Fred Pentland - the former Middlesbrough player who became a revered managerial legend in Spain

Earlier this season Aidan Morris became the 1,000th professional player to represent Middlesbrough Football Club. He was recognised as part of the club's Legacy Numbers initiative.

The drive was aimed at celebrating the club's history ahead of the upcoming 125-year anniversary and recognises every player past and present to have pulled on the Boro shirt. To complement the initiative, club author and former Gazette reporter Anthony Vickers was tasked compiling a comprehensive book on every one the 1,000 players.

Middlesbrough Legacy Numbers is therefore a fascinating chronicle of Boro's rich history, and features many incredible tales of the players of years gone by. From the legends like Juninho and Wilf Mannion to the perhaps lesser known figures who haven't been as remembered by time.

READ MORE: Drink-driving Cleveland officer barred from policing after 24-year career

READ MORE: The inspiration behind Middlesbrough's much-improved goalscoring form - Boro panel

On Teesside at least, that description might very well apply to Fred Pentland, who spent four seasons at Boro after joining from QPR in 1908. As Anthony explains to Teesside Live though, Pentland's story is a fascinating one - and it sees him far more celebrated a bit further afield.

“Fred Pentland is a really interesting character," Anthony says. "He was the son of the Lord Mayor of Birmingham and was an England international. But that’s not the interesting part of his story. He went into coaching and in 1913 he went to Germany and was coaching their team for what would have been the 1914 Olympics.

"But the war broke out and English people who were working in Germany were interned at Ruhleben [a civilian detention camp] near Berlin. He was involved in that, as was Steve Bloomer - another former Boro player. The two of them set up a mini football league inside the camp with several divisions, to stop people getting bored.

"He developed his coaching skills there and after the war, he managed the French Olympic team in the 1920 Olympics and then went to Spain. In Spain, he is a giant figure who is absolutely revered.”

As well as managing Atletico Madrid, at Athletic Bilbao he won the league twice and five Copa del Reys, including two doubles. He then led the Spanish National team as they became the first non-British team to beat England.

“He’s a club legend and there’s a statue of him outside of Bilbao," Anthony continued. "He was famed for the bowler hat he wore and whenever he won there was a tradition that the players would take him on the pitch, throw him up in the air and stomp on his bowler hat and then have a whip-round to buy a new one! He’s so influential even today. Equivalent to when we say ‘gaffer’, in Spain they often refer to managers as ‘El Mister’ and it stems from Fred Pentland - Mr Pentland, as they called him.”

Fred Pentland's story is just one of many that Boro fans will be able to read and learn more about in the new book, out now and available to buy in the club shop. Featuring 1,000 players in total, we had to ask about the prestigious number one.

Anthony explains: “Number one is Harry Allport, who played in the first game in the Football League when they lost 3-0 away at Lincoln. He’s number one by alphabetical order. He’d actually been at the club for a decade and encapsulates that period where Boro were a massive power in the amateur game.

"He played games against Ironopolis at a time when the town was bitterly divided and there was a culture war between professionalism and amateurism. He was a Boro loyalist and represents the growth and transition of the club during a revolutionary time for football.”

As you might imagine, such a book needed plenty of time to complete - with huge amounts of research required on top of the mammoth task of actually writing it all. This reporter regularly sits next to Anthony at the Riverside and witnessed his anguish towards the end of last season as Michael Carrick's generosity to academy players brought the club ever closer to their 1,000th player and therefore shortened his deadline for the book!

“It was a superb process to write and research," he says. "Going back, looking through old cuttings etc. You go down rabbit holes chasing elements for particular players, and it was so enjoyable. It was a privilege really.

"This is the club’s history and that’s important and to be celebrated because it’s one of the club’s biggest assets. Obviously in recent generations we’ve had star players like Juninho who fans are wrapped up with. But it’s easy to forget a previous generation of fans invested in other individuals - and not just the star names like Mannion and Clough etc.

"It’s the players who are in those teams around them as well. They’ve all had a role to play in our history - they’re all threads of the great tapestry. It’s important those people are recognised and remembered, which this book does by putting the information at your fingertips.”

It's for that reason that Anthony decided to format the book alphabetically, rather than in numerical order. Asked what he hoped supporters who buy the book - surely a perfect Christmas sticking-filler for any Boro fan - will take from it, he said: “My hope is that fans can learn something from the book - learn about players from our past that might not have been as remembered as some of the legendary figures of our history.

"It’s why we decided to put the book together alphabetically rather than chronologically. The thinking is that, if you open the book looking for a particular player, say Juninho for example, you see the other players on that page from different eras, rather than just the players of the same era, who you likely remember as well anyway.

"It takes you down the rabbit hole. It gives it more of a narrative texture, while you can also just dip in - pick a random letter and have a look through, see how many Joe Murphy’s we’ve had.”

Middlesbrough Legacy Numbers is out now and available to buy from the club shop. Anthony Vickers will be signing copies of the book in the club store at the Riverside Stadium ahead of home games between now and Christmas.