Chris Sutton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christopher Roy "Chris" Sutton (born 10 March 1973 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) is an English former footballer.

In his career, Sutton played for Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Celtic, Birmingham and Aston Villa. Sutton scored over 150 career goals in over 400 league appearances spanning 16 years in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues. He was capped once by England.

Sutton played in either defence, midfield or attack, although usually in the latter role. A very physical player, Sutton was a fairly prolific goalscorer throughout his career and was joint top goalscorer (with Dion Dublin and Michael Owen) in the English Premiership for the 1997–98 season. He is also known as being one of the foremost exponents of the glancing header. He scored many a goal with this technique which made him particularly effective from set-pieces.

[edit] Personal life

Sutton was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, the son of Mike Sutton, formerly a footballer with Norwich City.^[1] His younger brother John also became a footballer, and has played for a number of clubs in both England and Scotland. ^[2] Sutton is married with five children.^[3]

After retiring from football, Sutton remained an athlete, playing cricket for Sheringham in the Norfolk Alliance.^[4]

[edit] Career

[edit] Norwich City (1991–1994)

He started his career at Norwich City, initially as a centre-half before being converted into a striker by manager Dave Stringer. In Stringer's final season as manager, 1991–92, Norwich were FA Cup semi-finalists and Sutton gradually broke into the first team.

He quickly found success in his new position as Norwich spent most of the first season of the new Premiership, 1992–93, as league leaders, before eventually slipping back to third place under new manager Mike Walker.

In the autumn of 1993, he was part of the Norwich side which famously eliminated Bayern Munich from the UEFA Cup. He scored 25 Premiership goals that season, but after Walker defected to Everton in January to be succeeded by assistant John Deehan, Norwich slipped out of the top five and finished a disappointing 12th in the final table. By now, Sutton was being linked with some of the biggest clubs in the country.

[edit] Blackburn Rovers (1994–1999)

He became the most expensive player in English football in July 1994, when he was transferred from Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers for £5 million.^[5] In his first season at Ewood Park he developed a strong partnership (known as 'The SAS Partnership') with Alan Shearer and scored fifteen Premiership goals to help secure the club's first league title since 1914.

A succession of injuries, combined with a loss of form, saw him make just 13 Premiership appearances during 1995–96 and fail to score a single league goal. He regained his form over the next three seasons and even won an England cap in November 1997, although he was left out of the World Cup squad after a fall-out with national manager Glenn Hoddle. Having been relegated to the England B team Sutton refused to play, and Hoddle never selected Sutton for an England squad again.

Sutton was involved in further controversy in the final game of the 1996–97 season against Arsenal. Late in the game with the "Gunners" leading by a single goal, the ball was kicked out of play by Arsenal to allow an injured team-mate to receive treatment. Under the unwritten sportsmanship rule, Arsenal would expect the ball to be returned to them unhindered. However, Sutton chased the ball instead of allowing it to be thrown back to Arsenal and won a corner from his efforts. Blackburn scored from this corner and as a result Arsenal missed out on a lucrative place in the Champions League to Newcastle United on goal difference. Following the incident Blackburn's manager described Sutton as "a boy who is sometimes a bit dizzy ... a bit silly".^[6] Sutton refused to apologise for his actions.^[1]

The 1997–98 season was a success for Sutton as he finished the season as the joint top scorer in the Premiership with 18 goals, helping Blackburn to finish sixth and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Blackburn Rovers were relegated from the Premiership at the end of 1998–99, just four years after being crowned champions; Sutton missed most of the season due to injury.

[edit] Chelsea (1999–2000)

Sutton was sold to Chelsea for £10 million after Blackburn's relegation. His time at Stamford Bridge proved an unhappy one, as he struggled both to live up to the price tag and to adapt to Chelsea's style of play, scoring just one league goal in 28 appearances. He failed to even make the bench for the club's FA Cup final win against Aston Villa and was sold to Scottish Premier League side Celtic for £6 million in the summer of 2000.

[edit] Celtic (2000–2006)

Sutton scored the winner on his debut against Dundee United in 2000, and in his first Old Firm match against Rangers he scored the first and last goals in a dramatic 6–2 victory for Celtic.^[7]

Sutton's goals helped Celtic win three SPL titles, two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups, as well as reaching a UEFA Cup final. Sutton formed a prolific partnership with Swede Henrik Larsson, one to rival his earlier one with Shearer.

Sutton also holds the record for the quickest goal ever in an Old Firm Clash, scored at Ibrox in 2002, scoring inside just 18 seconds. At the end of season 2002–03, Sutton accused Dunfermline of "lying down" to in order for Celtic to lose the title. Though he later apologised, he was charged with bringing the game into disrepute, and received a one-match ban to add to the four-match suspension he was serving for abusing match officials on the same day.^[8]

Sutton was voted SPFA Player of the Year for the 2003–04 season.^[9]

[edit] Birmingham City (2006)

He joined Premier League club Birmingham City on a free transfer in January 2006 but injuries restricted him to just eleven appearances, scoring once in the derby defeat to Aston Villa in mid-April. Following Birmingham's relegation to the Championship and his high wages, he was released.

[edit] Aston Villa (2006–2007)

Sutton signed for Aston Villa in October 2006 until the end of the 2006–07 season, where he linked up with former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill. Sutton scored his first goal for the club with the winner against Everton in November 2006.

However, in a game against Manchester United in December 2006, he suffered blurred vision, and having visited several specialists, did not recover. O'Neill said, "Chris has got a genuine concern. No-one can give him any guarantees about what might be the consequences if he got cracked on the head again. Whatever eyesight Chris has now, he would obviously want to keep, so he must bear that in mind when deciding his whole future and career."^[10] On 5 July 2007, Sutton retired from football due to the eye injury.^[5]

Sutton was interviewed in January 2009 by Inverness Caledonian Thistle for the post of manager, but was unsuccessful.^[11]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honours

Blackburn Rovers

• Premier League winner: 1994–95

Chelsea

• FA Cup winner: 2000

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League winner: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04
• Scottish Cup winner: 2001, 2004, 2005
• Scottish League Cup winner: 2000–01
• UEFA Cup runners-up: 2002–03

[edit] See also

• Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Chris Sutton career stats at Soccerbase
• Player profile at 4thegame.com
• Profile at premierleague.com
• Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• Sutton's playing career in pictures at BBC Sport
• Chris Sutton England profile at Englandstats