Gary Bennett (footballer born 1961)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gary Ernest Bennett | ||
| Date of birth | 4 December 1961 | ||
| Place of birth | Manchester, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Ashton United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1979–1981 | Manchester City | 0 | (0) |
| 1981–1984 | Cardiff City | 87 | (11) |
| 1984–1995 | Sunderland | 369 | (23) |
| 1995–1996 | Carlisle United | 26 | (5) |
| 1996–1998 | Scarborough | 87 | (18) |
| 1998–2000 | Darlington | 34 | (4) |
| 2001 | Worksop Town | ||
| 2001–2002 | Scarborough | 1 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2000–2001 | Darlington | ||
| Sunderland University | |||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Gary Ernest Bennett (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. 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.
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.
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 an first team appearances to join Third Division side Cardiff City, again linking up with his brother. The pair helped the Bluebirds win promotion from the Third Division in the 1982–83 season.
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, in July 1984 to follow manager Len Ashurst to Sunderland, becoming only the second black player to play for the club after Roly Gregoire. 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. 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 1–0 to Liverpool. He was also voted the clubs 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. He left Sunderland in 1995 after eleven years at the club, joining Carlisle United.
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