Bernie Slaven

Infobox Football biography
playername = Bernie Slaven


fullname = Bernard Joseph 'Bernie' Slaven
height = height|ft=5|in=11
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|11|13
cityofbirth = Castlemoat
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub =
position = Striker (retired)
youthyears = 1981–1983
youthclubs = Greenock Morton
years = 1983
1983
1983–1985
1985–1993
1993–1994
1994–1995
clubs = Airdrieonians
Queen of the South
Albion Rovers
Middlesbrough
Port Vale
Darlington
Total
caps(goals) = 00 00(0)
002 00(0)
042 0(27)
307 (146)
033 00(9)
037 00(7)
321 (189)
nationalyears = 1990–1993
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 007 00(1)
manageryears =
managerclubs =

Bernard Joseph "Bernie" Slaven (born 13 November 1960 in Paisley, Scotland) 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.

Biography

Queen of the South

Bernie Slaven was at Dumfries side, Queen of the South in the Willie Harkness era where aged 23 he played 2 first team games as a trialist in late 1983 without scoring. [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/bernieslaven.htm] The games were on 26 Nov 1983 v Cowdenbeath (won 1-0) and 10 Dec 1983 v East Fife (0-0). Both games were at Palmerston Park and leaves Slaven unbeaten in his time at Q.o.S. In the second game Slaven was substituted, his replacement being Billy Gordon. [ [http://boards.footymad.net/mboard/fmb.php?tno=429&fid=206&sty=2&act=1&mid=2129800339 Queen of the South FC forum from footymad.net ] ]

Albion Rovers

From Queens Slaven signed for Albion Rovers. With the Coatbridge side he scored 31 goals in season 1984/85 winning the 1984/85 Daily Record golden boot in the process. In 42 league appearances with Rovers Slaven hit 27 league goals.

Slaven refused to re-sign for Rovers and worked as a gardener.

Middlesbrough

Like Ian Dickson before him Bernie Slaven was to play for Middlesbrough after leaving Queen of the South. Then Middlesbrough manager Willie Madden picked Slaven up in October 1985 and he stayed until 1993. [ [http://www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/HeroesDetail/0,,1~444231,00.html BERNIE SLAVEN 1985-93 | Middlesbrough | History | Heroes | Heroes ] ] He is often considered one of the best buys ever made by 'Boro 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, mostly playing in the number 7 shirt. Slaven was a model of consistency finishing top scorer on six consecutive seasons. Steve Pears said of him, "He passed the ball into the net."

He was best known in football for his time spent at Middlesbrough, where he was a firm fans favourite. His customary goal celebration was to jump upon the fence at the Holgate End at Boro's old ground, Ayresome Park. 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 shootout during a 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.

Port Vale

In March 1993 Bernie Slaven left 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 Autoglass Trophy. In the final Bernie scored Vale’s second in the 2-1 victory over Stockport County and, to many, became a Vale legend in doing so. [ [http://www.1fcnuk.com/content.php?pagename=gods 1fcnuk.com - Football Gods ] ]

Slaven scored 9 league goals in 33 league games for Vale.

Darlington

Slaven hit 7 league goals in 37 league games for Darlington.

International career

His international career included a call-up for Jack Charlton's Republic of Ireland squad for the 1990 World Cup, he didnt play in any of the games. In doing so 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.

Retirement

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

He is now a presenter on the Legends football phone-in on Century Radio in the North-East along with other Legends Malcolm Macdonald (formerly of Newcastle United) and Micky Horswill (Sunderland A.F.C.). He represents Middlesbrough as their Legend. 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 2005/2006 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 beat Manchester United 3-2, so Slaven had to go ahead with the dare, with the score painted on his cheeks. [cite web|url=http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Sports/Middlesbrough-7293.html|title=Middlesbrough|publisher=Fun Trivia|accessdate=2008-01-18] [cite web|last=Rich|first=Tim|url=http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premier-league/article68932.ece|title=United fall to Job's late strike|publisher=The Independent|date=2004-02-14|accessdate=2008-01-18]

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.

In early July 2007 Middlesbrough football club sold the rights of radio coverage of all matches for the forthcoming 3 years to BBC Radio Tees.

Trivia

Slaven's former Republic of Ireland 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!"cite book | first= | coauthors= first= | last= | title=Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino | year=2000 | publisher= Simon & Schuster/TownHouse | work = | pages = 74| language = ] :

References

External links

* [http://www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/HeroesDetail/0,,1~444231,00.html Bernie Slaven page on Middlesbrough F.C. website]