After securing Sunderlands return to the top flight at the sixth time of asking, Alan Brown promptly left the club in the summer of 1964 apparently due to a dispute about his club house.
Whatever the circumstances that saw Brown depart to Sheffield Wednesday, the board took their time to appoint his replacement.
A Selection Committee was put in temporary charge an incredibly risky approach given all that had happened over the previous decade.
However, come November, Sunderland were sat in 20th position in a 22 team top flight with only one win from the opening 15 league games.
Unsurprisingly, tensions were running high, with the board coming under intense criticism from all corners as a home game against Burnley approached on this day 51 years ago.
Writing in The Sunday Sun after Sunderlands 3-0 hammering away at White Hart Lane the weekend before, local journo Alan Sleeman said:
It was a withering takedown of the Roker board, and Sleeman and the clubs hierarchy had butted heads before. A year earlier, an article by Sleeman had been interpreted by the club as undermining the players morale as they nervously approached promotion, and the journalist had been banned from the club however, come April the ban had been lifted.
Sleeman wasnt the only member of the press pack to criticise Sunderlands board and team. George Hardwick, the former Middlesbrough and England player, had been a manager for six years at Oldham before managing in the Netherlands, but had been out of the management game for six years after a year at PSV Eindhoven, and away from any involvement in football for 18 months. He does, incidentally, hold the record for being the only player to captain England on every appearance skippering the team in all 13 games he played.
By day Hardwick been working as a rep for an oil company, by night he penned a weekly column in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette, and a week earlier had written:
Of Charlie Hurley he wrote:
Alan Sleemans words had fueled the ire of the board once more and he found himself banned from Roker as Burnley visited the north east with future Sunderland manager Mick Buxton in the line up.
George Hardwick, who was 44 at the time, was in attendance however and rather than earning a ban, it transpired hed earned himself something else. The job.
He attended the match with his wife, watching Sunderland win just their second game of the season 3-2 with goals from George Herd, George Mulhall and a Dickie Rooks penalty.
The first Mrs Hardwick knew of her husbands new engagement which had been agreed the morning of the match was when it was reported on a TV set in the Roker Park boardroom, after Syd Collings had announced the appointment to the press after the game.
Short and sweet.
After his new role was made public, Hardwick who it seemed hadnt fully agreed terms said:
A 3-0 defeat away at Sheffield United to which Hardwick officially travelled as an observer signalled some deep-rooted issues to solve, however, the new managers confidence wasnt misplaced. He won his first game, against Everton at Roker, 4-0, and steered Sunderland to comfortable safety, helping the team regain confidence and introduce some attacking swagger into their play.
Hardwick had been appointed until the end of the season, with the promise of a five year deal should he keep the club in the top flight. Despite keeping his part of the bargain, the club didnt keep theirs, issuing a terse statement at the seasons end.
Short, and on this occasion not very sweet.