LOCAL HERO
Stewart Downing is happy to be back at Boro but fears for prospects of future English home-grown youngsters
STEWART DOWNING grew up on the Pallister Park housing estate less than 10 minutes walk from Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium where he will face Watford in the Premier League this afternoon. His upbringing will be familiar to generations of English footballers. ‘You’re talking 20 kids on a field until late at night. The only reason I had to go was my dad shouting me in,’ he says.
‘We used to play against different estates, 11-a-side, you can imagine the tackles that flew in.’
For more formal junior training sessions, he’d get there riding on the handlebars of his dad’s bike regardless of the weather.
Boro scouts didn’t have to go far to find him and he’s ended up serving his hometown club with distinction in two spells. It may be a familiar story but these days Downing is part of a dying breed, a Premier League star wedded to the community and fanbase through a shared history.
‘It does feel different for me playing for Middlesbrough than other clubs,’ he says. ‘There are a lot of family and friends in that crowd. Local people, and that means local players can get it tougher.
‘I remember when I played at Liverpool, people expected Steven Gerrard to win us the game every weekend. The pressure on him was unbelievable, like the whole city was on his shoulders.
‘He stayed very focused and how he acted has helped me. I enjoy that responsibility. If you do well and the team are winning, your town is buzzing. Your town.’
Downing’s first period as a young player at Middlesbrough coincided with one of the most successful times in the club’s history. At 21, he played in a European final under manager Steve McClaren and captain Gareth Southgate, the team paid for by chairman Steve Gibson, another Teesside boy made good.
When the good times ended with relegation in 2009, England manager Fabio Capello warned Downing (right) he should leave to help his international prospects and he spent the next six years with Aston Villa, Liverpool and West Ham.
Then, in 2015, he took a momentous decision to return home despite having to drop down a division. The gamble paid off with promotion and Downing is now back in the top flight, a full circle completed from his schooldays in the shadow of the Riverside. ‘I still have friends on my estate,’ he says. ‘We had a big school field in front of our house where we played. ‘My dad would do anything to survive. He’d do painting, decorating, and if there was no work he went up to Scotland to do time on the rigs. He still hasn’t packed in work. It’s instilled in him, and it’s what they instil in you. A lot of footballers are the same.’ Downing is proud that when he started earning proper money, he was able to buy his parents a new family home in a more upmarket area. ‘It felt good to say thank you,’ he said.
Gibson offered Downing security with a four-year contract and he liked the idea that his new young family could grow up next to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
‘I didn’t want to come back at 36 when my legs had gone,’ he says. ‘Yes, going into the Championship wasn’t ideal and if we hadn’t got promoted, people would have asked why I’d done it. But it worked out.’
He views Middlesbrough as similar to Liverpool as a place. ‘I used to drive through the streets there and it was exactly the same as the estate I came from. The people as well: down to earth, straight-talking.’
At one time, most clubs had players who grew up on the doorstep. Marcus Rashford and Ross Barkley are newer examples but the truth is most Premier League teams don’t field locals any more.
‘I think it is a worry. You get kids coming through and another club come in with a massive bid. How can the club turn it down? Then, the kid goes there and doesn’t play,’ says Downing.
‘I was fortunate. I didn’t need to leave as a kid. I was happy here at a good club with a good chairman and manager. From what I know, our chairman will not allow the club to give up on local players — the club’s success has been based on that.’
Downing’s first season back wasn’t all plain sailing. Boro did win promotion but only after a tense finale in which doubt was cast over the future of manager Aitor Karanka.
Talking about his own form, Downing admits: ‘I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Playing three games a week in the Championship was more difficult than I thought.’
Karanka stayed and in the summer prepared for the Premier League by signing former Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo and ex-Barcelona and Manchester United goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
So far, their only league win came against Sunderland in August. But Downing is encouraged by the way the overseas contingent have integrated. ‘The new lads have asked me a lot about the area. In the past some players thought they’d only be here for a year and wouldn’t be bothered,’ he said.
‘Our spirit is important because in this league we will lose games and it’s how you respond that’s key.
‘We have strong characters. People like me and Ben Gibson don’t want to get relegated. I am from the area, I have to live here for life.
‘Victor [Valdes] lives a minute from me. He wouldn’t have known where Nunthorpe was on a map. But he loves it, countryside, kids are at a local school. I can advise him on the best restaurants and if he needs a plumbing job, I’ll send my dad!’