Born on this day in 1973, just days after our FA Cup win, is former Sunderland fullback Chris Makin.
Originally from St Helens, Makin began his career playing for Oldham after leaving school in ‘91. However, his senior debut didn’t come until during a loan spell with Wigan. He started well, scoring twice in 15 games. The Latics (Wigan, not Oldham!) were desperate to sign the marauding fullback permanently, but Oldham wouldn’t entertain their approach.
Makin’s Oldham debut came in the Premiership, facing Arsenal at Boundary Park in October 1993. In the same season, he helped Oldham to the FA Cup semi-final, losing 4-1 to eventual winners Manchester United- the team he supported as a boy.
After almost 100 games at Oldham, Makin followed the (not) well-trodden path from Oldham to the south of France, joining European giants Marseille on a free transfer. It put an end to a five-year spell at Oldham.
While at Marseille, Chris learned to play in front of expectant fans, demanding victory week in week out. The move helped refine his game, become a more cultured footballer and surely put him in good stead for his eventual return to England.
When Sunderland first announced their interest in Makin, he didn’t actually want to come. He loved it in France, and didn’t want it to end after just one season. He even claimed he’d stay and fight for his place in Marseille’s reserves!
But £500,000 was too much for the French club to turn down, and soon Chris was making his way back across the channel. Cult hero Dariusz Kubicki had just gone to Wolves, but it didn’t take long for fans to realise they’d found a huge upgrade at right back.
He was one of the most tenacious tacklers we’d seen at Roker Park, and fans would regularly shout “SHOOT” with a tinge of irony whenever he picked the ball up- despite regularly hitting it into row z!
Injuries unfortunately kept Makin out of the side in 1997, which coincided with the team seeing a major upturn in form. He was one of four defenders who had been replaced by a more youthful quartet of Holloway, Williams, Craddock and Gray.
Makin returned from a kidney infection in 1998/99, and was finally able to enjoy a long spell in the first team. His form was incredibly consistent as the Lads racked up a record-breaking 105 points and smashed Division One.
Chris enjoyed some of his best football on Wearside, but in 2001 left in a shock move to Ipswich. It was rumoured that an argument with Peter Reid had stemmed from an incident where Makin left a nightclub with Melanie Sykes.
After short spells at Leicester, Southampton and Reading, Makin eventually retired in 2008 after failing to overcome a hip injury which had prevented him playing since September 2007.
