Normally, a young ambitious manager that had just won promotion to the top flight during their first season in charge could expect to have some serious kudos within their club — but that didn’t seem to be the case at Sunderland AFC during 1980.
Ken Knighton had worked his way up at Roker Park before being handed the top job ahead of 1979/1980 — a campaign that saw him turn the squad from mere contenders into actual achievers.
However, he would’ve been well aware at the time of his appointment that he hadn’t been the board’s first choice, being offered the position almost by default after a protracted managerial search, and his terms presumably reflected that.
Thinking that subsequent results would’ve strengthened his hand, he approached the hierarchy looking to improve his deal but following a rather bruising rebuttal, he opted to go public on the matter:
I would like to bring this out into the open. The position as it stands is that I am not going to be offered a new contract. I have two years left of a three-year contact, and I will honour that.
I was hoping that I would be given an extension so that it would enable me to really get into the job in hand on a long-term basis and build on what we have achieved in the last twelve months.
We have got a young and exciting squad of players here and I was hoping that Frank Clark [assistant manager] and myself would have been given a chance to establish this over a longer period.
I am extremely happy working at the club and my wife and family are settled here, but whatever happens at the end of my contract is up to the chairman and directors.
Ken and Frank...
Whilst Knighton was having to make do with his current personal arrangements, he revealed that his Division One plans were also going to be more frugal than anticipated.
His discussions with the owners had veered towards transfer budgets and as a consequence, his interest in Manchester City’s Mick Robinson was now over. Sky Blues boss Tony Book had quoted around £400,000 for the striker, forcing his Sunderland counterpart to start looking elsewhere.
Contrary to the sort of money that has been mentioned in the press, my budget is such that unless I sell, I am unable to complete in the market for someone like Mick Robinson.
The chairman is in the process of trying to draw money into the club.
Tim Gilbert, Bob Lee and Barry Siddall were all on the transfer list and the latter had been subject to tentative enquiries from Newcastle United, although Knighton wasn’t keen on the idea of losing anybody else from the group and hoped that by referencing Robinson in public, he would encourage those already on the books to lift their levels.
What I am trying to do is strengthen the squad, not replace players.
Any player has got to show me he is worthy of a place. If a youngster gets in the team and he does well, he will stay in.
The developments alarmed many fans.
Counting the pennies wasn’t necessarily the best way to go into a new season fighting against strong First Division sides and the quotes hinted at the larger battles emerging behind the scenes.
Tom Cowie, who’d become chairman just a month earlier, was unimpressed with the way the club was being ran at all levels and was already looking to shake things up in the coming months, during which it became apparent that he and Knighton didn’t exactly rub along well.
Although some onlookers thought it was hasty, few were surprised when the manager was eventually relieved of his duties in April 1981. Disharmony had grown since the previous summer’s negotiations and in the end, Knighton didn’t even get to see out his initial contract of employment, never mind that proposed additional tenure.