On this day in 1979, Chris Turner made his Sunderland debut in an Anglo-Scottish Cup game against Oldham Athletic, replacing Barry Siddall at half time. Back then substitute keepers weren't a thing but they must have been trialling in in the pre-season tournaments, making Chris the first goalkeeper to ever come on as a sub in a competitive game for Sunderland.
Turner arrived at Roker Park in 1978 from his boyhood club of Sheffield Wednesday, he successfully saw off competition from Barry Siddall as Ken Knighton's men won promotion back to Division 1 in 1980. After that, he firmly cemented himself in the keeper's shirt at Roker Park, however, the arrival of Alan Durban as manager saw Turner demoted to back up and only featured 19 times in the 1981-82 campaign.
The Yorkshire born keeper would be a stalwart in the team from the following season though and would be one of the first names on the teamsheet under Len Ashurst, he starred in an impressive League Cup run which saw us get to the final in 1985, only to lose 1-0 to Norwich at Wembley. Asa Hartford's shot deflected off Gordon Chisholm to beat Turner between the sticks for Sunderland. However, that season would end on a high for the Steel City born keeper as he was voted Supporters' Player of the Year. He wasn't the biggest, but he was brave and agile - on his last appearance for Sunderland he captained the side.
Following his impressive season in the 1984-85 campaign, Ron Atkinson signed him for £275k which was quite a hefty fee for a goalkeeper in 1985! Turner joined Manchester United and would grace the field for the Red Devils 64 times in the league as well as a handful of cup appearances. He was originally signed as a challenger to Gary Bailey but would become a starter after Bailey suffered an injury. He fell out of favour at Old Trafford under Alex Ferguson who transfer listed him as Gary Walsh came through the youth ranks. When Bailey started ahead of Chris against Sunderland in the FA Cup, our supporters sang choruses of "we all agree, Turner is better than Bailey" at Old Trafford.
Turner finally left the North West to return to Sheffield Wednesday after the arrival of Jim Leighton from Aberdeen. His return to Hillsborough was to a struggling Owls side which were kept in the First Division following the arrival of Big Ron Atkinson, the manager who had signed him at United back in 1985. Turner would play two games on loan at Leeds under Howard Wilkinson to cover the injured Mervyn Day before he joined Third Division Leyton Orient in 1991 then he teamed up with John Sitton in 1994 as his assistant manager at Brisbane Road; Turner would star in the fly on the wall documentary Orient: Club for a Fiver.
He went on to manage Hartlepool United, Sheffield Wednesday, Stockport County and then Hartlepool again before leaving management in 2010. Since leaving management, he served as CEO and Director of Football of Colchester United, attempted to buy Sheffield Wednesday and help found Wakefield AFC in 2019 and has worked there since as Director of Football.
