Ask any Lads fan of a certain age to name their top five Sunderland keepers and it’s a good bet Tommy will be amongst them. Tommy was born in Fredericia, a town located in the southeast part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, and started playing youth football at local clubs Erritsø and Assens before commencing his professional career with his boyhood favourites Odense BK.
He was loaned to Vejle BK and FC Svendborg and before ever making a first-team appearance for Odense, Sunderland and Peter Reid
came calling with £510,000 in 1998, and so began a beautiful relationship.
It might not have happened at all if events had taken a different turn. It’s a fact that not long before this transfer, Peter Schmeichel had facilitated a week-long trial at Old Trafford in December 1997, which had gone very well, so much so that he was invited back in February 1998. During that close season, Sørensen spoke with Ajax and Udinese, who had a number of Danish players at the time.
However, Tony Coton, who had been across to Denmark twice to watch Sørensen play, persuaded him to come to Sunderland and meet Peter Reid. In Sørensen’s own words, “I met Peter Reid and after half a day I knew that was where I wanted to be. I loved the passion and they actually played me the semi-final against Sheffield United to show me the atmosphere. That half day sold it to me. Peter Reid was willing to give me a shot and that was all I wanted.”
Sørensen replaced the flamboyant fan favourite Lionel Perez, but quickly established himself in the 1998/99 season. He made his debut on the 8th of August 1998 against Queens Park Rangers in a 1-0 victory in front of a packed house at the Stadium of Light and never really looked back.
Sunderland swept to an impressive promotion that season as the widely lauded Quinn and Phillips fired forty-four goals between them. Behind them, though, Sunderland had developed a parsimonious attitude to conceding goals. From fifty goals conceded the season before in the league, only twenty-eight were conceded in this campaign. With Butler and Craddock at the center of defence, Makin and Gray at full-back, and the defensive midfield skills of Kevin Ball, Tommy Sørensen completed the jigsaw and was at the heart of a rock-solid back line.
Sunderland went up in style and then delivered two seventh-placed finishes in succession in the Premiership as Reidy’s buccaneers confounded the pundits and the bookies, playing some of the best football some fans had ever seen.
The Tyne/Wear derby clash of the 2001/02 campaign brought Tommy probably his greatest moment in a Sunderland shirt. With the score at 2-1 to the Lads at a packed St James’, Niall Quinn committed a center forward’s challenge on Rob Lee in the box on 82 minutes. Penalty to the Toon! Up stepped their hero, their messiah Alan Shearer. As a hush fell on the crowd and with his arm almost on the way up to salute an equaliser, Tommy managed to read the shot as Shearer changed his normal trademark penalty into the top left-hand corner. Sørensen deflected the ball for a corner and triggered bedlam in the away stand and hands-on-head agony for the expectant barcodes.
Sunderland went on to win the match, their second victory in succession at Newcastle, and it’s fair to say Sørensen’s legendary status was assured amongst the Roker faithful.
A feature of most of Tommy’s time at Sunderland was his fitness. In season 98/99 he played forty-five league games, missing only one. In the 99/00 Premiership return, he again missed only one league game, playing thirty-seven. In the 00/01 season, he missed four league games right at the start of the campaign, having been injured in the first game, but returned to complete thirty-four league appearances.
The Premiership campaign of 01/02 saw Sørensen play thirty-four out of a possible thirty-eight league games as Sunderland finished 17th in a difficult season and a transforming team. The following season proved disastrous. Peter Reid had been sacked on the 10th of October and replaced by Howard Wilkinson and Steve Cotterill. Sørensen was injured and out for twelve games, returning on the 11th of January by which point Sunderland were well ensconced in the relegation places.
Having produced a record number of points in 98/99, we went down with an all-time low number of points (19) in 02/03. Mick McCarthy was appointed as manager and Sørensen was sold for two million in the close season to Aston Villa, as McCarthy attempted to put his own stamp on the team.
Sørensen’s last game for Sunderland of his 171 appearances was a 4-0 defeat to Premiership runners-up Arsenal at a still packed Stadium of Light, a disappointing end to such a great spell with the Lads.
Tommy went on to endear himself to fans at Villa Park, making 139 appearances before falling out with the hierarchy over his treatment whilst injured. Not before he saved another Alan Shearer penalty though.
He moved on a free transfer to join newly promoted Stoke City in 2008, where once again he became a fan favorite, making ninety-nine appearances between 2008-15, when he took the option of a new challenge in Australia, playing thirty-seven games for Melbourne City over a period of two years from 2015-17.
Tommy made his international debut in November 1999, coming on for the injured Peter Schmeichel in a game against Israel. He would go on to make 101 international appearances, retiring in 2012, having taken part in two Euro and two World Cup campaigns.
Tommy was always a tad different and enjoys some varied pursuits away from his sport. A lifelong Bruce Springsteen fan, he has seen him live over ten times. He has also fashioned a reputation as an artist; his work is a big hit on Instagram. He cites the influence of former Sunderland playing colleague Jody Craddock for rekindling his interest in drawing and painting during their time together at the Stadium of Light.
Since retiring from playing, Tommy has been busy. He now lives in Australia, having taken citizenship, and is a regular pundit on Optus Sport, covering all the major football tournaments. Upon retiring from playing, he embarked on a marathon bike ride across the USA (6000km), raising over $200,000 for ‘Kids Aid’, a Danish children’s charity. This effort triggered a love of cycling and he still dons the clips today.
Happy birthday Tommy, have a good one bonny lad.
