Born on this day in 1984 is former Sunderland striker Darren Bent. The forward signed for the lads after publicly criticising Spurs owner Daniel Levy on Twitter, but went on to become a figure of hatred on Wearside.
As a youngster, Bent excelled at both football and athletics, and could have had a career in either. He chose football though, and came through Ipswich’s academy, making his debut in the UEFA Cup against Swedish side Helsingborg, and scored his first senior goal in a 4-1 win over the Mags in the League Cup in 2001. At the end of the season, Bent had made seven appearances, scoring twice for the Tractor Boys. Despite the striker showing promise, Ipswich were relegated to the First Division.
This was arguably a blessing in disguise, as Bent became a key player for Ipswich in a lower division. In the 2002/03 season, he scored an impressive 18 goals, a feat which earned him the club’s Young Player of the Year award.
In the 2003/04 season, when he continued to feature regularly for Ipswich, he fired the team to the play-offs. He scored the winning goal against West Ham in the first leg, but Ipswich lost on aggregate over two legs- a fate that would be repeated against the same club a year later.
By 2005, Bent had finished Ipswich’s top scorer on multiple occasions and earned himself a £2.5 million move to Charlton. In typical Sunderland fashion, he scored a brace on his Charlton debut against us in a 3-1 win for the Addicks. The dynamic striker was named Premiership Player of the Month for August, and racked up a formidable 18 league goals- the third highest in the league! It also made him the top-scoring Englishman for the season. Of course, he was Charlton’s Player of the Season after such a prolific debut year.
In the 2006/07 season, Bent was yet again Charlton’s top scorer with 13, but suffered relegation to the Championship. Charlton accepted a bid from West Ham, but the player rejected the transfer, after having a medical with the Hammers, because of owner Eggert Magnusson. Bent claimed that the owner said “you either sign the contract now, or don’t bother coming back.” And Bent never went back! Instead, he opted for a move to fellow London club Tottenham for a club-record fee of £16.5 million.
Hs first goal for the club came in a 4-0 win over his future employers Derby County, when future Black Cat Steed Malbranque also scored twice. Continuing to build his reputation of being one of England’s most prolific goal scorers, Bent scored his 100th career goal against West Ham as Spurs eased to another 4-0 win. He also scored the 100th goal to be scored at White Hart Lane, during 2007/08 in a 2–0 win over Portsmouth.
When the striker missed an open goal against Pompey in 2009, Harry Redknapp said: "You will never get a better chance to win a match than that. My missus could have scored that one.” The comments annoyed Bent, who was growing frustrated already with Redknapp who had already brought back Robbie Keane and a certain Jermain Defoe, as well as being linked with Peter Crouch up front.
Bent finished the 2008/09 season with 17 goals in 43 games, but had been told by Redknapp that his time at the club had ran its course. He was in high demand, and Sunderland paid a hefty £10 million for his services- a club record at the time. The deal was delayed for a while, with other clubs such as Hull and Stoke in the running. However, the striker took matters into his own hands when he released a foul-mouthed tweet aimed at Spurs owner Daniel Levy. Bent said: "Seriously getting p***** off now. Why can't anything be simple. It's so frustrating hanging round doing jack s***. Do I wanna go Hull City? NO. Do I wanna go stoke? NO. Do I wanna go Sunderland? YES. So stop f****** around, Levy. Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest."
Bent’s antics eventually helped force through a move to Sunderland, scoring just five minutes into his debut as the Lads beat Bolton 1-0. After a goal against Chelsea and a brace against Hull, his tally was up to four goals in his first five games in red and white.
The striker was a part of a moment which went down in history, as it was his shot that bizarrely deflected off a beachball, dumbfounding Pepe Reina and finding the back of the net. The goal was hugely controversial, and sticks in the mind of football fans all over England.
Bent’s debut season on Wearside was extremely successful, scoring 24 Premier League goals. With Sunderland as a whole scoring 48, it meant Bent had scored 50% of our goals in 2009/10!
In January 2011 though, things turned sour. Aston Villa had reportedly had a bid of £18 million rejected for Bent, prompting the striker to hand in a transfer request. Villa submitted an improved offer, rising to £24 million, which was quickly accepted. It was Aston Villa’s record transfer at the time.
Bent became a pantomime villain at the SoL due to the nature of his exit, joining a team lower down the league which was believed to be purely money-driven. Steve Bruce was not happy: "It's hugely disappointing that Darren has decided that his future lies away from Sunderland and the players, our supporters and the club as a whole have every right to feel massively let down. The timing is especially hard to take, given that we are progressing positively and are in a great position to push on. Everyone has been nothing but supportive of Darren in his time at Sunderland but it's obvious he's not been himself in training and we've certainly not seen the best of him in games in recent weeks - and we now understand why. I've always stated that my aim is to build a talented, young squad for the long-term to help the club achieve sustained success and I want Sunderland fans to know that our ambitions haven't changed on that front."
In his debut half-season at Villa Park, Bent scored an impressive 9 in 16, which made him the club’s joint-top scorer for the full season. His first game against Sunderland came in a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light, where he was booed every time he touched the ball.
Bent’s time with Villa was marred with injuries, and despite always having the knack of finding the back of the net, never became much of a fan favourite among the Villa faithful. He slowly began to look unfit and lose mobility, as injury-prone strikers often do, and after several unsuccessful loan spells joined Championship side Derby County upon the expiry of his contract.
As his career wound down, he spent half of the 2017/18 season on loan at Burton. In typical Sunderland fashion, Bent condemned his former side to relegation to League One, scoring a late winner as the lads conceded late goals to Bent and Boyce, before having an equaliser ruled out in the dying seconds. He announced his retirement at the end of the season, and has gone on to take up punditry.
