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First hat-trick hero, proud Steve Gibson moment & more 'amazing' Boro stories
BACK in September of this year, ahead of Middlesbrough's Championship game against Stoke City, Steve Gibson welcomed a very special guest into the chairman's lounge.
Maureen Roberts is the granddaughter of Joe Murphy.
Now even if you're a Boro diehard, you might not be aware of Murphy, for it was in the 1800s when he represented the club.
But he made a lasting impact. Murphy became the first ever Boro player to score a hat-trick on his debut, achieving the feat in an 8-1 thumping of Burton Swifts at Linthorpe Road back in 1899.
The next - and only other - Boro player to score a hat-trick on his debut? Fabrizio Ravanelli against Liverpool 97 years later.
Roll forward to 2024 and proud Maureen, pictured above, was the recipient of her granddad's Boro Legacy Number certificate.
The Legacy Numbers were launched last year and assigned to each and every senior men's player to feature in a competitive game since the club permanently turned professional in 1899.
It led to Aidan Morris becoming the 1000th Boro player to pull on the shirt when he made his debut against Swansea City on the first day of this season, and brought to a close an exhausting but fascinating and eye-opening project for club author Anthony Vickers.
With the help of club historians Shaun Wilson and Colin Galloway, Anthony compiled and chronicled an exhaustive record of Boro's first 1,000 players - which led to the discovery of stories like Murphy's.
"It just shows how deeply engrained in the community the club is and you have those threads of history that go all the way back," Anthony tells the Northern Echo after the release of his new book.
"Joe's family still live in Thornaby and are obviously immensely proud. We're so closely linked in this area and these are still active parts of our history. It's been great to bring things like that out."
And there's plenty more.
"Harry Allport, who is number one, played for Boro as an amateur against Ironopolis at a time when football was in the balance," says Anthony.
"There was a massive battle going on between amateurism and professionalism and only one team would survive. He played for Boro in that game and played in both FA Amateur Cup wins in 1895 and 1898. He played in the first game in the football league. That is living history.
"Then there's Joe Gettings. He played in 1891 against Ironopolis, he played in the Amateur Cup, he played the last game at Linthorpe Road, he played at Ayresome Park. Their story is so entwined with the early development of the club and it's really important to recognise those people as having a formative role in our history. It's all part of the story.
"They're all threads in the great tapestry and it's really nice to resurrect them and give people access to those amazing stories."
And those stories aren't purely limited to the early days.
"In the modern era, think of Curtis Fleming," says Anthony.
"You might not think of him as a remarkable player but he won promotion three times and went to Wembley three times and played 400 games for the club.
"He encapsulates a certain era, he played at both stadiums, under the key managers. And if you go back in time there are other players who totally encapsulate a period."
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The research for the book was thrilling but unique for Anthony. Featured are club legends such as George Camsell, George Hardwick, Wilf Mannion, Brian Clough, Tony Mowbray, Juninho and Gareth Southgate. As Anthony says, those stories are "burned into the Boro psyche".
But what about those players from the very early days? Or players who made no more than a handful of appearances - how did he go about telling those tales?
"For the players in the first decade it was quite hard to find details as simple as a birth date," he says.
"When clubs signed players in those days all you needed was a name. The team sheet was signed, sent into the Football League and that was it.
"Quite often you didn't have all the background information but it wasn't required information. They got through 39 players in the first season but that was because they'd stepped up from amateur football and signed up loads from the Northern League and quickly realised they weren't good enough.
"It was quite hard going back and trying to find out where certain players came from.
"There was quite a lot of forensic brain melting work just to pin down who people were. It was great to get your teeth into but sometimes it was hard. We had the legacy list that we worked out and were checking that against all previous information.
"You fill in so many gaps around the club. Now I really understand the mechanics of the first couple of years. It was chaos but organised chaos.
"But what's been really interesting is identifying players who carry history with them.
"There are periods of so much flux and movement. All the players who Lennie Lawrence brought in on loan for instance, loads of them. And the dozens who came in under Tony Mowbray.
"But everyone has a story, we know that as journalists."
And Anthony has told those stories. It's little surprise that the book has gone down a treat with fans, and Anthony will be in the club shop signing copies ahead of and after this weekend's game against Millwall.
"When I started writing this we were on 980 and I thought I had loads of time then Carrick kept giving debuts at the end of last season and the numbers were rattling up," he laughs.
"It's been a real pleasure. I've learnt plenty along the way - and fans will find out loads they didn't know."
Middlesbrough Legacy Numbers is available from the club shop or online HERE and is priced at £22.
