Danny Graham will retain mixed memories of his double dose of the Boro.
The former free-scoring forward’s career may have stalled temporarily, but it’s not as a result of his committed contribution on Teesside last season.
The North-easterner also hit some terrific heights during his years away from the Boro.
But it does make you wonder where Danny’s career might have taken him if he had never been freed from the Riverside in the first place.
One of Graham’s finest Boro moments came against Saturday’s opponents Charlton Athletic back in February, 2005.
He was just a teenager at the time, having come into professional football relatively late in life.
Gateshead-born Graham did not have the opportunity to come through one of the big three North-east clubs’ famed academies, but instead progressed from Gateshead Schools FA to playing for Chester-le- Street Town.
Boro were well aware of Graham, as they were of all talented young players in the region, but it was his rapid development at Chester-le-Street which was watched by Boro talent spotter Ron Bone, leading to Danny being offered a pro contract at the Riverside.
Graham hit the ground running at the Boro. Before too long he was a prolific goalscorer at reserve team level.
Steve McClaren put him on the bench on several occasions and Danny actually made his Premier League debut as a late substitute against Manchester United.
He was still only 19 when he came off the bench in the closing stages to head a crucial equaliser in a 2-2 draw against Charlton at the Riverside in the 2004-05 campaign.
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I’ve seen a few Boro games against Charlton which never got going, and in the first half this match promised to be one of them.
In fact the Addicks led from the 14th minute when a shot from Matt Holland took a wicked deflection off Frank Queudrue.
McClaren’s interval dressing down did the trick. Boro woke up at the start of the second half and Chris Riggott came forward to equalise, only for Shaun Bartlett to score on the break what threatened to be a late winner for the visitors.
McClaren threw on the cavalry in the final ten minutes with Graham and Joseph Job coming on to bolster the home attack.
It paid dividends when Graham grabbed his first Premier League goal within four minutes of taking to the field.
This was a big moment for Graham, who needed to prove himself by scoring goals - though the goal did not kick-start his senior career on Teesside.
However he was awarded a two-year extension to his contract by McClaren at the end of that season, before going on to continue his football education in loan spells away from the club.
It was while on loan at Carlisle United that Danny found a new gear and finally proved that he had a bright professional career ahead of him.
He scored seven goals in 11 appearances for the Blues and not surprisingly Carlisle were very keen to sign him on a permanent deal.
Ironically, when I watched Graham play for Boro reserves at the Riverside right at the end of that season, following his Carlisle loan, he scored a good goal and looked very lively.
Arguably it was the best I had ever seen him play and I thought that he might start to make an impact at Boro the following season.
It never had the chance to happen because Graham was handed a free transfer by Boro boss Gareth Southgate. Naturally he went on to sign for Carlisle.
Danny’s goalscoring form in Cumbria eventually earned him a big money move to Watford, where he scored at a ratio of almost a goal in every two games.
This earned him the chance, at last, to test himself in the big time. He was transferred to Premier League side Swansea City in the summer of 2011.
Graham did OK in South Wales, but not brilliantly, so when Sunderland rolled out the chequebook and forked out £5m to bring him back to the North-east it offered him a bright, new start.
Unfortunately his career then hit a brick wall.
Graham is still to score a first team goal in the league after two years with Sunderland, and also netted just once in 18 appearances during a loan spell with Hull City.
However his return to the Boro on loan last season promised to reawaken his career.
Despite being pitched in by Aitor Karanka as a lone striker, Danny scored at a rate of one goal per three games and must have received a massive injection of confidence in doing so.
There were many Boro fans who would have loved to have seen Graham signed permanently by the club last summer, but I always felt it would not happen.
Karanka had plenty of other irons in the fire on the striker front, while Danny’s Premier League wages at Sunderland were always likely to be problematic.
In the event Graham went out on loan again earlier this season to Wolves, though he returned to Wearside after five appearances and one goal.
Danny still has 18 months of his lucrative Sunderland contract remaining and, while he appears to have been welcomed back into the fray lately, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that somebody will take a punt on him this month.
I hope they do because, at the age of 29, he still has something to offer the right club.
Back to the Charlton match in 2005, and the frustrations felt on Teesside when Boro failed to take all three points despite dominating the second half.
I can remember that Charlton goalkeeper Dean Kiely making a trio of outstanding saves, while in Icelandic defender Hermann Hreidarsson Charlton had the best player on the pitch.
Hreidarsson was a big, strong player who could operate comfortably anywhere along the back line and could have comfortably cut the mustard at a much higher level.
Even so, he spent 15 impressive seasons in English football and enjoyed superb careers at Ipswich, Charlton and Portsmouth, before injury took its toll.
I was never quite as enamoured with Hreidarsson’s defensive partner Chris Perry, who was not the tallest and always looked lightweight.
But Perry was an incredibly brave centre-back and, with Hreidarsson alongside, and the under-rated Kiely as the last line of defence, Charlton were never easy to break down.
You still wouldn’t have swapped their team for Boro’s that day.
With the likes of Ray Parlour, Bolo Zenden and Stewart Downing to control the game, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink up front, Boro really should have had the game sewn up long before Graham rescued a point.
But that’s the way a lot of games against Charlton seemed to go in those days.
In the previous season, Charlton was 3-0 at the Riverside when Boro had Southgate, Ugo Ehiogu and Mark Schwarzer among their defence, and Yakubu and Mark Viduka up front.
Fortunately the tide appears to have turned over the last few years.
In fact Charlton have failed to beat Boro in any of their last nine league and cup meetings.
The Addicks have also been suffering from a horrendous run of form since early November, which led to manager Bob Peeters being replaced by former Standard Liege manager Guy Luxon this month.
New managers can lift sides, but Boro have been grinding out wins at the Riverside whether they have played well or not.
They must set their stall out for another three points on Saturday to make sure they stay at the forefront of the promotion mix.
