Today ReadSunderland begin a weekly series called Throwback Thursday which will take a closer look at particularly memorable Sunderland players that have featured for the club in recent memory, one Thursday at a time. These players could range from club legends to forgotten flops, and there are plenty of both to choose from. Whether it’s fondly reminiscing about a favourite memory of a great player, or cringing at the awful memories of a bad one, the discussion of players of old is never too far from the topic of conversation amongst devoted football fans. So to continue what might be the most quintessential topic of conversation amongst football fans in any pub come Friday night or Saturday afternoon, ReadSunderland take a moment to look at the Sunderland career of our first player on Throwback Thursday – Nyron Nosworthy.
The often forgotten fan favourite joined the club in 2005 on a free transfer following Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League under Roy Keane. Initially recruited as a back-up right-back, the defender would switch to a more comfortable role as a central defender due to his physical prowess. This switch proved to be effective on and off the pitch as he became known for his often clumsy but effective no-nonsense approach to defending, gaining fan support for his unorthodox style of play. He had the formidable physical figure with the loveable character to match. Whilst it was rarely pretty, it was always entertaining and he quickly became adored by the Mackem supporters in the most part for his levels of effort rather than his technical ability. He went on to become a regular first-team player playing 85 Premier League games and representing the club 125 times in total across a five-year spell at Sunderland, as well as acting as an anti-racism ambassador for the club during his tenure. He even managed to secure some silverware in his second season with the club as Sunderland regained promotion to the top flight of English football.
Unfortunately Nyron was not able to score that all important goal for Sunderland that the fans so desperately wanted to witness, but will surely be remembered for the chant that became so popular during his time with the club: to the tune of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Rehab’, “They tried to get the ball past Nyron but he said no no no”.
