When George Friend was a Middlesbrough player, he had a list of achievements he wanted to tick off.

Play 100 games for the club, 200, wear the armband, win promotion, play his part in the community.

All accomplished.

In the not too distant future, as Friend approaches the final stages of his playing career, his attention will start to shift to what comes next. And he already knows one thing that will be on his post-playing to-do list: a return to Middlesbrough.

In what capacity Friend isn't quite sure, but what he does know is that his bond with Middlesbrough - with Teesside - is as strong as ever. It's home. And he'd love to come back.

"When I played for Boro, I had all different milestones and I had them all written down and I wanted to tick them all off," says Friend.

"The most frustrating thing was I got to 299 games instead of 300. When I hit 100 my focus was on 200. I wanted to captain the club, I want to be part of history, I want to do something in the community. There was always a goal.

"Then I had my kids here and they're little Teessiders and they still get the Boro kits every year. It doesn't stop. As any football fan will tell you, once you're part of a club and your family are part of the club as well, you can't escape that.

"Of course you're a professional, I play for Birmingham, I give everything I've got for them, that's my personality, but some things you can't escape from when you have that connection.

"The list is on hold at the minute, I need to write a new list for post-playing. Coming back at some point in the future is definitely part of it. That one game does annoy me but I have to get over that.

"I wouldn't say I want to be a manager or this or that. At this stage I don't know exactly what I want to do, but I'll always be in contact with Middlesbrough and I'll always want the club to do well, whether I'm part of that or not. I want the area to do well.

“I want to keep all of my options open really, rather than pigeon-hole myself as just a coach or anything else. Of course, it has to be right for Middlesbrough as well if I ever was to return. They have so many talented people already working for them, so it’d have to be right in terms of where I’d fit in. But if everything worked out for both parties, of course it would be great to do that in the future.

"But at the moment I’m unsure because I haven’t really thought too hard about post-playing just yet. I do appreciate I’m 35 now though, and it’s getting closer all the time.

"I was really fortunate at Middlesbrough as well because I wrote those lists at other clubs and it didn't happen. When I first signed for Wolves I had ambitions but for whatever reason things just work out. I was part of a very good team at Middlesbrough which obviously helps."

The Northern Echo:

Ten years have now passed since Friend signed for Boro from Doncaster Rovers but the defender remembers it like it was yesterday. He remembers Tony Mowbray showing him around Rockliffe and deciding in an instant he wanted the move.

"I was meant to go and see Ipswich and Nottingham Forest but I didn't bother, I just realised straight away I wanted to sign here," say Friend.

"I'd just left Doncaster which wasn't the favourite part of my career. I was in quite a low place mentally and just wanted to go and enjoy my football. I was really lucky that Tony Mowbray was the manager.

"I think we had a cup game first but then after that I just seemed to play quite well and the fans took to me. I loved the stature of the club and the history of the club with all those great players and I just wanted to be part of that.

"We used to always say in the promotion team when we lost in the play-offs and got promoted the next year, and Ben Gibson was the big driver for this because he understood the area, he kept saying we can be part of history here. I kept thinking I want to be part of the history of this club."

Friend continues: "I think what helped me personally was what the Boro fans like on the pitch, especially in that time, which was people that work hard. I’ve never said to anyone I’m the most skilful, but I always gave it everything, and I think that’s what they appreciated. As it grew over time, that bond strengthened and I think that’s why there was that success and why we were able to gain promotion.

"Mogga used to say there are artists and soldiers in his team and he said to me, 'George, you're a soldier'. That's fine, I understood that. But luckily for me we did have some artists around us and when you have that balance, again I was fortunate to be part of that."

Friend left Boro for Birmingham City in 2020 - the hardest decision of his career - but the club and area had long before got under his skin and his love for Boro and Teesside endures.

Such is his passion for the area, he returned this week to launch Teesside University's new football academy.

He's happy to sit and reminisce about his time at Boro, for he's no longer allowed at home! As much as Friend's wife loves Boro and Teesside as much as her husband, she's grown slightly tired of him talking about his Riverside recollections.

"She's banned me," laughs Friend.

"And it’s not because she doesn’t love the area as well, because she does. But I think it’s just become a bit tiresome for her!

"I’ve got one picture up in the house which I’m allowed. It’s the one where I came back (with Birmingham) and the fans put the banner up and I'm clapping them. That was outstanding. That was such an emotional day, not just for me but my family as well.

"I’ll never forget that and will always be thankful to Boro fans for that because to have that reception as an opposition player was incredible.

"I was so close to not getting it as well, because of the covid season. The first time I came back as a Birmingham player it was an empty stadium which was just strange. Funnily enough, I actually had one of my best games as well, but nobody saw it! I promise it was! I think it was on Sky actually because I got man of the match.

"But I just remember thinking afterwards I really hope I do get to come back and play, because obviously I don’t play as much at Birmingham as I used to here at Boro. So I just wanted to come back with fans in attendance and play, which thankfully I did.

"We won, which for me as a Birmingham player was good, but the reception for me was just like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It lives long in the memory and it’s funny because that’s the picture I’ve got up in the house, rather than any actual pictures of me playing for the club. I do have other stuff up in my gym, which is kind of my own room where I’m allowed to. But all that’s up in the house is that one picture."

Friend is still in close contact with plenty of his former Boro teammates, particularly those from the promotion winning team

He says: "We still have a group chat between a few of us, the ones who are closer. But even the ones outside the chat, I still speak to regularly.

"That's an amazing thing as well. Even people who hadn't been at Middlesbrough for that long, I still keep in touch with.

“I still talk a lot to the staff because when you’ve been at the club for such a long time they’re often the one constant. The players aren’t always constant because they quite often come and go, but the backroom staff are always there. They’re the great people who are constants and so important to the football club who I’ve always tried to keep in contact with."

He recalls the dressing room togetherness in the 2015/16 promotion winning season and looks back on the Premier League campaign not with regret but with a feeling of what might have been.

He says: “The dressing room had such a focus (in the promotion season). It was weird after we lost that play-off final, that focus that we all had. After we lost that play-off final we could have so easily crumbled but it was if we knew after that we would go on and do it then because we used that disappointment in a good way.

"It was the strength of the dressing room, and not just the players, but all the backroom staff. That was our goal, as soon as that pre-season started. We didn’t have a long off-season because of the play-off final and so that almost helped us as well because we still had that feeling of, ‘we’ve got something to overcome now’.

"Gibbo and I used to say, ‘we can write our names in history here by being part of a promotion team’. That was such a big driver.

"I remember I did a video for the last nine games and sent it around to all of the lads once we’d got promotion. It was like backroom scenes and things like that, and I’ll still often watch that from time to time to relive that.

"There are other great moments as well of course. Some of the cup runs we had were unbelievable, and the Premier League season, although tough, was a proud one, particularly at the start because we started quite well and there was just this real feeling of pride because of how hard we’d worked to achieve that and get there.

"It just didn’t finish how we wanted, and that’s something we often still chat about now over WhatsApp and things - how we wished things had been slightly different and how we wished we could have just stayed up that season.

"It seemed quite a pivotal moment. If we stayed up that year, maybe we could have kicked on and the club might still be in the Premier League now. You can never say for certain, but there’d have been a good chance, especially because of the structure the club has and the chairman and how he is.

"It’s real fine margins, like in any season. We didn’t quite do enough to stay up ultimately. I’d never say we deserved to stay up because we didn’t. But it was just a shame and it feels like a bit of a chance missed that we as players have to take responsibility for.

"It’s just disappointing because we worked so hard to get there and it had been quite a long time to get back there. The great chance and opportunity is that there is a chairman here that will always back the team and back the club, and so that option of getting promotion is always there, and hopefully in the not too distant future that can happen."

Friend's final season on Teesside was a difficult one as Boro languished at the bottom end of the Championship table and the defender struggled with a serious injury which required surgery. But he played through the pain in the final weeks of the season to help Boro survive.

He says: “I remember I had a really bad thigh injury and it was kind of unsure how that would go, to be honest. Covid actually helped me because it enabled me to rehab properly and come back and play those last nine games. But really, even after that time off, it was a flick of a coin whether I’d manage to get through those games.

"But I wanted to play them because it was so important because we were in that relegation battle. The club were excellent with me and I think they appreciated that I risked quite a lot in playing through that time and the club were excellent and incredible with me all the way through. I can’t thank them enough."

From the past to the present and the future.

While playing is still the priority, Friend will have finished his A-licence coaching badges by the end of this season and thanks "top class" Birmingham manager John Eustace for his support.

When time allows, he'd love to organise a reunion of the Boro promotion winning team.

He says: "I'm definitely going to try and get everyone back together at the Riverside. Grant (Leaditter) is now heavily involved with the club and I'm sure we'll see other people come back and work with the club who were part of that time.

"It was a special group. It's not the first team it's happened and it won't be the last. It can happen again soon. I can feel something special building again here at the moment."

A Riverside reunion to add to the to-do list and, then, beyond that, perhaps one day a return.

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