Sunderland's King: Charlie Hurley

Natural ability can only get you so far in the sporting world, but add a dose of hard work and a touch of good luck and you might have all you need to become a great player.

If I was to say who was one of the greatest players ever to play for the Black Cats, the first player that would spring to mind would be the great Charlie Hurley—"The King".

He may have scored very few goals but the centreback was one of the most reliable, talented, and gifted players to play in England.

Born in Cork, Ireland in1936 on October the 4th, Charlie Hurley first started his professional career at Millwall but on September 26th, 1957 Hurley arrived at Sunderland, for a sum of around eighteen thousand pounds—but it wasn't all glory for Hurley.

He started in disastorous fashion for the Blackcats—a 7-0 thrashing by Blackpool and, to add salt to Hurley's wound, he capped his debut off with an own goal. Soon after came another thrashing, a 6-0 drubbing by the mighty Burnley.

But Hurley was quickly becoming the rock in the Sunderland's defence and scoring a goal against Sunderland was like Haley's Comet. When Sunderland achieved promotion in 1963-64 after a frustrating run of seasons in which Sunderland narrowly missed out on returning to the top flight, Hurley had played a massive part in their promotion and only Bobby Moore stood in his way from winning the Football Writers Player of the Year.

Hurley's most memorable match would no doubt be the FA Cup 5th Round victory against Norwich City in which he scored a sensational goal with his trusty rock of a head to win the tie.

After a magnificent 12 season which he played 402 games and scored a handy 23 goals, Hurley moved to Bolton Wanderers in 1969. It was no suprise to see Hurley be named the Black Cats' "Player of the Century" by the fans on the occasion of the club's centenary in 1979.

His efforts for the Republic of Ireland were also sensational, as he played a solid 40 games and scored two memorable goals.

A truly great player who was immensely talented and equipped with great vision, superb tackling and heading, and a sensational footballing brain.