Arsenal are now second to Sunderland' screamed the "Sunday Sun" headline on 7 December 1935. Sunderland AFC were truly at the top of their game and at the start of a two-year period that would bring them unprecedented success. In 1935-36 the Red and Whites won their sixth English Football League Championship, a feat they have not managed to repeat since. The drama of that historic season is recreated in "Total Football: Sunderland AFC 1935 to 1937" through the original contemporary match reports and rare original photographs from the archives of Sunderland supporters. The highs and lows of the League campaign are recalled in detail, including the tragic death of goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe, to whom the book is dedicated, after a match against Chelsea at Roker Park. Thorpe's grief-stricken teammates went on to play their hearts out for the rest of the season, eventually hammering Birmingham City 7-2 at St Andrews to capture the League title. In 1936-37 Sunderland lifted the FA Cup at Wembley for the first time in the club's history after their dramatic progression through the rounds included two replays against an exciting young Wolves side.
The Wearsiders also claimed the FA Charity Shield, bringing yet more silverware back to Roker Park. The team's achievements between 1935 and 1937 prompted legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, who played for Preston North End against Sunderland in the 1937 FA Cup Final, to remark: 'In many ways the Sunderland team of 1937 played the same brand of Total Football as the great Holland team of the 1970s'. Sunderland heroes Raich Carter, perhaps the finest player ever to take the field for the club, and Bobby Gurney, still the club's highest-ever goalscorer, helped to make the team of 1935-37 the greatest in the land. The story of that remarkable era is told here for the first time, and is sure to inspire a new generation of Sunderland supporters.