Mendieta lifts lid on Middlesbrough booze & Mars Bars culture

Former Middlesbrough midfielder Gaizka Mendieta claims team-mates used to drink in the dressing room after matches - part of a horrifying booze culture at the club.

He said: "At Middlesbrough the beer used to flow in the dressing-room the moment matches were over..

"The following day the players were supposed to work on their recovery but instead they’d just have a coffee and then get back on the booze once more.

"They used to eat Mars bars and chocolates, and when I said something about it they’d fire back, claiming it was to give them energy.

"You could say that there was a clash of attitudes between me and them."

Mendieta's comments will surprise many Boro fans as he arrived at the club long after the "drinking and gambling culture" Paul Merson once complained of had been broken up.

Manager Bryan Robson, who bought Merson, had just left at the time the former international arrived and Paul Gascoigne was long gone.

However Mendieta's claims suggest that the party spirit was still in place under Steve McClaren, who took Boro to a League Cup win and to a UEFA Cup final during Mendieta's spell in the North-East.