On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (2024)

‘Jimmy Monty’, as he’s affectionally known, is one of my all-time favourite players.

During last Friday’s televised game against Leeds United, there was a shot of Jimmy celebrating our 97th minute equaliser. He looked delighted, but his membership of the goalkeepers’ union probably meant he had a little bit of empathy for Illan Meslier and his horrific error.

Monty’s brief on-screen appearance got me thinking once again about the first time I saw him play.

It was March 12, 1966.

I was at my very first game and as Monty was taking his place in goal, he smiled at me and winked.

I always believed he was saying ‘I see you there, first-timer. Welcome to Roker Park, bonny lad!’. OK, I might just have been on the trajectory of that smile and wink and I may have taken the non-verbal messaging for a bit of a walk there, but that’s how I remember it!

On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (1) Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images

Anyway, thanks for the welcome, Monty.

It’s been more than fifty eight years since that encounter and little did I realise that you and a few others would trigger this lifelong and magnificent obsession that’s supporting Sunderland.

Many years later, as a young adult and with a pint or three emboldening me, I thought I would remind Monty about this at a Sunderland Supporters event. I walked up to him and he turned and smiled just as he had that day back in 1966, and it totally took all the bravado out of me and I became dumbstruck (just as I was the day I bumped into Bobby Kerr at Wembley in 2022).

Me with nothing to say is a very rare occurrence, I can tell you. I fear my chance has gone!

Jimmy Montgomery was born in Hendon on 9 October 1943.

He went to St Hilda’s School and played for Sunderland Boys, and as a fifteen-year-old was scouted by Burnley. The story I once read was that he’d been to Turf Moor for five weekends in a row and having arrived home one Sunday night, there was a knock on the door of the family home.

Standing there was club physiotherapist Johnny Watters and Monty’s former schoolteacher Alfie Lavender, who’d arrived to convince him to sign for Sunderland. Monty went and signed for the club the very next day, and I would’ve loved to have shaken the hands of these two gentlemen and thanked them for all that Monty would bring to the club.

He made his debut during a 5-2 victory against Walsall in the league cup at Roker Park, watched by almost 30,000 fans, five days shy of his eighteenth birthday on 4 October, 1961.

He did so having played mostly for the youth team and hardly at all in the reserves, and went on to make thirteen appearances in total that season.

On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (2) Photo by County Photos/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In 1962/1963, he made the number one position his own as he played in all fifty three league and cup games that campaign.

He followed this up playing every one of the forty nine league and cup games of our fantastic promotion season in 1963/1964. However, injuries curtailed his progress during our Division One comeback and he was sorely missed.

A broken ankle sustained against Nottingham Forest in October of the following season saw his appearances restricted to thirty-two for the 1965/1966 season. However, from January 1966 and during the next decade, he was the undisputed number one.

Monty played in every game during our magnificent march to Wembley in 1973 and missed only one league game that season.

In our promotion campaign of 1975/1976, he played in thirty eight of our forty two league games and was part of a very consistent team who made Roker Park a fortress, where only ten goals were conceded and no defeats suffered in the league. At the end of the campaign, he was chosen as the goalkeeper in the PFA team of the season.

Montgomery made the last of his 623 appearances for Sunderland in our league cup tie at Old Trafford on 6 October 1976.

I witnessed the three-game marathon that was required to decide the winner of this tie and despite Monty’s heroics, we lost by one goal to nil in the third game.

When watching that match, I had no idea it was to be his last game, but I’ve thought of it occasionally over the years. As he walked off the pitch that night, there seemed to be an extra drag in his step and sag of his shoulder, so did he know his time at Sunderland was up?

New manager Jimmy Adamson was moving on many of the ‘old guard’, and Monty went on loan to Southampton and then to Birmingham City, for whom he made sixty-six appearances between 1977 and 1979.

On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (3) Photo by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images

He then signed for his old teammate Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest for the 1979/1980 season, picking up a European Cup winners’ medal as an unused sub.

There’s little doubt that in his pomp, Monty was the best uncapped goalkeeper in England and whilst England Youth and U23 caps came his way, the closest he got to full international recognition was a place on the bench for an England/France game in 1969.

He was called into the initial squad of forty for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, but Peter Bonetti and Alex Stepney got the nod as Gordon Banks’ understudies.

At the time, I remember feeling that this decision was nothing to do with form, but the fact that Stepney played for Manchester United and Bonetti for Chelsea; indeed, I think many England managers get a nosebleed if they have to look north of Leeds or Manchester!

I have so many memories of great and borderline impossible saves that I’ve seen Monty make, so to honour his birthday, I’ve picked out my top five as witnessed.

I’ve excluded the double save at Wembley in 1973, if only because it was a standalone moment in football history and I doubt if we’ll ever again witness a double save such as that one, on the highest platform in domestic football.

However, there are many fans who’ll tell you that he made saves that were every bit as good, in front of no cameras and a few thousand folk on rainy nights in Hull, Huddersfield, and Blackburn.

On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (4) Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

5) Aston Villa v Sunderland, 20/02/1974

We were still in with a slim chance of promotion when we played this game and I travelled down more in hope than expectation.

Villa were strong at home and their team contained a number of players who would help them win the league and European Cup a few years later. However, Monty played a great game that day and made a number of good saves as Villa were pressing hard and had us pinned back in the first half.

John Gidman was a very good full back who loved raiding up his wing.

He exchanged passes with a teammate and sped forward before letting rip from just outside the box. I had a great view of his thunderbolt; it looked goalbound and Monty appeared to see it slightly late, but sprang at what seemed the last moment, arching his back for extra leverage and managed to get a touch to send it round the post.

It drew applause from all sides of the ground and he followed it up by saving at the feet of Alan Little when he looked odds on to score.

It was a remarkable passage of play and we went on to win the game thanks to a goal from Dave Watson.

4) Sunderland vs Newcastle, 27/03/1970

This had been a difficult season and we were heading for Division Two.

In contrast, Newcastle and their followers arrived looking to give us a sound beating to aid their quest for Europe. Over 51,000 fans crammed into Roker Park and not only witnessed a fighting display from our team, but a great performance from our goalkeeper.

Newcastle had taken the initiative and were pressing hard, but with our backs to the wall and the big crowd buying into the tension, we witnessed an absolutely stunning save by Monty, flanked by two more great saves. It was once again a remarkable sequence of goalkeeping.

First, a young Pop Robson stung Monty’s palms with a rasping shot that he did well to turn away from danger, before catching the ball sweetly inside the box.

This looked a goal from the moment he hit it, but Monty’s lightning reflexes enabled him to palm it away and you could tell by the players’ reactions that they could hardly fathom that the shot had been saved.

Hardly a minute had passed when Monty made another great save from a Keith Dyson scorcher, and the game subsequently turned. Despite their early dominance, Newcastle could only manage a hard-earned point, with no way past Monty and our backline, led by Colin Todd.

3) Sunderland v Arsenal, FA Cup semi-final, 07/04/1973

Monty had hardly had a save to make in this fantastic game when right on half time came a big scare for us.

A George Armstrong corner was pushed back out to the diminutive winger. He was on it in a flash and powered in a shot that looked like it was going across our goal and in at the far post.

With Monty moving to cover, it took a vicious deflection off Dick Malone and from my position, it looked like it was going in at the near post.

In all but the Luton tie of this FA Cup run, Montgomery had been called upon to produce world class saves and he didn’t disappoint on this occasion. Twisting in mid-air to throw himself in the opposite direction to his initial point of travel, he got a touch that kept the ball out.

What a save, and what a moment to pull it off. The whistle went for half-time, and imagine if it had gone in, as ‘Captain Cliché’ reckons it’s the worst time to concede a goal!

We eventually went on to win the game, with Arsenal unable to get past a defence inspired by Monty and Dave Watson.

2) Sunderland v Manchester United, 06/09/1967

What a superb game of football this was, against an all-star Manchester United side. More than 51,000 had come to Roker Park to see us take on what would soon be the best team in Europe.

This was a really exciting game that ebbed and flowed, swinging one way then the other. Jim Baxter had one of his best nights in red and white and Monty blessed us with an exhilarating performance and a couple of saves that had George Best wondering what more he could do!

A goal for each team in the first ten minutes had ramped up the decibel level in the stadium and each team enjoyed passages of play where they were dominant.

Best kept cutting in with the ball, and I pretended this was to get away from Len Ashurst, who did seem to have his measure, but it was more likely to front up George Kinnell, whom he terrorised all night.

Having turned Kinnell inside out, Best, whose pace when running with the ball was hard to comprehend live, fired in a great shot. Everything about it said ‘that’s a goal’, but I think the only person who thought otherwise was Monty, who sprung in that cat-like manner, uncoiling before our eyes and arching his back for extra leverage in mid-air to turn the ball around the post.

What a shot and what a save!

He then saved brilliantly from another of United’s best players on the night, full-back Francis Burns, a deceptively quick and skilful attacker when the mood took him. His rollicking shot was on target and once again Monty rose to the ball and blocked the attempt.

Then, in a beautiful bit of play, Pat Crerand slid a great pass into the path of the onrushing Best right in front of goal, but Monty was there to get to the ball just in front of Best and avert the danger. He also had time to make one more good save from David Sadler as the half time whistle blew.

It was a breathtaking passage of play. Best looked like he couldn’t believe that Monty had saved his shot, and I was seriously in need of oxygen and a lie down in a darkened room.

1) Sunderland vs Notts County, FA Cup round three, 13/01/1973

A slick Notts County side had given us a torrid time during my first ever trip to Meadow Lane.

Les Bradd had scored a very good goal for the ‘real’ Magpies and with Don Masson and Dave Needham impressing, I thought we were going to go out of the competition, especially as a great Bradd header almost doubled their lead in the second half.

I didn’t appreciate this at the time, but Monty pulled off the first of a number of spectacular saves on our run to Wembley as he uncoiled and arched to prevent what looked like a certain goal. It was a trademark reflex save that demonstrated his superb ‘fast twitch’ skills and made him probably the best uncapped keeper in English football.

Our FA Cup run could’ve faltered at the first hurdle but for this save and a response from Bob Stokoe, who bought on Mick McGiven for Ashurst and moved Dave Watson up front, from where he scored with a crunching header as we escaped with a draw.

My clearest memory of this save, as with many others, was Bradd’s reaction. He just looked dumbfounded, with his hands on his head and a pained expression on his face. The save turned the game and Watson’s goal secured the replay.

On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (5) Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

I started with a list of twelve, so I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my top five saves by the birthday boy. I’m sure some of you may have your own memories and preferences, and I’d be glad to hear about them as I’m sure there are plenty more to be considered!

As for Monty? He’s one of our own.

A living Roker legend who I might one day manage to untie my tongue for and thank for all the enjoyment he’s given us.

Happy Birthday Jimmy. Have a great one, bonny lad.

On This Day (9th October 1943): A true Sunderland icon is born! (2024)
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