Glowy69 wrote:Ugo.
What a player he was for villa. Awful awful news.
And for Boro too. Southgate tended to get the plaudits as he was the captain and arrived at the same time as the McClaren era, which of course brought Europe, a highest ever PL finish and the club's first silverware.
But arguably Ehiogu was the first piece in that jigsaw, bought by Bryan Robson for what was a club record £8m. He was a massive buy, and shored up our relegation-threatened side and helped us narrowly stay up.
Ehiogu joined in 2000 if I remember correctly. I got my first proper season ticket in September 1999 (I'd been to matches before but generally just individual tickets and I was too young to really know what was happening). Ehiogu was a big part of the team that I grew up with, regardless of what success Boro later had.
Also, he was tremendously unlucky given the era he played in. Had he been playing now, he would have ended up at a "bigger" club and had countless England caps. As it is, he played in a time when England had an embarrassment of riches in defense and he was only a bit part player. There's no shame in Ferdinand, Campbell or Terry keeping you out of the squad, but had times been different he could have been England's first choice centre back. Indeed, at times maybe he didn't get the recognition he deserved due to the clubs he played for. He was linked with Arsenal a few times when he was with us and it was no less than his talent warranted. Though Middlesbrough maybe have been just "another" Premier League team at the time, don't let that colour your vision of the calibre of player Ehiogu was. The man was top class. And, personally, he was part of *my* Boro side - the one I spent most of my formative teenage years with.
I actually had this post written earlier but it didn't send. The moment has somewhat passed now but, no worry, we can all get back to wonder who Celta Vigo are.