Coach of Armenia National Football Team: Ian Porterfield Has Passed Away

1 Comment on Coach of Armenia National Football Team: Ian Porterfield Has Passed AwaySport

Armenia national team coach, football hero Ian Porterfield has died, aged 61.
Ian Porterfield, who was in charge of Armenia for the excellent games against Kazakhstan and Poland, as well as the brilliant match against against Portugal in Yerevan on 22 August, which ended in a 1-1 draw, and seemed to have revived the football glory of Ararat’73, suffered from cancer.

[BBC Sport | Tuesday, 11 September 2007] Porterfield, who scored the Black Cats’ winning goal against Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup final, had been suffering from cancer.
Born in Dunfermline, Porterfield also enjoyed a successful management career with Rotherham, Sheffield United, Aberdeen, Reading and Chelsea.
He went on to coach in Korea and took charge of several national teams, and his final job was as boss of Armenia.

The sorrow is great, and I share my sincere condolences with the great footballers family and fans.
Photo by AP (via Unzipped,  via Yahoo Sport).

Artur Papyan

Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant

1 Comment

  1. There have been a number of reactions from the Armenian blogosphere:
    Unzipped was one of the first to react:

    Very, very sad, indeed… He managed to resuscitate Armenia’s national football and became one of ‘ours’ within a very short time… My condolences to his family and all football fans…
    Porterfield’s widow Glenda said: “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.”

    Reporter_Arm speaks of the hopes and love of the Armenian football fans towards the great trainer, and brings some statistics, noting, that the Armenian national team played 11 games under his command, two of which were victorious games, 4 ended in a draw, and 5 games were lost.
    A1plus blog also spreaks of the great respect Armenians had for Ian Porterfield.
    There are more reactions as bloggers, like the Sick Designer are finding out the news.

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