The death of Willie McPheat from Alzheimer’s comes as a sad reminder to older Sunderland fans of a player who was never able to show the Roker Park faithful his full talents after his career was destroyed by a terrible tackle from Leeds United’s Bobby Collins in August 1962.
Like many of our players in those distant days, he was a Scot. Born in Caldercruix in Lanarkshire, he signed for us as a 16-year-old and was seen as a fine young prospect. His early progress was disturbed by a detached retina but he overcame that to make his debut in October 1960, scoring on his debut in a 2-3 home defeat to Leeds United.