Jim Montgomery was a Sunderland legend, making well over 500 appearances and famed in particular for an incredible double-save in the 1973 FA Cup Final v Leeds. One of the top goalkeepers in the country throughout the 1960s and early ’70s, he was brought to The Dell as a potential answer to the Saints’ goalkeeping difficulties in the 1976-77 season. Sunderland had recently signed Barry Siddall from Bolton and when caretaker manager Ian McFarlane announced he intended to give him an extended run, leaving Montgomery was keen to avoid Reserve football. “I want first-team soccer and I’m prepared to go anywhere to get it” he told the Portsmouth Evening News, at the time, adding “I’ve had a look around the city, it’s very pleasant and very clean.”

He might have been impressed with the cleanliness of the local streets, but the move did not work out, despite making a sound debut at Luton when he helped Saints win 4-1 despite having stitches inserted in a head wound at half-time. Many years later, when interviewed for the Sunderland edition in the Match of my Life series, Jim revealed that he “didn’t like [Southampton]… it wasn’t the place for me.” Meanwhile the manager who brought him in on loan, Lawrie McMenemy, speaking to the Football Echo the following April said “it was probably the worst spell of his career and he probably cost us between three and five points, the trouble was he was playing in front of a different defence than he had been used to”.

Having had a suite named after him at Roker Park, Jim became a corporate host at the Stadium of Light. His involvement in many charity causes in the north-east led to the award of the BEM medal in 2015.