Since being relegated in 2009, Middlesbrough have spent ten seasons in the Championship. Over those ten seasons there has been a range of players from the good, to the bad and to the completely hopeless. There have been spells when Middlesbrough had no money to spend at all and other seasons when Boro have been the biggest spenders in the division but out of all the players that have been brought into the club, there is one signing in particular that stands out. Grant Leadbitter.
The boyhood Sunderland fan joined the club on a free transfer in May 2012 and immediately made an impact, scoring on his debut, during pre-season against Falkirik in the Ramsdens Cup.
The year that followed his impressive pre-season then earned him player of the season for his first campaign as a Boro player thanks to a string of impressive performances, most of which he captained Tony Mowbray’s side in.
Leadbitter’s impressive form continued the season after and it came as no surprise when Nottingham Forest made a sizeable bid for the midfielder. Mowbray however managed to hold on to one of his star men and Leadbitter would go on to double his goals tally from the year before.
Following Aitor Karanka’s introduction as head coach mid way through the 2013-14 season, Leadbitter began to flourish even more so than before and in Karanka’s first full season in charge (2014/15) Leadbitter provided his best goal scoring season in a Middlesbrough shirt (11) and subsequently was named in the PFA Team of the Year.
What became apparent because of Leadbitter’s 11 goals was his penalty taking ability and that was a sign of things to come. Leadbitter would go on to become the cool head everyone looked towards when the referee pointed to the spot, scoring a whole host of crucial penalties during his time at the club.
The 14/15 season wasn’t only remembered for Leadbitter’s performances, it was a season that also ended in a play-off final defeat at Wembley that would produce an image ingrained in most Boro fans minds, Grant Leadbitter in tears watching Norwich seal their promotion to the Premier League.
The emotion in Leadbitter’s eyes was undoubtedly for the most part sadness at the failure of promotion but what could also be seen through the tears was a look as if to say ‘This doesn’t happen again, next year we finish the job’.
That look proved to be correct and after a final day promotion shoot-out against Brighton in the Premier League, Aitor Karanka’s side sealed their promotion to the Premier League.
However, it wouldn’t be until after the season’s end that fans would find out the true impact that now club captain Grant Leadbitter had on the promotion push.
Around October time Boro fell into a torrid run of form and after a defeat to Cardiff Leadbitter took matters into his own hands and organised a squad gathering at his own house in an attempt to regain the spirit of the squad. Karanka’s team went on to lose only one of their next 13 fixtures.
Not only this but it was later discovered that the central midfielder had played the whole season with a hernia and had been receiving pain killing injections before every game to battle on through the pain. An action that epitomized Leadbitter’s leadership skills and will to win.
Following the operation to remove the hernia in the summer of 2016, the club captain would miss the opening months of the Premier League season and because of this ultimately struggled to regain his place in the relegated Boro team for an extended period.
This didn’t stop Leadbitter from providing one of the moments of the season when putting Boro 0-1 away to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Ironically after that, one of his last big moments in a Boro shirt came at his boyhood club Sunderland in a touching moment. With the score at 1-1 Leadbitter slotted away a trademark penalty to put his side 2-1 up and then ran straight to the exact spot he’d years before thrown his father’s ashes on the Stadium of Light pitch and kissed the grass.
In his final season in Middlesbrough colours, the club legend found minutes hard to come by and for this reason was allowed to rejoin his boyhood club Sunderland for the final years of his career.
During Leadbitter’s seven years at Middlesbrough he most certainly played with more technically gifted players but not one came close to showing the same level of desire, passion and grit to succeed as Grant whilst also contributing so heavily to the team.
At the timing of this article Grant Leadbitter is currently on compassionate leave from Sunderland and it should be said: Grant, everyone is with you.
The Boro Way 