Ian Porterfield 1946- 2007 RIP
By dixon9
September 12 2007
Ian Porterfield, Chelsea manager from 1991-1993, died yesterday at only 61 years of age after being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. His career spanned 30 years as player and manager, and for 2 brief periods, he was at the Bridge both as assistant manager and manager.
He wasn’t one of our most memorable managers although he was considered by some as part of the Chelsea family having served for just over 3 years at the Bridge including a period as assistant manager before leaving to manage Reading and then return shortly after in 1991 to replace Bobby Campbell.
Ian was of course more remembered for that famous goal against Leeds when playing for 2nd Division Sunderland in the FA Cup Final. FA Cup Final day in those days was really something special – cameras on the team coach, Bob Stokoe explaining that his lads had had cornflakes for breakfast and were rearing to go against the mighty Leeds.
Ian was our first ever premiership manager but an unremarkable record of Won 29, Drawn 27 and Lost 29 meant he wasn’t to be one of our longest reigning. A 12 game run without a win, including 3 defeats in a week and a particularly painful League Cup exit against Tranmere Rovers made Ken Bates finally lose patience and show Ian the door, making him the first Premier League manager to be sacked. Ian was temporarily replaced by David Webb.
I can remember many Chelsea supporters being particularly baffled at various player sales in the transfer market (including Kerry Dixon to Southampton which I never forgave him for - Should have given Kerry 1-2 seasons more!) and one Chelsea fanzine led with a front page photo of Ian stood up at the dugout, pointing to the field and the words “He’s Good! Let’s Sell Him!” His better purchases, however, included Andy Townsend and in particular, Dennis Wise.
Although there was plenty of doom and gloom during Ian’s tenure at the Bridge, there were a few bright moments such as a 3-1 win away to Spurs and a 1st away win in 56 years at Anfield (although, on reflection, this at the time, was perhaps an embarrassing stat for Chelsea).
By all accounts, although possessing the stereotypical dour Scotsman trait, he was a fairly quiet, likeable, modest man with over 30 years of football experience.
As a player, Ian’s career spanned 15 years as a midfielder, playing for Raith Rovers, Sunderland, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday.
In 1979 he began his managerial career at Rotherham, progressing through Sheffield Utd, Aberdeen (replacing Alex Ferguson, and is still, to date, the last manager to replace Fergie), Reading and then eventually Chelsea.
As an international manager he did very well and gained a lot of experience managing 5 national teams. He did return to England as an assistant manager under Colin Todd at Bolton in 1996 before resuming his International managerial career and eventually taking up his last position for the Armenian national side with an admirable 1-1 draw against Scolari´s Portugal being the biggest highlight.
Tributes:
Sir Alex Ferguson
"His death so young is a tragedy for his family and for football.
"It isn't long ago when he was coaching in Korea that I spoke with him with the intention of getting a few young players over to United.
"I played against him when he was with Raith Rovers. He was an exceptional footballer, blessed with a lot of natural talent.
"Porterfield's widow, Glenda
"He may have been a football man all his life, but I know him best as a wonderful human being who was liked by everyone he came in contact with.
"He had his wish to die in harness. Just over two weeks ago, we flew to Armenia for the Portugal game and I'll always remember what happened at the open training session at the stadium on the day before the game.
"The stadium was packed to see all the Portuguese stars like Ronaldo, Deco and the rest, but when Ian walked out, they all stood up and shouted his name. It was very moving." .
'He was just a great guy and a great football guy. He was passionate about football, enthusiastic, and he came in with a smile on his face, always willing to work.'
'He showed great faith in me and put me in at times when I wasn't at my best. He always stuck by me, He was a good manager for me and a good friend as well. It is a sad day.
'Probably the biggest disappointment of his time here as manager was when we lost in the quarter-final replay of the FA Cup.
'We felt we had a team that could certainly have beaten Sunderland that night and if we had done that and reached the semi-final who knows what could have happened during Ian's time at Chelsea.'
Graham Stuart:
'Obviously Porters would have loved to have gone back to Roker Park and come away with a victory from his old club and I don't think we could have done much more apart from win that night. We had so many chances and just couldn't find the back of the net,'
'He knew he had a good group of youngsters coming through and wasn't afraid to push them into the first team. It turned out to be a pretty good mix of youth and experience.
'He was so enthusiastic, that was the first thing that came across about him. Initially, he was the coach when I was coming through and he was excellent. That enthusiasm rubbed off on us all.
'When he was manager, his team talks were hilarious. With his enthusiasm, I used to think he was going to stick his boots on and run out there and play as well.
'He was a bubbly, bubbly person and he was a really nice guy. There are some people out there who do the job and they haven't really got any time for you. Porters was quite happy to sit down with you with a cup of tea and talk things through. He loved talking about football full-stop and it was really sad on Tuesday when I found out.'
Bobby Campbell:
'It is a very, very sad occasion for me. I brought him into the job to help me and he worked very hard. He was a very likeable sort of person.
'And he was football-mad. His enthusiasm was why I appointed him. He spoke with great enthusiasm and he was a great football person.'
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007:09:13:13:39:26 by dixon9.