OTD: TONY COTON BORN

On this day in 1961, Tony Coton was born in Tamworth. The former goalkeeper made 12 appearances for Sunderland in 1996 but was forced to retire after a leg break.

Coton’s career began at Birmingham City where, 54 seconds into his debut, he saved a penalty from Sunderland’s John Hawley. This was two days after Christmas 1980. He soon established himself as a fan favourite there and was named Player of the Year in 1982/83.

Tony went on to receive the same award three times in six seasons at Watford and twice in five-and-a-half years with Manchester City. At Watford, he became the club’s second player to be inducted into their Hall of Fame. At City, he played with (and for) Peter Reid, who went on to sign him for Sunderland later in his career.

Having racked up hundreds of appearances for the Hornets and the Sky Blues, Coton moved across Manchester in January 1996, joining United for £500,000. It was a record transfer fee between the two clubs and he acted as Peter Schmeichel’s back up. He never ended up playing a first-team game for MUFC and, because you could only name three substitutes back then, he only made the bench once.

That being said, the Red Devils did turn a small profit on the experienced 'keeper when Sunderland paid £600,000 for him just six months later. We turned to Coton after our advances for Shay Given, who had impressed during a loan spell, proved unsuccessful. Coton kept a clean sheet in Sunderland’s first ever Premier League match, a 0-0 draw at home to Leicester City, having not played a first team game for over two years. His quality and experience was clear to see though, keeping six clean sheets in 11 games for Sunderland. He also played a blinder at Derby County but was beaten by a penalty.

Unfortunately, Tony’s 12th Sunderland game and 501st career appearance would be his last, as his leg was broken in five places against Southampton. He took over as reserve team coach at Sunderland but eventually left after an insurance payout dispute, returning to Old Trafford to become Sir Alex Ferguson’s goalkeeping coach. He held this role from 1998 to 2008.

After spells at Wigan Athletic (Chief Scout), Bolton Wanderers (scout) and Aston Villa (goalkeeping scout and Head of Recruitment), Coton returned to Sunderland in June 2018 as the club’s Head of Recruitment. He arrived around the same time as Jack Ross, to try and drag us out of League One at the first time of asking. The former keeper left in August 2020 with the club still stuck in the third tier, later returning to Old Trafford as the club’s goalkeeping scout, where he remains to this day.