Thanks Ken.
Schwarzer was definitely the best Boro keeper in my time following the club. A big presence at the back at a time when we weren’t always as defensive as we’ve become in recent years.
His best attribute for me was his ability to deal with crosses. With the game having moved on a bit now with wingers who more frequently come inside to shoot rather than going outside to cross, as well top keepers needing to be able to use their feet, it’s possible that he wouldn’t have suited the modern game as much the era he played in but he was great for us and a real loss when he departed for Fulham. A player who I think we took for granted a little while he was with us.
Mark Schwarzer still lives in England and is often on BBC as a football expert commentator
I still follow him on Twitter and he is doing an update on his life story soon
OFB
I met George a few times as I was friendly with his son Anthony and went to see George captain a friendly at South Bank FC After he had retired from professional football.
I also knew Jim Ramage who’s son Alan played centre half for Boro but an excellent fast bowler who could have also made it his full time career with Yorkshire.
OFB
I refereed Bill Athey when he played football for Nunthorpe before he took up a professional cricketing career with Yorkshire.
He was a great footballer and was very competitive with a questioning attitude which is why I remember him so much as a former referee!
OFB
I met George a few times as I was friendly with his son Anthony and went to see George captain a friendly at South Bank FC After he had retired from professional football.
I also knew Jim Ramage who’s son Alan played centre half for Boro but an excellent fast bowler who could have also made it his full time career with Yorkshire.
OFB
Alan’s sister was a great cricketer too. I’m pretty sure I’ve played against them both.
ANTHONY MARK MOWBRAY 1982/92
Tony Mowbray was born in Saltburn in 1963. Affectionately known as ‘Mogga’ he was THE stalwart of the Boro side that survived the ignominy of almost going out of business in 1986 and was the reason that I decided to name this site ‘Boro Stalwarts’ because he certainly was THE inspirational leader of the team that won successive promotions that guided Boro into the First Division. We all know the story of how a consortium led by Colin Henderson and Steve Gibson saved the club, but let’s not forget that it was Bruce Rioch and Tony Mowbray who principally did the business on the field of play. Mogga was a special man and Rioch, a strict disciplinarian, was quoted as stating that if he was on a flight to the moon, he’d wish for Mogga to be his pilot.
Mogga made his debut for Boro in the first match of the 1983/84 season as a substitute in a 1-0 win at Portsmouth but eventually played in 33 league matches in his first season scoring only once away to Carlisle in April in Malcolm Allison’s team, but Irving Nattrass was the captain. However he eventually took over the captaincy and his partnership with Gary Pallister was legendary, with Pally stating that Mogga was one of the most honest of players you could meet. Pally continued “Mogga played as though his life depended on it because he had such a huge desire and will to win, and commanded so much respect in the dressing room”. Mogga went on to make 424 appearances for Boro and scored 29 goals. After Rioch was sacked and Colin Todd took over Mogga was injured, and only played in 25 league matches in the 1989/90 season and even missed Boro’s first ever visit to Wembley in the Zenith Data Systems Cup Final, but as a token of the great respect he had at the club Colin Todd bestowed the honour of allowing Mogga to lead the side out onto the hallowed turf instead of himself.
Boro just avoided relegation that season by beating Newcastle 4-1 in the final match of the season and finished 7th and 2nd in the next two seasons but Boro reluctantly allowed Tony to leave for Celtic in November 1991 where he made 77 appearances and scored 5 goals in three seasons. Tragically his wife died during his playing career at Celtic Park. Bernadette had survived breast cancer and they were to be married in the off season in June. However the cancer spread to her hips, liver and lungs and the diagnosis was terminal. So the wedding was brought forward to April. Mogga said he considered himself fortunate to be at his wife’s side when the end came. She was only 26 as she died in Tony’s arms with her family surrounding her which was the way she wanted it. Her father Jimmy Doyle speaking at the funeral stated how proud he was of his daughter, but also praised the strength and support that Tony had given to all his daughter’s family, also stating that Tony was a very special person indeed, and so he was particularly to Boro fans.
He then spent five seasons at Ipswich making 128 appearances and scoring 5 times and at last was able to play at Wembley as the Tractor Boys gained promotion by beating Barnsley 4-2 in the playoff final, after which he retired from playing. He had made three appearances for the England B team, but was unable to be selected for the full England team. Following the sacking of George Burley at Ipswich, he took over as temporary coach but then returned to Scotland to take over as manager at Hibernian for two years winning the Scottish Football Writers Award in his first season there. He then took over at West Bromwich Albion where they were promoted as Champions in 2008 to the Premier League. On the strength of that success he returned to Scotland to manage Celtic, but things didn’t go well there and he was sacked after only nine months.
Boro were going through a tricky patch of their own having been relegated under Gareth Southgate and failed miserably under Gordon Strachan, and were 2nd from bottom when they appointed Mogga as their manager in October 2010. They lost Mogga’s first match in charge at home to Bristol City but gradually pulled away from danger by winning 7 and losing only one of their final dozen matches to finish a creditable 12th. The following season they won 16 drew 11 and lost 7 of their first 34 matches giving them an eclectic total of 84 points from their last 46 matches enough to have made the playoffs if the season had ran from March 2011 to March 2012. Unfortunately as Celtic manager he had got rid of several players as not good enough, and had now found them at Boro. With no money to play with he was unable to challenge for a playoff place and was succeeded by Boro’s first Foreign manager Aitor Karnanka.
Magga then spent two years managing Coventry, another club with no money and no ground, and now manager of Blackburn Rovers, another club with little money but with more success and adhering to the Mowbray method of playing attractive football. As for his personal life, he is now happily married to Amber and the father of three boys. I am pleased for him. He deserves to be happy again after the trauma of losing Bernadette in such tragic circumstances.
@ken Again a personal favourite. I have attended one of his press conference at Rockcliffe. And then I had a few words with him. What a person, always ready to talk football with fans, too. A real Teessider and a Boro fan.
As I might have said before, please bring him back. After Neil Warnock retires, for example. He deserves a second try in managing Boro. Or as a Directot of Football. Bring him in 🙂.
Up the Boro!
Thanks Ken.
Mowbray is a true Boro legend and a fantastic man as well.
He was the first Boro player I met in the flesh as I spotted him in Preston Park when I was perhaps 9 or 10. He signed his autograph for me with his trademark “Be lucky” message.
I was delighted when he was appointed manager and for that early spell we seemed to have it all - entertaining, passing football and good results to go with it - but sadly it couldn’t last.
Still, he brought in so many good players who would go on to form the backbone of Karanka’s promotion winning side.
I only wish he could have taken over directly from Southgate when he would have had a squad more in his mould and a few quid to spend.
STEPHEN PEARS 1983/85
It’s no surprise to me that of the 47 Boro players who have made over 250 appearances for Boro that six of them should be goalkeepers, and in view of the performances of our present incumbent I can’t foresee any future goalkeeper, or indeed any other current player, reaching that milestone as very few players today are likely to show that commitment to one club especially Boro. The world has certainly changed as far as loyalty to one club is concerned. Stephen Pears is another former player who made over 400 appearances for Boro; in fact he made 424.
Stephen Pears was born in the County Durham village of Brandon in 1962 yet started his career with Manchester United as an understudy to Gary Bailey making only 4 appearances in almost 6 years for United, so was sent out on loan to Boro in 1983 making his debut at home to Cardiff City in November 1983 making 14 appearances yet sharing the gloves with Kelham O’Hanlon. However Pears only conceded 9 goals in 9 matches in a poor Boro team who finished 17th in the Second Division. He made such a good impression with the Boro fans that Willie Maddren tried to sign him on a permanent deal, but Boro were unable to afford the £80,000 transfer fee. Nevertheless Boro eventually got their man in the summer of 1985 and Pears made his debut as a permanent Boro player in the first match of the new season at Wimbledon, but although having an outstanding season between the sticks he couldn’t prevent Boro fr
STEPHEN PEARS 1983/85
It’s no surprise to me that of the 47 Boro players who have made over 250 appearances for Boro that six of them should be goalkeepers, and in view of the performances of our present incumbent I can’t foresee any future goalkeeper, or indeed any other current player, reaching that milestone as very few players today are likely to show that commitment to one club especially Boro. The world has certainly changed as far as loyalty to one club is concerned. Stephen Pears is another former player who made over 400 appearances for Boro; in fact he made 424.
Stephen Pears was born in the County Durham village of Brandon in 1962 yet started his career with Manchester United as an understudy to Gary Bailey making only 4 appearances in almost 6 years for United, so was sent out on loan to Boro in 1983 making his debut at home to Cardiff City in November 1983 and making 14 appearances yet sharing the gloves with Kelham O’Hanlon. However Pears only conceded 9 goals in 9 matches in a poor Boro team who finished 17th in the Second Division. He made such a good impression with the Boro fans that Willie Maddren tried to sign him on a permanent deal, but Boro were unable to afford the £80,000 transfer fee. Nevertheless Boro eventually got their man in the summer of 1985 and Pears made his debut as a permanent Boro player in the first match of the new season at Wimbledon, but although having a reasonable season between the sticks he couldn’t prevent Boro from being relegated. However he was outstanding after Boro gained successive promotions following having survived liquidation when he conceded only 66 goals in 89 appearances in those two seasons, which included 7 successive clean sheets, a club record at the time.
He had two major injuries whilst with Boro in 1991 and 1992, the former a freak accident playing beach football, but the second more devastating as he had just been called up for the England squad when he broke his cheekbone after a collision with Dion Dublin which forced him to withdraw from the squad. Following those injuries Andy Dibble deputised for Boro after the beach accident and Kevin Poole after the Dublin clash. However he recovered and played his final competitive match in the 1-5 defeat at Luton in October 1994 although he still retained the position of substitute goalkeeper for the rest of the season. He was then awarded a testimonial as Boro received the Second Division Trophy before a crowd exceeding 19,000. The match was between Boro’s promotion team against a Select Xl with Pears playing in goal for Boro in the first half, then switching sides in the second half. When Boro conceded a penalty, it was Stephen Pears who converted it in a 3-1 win for the Select XI and thus becoming the last player to score a goal at Ayresome Park.
Pears then signed for Liverpool as cover for David James but never actually played for the Scousers though he did make 19 appearances for Hartlepool before hanging up his boots. He then returned to Boro as Academy Coach for six years before becoming Assistant Manager and Goalkeeping Coach at Hartlepool followed by a similar position with Gateshead. Some people regarded Stephen Pears as Boro’s greatest ever goalkeeper, but only 10 other players made more appearances for Boro in their long history and but for his two injuries might well have approached the 450 mark of appearances.
I don’t know how part of the original blog about Stephen Pears got lost so had to repeat it. However folks may notice that some of my posts are not finished until after midnight. Whilst welcoming the sunshine and longer days I still haven’t got used to British Summer Time and rarely get to bed before 1am. The problem is that the morning sunshine awakens me at about 5.30 am so am only getting a maximum of 5 hours sleep a night. I’m naturally nocturnal, but I’m continually falling asleep watching television or even reading, so writing on Diasboro or listening to music seem to be the only things that seem to stimulate me. I love my garden and gardening was always a hobby of mine, but now am too weak to continue that so now employ a gardener to do that. I’m still mentally alert, but Covid-19 has certainly put a strain on my physical health as I guess it has for most people of my age, so bear with me there’s only about another 30/35 Boro players who have more than 250 appearances to write about.
Really enjoying your work, Ken. It's a great effort. Thanks so much.
RICHARD ROBINSON 1945/59
Dicky Robinson was born in Whitburn, County Durham in 1927 and was discovered by Boro manager David Jack, the former Bolton and England inside forward who had the distinction of scoring the first ever goal scored at the new Wembley Stadium in the 1926 FA Cup Final. Dicky was playing on the wing that day for Mardsen Welfare Juniors, but David perceived him as a defender and that’s where he made his Boro debut playing alongside George Hardwick as Boro’s fullbacks in a 1-0 away win against Newcastle United in November 1944, and ousting veteran Bobby Stuart whose rise to fame had been scoring five own-goals in a single season which I believe is still the record for any player in one season. Robinson had previously played for Dunfermline Athletic when a Bevin boy. For the uninitiated a Bevin boy was a form of National Service for young boys who worked in the coal mines and so called after Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour and National Service in the wartime Coalition Government.
Dicky Robinson was a classy player who made five appearances for the Football League and twice went on tour with the England team but unluckily never received an international cap. He was pencilled in to replace Stoke City’s Neil Franklin in the 10-0 win against Portugal in Lisbon in 1947 but Franklin passed a late test and played instead. From 1953 Dicky was mainly chosen in his preferred position as centre half, as first Ray Bilcliff (a refuse collector with the Borough Council) and then Ray Barnard occupied the right back position. Robinson’ s final game for Boro was away to Huddersfield in March 1959, his 416th appearance for Boro. He only scored one goal in his career and that was against Sunderland but I’ve been unable to ascertain when that was.
He was also a very good golfer, and won the Football team Players’ Golf Championship in 1951, and rather aptly it was his Boro manager David Jack who caddied for him at the Childwall course in Southport. He finished his playing career with Barrow for whom he made 151 appearances taking his career total to 567. He carried on as trainer there for five years until 1969 before retiring in Cumbria and died in Barrow-in-Furness aged 82 in 2009.
Really enjoying your work, Ken. It's a great effort. Thanks so much.
Ditto
Ken,
Great work there's a book or Boro Almanac in here somewhere.
Stay safe,
UTB,
John
STUART WILLIAM BOAM 1971/79
Stuart Boam was born in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire in 1948 and signed professional forms for Mansfield Town as an 18 year old making 175 appearances for the Stags and making his debut against Leyton Orient in the last match of the 1966/67 season before becoming a regular in the side from then onwards for five years. He had his own house built in the village of his birth just as Boro came calling and had just taken completion of the house on the Friday, signed for Boro for a fee of £50,000 on the Saturday, and was reputed to have sold it on the Monday for a profit of £400, although to the chagrin of his wife. He made 175 appearances for the Nottinghamshire club and his first meeting with Jack Charlton was not a happy one, as the Geordie assembled all of the Boro players in the Marton Country Club and having assessed each players strengths and weaknesses finally told Boam that he had no room for him in his squad as he himself expected to be the player/manager. Stuart of course was devastated and recalled later how he was almost driven to tears feeling his time at Boro had come to a premature end. Of course Jack had no intention of prolonging his playing career, and that was simply his way of motivating Stuart before making him captain, and he never dropped Stuart from the team thereafter.
Initially under Stan Anderson, Boam had partnered Bill Gates as twin central defenders at the start of the 1971/72 season, but the twosome had similar attributes so Stan decided that a Stuart Boam/Willie Madden partnership would be more dependable. Boam and Nobby Stiles made their Boro debuts on the same day in a 1-2 defeat at Fratton Park, but with Stiles taking over the captaincy from the evergreen Gordon Jones.
The Boro fans took to Stuart straight away as be became the lynchpin of the defence and sang “Six foot two, eyes of blue, Stuey Boam is after you” which became a regular terrace chant. It was Gazette Boro reporter who first christened the Boam/Maddren partnership as ‘The Telepathic Twins’. Boam ran a newsagent’s shop in St Barnabas Road quite near to Ayresome Park, and loved to wind Jack Charlton up by arriving late for home matches. He recalled how matchdays were very good business as he’d be behind the counter in his club suit, selling everything that newsagents provided, but also signing autographs. It used to drive Jack mad as he had to send an apprentice to collect him. Admittedly it wasn’t professional, but perhaps some revenge for his first meeting with Jack all those years ago.
It all ended when Boro signed Irving Nattrass for a record fee of £375,000 and found difficulty in meeting the payments so were forced to transfer Boam to the Magpies for £170,000 at the end of the 1978/79 season. His last match was a 0-1 home defeat to Liverpool having made 393 appearances and scoring 16 goals. He stayed at St James Park for two seasons making 69 appearances before returning to Mansfield as player/coach but his legs had gone and he only made 15 appearances and a single one at Hartlepools after which he worked at Kodak for 12 years, and then bought another newsagents shop in Nottinghamshire before retiring.
He still kept in touch with Willie Maddren and often agreed that somehow the pair of them were indeed telepathic, one of the finest pair of central defenders in Boro’s history.
@ken Thank you again, our dear friend.
I attended a former players assosiation meeting with Len a few years back. Jim Platt put me in the same table as himself and Stuart Boam. So I had Stuart for my company for a whole evening!
A fabulous chap. A legend with Willie Maddren, whose biography is read several times by me.
Up the Boro!
Stuart Boam was the star turn at that players' reunion dinner that Jarkko mentioned.
He gave the speech of the evening, hilariously funny, down-to-earth, disarmingly honest and unfiltered, with great comedy timing.
It was a wonderful surprise, and not at all what one might have expected from Stuart's on-field persona.
Courageous, too, given that he endured great personal suffering for all of his efforts on the football field. I gather that he could barely walk from one side of the road to the other whilst still middle-aged.
Thanks to Ken, and good luck to Stuart himself.
I forgave him for that suicidal pass against Derby in our promotion year many years ago.
Thanks Ken. Another great mini bio of another great Boro player.
In another time, Boam and Maddren would have been a shoe in for England and, although I might have a little bias here, I thought that as a central defencive pairing Boam and Maddren was better than McFarland and Todd. I think Roy McFarland may have been taller than Boam and that might have swung the thinking in the England set up.
I never really met Stuart Boam, but can claim to have a little in common as we both worked at Kodak around the same time, but not the same sites.
I had intended to have kept my summary of Boro players appearances in chronological order, but the problem is that some records give different figures. For example Wikipedia only count League appearances in their statistics, so I’ve spent the last couple of days perusing through the handbooks of my pocket annuals to obtain what I hope are the correct figures. I’m not infallible so it is possible that my arithmetic might not be as accurate as I would like but going through the records since 1956, I’m reasonably happy that the following statistics are as near accurate as possible. The following statistics give appearances, substitute appearances, total appearances, goals scored and years in action, although in the case of players who have had more than one period as Boro players, such as Colin Cooper, Stewart Downing, David Mills, Tony McAndrew, Gary Pallister and Mark Proctor their appearances are recorded as their first debuts with the final appearances of their second stint as if it was continuous which of course it isn’t. So here we go:-
1. Tim Williamson 602-0-602, 2 goals, 1901/23 *
2. Gordon Jones 527-5-532, 5 goals, 1961/73 *
3. John Hickton 473-26-499, 193 goals, 1966/78 *
4. John Craggs 487-1-488, 14 goals, 1971/82 *
5. Jim Platt 481-0-481, 0 goals, 1971/83 *
6. Robbie Mustoe 412-42-454, 34 goals, 1990/2002
7. George Camsell 453-0-453, 345 goals, 1925/39 *
8. Jacky Carr 449-0-449, 81 goals, 1910/30 *
9. Mark Schwarzer 446-0-446, 0 goals, 1996/2008 *
10.David Armstrong 428-3-431, 77 goals, 1971/81 *
11.Tony Mowbray 419-6-425, 30 goals, 1982/92 *
12.Stephen Pears 424-0-424, 0 goals, 1983/95 *
13.Colin Cooper 395-27-422, 13 goals, 1985/2006
14.Dicky Robinson 416-0-416, 1 goal, 1945/59 *
15.Stewart Downing 369-35-404, 32 goals, 2001/19
16.David Mills 378-20-398, 111 goals, 1968/85 *
17.Stuart Boam 393-0-393, 16 goals, 1971/79 *
18.Bernie Slaven 382-0-382, 147 goals, 1985/93 *
19.Bill Harris 378-0-378, 72 goals, 1953/65 *
20.Wilf Mannion 368-0-368, 110 goals, 1936/54 *
21.George Elliott 364-0-364, 213 goals, 1909/25 *
22.Tony McAndrew 353-5-358, 18 goals, 1973/86
23.Willie Maddren 351-3-354, 21 goals, 1968/77
24.Rolando Ugolini 335-0-335, 0 goals, 1948/56
25.Ronnie Dicks 334-0-334, 10 goals, 1947/59
26.Billy Forrest 333-0-333, 8 goals, 1929/39
=27.Bill Gates 325-7-332, 13 goals, 1961/74
=27.Frank Spraggon 326-6-332, 3 goals, 1963/75
29.Curtis Fleming 295-22-317, 4 goals, 1991/2001
30.Harry Bell 315-0-315, 10 goals, 1946/55
31.Stuart Ripley 268-44-312, 31 goals, 1984/92
32.Steve Vickers 296-14-310, 11 goals, 1993/2001
33.George Friend 296-3-299, 10 goals, 1912/2021
34.Maurice Webster 281-0-281, 3 goals, 1921/33
35.Gary Pallister 279-0-279, 7 goals, 1984/2001
36.Alex McMordie 266-11-277, 26 goals, 1965/74
37.Bill Brown 274-0-274, 2 goals, 1931/46
38.Mark Proctor 246-27-273, 20 goals, 1975/93
39.Gary Hamilton 259-13-272, 27 goals, 1982/89
=40.Bobby Stuart 270-0-270, 2 goals, 1931/48
=40.Lindy Delapenha 270-0-270, 93 goals, 1949/58. *
42. Micky Fenton 269-0-269, 162 goals, 1932/50 *
43.Alan Kernaghan 215-53-268, 22 goals, 1984/94
44.Bobby Baxter 266-0-266, 20 goals, 1932/39
45.James Mathieson 264-0-264, 0 goals, 1926/32
46.Geoff Walker 259-0-259, 53 goals, 1946/55
47.Gary Parkinson 250-8.-258, 7 goals, 1986/93
=48.Bobby Bruce 253-0-253, 72 goals, 1927/35
=48.Jimmy Gordon 253-0-253, 4 goals, 1945/54
50.Sam Aitken 242-0-242, 6 goals, 1903/10
51.Johnny Spuhler 241-0-241, 81 goals, 1945/54 *
52.Billy Pease 239-0-239, 103 goals, 1926/33 *
53.Alan Peacock 238-0-238, 141 goals, 1955/64 *
54.Billy Birrell 235-0-235, 63 goals, 1920/28 *
55.John Hendrie 219-15-234, 55 goals, 1990/97
56.Arthur Fitzsimons 231-0-231, 51 goals, 1949/59
57.Brian Clough 222-0-222, 204 goals, 1955/61 *
I’ve previously written about those players with an * either as top goal scorers or most appearances, so my next player to report on will be number 6 Robbie Mustoe and then hopefully continue with number 13 Colin Cooper, number 15 Stewart Downing, and then number 22 Tony McAndrew before continuing downwards.
I found it interesting to add each player’s goals and the years they played as the prominent years were the 1950/60s, and the Bruce Rioch when there were few movements of players. That was understandable in the initial post war years for most clubs not only for Boro, and also following liquidation when Boro were living on a shoestring yet did remarkably well to win successive promotions with a young side, riding on a crest of a wave and showing no fear. I reckon that period showed more camaraderie amongst the Boro players than any other time in their history.
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ROBIN MUSTOE 1990/2000
Robbie Mustoe was born in Witney, Oxfordshire in 1968 and started his career with Oxford United as an 18 year old for whom he made 91 appearances before Colin Todd signed him for Boro in the summer of 1990 for a fee of £375,000. I saw his debut in August, a rather drab home goalless draw against West Ham United as I recall. However he stood out as a hard-tackling midfielder in a match that featured two other debutees, Bernie Slaven and Scottish international John Wark , the latter having had a fine career with Ipswich Town but now past his best. Robbie scored his first goal for Boro in a League Cup match at Birkenhead against Tranmere Rovers. He was more or less an ever present in a team that reached the 4th Round of the League Cup that season, but used often as a substitute in the following season as Boro reached the Semifinals only to lose 1-2 after extra time at Old Trafford against Manchester United, Boro’s first Semifinal appearance in either of the two major Cup competitions.
Mustoe was still a regular choice in Boro’s engine room when available but missed several matches through a succession of injuries in the next two seasons, but still made 30 appearances in Boro’s promotion side of the 1994/95 season. Considering the number of high profile players that Bryan Robson brought into the club, it was a testament to how crucial Mustoe’s role was in midfield and sorely missed whenever he was unavailable from the team, an understated hero during his time with the club. He was voted joint player of the year with Hamilton Ricard in 1999 and granted a testimonial against Borussia Dortmund in August 2000. Robbie’s last appearance for Boro was the last match of the 2001/02 season against Leeds United after which he was released having made 454 appearances including 42 as a substitute and having scored 34 goals. Only five players having more appearances in the long history of Middlesbrough FC. He only played one season with Boro’s new captain Gareth Southgate who nevertheless described Robbie as one of the most honest professionals in the game.
Robbie then signed for Charlton Athletic but only played in 6 matches before signing for Sheffield Wednesday for whom he made 25 league appearances, before moving to the USA where he took up a coaching career in college soccer before taking up a media position with ESPN and in 2013, with NBC covering the English Premier League. In an interview with the Gazette he described how he was loving his partnership with Robbie Earle, the former Jamaican Wimbledon star “I’m living the dream, not the worst way of earning top dollar”. See, he’s even talking American English now, but he and his son are still big Boro fans.
Mustoe was very definitely an unsung hero. Rightly as you have noted missed when he was absent.
Happy memories of that semi final game at Old Trafford, even though we lost. I will have to jog your memory though Ken as Boro's first semi final in one of the major cups was back in 1976 when we lost to the other Manchester, City, over two legs in the League Cup semi final that year.
You’re quite right. I even was surprised myself as I thought it didn’t seem correct when I checked it over yet I still got it wrong. Suffice to say that it was the nearest Boro got to a major Wembley final as a SECOND tier club and we did take Man Utd to extra time whereas the Man City defeat was more convincing.
Mea culpa, though. No excuses🤭
COLIN TERENCE COOPER 1984/1991 & 1998/2006
Colin Cooper was born in Trimdon, County Durham in 1967 and signed for Boro as a trainee in the Summer of 1984 making his senior debut in a 1-2 defeat away to Crystal Palace in March 1986 as a substitute which as we know became the worst season in Boro’s history as relegation and liquidation followed. However like most of Boro’s players he stayed on and made 108 appearances as Boro succeeded to gain two promotions to the First Division, though unfortunate only to be relegated in 1990. He was then transferred to Millwall in that summer for £30,000 where he made 77 League appearances and scored 6 goals. He became a star at fullback for 2 seasons with the Lions, but his career really took off when Nottingham Forest came calling and for a fee of £1,700,000 where eventually he was converted into a central defender and not only playing 8 times for the England U21 team, but also earning 2 full England international caps.
Colin stayed with Forrest for 5 seasons making 180 League appearances and scoring 20 goals. After Boro’s 3 point deduction and subsequent relegation, Cooper became part of Bryan Robson’s rebuilding squad for the 1998/99 Premiership campaign and returned to Boro for a transfer fee of £2M, almost seven times what they had received for his first transfer to Millwall. His second debut came as a central defender in a 1-1 home draw against Derby County in August 1998 and making 31 League appearances in that season. He lost his regular first team place in the 2001/02 season under Steve McClaren only starting in a handful of matches, but tragedy struck the Cooper family following a 2-0 FA Cup win over Manchester United in January 2002 his young son Finlay died in an accident at home only hours after the final whistle. Colin almost decided to retire after such a devastating period in his life and only played twice more that season. However he did play in 6 more matches in the following season, and made his last appearance for Boro coming on as a substitute in the final match of the 2005/06 season aged 39 in a match at Fulham when almost all of the team were academy players. In total he played in 422 appearances including 27 as a substitute in his two spells with Boro scoring 13 goals. Only 12 players made more appearances for Boro, but overall he made over 700 appearances for his 3 clubs including 3 on loan to Sunderland in 2004.
He later coached the reserves and first team, and after managing Bradford City he returned to Boro to coach the Under 18s, finally leaving the club in 2013 to become Hartlepool’s manager with Craig Hignett as his assistant. In recognition of his vast experience as a player and a coach he was appointed by the FA to work as assistant to Gareth Southgate to work with the Under 21s. Colin Cooper and his wife created the Finlay Cooper Foundation and Colin along with Craig Hignett and Jeff Stelling raised over £100,000 for that Foundation in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013.
STEWART DOWNING 2001/09 & 2015/19
Stewart Downing was born in Pallister Park, Middlesbrough in 1984 and signed his first professional contract in 2001 before making his debut in April of the following year in a 0-1 defeat at Ipswich. He made only 3 appearances that season and 3 more in the following one. His first senior goal was in a 4-1 League Cup win over Brentford after coming on as a substitute. In 2003 he was sent out on loan to Sunderland for a month scoring 3 times in 7 appearances, but was then recalled after Juninho suffered an injury. He then became a regular for most of the season although only chosen as an unused substitute for Boro in the League Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium. A knee injury sidelined him for 5 months in 2005, but played against Steau Bucharest and with his accurate passing was responsible for 3 assists which enabled Boro to score 4 times.
He had already played 20 times for England at different age levels before he was 21 years old and attracted the attention of the England manager. He was then chosen as a member of the 2006 England World Cup squad, and his form at both club and international level blossomed as he signed a new 5 year contract with Boro. This was only a few weeks before yet another memorable performance when he scored twice (one penalty and one a stunning volley, and set up 4 others as Boro beat Manchester City 8-1 in the final match of the 2007/08 season. He then played in the first 37 League matches of the following season, but then suffered an injury against Aston Villa and Boro subsequently nosedived to relegation.
In the meantime Downing had asked for a transfer which was refused but on the understanding that if a big club came in for him, Boro wouldn’t stand in his way. He subsequently signed for Aston Villa for £12M in 2009 and made 79 League appearances whilst scoring 11 goals. Two years later Liverpool paid £20M for his services, though he wasn’t as successful there, often being used as a wing back. Nevertheless he did make 91 League appearances for them and scored 7 goals and winning a League Cup medal, but his form dipped through not playing in his preferred position. He stayed with Liverpool for 2 years before the Scoucers decided to cut their losses and sold him to West Ham United for a fee believed to have been £5M. By then Downing’s place in the England squad had come to an end although Harry Rednapp seemed reasonably happy with him as he scored 7 goals in his 79 appearances.
However Boro were building a team capable for promotion and Steve Gibson was keen for him to return to Boro, although it would appear that Aitor Karanka was less pleased to accommodate Downing who had seemed quite settled at Upton Park. However a return to the Riverside had some appeal, and Stewart was reported as saying that Boro would be the only club he would consider signing for. Anyway a transfer fee of £5.5M was agreed and Downing made 42 starts for Boro in the 2015/16 season. Eventually it became apparent that if Stewart played a certain number of games that Downing would be entitled to an extra payment and as Boro were by then cash-strapped he was allowed to leave on a free transfer.
Downing is now playing for Blackburn Rovers and has made 47 appearances for them, and at the age of 36 is possibly looking for another contract. Altogether he made 35 appearances for England and totalled 404 appearances including 35 as a substitute whilst scoring 32 goals for Boro but was invaluable for the number of assists he made especially in his first period with Boro. In total he has made 709 appearances for his 4 clubs and scored 63 goals. In some ways he has become a “marmite” figure amongst some Boro fans, but it should be stressed that he works for many charitable organisations especially the Royal Victoria Infirmary at Newcastle who gave palliative care for his younger sister who died with leukaemia aged 14.
I’ve met Stuart Boam a few times over the past few years in the company of Jim Platt.
stewy does a bit of after dinner speaking and he is a really funny man. He is totally the opposite to what I thought of him as a player but he captained the Boro as a leader and commanded and got respect from his team mates.
Ive tried three times to do an In2View with him and each time we’ve started he’s become embarrassed about talking about himself and starting talking about other things.
ive got his contact details and I’ll get home one day !
OFB
I know some people won't like but Downing was a class act even during his second spell at Boro. His last two seasons were still superb and we have never had a better ball playing midfielder since he left for Blackburn. He was and probably still is class we won't see at Boro in the Championship.
We complain about our current midfielders and the occational hoofball. Hence I do miss the quality passing of Downing.
He is one of the best ever wingers (and later more central middfielders) we have ever had. A living legend.
Up the Boro!
ive got his contact details and I’ll get home one day !
OFB
I hope you do OFB, he is one of the Boro greats still with us that would be good to hear from
ANTHONY MCANDREW 1973/82 & 1984/86
Tony McAndrew was born in Glasgow in 1956 and made his debut as a 17 year old in a 2-1 home win against Luton Town, his one and only appearance that season, partnering Stuart Boam as Boro gained promotion under Jack Charlton to the First Division. He also only made one appearance in the following season before going on loan to Vancouver Whitecaps for whom he made 21 appearances in 1976. When he returned to Boro he became a regular member in the first team in February and actually scored a hat trick at home to Sheffield United as a makeshift centre forward in that season, the youngest player ever to do so for Boro. He then became Boro’s captain at the beginning of the 1979/80 season after Stuart Boam had been sold to Newcastle, but relinquished the captaincy to Irving Nattrass when Bobby Murdock took over the reins as Boro manager, although that season became a disaster as Boro were relegated to the Second Division and Tony signed for Second Division Chelsea for a fee of £92,500 for former Boro manager John Neal.
McAndrew made his debut for the Pensioners in September 1982 against Leicester City but only made 9 appearances in his first season because of a painful back injury which ended his season as Chelsea almost found themselves in a relegation battle to the Third Division. The following season Chelsea were Champions and McAndrew made 11 more appearances, but it was not a happy time for him as he was continually booed by the home supporters. He then returned to Boro in 1984 as part of the deal that took Darren Wood to Chelsea. Tony made his second debut for Boro in a 3-2 home win over Cardiff City in September as attendances dropped to a season average of 5,135 (the lowest ever at Ayresome Park with an all-time low of 3,364 against Notts County in February). He made his last appearance in the final League game of the 1985/86 season as Boro went into liquidation. In total he made 358 appearances including 5 as a substitute and scored 18 goals for Boro after which he played for Willington, Darlington and Hartlepool.
He later became part of the coaching staff under Brian Little at Darlington, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Stoke City, and is currently the Youth Team Manager at Villa.
Thanks Ken, even though he was not one of my favourite Boro players. A bit too much of the Glasgow hatchet man for my liking, and latterly involved in the scandals involving the abuse of youth players, the details of which are quite sickening. The highlight of his career was that astonishing hat-trick as a makeshift striker, slightly undermined by the fact that it was a dead-rubber final game of the season.