Give Us Tomorrow Now

Alan Durban's Mission Impossible

David Snowdon

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785314827
• Year: 2019

Give Us Tomorrow Now offers an entertaining and powerful narrative of a manager striving to satisfy legions of fanatical supporters and an impatient boardroom. Success and stability had long proven elusive objectives for Sunderland managers attempting the task of "waking the sleeping giant." In the summer of 1981, a new dawn shimmered as Alan Durban was persuaded to relinquish his comfortable Stoke post and enter the white heat of North East football mania. This disciple of Brian Clough battled to lay enduring foundations and find an on-field blend amidst constant boardroom interference and an intense media spotlight. A restless hierarchy failed to back their manager's judgement, and the lack of a cup run heightened boardroom impatience to boiling point. The book explores Durban's long-term vision and strategy—and how, heartbreakingly, his embryonic "tomorrow team" would never be granted the chance to reach maturity.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Flashback: Some Like It Hot
• Enter The ‘Miracles’ Man
• Send Back the Clowns
• Down to Work: The Machine Needs Parts
• Do Things My Way (The Right Way)
• Big Sam and General Munro are Welcome
• Strip to Tease but Not to Please
• The Players Return
• Strikers, and Scotland
• Transfer Limits and Rebuffs
• The Heat is On
• A Swift Courtship: We’ll Take More Care of You Ally
• Showtime Arrives with False Dawns and Discontent
• The Sound of the Crowd
• Learning Cruel Lessons: Back to Reality
• Imagination Needed (On and Off the Pitch)
• Clough Reunion, but Away-day Blues
• Winds of Change
• Honeymoon Period Well and Truly Over
• The Dice Were Loaded from the Start
• A Sorry Consistency
• Animals
• Storm in a Teacup
• Not to Worry, It’s Only Liverpool and Manchester United
• Ten-Year Plan with Tweaks
• Keeping the Faith
• Trying Things and Trying Times
• Stopping the Rot
• A Step Forward, and Two Back
• No Substitute for Experience
• Frustrating Days
• Nothing Straightforward
• A Glimmer of Festive Cheer
• No Movement in the Freeze
• New Year, Same Problems
• Soldiering On
• Bleak Outlook
• Desperate Times – Desperate Measures
• A Touch of Magic in the Night
• Intoxication Turns Cold
• Shuffling and Recycling
• In the Eye of the Storm, Hope is Born
• Young Guns Go for It
• A Miracle-Man After All?
• There Will be Some Turbulence Before Landing
• Operation Houdini: Final Phase
• Changes: Youth and Experience
• Planning a New Campaign
• Ammunition for the Doom-mongers
• In Like Young Lions
• Progress Report
• Optimism Derailed
• Asking Too Much Too Soon
• After-Eight Digestion
• Think Big, Be Big
• Millsgate (Oh What a Circus)
• A Gloomy Grind
• Stardust: Mr Worthington Takes the Stage
• Weaving Some Shut-out Magic
• The Dawn of Durban-Land ’83
• Still Feeling Fascination (but not in the Cup)
• Frank Says ‘Relax’
• Setting the Bar Higher
• Forward March
• Chant No. 1: ‘Cowie Out’
• All Aboard the Rollercoaster
• Falling from Favour
• End-of-Season Drama is Compulsory Here
• Farewells and New Beginnings
• Durban’s Dossier (Shopping List)
• Rebel Rebel
• Sacrifice: Tears Are Not Enough
• Favourites and Clangers
• Optimism Resurrection
• New Season, New Dreams
• Impatience Rears its Head
• Sweeping Changes
• Treachery from the Top
• Victory at Anfield: Is that Stylish Enough for You?
• Trying to Consolidate
• Fireworks (‘Blockbusters’)
• Damp Squibs (‘Blankety Blank’)
• A Man’s Got to Know His Limitations
• Status Quo
• Festive Casualties and Shopping Setbacks
• A Last Hurrah
• 1984, and Big Brother Grows Restless
• Skirmishes Before the Storm
• A Bitter Cup: The Beginning of the End
• Dragged Off the Canvas
• Group of Death
• Is There Something I Should Know?
• Countdown to Kamikaze Cowardice
• This One’s for the Boss
• Dreams of a Golden Harvest Replaced by Watery Coffee
• Disintegration as Tomorrow Dies
• Aftershock Continued: All that Glitters is Not Gold
• When We Were Young: Lost Chance for a Golden Era
• Bibliography
• Photos