Stephen Pears

Pears commenced his career playing for Manchester united, after struggling to hold a first team place in the squad, he moved on loan to Middlesbrough in the 1983-84 season in a deal that became permanent in 1985. Pears was an integral part of the Boro team during the 1987-88 season as Boro got promoted to the top flight. He went on to spend a staggering 12 years playing for Middlesbrough, making over 400 appearances in goal for the club. His great play in goal even earned him a call up to the national squad in 1992. He left Boro in 1995 after a huge testimonial match in honour of his services, in a match that proved to be the last one played at the Ayresome Park Stadium.

Alan Kernaghan

Kernaghan started his career off as an apprentice at Middlesbrough FC. He started playing for the club in 1983 and went on to spend over 10 years at the club, making 212 appearances and scoring 16 goals. He was a well assured and committed defender at the back for Boro. He signed for Man City in 1993 and spent four years at the club, most notably he was outstanding during his first two seasons. He later on moved to Scotland to play for several Scottish clubs including, Brechin, Clyde, Livingston and then Falkirk.

Colin Cooper

Cooper started his career off playing for Middlesbrough and made a real impact at the club, helping the club during through liquidation in 1986. In what proved to be his first spell playing for Boro, he made a staggering 188 league appearances for the club. In 1991 he moved to Millwall for £300,000 and did reasonably well at the club. After two years at the club, he moved to Nottingham Forest for £1,700,000 and won two England caps in the process. At the start of the 1998-99 season, Cooper resigned for Boro, and enjoyed a very long second spell at the club, playing for another 8 seasons for Boro, playing until the age of 39 years old. He is arguably one of the clubs greatest ever centre backs.