1901-02 brought Sunderland their fourth Championship. The majority of their nineteen wins were by a single goal, eight of them 1-0.

For that season Sunderland's main rivals were again from Merseyside, this time in the shape of Everton. The Toffees pushed the red and whites all the way but failed by 3 points and ended second. Goalkeeper Teddy Doig and centre forward Millar were the only survivors from the Wearsiders last league triumph, and once again imports from Scotland formed the backbone of the team.

The above mentioned Scots collected their 4rth championship medals, with Millar curiously now having 2 English and 2 Scottish, from his time at Glasgow Rangers. He also won 2 cup medals with his home town team.

Billy Hogg, Sunderland elegant forward would gain representative honours with England. Jimmy Watson impressed at left back, with McNeill departing. Alf common and Jimmy Gemmell were the main stays in attack.

Billy Hogg had been signed from Willington athletic and his prowess had been recognised in November 1900 when he played for the football league, alongside Steve bloomer of Derby County, the latter a Baseball Ground legend.

Hogg played in all 3 of England’s internationals in 1902, against Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In time he would be transferred to Glasgow Rangers, but later returned as a publican in the Town. He would also coach at Roker Park.

For the first team league action commenced on 2 September entertaining Sheffield United. The club had strengthened in important positions, not en masse, but selectively and it was evident that the changes had been well planned, and made at just the right time. Raisbeck departed for Derby County, Livingstone to Glasgow Celtic and Leslie, the scorer of the first Roker Park goal made the short trip to Middlesbrough.

The clubs first competitive fixture was actually an "A" team game, at Jarrow. Not surprisingly the red and whites won 1 v 0. During the close season the turf had been pulled up and the drainage system at Roker Park enhanced. The stands were resplendid in a new lick of white paint. Outside the ground the "corporation" had been busy with a new approach road.

Sunderland took to the field for their first game of the season against Sheffield United in their change strip of white shirt and "dark pants". With Hogg and Alf Common in fine form the 2 shared 3 goals, the letter a brace in a successful 3 v 1 outcome.

The campaign was now up and running and in truth we wouldn’t look back. This was yet again to be our season. Jimmy Millar was the mainstay in attack, ably supported by Alf common, Sunderland born and bred; McLatchie was lethal on the left wing.

Sandy McAllister at centre half had an unusual claim to fame. The Wearside faithful promised him a piano if he assisted the lads to league championship glory and in doing so he not only enhanced his musical "repertoire" but was also given a gold watch.

The second game was against Manchester city, again at Roker Park, and a narrow 1 v 0 victory would follow. The first game of the season had though taken its toll, with Gemmell out through a severely wrenched shoulder and common suffering after a clash of heads. W Hogg moved to centre forward to accommodate the latter’s injury. Sunderland then travelled to Middlesbrough for a friendly match, drawn 1 v 1, in preparation for a visit to Molineux.

The Midlanders were fresh from a drubbing by Everton and were expected to succumb to a Sunderland team limbering up well. As usual football has this nasty habit of producing the unexpected and the 2 v 4 reverse was certainly that. The match was marred by an over fussy referee and some very rough play, which knocked Sunderland out of their stride.

Back to Wearside and the red and whites entertained Liverpool. The Merseyside outfit had arrived on Wearside Friday night and stayed at the Grand Hotel. Actually in saying "the red and whites" Sunderland once more played in their change strip. So far we had played 3 games, and not once featured the famous stripes.

The game would end 1 v 1, and in truth there was a lot of re-shuffling in the Sunderland side. A game incidentally that we were expected to win. With w Hogg out, common moved back to his normal forward position, R Hogg moved from inside left, Millar went centre to inside left and Gemmell took his recognised position for the first time since the opening match. The visitors had won the toss and attacked the Fulwell End first half.

28 September and Sunderland made the short journey to Tyneside for the local derby game at St James Park. A crowd of 23,330 was disappointing but the authorities had demanded that the gates be closed at 2.30pm to ensure that there was no repeat performance of the disgraceful crowd scenes that had marred the Good Friday game. Sixty policemen were on duty, and 6 mounted patrolled outside. The teams that day lined up as follows:

Newcastle United: Kingsley, D Gardener, Davidson, Ghee, Aitken, Carr, A Gardener, McFarlane, Niblo, Orr, Roberts
Sunderland: Doig, McCombie, Watson, Ferguson, McAllister, Jackson, W Hogg, R Hogg, Millar, Gemmell, McLatchie

Sunderland won the toss and attacked the Leazes End. In truth the Wearsiders had much the better of the early exchanges and it was no surprise when Gemmell scored to give Sunderland victory.

Aston Villa then travelled to Wearside, fresh from a draw with Everton and Mearns (the "A" team guardian) took over in the Sunderland goal. Doig ruled unfit due to a twisted knee, as a result of a training incident. As usual the game was hard fought but Sunderland triumphed 1 v 0 with a goal from R Hogg.

Victories over Sheffield United and Nottingham forest was followed by a rare defeat, by bury. We were still league leaders but then went through a bit of a sticky patch. The next 4 games produced only one victory, with 2 defeats and a draw. The reverse at Roker Park against Stoke city had been preceded by Sunderlands first voluntary team change since 28 September against Newcastle United, Prior taking over from Millar. We then travelled to Small Heath 30 November.

For the first time since 1896 Sunderland played what would become Birmingham City and got back to winning ways with a 3 v 2 victory. The game attracted big interest, not just for the visit of Sunderland, but because the Midlands side had recently acquired the services of Leonard the Irish International. However the 2,000 spectators were to be disappointed...he had gone home to his country, his place taken by Murray, formerly of Aston Villa.

One week later Sunderland travelled to Paisley and were trounced 1 v 6 by St Mirren, before going onto Owlerton and a game with Sheffield Wednesday. A 1 v 1 draw was a fair result played in wintry conditions. Funnily enough the home side featured a player called Fish, formerly of Birtley.

21 December, and for the first time since 16 November the Sunderland fans were able to see their heroes in action, at Roker Park against Notts County. It had been wintry on Wearside and on the Thursday and Friday prior to the game a gang of men had been employed to clear snow from the pitch. The playing surface was therefore very soft. A small crowd gathered for the game. As with all fixtures against Notts County at this time it was close and whilst Sunderland triumphed 2 v 1 it was never easy. A consecutive victory at Anfield was assured when McLatchie scored on the final whistle in the next game.

As the Xmas and New Year periods approached and went Sunderland had a good time of it. They never lost until 12 February, when yes, you've guessed it we yet again lost in the early stages of the English Cup, this time to local rivals Newcastle United. The cup tie incidentally had been postponed from 10 February due to heavy snow.

Towards the end of March we played our old friends from Scotland, Third Lanark in a friendly and surprisingly lost 2 v 3.

With the championship now on, the 29 February game against Small Heath showed the frustration and partisan nature of the Roker crowd. A 1 v 1 result was not what had been expected and with the offside decisions given against the red and whites seemingly perplexing, the referee CE Sutcliffe was waited for outside by a large group of fans. The only way of "smuggling" him out of the ground was to dress him as a policeman, and although subsequently recognised the local constabulary managed to whisk him away to safety in a horse cab.

For the 31 March game at Roker Park, Sunderland trained at Seaton Carew, and with Gemmell and McLatchie unable to play, "A" team players were drafted into the squad. As usual it was a tight affair and the 0 v 0 draw came as no surprise.

We were now in a fairly comfortable position at the top of the table but as usual fate can deal some cruel cards. Just when we thought it was all over bar the shouting 3 defeats in 4 games gave us the "collywobbles". But it didn’t matter. With the nearest rivals all suffering similar "lapses" the penultimate game, at Meadow Lane was immaterial. We were champions and the 0 v 2 reverse mattered not. The victory over bury 3 days earlier, on 16 April had secured our 4rth title.

The final league game of the season was a 2 v 1 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

In 1902 Sunderland were invited to compete in the British League Cup, a 4 team tournament borne out of sympathy surrounding the Ibrox Stadium disaster of that year. In preparation for the game against Glasgow Celtic on 30 April we played Middlesbrough in a friendly on Teesside. We won 2 v 0. The game against The Hoops in Scotland was a disaster; we were thrashed 1 v 5.

Both Glasgow giants appeared in the competition and indeed made the final with Celtic triumphing 3 v 2. Everton completed the line up. The tournament was significant because it resulted in the Rangers ground being rebuilt by Archibald Leitch, a name that was instrumental in the shaping of both the Wearside and Liverpool clubs home.

In June 1902 tragedy struck Sunderland when Captain Matthew Ferguson died of pleuro-pneumonia at the age of 26. He was born in Bellshill, a suburb of Glasgow, and signed for Sunderland in 1896 from Mossend. In his 6th and final season on Wearside he had been a mainstay in winning the championship. The fans were devastated.

Sunderland AFC Ltd's annual meeting took place on 17 June, once more at the Grand Hotel. JT Henderson once more presided and the annual report was once more very healthy. Even allowing for depreciation of some £790 the profit returned of £1,241 was very impressive. Specifically mentioned was the record gate against Newcastle United, where 34,819 people had paid £1,153.

Whilst on the field the squad had been league champions for the 4rth time, there were also other successes, at every level. The "A" team had retained both the Durham Senior cup and the Tyneside Alliance. They were runners up in the northern Alliance; the 3rd team tied for top spot with Elswick Harriers in the northern combination and had won the Mid Tyne charity shield. What still rankled though was continued failure to impact upon the English Cup. The playing record for all teams read as follows:

First team        played 46        won 25                        8 draws           13 lost for 66  against 54
"A" Team        played 44        won 34                        4 draws           6 lost   for 130            against 41
Third Team     played 29        won 19                        6 draws           4 lost   for 102            against 39

Attendances for the season totalled 268,629 up over 6,000 on the previous campaign. The club regretted the untimely death of Matthew Ferguson. It was also stated that the club currently had 1614 shares in circulation.