Here’s some Boro’ trivia for you: Dean Wordsworth is the man who came in for the injured Giuliano Grazioli for our 1997-8 FA Cup replay at Newcastle United. Much like Graz, Dean was relatively new to Boro; joining in November 1997 from Bromley (we believe). And he’d only been there a short while after leaving Premier League side Crystal Palace. While with the Eagles, however, there hadn’t been much chance of first team action.

If you like trivia, here’s some more for you: Wordsworth left Selhurst Park in the same year as future Boro’ stopper Chris Day. It just took Daysey a little longer to reach us.

The 1997-8 campaign was a tough one for us. So, it’s probably to Wordsworth’s credit that he scored eight times between then and the end of the season; two of them coming on his debut against Farnborough. That’s the same number of goals that Graz managed, though none quite as famous. Only Neil Trebble and Gary Crawshaw scored more too; the benefit of playing far more games than Wordsworth, maybe. We think that’s splitting hairs.

Dean Wordsworth: Before Boro’

So, it seems that Wordsworth came to us from Bromley. And it’s from the Ravens that he joined Palace before too. The dates we aren’t too sure about, however. Soccerbase says he moved to Selhurst Park from Bromley for £35k in 1996. But we also know that he was on the books of Dagenham & Redbridge in 1994 because the match programme tells us. A programme from the 1995-6 season also tells us he was at Welling United too.