In 1896 John Potts Henderson became the first chairman of the club as a Limited Company and would spearhead the move to a new ground, Roker Park in his case, in much the same way Sir Bob Murray CBE did a century later when he took Sunderland to the Stadium of Light.īefore Murray, Frederick William Taylor, Samuel Wilson, William Henry Bell, Sir Walter Raine, Colonel Joseph Prior and Edward Ditchburn OBE all had stints of eight years or more. Marr was involved in shipbuilding, with many of his successors also being prominent local industrialists. Before that, Alderman Potts had been the club’s first President before he followed James Allan to help form Sunderland Albion.

James Marr was the first, although technically he was chairman of the management committee. We are nearing Christmas Day now, and for our 22nd advent window, we continue looking at the history of SAFC by focusing on some of the 22 individuals that have had the honour of being Chairman. The book has an entry for each day of the year, looking back across nearly 145 years’ worth of Sunderland highs and lows, so to whet your whistle Roker Report has an advent window ready for every morning in the build up to the 25 th of December. Still got somebody you need to buy a gift for? Have you been given some Christmas cash or a bonus at work? Buy SAFC 365 then! A Sunderland anthology, it is jam packed with red and white history and will see all profits go to the Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen…

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