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FIVE OF THE BEST WE COULD DO WITH NOW 27-10-07
Chris Bannister
Having had a month's hiatus, Smog on the Tyne has triumphantly returned to the streets of Newcastle to nonchalantly prick the pomposity of the Geordie ego.
This is exactly what I would be doing if we'd won any of our games in recent memory, which obviously we have not. I'm not going to dwell on our shortcomings, which more intelligent and qualified men have done to a far more accomplished degree than myself. Instead I'm going to do a feature on players we could do with now i.e. former Boro strikers who could actually score a goal or two.
Note; the word prolific will be used a lot in the following article. The name Lee Dong Gook will not.
1) George Camsell
George Camsell was born in Framwellgate Moor in County Durham in 1902 and played for Durham F.C before moving to the Boro for a sizeable £600 on 6th October 1925. He made his debut against Nottingham Forest at the end of that month, kicking off a heroic fourteen season career with Boro which ended against Leicester_City_F.C. in a 3-2 victory where Camsell scored the opening goal.
Camsell is the club's all time top scorer with 345 goals in 453 games, 325 of these being league goals making him the fifth highest goalscorer in English football history. In the 1926-27 season, when Boro were in the Second Division he scored 59 league goals in 37 games and 63 in total, catapulting the side to the title. Nine of Camsell's 24 club hat-tricks came in this record breaking 1926-27 season.
Camsell didn't take Boro's penalties.
His short England career was even more revelatory. Our George gained nine caps for England, scoring 18 goals including a brace on his debut against France in May 1929 and a hat-trick against Wales in November of the same year.
To make comparisons between Camsell and modern greats would be the done thing at this point, but that's derogatory to his record. 345 career goals and an international record on two goals a game tells you everything you need to know about one of Boro's pre-war heroes.
2) Wilf Mannion
'He played football the way Fred Astaire danced' - Brian Clough
Arguably Boro's best ever player; ask your Grandad. Wilf Mannion wasn't a goalscorer of the Camsell mould, being more of a one man highlights package, but his ability to dictate games from inside-forward didn't stop him from having an eye for the net scoring 110 goals in 368 appearances in a long an illustrious Boro career. His brilliance on the pitch is widely recognised and Mannion was inducted into the football hall of fame in 2004, insultingly two years after pouty French nutcase Eric Cantona.
His England career was characterised by his role in the celebrated post-war England forward line with Mannion starring alongside Stan Mortensen, Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton. His nickname was the 'the Golden Boy'. This was for two reasons; his mop of blond hair and his dazzling ability. Alf Ramsay once said of him; 'he possessed the greatest soccer brain in modern football'.
Perhaps the most interesting fact about Wilf Mannion is his War record; a survivor of the Dunkirk retreat he went on to fight in Italy and later contracted malaria and jaundice. His strength of will to overcome these afflictions was almost as comparable to his ability with a football.
3) Brian Clough
Remembered in the Midlands and across the nation as the man who won two consecutive European Cups as manager of Nottingham Forest, it is often forgotten that Brian Clough wasn't a half bad player in his day.
A Boro lad through and through, Clough was the fifth of eight children and adored his upbringing in the town stating "I was the kid who came from a little part of paradise". He left school at the age of 15 and after his national service signed for Boro as a pro in 1955. He went on to score 204 goals in 222 starts for the Boro over the next six years for the club before leaving for Sunderland where he scored 63 goals in 74 games.
He was Boro's top scorer for five seasons following the 1956-57 season, the Second Division's top scorer on three occasions and the country's top scorer in 1958-59 and the first Boro player since George Camsell to score 40 goals in one season.
His eventual acrimonious transfer to Sunderland and subsequent injuries forced Clough into early retirement and on the road to a managerial career that would dwarf his playing days, but despite this he will always be remembered by many Boro fans as the most prolific striker the side ever had.
4) Bernie Slaven
More familiar to younger fans as the angry Scot on Century or one of the many non-Irishmen who turn out for the 'Irish Masters' team on Sky Sports every summer, 'wolf man' is seen by many as one of Boro's best ever buys at £25,000 from Albion Rovers.
His goalscoring was impressive at 146 goals in 381 games and he was top scorer for six seasons, but his contribution to the side as a loyal and steady figure during the liquidation period deserves plaudits as well as his goals which fired Boro to two successive promotions at the beginning of the Gibson era.
Lucky Slaven's goals did not go unnoticed by Jack Charlton, and neither did his grandparentage and a call up to the 1990 World Cup side and an eventual seven caps were just reward for his exploits in front of goal.
Bernie's fondness for Middlesbrough has remained in his retirement and his close working relationship with ComeOnBoro.com columnist Alastair Brownlee has provided many memorable moments. A personal favourite of mine being the Century FM commentary on the '128 Years Later' DVD where following Schwarzer's howler Bernie simply shouts 'No, No, No!!' and Ali has to spend the next five minutes calming him down.
5) Fabrizio Ravanelli
Probably the last great goalscorer Boro have had. He may have been a money-grabbing mercenary who charged lunches to the club and stole the lightbulbs from the club's house when he left, but who didn't in a fit of passion pull their shirt over their head in fawning imitation? I did when playing out on the street as a kid and ran into the back of a Ford Cortina.
The White Feather, a European cup winner, moved to Boro in 1996 for a club record £7m fee and earned a reported £42,000 a week. His career at Boro was marred by constant criticisms of fellow players, the town and the club's training facilites and following relegation he jumped ship quick smart to Marseilles for £5.5m.
Despite all the moaning and the expense, his record speaks for itself, 32 goals in total; 17 in the disastrous league campaign and 15 in the cups firing Boro to both finals.
Ravanelli was a Hero and a Villain, but most importantly a striker.
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