Sunderland AFC historians unite to compile a definitive record of the Black Cats' illustrious history

We’re coming to the end of writing a large format hardback 400 page monster of a book which covers the entire history of the club.

Called, Sunderland: The Absolute Record, this will be the most in-depth publication on the club ever published.

Niall Quinn and Brendan O’Donnell – the great great grandson of club founder James Allan have agreed to write the forewords to the book which if pre-ordered can include your name, or the name of a person you are buying it for as a gift.

The story of every season is told, along with a match report of the game of the year, a team photo, league table and a list of major new signings and players who debuted having come through the youth system.

The Absolute Record covers every game Sunderland are known to have played.

Line-ups, captains, scorers, attendances, debuts, final appearances etc are all listed for every league and cup game, along with an accompanying list of every friendly match.

The Absolute Record also provides Top 10s for a long list of categories. These include the tallest and smallest players, the heaviest and lightest and the oldest and youngest players and scorers.

The top 10 scorers are also listed along with those scoring the most hat-tricks, best scoring rate and even the teams who have scored the most own goals for Sunderland.

A further chapter on goalkeepers covers all angles, such as best clean sheet ratio and the outfield players to take over in goal.

A special section on penalties reveals the best scoring and saving rates, the most penalties in a season and the penalty shoot-out record. More have been won than lost, even if Sunderland have the unwanted tendency of losing the most important ones.

Managers aren’t forgotten – even if we would all like to forget some of them. Each manager’s win-ratio is included, along with their record against Sunderland after leaving.

This is all just part of the Absolute Record which also lists the career details of every player to ever appear in the first team, every international, every sending off, the top transfer buys and sales and even the club’s entire record in the FA Youth Cup.

*To order in advance and add a name to The Absolute Record go to www.safctheabsoluterecord.co.uk

Books must be ordered by August 31 to guarantee inclusion of a name of your choice in the book.

The book costs £30 + postage and packing. Books can also be ordered and collected without any postage and packing costs.

The first 100 books ordered will be personally signed by a Sunderland legend and include a personalised and numbered frontispiece.