English footballer
Gary Ernest Bennett
MBE
(born 4 December 1961) is an English former professional footballer. A
defender
, he began his career with
Manchester City
before moving on to
Cardiff City
in 1981. In 1984, Bennett joined
Sunderland
and he went on to make over 350 appearances for the club, placing him fifth on the club's all-time appearance list.
[4]
He left Sunderland in 1995, after eleven years at the club, and later played for
Carlisle United
,
Scarborough
and
Darlington
. During his career, he made over 600 appearances in the
Football League
, scoring 61 times.
[3]
In August 2000, he was appointed manager of Darlington, having previously been in charge of the reserve team at the club. He spent 14 months in charge of the club before returning to his role as reserve team manager but left the club in May 2002. Bennett is also actively involved with the
Show Racism the Red Card
campaign and was inducted into the organisation's hall of fame in 2004.
Playing career
[
edit
]
Born in
Manchester
, Bennett began his career with his hometown club
Manchester City
where he was part of the youth setup, alongside his older brother
Dave
. He left the club in 1981 without making a first team appearance to join
Third Division
side
Cardiff City
,
[4]
again linking up with his brother. The pair helped the
Bluebirds
win promotion from the Third Division in the
1982?83
season.
[5]
He left Cardiff for a tribunal set fee of £65,000, as well as a £20,000 bonus once Bennett had appeared in 40 matches for the club,
[6]
in July 1984 to follow manager
Len Ashurst
to
Sunderland
,
[7]
becoming only the second black player to play for the club after
Roly Gregoire
.
[8]
He made a goal scoring debut for the club at
Roker Park
during a 3?1 victory over
Southampton
, heading past
Peter Shilton
after just two minutes.
[4]
[6]
Bennett went on to play 369 league games with Sunderland scoring 23 goals, appearing in the
1985 Football League Cup Final
, losing 1?0 to
Norwich City
, and the
1992 FA Cup Final
, losing 2?0 to
Liverpool
.
[4]
He was also voted the club's player of the season for the 1986?87 and 1993?94 seasons and more than 21,000 people attended his
testimonial match
at Roker Park against
Rangers
in July 1993.
[4]
[9]
He left Sunderland in 1995 after eleven years at the club, joining
Carlisle United
.
In 1996, Bennett joined
Scarborough
as a player-coach, having been convinced to join the club by his former Carlisle manager
Mick Wadsworth
. He spent two seasons with the side, forming a defensive partnership with
Jason Rockett
, and helped the club reach the Division Three play-offs in the 1997?98 season. At the end of the season, Wadsworth departed the club to take up a coaching role at
Newcastle United
and Scarborough received an offer of £20,000 for Bennett from
Darlington
.
[10]
He accepted the move, again being appointed player-coach, however he missed large amounts of playing time at the
Feethams
as he suffered from bone bruising.
[11]
Managerial career
[
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]
During his spell as a player-coach at
Darlington
, Bennett also managed the club's reserve side, helping them win the Pontins League First Division and the
Durham Challenge Cup
. He was appointed manager of the first team in August 2000, replacing
David Hodgson
who had originally signed him for the club in 1998.
[12]
Hodgson had led the club to the
play-off final
, losing 1?0 to
Peterborough United
, but had grown tired of continued conflict with the board. Following his departure, the job was offered to Bennett. However, the club struggled to reproduce their form from the previous season and Bennett was sacked after 14 months in charge, having finished in 20th in Division Three in his only full season in charge, being replaced by
Tommy Taylor
.
[11]
[13]
Despite his sacking, Bennett returned to his role as reserve team manager until his contract expired in May 2002.
[14]
Bennett later worked as a coach at
Middlesbrough
's academy before setting up his own coaching school alongside
Julio Arca
.
[10]
He also coaches the football teams at the
University of Sunderland
.
[15]
Bennett is also actively involved in campaigns to eliminate racism from football and was one of the first players to participate in the
Show Racism the Red Card
campaign.
[16]
He was interviewed for their first film in 1996.
[16]
He officially joined the organisation in 2003 after retiring from playing and has coached the SRTRC football team. He was inducted into the organisations hall of fame in 2004.
[16]
He has also participated at events run by fellow campaign
Kick It Out
.
[17]
He was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) in the
2022 New Year Honours
for services to anti-racism in football.
[18]
[19]
Bennett received an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Sunderland in November 2022 in recognition of his achievements as a footballer, coach and anti-racism advocate.
[20]
[21]
Personal life
[
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]
Bennett released an autobiography, entitled
The Black Cat
, in 2011.
[8]
His daughter
Janee Bennett
is a musician and was nominated for a
Brit Award in 2016
for her role in co-writing
Jess Glynne
's "
Hold My Hand
".
[22]
Career statistics
[
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]
Playing career
[
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]
Managerial statistics
[
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]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team
|
From
|
To
|
Record
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
Win %
|
Ref
|
Darlington
|
2 August 2000
[12]
|
24 October 2001
[12]
|
72
|
22
|
31
|
19
|
30.6
|
[40]
|
Honours
[
edit
]
Cardiff City
Sunderland
Individual
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]