Sunderland have established themselves as a Barclays Premier League side after winning the Championship title in 2006/07.

After their relegation in 2006, the club was taken over by Drumaville - a consortium of mainly Irish-based businessmen, headed up by former player Niall Quinn - which appointed Republic of Ireland legend and former Manchester United hero Roy Keane as manager, his first managerial post since hanging up his boots.

The club have not looked back since as Keane guided them from the bottom of the Championship to title winners. Keane led them to a 15th Barclays Premier League place finish in 2007/08 but left the club midway through the following season with the Black Cats struggling at the foot of the table.
Coach Ricky Sbragia moved up from coach to take charge until the end of the campaign and ensured the struggling Black Cats avoided the drop. Majority shareholder Ellis Short assumed 100 per cent control of the club with Quinn staying on as chairman. They appointed Steve Bruce as new manager and he steered the Black Cats to 13th position in 2009/10.



Club Heritage



Glaswegian schoolteacher James Allan founded Sunderland and District Teachers' Association Football Club in 1879, changing the name to Sunderland AFC a year later. They were elected to the newly-formed Football League in 1890/91 and were to remain in the top flight for 68 consecutive years - a record only recently passed by Arsenal.



Sunderland won the title three times in five years, only losing one home match in their first six seasons. The Mackems won another title in 1902, but a better prize in their fans eyes' was a 9-1 thrashing of fierce rivals Newcastle United - still a record away win in the top flight. The team came close to doing the double in 1913 but they lost the FA Cup final 1-0 to Aston Villa.

A post-war slump saw them beaten by Yeovil Town in the FA Cup - the first time a non-league club had beaten a top-flight team - and worse, relegated in 1958. Sunderland have spent most of their time since then bouncing between the top two divisions, with their only real glory being a 1973 FA Cup win over Leeds United - the first time in 40 years a club outside the top flight had won the trophy.
The Black Cats reached their lowest point in 1987 as they were relegated to the Third Division. But successive promotions saw them back in the top flight two years later.





Birmingham City exploded onto the Barclaycard Premiership stage in 2002. Having suffered play-off heartbreak in the previous three seasons, they won the play-offs under former manager Steve Bruce and seemed determined to make up for lost time.


In their first season, they finished a highly creditable 13th and did the double over arch rivals Aston Villa. Another mid-table finish in 2004/05 was followed by relegation a year later and a mass clear-out in an effort to reduce the wage bill. But Birmingham bounced straight back up in the 2006/07 season, clinching automatic promotion as Championship runners-up. They became the first senior club in English history to postpone a match because their newly-laid pitch wasn't ready. The Blues have the dubious honour of playing on what was originally the spare pitch for the new Wembley.

After suffering the heartbreak of relegation on the last day on the 2007/08 season, Alex McLeish's side bounced back at the first time of asking, winning promotion back to the Barclays Premier League by finishing the 2008/09 season as Championship runners-up. An impressive first season back in the top flight in 2009/10 saw the Blues finish ninth, their best season in the Barclays Premier League.



Club Heritage



A band of cricketers from Holy Church in Bordesley Green founded the club under the name of Small Heath Alliance in 1875. The club turned professional 10 years later, agreeing to pay their players half the gate receipts. In 1879, the first match between the two sides was recorded as a victory to Small Heath by "one goal and a disputed goal to nil."

The Blues were founding members of the Football League Second Division in 1892 and were champions in their first season. They became Birmingham City FC in 1905 and moved into their permanent home of St Andrews Stadium a year later. To facilitate this move, a group of gypsies had to be evicted and it is rumoured they put a curse on the ground as they left. Fans still blame this curse during every bad run.

The club have spent most of their existence bouncing between the top two flights - their Second Division title in 1955 was notable in that they beat Luton Town on goal average by just 0.297 of a goal. Their only major cup victory - the 1963 League Cup - was made even sweeter in that it was over rivals Aston Villa.