On Friday, The Red hosted our second Boro Legends event. Following the region-wide success of Magic Midfielders last summer, we hosted ‘Our First, Our Last, Our Silverware.’ This event saw 600 people pack into the Princess Alexandra Auditorium in Yarm to witness Craig Hignett – The scorer of the first goal at The Riverside and John Hendrie – The last goal scorer at Ayresome Park, joined by the ONLY man to bring silverware back to Middlesbrough in Steve McClaren for one night only!
The night began with introductory chats with each of the legends, with Hignett telling the tale of why he and Boro’s promotion winning manager Aitor Karanka can’t be in the same room, Hendrie discussing what nickname he was given by Boro favourite Juninho and of course McClaren discussed what it meant to him to be the man to guide the club to glory.
The three ‘Boro legends satisfied fans by telling their stories from their time at the football club with those stories ranging from funny stories all the way to the unheard raunchy ones.
McClaren was also re-untied with the Carling Cup trophy as seen in the photo (right). Not only was it on stage, thanks to the incredible Justin Edinburgh Foundation, it was available for the fans in attendance to get their photo taken with a piece of Boro History.
From this point, the MC for the night and The Red Radio’s CEO Dave Roberts took the lads through the Carling Cup journey revisiting the final showing all of the goals in the game and of course the mass celebrations that ensued after full time.
Hignett and Hendrie then shared their experiences of what it meant to them as former players before Steve McClaren took the fans behind the curtain of how the team managed the impossible and the wild superstition he does before every game as a result of the cup final. After hearing the lads chat about that roller coaster ride of a cup run, we went into the interval.
After the interval we opened the second half of the show of the auctioning of the ball that was used to score the first goal at the Riverside Stadium. The ball being auctioned was on behalf of the Teesside based charity Noah’s Fest and the founder of Noah’s Fest- Andy Tansley which sees all money raised go directly to the James Cook University Hospital Neonatal Unit. The ball eventually ended up going for over £2000!
When the auction finished, we turned our focus back to the football, from the Carling Cup run to the even more impressive UEFA Cup run which saw ‘Boro complete two monumental comebacks, spearheaded by Steve McClaren. Starting with the quarter final, on the screen was a highlight package for everyone to see which showed the goals that overturned the three-goal deficit, which even almost 20 years on still had the ‘Boro fans on their feet applauding. Steve McClaren telling how special it was and just how he managed to do what most thought was impossible.
T
hen came along the semi-finals. After claiming that he told the players at the time that these moments only come round once or twice in your career, history repeated itself just three weeks later when McClaren had to mastermind yet another European comeback. As the lads watched the highlights of the semi-final turnaround supported by the equally as iconic Ali Brownlee commentary, the room was full of emotion, Hignett and Hendrie talking through their experiences of what that cup run meant to them not just as ex-players but as fans of the club. Steve then went on to talk about just how proud he was to see the ‘Boro fanbase filling stadiums all around Europe.
Before the end of the show the ‘Boro fans had their chance to ask the lads their burning questions – or in some cases their burning desires, from fans trying to get McClaren back to the club to asking the lads who their favourite teammates were – and it’s not who you would’ve expected!
If you did miss the event, it was recorded and will be placed online to watch however, in fairness to the people who attended the full video will be available in due course. Keep an eye out on our socials for more information when available.
