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The Evil Genius
Personal
Fullname: Christopher Roy Sutton
aka: Chris Sutton, ‘The Evil Genius’
Born: 10 Mar 1973
Birthplace: Nottingham, England
Signed: 11 July 2000
Left: 5 Jan 2006
Position: Striker/Forward (but also utilised in midfield or defence on occasion)
Debut: Dundee Utd 1-2 Celtic, SPL, 31 July 2000 (scored once)
Internationals:England
International Caps: 1 cap
International Goals: 0
Trivia
- Scorer of the final goal in dying minutes to give us a 1-0 win and whitewash Rangers for the fifth time out of 5 meetings in 2003-04.
- Scored a goal at Blackburn to knock them out of the UEFA Cup, Blackburn was his old club where he was a legend.
- Member of the famous “SAS” partnership with Geordie legend Alan Shearer at Blackburn Rovers.
- Scorer of the fastest goal in Celtic v Rangers history (just 20 seconds into a game).
- Nicknamed “The Evil Genius” by the Celtic Support due to his hunskelping credentials!
Biog
| “If I could actually go back to any period in my life and just relive it over and over again, I’d go back to when I first signed for Celtic under Martin [O’Neill].” Chris Sutton (2011) |
![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/efb01636b4a8731536fa28197acae2c0 "[Untitled]")
Having been part of the lauded “SAS” partnership (Sutton and Shearer) at Blackburn Rovers which landed them the league title in the 1990s, he came to Celtic via Chelsea having endured a miserable time there and was wrongly branded a failure. When bought by Martin O’Neill for £6m in 2000, many in England laughed at the price tag and at him. How he was to prove them wrong. Anyhow, when he signed for Celtic, he had the basics right when he rightly proclaimed: “I know the expectations of the Celtic fans. That’s to win the league and put Rangers in their place“. Bless him!
On the pitch, he got off to a flier scoring the winning goal in his debut game against Dundee Utd, but he earned legendary status early taking part in the classic 6-2 victory over Rangers scoring the first and last goal in that game.
Over time he proved that this was no flash in the pan, and scoring against Rangers was something he relished. Scoring a beezer of a goal that sealed the “Whitewash” of five wins in a season against Rangers was just bliss, whilst another of his great achievements included scoring the fastest goal in the aforementioned 6-2 match, scoring in just 20 seconds.
As part of the club, he helped to change our expectations from just becoming top dogs of Scotland to setting our mark in Europe also. The Road to Seville was blessed with some great moments from Sutton, with the great man relishing proving himself against English opposition, especially in beating Blackburn, scoring a tremendous headed goal against his former club (where he is a legend) in the away leg.
His partnership with Larsson in particular was very fruitful, and Larsson is the first to state his admiration for Sutton as his perfect support player. Between them they were the best strike force for many a long year at any club, with John Hartson brought in to assist the pair of them later on (and some bemoaned that John Hartson’s introduction actually might have undermined the previous successful pairing).
Sutton was able to header the ball as hard as some could kick it, quite a frightening thought. He was able to intimidate and bully defences with little effort or foul play, and that got him the advantage & space needed. Some petty critics used to try to label him as a diver, but that was just nonsense and there was insufficient examples that could be referred to back that accusation up. He likely just snorted back at them.
Another great asset of the man was his ability to play in different roles, including slotting into midfield or even defence if need be, where his lanky frame allowed him to do so. Defence wasn’t his forte but he still played the role when need be.
The question is why is he not as lauded as much as Larsson? To be truthful, he did not have the pure absolute skill or style of Larsson, and unlike Larsson there were certain games where you could tell that he simply was not bothered. One example was a game v Rangers where he just seemed uninterested and got himself sent off handling the ball just to get off the pitch.
On top of that, he had a frosty relationship with the press which didn’t help matters, and stories abounded that personally he was quite abrupt with some of the fans. In fairness, those who knew him saw a different side such as Neil Lennon who commented well on Sutton in his biography remarking about the big man’s wit and humour. In interviews, he has shown himself to be quite quick witted with a dead pan dry wit to any questions. Worth seeking out his interviews as he could really put an incompetent interviewer on the spot.
One infamous incident was an interview where after Celtic had lost the league on the last day to Rangers in season 2002/03, he accused Dunfermline of lying down to them. He subsequently apologised but the arrogant streak was as much a weakness in PR terms as it was a strength on the pitch.
Regardless, on the pitch he produced more than his fair share and proved himself to all of the support. Henrik Larsson even called him the best striker he ever played along with, and note this includes luminaries such as the great Ronaldinho (Brazil), a young Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Samuel Eto.
After MoN’s departure as manager, Sutton’s run in the team was beset by both injuries as well as some animosity with the new manager, Gordon Strachan, which ultimately led to his premature departure. Most of the Celtic support had wished he’d remain for just a season more at least as he had still more to give.
One of the most incredible aspects about Sutton is that he has been a great player both in England and Scotland, and yet he amassed only one single international cap. He refused to play in a B international as he felt he had done enough to prove himself (and fair enough with his record) but it killed off his international career. England slumped from glorious failure to inglorious failure over the years when they could have picked Sutton. He later admitting that he regretted his snubbing the England B spot (as killed off his England career) but England’s loss was Celtic’s gain.
As a tribute to his hard-edged persona, he was lovably tagged by the support as ‘The Evil Genius‘, and his style matched it but he also played up to the part.
As a measure of the impact that Celtic had on him, he clearly showed in interviews just what the club & support really meant to him:
“If I could actually go back to any period in my life and just relive it over and over again, I’d go back to when I first signed for Celtic under Martin [O’Neill].”
“Celtic was the best, most enjoyable football of my career. Every day I would wake up looking forward to training, looking forward to working with Martin, John Robertson and Steve Walford.”
As like many other Celtic fans, all we can say to him is thanks for the memories. He will always rank as a great & highly favoured player for all of us.
Post-Celtic
He later moved to Aston Villa after an injury hit spell at relegation-bound Birmingham, to be reunited with Martin O’Neill, and then to Birmingham City where he ended his playing days.
Chris Sutton retired as a player in the Summer of 2007 due to an eye injury sustained in the 2006-07 season.
On 28 September 2009 Sutton moved into management when he was appointed manager of Lincoln City, but it didn’t work out and he left the role in time, and went back to terrorising interviewers with his dry wit.
Chris Sutton was a bane in the side of Rangers during his playing career, and if they thought that he was going to leave them alone after their death there was another thing coming. The Zombie tribute act, TheRangers/Sevco (2012) were to play Motherwell in the SP playoffs in May 2015, the winner to obtain the last place in the top tier for the next season.
TheRangers were desperate after years in the outback, and a very humiliating season having just past. The final score was a humiliating 6-1 defeat in aggregate for TheRangers, and to rub salt into the wounds, three of the key players were ex-Celts (McManus, Pearson & Scott McDonald).
The icing on the cake was that the final goal scored was by John Sutton, brother of Chris Sutton. The reach of the ‘Evil Genius’ is long, and we all laughed and applauded at this great bit of trivia.
Chris Sutton was to move into media work with BT Sports, terrorising the cosy world of football journalism, and really was excellent and honest. Much needed in this stale media world.
He was also a high profile campaigner for highlighting the issue of accelerated dementia & Alzheimers in former footballers from heading the ball & concussions, which through the 2000’s was increasingly gaining exposure & discussion. Sadly his father had suffered from this, and Chris Sutton has been very outspoken to have this highlighted for the benefit of all. Chris Sutton is a truly great man.
Playing Career
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish/FA Cup | League cup | Other | ||||
| Aston Villa | 03/10/2006 | 31/05/2007 | Free | 6 (2) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Birmingham | 05/01/2006 | 03/10/2006 | Free | 10 (0) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 11/07/2000 | 05/01/2006 | £6,000,000 | 127 (3) | 63 | 16 (0) | 5 | 8 (1) | 2 | 42 (2) | 16 |
| Chelsea | 05/07/1999 | 11/07/2000 | £10,000,000 | 21 (7) | 1 | 3 (1) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 3 (4) | 1 |
| Blackburn | 13/07/1994 | 05/07/1999 | £5,000,000 | 126 (5) | 50 | 9 (0) | 4 | 11 (1) | 7 | 7 (3) | 1 |
| Norwich | 02/07/1991 | 13/07/1994 | Trainee | 90 (13) | 35 | 10 (0) | 5 | 8 (1) | 3 | 6 (0) | 0 |
| Totals | £21,000,000 | 380 (30) | 151 | 39 (1) | 15 | 27 (4) | 12 | 58 (9) | 18 | ||
| goals / game | 0.36 | 0.37 | 0.38 | 0.26 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
Scottish PFA Player of the Year
SPL Player of the Year:
Scottish Premier League
Scottish Cup
Scottish League Cup
UEFA Cup
- Runners-up: 2002-2003
Quotes
David Tanner (Sky Sports): “Chris, just what is it that has made Celtic champions this year?”
Chris Sutton: “We got more points than anyone else.”
Interviewer: “What would you have done if you hadn’t been a footballer?”
Chris Sutton: “A funeral director. I like looking at dead bodies.”
Chris Sutton, 1999
“I didn’t do well at Chelsea, but Celtic was the best, most enjoyable football of my career. Every day I would wake up looking forward to training, looking forward to working with Martin, John Robertson and Steve Walford. Their sessions were inspirational. If I take anything from them, it is the wish to be fair. Disciplined, but fair. You have to be fair to your players. Others might say different, but, as a player, I would argue that my attitude and application were spot on.”
Chris Sutton (2009)
“Chris doesn’t like anyone’s company. So if he likes Bellamy that is a major plus. If he passes the Sutton test, then he should pass anything.”
Martin O’Neill
“If I could actually go back to any period in my life and just relive it over and over again, I’d go back to when I first signed for Celtic under Martin [O’Neill].”
Chris Sutton interview (2011)
“Every time we played Rangers I hated them, I wanted to smash them into the ground, nothing else mattered.”
Chris Sutton in his biog (2011)
“It gave me a great level of satisfaction to know how much the Rangers fans were hurting after we’d beaten their team. Beating Rangers was great.”
Chris Sutton
“As a Celtic player we took great pleasure in walloping the teams from down south.”
Celtic player & Englishman Chris Sutton
Interviewer: “If you met Glenn Hoddle now would you shake his hand and have a cup of tea?”
Chris Sutton: “If we were in a tearoom, yeah.”
Chris Sutton on SKY TV’s Soccer AM
“F*cking Sutton! He was a striker! I have no idea why he was playing as a centre-half. I thought I would make it. But I was not fit for the first game, then the second one…”
Claudio Caniggia (Rangers player) claiming a challenge by Sutton in Scottish Cup final 2002 ended his World Cup hopes (not all are convinced) (2018)
“The Socceroos should shove their XXXX where the sun doesn’t shine… it’s Mickey Mouse football!”
Chris Sutton criticises Australian FA for taking Rogic attempts to take away from Celtic for meaningless intl game when Celtic are to play Sevco in Ne’er day derby (2018)
“An SFA stitch-up to stop Celtic is the only explanation for letting off Alfredo Morelos.
“I know there are all these conspiracies in Scottish football, but letting Morelos off just makes it looks like the SFA want Rangers to win the league.”
Chris Sutton damns SFA and refs after they let off Sevco’s Morelos despite clear evidence of stamping and fouling (2018)
“Celtic reserves are BIGGER than Leicester City!”
Chris Sutton criticising Brendan Rodgers on his move down south (Mar 2019)
“I don’t know which things I’ve said that Rangers [sic!] don’t like!”
Chris Sutton (2022)
Anecdotes
1) Chris Sutton v Derek Johnstone (2016)
In football, we’re usually subjected to bland patter between ex-professionals who, even when they are disagreeing, don’t actually seem to disagree with each other. There’s no debate. No entertainment. In that regard, Chris Sutton is a breath of fresh air, even if it does spoil it sometimes by being overly negative or insistent in his own beliefs.
He’s also not afraid to give it both barrels to someone he doesn’t like, as evidenced by this radio conversation with former Rangers player Derek Johnstone. There’s nothing we can say which will do the mutual dislike justice, so I’ll let the words speak for themselves.
Sutton: “I work in the media now and you’ve got someone next to you [Johnstone] who’s an embarrassment to the media profession. He’s an apologist, he’s a charlatan, he’s a Rangers puppet. He’s a cheerleader, that’s what he is.”
Derek Johnstone: “When I’m watching the television and I’m watching a game on BT, I’ll turn the sound down because I get absolutely nothing from yourself except negativity. You have no respect for your fellow footballers whatsoever.”
Pictures
Articles
Links
KDS
Books
DVD
- Sutton Impact