Summer Madness: good, bad and now the ugly of Sunderland’s foreign legion

Jake searches for Malcolm's seat at the SoL
Jake searches for Malcolm’s seat at the SoL

Deputy Editor Malcolm Dawson’s series, reproduced from 2013, has tracked the Sunderland careers, long and short, of players from overseas. He has covered the Good, the Bad and now reaches the more bizarre foreign imports he characterises as the Ugly. Stand by for a history of mistakes, misdemeanours or anything else that came to mind (poor Matt Poom was neither ugly nor bizarre, but is lodged for ever in Malcolm’s mind because of one moment of glory). Our man in the North West Corner promises an update soon …

Having already selected two teams of overseas nationals who have been on the books of Sunderland AFC there remains a whole host of others who deserve a mention. So here is my third XI, the criteria for selection being whatever took my fancy.

THE UGLY

There are plenty of candidates for the place between the sticks, Martin Fulop, Jurgen Macho and Lionel Perez to name but three, but there was only one player in my mind to fill the goalkeeping jersey – Mart Poom.

Poom’s physical appearance would have made him a candidate for a Bond villain’s henchman, but the reason he makes my side is for his last minute headed equaliser at Pride Park, against a side for whom he was a cult hero before joining SAFC and his embarrassed non celebration. Mint.

You can see it on You Tube by clicking here.

Jake announces his new partnership
Jake announces his new partnership

In defence the obvious first pick is Marcos Angeleri who only played three times for Sunderland. He failed to impress me on his full debut against Notts County in the F.A. Cup, although to be fair the whole side never got up to speed, losing 2-1. Apart from five minutes on New Years Day 2011, that was the only time I saw him in a Sunderland shirt. He spent most of his contract back in South America having his injuries seen to. Accusations of racism against Steve Bruce earns him a place in the “Ugly Squad”. He accused the manager of not picking him because of his nationality, a charge Bruce of course denied. Mind you he was happy to use a similar if slightly diluted argument himself after being sacked, citing his Geordie roots as the reason fans turned against him leading to his own dismissal.

Next I’ve gone for Thomas Helmer who should have been a great signing. An established international and World Cup winner, Helmer was a free transfer who commanded a big salary. Booked on his debut against Leeds in the opening game of the 1999 season, he made his only home appearance when he replaced Steve Bould in the next game against Arsenal. And that was it – high earner, no reward is enough to get him into this side.

Partnering Helmer at the back is 2003 loan signing Talal El Kakouri. The Moroccan managed 8 starts and 2 yellow cards in his time at the club and featured in 9 defeats, including the 0-1 FA Cup loss to Watford, when he came off the bench to replace Julio Arca. A few years later, playing for Charlton, he was booked for “simulation” against Aston Villa and when he went down like the proverbial sack of spuds against Reading, their manager Steve Coppell accused him of cheating, though he had been headbutted.

The left back spot goes to Jan Eriksson. Eriksson made but a single appearance in 1996 and not only did he get booked but it was his deflection which sent Savo Milosovec’s shot past a hapless Lionel Perez in a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park.

And so to midfield. Although born in London, I’ve stretched the rules a bit so I can include Jamaican international Jamie Lawrence who managed 4 games with The Lads. Picked up by Terry Butcher, Lawrence had served two years of a four stretch for armed robbery when Butcher spotted him playing for Cowes Sports on the Isle of Wight, who themselves had seen him playing for the Parkhurst Prison XI. Currently still playing for Tooting and Mitcham of the Isthmian League Lawrence is a winger going straight. Is that what we really want to see?

Claudio Marangoni was our first significant overseas signing. An Argentinean international who never settled on Wearside after signing in 1979, his contract was terminated the following season. Sound familiar? However Marangoni did manage to score three times in his 21 appearances.

Jalkes washes brightest
Jake washes brightest

Arnau Riera started just once for Sunderland. Having made his debut as a substitute against Southend United in 2006, he made the starting line up for the next game, a League Cup tie against Bury where he managed to get himself sent off after only 4 minutes. Loaned out to Southend and Falkirk his entire career for the Black Cats lasted just thirty nine minutes.

I can’t leave out El Hadji Diouf! Signed from Bolton for £2.63 million, manager Roy Keane said “we are happy to have a player that the opposition love to hate.” Diouf has been involved in a number of unsavoury incidents throughout his career and his time at Sunderland came to an end when Ricky Sbragia sold him to Blackburn Rovers, just three days after he allegedly threatened to have Anton Ferdinand “done over.”

 

The attacking “threat” (El Hadji Diouf notwithstanding) comes from Asamoah Gyan and Milton Nunez. Here are two contrasting characters.

Gyan earns his place for the acrimonious way in which he left the club. According to Steve Bruce the £13 million striker had pledged his commitment to the team days before making it clear he wanted to move for the big money available in the Middle East. Gyan had proved to be a useful goalscorer in his first season at Sunderland but to those of us in the stands it seemed obvious that his performances were substandard at the beginning of the following campaign. He got his wish and we got Nicklas Bendtner.

Finally Milton “Tyson” Nunez. Surely the smallest ever player to represent The Black Cats, listed in “All The Lads” as being 5’ 5” but I am convinced he was even smaller. The apocryphal story is that Peter Reid signed him in error, thinking he was a different Nunez altogether from the one he had in mind. Whatever the truth it ranks alongside Graeme Souness signing George Weah’s cousin as a bad piece of business. He only played 15 minutes at the Stadium of Light and 30 at Luton in the Worthington Cup yet I remember him vividly and could have sworn he played more.

Unlike my other two teams this one has a substitute and there can only be one candidate. Thomas Hauser signed in 1988, scored 11 goals in 67 appearances but as he was seen on the bench so many times our German sub earned the nickname “U Boat”.

So there you have it, my Good, Bad and Ugly teams of imports. No place for injury prone John Mensah, the cultured Eric Roy or the self proclaimed “Greatest Footballer in the World” Nicklas Bendtner whose pizza parlour escapades and nights out with Lee Cattermole made him a contender for the “Ugly Squad”. No place either for Patrick Mboma , Sulley Muntari, Benjani, Louis Saha, Dwight Yorke, Lorik Cana, David Bellion, Tom Peeters, Rada Prica, Tobias Hysen, Anthony Le Tallec, Cristian Riveros and others I’ve doubtless forgotten.

The summer activity has me looking forward to the new season with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Let’s just hope the new boys in the freshened up squad adapt quickly to the English game and produce some entertaining football for us. Who knows they may even bring out the best in the players still at the club who so disappointed us last year. Fingers crossed.

You can read Part One – The Good here

And Part Two – The Bad here



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7 thoughts on “Summer Madness: good, bad and now the ugly of Sunderland’s foreign legion”

  1. I’m not sure if an overseas birthplace qualifies anyone as an import but Jeff Whitley was born in Zambia. Further cringing taking place as I typed his name.

    • According to the ALS Quiz book, Bobby Kerr was born in Egypt! Don’t think he qualifies as an import though as the Alexandria where he was actually born is about 4 miles from Dunbarton.

  2. A word of support for Asamoah Gyan who seems to be getting even more bad press at the moment because of a ‘silly money’ possible move to China. At the time I thought he was an unbelievable signing, to me he was a stand out player at the 2010 World Cup, only denied a place in the finals by the cheating Dracula from Uruguay. For a season he entertained and supplied the goals on Wearside.
    Remember when we had strikers with ‘trademark’ celebrations? For the past few years it’s been impossible to remember how any striker celebrates.
    But my take on Gyan is that he only really values playing for Ghana and being a famous footballer (and singer) in Ghana. Swallow that eurocentric public. Playing outside his home country is simply for the money, so Sunderland, Al Ain, Shanghai or wherever it is, only differ in the amount of money on offer. Call it mercenary if you like, but compare it to some Premier League stars who can hardly be bothered to turn out for the national team, it’s an unwelcome distraction, and mercenary them? nah never.

    • The majority of high earning players will go where they can make most money. There can’t be that many these days who will stay at a club through loyalty or affection for the club and reject a big pay rise and I’m not surprised when some go to extreme lengths to get out of a binding contract when the lure of the lucre comes knocking.

      There’s no doubt Gyan is earning a helluva lot more than he would have done had he stayed with us and I don’t suppose he gives a toss about the standard of the competition or of his team mates.

  3. What a line up!

    I suppose, more recently Josy Altidore would be pushing for a place? – although, I don’t think he would keep Tyson Nunez out.

    I did consider Tore Andre Flo, but on checking he did score 6 in 33 which makes him prolific alongside Josy.

    All in all, it makes you nostalgic for the days when we had local scouts [ paid peanuts ] scouring the lower leagues for possible gems.

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