This day 5th November1983 - Our 1st ever loanee

[erimus74]

And the start of a true 1986 Boro legend

Boro 2 Cardiff 0

What a signing he became, a true Boro legend to Middlesbrough Football Club & we, as fans, are so grateful that he was happy to sign & play for the Boro

At the time Kelham O'Hanlon was our No1 keeper, after taken over from big Jacks' 'Charlton's Champions' legend keeper Jim Platt

I actually liked Kelham, he was a young keeper thrown in to a struggling 2nd division team who had no money & IMHO was ok, all about opinions mind

The previous week we had beaten Shrewsbury Town 4-0 at Ayresome Park, recording our 1st win since the 10th October, with goals from Heine Otto, & Paul Ward (his one & only Boro 1st team goal) & a brace from Dave Currie, incidentally, that was our biggest winning margin since beating Norwich 6-1 on the 4th of October 1980
After beating Shrewsbury Town & with Kelham O'Hanlon unavailable for a number of games, including the upcoming visit of Cardiff City, Boro manager Malcolm Allison, was forced to go looking for a standing keeper to play for the foreseeable & what a find he turned out to be
Malcolm Allison was alerted on Pears availability at Man Utd asking if we could 'please' loan their 2nd keeper Stephen Pears.
Pearsy jumped at the chance to play 1st team football & put himself in the frame for the gloves at Old Trafford, or failing that, potential buyers
Whoever gave big Mal the heads up should be proud of himself.

I was out that Saturday morning buying a two tone vauxhall chavette saloon from a bloke who lived at the top of Ormesby Bank, over the road from the Pied Piper, this sale dragged on & the clocked was ticking down & getting close to kick off, eventually the car was mine
After buying the car I drove home to West Lane where I lived & legged it to Ayresome Park & with 5 minutes to spare before kick off met my dad in the chicken run

The game finished & what a debut, the ground was buzzing with Pearsy MOTM performance, the holgate singing, 'Sign him on' his performance was outstanding, at the final whistle Kelham must have put his head in his hands & thought, well thats me finished here, he was that good, he frustrated Cardiff time & time again.
(similar to his MOTM display at home to Leicester in December 89 following a long injury layoff)
Boro ran out 2-0 winners, with Dave Currie scoring his 9th goal of the season & Andy Crawford scoring his one & only Boro goal on his 3rd appearance of 9

Stephen Pears went on to play 12 games that season, 6 on the bounce, 3 goals conceded, Kelham came in for 6 games then Pearsy was brought back for a 2nd loan period of 6 games, conceding 5 goals

His performances were recognised & a potential target for Malcolm Allison to buy in the summer of 1984, IIRC, the price tag increased to £80k which forced the Boro to withdraw from his signature, for at least 12 months anyway

Boro had to wait till the summer of 85 when the late, great Willie Maddren was manager who convinced chairman Alf Duffield & with the lower value of £60k asking price for Pears was worth every penny, Alf relented & WM went to Man Utd with a £60k cheque to bring Stephen Pears to Ayresome Park
 
As well as Stephen Pears starting Malcolm Allison made one other change from the previous weeks win over Shrewsbury when   

Big Mal's team that beat Cardiff

Stephen Pears - Outstanding that day & in his time at the Boro, his birthdate is the same as my sons
Darren Wood - Ever present for the whole season, excellent & very talented player
Tony Mowbray - Legend, wore 3 shirt No's so far that season, 3,8 & 12
Heine Otto - MOTM & another very talented player, who played every game of the season, our talisman
Mick Baxter (RIP)- Missed the final game of the season, otherwise ever present (his previous game being his last ever Boro game)
Irvine Nattrass - Played every minute of the season, probably the only season in his entire career
Paul Ward - Wore shirt No's that season, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11 & 12
Mick Kennedy (RIP)- Missed a few games that season, down to his aggressive style of play. I loved Mick Kennedys time at the Boro & sad to see him leave for Pompey
Dave Currie - 15 goals that season out of 35 starts. Wore 5 shirt No's that season 5, 9, 10, 11 & 12
Stephen Bell (RIP) - Another excellent, talented footballer who should have been nursed & protected more. Wore 4 shirt No's that season
Andy Crawford - 9 games, one goal. Wore shirt No's 7, 8, 10, 11 & 12

Big Mal was sacked in March 1984 & replaced by big Jack. Boro went on to finish 17th in the league, 7 points clear of 3rd bottom Derby County
League cup 1st round - Losing at Chesterfield in a penalty shoot (our first ever penalty shoot out)
FAC - 3rd round we beat Arsenal 3-2 at home. 4th round we beat Bournemouth 2-0 at home, 5th round we lost 1-0 away at Notts County