The 1950-51 season saw a record signing, Trevor Ford from Aston Villa for £30,000. Following Ford’s transfer, it was considered that Sunderland had one of the best forward lines in Britain. Jack Hedley from Willington Quay was signed from Everton. He would go on to play many a fine game for Sunderland as right back.

With some impressive internationals in the squad Sunderland AFC and its fans approached the season with optimism. However it would prove unfounded as the Lads slumped to 12th place.

The season got underway with a home victory over Derby County. The 1-0 was always tenuous, and after Shackleton had given Sunderland the advantage after eight minutes, we had to hang on grimly for the two points. Len Duns deputised for Tommy Wright at outside right for the match. Scotson replaced Watson at right half.

Next match at Villa Park we were defeated 1-3. This however came as no surprise. Sunderland were playing with 10 men for virtually the entire game after Stelling was injured in the very first minute. A 0-4 drubbing at Anfield, where both Liddell and Stubbins were outstanding for the Merseysiders, was followed up by a home draw with Villa, 3-3, having led 3-1 with just 15 minutes left.

Then the Lads took on Galatasaray, with the Turks visiting Roker Park. Sunderland won the game 3-1 with Len Shackleton in fine form. The main talking point of the match had been the performance of the Istanbul side’s international goalkeeper, 18 year old Seren. His name was on the lips of the 14,830 crowd.

A home defeat by Blackpool was followed by a benefit game for the former St Mirren and Sunderland trainer Andy Reid. It took place in Paisley and ended in an entertaining 3-3 draw. A draw at White Hart Lane, Broadis forcing the ball home on 55 minutes, was followed up by a 4-1 defeat of Hartlepool in the Durham Senior Cup.

Then a slump. From 30th September until 16th December we played 12 league games and won only two. It’s interesting to note that on 7th October, Huddersfield Town arrived on Wearside with the worst defensive record of all 92 league clubs, and yet managed to escape with a goalless draw. During this period Sunderland were hampered by the continued absence of Len Shackleton, with groin trouble. He was the inspiration be­hind the team and our poor run confirmed this.

In Trevor Ford’s home league debut on November 4th against Sheffield Wednesday he scored a hat trick in­cluding a shot that dislodged the post at the Fulwell End. The 5-1 victory was as comprehensive as it sounds. Wednesday were reeling. Ford played like a man possessed and even managed to break the jaw of the Wednesday centre half Packard for good measure, after a clash of heads... an eventful day!

The biggest win of the season was followed by the biggest defeat, 1-5 at Highbury, where the Lads hadn’t won in 20 years. Seven days later Sunderland entertained Portsmouth and in sharp contrast to the exciting England-Wales international match staged on Wearside a couple of days earlier this 0-0 match was termed a “bore draw”.
It was announced after the game that Jack Parker a prominent Sunderland builder and club shareholder had been appointed to the board, in place of Sir Myers Wayman.

Shackleton, Broadis and Ford were an awesome forward line and featured in two great games, a 6-5 defeat at the Baseball Ground and a 5-3 win against Manchester United, where Ivor scored a hat trick. It is interesting to note that in those days teams would play each other on both the Christmas Day and the 26th. The Old Trafford victory had been preceded one day earlier by a 2-1 reverse at Roker Park against the Red Devils.

The game at the Baseball Ground was a fantastically exciting one, played in two inches of snow, and on no less than three occasions Sunderland were two goals behind. Ford played great and scored twice. The 23rd December game against Liverpool had been watched by only three of the club’s directors. Murray the man­ager and W Martin were in Scotland searching for new talent, whilst at least two other board members did the same elsewhere.

The FA Cup saw Sunderland dispatch Coventry City, where Tommy Wright played a blinder, Southampton and Norwich City 3-1, before a 6th round tie with Wolverhampton Wanderers saw the red and whites defeated after a replay. If Sunderland had won it would have set up a fascinating clash with local rivals Newcastle United.

After the Canaries game the Norwich chairman stated, “we made three mistakes and we had to pay the price, but we have no kicks about the result.” It had been their best post war FA Cup campaign so far, with Sunder­land reaching the 5th round stage for the first time since 1946.

By the time of the Middlesbrough game on 13th March there were only 13 days left before the transfer dead­line. This produced frantic searches for players and once more Roker directors and manager went missing in search of the talent required.

On 10th March Sunderland’s Walsh was sent off at Turf Moor after contesting a disallowed goal. The red and whites played 53 minutes of the game with 10 men, but still came away with a 1-1 draw. On the 31st March a 0-2 home defeat by Arsenal witnessed a potentially serious incident when Tommy Wright was badly injured, after crashing into the post at the Roker End. Billy Bingham, who had been signed from Glentoran in the Oc­tober, replaced him. Wright would recover and score many a fine goal for Sunderland.

On 4th April Sunderland flew to Holland to play a Netherlands XI in Rotterdam. The 2-1 Wearside triumph was watched by 50,000 people. Ford scored both goals, one a penalty. The team flew back to Gatwick on the Friday, before progressing to Portsmouth for the next league game, a 0-0 draw. By now the season was all but over and the last five league games saw Sunderland undefeated. On 16th April, Sunderland travelled to Pittodrie to play Aberdeen. We lost 1-2.

An end of season round of friendlies kicked off on 16th May with Sunderland defeating the Yugoslav side Red Star Belgrade in the Festival of Britain at Roker Park. Although the Iron Curtain country were beaten 1-2 they gave a great display of attractive football that was well appreciated by the 24,196 crowd.

An end of season Austrian tour saw Rapid of Vienna triumph 5-1, FC Austria win a pulsating game 5-4 and a Graz XI beat the Wearsiders 2-1. On June 6th 1951 the Rapid defeat was interesting, as Sunderland witnessed first hand one of the most amazing sights in world football as the Austrian fans started their “Rapid Quarter Hour”. The “Rapidviertelstunde” was started on 75 minutes as the whole Rapid support started to applaud frenziedly, and signaled to their players that they could rise above themselves.

The cult was born on 10th April, 1921 when Rapid played WAC away and were 5-1 down at half-time. In the 76th minute the score was still 5-3, but the Rapiders did not give up, turned the game around with “Rapid­geist” and won 7-5. Similarly in 1941 the opponents were Schalke 04 in the German Championship final. 3-1 down with 18 minutes left, Rapid won the game 4-3.