2006–07 Sunderland A.F.C. season

The rearranged fixture was won by Sunderland, as they narrowly avoided being the only club in English League football to not win a home game.

[16] Much of the summer had involved rumours of a takeover deal between former player Niall Quinn and a consortium consisting mainly of Irish businessmen.

[28] Their first pre-season match was against non-league Forest Green Rovers, which Sunderland won 3–0 with goals from Liam Lawrence, Daryl Murphy and Dean Whitehead.

They initially led the match after a Daryl Murphy goal, but finished up 3–2 losers; Stephen Elliott was the other scorer for Sunderland.

[39] Quinn secured the signings of William Mocquet from Le Havre for an undisclosed fee,[40] and Tobias Hysén from Djurgården for £1,700,000.

[42] With prospective manager Roy Keane watching in the crowd, Sunderland and Quinn achieved their first victories of the season.

[44] On the transfer window deadline day, Keane secured the signings of Dwight Yorke from Sydney,[45] Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga from Celtic for a combined fee of £1,100,000.

[46] He also brought in Liam Miller from Manchester United,[47] Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly who both joined from Wigan Athletic.

[48][49] With a strengthened squad, Keane achieved his first win as a manager over Derby County on 9 September, when Chris Brown and debutant Ross Wallace scored.

[54] During the break for international games, Sunderland allowed Rory Delap and Jonathan Stead to join Stoke City and Derby County respectively on loan deals.

[55][56] They played their next match against Preston North End on 14 October, where they were beaten 4–1; Stanislav Varga scored the only Sunderland goal.

Delap, who was making his debut after recently joining Stoke on loan from Sunderland, suffered a broken leg after a tackle from Robbie Elliott.

[58] Sunderland themselves dipped into the loan market, signing left back Lewin Nyatanga from Derby County until January.