the Canaries took a 2 goal lead. We were dead and buried; oh no we weren’t.

With red and whites streaming out of the ground, we scored...they came running back. With supporters now literally watching from underneath the roof we equalised and the place went ballistic. Half the crowd exploded!

And so to the last game of the season and Goodison Park.

By a miracle and some brilliant never say die performances it was now a simple process, avoid defeat and we were safe. We could even afford to get beaten if Coventry and Bristol city, playing at Highfield Road the same time...produced a winner. The only combination we didn’t want was a Sunderland defeat, and a draw in the midlands.

The date was Thursday 19 May, Spurs and Stoke were relegated, Bristol city and Coventry were below Sunderland on goal difference. All 3 had 34 points. In a crowd of 36,075 Sunderland were represented by about 10,000 from Wearside, the atmosphere was electric. The performance however wasn’t and we lost 0 v 2. But that wasn’t it, if Coventry or Bristol won then we were safe, we still had a chance.

Unfortunately despite a plea for both games to kick off at the same time the game was mysteriously delayed due to "traffic problems". By the time the news filtered through to Highfield Road (dramatically relayed to the players over the tannoy as the match progressed) they knew that a draw was good enough. The game of "passy the football" between the 2 teams that resulted was embarrassing. It ended 2 v 2 when city had been pressing for a winner.

Once more the fates had conspired against Wearside. We were down after one season in the topflight; it was a choker.

Alan Hardaker (RIP) sent a letter of reprimand to Coventry after hundreds of letters of complaint landed on his Lytham St Anne’s desk. To no avail, it didn’t matter, it wouldn’t change a thing.

The FA Cup had provided brief entertainment, but not much. Having been 2 down at home to cup giant killers Wrexham we battled back to "earn" a draw. The replay saw us succumb 0 v 1.

The League cup came and went, after a defeat of Luton saw defeat at the hands of Manchester United, again after a replay.