It’s fair to say Bob Stokoe had an immediate impact when he arrived on Wearside in December 1972. Within nine months, the former Newcastle United player had claimed the FA Cup for Sunderland and navigated our first-ever game in a European competition – not a bad start.
But we’d been out of the top flight since the summer of 1970, and Stokoe knew better than anyone that taking the club back to Division One was at the top of his list of priorities at Roker.
After two years of finishing sixth, and another ending up in fourth, it would be the 1975/76 season that the former Blackpool manager achieved his goal, and to this end, he decided the squad needed a boost in the new year of 1976.
As Sunderland were flying high at the top of the Second Division, Stokoe shelled out what was almost a club-record fee to bring in winger Roy Greenwood from Hull City for precisely £141,600 – maybe it is easier when fees are undisclosed.
Greenwood would miss only two fixtures as an unused substitute in the run-in to claiming the Division Two title, three points ahead of runners-up Bristol City.
This meant that during the summer of 1976, Bob Stokoe was attempting to prepare Sunderland for returning to the top flight, but no bodies arrived at Roker as the weeks went by, and before we knew it, it was time for the annual squad photo at Roker on this day in 1976 – but there was someone missing.
It turned out that Roy Greenwood had been barred from the photo call at Roker by Bob Stokoe after refusing to shave off the beard he has worn since he signed from Hull City seven months earlier. Despite this call, the It turned out that Roy Greenwood had been barred from the photo call at Roker by Bob Stokoe after refusing to shave off the beard he had worn since he signed from Hull City seven months earlier. Despite this call, the manager said that the act of defiance would not see the player disciplined any further or his standing in the first-team pool affected:
I am disappointed that he would not take the beard off. He was asked to comply because I wanted all the players to look as smart as possible at the start of the season. I think it is important that they should have a clean-cut look, as some other players who grew beards during the summer appeared clean-shaven.
I can’t make anyone shave a beard off, but I made it plain enough that anyone who didn’t would not be on the team photo. As far as I am concerned now, though, it’s all over and done with.
Greenwood, who missed the club’s short tour of Sweden through injury, was in the reserve side in the match with Rotherham’s Northern League club, Consett, the previous night. The winger said that Stokoe’s ruling had come as a surprise to him:
I have had the beard for years and had never had any problems with it before. The only reason I had it cut was not to be on the photo call if I kept it. When I joined the club from Hull in January, one or two of the lads mentioned beards were frowned on at Roker Park, but I took it seriously until this happened.
Greenwood was the only bearded Sunderland player at the end of the previous season, but when the team returned from the summer tour of Australia and the Far East, Mel Holden, Billy Hughes and Dick Malone all sported one.
In other news…
Venables Sweats It Out Over Taylor…
Leeds United would not budge as they held their offer at £160,000 for Peter Taylor, the Crystal Palace and England winger. After a board meeting at Elland Road, manager Jimmy Armfield said:
I am still interested in signing Taylor, but I have made it clear to their manager Terry Venables that our £160,000 offer is the final one. I did suggest a player-plus-cash transaction with our manager, but he was not interested. As far as I am concerned, Palace and Venables will now have to sweat it out. The money’s there if they want it.