Born on this day is former Sunderland goalkeeper Thomas Myhre. 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. In November 1999, Myhre was sent out on an emergency loan to Rangers, where he played just three times. Then in 2000, he was loan to Birmingham 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 Wolves. 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, and then returning to his former club Viking.
