Chris Sutton

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Chris Sutton
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Personal information
Full name Christopher Roy Sutton
Date of birth March 10, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth Nottingham, United Kingdom
Height 6 ft 3 in / 1.90 m
Position Striker / Central Defender
Club information
Current club Aston Villa
Number 20
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1991-1994
1994-1999
1999-2000
2000-2006
2006
2006-		 Norwich City
Blackburn Rovers
Chelsea
Celtic
Birmingham City
Aston Villa		 103 (35)
131 (50)
28 (1)
130 (63)
10 (1)
5 (1)
National team**
1992-1994
1997		 England U21s
England		 13 (1)
1 (0)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 16:18, 22 November 2006 (UTC).
** National team caps and goals correct
as of 12 March 2006.

Christopher Roy Sutton (born 10 March 1973) is an English footballer, currently playing for Aston Villa.

In his career, Sutton has played for Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Celtic and Birmingham He has also been capped once by England.

Sutton is able to play in either defence or attack, although usually he plays in the latter role. A very physical player, Sutton has been a fairly prolific goalscorer throughout his career and was even joint top goalscorer (with Dion Dublin and Michael Owen) in the English Premiership for the 1997-98 season.

Contents

[edit] England Career (1991 - 2000)

He started his career at Norwich City, initially as a centre-half before being converted into a striker. He quickly found success in his new position as Norwich spent most of the first season (1992-1993) of the new Premiership as league leaders, before eventually slipping back to third place.

He became the most expensive player in English football in July 1994, when he was transferred from Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers for £5 million. Manchester United were close to being the first team to ever sign Sutton for £200,000 back in 1994. [citation needed] In his first season at Ewood Park he developed a strong partnership with Alan Shearer and scored fifteen Premiership goals to secure the club's first league title since 1914. l A succession of injuries, combined with a loss of form, saw him make just thirteen Premiership appearances during 1995-96 and fail to score a goal. He regained his form over the next three seasons and even won an England cap in November 1997, although he was left out of the World Cup squad after a fall-out with national coach Glenn Hoddle.

Blackburn Rovers were relegated from the Premiership at the end of 1998-99, just four years after being crowned champions, and Sutton was sold to Chelsea for £10 million. 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 28 appearances. He failed to even make the bench for the club's FA Cup final win against Aston Villa and was sold to Scottish Premier League side Celtic for £6 million in the summer of 2000.

[edit] Celtic and Birmingham (2000-2006)

Sutton scored the winner on his debut v Dundee United in 2000, and in his first Old Firm match v Rangers he scored the first and last goals in a dramatic 6-2 victory for Celtic over Rangers in a match tagged 'The Demolition Derby'. It was even more unusal in that in a press conference before the game Sutton was asked why he was here in Scotland. Prophetically Sutton said: "To put Rangers in their place." [1]

Sutton's goals helped Celtic win three SPL titles, two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups, as well as reaching a UEFA Cup final. Sutton formed a prolific partnership with Swede Henrik Larsson, one to rival his earlier one with Shearer.

Sutton is on record as saying Henrik Larsson is the best player he has ever played with.

Chris Sutton also holds the record for the quickest goal ever in an Old Firm Clash, scored at Ibrox in 2002.

Sutton was voted SPFA Player of the Year for Season 2003-2004.[2]

Chris commented at the end of season 2002-03 that Dunfermline 'lay down' to Rangers, in order for Celtic to lose the title. He joined Birmingham on a free transfer in January 2006 but injuries restricted him to just eleven appearances, scoring once in the derby defeat to Aston Villa in mid-April. Following Birmingham's relegation to the English Championship and his high wages, he was released.

[edit] Return to Norwich City?

Sutton, with his wife and children, have currently moved back to Norfolk and are in the process of having a house built there. [citation needed] This is where his career began, with local club Norwich City. Sutton has shown an interest in playing again for his first club, but on 29 July 2006, then Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington stated that no contact had been made with the player or his agent and that age and injury concerns were not on his side.

[edit] Aston Villa (2006-present)

Sutton signed for Aston Villa on 3 October 2006 until the end of the 2006/07 season. The move sees Sutton link up with former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill. Sutton scored his first goal for the club with a winning goal against Everton on 11 November 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=1138182004
  2. ^ http://www.scotprem.premiumtv.co.uk/page/SeasonReview/0,,10002~674646,00.html

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Barry Ferguson		 Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year
2004		 Succeeded by:
John Hartson
Fernando Ricksen
Preceded by:
Alan Shearer		 Premier League top scorer
1997-98		 Succeeded by:
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Michael Owen
Dwight Yorke


Aston Villa F.C. - Current Squad

1 Sørensen | 2 Delaney | 3 Samuel | 4 Mellberg | 5 Laursen | 6 Barry | 8 McCann | 9 Ángel | 10 Baroš | 11 Petrov | 12 Davis | 13 Taylor | 14 Djemba-Djemba | 15 Agbonlahor | 16 Bouma | 17 Whittingham | 18 Hughes | 19 Ridgewell | 20 Sutton | 21 Cahill | 22 Moore | 23 Berger | 25 Olejnik | 26 Gardner | 27 Osbourne | 31 Agathe | Manager: O'Neill
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/r/Chris_Sutton_0132.html"