Everybody Round My House for a Parmo!: Middlesbrough's Journey from Cardiff to Eindhoven

By Phil Spencer

Everybody Round My House for a Parmo! is the story of the most successful era in Middlesbrough FC's history, as told by those who experienced it. From Marinelli to Mendieta and Vidmar to Viduka, this 'small town in Europe' went from relegation fodder to cup-winners on the cusp of European glory in the space of just three short seasons, between 2003 and 2006. But while results on the pitch were memorable, they mean nothing without the backstory of how such heights were reached. Told with the help of players, club staff and local media at the heart of the journey, this is the inside story of how Steve McClaren transformed the Teessiders' fortunes while encountering more than a few hiccups along the way - including a failed drug test and even a manager getting hit by an angry fan's season ticket! It's one of modern football's greatest fairy tales, but even the greatest successes come with their fair share of struggles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: May 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781801502689

Book preview

Introduction

EVERY FOOTBALL fan can pinpoint the moment when they fell in love with the game. That love could have been born from one match, one moment, one team or one player. Growing up in Yarm, a north Yorkshire town around 20 minutes from Middlesbrough, the average classroom was filled with the usual group of glory supporters – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United and even one or two Hartlepool or Darlington fans.

For many children, though, Teesside was a one-club area. In the 1990s it was easy to fall in love with Middlesbrough Football Club and what they were doing. Boys and girls alike would always want to emulate their heroes when playing street football, with jumpers for goalposts, but when Bryan Robson took charge as the club’s manager the kids in the area had a new-found smorgasbord of stars from around the world to pick from. Paul Gascoigne, Paul Merson and Marco Branca were all eye-catching signings in the late 90s, but it was Craig Hignett, Nick Barmby, Emerson, Fabrizio Ravenelli and a certain pint-sized Brazilian called Juninho who became idols for so many in the area. After all, how could you not fall in love with football when these sublime players rock up to play on your doorstep?

Football back then was nowhere near as expensive as it is in the current era yet buying a matchday ticket or a season ticket was still a massive expense for an average family. During those years, my own experiences of watching Middlesbrough involved going to cut-price reserve-team matches at the Riverside Stadium, going to a friend’s house to watch games on satellite TV or, if I was lucky, being offered a free ticket by our family friends, Mary and Lenny, when they couldn’t attend. This certainly isn’t a story of hardship, but there’s no doubt that this delayed gratification of seeing Middlesbrough play meant that I would appreciate the experience that was just around the corner that little bit more.

Since the age of 13, I’d been working as a newspaper delivery boy, posting copies of the Evening Gazette through the doors of Yarm’s residents and soaking up the extensive Middlesbrough coverage put forward by Eric Paylor, Phil Tallentire, Anthony Vickers and the rest of the sports team at the local newspaper. At the end of the 2002/03 season I decided that it was time to test my parents once more with the proposal of a season ticket. I was so desperate that I almost resorted to making a PowerPoint presentation, armed with the pros and cons of the purchase as I gave them ‘the hard sell’ – thankfully, my persistence finally paid off.

I was SO excited. I was going to be able to watch every minute of Middlesbrough’s home matches and it was the best feeling in the world. My parents, Moira and Matthew, were a bit more reserved about the idea. After all, spending their precious Saturday afternoons (plus a significant amount of money) watching Middlesbrough wasn’t the ideal way to spend a weekend if your heart wasn’t fully in it. As a result they decided to share the second season ticket, which meant the Spencer household was abuzz with the excitement of an NFL-style draft pick system, whereby each parent would pick which of the 19 Premier League teams they wanted to see. Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal were popular picks, while new-money Chelsea were ones to watch out for. Then we had the clamour to attend the derby matches with Newcastle United and Leeds United.

Of course, as the draft lost its momentum, there was the inevitable discussion over who would be forced to endure the less glamorous matches against the likes of Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic, but such are the highs and lows of this rollercoaster that we call life!

As the weeks ticked by to the start of the season, my excitement was uncontainable. When the first home match of 2003/04 rolled around – a home clash with Arsenal – I was just soaking it all in: the car ride to Middlesbrough; the lengthy search for a parking space; the smell of overpriced hotdogs; the jackpot ticket salespeople who would pop my eardrum each time they bellowed the infamous ‘two for a fiver’ deal at the top of their lungs. Squeezing through the turnstile was always a special moment, as was the anticipation of climbing what to me felt like hundreds of stairs towards our new seats in the south-west upper corner.

After weaving our way through the queues of supporters, betting slips in hand and the smell of stale beer on their breath, it was time to walk up the stairs to get the first glimpse of our new home. Words couldn’t describe it.

Having seen Middlesbrough on TV I knew what the inside of the Riverside would look like, but everything was that bit more vibrant. The fluorescent green turf – perfectly cut and striped, as the August sun shone through the pre-match sprinkler routine – was accompanied by 35,000 glowing red seats, where small groups of fans were starting to filter in to soak up the pre-match view. Of course, I understand that fans love the colours of their own team’s stadium – whether it’s blue, white, black or some other hue – but for me, nothing could beat the bright, eye-catching combination of Riverside red with glowing green down below.

As my mum and I took our seats ahead of the game, it just felt right; little did we know that those seats in block 66 would provide the perfect view of a historic three-year period in Middlesbrough Football Club’s history.

1

One Stevie Gibson

THE 1990s was a decade that saw Middlesbrough become everyone’s favourite second team. After moving to the Riverside Stadium in 1995, the club embarked on an exciting new era that would see them push to become a major point of local pride. That was the key mantra when local businessman Steve Gibson rescued the club from going out of business at the 11th hour on a dark day in 1986, when the famous gates of Ayresome Park were locked with a view to never opening again.

Gibson’s love affair with Middlesbrough extends back to the 1960s when he and future cult hero Chris Kamara would attend matches together as children with the same dream as so many around the area: to pull on the famous red and white jersey for themselves. Kamara ultimately managed to achieve that dream, and while the future businessman may have fallen short in his hope of being a player, it wasn’t enough to stop him from becoming the most important figure in the club’s history.

After forming a consortium to rescue the club in 1986, Gibson increased his shareholding in 1993 before succeeding Colin Henderson as chairman in 1994. It was at that point that we really started to see his vision for Middlesbrough come to life. Gibson had already spent 23 years as the founder and owner of global transportation company Bulkhaul Limited – a company that he started after borrowing £1,000 from his father. It was exactly that sort of ambition and forward planning that would see Middlesbrough working towards the goal of gracing one of the biggest stages in European football.

While the opening of the Riverside Stadium was seen as a huge opportunity to announce the club to the world, one key arrival changed everyone. Bryan Robson was a name that was recognised all over the planet. The Chester-le-Street-born midfielder enjoyed the sort of career that children could only dream of, making almost 500 appearances for Manchester United and picking up 90 caps for England. Appointed captain of both club and country, it was only fitting that he would pick up the nickname ‘Captain Marvel’ for the way he approached the game; after all, growing up in the north-east of England during the 1960s and ‘70s was hardly a place where opportunities were handed to you on a silver platter. Instead, you had to graft and prove yourself at every opportunity – something that Robbo did with great success.

Some critics in the football world thought that Robson’s arrival on Teesside was a deal that was led by Gibson’s ego – after all, who wouldn’t want to bring a Manchester United and England legend to the club? Yet, as we’ve learned over the years, it has never been Gibson’s priority to be the centre of attention. Instead, Robson’s arrival was used as the catalyst to raise the profile of the club and attract players who, quite frankly, would otherwise have never heard of Middlesbrough, let alone considered moving there.

Fans loved life under Robson. His arrival created huge opportunities to bring in high-profile signings from some of the top footballing nations around the world. Robson’s connections were enough to attract Gary Walsh from Manchester United, plus his former Old Trafford team-mate Viv Anderson from Barnsley, before word spread of Middlesbrough’s project and players were clamouring to be involved. The signing of Nick Barmby from Tottenham Hotspur in 1995 was a real turning point, and then a certain South American star changed the game completely.

Juninho’s arrival was unprecedented: a signing that showed the football world that the Gibson and Robson duo were deadly serious about their ambitions. The Brazilian attacking midfielder caught the eye of Middlesbrough’s player-manager in an Umbro Cup international clash with England. Moving quickly, the Teessiders wasted little time in bringing the 22-year-old to Europe for the first time in October 1995.

Supporters had been excited by new signings before, but this was completely different. The newly built Riverside Stadium was packed out, with a carnival-style celebration, to welcome the new hero. It’s not often that initial hype around a new signing is matched by quality and longevity of performance, but that’s what Juninho brought. He would begin his love affair with a club that would see him become the most unlikely of adopted Teessiders – but we’ll get to that later.

The ‘Little Fella’ was followed to the Riverside by his compatriot Emerson before a mammoth deal to sign Fabrizio Ravenelli from Juventus was completed in the summer of 1996. The ‘White Feather’, as he was known to team-mates and fans alike due to his trademark hair colour, left the Italian giants at the peak of his power. He arrived in Middlesbrough on the crest of a wave having scored a goal that helped Juventus to win the Champions League Final in May 1996, his last appearance for the club. Ravenelli’s flagship move was another huge signal of intent and an indicator that Boro were growing at an astounding rate.

Despite reaching both the League Cup and FA Cup finals in the 1996/97 season, Middlesbrough suffered relegation to the First Division. In December 1996, following an outbreak of illness at the club, Middlesbrough failed to field a team for a match against Blackburn Rovers. Subsequently, the FA penalised them with a three-point deduction for failing to fulfil a fixture, ultimately subjecting Boro to the drop. Even this setback wouldn’t stop Robson from bringing in further high-profile additions in the shape of players such as Paul Gascoigne, Paul Merson and Andy Townsend.

Experienced, big-name signings continued into the late 1990s, when the likes of Brian Deane, Paul Ince, Christian Ziege and Gary Pallister arrived, before Alen Bokšić and Christian Karembeu followed suit in 2000. However, the signings of Bokšić and Karembeu would prove to be the last notable transfers of this type. Croatian striker Bokšić perfectly summed up the sort of ego and complacent attitude that was at Boro at that time, something that Dave Allan, the club’s media manager throughout the period this book covers, perfectly summed up with a recalled tale involving Bokšić from the early 2000s.

Allan explained: ‘He used to do one interview a year with Boro TV, Century Radio, BBC Tees and Eric Paylor at the Evening Gazette. He’d do it in the media room at Rockliffe Park, be really professional and then stand up, say thank you, shake everybody’s hands and then as he was walking out of the room would say, See you next year! There was no chance he’d ever do another interview. We’d be at an away game and the away press would ask if there was any chance of speaking to Bokšić, and I’d just say, I highly doubt it! He’d then pretend that he didn’t speak good English. I used to ask him, How is it that you can tell me in perfectly good English that you aren’t able to speak good English?’

The 2000/01 season proved to be Bryan Robson’s final campaign in charge. Two wins in the first 17 matches of the season strongly suggested that something needed to change as Boro began to flounder in the Premier League. Middlesbrough had an ageing squad and there was a strong feeling that they needed a new face at the helm.

Terry Venables arrived in December 2000 and worked alongside Robson to ensure that Boro finished the season with their heads above water in the relegation battle. Venables was a manager with great experience at the highest level, having led Barcelona, Tottenham and England during the 1990s. Sources close to the club at the time revealed that, while Venables was brought in to support Robson in his role, he instead ‘ran the shop’ during the second half of the campaign. It was also revealed that Venables was actually offered the job on a permanent basis in the summer of 2001 but turned it down as it conflicted with his media commitments.

This meant that Gibson and Lamb had to make a strategic appointment for the direction that they were hoping to head in. Part of Gibson’s blueprint for success was based around the club developing a youth academy that would be a consistent and reliable source of genuine assets in the future. Whether that was developing players who were ready for the first-team set-up or creating them to be used as financial assets, it was an area that Gibson was determined to thrive in. Ahead of the game and already using this model were Manchester United.

The Red Devils were the team that most clubs looked up to due to their dominance in both domestic and European competitions; yet behind the silverware was an academy set-up that was built for success. The fabled Class of ‘92 was seen as the pinnacle, with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville establishing themselves as first-team players. Countless others moved on to enjoy successful careers with other clubs in the Premier League and Football League. It was exactly this that Gibson was looking to emulate and that was clear with numerous Old Trafford alumni moving to the Riverside – most notably Robson and Anderson as the club’s management team.

As the new millennium dawned it was clear that Middlesbrough were looking to put plans in place for the long term. Gibson was looking for a manager who had the unique skillset of working with high-profile global superstars, while also having the genuine passion for developing youth and providing a pathway to the first-team. There was one candidate who ticked all the boxes and would lead Middlesbrough into the most exciting era in the club’s history.

2

A Fresh Face at the Helm

STEVE MCCLAREN was someone who many people were familiar with following his work with Manchester United. The York-born coach had been assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson for two years when he received the call from Steve Gibson about the Middlesbrough job – a role that immediately appealed due to the project that was presented to him.

By all accounts, McClaren had been hoping to succeed Ferguson as the main man at Old Trafford, but with Fergie’s retirement being pushed back year after year, it was clear that he’d have to go out and challenge himself if he was to make it as a manager. As far as the combination of himself and Boro was concerned it was a match made in heaven.

McClaren had a glowing reputation as Ferguson’s number two but certainly wasn’t considered to be a big name in his own right. That meant that expectations were minimal when he took charge in 2001. A coach first and foremost, there was no doubt that McClaren was a completely different character to the man he replaced.

Part of Bryan Robson’s appeal was his status as one of the most recognisable faces in English football – a role that attracted plenty of media attention, which he relished. However, according to Middlesbrough’s media manager through the McClaren era, Dave Allan, Robson’s successor brought a completely different approach to handling the press. ‘When Steve joined, I got called into Keith Lamb’s office and was introduced to McClaren and Bill Beswick, who was very much his right-hand man, and I was told that they wanted some changes,’ Allan explained. ‘Steve, at his request, wanted a PR department who were on hand to advise him and that he could rely on. At the time I was based at the Riverside Stadium but was asked to move to Rockliffe Park, and so that’s what we did. We looked after the matchday programme, we looked after the website and Boro TV at the time. We also did Riverside Roar magazine when that was around and did the stadium tours. We looked after all of the media but also advised the manager.

‘Bryan Robson would walk into a press conference, sit down and just start answering questions, but Steve McClaren wanted me to brief him ahead of every press conference and interview that he did. He wanted to know what might be asked and why it would be asked, as well as giving him any background information if it was needed. So ahead of every press conference I would give him several sheets of A4 paper filled with notes. He’d have a read of it over lunch and then come and ask any questions. He didn’t want to be caught off guard and it was all about professional planning.’

Beswick’s presence at that first meeting with Allan would be a sign of things to come. Along with first-team coaches Malcolm Crosby, Steve Harrison, Steve Round and goalkeeping coach Paul Barron, Beswick linked up with McClaren at Middlesbrough, having worked with him during their time together at Manchester United. Beswick was named as assistant manager but was a renowned sports psychologist, meaning that his role was more akin to being an advisor to McClaren, rather than as an on-field coach to the players.

In an interview with Tees Life, McClaren called the appointment of Beswick, Harrison, Round and Barron ‘the best money he spent’ during his time at the club, adding, ‘You’re only as good as the people around you and I was surrounded by the best.’ So, with his backroom team in place, focus turned to the playing squad.

The side who had narrowly avoided relegation under Robson and Terry Venables were entering the autumn of their careers, but as former Evening Gazette writer Anthony Vickers revealed, they didn’t have the sort of standards that Boro would need to kick on. ‘McClaren was brought in to professionalise the club,’ said Vickers. ‘Bryan Robson was a great magnet for players, but, with the best will in the world, he wasn’t a professional coach from a technical background. Some managers assume that all players are like they are. As a player, Robbo could be slack Monday–Friday and then perform on a Saturday. He thought that his players would do the same. He would play with a broken leg, but it didn’t occur to him that there were players who would lie about being injured to try and blag a few days off.

‘Under Robbo, things were quite lax, so McClaren was brought in to an established club in the Premier League and told to apply science, nutritionists, better coaching drills and tactical nous. He brought in Beswick and an army of people behind the scenes with clipboards. They were the first to use data and so the club were very much professionalised. He was one of the rising new generation of coaches and his remit was to change the culture of the club. You couldn’t turn up late, you couldn’t train if you’d had a few beers the night before – things that you could get away with under Bryan Robson. It was a real change and McClaren had a very different idea about what sort of players he wanted.’

Beswick discussed what it was like for McClaren and his team, saying, ‘The challenges are the same for any manager going into a club. Managers tend to go into clubs who are having difficulties – very few have the pleasure of going into clubs who have been successful, so your problem is time. The squad you inherit is not going to get the job done, has not been getting the job done and will not get the job done. You have to change that squad but there’s a limit to how quickly you can change that, plus you’ve got to have a team that can win in the short term while planning for the long term. The problem was changing some of the personnel, but mostly it was about changing the culture and getting the sort of culture that Steve and I had come from at Manchester United – that professional, competitive, serious, goal-focused culture and bringing it to Middlesbrough.’

McClaren’s first signing was always going to be pivotal, and Gareth Southgate’s arrival certainly set the tone for what was to come. The defender had spent six years with Aston Villa where he had proved himself as someone who would be able to wear two hats at the Riverside Stadium – as a top-class central defender and a character who could immediately take on the role of being club captain. Southgate was recommended by Steve Harrison, who had worked closely with the England international during their time with Aston Villa before the coach linked up with McClaren.

As well as being an excellent player, the 31-year-old was exactly the sort of personality that Middlesbrough were looking for, as confirmed by Beswick. ‘It’s very difficult to find players like Gareth,’ said Beswick. ‘Players who stand out in terms of attitude, professionalism and leadership are difficult to find. We were very fortunate to get Gareth. When we heard he was available – he was 31, an England international and a well-respected player – Steve [McClaren] went to Steve Gibson and said that Southgate was a must-sign because he could help us to transform the club, and to be fair Gibson was very good with us, pursued it and signed Gareth.’

McClaren went one step further than that, describing Southgate as his ‘best signing’ during his time at Middles-brough. He told Tees Life, ‘He came in with that great professionalism. He epitomised exactly what all five of us wanted in a player in the dressing room, on the field and gradually he became the first person in that inner circle that took us forward.’

However, Southgate wasn’t your typical club captain. Middlesbrough fans were used to seeing leaders such as Tony Mowbray, Nigel Pearson and, more recently, Paul Ince taking the armband: players who would shout, scream and work on the basis of being the most feared in the dressing room. Southgate wasn’t quite like that. Articulate, thoughtful and described by club insiders as ‘an absolute gentleman’, he led with the carrot rather than the proverbial