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Two years ago on Friday, football lost one of its truly dedicated servants, a legendary figure as a player and later a globetrotting manager: Ian Porterfield. The man who scored the winner for Sunderland in their sensational FA Cup win of 1973 and worked as a manager on four different continents had lost his battle with colon cancer.
Just like great Ernst Happel had, he continued working in football until right before his death: his last job had been in charge of Armenia.
Born in Dunfermline, Ian Porterfield began his career at Raith Rovers, the Kirkcaldy club that produced the immortal genius Jim Baxter of Rangers, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest fame.
And like Baxter, Porterfield was to be a cultured schemer with an accurate left foot. It was after three years playing at Raith that Porterfield would move south of the border to join Sunderland in 1967.
It wasn’t an easy beginning. Sunderland were never more than a lower half top flight side in those days, and Porterfield had the unenviable task of filling the boots of Jim Baxter who had been sold for a then substantial fee to Nottingham Forest.
But as he settled into the team, his intelligent and skillful playmaking was to shine through- and at the end of 1967-68, Sunderland’s 2-1 win at Old Trafford knocked the title out of Manchester United’s hands and into the hands of Manchester City.
Porterfield became a regular in midfield, but Sunderland were relegated two years later and took time to regroup. Two years after that, however, Bob Stokoe became manager and thus began a football fairytale- the sensational FA Cup success of 1973 in which Manchester City and Arsenal were knocked out, the Wearsiders faced one of the most powerful sides in football of the time- Don Revie’s eminently unlovable Leeds United.
Sunderland had the backing of many football fans around the country and beyond, no doubt, as they were severe underdogs on the day.
The final was a story in itself.
Ian Porterfield scored the winner with his weaker right foot. Jim Montgomery kept Leeds out with a string of heroic saves that immortalised him as yet another Cup hero. Wearside was jubilant. All of Sunderland’s players were heroes that day.
Bobby Kerr was an inspirational and courageous captain, and Porterfield was described by Kerr himself a wonderfully graceful player. Dennis Tueart would later enjoy success on the wing at Manchester City.
Sunderland narrowly missed promotion the following season in a tight race to scramble out of the Second Division. During the 1974-75 season, disaster struck when Porterfield was hurt in a car crash. Sadly he never regained his previous form.
He would wind down his career at Sheffield Wednesday, then struggling to gain promotion out of the Second Division, and that’s where his playing career ended.
He remained in Yorkshire for the next stage of his football career- no doubt, he’d won the hearts of Sheffielders for his role in defeating Leeds!
He became manage of Rotherham United and in 1981 they won the Third Division championship. However, he chose to move to Sheffield United, who were at their lowest point in history after three relegations in five years.
Porterfield built a team around winger Colin Morris and striker Keith Edwards who became a much-celebrated duo at Bramall Lane, and the Blades won the Fourth Division championship in his first season. They won promotion to the Second in 1984, with defender Paul Stancliffe and midfielders Kevin Arnott and Glenn Cockerill added to the mix.
A strong start to the 1985-86 season saw the Blades emerge as promotion contenders, but a form slump led to Porterfield’s hasty demise despite still being in the promotion mix at the time of his departure.
His next port of call was Aberdeen, where he had the thankless task of replacing Alex Ferguson.
Less successful spells at Reading and Chelsea followed- though the latter saw building blocks of the future in place- but then came one of the biggest challenges of his or indeed anyone’s football career.
Zambia had lost the cream of its domestic league talent in the 1993 plane crash off Gabon (their European-based stars were not on that flight) and Porterfield was appointed coach, carrying the hopes of a grieving nation.
Here his dedication to football showed itself- and a hastily reconstructed Zambia bravely took their 1994 qualification campaign to the last game in Morocco, and then reached the 1994 African Nations Cup Final. It was a remarkable, heartwarming achievement.
Porterfield continued to work in football, with an assistant manager position at Bolton followed by stints in Asia, Africa and Trinidad & Tobago.
He became manager of Busan I’Park in 2003 and enjoyed yet more success- winning the K-League and following up with a strong ACL run. His appointment to the Armenia job in 2006 would be his last job- and he battled on through illness, once more carrying the hopes of a nation in his hands, and managing miraculous results against Poland (1-0) and Portugal (1-1).
Not even Ronaldo’s goal would deny Armenia, and this was Porterfield’s last game in charge.
There will be few like Ian Porterfield, a man who lived live to fullest for the love of football, ever dedicated in service to the game.
As a classy footballer, an FA Cup hero and a battling manager, he was one of the truly great men of football.
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