Sunderland's most successful boss shares his name with a current SAFC star

But the Stadium of Light favourite is not the first Tom Watson to be associated with the club.

Our thanks go to local historian Derek Holcroft for telling us about the man who was born in Newcastle, died in Liverpool, but led Sunderland to three league titles.

Derek takes us back in time.

Tom Watson was born in Heaton Terrace, Newcastle, in 1859 and he first managed Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End who became Newcastle United.

Three league titles in three years

But he moved on to Sunderland where he was manager from 1889 to 1896.

In the 1890’s, Tom Watson became Sunderland’s most successful manager and he retains that title to this day.

He led the club into the Football League.

Under his guidance, Sunderland won three league championships in 1891–92, 1892–93 and 1894–95.

Team Of All The Talents

Watson's Sunderland were declared the "Team of All Talents" by William McGregor, the founder of the league, after a 7–2 win against Aston Villa.

Derek added: “At Sunderland, Tom was paid £150 per annum. To put that into perspective it was more than 50 percent above the salary of a skilled miner or shipyard worker.

“In 1896, Liverpool FC offered to double Tom’s wages and £300 was an outstanding salary in 1896.”

Mr Watson died in 1915 after he contracted a chill which turned into a fatal bout of pneumonia.

Enigma codes, assassination attempts and a bodyguard

Our thanks go to Derek for yet another interesting read.

His previous tales included:

Sunderland genius Joseph Gillis who was one of the under cover heroes who cracked Nazi codes in the Second World War.

Low Row man Roger Errington who was on his honeymoon when he foiled an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria.

Over to you

Leslie Sproxton, from Millfield, who had the honour of protecting one of the most famous figures in British military history.

Leslie was only 19 years old when he became a personal bodyguard to Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.

Thanks to Derek and if you have a fascinating piece of history to share, tell us more by emailing [email protected]