Following on from a thread still going about whether we can hold on to Simon in the Summer amidst frenzied speculation about potential suitors from the NW and South of England AND also from a handful of champions league clubs in Italy, Germany and Spain, I would like to ask the opinions of Sunderland fans about who they think is the best since Monty if not Simon. Barry Siddall was probably the first one I remember really well ( I was 11 when I first saw him play) as Monty was nearing the end of his time here in 1975/6 although only 32/33, it was deemed old in those days. He was actually only 29 in the cup final 2 years earlier and did go on to get a European cup medal in 1980 with Forest as the reserve keeper aged 37 and in today's game would considered at his peak at 30 for a keeper. However Siddall was one of my favourites and the now famous Seeddddaaaaalllll chant still rings loudly in my ears today. He had an almost impossible task of replacing the legend that was and still is Jimmy Montgomery but I reckon he did a canny enough job. Then came Chris Turner who almost single handedly got us to a Milk Cup Final in 1985. Not the tallest of keepers but certainly up to and including Shay Given, the most agile and fantastic shot stopper I have seen. After Turner, there was a conveyor belt of keepers at SAFC of varying degrees of success and failure. Hesford (the flying pig) was quickly replaced by a man who would achieve equally legend status Tony Norman (I was a massive fan of the Norman) and he was the calmest person on the pitch. A gentleman and a pretty decent keeper to boot. After Norman came Chamberlain for a time and he was okay as well; Shay Given came for a season and was brilliant for a 19 year old lad and its a real shame we didn't push the boat out and sign him and allowed the filth to snaffle on of the best Premiership keepers of all time to go there. He was followed by Lionel Perez who had one great debut season followed by that total calamity in the Charlton play off game and and he never really recovered. Then came the best keeper IMO we have had for some time in Thomas Sorensen. Thomas was a fantastic goalkeeper and pivotal to those 3 or 4 years under Reid where we were simply dynamite every week. He was the rock on which the Summerbee, Johnson, Quinn & SKP flair and goals were based on. He was a fantastic all round keeper and certainly the best since Monty up to that time. After Thomas departed we had Mart Poom (the Poominator) who was another very good keeper and crowd favourite and he will be forever remembered for being the only keeper to have a goal to his name in a Sunderland shirt (that I can think of anyway), with his 90th minute equaliser against Derby County. Injuries ruined what may have been a long term stay here to be honest which was a shame. In between the years and to fill in the gaps, there have been the likes of Seamus McDonah (current keeping coach); Tony Coton; Jurgen Macho; Tim Carter; Kelvin Davies; Edwin Zoetebier; Martin Fulop, all of whom hardly set the world on fire and are mentioned only to complete the set. When Craig Gordon was signed for £9m, it heralded a lot of debate and discussion and to be honest, I didn't know much about him. He soon became a crowd favourite though and could well have gone on to eclipse Monty's record and had a terrific 10 year career but injuries would end a promising career and leave us all stranded looking for a new keeper. Enter Simon Mignolet. Bought to cover Gordon and not expected to play much, he was thrown into the mire very quickly due to the aforementioned Gordon's poor fitness record, he struggled to be fair. Its safe to say his early performances showed his young age and inexperience and he looked a nervous player, thrown in to try and plug a gap left by Gordon but he fought his demons to make the position his own. This season he has looked every bit the top class keeper we hoped he could become and is IMO the outstanding stopper in the league this season. That will of course result in lots of speculation and only Simon will know what he wants short term. Long term he wants Champions League football and we are simply not in a position to offer that but he will get 40+ games a season here and that has led to his development. Sitting on Arsenal's; Man Utd's; or any other top clubs bench for 2/3rd's of the season isn't going to increase his development and could lose him his number one status in an emerging Belgium set up. He is a far superior keeper to Thibaut Courtois for whom he is competing. Simon has few weaknesses in his game these days save maybe for his kicking but even that has improved considerably and is very decisive in the air coming for and punching or catching crosses and is without a doubt the best shot stopper in the league. He is very Schmeichel like in his use of every part of his body and making himself big and at 6ft 3 he is built like a proper keeper but very athletic as well. At 25 in 2 weeks time, he is perfectly placed to quite rightly take over the mantle of best keeper since Monty and imo already has already matched Sorensen and will surpass his achievements if he stays. He is worth a good 10 -12 points a season on his own and that's huge in that middle ground. With an improving squad and a top class manager at the helm, I think Simon can improve even further and in time could become bigger than Monty (in that he may well not play outside the top flight for us). 75 appearances down. Hopefully another 500 to come? Who knows, he may not get 100 games if a massive bid comes in this summer but it will have to be well in excess of £20m IMO, as keepers of this standard simply don't come along every year. My hope is he loves the set up here so much he doesn't want to leave and Martin can convince him we are on the way upwards and can satisfy his ambitions. If he can, we will have the best keeper currently in the EPL to build our next generation of players around and the best keeper since Monty to cheer on for the next 10 years at least.
Yeah I agree that he needs another season, to season and half, before Mignolet can overtake Sorenson. He was a quality keeper, very solid and saved a Shearer pen
Agree with your analysis on all previous keepers. Mig is head and shoulders the best keeper i've seen in a Sunderland shirt (Norman and Carter were the first keepers I remember) My only beef with him is his distribution which is dreadful. On this season alone he must be the best keeper in the league. with the keepers at the top 5 clubs suffering patchy form it's between him, krul, lloris and al habsi.
I personally think the top 2 this season are Mignolet and Begovic, both are about neck and neck at the moment.
sunderland have always had good keepers from mapson down but one of my favourites was chris turner very athletic as cest said and if he had been a little taller he would have been a real legend, an all round cracker of a goalie.
can't grumble with that its a pity Gordon had all those injuries he may have been an even bigger star
Can't argue with Cest here really good analysis of our keepers for the past 40 years, got to agree with black fox we've always had good keepers and I think if Simon does go we have a great back up in Westwood if we manage to keep him.
Turner and Given the two best for me, Turner was the better though and he went to Man u in 1985, and how many SAFC players have went there over the years !.
