When Shorts Were Short concerns itself solely with what was actually a very narrow window in football history when teams wore, well, short shorts. The podcast takes 1954 as its starting point, when Umbro made their first England kit with shorter shorts, to 1992, when short shorts were all but finished as Umbro's baggy shorts for Tottenham's new kit, ahead of the '91 FA Cup Final, quickly caught on.

If the shorts weren't short, we just don't talk about it.

This week, the second and final part of our David Snowdon interview looking at the ultimately doomed Alan Durban ’81-84 era at Sunderland. If you missed the first part, park this episode here and download the opening instalment and listen to that first.

David, the author of Give Us Tomorrow Now, Alan Durban’s Mission Impossible, his take on the Durban era, talks enthusiastically and with no end of regret for what he and many Sunderland fans of his generation feel was a wasted opportunity. A promising side under a still young manager who had promising work at Stoke behind him, was allowed to come to nothing.

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If the shorts weren't short, we don't talk about it.

This episode (part 1 of 2), a look at Alan Durban’s ultimately doomed efforts in the early 80s to help Sunderland’s then young side realise its immense promise. David Snowdon, author of Give Us Tomorrow Now, is the go-to authority on Alan Durban’s Sunderland tenure. His 2018 book looked at Durban’s arrival at Roker Park in the summer of ’81 and his attempt at waking one of English football’s eternal sleeping giants.

Durban, a title winner with Derby under Brian Clough and a future guest on this podcast, gave up his secure managerial post with Stoke for the North East and in this first part of our interview, David Snowdon tells us about Durban’s battle to lay down the foundations of future success in his opening season, the 1981-82 campaign, as the boardroom grew impatient with both manager and chairman.