OTD: POOM DEBUT

OTD: POOM DEBUT Former Sunderland goalkeeper Mart Poom made his SAFC debut on this day in a 2-0 defeat to Birmingham City in 2003. Ironically, Steve Bruce was managing the Blues that day and it was actually also the game which confirmed our long inevitable relegation. This was the first of 68 appearances Poom made for the club, scoring one memorable goal during his spell here...

He was named Estonia’s ‘Golden Player’, an honour bestowed by all UEFA national teams in 2004 and reserved only for that nation's most outstanding player of the past 50 years. For comparison, England’s Golden Player was Bobby Moore, Scotland’s was Dennis Law and Holland’s was Johan Cruyff, so to say Poom is an Estonian football legend is an understatement. He has represented his country 120 times, from 1992-2009. He also received an Order of the White Star in recognition of his services to the state.

Poom started playing football with Tallinna Lõvid which translates to the very cool sounding ‘Lions of Tallin’ before moving to the Soviet Second Division in 1989 for another Tallinn club, Tallin Sport. In 1992, Poom joined Finnish Veikkausliiga club KUPS. He played only 9 games in Finland, before returning to Estonia to the successor to his old club, which was called Flora. From Flora, he signed for Wil in a deal worth a reported £128,000. He then made the move over to England in 1994, joining Portsmouth before being loaned back to Flora in 1995. Back in Tallinn again, he broke the club record by keeping a clean sheet for 756 consecutive minutes.

He only made four appearances at Pompey before his transfer to Derby County for £595,000, with the club making a decent profit on him, having signed for £170,000. He made his debut in the Premier League on 5 April 1997, against Manchester United in Derby's 3–2 away win at Old Trafford, becoming the first player from Estonia to play in the PL. He quickly became a fan favourite but after Derby were relegated, he was subsequently allowed to join us on an initial loan which we later made permanent. He signed for around £3 million.

It was Mick McCarthy who gave him his debut in mid-April '03, having never been selected by the manager who bought him (Howard Wilkinson).

It was in the game against his former side that resulted in the iconic moment that he will be most remembered by. He scored arguably the best goal ever scored by a goalkeeper in the 90th minute to level the game, having gone up for the corner. Poom met the ball with a bullet header and it lead to the classic commentary by Simon Crabtree, who dubbed him ‘the Poominator’. It probably still is the best connection with a ball ever seen, an insanely powerful header any forward would be proud of.

In typical Poom fashion, his celebration was actually very understated. Despite scoring a last-minute bullet header against his former side, Mart's first reaction was to rush back to his goal andprepare to defend. I guess this sums up his total professionalism - he was known for his rigorous personal training regime and dedication to being as good as he possibly could be. The goal was also one of two 'firsts' Poom managed at Sunderland. He became the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a first-team game, picking up a red card at Crystal Palace in 2004.

Sadly, he spent the 2004/2005 season sidelined through injury, appearing only 11 times as we won the Championship. From us, he went to Arsenal as temporary loan cover for Almunia and Lehmann. It’s a shame the move was made permanent as Poom only made one appearance for the club, in the League Cup, and even that only came because Almunia was injured. He was the first Estonian to ever receive a Champions League runner up medal, which is something, I guess.

From Arsenal, Poom joined Watford. He dislocated his shoulder in September and only played 19 times for the side and was then released at the end of his contract. He played his last game for Estonia in 2009 and is now the goalkeeping coach of the national team set up. His greatest moment was that goal against Derby and the reaction from the home supporters demonstrated that he was greatly respected by both sides. I wonder how different his career might have been had he never joined Arsenal...