February 15th 1993
As a player Ian Porterfield is probably best remembered as the scorer of the only goal in the 1973 FA Cup Final when Sunderland beat Leeds United. The 1973 showpiece is the last FA Cup final to be played with an orange ball.
Ian is less well known, perhaps, for the record set as a manager - he was the first Premier League manager to be sacked! AND there have been 431 "managers" in charge of the 50 P.L clubs to date.
YOU MUST LOOK AT THIS LIST
Porterfield managed Chelsea in 1992/93, the first season of the Premier League, and on December 5th 1992 Chelsea beat Spurs 2-1 at White Hart Lane to occupy fourth place in the table. They were looking like surprise title contenders – but then things changed! They didn’t manage a win in their next 11 League outings, dropped to mid-table and on Monday 15th February – two days after Aston Villa had beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their 29th League outing of the season – Ian Porterfield received his marching orders and was replaced by a former Stamford Bridge favourite, David Webb.
But he had set that record that will be his for ever – the first Premier League manager to be sacked!
Ian Porterfield, Bob Stokoe and Jim Montgomery are legends of the Sunderland FA Cup Final win in 1973. Many will know the prowess of their opponents, Leeds United, whose reputation in 1973 was phenomenal and hence this Cup Final win was very special. Below is goalkeeper Montgomery's miraculous save in the final.
The save was compared to Gordon Banks' save against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup. Here are also more of Montgomery's saves.
Jim Montgomery BEM, was awarded the British Empire Medal in June 2015. He was born 9 October 1943 and made a record 627 appearances for his home town club, Sunderland, with 537 of these appearances being in the Football League, after joining the club as a youngster in 1960.
In June 2015, Montgomery was awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to football.
In October 2020, a mural of Montgomery celebrating the 1973 Sunderland FA Cup win was unveiled on The Times Inn, public house, overlooking the River Wear at Wear Street, Sunderland. 
Montgomery later played for Vancouver Royals, briefly, Southampton, Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest, notching up 614 apps.
After he retired as a player, Montgomery returned to Birmingham City and Sunderland as a goalkeeping coach.
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