FIVE players to have played for Sunderland & Sheff Utd - can you name any we might have missed?

Brian Deane

Deane started out at Doncaster Rovers between 1985 and 1988 before his career would really take off after a £25,000 move down the road to Sheffield United.

A five-year stay at Bramall Lane would include guiding the Blades to a place in the inaugural season of the new F.A Premier League, where he would achieve the distinction of scoring the first ever goal in the Premier League against Manchester United in August 1992.

Also whilst at Sheffield United, Deane would be capped three times by England under Graham Taylor - his last cap came against Spain in September 1992.

Leeds United would come calling in the following summer with a bid of £2.9 million, which would be records for Leeds United and Sheffield United.

Four fairly successful years in North Yorkshire culminated in a record of 32 goals in 138 Premier League appearances, that would end in another short trip back to South Yorkshire in a £1.5 million return to the Blades in 1997.

This spell would last only one season before a move to Graeme Souness’ Benfica in a deal worth £1 million the following summer. In nine months in Lisbon, Deane would score seven in eighteen appearances before moving to Middlesbrough for a reported £3 million.

Short spells at Leicester City, West Ham United and a second stop at Elland Road followed before Mick McCarthy boosted the Sunderland ranks bringing the then 37-year-old Deane in as back-up in 2005.

He would make only four appearances on Wearside before retiring in 2006, after moves to Australia with Perth Glory and a third stint at Sheffield United, making him the only player to have signed for the club three times.

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Don Hutchison

Starting his career at Hartlepool United, it didn’t take long for the big clubs to make their move and after only one year of first team football at Pools, he’d move to Liverpool in 1990.

Almost fifty appearances in four years followed until Harry Redknapp would take him to West Ham United in a deal worth £1.5 million in 1994. He would find himself in and out of the first team over his two years at Upton Park and would need a move to Sheffield United to kick start his career.

Hutchison’s career flourished at Bramall Lane under the stewardship of Howard Kendall, meaning that he would become one of his first signings when Kendall returned to Everton in 1998. He quickly became a fan’s favourite, which caused issues when Hutchison wanted parity with the top earners at Goodison during contract talks; the opening Peter Reid needed to take him to Wearside.

I remember thinking he was a good player when he signed from Everton for £2.5 million in the summer of 2000, but despite only 39 appearances on Wearside, he was key to the success of an impressive seventh place finish during 2000-01. For whatever reason, the Scottish international left Sunderland to join West Ham United the following summer for £5 million. For many people, it seemed to be the beginning of the end for Peter Reid at Sunderland.

The Scottish international would finish his playing career in 2008 after brief spells with Millwall, Coventry City and Luton Town.

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Billy Whitehurst

An old school hard man of football, when Vinnie Jones was asked what it felt like to be the hardest man in football, he replied “I don’t know… ask Billy Whitehurst”.

Signed by Denis Smith for Sunderland in 1988, after seeing his bruised body in the changing room after an altercation with bouncers the night before convinced Smith he was the threat we needed up front, he would end with scoring three goals in eighteen appearances.

Between 1980-1992, Whitehurst would turn out in the colours of Hull City, Newcastle United, Oxford United, Reading, Sheffield United, Stoke City, Doncaster Rovers, Crewe Alexandra as well as a host of non-League clubs before retiring.

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Wilf Rostron

Sunderland-born Wilf Rostron began his career at Arsenal, making his debut in 1975. He would find first team appearances hard to come by and would end up leaving to join Ken Knighton’s Sunderland in a deal worth £40,000 in July 1977.

Mainly deployed on the left of midfield, Rostron cropped up with the odd goal, scoring six in his first season and eleven in his second as Sunderland narrowly missed out on promotion during his two years on Wearside.

In 1979 Graham Taylor would part with £150,000 to take Rostron to Vicarage Road where he’d stay for the next ten years making well over 300 appearances for the club. This would include helping Watford to achieve promotion to the top flight and winning the player of the season award as they finished second in Division One in 1982-83, despite sharing the field with the likes of John Barnes and Luther Blissett.

He left Watford in 1989, joining Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer in a spell that would only last eight months ahead of a move to their steel city rivals Sheffield United, where he’d make 36 appearances. Wilf Rostron would retire in 1991 after a brief spell at Brentford.

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Alf Common

Born in Millfield, Sunderland, it was no surprise that Common started his professional career at Sunderland in 1900 having been spotted playing for South Hylton and Jarrow.

His first stint at Sunderland would last one year before a move to Sheffield United for a national transfer record-breaking sum, where he’d score the first goal in the Blades first FA Cup win in 1902. He would go on to make 67 appearances for Sheffield United until 1904 when he refused to re-sign as he wished to return to Wearside.

Yet another national record transfer fee of £520 brought him back to Sunderland although his second spell would only last six months before... that’s right, another national record transfer fee, when he’d become the first player to transfer for £1,000, taking him this time to Middlesbrough.

His time at Middlesbrough would see him a regular for five years before a move to Woolwich Arsenal in 1910 where he’d spend two years before another two years at Preston North End.

Alf Common retired from the game in 1914 having also been capped three times by England between 1904-1906 scoring two goals.

The Northern Echo