Sunderland’s fanbase have had more to cheer about over the last two seasons after getting promoted back to the Championship after four years in League One.
Following the departure of previous manager Alex Neil only a few games into the 2022/23 season, it looked like the Black Cats could make a quick return to League One, however, the arrival of vastly experienced manager Tony Mowbray changed that.
The former Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers manager guided Sunderland to an incredible sixth place last season, meaning they qualified for the playoffs, although they were knocked out in the playoffs by Luton Town.
This turn in form has helped the former Premier League side bring in some of the Championship’s top talent, such as Jobe Bellingham, who is the younger brother of England star and Real Madrid sensation Jude Bellingham.
However, it’s not always been plain sailing for the side who play at the Stadium of Light, while in the top division, they harboured some of the most disappointing signings in the Premier League, such as Jack Rodwell from Manchester City, although one of the worst of these signings came in 2013 when they brought in Danny Graham.
How much did Danny Graham cost?
Sunderland had a reasonable 2011/12 campaign, finishing 13th in the league with 45 points, and to try and thwart the possible threat of relegation in 2013 Sunderland spent £33m on transfers during the season.
Graham was one of the players recruited during the January window, costing the Black Cats £5m from Swansea.
After signing for the north east outfit, the then-27-year-old announced that he wouldn’t have wanted to move anywhere else.
He said:“As soon as I heard about the interest from Sunderland I didn’t even have to consider any of the other options that were on the table.
“I was born and brought up in the north-east so I know first-hand the intense passion that people have for their football in this part of the world – it’s special and there’s nowhere else like it.”
Sunderland’s 2012/13 window, via Transfermarkt | ||
|---|---|---|
Name | Age | Fee |
Steven Fletcher | 25 | £13m |
Adam Johnson | 25 | £11m |
Danny Graham | 27 | £5m |
Alfred N’Diaye | 22 | £4m |
Carlos Cuellar | 30 | Free |
Louis Saha | 34 | Free |
Kander Mangane | 29 | Loan |
Danny Rose | 22 | Loan |
What happened to Danny Graham?
The Englishman suffered a horrific time while at Sunderland, during his first spell with the club, he would make only 42 appearances and play 2.1k minutes over three seasons, scoring only one goal and providing four assists.
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo in 2015 before his first goal, Graham was adamant that when he scored his first the goals would come flooding in.
He said: “It would be massive (to get that first goal). Obviously, as a striker you want to be scoring goals and doing well for your football club, but that’s not been the case so far for me.
“I know that, I’m not going to hide. It’s up to me to work hard and make sure I get in the positions and not shy away from an opportunity when it comes my way.
“Once one goes in, I’m sure a lot more will follow, but the most important thing is the team. We need to pick up points and make sure we’re not going to struggle come the end of the season.”
It would take until 2015 (more than two years after he signed) and over 20 games for Graham to score his first goal for Sunderland, in a 2-0 win over Everton.
Furthermore, in 2015 Graham was on £30k-per-week, which works out to £1.5m per year and if you combine that with the £5m fee, it means the Black Cats hierarchy paid a shocking £6.5m per goal he scored and paid £155k per appearance.
During his time with Sunderland Graham publicly came under fire from his managers – speaking in May 2013 to the Independent then manager Paolo Di Canio questioned if the striker could actually play football.
He commented: “When I arrived Danny, simply, was not fit
He was not fit enough to play in the Premier League, in my opinion. I do not want to point just the finger at him because that was a general thing.
“He had a long face as he walked around the field during the first few training sessions and I thought, ‘Can he play football?’.”
Furthermore, in 2014 Gus Poyet revealed he had no choice but to loan out Graham.
He revealed: “It was a difficult situation for Danny to go into the team. You need something to happen – a cup game where you play and show something different, an injury, a sending-off, to have a chance.
“We didn’t have enough time for Danny to have that opportunity”
Frustratingly for Sunderland fans, the 38-year-old went on to perform well for his next club Blackburn, where he played 191 times, scoring 57 goals and providing 24 assists.
Is Danny Graham Sunderland’s worst signing of all time?
Another failed signing in some of the darkest days of Sunderland’s history, was the £4m transfer of Will Grigg from Wigan in 2019.
The 32-year-old had played 150 times for the Tics, scoring 65 goals and providing 14 assists, making him an obvious target to try and pull the Black Cats out of League One.
However, this was not the case, the striker only played 62 times for Sunderland, scoring just eight goals and providing three assists, on top of this the Wearside club were unable to gain promotion and finished fifth.
Grigg signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at Sunderland but went on long loan twice, first to MK Dons and then to Rotherham.
After moving to Rotherham in 2021 Grigg revealed to the Sunderland Echo that he never thought it was going to work at Sunderland.
He said: “It is just football and life in general. It just didn’t work and it seems like it was never going to.
“Sunderland did not work out how everyone expected. It is one of those things. If I could put my finger on it, I would have changed it and made it work a long time ago.
“It is just one of things. I signed last minute and we lost in the play-off final and it did not quite happen”
Although Grigg’s time with Sunderland was poor – costing £500k per goal – it was nowhere near as bad as Graham’s £6.5m per goal price tag, which could make him the worst value for money transfer in Sunderland’s history.
