Bernie Slaven

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Bernie Slaven
Personal information
Full name	Bernard Joseph Slaven
Date of birth	November 13, 1960 (1960-11-13) (age 48)
Place of birth	Castlemoat, Paisley, Scotland
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Forward
Youth career
1981–1983	Greenock Morton
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1983 1983 1983–1985 1985–1993 1993–1994 1994–1995	Airdrieonians Queen of the South Albion Rovers Middlesbrough Port Vale Darlington	002 00(0) 002 00(0) 042 0(27) 307 (119) 033 00(9) 037 00(7)
National team
1990–1993	Republic of Ireland	007 00(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Bernard Joseph (Bernie) Slaven (born 13 November 1960 in Paisley) is a retired footballer who played internationally for the Republic of Ireland. The clubs he played for were: Morton, Airdrie, Queen of the South, Albion Rovers, Middlesbrough, Port Vale, and Darlington.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Scottish football league 1.2 Middlesbrough 1.3 Port Vale 1.4 Darlington 2 International career 3 Post-retirement 4 Honours 5 References

[edit] Club career

[edit] Scottish football league

After leaving Greenock Morton in 1983, Slaven joined Airdrieonians and played two games before moving on to Dumfries side Queen of the South later in the year. He played two games during the Willie Harkness era:^[1] a 1-0 win over Cowdenbeath on 26 November 1983 and a goalless draw with East Fife on 10 December 1983, both at Palmerston Park. In the second game Slaven was substituted, his replacement being Billy Gordon. When later interviewed for the club, team mate George Cloy said of Slaven, "He was just a man who liked playing football. He was a nice enough guy but he wasn’t one of the more rowdy ones.”^[2]

From Queens Slaven signed for Albion Rovers later in 1983. With the Coatbridge side he scored 31 goals in the 1984–85 season, winning the 1984–85 Daily Record golden boot in the process. In 42 league appearances with Rovers Slaven hit 27 league goals. During this time as a semi-professional he was working as a gardener.

He did not leave the club on good terms.^[3]

[edit] Middlesbrough

Like Ian Dickson before him, Slaven was to play for Middlesbrough after leaving Queen of the South. Then 'Boro manager Willie Maddren picked Slaven up in October 1985 for a bargain price of £25,000 and he stayed until 1993.^[3] He is often considered one of the best buys ever made at the club due to his prolific goalscoring exploits. An accurate finisher with good positional sense and good close control 'The Wolfman' scored 146 goals in 381 games,^[3] mostly playing in the number 7 shirt. Slaven was a model of consistency finishing top scorer for five consecutive seasons. Team-mate Stephen Pears said of him: "He passed the ball into the net." Despite his fantastic scoring record and unashamedly selfish nose for goal, he was weak in the air and a poor tackler.^[3]

The 1986–87 season followed the club's survival from liquidation, during this season and all future seasons at the club Slaven's consistent goalscoring gave hope to the fans. His customary goal celebration was to jump upon the fence at the Holgate End at Boro's old ground, Ayresome Park- the fans were to see this celebration many times. When the ground was knocked down in 1996, Slaven acquired a section of the fence from the Holgate End, where it now sits, by his own admission, in his back garden.

Whilst his goalscoring record is officially 146 goals in 381 games, Slaven states it to be 147 goals that he scored due to a penalty he notched in a shoot-out during a 1991 play-off semi final game. He acknowledges that it doesn't count as an official goal, but likes to consider as another one to his tally.

[edit] Port Vale

In March 1993 Bernie Slaven left the Premier League 'Boro to sign for Port Vale on a free transfer. He quickly gained the devotion of the Vale fans, scoring the goal that took Vale to their first Wembley performance in the then Autoglass sponsored Football League Trophy. In the final Slaven scored Vale’s second in the 2-1 victory over Stockport County^[4] and, to many, became a Vale legend in doing so.^[5]

[edit] Darlington

Slaven left Vale Park for Darlington in February 1994, where he hit 7 league goals in 37 league games.

[edit] International career

Slaven qualified for Republic of Ireland through his Irish grandfather.^[3]

His international career included a call-up for Jack Charlton's Ireland squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Slaven didn't play in any of the games and later admitted in his autobiography that, during the World Cup Second Round match versus Romania, he was hoping Ireland would lose so he could travel home to Middlesbrough to see his dogs^[6]. Slaven became the third player with Queen of the South among his ex-clubs to travel to the World Cup finals after George Hamilton and Sam Malcolmson.^[7]

He donned the green jersey for the last time in an international friendly against Wales. The game, which finished in a 2-1 victory for Ireland, would also be John Byrne's last international duty.

Slaven's former international teammate Tony Cascarino claimed in his autobiography that, Slaven would telephone his dog every night when away from home with the squad: "... Bernie would be howling like Lassie into the phone 'Woof, woof, aru, aru, woof!' He'd be kissing the receiver and lavishing affection - 'Hello, lovey dovey' - on a dog!"^[8]

[edit] Post-retirement

Following his retirement, he played a handful of games for Billingham Synthonia, who held a close relationship with Middlesbrough.

He is now a presenter on The 3 Legends football phone-in on Real Radio in the North-East along with other legends Malcolm Macdonald (formerly of Newcastle United) and Micky Horswill (Sunderland). He represents Middlesbrough as their Legend. Slaven has never been far from controversy on the show, as recently as March 2009, he stated in a bad attempt at humour that "Chris Hughton (caretaker manager of Newcastle United) is the worst caretaker since Ian Huntley". To which the radio station was bombarded with many complaints.^{[citation needed]}

He recently had an autobiography, Legend?, published. In August 2006 he released a DVD called Lucky Slaven, which features 90 of the Middlesbrough goals during his spell at the club. In October 2006, Bernie and his commentary partner Alastair Brownlee, won an award in New York for their commentary on Middlesbrough's UEFA Cup run in the 2005-06 season.

In 1999, Slaven bared his backside in Binns department store window in Middlesbrough following a bet on Century FM. He bet that if Middlesbrough beat Manchester United at Old Trafford, he would perform the dare. Middlesbrough ran out 3-2 winners, so Slaven had to go ahead with the dare, with the score painted on his cheeks.^[9][10]

In 2002, still a popular figure in the area, Slaven ran for the position of Mayor of Middlesbrough. Slaven admitted knowing little of politics and his campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.^[11]

In early July 2007 Middlesbrough football club sold the rights of radio coverage of all matches for the forthcoming three years to BBC Tees.

[edit] Honours

with Middlesbrough

• Full Members Cup runner up: 1990

with Port Vale

• Football League Trophy winner: 1993

[edit] References

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Bonner • 2 Morris • 3 Staunton • 4 McCarthy • 5 Moran • 6 Whelan • 7 McGrath • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Cascarino • 11 Sheedy • 12 O'Leary • 13 Townsend • 14 Hughton • 15 Slaven • 16 Sheridan • 17 Quinn • 18 Stapleton • 19 Kelly • 20 Byrne • 21 McLoughlin • 22 Peyton • Coach: Charlton