Bobby Gurney

Bobby Gurney

Personal information
Date of birth	13 October 1907
Place of birth	Silksworth, County Durham, England
Date of death	14 April 1994 (aged 86)
Place of death	England
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
19??–1925	Bishop Auckland F.C.	?	(?)
1925–1950	Sunderland	348	(205)
National team
1935	England	1	(0)
Teams managed
1950–1952	Peterborough United
1952–1957	Darlington
1963–1964	Hartlepools United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Bobby Gurney (13 October 1907 – 14 April 1994)^[1] was a football forward who is the highest goal scorer in the history of his only senior club as a player, Sunderland.

Early years

Born in Stewart Street, Silksworth, Sunderland, his father Joe was a miner at Silksworth Colliery. His mother, Elizabeth, stayed at home to look after Bobby, his three brothers and one sister. Bobby took up football as a child, playing for his village team. His older brother, Ralph, also played football, as a goalkeeper. All his brothers went into pit jobs after leaving school.

Sunderland

Bobby was signed to Sunderland in May 1925, after being spotted by Charlie Buchan while playing for top non-league side Bishop Auckland. He made his debut nearly a year later against West Ham United on 3 April 1926, scoring once in a 3–2 defeat. He would play for the next three seasons alongside a striker who hit at least 35 league goals in each of his four full seasons at Roker Park, Dave Halliday, the most prolific goals to games striker in Sunderland's history.^[2]

After Halliday's departure Gurney was regularly the club's top goalscorer, garnering his best tally of 33 goals in the 1930–31 season. Among his career highlights were ten hat-tricks and two four-goal hauls. He was also one of just a handful of Sunderland players to score five times in a match.

Bobby went on to make 388 league appearances for Sunderland, scoring 228 goals, which makes him the club's all-time top scorer. He won a First Division Championship medal in 1936. He scored in a 3–1 win over Preston North End at Wembley in the 1937 FA Cup Final.

International

Gurney won one international cap, representing England against Scotland at Hampden Park before 129,693 spectators.

Management

On retiring from playing he stayed in the game and in 1950 became manager of Midland League side Peterborough United. He was subsequently manager of Darlington, and finally had a short spell as manager of Hartlepool United.

Honours

As a player

Sunderland

• First Division runner-up: 1934–35
• First Division Title winner: 1935–36
• FA Charity Shield winner: 1936
• FA Charity Shield runner-up: 1937
• FA Cup winner: 1937
• War Cup runner-up: 1942

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Peterborough United		August 1950	May 1952	0	0	0	0	0.00
Darlington		May 1952	October 1957	267	85	123	59	31.8
Hartlepools United		April 1963	January 1964	44	9	25	10	20.5

References

1. Dykes, Garth & Lamming, Doug (2000). All The Lads: A Complete Who's Who of Sunderand AFC. Sunderland AFC. p. 170. ISBN 1-899538-15-1.
2. Dave Halliday profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website

External links

• Sunderland AFC Official website, players D-G