Blast from the past - Micky Burns

Erimus74

Well-known member
Thinking about the strikers, or lack of them, we have at present got me thinking back to my younger days the strikers we bought, John Hickton, Bernie Slaven who we got for £20k & £25k who gave excellent service in front of goal, yet one player I always think of with fondness is Micky Burns

John Neal brought MB to Ayresome Park from Cardiff, just short of his 32nd birthday, paying them £72k for his services & what a goalscorer he turned out for us
He made a goalscoring debut away to Man Utd in a 3-2 defeat on the 7th October 1978 & in his debut season he scored 14 goals in 31 league appearances
And the 1st person to score 4 in a league game for the Boro since 22nd March 1969 when big John bagged 4 at home to Hull City
Once his playing career finished he coached the Boro juniors, but without a contract he was dismissed in November 1982 as part of the clubs finances cutting drive

He went on to make 67 appearances for the mighty Boro, scoring 24 goals, a cracking ratio
 

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I remember asking why we had bought someone of that age and thinking he was over the hill. How wrong I was - he was a real gem. A fox in the box.
 
John Neal was an excellent manager for us, IMHO mind
He was blending youth with the right experience
My only issue with his management was not replacing Stuey Boam, big Billy, bless him, was an OK stop gap but we needed a strong in your face Boam type CH to play alongside the classy Nattrass, which never really happened due to his constant nagging injuries, those 2 positions never got filled & it became our achilles heel
 
I've always thought, for some reason, that Micky Burns religious beliefs prevented him from ever playing professional football on a Sunday - anybody else ever hear that rumour?
 
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