Today marks the birthday of former SAFC midfielder Tony Towers and what would've been legendary left half Jimmy McNab's birthday too.
TONY TOWERS
Towers was a playmaking midfield player who signed for Sunderland in 1974 from Manchester City as part of a deal for 1973 FA Cup winners Micky Horswill and Dennis Tueart. He played for the Lads until 1977 when he departed for the Midlands to sign for Birmingham City. He helped us to the Division 2 title in 1976, playing at the heart of the midfield for Bob Stokoe's men. His performances at Sunderland earned him an England call up in 1976 for the British Home Championships where he would play the games against Wales and Northern Ireland as well as a friendly against Italy a couple of weeks later.
He had a glittering career away from Sunderland too, before arriving at Roker Park he had been a part of Joe Mercer's 1970 European Cup Winners' Cup team after breaking into the first team at Maine Road in 1968. He would become a regular in the North West from midway through 1970 before being a key feature under Malcolm Allison, helping City to an FA Charity Shield win in 1972 and League Cup victory in 1974, just weeks before moving to Wearside.
120 appearances and 22 goals for Sunderland
JIMMY McNAB
Born in Scotland in 1940, he signed into Sunderland's youth academy as an apprentice in 1957 and would make his full debut for Sunderland a year later, the first of a staggering 323 appearances, in which he scored 18 goals between 1958 and 1967. A left half by trade, McNab soon became a fans favourite at Roker Park, especially when he became the first choice on the left and fellow Scot, Jim Baxter on the right. He was one of the main components in Alan Brown's 1964 promotion team from the old Second Division. His career was plagued with injuries otherwise he'd have likely featured more, two broken legs and two broken noses during his time at SAFC hindered his appearance record! He never played internationally for Scotland, apart from at schoolboy level. He was also the first player to have his testimonial at the Stadium of Light, in 1999 when he was a substitute at the age of 49. That didn't stop him from coming on to convert a penalty though!
McNab left Wearside in 1967 to sign for Preston North End, where he would spend another seven years as a first team regular at Deepdale, playing a key part in their promotion team of 1971 which saw them lift the Division 3 trophy. He ended his career in 1976 with Stockport County.
He passed away aged 66 on 29th June 2006.
323 appearances and 18 goals.
