Well I voted for the giant himself last century and being a supporter/fan/surrogate child of SAFC since 1956/7 I have seen some come close but in my honest opinion none matched never mind excelled Big Charlie Hurley. What a MAN !! What a Footballer !! What a Captain !! What an Ambassador for our club !! was captain on the pitch, the club new the kudos C.H. carried and was still the official'Club Captain' Never met anyone who had more time for the fans than him. Met him at Wembley ( Norwich if I remember rightly) completely surrounded by SAFC fans clammouring for his Autograph. When it was my turn i said 'by Charlie I bet you wished you hadn't started to sign now' (poor attempt at humour). He quietly put me in my place by saying something along the lines 'for these fans I'd feel priveleged to stand here a week and sign if they needed me. Even when he was losing his place on the pitch a certain young whipper snapper by the name of Todd was made captain on the pitch, but the club knew the kudos C.H. carried and was still the official' Club Captain' He would grace the game today and still get us a handfull of goals from set pieces. Long LIve Tke King and my hero. KTF
To me, it's one from a list of one. Nothing has compared to the phenomenal Shackleton. But the one who gets the most votes will be the one remembered by the most living persons - and that rules Shack out. One surprising omission in this list - no Jim Baxter?! That is mind-boggling. We haven't had many more talented players than him in post-war years for sure.
Overall I think it has to be SNQ, for his contributions on and off the park, Superkev a very close second
I agree with your comments 100% I was one of the the people who voted him in as king Charlie.our player of the century.however Kevin Phillips gave me the most exiting times as a sunderland supporter and for that reason only I have voted for SKP
I go with the consensus. Quinn the most important, but SKP the best player. His impact was unbelievable. Massive respect to Shack and King Charlie though
My vote is for Kevin Phillips (Quinn, Ball, Bennett) don’t come close, as for the others I never really saw play so cannot make a comment on them.
Shack 4th Quinn 3rd 1st & 2nd to be revealed http://m.sunderlandecho.com/sport/s...underland-signings-4-and-3-revealed-1-7076381
GOAL machine Kevin Phillips has been crowned the greatest ever Sunderland signing by Black Cats supporters. Signed from Watford in 1997 for a fee of up to £600,000, Phillips went on to make 235 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 130 times. The striker enjoyed a prolific partnership with Niall Quinn and became the first Englishman to win the European Golden Boot award in the 1999-2000 season, with 30 Premier League goals, making him a very worthy winner! Throughout January we have been counting down the 100 greatest post-war Sunderland signings. After our judging panel whittled down the candidates to a top 10, we invited you to select the best via text or online. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Thousands of you took the time to cast your vote and the overwhelming favourite - with 44 per cent of the vote - was Phillips. Charlie Hurley was named runner-up, pipping Phillips’ strike partner Quinn to second spot. Number 1: Kevin Phillips (Pictured) please log in to view this image - Striker joined Sunderland from Watford in 1997 for a fee of up to £600,000 - Scored 35 goals in his debut season, which ended with play-off final heartbreak with a penalty shoot-out loss to Charlton Athletic - His 25 goals the following season, despite missing four months with a broken toe, helped Sunderland to promotion to the Premier League - Became the first Englishman to win the European Golden Boot award in the 1999-2000 season, with 30 Premier League goals please log in to view this image - Enjoyed a prolific partnership with Niall Quinn, broke the club’s post-war scoring record and played for England, but left after Sunderland’s relegation in 2003 - Made 235 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 130 times - Later went on to play for the likes of Southampton, Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Crystal Palace, and now works as Leicester City’s first-team coach please log in to view this image Runner Up: Charlie Hurley (Pictured) - Centre-back joined Sunderland from Millwall in 1957 for £20,000, aged just 20 - In 1979, he was voted the club’s best-ever player in a centenary poll of supporters - Nicknamed ‘The King’, he started his Sunderland career with a 7-0 loss to Blackpool, but went on to become captain and led his team to promotion from the second tier in 1964 - In 1964, he came second to Bobby Moore for the Football Writers’ Player of the Year award - Made 401 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 26 times - Moved to Bolton in 1969, and the former Republic of Ireland international managed Reading between 1972 and 1977 - Sunderland’s former training ground was named the Charley Hurley Centre in his honour The countdown: * Click here for 100-96 - including Phil Gray. * Click here for 95-91 - including Steven Fletcher. * Click here for 90-86 - including David Connolly. * Click here for 85-81 - including Alex Chamberlain. * Click here for 80-76 - including Fred Hall. * Click here for 75-71 - including Mart Poom. * Click here for 70-66 - including Alex Rae. * Click here for 65-61 - including Eric Gates. * Click here for 60-56 - including John O’Shea. * Click here for 55-51 - including Don Goodman. * Click here for 50-46 - including Simon Mignolet. * Click here for 45-41 - including Dick Malone. * Click here for 40-36 - including Lee Clark. * Click here for 35-31 - including Willie Watson. * Click here for 30-26 - including Charlie ‘Cannonball’ Fleming. * Click here for 25-21 - including Chris Turner. * Click here for 20-16 - including Paul Bracewell. * Click here for 15-11 - including Darren Bent. * Click here for the top 10.
Certainly in most of our lifetimes, wonder what folks like Relic, and Nostalgic think, as they seem players from decades before a lot of us were born.
Well, two thoughts - (1) It's preposterous and, (2) it's perfectly natural. The one who gets the most votes is the one most living persons remember, simple as that. I'll give you an example : only three men in the whole of the twentieth century got caps for England at both football and cricket. One was Patsy Hendron (circa 1909) another was Dennis Compton around 1951, and the other was a post-war Sunderland player not even mentioned in these lists!!! Now how bloody silly is that? But it happens, and it's always going to happen in polls like this. Willie Watson should, without doubt, be mentioned in the top five. But not enough people are living to remember his achievements, and that's life I'm afraid. In thirty years time, Kevin Phillips will be voted number 51 for exactly the same reasons. I'm very surprised that Shackleton is still in the top four, even if he would have been No.1 by a mile for me. One thing that does surprise me is the legend of Hurley. For me, the finest player we had by far in the 1960s was Jim Baxter, who I haven't even found yet, he's so far down. Hurley was undoubtedly a good player, but still, played most of his career in Div. 2 (which is called "lower league football" if Darren Bent does it, but not if Hurley does precisely the same thing!) I am very surprised at the rating of Hurley without any top flight cause that I can see. Those two seventh places gained during the Reid years were the best this club has seen since about 1955. Kevin Phillips was the star performer in that period, and you can't really begrudge the man his place. Older players who perhaps surpassed him were never going to get sufficient votes, and it should never have been expected. I think that was fair enough.
Achievements, what exactly are they ......... unmitigated nonsense Who cares if someone also played cricket in the summer ....... how does that put him in the top 5 Sunderland players? He only played for England, at football, because the committee that chose the team were ex public schoolboys who played cricket. Watson only played around 200 league games during which time Sunderland were a mid table team that won nowt. What did he do to justify a place in the top five?
Jim Baxter was finished when he came to Sunderland.Shipped out of Rangers after a broken leg. His first game I saw was the friendly against Celtic-we were slaughtered 0-5 and then the league started. Versus Sheff. Utd.He scored twice and was magnificent.I enthused to my old man who said that they had stood off him ,gave him time and space to do what he wanted and we shoiuld wait and see.We got him when past his best.There were occasional glimpses of his quality but most of his passing for example went tio heavily marked team mates.Believe club was very relieved to get rid of after a short time-took Forest's eyes out-got our money back.Slim Jim (by my mates idisrespectfully called Slime) lasted no time at NF and finished altogether there I think. We got better service outof his cousin?? George Kinnell-who no one remembers at all.Can remember Radio commentator saying someone" passed the ball for Kinnell"-to my amazement as you didn't hear bad language on radio in those days. It's all about opinions isn,t it or as someone once said "why let facts get in the way of a good story" Cloughy was a great buy.Stan Anderson was free but KP and Hurley stand out.
Achieving international standard at two entirely different sports ... "unmitigated nonsense", eh? Watson played for England at football because he was one of most polished half-backs (I suppose DM in today's terms) Sunderland has had in post-war years. In fact, between 1948 and about 1951, it was often debated as to who was Sunderland's best player - Watson or Shackleton! Watson would have got a lot more caps had it not been for competition with the outstanding Jimmy Dickinson of Portsmouth (but then I suppose Pompey fans could say the same the other way round). "Watson only played around 200 league games" - only 200, eh? "What did he do to justify a place in the top five?" - the same as the other four in the top five. He was bloody good.
Spot on Solman, this is my memory exactly, Jim did hit the bar a few times in his short sojourn at the club, he was a magnificent player, but sadly finished when he arrived here, speaking of family conections I also saw big Yogi's finest moment in a Sunderland shirt and was there when Billy did him proud in 73, but for sheer excitement Cloughie took the biscuit.
