Sunderland’s 1990 St James’ Park heroes, where are they now? | OneFootball

Sunderland visit Newcastle United this weekend seeking a Tyne-Wear derby double on their Premier League return. Sunderland Echo looks at where the class of 1990 are now.

The Black Cats are unbeaten in their last five visits to St James’ Park, a run dating to 2012, and are likely to wear a 1990-inspired blue strip. That nods to the play-off semi-final on Tyneside, a 2-0 aggregate sealed by Eric Gates and Marco Gabbiadini, before defeat to Swindon but promotion after their demotion for financial irregularities.

Tony Norman became a Durham police officer and later coached keepers at Darlington 1883 and Gateshead. John Kay later worked on a Derwentside Council project supporting people with drug addictions. Reuben Agboola, twice capped by Nigeria, is now an ambassador for a car sales company in Eastleigh.

Paul Bracewell managed Fulham and Halifax, returned to coach at Sunderland in 2013, then worked as an elite development coach at Tottenham’s academy, leaving that role last year.

Gary Bennett now summarises Sunderland games on BBC Radio Newcastle and received an MBE in 2022. John MacPhail, a former captain, suffered life-changing injuries in 2021 and continues to receive care.

Gary Owers is head of player development at the National League and a BBC Radio Bristol summariser. Gordon Armstrong, scorer of a 1992 FA Cup quarter-final winner against Chelsea, became a scout and later an agent.

Eric Gates, scorer at St James’ Park in that semi-final, later worked on Metro and Century’s Three Legends phone-in. Marco Gabbiadini has run a sports agency and a York hotel, and is a BBC Radio Newcastle pundit.

Warren Hawke served as Greenock Morton’s chief executive from 2017 to 2019 and has been the Scottish Championship’s director at the SPFL. He now runs a sports consultancy.

Source: Sunderland Echo