OTD: KEVIN KYLE BORN

Born on this day in 1981, in Stranraer, is former Sunderland centre forward Kevin Kyle. He came through the academy and made 109 appearances for the club, scoring on 19 occasions.

The eventual Scotland international was a part of the Ayr United academy before joining Sunderland’s in 1998. He had big boots to fill once he did break into the first team, considering the fans were used to seeing players like Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips upfront. He had some brief loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Darlington, and Rochdale before finally getting to play regularly for Sunderland. ‘Kyler’ didn’t score his first goal until the Lads were back in the Championship, following relegation from the Premier League in 2003. He was clearly not cut out for the top flight but was a good option to have in the second tier. He scored in both play-off legs against Crystal Palace in 2004 but that wasn’t enough to send the Lads to Wembley. Despite this, it was still Kyle’s best season because he scored 16 goals in all competitions. It was the only one of his seven seasons at SAFC in which he managed double figures.

He was eventually sold to Coventry City in 2006, for a reported fee of £600,000 and he did not have the best of times at the Sky Blues. However, he did score on his debut against Norwich City. Kyle only scored five goals for Coventry in 47 games. After brief loan spells at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Hartlepool United, Kyle returned to Scotland when he signed for Kilmarnock. He bagged 18 goals in two seasons and then moved to Heart of Midlothian. After a solid year in Edinburgh, the forward moved to Scottish giants Rangers. He only featured 11 times, before ending his career came to an end where it started at Ayr United. Unfortunately, Kyle’s career was cut short due to an injury and he retired at 31, although he did briefly turn out for Scottish lower league side Newton Stewart and scored three times in one appearance.

After retiring, Kyle worked as a storeman on a ship in the Shetland Islands for two years, doing 18-day stints of 12-hour shifts as a housekeeper on the MS Regina Baltica cruiseferry. He earned £800 a fortnight and in his words: "Life was pretty shit". Kevin later worked in the oil industry and became a baggage handler on ferries between Cairnryan, near his Stranraer birthplace, in Scotland. He's also pretty good at darts!