OTD: GEORGE HERD IN MEMORIAM

On this day in 2024, former Sunderland player George Herd sadly passed away aged 88. Herd played for Sunderland between 1961 and 1970, playing over 300 games and scoring over 50 goals, and was part of the squad that won the club's first ever promotion in 1964.

George’s football career started off with local side Gartosh Thistle (he was born in Lanark), then during his national service (ask yer granddad), appropriately enough in Fort George, with Inverness Thistle until 1956 when he moved to Queen’s Park, at the same time working on the railways as he’d never really fancied being a professional as a youngster.

His growing reputation persuaded him that he could make it in the paid game despite being of slight build. After moving to Clyde the following year, George turned professional and his solid style as an “inside forward” was recognised with five Scotland caps and he’d won the Scottish Cup before we snapped him up in 1961 for the large sum, by the standards of the day, of £42,500 (or around £850,000 today). As George later said, he was keen to move south: "If Clyde went to Parkhead I was called an Orange ******* and if we went to Ibrox I was called a Fenian *******. I was just pleased to get away from Scotland".

His debut came on the final day of the 1960/61 season, along with keeper Keith Hird, in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Roker Park, and he was part of the sides that so narrowly missed out on promotion in the following two seasons. Predominantly right-footed, he switched between the flank and the inside right channel during his Roker days, forming a good understanding with Brian Usher, and was a regular in the promotion campaign of 1963/64, weighing in with 13 league goals. Alongside famous Sunderland names like Brian Clough, Nick Sharkey, Amby Fogarty, George Mulhall, Johnny Crossan, Charlie Hurley, Jim McNab, Irwin, Len Ashurst, Martin Harvey, Stan Anderson, and Jim Montgomery, he became a big part of our history over his nine years at Roker.

There was also spell in the summer of 1967 when he and most of his teammates became Vancouver Royal Canadians in a precursor to the MLS, as a host of British clubs played a two month tournament, Dundee United (Dallas Tornado), Hibernian (Toronto City), Aberdeen (Washington Whips), Wolverhampton Wanderers (Los Angeles Wolves), Stoke City (Cleveland Stokers), Uruguay's Cerro Porteno (New York Skyliners), the Netherlands ADO Den Haag (San Francisco Golden Gate Gales), Northern Ireland's Glentoran (Detroit Cougars), Italy's Cagliari (Chicago Mustangs) and the Republic of Ireland's Shamrock Rovers (Boston Rovers) also took part. For the records, George featured six times as we played 12, won three, drew five, and lost four, scoring 20 and conceding 28. There’s something for the pub quizzers amongst you.

More of a foil than a goalscorer, he was a player who could spot the best chances for his marras, but he still amassed 55 goals in his 318 Sunderland games before hanging up his boots after 25 games in the 1968/69 season, moving into coaching. After a year behind the scenes on Wearside, he moved down the coast to Hartlepool, where he laced up his boots again and put in 15 performances before becoming a part-time coach at St James' Park. In the late 1970’s he looked after our youth team, producing players like John Cooke and Colin West. In 1980 he became manager of Queen of the South, before coaching at Darlington, in Kuwait a couple of times and at Middlesbrough before once again working with our youngsters alongside Montgomery. After this, he moved into the Northern League as head coach at Seaham Red Star and then Sunderland RCA, working well into his 70s with seemingly relentless energy.