Why Charlie was darling of Roker

Oct 9 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

HE was the defender who scored one of the 13 goals conceded in his first two games, yet went on to be crowned the "King" of Sunderland. Stuart Rayner speaks to Wearside legend Charlie Hurley.

HE was the Irish Cockney centre-half signed to shore up the defence of a club he publicly stated he never wanted to join. He marked his Sunderland debut with an own goal in a 7-0 defeat, quickly followed by a 6-0 hammering. That season the Rokerites were relegated. After a start like that it is remarkable Charlie Hurley is widely regarded as the greatest player ever to wear the red-and-white shirt.

To speak to Hurley now, still full of energy days after his 72nd birthday, it is obvious how he shrugged off his appalling start but winning over the supporters was infinitely more impressive. The ball-playing centre-half did thanks to his habit of scoring goals in a 401-game career on Wearside.

“How I recovered from that start I’ve no idea, except that I was very, very strong minded and very determined,” says Essex-raised Hurley, who started at Millwall. “I didn’t want to go to Sunderland to save my bloody life!

“The manager, Alan Brown, was the reason I did. He came to visit me at the club, at home, then came back the next day. I was desperate to say no but ended up saying yes! I didn’t even know where Sunderland was. When I drove up it took me ten hours because there weren’t any bypasses in 1957.

“The second time he came to my house I told my mum and dad to say they relied on my income. But Alan Brown had them as putty in his hand and when they chickened out, I decided I’d sign.”

Hurley has been reliving his career after helping Mark Metcalf write his biography, and explains his sense of humour got him over its disastrous start. “I give myself great credit for surviving it,” he says. “Charlie Somerville, a journalist, called me after the Burnley game (Hurley’s second for Sunderland) and said, ‘7-0 Blackpool, 6-0 Burnley, you’ve seen an improvement already!’

“They paid £18,000 for me, which was a lot of money in those days. I was staying in a hotel and I always remember the bingo caller there. He didn’t know I was there but I remember him saying, ‘Seven and six, was Charlie worth it?’

“We got relegated that season but the old Irishman was in me and we fought and fought. The person who got the Sunderland fans on my side was the captain, Stan Anderson. In 1960-61 we were at Sheffield United and he said, ‘Why don’t you go up for corners?’ I caused havoc because I was a big lad. I headed my first goal for Sunderland and that became folklore. As soon as we got a corner at home the chant went up, ‘Charlie, Charlie’. I scored 30 to 40 goals and made masses of them too. That played a big part in my relationship with the fans.

“We went down that season but Alan Brown built a new team with me as captain and we got promotion after five years of going close.

“When we did, we did a lap of honour and in the dressing room afterwards the fans were chanting my name. It was a bit embarrassing but the most touching experience I had in football.”

Nowadays sending a big centre-back or two up for corners is common practice but Hurley’s goal was the first by a Sunderland centre-half for three years. “I remember once when Jack Charlton was interviewed and I was in the audience,” he recalls. “They asked him if he was the first centre-half to go up for corners. He mumbled a bit as if to say yes because he knew I was there and I stood up and said he was the second.”

In 1979, Hurley was voted Sunderland’s Player of the Century, an honour also afforded him by Millwall, and even now he is staggered by the affection the supporters hold him in.

“I couldn’t believe it when I did a book signing last week,” he says. “There were so many people there I was lucky I didn’t end up with cramp.

“They were stood in a queue to get a book for 18 quid chanting, ‘Charlie, Charlie Hurley’. People were begging to have their photo with me, I didn’t mind if they didn’t mind queuing.

“It’s quite unbelievable. I was voted the greatest player to play for Millwall and I was only there four years. Being voted Sunderland’s Player of the Century by the supporters was my greatest honour in football.”

Hurley mingled freely with those who paid his wages. “I got a lot of stick off the supporters but I don’t think there will ever be the same level of closeness we used to have with them again,” he explains. “All the lads used to go to working men’s clubs for a pie and peas supper and we had a lot of fun with the fans.

“I earned good money compared to the ordinary worker. Once I went down the mines and we went so far down I thought we’d pass the devil on the way. I used to shake hands with people who had coal ingrained in their skin.

“I remember when we beat Norwich at Roker Park in 1963. We had a bonus of £300 if we were in the top two after ten games, £600 after 20, £900 after 30 games.

“We were playing against Norwich after the 29th game and knew if we’d won we’d secured that money. We won 7-1! We’d have got another £300 if we’d managed promotion but we fell short. The next season they changed it to £1,500 if we got promotion and nothing for anything else. What did we do? We got promoted.”

CHARLIE Hurley “The Greatest Centre Half the World has Ever Seen” by Mark Metcalf is available in hardback, priced £17.99.---------------------------------------------------------

I send Roy corking letters

THE link between Sunderland past and present has been maintained by regular correspondence between two sons of Cork.

Charlie Hurley writes every few months to the Black Cats boss, Roy Keane. And the former Republic of Ireland player-manager believes Keane can take the Black Cats back to a higher level.

“I write to him two or three times a year and he always writes back,” said Hurley

“He knows I’m supporting him and the football club. I never knew him before he came to the club but having been the so-called idol before he arrived, I’m pleased he’s come.

“Sunderland should be very, very proud they’ve got such a determined character as manager. He’ll be learning all the time. I hope he stays for a very long time. The Drumaville Consortium’s right behind Roy and the fans are too.

“People will expect us to be in the top half this year. The gap between the top half a dozen is huge.”

Hurley has been hugely impressed with Keane’s first two years as a manager. “Roy Keane’s a Cork man, he doesn’t suffer fools gladly,” he said. “In fact, he doesn’t suffer fools at all. I was the same as Reading manager.

“Roy will be quite pleased with that result on Saturday (a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal). I was sitting next to a young girl at the game. I remember looking at my watch when there was four minutes of added time – I don’t know where that game from – then (Cesc) Fabregas scored. My reaction was to swear so I turned to the young lady and apologised. She said she didn’t mind because she felt the same.

“It shows how far they’ve come that we’re frustrated at drawing to Arsenal. They didn’t really have any chances and the goal we scored was like a rocket.

“Roy Keane was at Forest with Cloughie and I’m fairly certain he was a disciplined manager. Roy would have learned an awful lot from Cloughie and will have put a lot of it into his own career, even if he doesn’t realise.

He’s obviously learnt well because in a short period of time he’s been very, very successful. He’s put out a yardstick which is second to none.”

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My part in injury that finished Clough

CHARLIE Hurley still considers himself partly responsible for ending the career of one of England’s most prolific strikers.

To younger generations Brian Clough (pictured left) was the eccentric widely regarded as the best manager never to take charge of England. But in Hurley’s day, the Middlesbrough-born Clough was arguably the deadliest goal-getter in the game. In 274 games for Boro and Sunderland, he scored 251 times.

Clough’s career ended when, on Boxing Day 1962, he injured his cruciate ligaments when he collided with goalkeeper Chris Harker in a Sunderland match against Bury. Clough was aged 27. The striker played again, but never with the same effect. Hurley, a team-mate of Clough that day, unwittingly played a crucial part.

“Before the game we were trying to find out who would take the penalties because Harry Hooper was injured,” he recalls. “No one said yes, so the then Sunderland manager, Alan Brown, said I would have to take them.

“We got one and I hit it a yard wide. If I’d have scored it would have changed the game completely.

“The only brave thing Cloughie would do was when there was a challenge with a goalkeeper.

“This time, he might not have gone for the ball if we’d been winning but he did and his cruciate ligaments went. Afterwards I felt partly responsible.” Before Clough joined Sunderland in 1961, he and centre-half Hurley had been big rivals.

“I used to man-mark him and get really close to him,” he says. “He scored one goal in all the games we played against him.

“When Cloughie signed for Sunderland he said he was pleased because he wouldn’t have to play against Charlie Hurley any more. I took that as a massive compliment.

“He used to get lads to stay out after training and practice hitting the ball after it dropped over his shoulder. He wasn’t very good in the air but his timing was brilliant.

“He wasn’t a buddy, but we both had fantastic respect for each other.”