On this day in 1985, Gordon Armstrong made his debut against West Bromwich Albion in the final weeks of the season. Gordon played out of position that match, at centre half due to squad injuries.
Despite being born and raised in Newcastle, Gordon is a Sunderland fan through and through. Duly, he began his career here and played on Wearside for 11 years. The WBA game was the first of 416 games for his boyhood club.
That makes him the 7th-highest appearance maker for Sunderland, as well as one of the few midfielders to score over 50 goals for the club (and the first since Bobby Kerr) and sitting at #88 on our list of greatest ever Sunderland players.
Armstrong recalls watching the ‘73 Cup Final on TV in a house in Newcastle. That young Sunderland fan would go on to represent the Lads at the home of football twice. Ultimately, we never replicated that victory in 1973.
Len Ashurst gave him his debut against the Baggies as a teenager. He was a very promising young player and would go on to be voted Young Player of The Year on two occasions.
After Ashurst was replaced by Lawrie McMenemy, Armstrong struggled to get back into the team. However, he managed to score against Crystal Palace and held on to his place in the side. McMenemy struggled at Sunderland as we all know and soon departed after his dour, controversial reign was ended. It was up to Denis Smith to turn the club around in the third tier. Armstrong played some of his best football under Smith, and helped bring the lads back into the top flight. The midfielder was involved in one of the most turbulent and worst periods of Sunderland’s history, but played well consistently and was key in rectifying the predicament we found ourselves in.
In the 1989-90 season he scored 13 goals – a really good tally for a midfielder. The 1991-92 season wasn’t as productive, but Gordon still managed 11 goals, another great tally. Armstrong was part of the team that famously beat Newcastle in the play-offs. Newcastle fans hated the midfielder because of his local roots, which would have made the derby win even sweeter for Armstrong! Goals from Gates and Gabbiadini caused enraged Geordies to storm the pitch before full time in the second leg in the hopes of getting the game called off. The bitter Mags only succeeded in embarrassing themselves.
Gordon Armstrong’s most memorable individual moment as a Sunderland player was undoubtedly a bullet header against Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter final. He always had great aerial prowess, but this header was emphatic. The goal sent Sunderland to the semi-finals, and set the lads on course for a trip top Wembley under caretaker manager Malcolm Crosby. Sadly we would go on to lose in the final, but it was an excellent journey and could’ve easily turned out different.
Armstrong got to live the dream of every Sunderland fan and he did it in style – in over a decade at the club he donned some of the finest football kits ever produced. There were ups and downs in his career, suffering relegations, but that’s just part and parcel of life as a Sunderland fan and player. The highs were brilliant.
