'Playing against him was intimidating' - Smith's top five 'hard men'

BBC News

26-06-2025

Throughout Thursday, we are revealing who former Sunderland attacker Martin Smith has picked as the Black Cats' all-time toughest tacklers.In third place, he has picked "stylish and classy" centre-back Gary Bennett, who made more than 350 appearances for the club during an 11-year stint."You would always find out about it if you got on the wrong side of him," Smith told BBC Radio Newcastle. "I spoke to somebody else who also played with him, just to confirm what I thought, and even they said he could handle himself."He could always stick his foot in. If you think back, as a centre-back, some of the players you were up coming up against were real handfuls."There were some proper centre-forwards that would stick their elbows in and stamp on your feet, but Bennett always stood up to that. He was just solid."At number two, Smith has gone for another cult hero - the 'red and white tractor' John Kay."He got that nickname in a game against Leeds United," he explained. "I remember when Peter Haddock came off, Howard Wilkinson said it looked like he had been ran over by a tractor because of the stud marks down his chest."I always knew his reputation, so playing practice games against him was quite intimidating."I remember sticking a ball through his legs in a practice game once. He told me not to do it again but, thinking nothing of it, I did it again. He then told me he was going to break my legs and, the next time I had the ball, he absolutely wiped me out."But who has Smith crowned as Sunderland's greatest 'hard man'?Find out on BBC Sounds now - or come back to this page a little later today