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Caught In Time
Featured
in the back of the Sports section of the Sunday Times,
the Caught in Time
series features a picture of a famous team, offers a
profile of each player, and answers the question 'Where
are they now?'.
Sunderland
win the FA Cup May 5, 1973
by Greg
Struthers
Second Division, the 250-1 outsiders went on a memorable
cup run that culminated with a 1-0 victory against Leeds
United, one of the best teams in Europe at the time.
"Not many people in Leeds want to talk about
it," says Kerr, "but we have been talking about
it for 30 years. I don't think I have been sober since. I
thought I would have to pay to watch a match at Wembley
rather than play there. We set our stall out from the
start of the game by stopping certain players, such as
Eddie Gray. Ritchie Pitt's first tackle of the game on
Allan Clarke would have earned him a six month ban
nowadays. We told him to mark Clarke, but not that
high."
The dream began when new manager Bobby Stokoe took charge
of a disciplined, talented team, and made important
positional and personnel changes.
"We were a nearly team, but still far away,' says
Ian Porterfield, the scorer of the winning goal from a
comer in the 31st minute. "We trained twice a day,
five days a week under Alan Brown, but we lacked
something. "Bobby moved Dave Watson from
centre-forward into the defence, pushed Vic Halom up
front, and signed Ron Guthrie, a left-footed
left-back."
The transformation turned Sunderland into an exceptional
team. They managed to avoid relegation and beat First
Division Manchester City and Arsenal on their way to the
Wembley final. Their victory was the first by a Second
Division club since West Bromwich in 1931.
Southampton in 1976 and West Ham in 1980 have also
achieved the feat, but with the gulf between the elite
and the underdogs growing ever wider, the chances of a
great cup final upset appear to be diminishing. However,
Porterfield believes the minnows should never give up
hope. "With I dreams, belief and desire, anything in
football is possible' he says.
1 Dick Malone. (Ayr United)
The 6ft 2in right-back did a sterling job man-marking
Leeds playmaker Eddie Gray. Malone, who moved to
Sunderland from Ayr United in his native Scotland in
October 1970, made 235 appearances in seven seasons. He
also played for Hartlepool, Blackpool and Queen of the
South. He owns a haulage company
2 Vic Halom (Fulham)
A powerful striker who scored a wonder goal in the
fifth-round replay against Manchester City, Halom played
in 110 games, scoring 35 goals. He began at Charlton and
had spells at Leyton Orient, Fulham and Luton. After
three years at Roker Park, he joined Oldham and then
Rochdale. He coached in Norway, managed Barrow and
Rochdale, and fought as a Liberal Democrat candidate for
Sunderland in the 1992 general election. He now runs a
customer service company based in Manchester
3 Ritchie Pitt (Sunderland)
He was a 20-year-old with the world at his feet and 40
pounds a week in his pocket when playing alongside Dave
Watson at centreback in the cup final. A season later,
his career was ended by a knee injury . Pitt received
little support from the club, but has enjoyed a
successful career as a maths teacher and is head of year
at the Seaham School of Technology in Co Durham.
4 Billy Hughes (Sunderland)
A talented striker who spent more than 10 years at Roker
Park, Hughes helped the club win the cup and promotion to
the First Division in 1976. The Scottish-born forward
scored 82 goals in 332 games and was on target on four
occasions in their cup run. He was clubhouse manager at
the Stressholme golf centre in Darlington and is now a
steward at the Newark Conservative Club
5 Bobby Kerr (Sunderland)
The captain and midfield dynamo grew a moustache when
Stokoe took over. Although it is much greyer, he still
wears it as a memento of their cup run. Born in
Dumbarton, Kerr started his career at Roker Park in 1964
and was dubbed "the Little General" by Stokoe.
He runs the Copt Hill pub at Houghton-le-Spring
6 Dennis Tueart (Sunderland)
An exciting winger who won six caps for England while
enjoying two successful spells at Manchester City, Tueart
began his career as an apprentice at Sunderland. He spent
six seasons there before moving to Manchester. He also
played for New York Cosmos, Stoke and Bumley. He owns a
corporate promotions company and is a director of
Manchester City
7 Jim Montgomery(Sunderland)
'The fans in their red and white were magnificent. They
gave us a huge lift when we came on to the field, and
that played a big part, " says Montgomery . When the
final whistle went, Stokoe ran on to the pitch wearing a
pork pie hat and a raincoat over his red tracksuit. He
sprinted past his outfield players and into the arms of
his goalkeeper, who had pulled off a brilliant double
save, stopping a header from Trevor Cherry and deflecting
the rebound from Peter Lorimer on to the bar. Montgomery
made a record 623 appearances for the club in a 17 year
career. He won a European Cup medal as a substitute for
Nottingham Forest in 1980. He is a part-time goalkeeping
coach at Scarborough, and coaches special needs children
at schools in Sunderland.
8 Dave Watson (Rotherham United)
Watson was a farm labourer and electrician before joining
Notts County and then Rotherham. He moved to Sunderland
for 100,000 pounds in 1970 and became one of the best
defenders in the land. Manchester City came calling in
1975, and Watson was on his way to winning 65 caps for
England. He also played for Werder Bremen, Stoke, Derby
and the Vancouver Whitecaps. He runs a marketing business
in Nottingham
9 Ian Porterfield (Sunderland)
The goal-scoring hero started his career with Raith
Rovers. He joined Sunderland in 1967. The Scot made 230
League appearances before moving to Reading and then
Sheffield Wednesday . He was successor to Alex Ferguson
as manager at Aberdeen, and managed Chelsea and coached
the national teams of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Oman and Trinidad
and Tobago. He is now in charge at Busan Icons in South
Korea. "I missed the day-to-day involvement of a
club side, and I have been very well looked after
here," he says
Ian Porterfield's goal
from
Rothmans Football Yearbook 1973-74, 4th Year St Annes
Press, p. 57
10 Ron Guthrie (Newcastle United)
He started his career with Newcastle, and was an astute
Stokoe signing in January 1973. Guthrie enjoyed two years
at Sunderland before moving to South Africa. On his
return, he helped non-League Blyth Spartans to a
memorable cup run that ended with a 2-1 defeat against
Wrexham in a fifth-round replay in front of 42,000 fans
at St James' Park. "I will always treasure the
memories of playing at Wembley," says Guthrie, who
works in dispatch at the Fenwick of Newcastle department
store
11 Mike Horswill (Sunderland)
Was 20-yearold midfielder in his second season at the
club. He moved to Manchester City in 1974 and also played
for Plymouth, Hull and Carlisle as well as in Hong Kong.
For the past eight years he has worked in the
distribution centre for Wilsonart International, a
company in Shildon, Bishop Auckland, that manufactures
kitchen worktops.
From The
Sunday Times 2 November 2003.
Sports Section p.30
Many thanks to
Paul Gillespie, for saving me this article to include on
the site
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