OTD: THOMAS MYHRE DEBUT
On this day in 2002, former Sunderland goalkeeper Thomas Myhre made his debut for the club. Myhre kept a clean sheet as we beat Cambridge United 7-0 in the League Cup. The towering Norwegian won promotion with the Lads in the 2004/05 season under Mick McCarthy.
Myhre first came to England in 1997, signing for Everton. He was immediately made their number one shot stopper, replacing the ageing Neville Southall. The Norwegian 'keeper was consistently first choice for a number of years until an ankle injury meant he was replaced by Paul Gerrard. When playing in an FA Cup tie against Aston Villa, Myhre was at fault for the fourth goal in a 4-1 thrashing. It pretty much signalled the end of his time at Goodison Park. In November 1999, Myhre was sent out on an emergency loan to Rangers, where he played just three times. Then in 2000, he was loaned to Birmingham City to ensure that Everton didn’t have to pay an additional fee for reaching a set number of appearances.
His time at Birmingham City started off brilliantly, saving a Keith Curle penalty against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Impressive performances for Birmingham earned him a callup to the Norway national team once more and he played in Euro 2000. He was briefly loaned to Tranmere Rovers before joining FC Copenhagen, where he won the Danish top-flight. It was also Myhre’s fourth loan in just two years. In November 2001, the 'keeper finally left the Toffees permanently, joining Turkish side Besiktas. After a year in Turkey, Myhre returned to England to sign for Peter Reid’s Sunderland. Myhre claimed that one of the main reasons for coming to Wearside was due to his huge respect for fellow Scandinavian 'keeper Thomas Sorensen.
As it turned out, Sorensen’s performances meant that Myhre was second choice for most of the 2002/03 season, before the Norwegian was loaned to Crystal Palace in October 2003. During his time at Sunderland, Myhre suffered with persistent injury issues and was never able to stake a real claim in the side. However, Sorensen departed in 2003 as the club were relegated, Reid was sacked and financial troubles began to build. This allowed Myhre to finally become number one and helped get the Lads back to the promised land of the Premier League in the 2004/05 season.
Despite his success in the Championship, his contract expired in June 2005 and it was not renewed. Myhre had a brief stint back in Norway before signing for Charlton Athletic, and then returning to his former club Viking. He hung up his boots in 2011 at Kongsvinger. In 2020 he became the sports director at Moss and then became the manager. He guided them to a promotion in 2022 and took over as manager of HamKam in the Norwegian top flight in 2025, where he remains at the time of writing.
