ERIC PAYLOR

LENNIE Lawrence has admitted that he made a mistake in allowing free-scoring striker Bernie Slaven to leave Middlesbrough when the club was fighting for its life in the Premier League.

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Slaven had been unable to hold down a regular Boro place in that 1992-93 season and was allowed to move on to Port Vale.

In an interview with host Gary Phillipson of BBC Tees during Bernie's 40th anniversary event in Middlesbrough Town Hall last week, the former Boro boss was as honest as ever in his assessment.

Lennie, who guided Boro to promotion in 1992, said: “It’s well documented that Bernie and I crossed swords at times.

“For someone like me who believed in man management, on occasions I didn’t deal with it very well. I could have handled it a lot better than I did.

“I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of very good strikers over the years and Bernie obviously was one of them.

“But we had our differences when he was left out of the team. So I let Bernie go. If I had my time back I wouldn’t have done it”

Lennie has long since settled any differences with Bernie and the two are now good friends, which was obvious during the former boss's emotional interview, which was well received by a packed, enthralled audience in the Town Hall.