1990–91 Sunderland A.F.C. season

Sunderland
1990–91 season
Manager	Denis Smith
Stadium	Roker Park
First Division	19th (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Full Members Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Marco Gabbiadini (8) All: Marco Gabbiadini (10)
Highest home attendance	31,107
Lowest home attendance	17,899
Average home league attendance	22,534
← 1989–90 1991–92 →

During the 1990–91 season Sunderland competed in the Football League First Division, the League Cup and the FA Cup. They finished 19th in the First Division and were relegated. Marco Gabbiadini was the top scorer in the First Division with 8 goals. They were knocked out of the League Cup in Round 3. Marco Gabbiadini was the top scorer in the League Cup with 2 goals. They were knocked out of The FA Cup in Round 3. No Sunderland players scored in the FA Cup. Marco Gabbiadini was the top scorer in all competitions with 10 goals. At the end of the season, Kevin Ball won the club's official Player Of The Season award, as well as the SAFC Supporters' Association Player Of The Season award.

Players

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Tim Carter
		GK	Tony Norman
		DF	Kevin Ball
		DF	Gary Bennett
		DF	Paul Hardyman
		DF	John Kay
		DF	Richard Ord
		DF	Ian Sampson
		DF	Anth Smith
		DF	Reuben Agboola
		MF	Brian Atkinson
		MF	Gordon Armstrong

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Paul Bracewell
		MF	John Cornforth
		MF	Martin Gray
		MF	Gary Owers
		MF	Colin Pascoe
		MF	Kieron Brady
		MF	Brian Mooney
		FW	Peter Davenport
		FW	Marco Gabbiadini
		FW	Warren Hawke
		FW	David Rush
		FW	Thomas Hauser

Results

Sunderland's score comes first.

Win	Draw	Loss

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25 September 1990	Round 2 Leg 1	Bristol City	Roker Park	0-1	10,358
9 October 1990	Round 2 Leg 2	Bristol City	Ashton Gate	6-1 (6-2 on aggregate)	11,776	Ball, Owers, Hauser, Cullen and Gabbiadini (2)
31 October 1990	Round 3	Derby County	The Baseball Ground	0-6	16,442

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
5 January 1991	Round 3	Arsenal	Highbury	1-2	35,128	O'Leary (own goal)

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25 August 1990	Norwich City	Carrow Road	2-3	17,247	Davenport and Gabbiadini
28 August 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	Roker Park	0-0	30,214
1 September 1990	Manchester United	Roker Park	2-1	26,105	Owers and Bennett
8 September 1990	Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	2-3	19,424	Brady and Gabbiadini
15 September 1990	Everton	Roker Park	2-2	25,004	Davenport (pen) and Gabbiadini
22 September 1990	Wimbledon	Plough Lane	2-2	6,143	Davenport and Gordon Armstrong
29 September 1990	Liverpool	Roker Park	0-1	31,107
6 October 1990	Aston Villa	Villa Park	0-3	26,017
20 October 1990	Luton Town	Roker Park	2-0	20,025	Davenport and Gabbiadini
27 October 1990	Arsenal	Highbury	0-1	38,539
31 October 2003	Derby County	The Baseball Ground	0-6	16,422
3 November 1990	Manchester City	Roker Park	1-1	23,137	Davenport
10 November 1990	Coventry City	Roker Park	0-0	20,101
17 November 1990	Nottingham Forest	The City Ground	0-2	22,757
24 November 1990	Sheffield United	Bramall Lane	2-0	19,179	Gabbiadini
1 December 1990	Derby County	Roker Park	1-2	21,212	Armstrong
8 December 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	White Hart Lane	3-3	30,431	Pascoe (2) and Davenport
15 December 1990	Norwich City	Roker Park	1-2	18,693	Armstrong
23 December 1990	Leeds United	Roker Park	0-1	23,773
26 December 1990	Crystal Palace	Selhurst Park	1-2	15,228	Rush
29 December 1990	Queens Park Rangers	Loftus Road	2-3	11,072	Ball (pen) and Pascoe
1 January 1991	Southampton	Roker Park	1-0	19,757	Ball (pen)
12 January 1991	Manchester United	Old Trafford	0-3	45,934
19 January 1991	Chelsea	Roker Park	1-0	20,038	Pascoe
2 February 1991	Everton	Goodison Park	0-2	23,124
16 February 1991	Nottingham Forest	Roker Park	1-0	20,394	Gabbiadini
23 February 1991	Coventry City	Highfield Road	0-0	10,453
2 March 1991	Derby County	The Baseball Ground	3-3	16,027	Ball, Gabbiadini and Armstrong
9 March 1991	Sheffield United	Roker Park	0-1	23,238
16 March 1991	Liverpool	Anfield	1-2	37,582	Armstrong
23 March 1991	Aston Villa	Roker Park	1-3	21,099	Davenport
30 March 1991	Crystal Palace	Roker Park	2-1	19,704	Rush and Brady
2 April 1991	Leeds United	Elland Road	0-5	28,132
6 April 1991	Queens Park Rangers	Roker Park	0-1	17,899
13 April 1991	Southampton	The Dell	1-3	16,812	Hauser
20 April 1991	Luton Town	Kenilworth Road	2-1	11,157	Pascoe and Armstrong
23 April 1991	Wimbledon	Roker Park	0-0	24,036
4 May 1991	Arsenal	Roker Park	0-0	22,606
11 May 1991	Manchester City	Maine Road	2-3	39,194	Bennett and Gabbiadini

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Arsenal	38	15	4	0	51	10	9	9	1	23	8	74	18	+56	83	European Cup 1991–92 First round
2	Liverpool	38	14	3	2	42	13	9	4	6	35	27	77	40	+37	76	UEFA Cup 1991–92 First round
3	Crystal Palace	38	11	6	2	26	17	9	3	7	24	24	50	41	+9	69
4	Leeds United	38	12	2	5	46	23	7	5	7	19	24	65	47	+18	64
5	Manchester City	38	12	3	4	35	25	5	8	6	29	28	64	53	+11	62
6	Manchester United	38	11	4	4	34	17	5	8	6	24	28	58	45	+13	59	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1991–92 First round ^{[notes 1]}
7	Wimbledon	38	8	6	5	28	22	6	8	5	25	24	53	46	+7	56
8	Nottingham Forest	38	11	4	4	42	21	3	8	8	23	29	65	50	+15	54
9	Everton	38	9	5	5	26	15	4	7	8	24	31	50	46	+4	51
10	Tottenham Hotspur	38	8	9	2	35	22	3	7	9	16	28	51	50	+1	49	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1991–92 Qualifying round ^{[notes 2]}
11	Chelsea	38	10	6	3	33	25	3	4	12	25	44	58	69	– 11	49
12	Queens Park Rangers	38	8	5	6	27	22	4	5	10	17	31	44	53	– 9	46
13	Sheffield United	38	9	3	7	23	23	4	4	11	13	32	36	55	– 19	46
14	Southampton	38	9	6	4	33	22	3	3	13	25	47	58	69	– 11	45
15	Norwich City	38	9	3	7	27	32	4	3	12	14	32	43	64	– 21	45
16	Coventry City	38	10	6	3	30	16	1	5	13	12	33	42	49	– 7	44
17	Aston Villa	38	7	9	3	29	25	2	5	12	17	33	46	58	– 12	41
18	Luton Town	38	7	5	7	22	18	3	2	14	20	43	42	61	– 19	37
19	Sunderland	38	6	6	7	15	16	2	4	13	23	44	38	60	– 22	34
20	Derby County	38	3	8	8	25	36	2	1	16	12	39	37	75	– 38	24

Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Arsenal deducted two points; Manchester United deducted one point due to a brawl in a game between both teams.

Goal scorers

Nation	Name	League	League Cup	FA Cup	Total
	Marco Gabbiadini	8	2	0	10
	Peter Davenport	7	0	0	7
	Gordon Armstrong	6	0	0	6
	Colin Pascoe	5	0	0	5
	Kevin Ball	3	1	0	4
	Gary Bennett	2	0	0	2
	David Rush	2	0	0	2
	Kieron Brady	2	0	0	2
	Gary Owers	1	1	0	2
	Thomas Hauser	1	1	0	2
	Tony Cullen	0	1	0	1
/	Own goals	0	0	1	1
/	Totals	38	6	1	45

References

↑ Manchester United qualified as defending champions of the Cup Winners' Cup.
↑ Tottenham Hotspur were this season's FA Cup winners.

Sunderland A.F.C. seasons

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1990–91 in English football

« 1989–90

1991–92 »

FA competitions

Football League

Football League (First Division
Second Division
Third Division
Fourth Division)
League Cup (Final)
Full Members Cup (Final)
Play-offs (Second Division Final
Third Division Final
Fourth Division Final)
Football League Trophy (Final)

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

Club seasons

First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Chelsea Coventry City Crystal Palace Derby County Everton Leeds United Liverpool Luton Town Manchester City Manchester United Norwich City Nottingham Forest Queens Park Rangers Sheffield United Southampton Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur Wimbledon

Second Division	Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol City Bristol Rovers Charlton Athletic Hull City Ipswich Town Leicester City Middlesbrough Millwall Newcastle United Notts County Oldham Athletic Oxford United Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Portsmouth Sheffield Wednesday Swindon Town Watford West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers

Third Division	Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Bournemouth Bradford City Brentford Bury Cambridge United Chester City Crewe Alexandra Exeter City Fulham Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Leyton Orient Mansfield Town Preston North End Reading Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Southend United Stoke City Swansea City Tranmere Rovers Wigan Athletic

Fourth Division	Aldershot Blackpool Burnley Cardiff City Carlisle United Chesterfield Darlington Doncaster Rovers Gillingham Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Lincoln City Maidstone United Northampton Town Peterborough United Rochdale Scarborough Scunthorpe United Southport Stockport County Torquay United Walsall Wrexham York City

Others	Colchester United Newport