Chris Sutton (referee)

Christopher Roy Sutton (born 10 March 1973) is an English former professional football player and manager. He later became a pundit and commentator for TNT Sports, regularly working on their coverage of Scottish football. He is now also a pundit and occasional match co-commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live.

He played as a forward from 1991 to 2007 for Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Celtic, Birmingham City and Aston Villa. Sutton scored over 150 career goals in over 400 league appearances spanning 16 years in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues. He won the Premier League in 1995 with Blackburn Rovers and was capped once by England. He was also known as being one of the foremost exponents of the glancing header. He scored many goals with this technique which made him particularly effective from set-pieces.

In September 2009, Sutton was appointed manager of Lincoln City, but he resigned due to personal reasons twelve months later. In 2012, he came out of retirement briefly and featured for non-league Wroxham.

Early life

Chris Sutton was born on 10 March 1973 in Nottingham, East Midlands, England, the son of Mike Sutton, formerly a footballer with Norwich City. His younger brother John also became a footballer, and has played for a number of clubs in both England and Scotland. As a child, he moved with his family from East Leake in Nottinghamshire to Horsford in Norfolk.

Playing career

Norwich City (1991–1994)

Sutton started his career as a professional footballer at Norwich City, initially as a centre-half before being converted into a striker by manager Dave Stringer. He made his debut on 4 May 1991 in a 1–0 home win over Queens Park Rangers in the First Division.

In Stringer's final season as manager, 1991–92, when Norwich reached the FA Cup semi-finals, Sutton gradually broke into the first team. He made 21 league appearances that season, scoring twice.

He found success in his new position as Norwich spent most of the first season of the new FA Premier League, in 1992–93, as league leaders, before eventually slipping to 3rd place under new manager Mike Walker. Sutton featured in 38 Premier League games that season, scoring 8 goals, which made him the club's 2nd highest scorer behind Mark Robins.

In the autumn of 1993, he was part of the side that eliminated Bayern Munich from the UEFA Cup, while he scored 25 Premier League goals in the 1993/94 season. After manager Walker went to Everton, in January 1994, and succeeded by assistant John Deehan, Norwich slipped out of the top 5 and finished in the 12th position. At that time, Sutton was being linked with other clubs, including Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Blackburn Rovers (1994–1999)

Sutton became the most expensive player in English football in July 1994, when he was transferred from Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers for £5 million.
In his first season at Ewood Park, he developed a partnership (known as 'SAS') with Alan Shearer and scored fifteen Premier League goals, helping Blackburn Rovers to secure their first top-league title since 1914.

A succession of injuries, combined with a loss of form, saw him making only 13 Premier League appearances during the 1995–96 season and failing to score a single league goal. Shearer's regular strike partner that season became Mike Newell, but, at the end of the season, both Shearer and Newell departed from the club, leaving Sutton and Kevin Gallacher as Blackburn's only major strikers.

Sutton regained his form over the next three seasons, achieving joint highest goalscoring place in the Premier League in 1997–98, by scoring 18 times.

Sutton was involved in a controversial moment towards the end of the 1996–97 season in a league game against Arsenal at Highbury. Late in the game, with ''The Gunners'' leading by a single goal, the ball was kicked out of play by Arsenal to allow an injured teammate to receive treatment. Under the unwritten sportsmanship rule, Arsenal would expect the ball to be returned to them unhindered. However, Sutton chased the ball instead of allowing it to be thrown back to Arsenal and won a corner from his efforts, from which Blackburn scored. At the end of the season, Arsenal missed out on a lucrative place in the Champions League to Newcastle United on goal difference. Following the incident, Blackburn's interim manager Tony Parkes described Sutton as "a boy who was sometimes a bit dizzy ... a bit silly", stating "It was against the spirit of the game and he should not have done it".

Sutton refused to apologise for his action.

Although, in 1997/98, Sutton's 18 goals helped Blackburn finish 6th in the League and qualify for the UEFA Cup, he managed just 17 league games and 3 goals the following season, 1998–99, as they were relegated four years after being crowned champions.

Chelsea (1999–2000)

Sutton was sold to Chelsea for £10 million after Blackburn's relegation. His time at Stamford Bridge proved an unhappy one, as he struggled both to live up to the price tag and to adapt to Chelsea's style of play, scoring just one league goal -in the 5–0 win against Manchester United- in 28 appearances, and 3 goals in total, the other 2 coming from one goal against Skonto Riga in a Champions League qualifier, and one against Hull City in the FA Cup. He failed to even make the bench for the club's FA Cup Final win against Aston Villa. In July 2000, he was sold to Scottish Premier League side Celtic for £6 million.

Celtic (2000–2006)

Sutton regained his goal-scoring form at Celtic. He scored the winner on his league debut in a 2–1 win against Dundee United in July 2000, but was then sent off in his second appearance against Motherwell. Sutton endeared himself to Celtic fans four weeks later in his first Old Firm match against Rangers – scoring the first and last goals in a dramatic 6–2 victory for Celtic. Sutton went on to form a prolific partnership with Swede Henrik Larsson.

Sutton's goals helped Celtic win 3 SPL titles, 3 Scottish Cup, as well as reaching the UEFA Cup final. Many of Sutton's most "memorable goals" for Celtic were scored in European competition: Against Ajax away in 2001, Juventus at Celtic Park the same year, away against Blackburn Rovers, and against VfB Stuttgart during the team's UEFA Cup run to the final in Seville in 2003, and the volley from close range against Barcelona at Celtic Park in 2004.

Sutton holds the record for the quickest goal ever in an Old Firm clash, scored at Ibrox in 2002, hitting the net inside of 18 seconds.

Sutton's nature came to the fore again at the end of the 2002–03 season when he accused Dunfermline Athletic of "lying down", in order for Celtic to lose the title. He failed to apologise and was charged with "bringing the game into disrepute." He received for the non-apology statement a one-match ban to add to the four-match suspension he was serving for abusing match officials on the same day.

His best season at Celtic was arguably the 2003–04 season, when he scored 19 SPL goals. and was voted SPFA Player of the Year. As the 2003–04 season drew to a conclusion, he struck the injury-time winner against Rangers at Celtic Park, giving his side a clean sweep of victories against their rivals that season (4 league wins and 1 Scottish Cup win).

In his five and a-half years at Celtic, Sutton showed versatility on many occasions. Although primarily a striker, he was often deployed in central midfield to allow Welsh striker John Hartson to play up front alongside Larsson. On occasion, Sutton was fielded in his original position of centre-half, notably against Rangers in a league game on 4 October 2003, which Celtic won 1–0.

As Gordon Strachan took up the reins of managing Celtic in 2005–06, his appearances for Celtic became more sporadic. Sutton departed from Celtic on a free transfer in January 2006.

Birmingham City (2006)

He joined Premier League club Birmingham City in January 2006, but injuries restricted him to just eleven appearances, scoring once in the derby defeat to Aston Villa in mid-April. One of a number of players on high wages subjected to criticism by club owner David Sullivan, Sutton was released at the end of the season. following Birmingham's relegation to the Championship.

Aston Villa (2006–2007)

In October 2006, Sutton signed until the end of the 2006–07 season with Birmingham City's arch rivals Aston Villa, managed by former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill. He scored his first goal for the club with the winner against Everton in November 2006.

However, in a game against Manchester United in December 2006, he suffered blurred vision and, despite visiting several specialists, did not recover. O'Neill said, "Chris has got a genuine concern. No-one can give him any guarantees about what might be the consequences if he got cracked on the head again. Whatever eyesight Chris has now, he would obviously want to keep, so he must bear that in mind when deciding his whole future and career." On 5 July 2007, after an eye injury, Sutton retired from football.

Wroxham (2012)

Six years after the reckoning in the Man United game, in October 2012, and his 2007 retirement, Sutton made a surprise appearance in the Isthmian League Division One North squad of Wroxham, coming on in the 63rd minute of the Yachtsmen's home game in Trafford Park against Tilbury, as a substitute. His goalkeeper son Oliver had already substituted the Wroxham goalkeeper, when the latter got injured in the first half. The home side lost the game 2-3.

International career

Sutton's form for Blackburn won him an England cap on 15 November 1997, when he came on in the 79th minute against Cameroon, although he was left out of the World Cup squad after a fall-out with national manager Glenn Hoddle. Having been relegated to the England B team Sutton refused to play, and Hoddle never selected Sutton for an England squad again.

Management career

Lincoln City

Sutton was interviewed in January 2009 by Inverness Caledonian Thistle for the post of manager, but was unsuccessful. On 28 September 2009, Sutton was appointed manager of League Two side Lincoln City, succeeding Peter Jackson who was dismissed earlier in the month. Despite having no managerial experience, Sutton was preferred to more than 70 other applicants. Caretaker manager Simon Clark would take charge of the following day's game, with Sutton and assistant Ian Pearce to take over the day after.

His first game as manager came at Sincil Bank against Aldershot Town on 3 October 2009. Lincoln were victorious through a second half Sergio Torres goal to give Sutton a winning start in management. Sutton took Lincoln to the FA Cup third round for the first time since 1999, but lost 4–0 to Premier League outfit Bolton Wanderers. Football League survival was confirmed on 24 April 2010 when Sutton guided the Imps to a 1–0 victory over promotion-chasing Bury at Sincil Bank, with two games remaining. Sutton left his post as Lincoln manager on 29 September due to family reasons.

Media career

Sutton acts as the main co-commentator, including on all of Celtic FC's UEFA Champions League games, alongside either Rob MacLean or Rory Hamilton. He also works as a pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sport. In January 2015, Sutton attracted criticism for saying that Celtic's Scottish League Cup semi-final against Rangers would be "so one-sided" that Celtic "could win it blindfolded".

Personal life

Sutton was born in Nottingham, the son of Mike Sutton, formerly a footballer with Norwich City. His younger brother John also became a footballer, and has played for a number of clubs in both England and Scotland. As a child he moved from East Leake in Nottinghamshire to Horsford in Norfolk.

As of February 2007, Sutton was married with five children.

After retiring from football, Sutton remained an athlete, playing cricket for Norwich Cricket Club in the EAPL.

In July 2000, Sutton was convicted of two charges of common assault and fined £300 plus costs after an incident outside a restaurant in which he spat in the face of another man.

In February 2022 Sutton and Micah Richards spoke about mental health issues in their playing days.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial

Honours

Blackburn Rovers
* Premier League: 1994–95

Celtic
* Scottish Premier League: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2005–06
* Scottish Cup

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