Three Cup finals, two promotions and a relegation, not to mention alcohol and points deductions. All in seven years of work for Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough. Full-back Curtis Fleming worked under Robbo from the first day until the last on Teesside. Sports Writer Paul Fraser caught up with the Irishman during the week Captain Marvel made his Premiership return.

WHEN Bryan Robson was confirmed as the new manager of West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, it is hard to imagine shockwaves reverberating around The Hawthorns as they did a little over a decade ago on Teesside.

Despite a relatively successful first six years at Middlesbrough, it has taken three-and-a-half years for Robson to find a route back into Premiership management. With his reign in the North-East tinged in many people's minds by an apparent drinking culture and a last-ditch call for help to friend and ally Terry Venables.

In the summer of 1994, ambitious chairman Steve Gibson ultimately gambled by offering Manchester United's legendary midfielder the chance to take charge of a team. With his playing staff away on pre-season vacations it took time for those going to work under him to learn the identity of the man set to take over from the departed Lennie Lawrence.

One of those was Curtis Fleming. Back in his native Ireland visiting family he received a phone call which took him completely by surprise. "I was in Dublin enjoying a break. Someone rang to tell me Bryan Robson was my new manager," recalls Fleming, as a smile slowly rises on his face.

"I said 'yeah right, good one. Robbo's leaving Man United to go to Middlesbrough.' But it was true, it was incredible. Captain Marvel was leaving Man United and his choice was to go to Middlesbrough. Steve Gibson did unbelievable to get him in.

"I couldn't wait to get back to training and when I did I remember thinking 'Jesus, this is Bryan Robson stood in front of me.' But the biggest way to describe the impact he had on the club was that from then on every Manchester United fan, and how many of them there are in the world, knew about Middlesbrough Football Club."

The unfashionable Teesside club were suddenly thrust into the limelight. After finishing 14th in the old First Division, Robson's installation into the Middlesbrough chair suddenly had them tipped as one of the promotion favourites.

As well as introducing the likes of Nigel Pearson and Clayton Blackmore, the future of Fleming looked to be hanging by a thread when right-back Neil Cox arrived for a club record £1m from Aston Villa. But Robson took a gamble. "I panicked. I thought the new man's coming in here and I'm going to be pedalled," said Fleming, who feared he may have to go back to working in a clothes shop on Dublin's fashionable Grafton Street as he did before joining Middlesbrough in 1991.

"But when I asked Robbo if I was on my way he said 'you're going to be my left-back.' Where I had never played before. I played there for two years and we got promotion to the Premiership."

That 1994-95 promotion winning team, contrary to belief, was not expensively assembled either. It just had a player-manager bossing the midfield just as he did as an England international, earning 90 caps in the process.

Having never managed before, Robson was the first to admit that Middlesbrough was a learning curve for him. There was no UEFA directive to suggest managers had to earn their coaching badges. It was purely a learn on site approach.

Now, ten years on, things have changed and the man who hails from Chester-le-Street has not put his time as an unemployed ex-footballer to waste. With the badges in tow, Robson can now put all what he has been taught and his past experiences to use. As he attempts to steer West Brom away from relegation back into the Football League, with ironically victory over Middlesbrough a perfect place to start tomorrow afternoon.

Stories of losing the dressing room, drinking habits - claimed by Paul Merson as he was angling for a move to Aston Villa - as well as a really poor run of form led to Robson's demise at Middlesbrough; all of the above were also to blame for him being unable to work his way back into the game he loves at the highest level before now.

But can he still command respect from the West Brom squad? "When Bryan Robson goes anywhere he gets respect. If he asked you to do something you did it back then and that should still be the case now," says Fleming.

"It's strange because people tend not to think about what we achieved during Robbo's time. While Merson's comments about the club having a drinking culture have stuck, as has the decision to bring Terry Venables in.

"But when Merson left he retracted everything, but that didn't get half as much publicity. But things like that stuck. It was a load of rubbish. We all trained and ate well. If we went for a beer then why shouldn't we. Bryan trusted us and thought we were all adults.

"Sometimes, if we had four days before games, we stayed in hotels and he would say 'have a few beers and then to bed'. That's exactly what would happen. If Robbo tells you something then you do it."

The signings of Nicky Barmby and Juninho for the 1995-96 season helped the club establish themselves as a Premiership club - finishing 12th in their first campaign. But it was the following year that the Robson era had both its finest and most poignant moment all rolled into one.

The white-haired Fabrizio Ravanelli, who bagged a hat-trick on his Premiership debut against Liverpool, and Brazilian Emerson were part of the Juninho-led side that reached both the FA Cup and Coca-Cola Cup finals.

But failing to field a team at Ewood Park one December night in 1996 -with the squad blighted by injuries and illness - cost them three points and ultimately a place in the Premiership meaning relegation and the sale of star players Ravanelli, Emerson and Juninho.

Now at West Brom, it will be down to Robson's pulling power whether he can attract such names to the Black Country this time around. Fleming has no doubts. "I remember Juninho signing and he was the Brazilian Player of the Year. Why did Middlesbrough get him? They had no right to. It was down to Bryan Robson. He went to Brazil to meet Juninho. Any other manager would not have been allowed anywhere near him but Robson met him. Bryan Robson is still Bryan Robson and he will always will be. Ravanelli came, Alen Boksic, Christian Ziege. All because of Robson.

"That year we went down, 1997, what a season that was. But we went down and Ravanelli, Emerson and Juninho all wanted to go. Last season Middlesbrough won their first trophy and now 1997 is immaterial. But it was a rollercoaster ride. It was probably the best season the club ever had. Every game was a must-win game."

Despite relegation, Robson continued in his job. On his return to pre-season training, ahead of another year in the First Division, his attitude was refreshing and reassuring to those Middlesbrough players still scarred by the drop. "I remember the gaffer telling us to dust ourselves off, forget about it, and go for promotion. We did exactly that," says Fleming. "After losing two cup finals and being relegated - he got Paul Merson to drop down a division and he was outstanding - we reached another Coca-Cola Cup final and won promotion. Fantastic. But that was Robbo's character shining through on us."

Since then Middlesbrough have not looked back, a record ninth place Premiership finish is yet to be beaten. And many of the club's highly-rated youngsters have stepped up from the Academy Robson helped to set up at the £7m Rockliffe Park training complex.

Had it not been for Robson's call to Venables in December 2000, as Middlesbrough propped up the table, the club may not be sitting in the lofty top-flight position they hold now under Steve McClaren.

"He was a brave man to bring Terry Venables in. He needed someone and he didn't want to sit there and do nothing so he got a former England coach in. Would he do it again? I don't know, but we stayed up," said Fleming.

On Wednesday night Robson and his new assistant, former Middlesbrough skipper Nigel Pearson, sat in the Anfield crowd taking notes on McClaren's Boro squad of 2004. Tomorrow, against his successor, Robson begins his quest to prove to the country they were wrong to doubt him,