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This morning Owner, Joey Saputo and the Montreal Impact held a press conference at Centre Nutrilait, to announce Greg Sutton’s induction to the club’s wall of fame.
The former Canadian international and four-time USL Goalkeeper of the Year becomes the third name on the illustrious list after former team-mates, Gabriel Gervais and Nevio Pizzolito, for whom Sutton paid tribute, “Without those two guys I would not be sitting here today. We had a great defence, and at the same time I hope that in some small way, I helped each of them get on this board too.”
Montreal Impact explained the criteria for eligibility to the club’s Wall of Fame, giving fans a better appreciation of the concept behind the award.
Criteria dictates that it must be at least 15 years since a player debuted for the Impact, and that player must have finished playing at the club for at least 5 years. In addition the nomination must have played over 100 games, positively contributed to the club’s history, and distinguished themselves in an important way during their career, both with the team, and throughout the league.
Greg Sutton certainly ticked all of those boxes, and is a deserved third recipient. In addition to those 4 Goalkeeper of the Year Awards, he was named USL MVP in 2004, won the USL A-League Championship in 2004 and 5 Voyageurs Cups. He also played internationally, 16 times for Canada, representing his country at three Gold Cups; 2005, 2007 and 2009, when the quarter-finals were reached.
He remains the Impact’s all-time leader in regular season play with 67 career clean sheets in 132 games played.
In all, Sutton played 149 games for the Impact, which included 75 shut-outs, Between 2004 and 2006 he kept clean sheets a remarkable 51 times in 89 matches. In each of those three seasons, he conceded a miserly 15 goals in regular season play.
Greg retired at the end of the 2012 season, Impact’s first in MLS. He had returned to the club the previous year from New York Red Bulls for whom he also played MLS soccer, after a stint with Toronto FC.
The latest addition to the Impact’s Wall of Fame will be honoured during half-time at Saturday evening’s home game at Stade Saputo against Minnesota United FC (TVA Sports, 98,5, TSN 690). Tickets for the game are still available.