WILLIAM DIXON MADDREN 1969/79
Willie Maddren was born in Billingham, Teesside in 1951 and made his debut in April 1969 in the final home match of the season, a 2-3 defeat against Bury which unfortunately ended Boro’s unbeaten home record which would have been the only time in their history that they had accomplished such a feat as they finished 4th, but irrelevant in the scheme of things as any chance of promotion had long since evaporated as Boro finished 12 points behind runners-up Liverpool. He made 6 appearances in the following season, but it was his telepathic partnership with fellow central defender Stuart Boam under Jack Charlton in 1971 which brought him to prominence. Willie was a classy distributor who could turn defence into attack, but also a fine tackler despite suffering with knee trouble for much of his career. His partnership with Boam was remarkable as they rarely practiced together. Whilst Stuart sometimes spent part of a week’s training running up Roseberry Topping or on assault courses, Willie often didn’t turned up for training per se as he spent most of the time on the treatment table morning, noon and night getting himself fit for matchdays, yet remarkably they jelled as a formidable force. They often roomed together on away trips and seemed to know each other’s games perfectly.
Willie scored his first goal for Boro in September 1970, the winning goal in a 4-3 win at Cardiff and made what proved to be his final appearance for Boro in a 2-3 defeat in September 1977 at West Brom aged only 26 as surgery on his knee proved unsuccessful resulting his finally retiring two years later. By then Boro were in the doldrums, and when Malcolm Allinson was appointed manager, Maddren returned to Ayresome Park as a physiotherapist. After Allison’s dismissal in March 1984, Jack Charlton returned as a short term caretaker manager until the end of the season with Willie as his assistant. The pair staved off relegation with a 2-0 away win at Shrewsbury on the final day of the season, but already signs of a financial crisis were on the horizon and it was no surprise that Boro would lose at Gay Meadow 1-2 on the final match of the season - deja-vu fixture wise, but not so in the result!
Willie then concentrated on his Sports Shop businesses although doing some coaching with Whitby Town and Hartlepool United before the devastating news came that he was in the early stages of Motor Neurone Disease, an illness for which their is still no cure. Like the man he was he was determined to fight the illness and wrote his autobiography “Extra Time” which raised £40,000 and became a campaigner to find money for future sufferers raising an additional £160,000 to fight the cause. A strong man off the pitch as he was on it where he made 357 appearances scoring 21 goals for his only club. He also made 5 appearances for England’s under 23 side and was even called up for the full England squad within playing a match. Sadly Willie Maddren died in Stockton in 2000 aged only 49.
RIP
As an addendum part of this blog went missing. Suffice to say that Willie Maddren was offered the post of manager for the beginning of the 1984/85 season at the age of 33. His brief was to cut costs wherever possible, with no hope of cash signings, but with strict salary limits. Sounds familiar! Nevertheless he set about balancing the books, sacrificing Mick Baxter (the highest wage earner) with a free transfer and raising £100,000 on the sale of Mick Kennedy to Portsmouth. Two years later though the financial situation hadn’t improved, and he was forced to sell the Crown Jewels (Darren Wood) to Chelsea in exchange for £40,000 plus the return of Tony McAndrew. Willie bought Mick Buckley and 32 year old David Mills back to Boro, the latter as a coach driver (seriously!!!), well not quite, although it was David’s first job to drive the first-team coach on a pre-season tour pf Scotland - a good job that Gazza wasn’t on the payroll? But seriously David Mills was a fine acquisition to the playing staff as well as helping out with football coaching.
Despite relegation in his two years, Willie did what Chairman Mike McCullagh had asked him to do except for keeping Boro in the Second Division, but as we were to discover the financial crisis was far deeper than any one could have imagined, so in my opinion no criticism should be directed at Willie Maddren.
One of the few books I have read a few times is Maddren's autobiography “Extra Time”. What a story even a bit sad of a great player and nice gentleman. Recommended.
Up the Boro!
One of the few books I have read a few times is Maddren's autobiography “Extra Time”. What a story even a bit sad of a great player and nice gentleman. Recommended.
Up the Boro!
Yes, I too have read it, Jarkko.
Thanks for the latest installment Ken.Willie Maddren is one of my all time favourite Boro players. Him and Stuart Boam would be first choice in the centre of defence for my all time Boro Best XI.
ROLANDO UGOLINI 1948/57
When goalkeeper Tim Williamson retired in 1923 Boro signed Dave Cumming from Arboath and he did a very good job for Boro especially in December 1946 after having been needled on several occasions by the Arsenal centre half Leslie Compton’s dirty tactics lost his cool and knocked him out, took off his jersey, and walked off the field of play before having been given his marching orders by the referee. Later in the season with only four matches remaining Cumming suffered a knee injury at home to Blackpool and needed an operation which wasn’t successful forcing him to retire. As is now Boro hadn’t got a reliable replacement, so in the summer bought Derwick Goodfellow from Sheffield Wednesday. Derwick (yes that is the correct spelling),conceded 73 goals goals in his only season and Boro needed someone better. After all, most of the top sides had good goalkeepers, some of them internationals . For example Manchester City’s Frank Swift had 19 caps, Wolves Bert Williams had 24, Spurs’s Ted Ditchburn had 6, Newcastle’s Ronnie Simpson had 5 Scottish caps, Charlton’s Sam Bartram had 3 caps, and Everton’s Ted Sagar had 4 caps, which brings me rather long-windedly to the subject of Rolando Ugolini.
In the previous season when Goodfellow was injured, Boro had used 6 different replacements. Reserve goalkeeper John Hodgson made 3 appearances, veteran Paddy Nash, Walter Briggs and youngster John Anderson one each. Then along came Ugolini born in Lucca, Italy in 1924 but his parents having emigrated to Armadale, West Lothian, Scotland when Ronaldo was only 3 years old. He had played as an amateur for Armadale Thistle and after a trial with Heart of Midlothian had signed for Glasgow Celtic making only 4 appearances. Nevertheless Boro paid £7,000 for his services in May 1948.
Intrigued by seeing the first foreign player, albeit a nationalised Scot, I was in the crowd of 36,000 to see how he compared with Ted Sagar the Everton goalkeeper. Micky Fenton had put Boro ahead from the penalty spot, but Ugo as he became known was astonishing. Every save he made was like a cat playing with a ball. Spectacular, flamboyant, acrobatic, fearless were some of the adjectives bestowed on him by the press. As time elapsed the Ayresome crowd took him to their hearts, especially when tales from the dressing room were related. He was charismatic and fun with a sense of humour, a practical joker amongst his colleagues with even George Hardwick and Wilf Mannion revelling in his practical jokes, but a brilliant spectacular goalkeeper the likes of which his colleagues nor the crowd had ever seen before. He was adept at making the easiest of saves look like a circus act and adored by not only Boro fans, but some supporters of the opposition also. On the team coach he was dressed immaculately, and on the field of play loved to play to the gallery resplendent in his green jumper, where as a big horse racing fan he was often being asked for tips from the crowd especially for the Grand National, his interaction with the fans being unusual in those days.
After relegation in 1954 he remained with the club, but was not always a first team regular as Boro started disastrously and he shared first team duties the following season with Peter Taylor a younger goalkeeper purchased from Coventry. Boro had conceded 78 goals in the 1955/56 season as they had finished 14th, and Taylor conceded only 60 as Boro finished 6th in the following season. Ugo’s last appearance was in a 2-3 away defeat to Port Vale in the penultimate match of the season. Esmond Million became second choice goalkeeper in the following season as Ugo only played a few matches for the reserves thereafter, but then signed for Wrexham making 83 appearances for the Welsh club in 3 seasons before returning to Scotland for a further 43 appearances with Dundee United.
Rolando Ugolini made 320 appearances for Boro, and most of the time it had been great fun whilst it lasted. Fittingly after hanging up his boots, a successful career in the betting industry followed. Rolando died in Edinburgh in 2014 aged 89 and at the time the oldest ex-Boro player still alive at the time.
RIP, Ugo and thanks for the memories.
Willie Maddren actually started off as a forward and wore the No 10 shirt for the reserves in his first few years at the club. If my memory serves he came into the first team as a forward and was promising without ever quite making his mark. Lack of pace was perceived to be his problem. When he began to play at the back as a central defender it seemed like a curious move, since Willie was not a physically commanding figure and did not seem to be particularly dominant in the air.
What made him one of the greatest of Boro's central defenders was an ability to read the game allied to a skill on the ball rarely seen in central defenders.
He was a model professional who rarely conceded fouls in dangerous areas, succeeded through brain rather than brawn, and was a perfect foil to Boam, who possessed a somewhat different skill set.
@lenmasterman A bit like McNair, perhaps? Just a tought, Len.
Up the Boro!
@lenmasterman. Len I would go as far as to say he was our Bobby Moore and Willie and Stuart Boam are for me the best ever centre back pairing we have had. 😎
If Duncan Edwards had survived the Munich Air Disaster we might never have even heard of Bobby Moore. I know, another of lifes ‘if onlys’ but I saw enough of him during my RAF days at Padgate when watching Man Utd every other week to realise that he was something extra special and a certainty as a future England captain. Another sensation at the time was Alick Jeffrey at Doncaster Rovers, a centre forward who made his debut for Rovers aged 15 but was injured whilst playing for England’s Under 21 side and on the verge of signing for United. Probably that injury might have been a blessing in disguise though as he might well have been another victim of the Munich Air Disaster - a case of ‘if only’ possibly working in his favour, although he was never the same player again after receiving compensation from the FA as he was in England’s employ at the time.
Just thinking about it, Doncaster Rovers might be the only club to have had both a 15 year old and in James Coppinger a 40 year old playing for them though in different generations.
RONALD WILLIAM DICKS 1947/59
Ronnie Dicks was born in Kensington, London in 1925 and as a youngster excelled in many sports including football, cricket, table tennis as well as being a good sprinter, but football was the sport in which he excelled at the most. During the Second World War he served with the Royal Artillery spending some time stationed at Marske where playing for his regiment he made such a good impression as a winger that Boro were interested in signing him at the end of hostilities. First though he saw active service in Burma and on his demobilisation he signed for Boro as a winger and made his debut in the first match of the 1947/48 season, a 2-2 home draw against Manchester United. However with Boro sometimes short of an inside forward as George Dews was needed by Worcestershire County Cricket Club as their star batsman towards the end of the cricket season, Ronnie was often required to play inside forward. However during his 12 year career with Boro Ronnie became what was known as a utility player, being so versatile a player in any number of positions. In fact in his early years at Boro fhe played 104 matches at full back equally efficient on the right as on the left. He made 22 appearances as a central defender, the same total as a winger equally adept on the right as on the left, but after Jimmy Gordon retired in 1954 he made the left half position virtually his own with 179 of his 334 total appearances being from that position. When Ugolini was injured early in an FA Cup match against Leicester City, Ronnie even played in goal and didn’t disappoint as the match finished goalless. His versatility was a great attribute to Boro and centre forward was the only position that he was not required to play, his final appearance for Boro being in December 1958 in a 0-2 defeat at Hillsborough to Sheffield Wednesday.
Ronnie only scored 10 goals in his 334 appearances, but was twice selected to play in representative matches, once for England B and once for the Football League but had to withdraw on both occasions due to injuries. When he retired from playing in 1959 he initially went into business with a furniture company, after which he worked for many years in Jack Hatfield sports shop in Borough Road. Ronnie Dicks died in James Cook University Hospital in 2004 aged 79.
WILLIAM FORREST 1929/39
Billy Forrest as he became known as was born in Tranent, East Lothian, Scotland in 1908 and started his career with a succession of Scottish junior clubs all of which he only played for a short time. As a 17 year old he signed for Haddington, and the following year moved on to Musselburgh Brutonians, then Tranent Juniors before signing for his first semi-professional club St Bernard’s where he had been known as ‘The Carpet Footballer’ which impressed Peter McWilliam, the Boro manager. His reputation of finding space from his left-half position by keeping the ball on the grass seemed irresistible, but was seen as a bit of a gamble for Boro to sign although the fee was not disclosed. He signed for Boro in 1929, making his first team debut a month before his 22nd birthday in January 1930 as Boro won away 3-0 to Manchester United, and he kept his place for the final 10 matches of the season.
Billy soon established himself as a regular, missing only 2 matches in the following season although he was injured during the final moments of the penultimate match of the 1932/33 season in a 4-0 home win against Blackburn Rovers as Boro won 4 in a 5 match unbeaten run to avoid relegation in 17th place having been in the bottom two on New Year’s Day. Forrest missed the first 17 matches of the following season as Boro struggled for the next 3 seasons with Forrest missing a few periods through injury. A change of manager saw a different Boro with Billy Forrest instrumental in the best period in the club’s history as they finished 7th, 5th and 4th in successive seasons leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War, but the 1939/40 season was cancelled after 3 matches as Billy made his final appearance in the match at home to Stoke City.
Only Tim Williamson, George Camsell, Jacky Carr and George Elliott had made more appearances for Boro at that time and at the moment Billy Forrest stands at 26th in the total of Boro appearances with 333 and 8 goals as the three matches he played in the 1939/40 season were expunged from the records. On the cease of hostilities he was appointed manager of Darlington for 4 seasons. He died in 1957 just days before his 57th Birthday.
WILLIAM LAZENBY GATES 1961/74
Bill Gates as he was always known as despite having the same name as the American tycoon, was the son of a miner and born in Dean Bank, Ferryhill, County Durham. He attended Spennymoor Grammar School and captained England’s Youth team, and made his first team Boro debut only two weeks before his 17th birthday in a 2-3 away defeat at Luton Town. He retained his place for the next 6 matches in a struggling Boro team as Ken Thomson the Boro captain was recovering from injury. When Thomson was injured again towards the end of the season, Bill replaced him for 6 of the final 9 matches as Boro ended with a flourish to finish 12th.
The following two seasons Bill devoted his afternoons studying accountancy and only made occasional appearances playing football. By then Bob Dennison had been sacked, thus ending his 9 year association with the club and replaced with former England international inside forward Raich Carter who had settled in the new Newmarket Estate in Redcar. Having completed his accountancy studies Gates regained a place in Boro’s lineup and actually played 7 matches as a centre forward following the sale of Alan Peacock to Leeds United. In some ways I often thought he was suited as a striker because Gates rarely just headed a ball away, but because of his height tried to head it down to a colleague or started an attack. In that respect he reminded me of Denis Law who started his career with Huddersfield Town as a centre half. However after Boro signed Jim Irvine from Dundee United, Gates continued the rest of his career on the right side of defence or as a central defender. He only played 4 matches in the Jack Charlton side, his last appearance coming on as a substitute in a 3-1 away win against Hull City in February 1974. He made a total of 332 appearances for Boro including 7 as a substitute and scored 13 goals.
After retiring his accountancy studies eventually paid off, as he opened his first sports shop in 1974 and 13 years later had expanded his empire to 12 outlets an sold them for £4.4M and retired to the Cayman Islands. Later his family became philanthropists setting up a charity named Coaches Across Continents. Unfortunately Bill Gates was diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a form of dementia possibly the result of heading a football not only on the field of play, but the hours of practicing heading the ball in training. His wife had mentioned that Bill had often headed a football about 100 times a day and had suffered headaches and migraines throughout the later stages of his career. Bill himself had thought about retiring on reaching 30 which indeed he did, but unfortunately he has become another statistic of sportsmen whose contact with head collisions may well have caused dementia.
FRANK SPRAGGON 1963/75
Frank Spraggon was born in Marley Hill, Gateshead in 1945 and made his debut in March 1964 in a 0-1 defeat at Huddersfield and kept his place for the final run-in of 7 matches. However he only made 5 appearances in the following season and only a single one in a 5-4 away win in the next one in November during Boro’s first ever season in the 3rd Division. Thereafter he was more or less a regular in Stan Anderson’s side and in Jack Charlton’s first two seasons. The fact that he made 326 appearances including 6 as a substitute is testament to his quality and popularity as a Boro player making him equal 23rd in the number of appearances for Boro. He maybe only scored 3 goals, but every one was in a winning home side:- a 4-2 against Birmingham City in December 1969, 1-0 against Norwich City in April 1972, and 2-1 against Millwall in March 1974. However his final appearance was in a 0-2 home defeat to Derby County in March 1976.
Frank Spraggon was more or less a one club man except for one season with Minnesota Kickers in 1976 where he made 24 appearances, and one single appearance for Hartlepool United in 1977.
I’ve found it very difficult to find any more information about Spraggon, scouring the Gazette website, Wikipedia and my other sources to no avail. I apologise for that, but if anyone has additional information about Frank I’d like to hear about it, but playing over 300 matches warrants some attention as only 32 Boro players have reached that milestone.
CURTIS JOSEPH LUKE FLEMING 1991/2001
Curtis Fleming was born in Manchester in 1968, but was brought up in Dublin where he played for the local youth side Belvedere. He then signed for St Patrick’s Athletic before signing for Boro in August 1991 for a fee of £50,000. He had already represented the Republic of Ireland’s under 21 and under 23 teams having been announced as the ‘Under 21 Player of the Year’ in 1990 and made his Boro debut as a substitute at Ipswich in August 1991 replacing Gary Parkinson in a 1-2 defeat. Curtis made 31 appearances in his first season as Boro gained promotion to the inaugural Premiership. Although Boro were relegated after only one season Fleming made a further 27 appearances in Lennie Lawrence’s last season as manager. It was during the 1995/96 season under Bryan Robson after some impressive performances at club level that Curtis won his first full Republic of Ireland cap replacing Manchester United’s Denis Irwin at fullback, the first of his ten caps.
After ten years as a wonderful servant to Boro he was awarded a testimonial against the Spanish Basque club Athletic Bilbao in a pre-season friendly in August 2001 which Boro won 3-0 as Steve McClaren took over the reins as manager. Curtis made 8 appearances for Boro at the beginning of the 2001/02 season and played his last match for Boro in September in a 1-3 home defeat against Southampton. He had made 317 appearances for Boro including 22 as a substitute and had scored 4 goals after which he spent time on loan at Birmingham City before being transferred to Crystal Palace and making a further 45 appearances and 27 more for Darlington. After returning to Ireland with 10 appearances for Shelbourne, he returned to Teesside and another 26 matches with Billingham Synthonia as injuries finally ended his playing career.
In 2006 he joined Setanta Sports as a pundit for a short period, before the lure of coaching at Scottish club Livingston in 2007 proved too much to resist. However when approached by Crystal Palace to be assistant to Neil Warnock he was back in the big time. Further coaching opportunities took Curtis to Bolton Wanderers, Hartlepool United and Queen’s Park Rangers followed before he returned to Boro as First team coach in 2018 under Tony Pulis. The last I heard though was as a reserve team coach in the Punjab.
HENRY DAVEY BELL 1945/55
Always known as Harry Bell he was born in Castletown, County Durham in 1924 and played as an inside forward for Sunderland during the Second World War, but on cessation of hostilities Harry signed for Boro in 1946 and made his debut as a right half in the 4-4 drawn FA Cup match at Elland Road against Leeds United. Four days later the same eleven players won the Second Leg 7-2 after leading 7-1 at half time. Indeed the same eleven players played throughout the Cup competition before disposing of Blackpool after 3 matches and losing to Bolton Wanderers after 2 matches. Then followed the longest pre-season in Boro’s history as the first League season after the war was 6 months later with just a series of friendly matches taking place until the end of August when Harry retained his place and Wilf Mannion having made his return after demobilisation scoring the only goal of the match in the final minute as Boro won their first 3 matches.
Harold Shepherdson also played in those 3 matches and they were the only first team matches that Shep played for Boro after the War. As for Harry, he played 31 League matches in that season plus another 4 in the FA Cup.
Boro made a terrific start in Harry’s first season winning 13 and drawing 5 of their first 23 matches and were 2nd after beating Grimsby Town 3-0 on New Year’s Day, but only won 4 more matches thereafter to finish 10th. Harry was known as a tenacious tackler, tough as teak in the style of Chopper Harris and Norman Hunter when football was a man’s game, yet was only once sent off in his career. That occurred against Sunderland in a feisty home match when Len Shackleton came with six studs flying bringing Harry down. Those were the days when retaliation was part of the game, and Harry’s mantra was that opponents were only allowed one kick at him after which he would expect to have a retaliatory kick at the said opponent, although the referee didn’t agree and gave Harry his marching orders. His last appearance for Boro was in September 1954 away to Nottingham Forrest, a 2-4 home defeat as Boro took only one point from their first 9 matches in the Second Division. In total he made 315 appearances for Boro scoring 10 goals, after which played a further 126 matches for Darlington and scored 19 goals for the Quakers, and went on to manage Spennymoor United taking them from the First Qualifying Round of the FA Amateur Cup to the Fourth Round proper.
Harry Bell was also an outstanding cricketer opening the batting for Durham CCC when they were a Minor Counties Club, and when free from his County duties also opening the batting for Middlesbrough CC in the North Yorkshire and South Durham League. He was also a low handicap golfer often playing with his best mate Micky Fenton. After retirement he moved to Newcastle and became a top executive for Tetley’s Breweries, but suffered with vascular dementia for 8 years, the last 3 of which he resided in a care home in Newcastle were he died in 2014 aged 89.
STUART EDWARD RIPLEY 1984/92
Stuart Ripley was born in Middlesbrough in 1967 and signed for Boro in 1984 as a winger and made his debut in the following February coming on as a substitute against Oldham Athletic in a 1-2 home defeat when Willie Maddren was manager. He was sent out on loan to Bolton Wanderers in the following year before Maddren was sacked, but after being recalled by Bruce Rioch (Maddren’s successor), made his second appearance a year later again as a substitute at home to Hull City as Boro lost again and despite Boor winning 4 of their last 9 matches not only did relegation beckon but going into liquidation did as well.
Ripley then kept his place after Boro were reprieved, but hardly surprising as he was one of 9 players who made over 40 appearances that season as Boro had a depleted playing staff of only 18 players and 6 of those played in 10 or fewer league matches. Boro stormed to promotion that season and another promotion followed in the following season and Stuart Ripley played his part in that. Sadly relegation followed but Ripley was still in the side at Wembley for Boro in the Zenith Data Systems Cup Final against Chelsea and the promotion team that beat Wolves in the final match of the 1991/92 season. However that was his final appearance for Boro as he signed for Blackburn Rovers for a record transfer fee of £1.3M. He had made 312 appearances including 44 as a substitute and scored 31 goals for Boro in all matches and was replaced by Tommy Wright from Leicester City for exactly half that amount.
Stuart Ripley made 189 league appearances for Rovers and scored 13 goals, also receiving a Premiership Winners medal in 1995 with them as well as two England caps to go with his eight England under 21 caps whilst with Boro. In 1998 he was sold to Southampton where he made 53 league appearances in 4 years before spending time on loan to Barnsley then Sheffield Wednesday.
After hanging up his boots in 2002 Ripley set up the Castleford Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, not only providing physiotherapy treatment for local football clubs in the area, but also for Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Clubs, since taken over by Jill Hardy. He then graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Law and French and by 2010 had become a qualified solicitor. He is now a member of the FAs Judicial Panel.
STEPHEN VICKERS 1993/2001
Steve Vickers was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham in 1967 and played football as a teenager for Spennymoor United before joining Tranmere Rovers in September 1985. He remained at Prenton Park until 1983 by which time the team from Birkenhead were an established and successful second tier club and he himself had developed into an outstanding defender. Lennie Lawrence the Boro manager agreed a fee of £700,000 to sign him in 1993 and he made his debut in December in a goalless draw away to Bristol City. Steve made an instant impact in the centre of defence virtually an ever-present from the start winning the ‘Player of the Year’ by the end of the season with the club. Vickers only missed two League matches as Boro won promotion to the Premier League with the meanest defensive record in the First Division conceding only 40 goals in Boro’s last season at Ayresome Park under Bryan Robson.
He adapted very well to life in the Premier League, and by the end of the 2000/01 season had made over 150 appearances for Boro over five campaigns. However by early September 2001 had made only two starts, the last one in a 1-4 home defeat to Newcastle United. He was then loaned out to Crystal Palace for a month where he made 6 appearances, and then another loan period to Birmingham City where made 5 appearances before being transferred to the Brummies for £400,000. Vickers had made 308 appearances including 14 as a substitute in his Boro career and scored 14 goals, becoming the 32nd player and at this moment the last one to make over 300 appearances for Boro in their long history. He went on to make 14 appearances for Birmingham but his career ended prematurely at the age of 35 due to injuries after having made just over 600 appearances.
After retirement Steve Vickers took up a position of Head of Youth Recruitment for Sports Management in a North Eastern firm, but has now made a successful career in Property Development.
GEORGE ANDREW JORDAN FRIEND 2012/2020
George Friend was born in Barnstaple, North Devon in October 1987 and started his career at Exeter City as a youth team player before signing a professional contract in March 2006 and making his first team debut a month later in a goalless draw against Forest Green Rovers in what is now the National Conference. The Grecians gained promotion to the Football League via the playoffs in 2008 and George became their youngest captain making 37 appearances before Wolves signed him on a two year contract for a fee of £350,000. However whilst at Wolves he only made a handful of appearances being sent out on loan to Millwall, Southend, Scunthorpe and back to Exeter, although was recalled to Wolves in the Premier League when the Midlanders were suffering an injury crisis and made his first team debut away to Manchester United in a 0-3 defeat in December 2009. Wolves didn’t retain him though and it was Doncaster Rovers who signed him in 2010 and awarded him the captaincy at the beginning of the 2011/12 season where after outstanding performances he was voted their ‘Player of the Year’. Unfortunately though for Rovers they finished bottom of the League and were relegated, but with several club managers having him scouted, it was Tony Mowbray who persuaded him to sign for Boro for an undisclosed fee in July 2012.
George made his Boro debut in a 2-1 League Cup win at Bury in the following month, and then a League debut at Barnsley a week later as Boro started their campaign with a 0-1 defeat. However by November Boro topped the table after a televised Friday night 3-1 home win against Sheffield Wednesday sending the majority of the 28,229 crowd home happy. By the end of the season George had made an impressive 39 appearances, but unfortunately Boro flattered to deceive and finished 10th although they did reach the Quarterfinals of the League Cup with four successive away wins against Bury, Gillngham, Preston and Sunderland before losing 0-1 at Premier League club Swansea, the eventual winners. At the end of 2013/14 season George signed a new four-year contract with Boro. Although the following season ended in playoff heartbreak against Norwich, it was another impressive campaign for Friend as was the promotion season in the following year, as he became hugely popular among the Boro fans winning two consecutive ‘Supporters Player of the Year’ awards. He also was named in the ‘PFA Championship Team of the Year’ in successive years 2015 and 2016.
It was not only on the field of play that George Friend won awards, but in 2016 he was named ‘Community Player of the Year’ at the Football League awards for his tireless work including helping to raise funds for those affected by the closure of the Redcar steelworks. For a man raised from country and farming stock, I can think of no one else who deserved the title of ‘Adopted Teessider’ more than him. He just fell one appearance short of 300 and finished his Boro career with 10 goals. He appeared wistful at the end of his final home appearance for Boro, but signed for Birmingam City and hopefully will receive a standing ovation from the Boro faithful when City visit the Riverside next season.
MAURICE WEBSTER 1922/35
Maurice Webster was born in the South Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire in 1899 and began his career as a centre forward with Blackpool Tramway, Blackpool Villa and South Shore Wednesday before signing professional terms with Fleetwood in 1920 where he played as a centre half for two seasons. Non of his contracts lasted for more than a few months after that as he continued his professional career with Lytham, Blackburn Rovers and Stalybridge Celtic until signing for Boro in 1922. However what a gem Boro discovered as they fended off competition from Burnley, Everton and Liverpool for his signature for a reported ‘substantial’ fee. Webster made his debut away to Huddersfield in May 1922, but from mid-December became an almost permanent fixture in the centre of Boro’s defence as Boro continued life in the First Division until relegation befell the club in 1924. He missed most of the promotion season through injury when Boro scored 122 League goals as well as the following season when Boro conceded 88 goals and were relegated, but returned in January 1929 as Boro bounced back to the First Division at the first attempt, and at the end of the season Maurice collected his three England caps, the 550th player to wear the 3 lions on his shirt. He suffered more injuries in the following season missing the first 10 matches of the season, and played his last game for Boro in September 1933 against Birmingham. His number of Boro first team appearances totalled 281, but would probably have approached 400 had he not missed so many matches through injury.
However he stayed on with Boro playing for the reserve team for about 18 months before signing for Carlisle United. However his bad luck with injuries continued as he broke his leg in a match at Lincoln in November 1935 forcing him to retire after spending six weeks in Lincoln County Hospital. After retirement he returned to Teesside as a member of Boro’s coaching staff for one season, then spent many years back at Prenton Park before again returning to Teesside as Chief Coach to Stockton FC guiding them to the North Eastern League Championship in 1952.
Maurice Webster was probably not well known to today’s fans, but I discovered his headstone in Redcar Cemetery many years ago and was determined to find out about his Boro career as it was rare to discover a former English international player who had earned his caps whilst playing for Boro. For the record Maurice died in 1978 aged 78.
GARY ANDREW PALLISTER 1984/89 & 1998/2000
Gary Pallister was born in Ramsgate, Kent but grew up in Norton, County Durham and at school first played as a striker for Stockton Buffs Under 18s before being asked to play at centre half to bolster the defence. From then on that became his preferred position and thus started his career as a central defender with Billingham Town in the Northern League. He signed professional forms for Boro for a set of football strips, but it was the following year that he made his debut after spending some time on loan to Darlington where he made 7 appearances. His Boro debut came in the first match of the 1985/86 season at Wimbledon in a 0-3 defeat. Of course as already mentioned it was a terrible season for Boro with relegation and liquidation although Gary showed great promise in his 30 appearances, and in the following season established a formidable partnership with Tony Mowbray Boro’s captain. Boro amazingly won successive promotions, and had the best defence in both seasons.
So impressive was Pallister during that second promotion that he won his first England international cap being called up by Bobby Robson for the friendly against Hungary in April 1988, partnering Tony Adams in a goalless draw in Budapest. Unfortunately though Boro were relegated and in August 1989 having played for Boro in a 1-2 defeat at Sunderland, Boro accepted a fee of £2.3M from Manchester United for his transfer where he forged another superb centre-back partnership with Steve Bruce which was an integral part of United winning 4 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cup successes, a Football League Cup win, and a European Cup Winners Cup title in a 9 year career at Old Trafford.
However Gary’s career turned full circle in the summer of 1998 when Bryan Robson paid £2.5M his return to Boro. Pallister’s second debut came in the September as Boro won 1-0 at Leicester
GARY ANDREW PALLISTER 1984/89 & 1998/2000
Gary Pallister was born in Ramsgate, Kent but grew up in Norton, County Durham and at school first played as a striker for Stockton Buffs Under 18s before being asked to play at centre half to bolster the defence. From then on that became his preferred position and thus started his career as a central defender with Billingham Town in the Northern League. He signed professional forms for Boro for a set of football strips, but it was the following year that he made his debut after spending some time on loan to Darlington where he made 7 appearances. His Boro debut came in the first match of the 1985/86 season at Wimbledon in a 0-3 defeat. Of course as already mentioned it was a terrible season for Boro with relegation and liquidation although Gary showed great promise in his 30 appearances, and in the following season established a formidable partnership with Tony Mowbray Boro’s captain. Boro amazingly won successive promotions, and had the best defence in both seasons.
So impressive was Pallister during that second promotion that he won his first England international cap being called up by Bobby Robson for the friendly against Hungary in April 1988, partnering Tony Adams in a goalless draw in Budapest. Unfortunately though Boro were relegated and in August 1989 having played for Boro in a 1-2 defeat at Sunderland, Boro accepted a fee of £2.3M from Manchester United for his transfer where he forged another superb centre-back partnership with Steve Bruce which was an integral part of United winning 4 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cup successes, a Football League Cup win, and a European Cup Winners Cup title in a 9 year career at Old Trafford where he made 317 league appearances and countless cup appearances.
However Gary’s career turned full circle in the summer of 1998 when Bryan Robson paid £2.5M for his return to Boro. Pallister’s second debut came in the September as Boro won 1-0 at Leicester as Boro, and after winning 3-2 just before Christmas had reaching the dizzy heights of 4th position, but a 9 game winless run had them sliding down the table though they still finished a credible 9th. However Pallister’s form dipped slightly with a succession of injuries and after a 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford in November 2000 he didn’t play again so decided to retire in the following summer at the age of 36 having made 279 appearances in his two periods with Boro during which he scored 7 goals. He also earned 22 full England caps and 7 England B caps.
By the time he retired Steve McClaren had become Boro’s manager and he paid this tribute “Gary has enjoyed a fantastic career as one of the game’s best defenders with Middlesbrough, Manchester United and England”.
Amen to that!
Sorry, but thick fingers have somehow my pressing the wrong button before I have finished writing the blog.
ERIC McMORDIE 1964/75
Eric McMordie was born in Belfast in August 1946 but was actually christened Alexander S. McMordie, although why he was always known as Eric I don’t know. As far as I can ascertain he didn’t change his name by deed poll and whether he just didn’t like his christian name nor any abbreviation of it such as Alec, Alex or even Sandy I’ve no idea, nor do I knu for what the S stands for in his middle name. However I do know that he played part-time for an amateur Belfast club called Dundela whilst working as a plasterer in the building trade and was discovered by a local scout Matt Willis at the same time as George Best and that both players were invited for a fortnight’s trial with Manchester United in 1961. Apparently both players were homesick during the trial period, and whereas Best was persuaded to return to Old Trafford, McMordie refused and stayed at home in Belfast to continue his trade as a plasterer.
However McMordie did accept another trial, this time at Boro and signed a professional contract at Boro in September 1964. His first team debut came the following September at Plymouth in a 2-2 draw, and a fortnight later he scored his first goal as Boro beat Rotherham 4-0 at home. He played 22 times that season, as Boro were relegated to the 3rd Division for the first time in their history, but 33 in the following year’s promotion season. He then became a regular during the following 5 seasons but lost his place when Jack Charlton signed Graeme Souness. His last game for Boro was as a substitute for the last 8 minutes of the 4-0 home win against Notts County in April 1974. He was then sent out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday for whom he scored 6 times in 9 appearances, but then in the following season signed for York City making 42 appearances and then for Hartlepool United for another 42 appearances before retiring shortly after his 32nd birthday.
Eric McMordie was regarded as a skilful goal maker rather than a goal taker, but a midfield schemer despite his relatively slight build who was never afraid to get into the fray. He made one international appearance for Northern Ireland’s under 23 side but also earned 21 full international caps for his country and scored 3 goals. For Boro he is numbered 36th on the list of appearances with 277 including 11 as a substitute and he scored 26 goals.
WILLIAM HUTCHINSON BROWN 1931/46
Billy Brown was born in Bedlington, County Durham in 1909 and was a right back starting his career playing for West Stanley but only for 4 months before signing for Boro as an apprentice at the age of 19. He spent his first 30 months playing in the Reserve XI before making his first team debut in August 1931 as a right half at Leicester in a 2-2 draw though only making 9 appearances in his first season. He became more of a regular in the following season with 34 appearances and scored his first goal in a 2-1 home win against Wolves in April, and a vital goal at that, as Boro looked almost certain to be relegated until they won four and drew one of their final 5 matches escaping relegation by a mere 4 points. Peter McWilliam was Boro’s manager at the time and his management style was unusual to say the least. He would take a 30 minute nap before matches and rarely watched his team in action, and never gave tactical talks or discuss strategy, but simply left his players to get on with it. Loved by the players, but never won the hearts of the fans, so unsurprising that Boro were always fighting against relegation in Billy Brown’s early seasons.
However when Wilf Gillow was appointed manager in 1934 Billy Brown still retained his place but moved occasionally to right back as Boro suddenly looked like a team that might win its first Division One title, but Herr Hitler put a stop to that as Boro finished the pre-war strongly in 7th, 5th and 4th. By then Billy Brown was 30 years old and despite surviving the war he was by then in his late 30s and although retained on Boro’s playing staff Billy never played for Boro again. The last of his 274 appearances was against Aston Villa in May 1939. Nevertheless he then played for Hartlepools for two seasons and then one more season in the North Eastern League for Stockton. Billy Brown died in December 1996 in Gateshead aged 87.
GARY HAMILTON 1983/92
Gary Hamilton was born in Glasgow in 1965 and signed apprentice forms before making his debut as a substitute against Bolton Wanderers in a 1-3 defeat in February 1983. He was only 17 years old as Malcolm Allison gave him his chance. He only made 8 appearances in that season but showed much promise scoring twice in those 8 matches, the first of which was at Grimsby in a 3-0 win as Boro finished 16th. Gary then became a more regular member of the first team squad with 34 more appearances although initially as a second half substitute. After relegation and liquidation he became a regular stalwart of the team that won consecutive promotions back to the First Division, and in fact scored the second crucial goal in the Semifinal second leg that allowed Boro to reach the Playoff Final on aggregate. Gary made 35 starts for Boro in the First Division but needed knee surgery at the end of the season, so the final day defeat at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday, which saw Boro relegated, was his final game as several attempts at a comeback from his injury ended in defeat. In the 1991/92 season he was sent out on loan to Darlington, but after 15 appearances for the Quakers he broke down again which effectively ended his playing career with Boro. Gary’s fortitude and will to win had endeared him to the Boro faithful, and his successive managers recognised his value to the team by selecting him for 272 appearances including 13 as a substitute by the time he was 23, and in turn he rewarded his managers with 27 goals. In a poll of Boro supporters he came out on top of the players for the 1966/86 era with 23.1% of the total votes which earned him a special black brick embedded in ‘Boro’s Brick Road’.
After retirement Gary Hamilton became a successful coach in the USA as head coach of Houston Dynamo Juniors in Texas where he is Director of McAllen Youth Soccer Association training young footballers to become professionals.
ROBERT WILLIAM STUART 1931/47
Bobby Stuart was born in Middlesbrough in 1913 and won 3 England international schoolboy caps as a centre half at the age of 14 before signing amateur forms for South Bank aged 17 playing mostly as a full back. A year later he signed professional forms for Boro making his first team debut at Highbury in a 0-5 defeat against Arsenal in the penultimate match of the 1931/32 season. He was reputed to be the hardest kicker of a dead ball with either feet at the time, and alternated between right back and left back throughput his career. He played left back during the pre-war years and scored his first goal in a 4-1 home win against Leicester City in the last game of the 1933/34 season. He continued his goalscoring reputation in the following season, but unfortunately his 5 goals were all own goals which still stands as a record for the highest number of own goals conceded by a player in one season. However in one match against Stoke City towards the end of 1938 Bobby played a blinder, staying so close to Stanley Matthews who at that time was in his prime, preventing the maestro from performing his usual magic, and shuffling him to the corner flag thus giving Matthews no room to manoeuvre to dibble past him or centre a cross for the opposition’s attack. One other attribute of Bobby Stuart was that he was reputed to be the fastest fullback in English football during the 1930s.
Before the Second World War he had enlisted in the RAF and continued to play football, guesting for Liverpool in one particular match against Manchester City in May 1940 which seemed to grip the nation’s attention as Liverpool won 3-2. He also led a team of Boro players against Liverpool in a snooker and billiards competition during that time. After hostilities ended there still were no League matches played, so the season restarted with the FA Cup with Boro entering the competition in early January 1946, and Bobby Stuart lost his place as George Hardwick returned. Also a young signing Dickie Robinson emerged, though with Harold Shepherdson retiring, sometimes George would fill Shep’s place at centre half with Bobby partnering Dickie at full back. So Bobby played his final match for Boro as the big freeze set in with part of the North Sea at Redcar freezing over and Boro finishing the season with 4 consecutive away matches with Bobby playing in all of them. Bobby Stuart finished his Boro career with 270 appearances and then played for Plymouth Argyle for 5 months in 1948 and making 20 starts. He then came back home as it were, ending his career with 9 months at Whitby.
He died in 1987 aged 73.
Writing about Boro players past and present has given me so much pleasure. If I’m honest, it’s the period between the two World Wars that I’ve found the most fascinating as although I’ve obviously not seen any of them play and Boro many times flattered to deceive, it’s the nostalgia of it all by listening to my grandfather telling me how much better football was in his days. Probably not true, but perhaps many generations think that way. Of course the Camsell area was something special, but although Bo
Sorry, fell asleep writing this blog.