BORN ON THIS DAY: DANNY DICHIO

Danny Dichio was born on this day in 1974, in Hammersmith. He was a solid player for us, and he had a tough job competing for a starting place with Niall Quinn for the 'target man' position.

Much like Mickey Bridges struggling to dislodge Kevin Phillips, Danny was competing with Quinny up front under Peter Reid. Even though he did well for us, in his four years at Sunderland Dichio only started more than two league games in one season. That was when the Irishman was injured in 1998/99.

To be fair to Danny we were promoted when he deputised that season, with Dichio firing 10 goals in 16 starts, as well as 20 more appearances off the bench. Looking back he probably wasn’t given a fair crack of the whip at Sunderland – although how could he start ahead of the legendary Niall Quinn?

Being a deputy was nothing new to the striker though, who had served as Les Ferdinand’s understudy at QPR and at Sampdoria provided backup for World Cup winner Jurgen Klinsmann and Italy international Vincenzo Montella. He was actually a youngster starting out at QPR as a teammate of Peter Reid. So, when Danny’s move to Sampdoria didn’t work out, Reidy wasted no time in sorting a transfer back to England.

One of his finest moments for Sunderland must have been when we smashed Oxford 7-0. Fans were worried going into the game due to Quinn and Phillips both being out, but Dichio and Bridges were the perfect replica of the ‘big man, little man’ combination. The pair both scored twice, as well as substitute Alex Rae getting a brace and Michael Gray grabbing a goal in an immense performance from the Lads.

Known as ‘Mellow D’ due to his part-time disk jockeying, Dichio’s SAFC Career started slowly when he was signed to add some firepower up top. He ended up being a steady but useful player, before leaving for West Brom initially on loan and then permanently for £1.25m.