30th January 1982 - Stephen Bells debut

[erimus74]

Stephen Bell's outstanding form for the Boro youth team & reserves brought him to the attention of Boro manager Bobby Murdoch, although the 1st team were struggling badly in the league, no win since beating Stoke City on the 26th September & maybe not the ideal time to give anyone a debut, let alone a lad 16 years & 323 days old & making him the youngest ever Boro debutant on the day, but needs must & maybe, just maybe, he shows no signs of nerves & plays his game as he does in the 2nd team by frightening the opposition & lifting the other players around him in the process

Southampton were our opponent at Ayresome Park on this day 1982 as Stephen Bell was announced to the home crowd, making his debut wearing the No10 shirt, replacing Dave Shearer, registered No540, in the opposition & returning to Ayresome Park for the 1st time since his big money transfer in the summer, a forever Boro legend & one vital member of Charltons Champions legends, David Armstrong

Also in opposition that day, wearing the same shirt number was, non other than superstar, Kevin Keegan

Unfortunatly the result followed on from previous results with a 1-0 loss, Keegan scoring the only goal of the game & Boro were stuck at the foot of the 1st divison as January ended with 2 league defeats & out of the FAC

Stephen Bell didn't feature at all for the duration of the season, he did start to make a big impact the following season mind

A very talented footballer who should have acheived so much with his home town club, 14 goals in 94 appearences between 1981-1985

RIP Stephen x

Boro team on the day

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Ian Bailey
Colin Ross
Mick Baxter
Tony McAndrew
Terry Cochrane
Heine Otto
Dave Hodgson
Stephen Bell
Bobby Thomson
Sub
Garry Macdonald

Attendance - 12,693

[Johnny Thunder]

RIP.