| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gary Ernest Bennett[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1961-12-04)4 December 1961 (age 64)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Manchester,[1] England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Ashton United[3] | |||
| 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) |
| Total | 603 | (61) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2000–2001 | Darlington | ||
| Sunderland University | |||
| Sunderland West End | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Gary Ernest BennettMBE (born 4 December 1961) is an English former professional footballer. Adefender, he began his career withManchester City before moving on toCardiff City in 1981. In 1984, Bennett joinedSunderland 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 forCarlisle United,Scarborough andDarlington. During his career, he made over 600 appearances in theFootball 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 theShow Racism the Red Card campaign and was inducted into the organisation's hall of fame in 2004.
Born inManchester, Bennett began his career with his hometown clubManchester City where he was part of the youth setup, alongside his older brotherDave. He left the club in 1981 without making a first team appearance to joinThird Division sideCardiff City,[4] again linking up with his brother. The pair helped theBluebirds win promotion from the Third Division in the1982–83 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 managerLen Ashurst toSunderland,[7] becoming only the second black player to play for the club afterRoly Gregoire.[8] He made a goal scoring debut for the club atRoker Park during a 3–1 victory overSouthampton, heading pastPeter Shilton after just two minutes.[4][6] Bennett went on to play 369 league games with Sunderland scoring 23 goals, appearing in the1985 Football League Cup Final, losing 1–0 toNorwich City, and the1992 FA Cup Final, losing 2–0 toLiverpool.[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 histestimonial match at Roker Park againstRangers in July 1993.[4][9] He left Sunderland in 1995 after eleven years at the club, joiningCarlisle United.
In 1996, Bennett joinedScarborough as a player-coach, having been convinced to join the club by his former Carlisle managerMick Wadsworth. He spent two seasons with the side, forming a defensive partnership withJason 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 atNewcastle United and Scarborough received an offer of £20,000 for Bennett fromDarlington.[10] He accepted the move, again being appointed player-coach, however he missed large amounts of playing time at theFeethams as he suffered from bone bruising.[11]
During his spell as a player-coach atDarlington, Bennett also managed the club's reserve side, helping them win the Pontins League First Division and theDurham Challenge Cup. He was appointed manager of the first team in August 2000, replacingDavid Hodgson who had originally signed him for the club in 1998.[12] Hodgson had led the club to theplay-off final, losing 1–0 toPeterborough 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 byTommy 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 atMiddlesbrough's academy before setting up his own coaching school alongsideJulio Arca.[10] He also coaches the football teams at theUniversity 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 theShow 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 campaignKick It Out.[17]
He was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2022 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]
Bennett released an autobiography, entitledThe Black Cat, in 2011.[8] His daughterJanée Bennett is a musician and was nominated for aBrit Award in 2016 for her role in co-writingJess Glynne's "Hold My Hand".[22]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other[nb 1] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Cardiff City | 1981–82 | Second Division | 19 | 1 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 19 | 1 |
| 1982–83 | Third Division | 36 | 8 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 36 | 8 | |
| 1983–84 | Second Division | 32 | 2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 32 | 2 | |
| Cardiff City total | 87 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 12 | ||
| Sunderland | 1984–85[23] | First Division | 37 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 3 |
| 1985–86[24] | Second Division | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 4 | |
| 1986–87[25] | 41 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 46 | 5 | ||
| 1987–88[26] | Third Division | 38 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 2 | |
| 1988–89[27] | Second Division | 40 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 3 | |
| 1989–90[28] | 36 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 47 | 3 | ||
| 1990–91[29] | First Division | 37 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 2 | |
| 1991–92[30] | Second Division | 39 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 3 | |
| 1992–93[31] | First Division | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| 1993–94[32] | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 0 | ||
| 1994–95[33] | 20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | ||
| Sunderland total | 369 | 23 | 18 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 427 | 25 | ||
| Carlisle United | 1995–96[34] | Second Division | 26 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 31 | 6 |
| Scarborough | 1996–97[35] | Third Division | 44 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 11 |
| 1997–98[36] | 43 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 10 | ||
| Scarborough total | 87 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 95 | 21 | ||
| Darlington | 1998–99[37] | Third Division | 29 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 5 |
| 1999–2000[38] | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Darlington total | 34 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 5 | ||
| Scarborough | 2001–02[39] | Conference | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 604 | 61 | 26 | 1 | 47 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 689 | 69 | ||
| 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] |
Cardiff City
Sunderland
Individual
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |