Ray Parlour swapped the bright lights of London for Middlesbrough but loved his time in the North East
Ray Parlour won almost everything in English football during his 12-year tenure with Arsenal. Before moving from Highbury to the Riverside in 2004, the midfielder had won three Premier League crowns, four FA Cups, the League Cup, and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup medal. However, if anyone expected the 10-times capped England player to miss the bright lights of London during his time in Teesside, they couldn’t have been more wrong.
Parlour enjoyed his time at Boro, appearing 60 times in two seasons and helping Steve McClaren’s team reach the UEFA Cup final in 2006 before moving for Hull City in 2007.
The Romford-born singer embraced Middlesbrough and the people of the North East, even teaching his daughter a Teesside dialect. And he claims that it was the fans that made the biggest impact. He said Four Four Two, “Steve McClaren was good.” Middlesbrough did quite well. They put money down for Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and a few other elite players. “And to reach the UEFA Cup final was unbelievable. It came to an end, he left, Gareth Southgate took over, and I was not going to play, so I went on. But I truly liked living in Middlesbrough. My daughter attended nursery there and has a Middlesbrough accent. We had to attempt and alter that!
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