Middlesbrough legend Gary Pallister revealed in his autobiography ‘Pally’, the real reasons behind his record transfer move from Boro to Manchester United.
Palllister, a local lad from the Teesside area, was a towering centre-back who formed one of the most famous defensive partnerships the club has ever seen. Both he and captain Tony Mowbray were instrumental in the success of the iconic Bruce Rioch side that earned consecutive promotions during a time when the club was fighting hard to even exist.
Rioch and his young troops had defied the odds to gain promotion to the top tier of English football in 1987/88, But Pallister struggled during the following season in the top division, blaming injury struggles in pre-season that prevented him from getting fully up to speed.
The gulf in class was too much, and Boro were relegated back down to the Second Division. It was then that relationship issues developed between the defender and boss Bruce Rioch.
Pally’s love for Boro
Before explaining in full, Pallister pointed out-unequivocally-what he thought about the club. “Let me get this straight; I’ll always love Middlesbrough FC. I cheered them from the terraces at Ayresome Park from the age of six and the reason I left them for Manchester United in 1989 had nothing to do with greed or selfishness or disloyalty, as some people appeared to believe.”
It had always hurt the Ex-England International to think that he had never had the opportunity to leave Boro in the way he would have wanted, but insisted that he was so ‘woefully unhappy’ that he had to just ‘get out’.
He also added in his book that his relationship with Rioch had broken down ‘irretrievably’ and he ‘could no longer bear to be around’ him.
Interested clubs
Despite Pallister-and Middlesbrough-struggling in that season in the top flight, they did manage to beat Manchester United, a game where the 23-year-old defender caught the eye. Alex Ferguson later admitted that this game indicated to him that Pallister could play at the top level.
Clubs were interested in Palllister; a player who was yet to negotiate a new contract with his hometown club. Middlesbrough made an offer, but it was not what the player felt he deserved and with the club still under financial constraints, negotiations were tense.
Pallister said that there was even an occasion where manager Rioch ‘cornered me in the car park after a game at Middlesbrough and asked me if I was going to sign’.
The defender refused to accept the deal, even though Bruce Rioch had allegedly threatened that he would not be offered another one and he would have to stay at Ayresome Park on his existing wage for the rest of his contract.
How the relationship soured
Pallister did eventually sign an improved deal for four or five years, not for the amount he had wanted, but better than the original. Despite signing a new deal, ‘Pally’ said, ‘the protracted unpleasantness during that process brought all my negative feelings about Bruce to a head’.
The working relationship did not improve between the two and when Gary Pallister decided to put in a transfer request, Bruce Rioch was not happy. According to Pallister’s recollection, the Boro boss snapped, ‘You’re not going anywhere. You’ve signed a five-year contract. You’re staying here, I don’t want to sell, the club doesn’t want to sell, end of story.’
But it was the second transfer request that apparently had Rioch ‘screaming and shouting’ at Pally before a training session. “When I went in, he was holding the letter and he started screaming and shouting at me.” Said Pallister.
“It was along the lines of: ‘I’ve told you you’re not going anywhere, you’ve signed a five-year contract, where’s the loyalty?’
“I looked at him and said: ‘Well, how many clubs have you had?” Pallister knew very well that Rioch had played at several clubs throughout his career.
Pallister added, “He leaned across the desk, I thought he was going to try and punch me. At the time probably I hoped he would so I could have a go back. But he just carried on abusing me verbally.”
Record transfer
Meanwhile Manchester United had declared an interest in signing the young Boro player and a meeting was set-up between the two clubs’ hierarchy at a restaurant on the A19. Pallister’s car-emblazoned with club sponsors-was spotted outside by Rioch who is said to have warned him that if he entered the premises, he would scupper the whole deal.
So, Pallister sat outside in the car park for hours on end, as Boro negotiated hard, rebuffing several bids that started as low as £1.3 million. Manchester United ended up forking out £2.3 million for the imposing centre-back, a record transfer between British clubs.
It is unusual for players to suggest they are not worth what a club has paid for them, but Pallister intimated just that as he spoke of the fee that Middlesbrough managed to garner from the footballing giants.
“My honest feeling about the fee was that Middlesbrough were taking the mick by asking for that amount of money. To be sure, it was a superb deal for them but being the subject of the record transfer between British clubs was always going to heap a pile of pressure on me, and they understood that perfectly well.”
Pally continued, “Given my standing in the game at that time, I was worth nowhere near that grossly inflated sum and it disappointed me that Middlesbrough held out, insisted on breaking that record.”
Begrudging respect
It actually turned out that whilst discussing personal terms, Man Utd showed Pallister what then captain Bryan Robson was earning at United. He did not dare ask for more than Robson and so settled for the same. Except it was later revealed that Robson-who would later manage Pallister at Middlesbrough-was on more than United bosses had originally indicated.
On his feelings towards Bruce Rioch, Pallister; a huge part of that monumental period in the club’s history acknowledged the achievements of the then boss, if not the manner in which he earned them. “Earlier in his reign at Ayresome Park he was dealing with young kids and he got the very best out of them to achieve the two promotions.” Said Pallister.
“All credit to him for that, but he achieved his aims through a mixture of bullying, cajoling and pushing boys who were not yet strong enough to stick up for themselves. As they got older, they didn’t take as much cr*p; it was as simple as that.”
Pallister went on to win four Premiership titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup before returning to Middlesbrough in 1998.