Exclusive: Ex-Middlesbrough assistant reveals what it was like working with Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink during UEFA Cup run

For the second season running, Boro had four talented strikers on their books in the shape of Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Yakubu and Massimo Maccarone, with another season in Europe on the horizon.

Round, who arrived at the Riverside in 2001 alongside Steve McClaren, predominantly worked as an attacking coach during his time on Teesside, and remembers a message he gave to the club’s forward quartet.

“Early on in the season I got them all together and said look we have four really top strikers here, all of you are excellent players, but you have got to accept there are certain games you can’t play in,” Round tells the Mail.

“That season I think we had 64 games and if you have 64 games with four top strikers they are all going to play a significant amount.

“I think if you look at the goal records for at least three of them that season they were all up at about 20 goals, so they were getting enough football to satisfy their competitive egos and contribute significantly.

“It’s harder for the manager because he’s the guy that makes the key decisions and looks them in the eye to tell them if their not playing.

“As a coach going underneath that, trying to form a mentality that every game is important, I think it’ a bit easier.”

Round was also quick to praise the professionalism and work ethic which Boro’s players demonstrated, with standards consistently high during training sessions.

“Mark Viduka was a perfect example, people don’t realise how hard he trained post sessions,” Round adds. “Every single session post training he wanted to do extra work on his finishing and receiving of the ball.

“Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was a top professional, he’d be in the gym before and after training every day. His will to win and commitment to drive standards up rubbed off on everyone. You couldn’t take a day off with Jimmy whether you were a coach or a player.

“They are the sort of things that you want and if you have someone from the front leading the line and doing things like that it’s great.”

Since leaving Boro in 2006, Round has coached at several Premier League clubs including Newcastle, Everton and Manchester United.

In December last year he joined the backroom staff at Arsenal following the appointment of Mikel Arteta, yet his memories at Boro remain among his career highlights.

When asked about Boro’s remarkable European comebacks against Basel and Steaua Bucharest, Round replies: “They will go down as highlights because they were such unique games, you thought you were out of it.

“We changed the system at half-time, there was some excellent coaching going on, and the players bought into everything we were asking and delivered.

“To come back and win two games when we were basically dead and buried, in front of a full house, the place was absolutely rocking.

“I’ll never forget Alastair’s (Brownlee) commentary when he was talking about the parmos, it was just incredibly special. The difference it made around the whole area was amazing, it really was.”

Round also remembers the club’s memorable meeting with Roma, when thousands of Boro fans arrived in Italy the night before the match.

“We went to Rome a day early because of travel arrangements and I found out the pope was with an audience in Saint Peter's Square,” recalls Round.

“The hotel was only about a 500-yard walk from there and I said anyone who wants to go out tomorrow I’ll come out and make sure that everyone is safe and secure and we’ll go.

“There was about half a dozen players who decided to come and there was a guy announcing a church from Wolfsburg and there was a ripple of applause , then he went on to the next one.

“Eventually after about seven or eight he mentioned there was a church from Middlesbrough, and there must have been 100,000 in the square and about 5,000 of them started singing Pigbag.

“That really brought it home to us and I thought wow, this is what football is all about bringing people together and experiencing different things.”

Times have changed for the Teessiders since then, with the club now languishing just above the Championship relegation zone.

So did Round realise the magnitude of what Boro were achieving during those European days?

“I think when you are in it, I don’t think you generally realise the size of what you’ve achieved because you are always living it right then,” he adds.

“You have the pressure and expectations of wanting to go on and prove something. It’s only afterwards when you look back and say what a great experience that was.

“I see Steve Gibson every so often and have a chat with him and I’ve got so much respect for him. What it meant to him at the time really dragged the club up to be a real force and might in Europe.

“The biggest disappointment was that we didn’t go on and win it but we came up against an outstanding Sevilla team on the day.

“I thought we were really in the game until the last few minutes when we threw caution to the wind trying to get a goal back and got caught on the counter. That made the scoreline a little bit harsher.

“But the two games before that, coming back to win 4-3 was incredible. Those things stay with you forever.”