Bone keeps conveyor belt running

Assistant manager Viv Anderson, shortly after the manager's departure in the summer of 2001, claimed nothing was emerging through the ranks and that chairman Steve Gibson would be forever having to spend millions on new players.

Five years on and Steve McClaren has benefited from the hard work behind the scenes that had seemingly gone unnoticed by his predecessor and his assistant.

Lee Cattermole's emergence on to the Premiership and European stage has put the Boro Academy in the spotlight again. Yet many before him made the step up and there are many, many more on the horizon.

While McClaren receives the recognition for pinning his faith in youth and tributes are paid to Academy director Dave Parnaby for the way his coaching staff have developed the youngsters' skills, there is an unsung hero responsible for actually spotting the talent in the first place.

Head of recruitment Ron Bone has been at the forefront of Boro's bid to attract the best young players around the North of England for many years. So, unsurprisingly, he was hurt by Anderson's claims.

Now, though, having witnessed the players his scouting team unearthed fulfilling their potential at the highest level, Bone is more of the opinion that it is time to feel proud, rather than resentful.

"I signed all of the lads who are on the first-team stage now," said the man from Chester-le-Street, who first joined Boro in 1988 from Newcastle. "We always knew there was talent on the way through so when Viv Anderson claimed there wasn't it was harsh.

"Now, if anyone looks back at that time and towards the Academy, they would see that all of these lads were with us. James Morrison, Stewart Downing, Stuart Parnaby, all of them. The only exception is Lee Cattermole, who signed a bit later."

As in all walks of life, Bone has had to change with the times. What used to be a part-time role as a scout, combined with running his own business as an insurance broker, became much more thorough.

And, having been appointed as the head of youth development by Colin Todd in 1990, he opted to concentrate solely on football, a decision that has worked to the benefit of Boro, if not to the man himself.

"I worked seven days a week for years, just because of the love I had for the job and the determination to find new talent," said Bone, who was part of the Newcastle scouting network during the schoolboy days of Paul Gascoigne, Lee Clark, Steve Watson and Alan Thompson. "But it all caught up with me last August in Austria.

"I was out in Graz watching an Under-21 international between England and Austria. At 4.30 the following morning I got a taxi and felt unwell. I flew from Graz to Frankfurt and on the flight from Frankfurt to Manchester I was paralysed down the left hand side of my body."

In the true spirit of a man known for what he does for others rather than himself, he refused to tell the cabin crew, fearing the plane would have to be turned round. "I couldn't be doing with that," he said. "By the time we had got to Manchester the feeling had come back to my body so I drove home to Chester-le-Street."

Checks, though, revealed he had a blood clot caused by a blocked artery and he had suffered a mini-stroke. An operation was required and six weeks off work.

At 64 he realised things had to change so, instead of doing seven days a week, he now takes one day off. This week it was Wednesday, although 'I did go and watch a game on the night.'

Understanding wife Margaret has made sure he does take time out for relaxation but, even with the opportunity for retirement around the corner, he remains focused on trying to find the next batch of promising schoolboys that will ensure the future remains bright at the Riverside.

There are 13 academy players who have made the first team and all but one of those, Aussie keeper Brad Jones, hail from the region.

Even more exciting for the club is there are 19 England internationals at all levels, numbers which Manchester United had previously boasted for more than a decade.

Of the baker's dozen to have made the grade in McClaren's first team, the majority of them have had the mandatory meal in the chairman's boardroom dining area.

Stockton-born Cattermole and Hartlepool's Andrew Taylor are the next to be invited for a meal. "Every time an Academy player makes his first-team debut they are asked along with their parents," said Bone.

"Dave Parnaby, myself and our wives are both there as well and it tends to be for a European game when they happen. We then give the player a framed action shot of his debut and it's just a way of rewarding them for their efforts."

In Cattermole's case the problem has been he has become a regular in recent months. His time will come and Bone is optimistic about the conveyor belt continuing to churn out more and more outstanding teenage talents.

"There may be a couple of years in between but we think at Under-15 level we have a batch of kids that are just as good, if not better, than the squad which produced the Morrisons, Cattermoles, Taylors and Davies," he said.

From the moment the mercurial figure of Graham Kavanagh, the Wigan and Republic of Ireland midfielder, caught his eye the list of starlets Bone has taken to Boro has grown and grown. From Mark Summerbell to Stewart Downing, all of them have a special place in his heart.

"Mark Summerbell is the one, strangely, I felt most proud of," said Bone, who also paid credit to the rest of the scouts and coaches within the Boro set-up who have contributed to the success of the Academy.

"I took him to Middlesbrough as an 11-year-old and he was nothing but a dot. He was still a dot at 17 when he made his first-team debut at Tottenham (a 1-1 draw in April 1996) yet he was still named man of the match. Then he went on to make 50-odd appearances and that was a nice feeling."

Summerbell, now 29, is no longer in the professional game after spells with Cork, Bristol City, Portsmouth and Carlisle United. That in itself is a warning to the current crop that their feet have to remain firmly on the ground.

"Downing, Morrison, Cattermole, Tony McMahon. All of them have got great attitudes and characters, that's why they have been rewarded by the manager and the manager deserves credit for playing them," said Bone.

"They have to show the same mentality on and off the pitch for the rest of their careers and I think they are all capable of doing that. After all, it's a short career and if they can keep themselves right during that time then they will be rewarded."

Bone sifts through 50 or so letters, emails and faxes a day from youngsters hailing from all over the world. Whether they are from Acklam, Accrington or Africa, they are all eager for the chance to earn a contract with Boro. It is estimated only one in a 100, just as Tony McMahon did when he was playing for Bishop Auckland district, warrants a call-up.

The rest fall by the wayside.

And, given the high standards the Boro Academy is performing to, it is difficult to see how the frustrated parents of the boys in question can argue Bone and his recruitment staff have got it wrong. They certainly don't seem to have so far.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.