Sunderland legend Gary Bennett wrote himself into Black Cats’ history books as a player, but he nearly didn’t join the club at all.
Having joined Sunderland way back in 1984, Gary Bennett would go on to rack up over 350 appearances for the club over an 11-year stint on Wearside.
Suffice to say, Bennett established himself as a true Sunderland legend and still remains one of the club’s most loyal servants and top appearance-makers to this day.
Bennett has kept Sunderland close to his heart since leaving the game, too. Just last week, he offered a passionate rant about Wilson Isidor’s penalty misses against Burnley.
But, why did he join Sunderland in the first place? Bennett himself has now revealed all.
Gary Bennett chose Sunderland because of Len Ashurst
Discussing his career with BBC Sounds as part of Jeff Brown’s Sporting Greats series, Bennett opened up about his initial decision to join the Black Cats, and how it shaped the next 40 years of his life.
He said: “I had an opportunity to go to Crystal Palace and I turned them down for some unknown reason. I don’t know, maybe it was because it was Len Ashurst. I ended up coming to Sunderland.
“Obviously, you want to play top-flight football. I was thinking ‘okay, let’s give Sunderland a go’ and 40 years later I’m still here.”
Thankfully, Bennett did opt for the move to Sunderland, and the rest is history. He even managed to help the Black Cats make it to an FA Cup final in 1992, only to be defeated by Liverpool.
To this day, Bennett remains active in the sphere of Sunderland, with regular punditry on BBC Newcastle covering the club.
Sunderland’s pulling power is growing once more
Just this month, we have seen how attractive a proposition Sunderland can be, with the stunning signing of Enzo Le Fee causing ripples throughout the footballing world.
Le Fee described Sunderland as a ‘big club’ upon his arrival at the Stadium of Light, and you only have to look at the attendance figures (the best in the Championship) to recognise that the Black Cats are a true sleeping giant.
Hopefully, the January transfer window continues in a similar vein and we can see another big signing confirmed for Sunderland before the month is out.