a gift and refused to pay back the club. The Football Association launched an inquiry and agreed with McCombie, stating that it was a "resigning/win/draw bonus". The club's records showed further breaches of the League's financial rules. As a result, Sunderland were fined £250 (£ today)and six directors were suspended for two and a half years. McCombie later signed for Newcastle United, and helped towards their spell of League success. After 214 matches in charge of Sunderland, Mackie left the club as a result of the "McCombie affair". He was replaced by Irishman Bob Kyle; another 70 candidates had also applied for the managerial. In 1905 Sunderland were involved in the first £1,000 (£ today) transfer fee for a player, when Alf Common signed for Middlesbrough. The 1907–08 season included Sunderland's record League win, a 9–1 victory against Newcastle United at St James' Park. Billy Hogg and George Holley each scored hat-tricks, while Arthur Bridgett scored two. Kyle achieved his only League championship in charge of Sunderland in the 1912–13 season, when they won the League with 54 points. On 19 April 1913 Sunderland narrowly missed out on becoming one of the few clubs to win the League and cup double, when they were beaten 1–0 by Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final at Crystal Palace. This period in their history also saw the goalscoring of Charlie Buchan, who went on to score 221 goals for Sunderland, making him (as of 2009) the second highest goal-scorer in the club's history, behind Bob Gurney. Other prominent players of that period's Sunderland was George Holley, who was league top scorer in the season before the title, and Scottish Charles Thomson who captained the club. First World War and inter-war period, 1913–1939 Sunderland finished in eighth place in 1914–15 Division One season, before World War I forced the break-up of the team as men went off to fight on the continent. Charlie Buchan and Bob Young each went on to win the Military Medal. After the resumption of the Football League following the war, Sunderland finished fifth in the 1919–20 season. To consolidate themselves in the First Division, Sunderland made several large money signings, including a world record fee of £5,500 (£ today) for the signing of Warney Cresswell from South Shields. In the 1922–23 season they came close to another League championship title, finishing runners-up to Liverpool by six points with