"Its a very very sad day for the football club and of course our immediate thoughts are with Ian's wife Glenda and his family during what is a tremendously difficult time," he said.

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"The word legend can be very much over-used in the modern era of football, but Ian is what I would call a true legend of the game.

"He is part of what can only be described as an institution in the long and proud history of Sunderland AFC – the famous FA Cup winning team of 1973.

"His appearances for the club during 10 loyal years at Roker Park, not to mention his winning goal at Wembley, also ensure that his name is up there with the likes of Charlie Hurley, Raich Carter and Bobby Gurney."

It was the 31st minute of the game on May 5, 1973, which saw Porterfield take advantage of an uncertain Leeds defence to fire home a clinical right-foot finish – just about the only right-footed goal the completely left-footed player ever scored.

Second-division Sunderland had to rely on a momentous team-effort, not to mention a miraculous double save from Jimmy Montgomery to see them home that day.

But it was Porterfield's goal which ensured the ultimate underdogs lifted the cup in arguably the biggest upset ever in the oldest club competition in the world.

Although that May afternoon at Wembley was the highlight of Porterfield's career, he went on to spend more than a quarter-of-a-century in managerial hotseats across the globe.

He was diagnosed with colon cancer earlier this year, but that did not stop him continuing to carry out his duties as national team manager of Armenia right up to his death.

In fact he left his hospital bed in August to supervise the team's superb 1-1 draw against Portugal – a result which has left Phil Scolari's side struggling to qualify for the 2008 European Championships.

Porterfield's job with the East European country was the last in a number of managerial roles which began at Rotherham in December 1979 and took him around the world to places like Zambia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Trinidad and Tobago and South Korea.

After leaving Rotherham he moved on to Sheffield United before succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen

He also had a spell at Reading before managing Chelsea in the early 90s.