Regardless of the importance of the game ahead, Gareth Southgate would always keep a level head in the Middlesbrough dressing room as he set about getting his key messages over to his players in his team-talk.

His delivery and tone was consistent and one request was a weekly constant: "Enjoy it".

On this occasion in particular, he didn't just want his players to enjoy it but the fans too. As Southgate addressed his squad for the final time in the 2007/08 season, he urged them to "express themselves" out on the Riverside pitch.

He didn't just want to give the home supporters something to cheer but wanted to give them something to take away into the summer; something to be excited about in the following season.

Never could he have possibly imagined that would mean hammering eight past a Manchester City side that started the day 16 points ahead of Boro in the Premier League table and who, for long stages that campaign, had harboured ambitions of securing European Football for the following term.

Boro, on the other hand, had floundered, only securing survival the week earlier after a miserable run of five games without a victory in March and April. Frustration had peaked on that miserable March day when Cardiff rocked up in the FA Cup, a game that still draws a shiver a decade on.

Southgate had learnt a lot in his first season in charge, including the ruthlessness of the business. He'd played for Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson for England so hadn't enjoyed watching him "live in insecurity" as the Swede put it as the unpredictable Thaksin Shinawatra plotted sweeping summer changes at the Etihad.

Southgate made a point of stopping Sven and his assistant Tord Grip before the game and told the pair that if they did depart after this final game they could do so with their heads held high and that they're perhaps best out of the club.

While Southgate and Sven chewed the fat, George Boateng addressed his team-mates with a mini team-talk of his own.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate oversaw a famous win

His team-mates weren't aware of this at the time but Boateng knew this would be the last of his 182 league appearances for Boro.

"In the back of my mind I knew," says the Dutchman, recalling the game.

"It was a difficult season, mentally it was very draining. There were lots of ups and downs, lots of mistakes - not from my side but from the club's management.

"That was the toughest year in the six years that I was at the club so I decided that if I wanted to keep enjoying my football, keep playing, it was time for a change.

"I was also aware that we had to put up a good show. In the dressing room I made sure that everybody was on point and knew that to help the club go forward that summer this was a game that would help sell season tickets.

"I was fully focused and told the lads to go out there and give their all because it's the last game of the season. Obviously I didn't mention to anyone what I was thinking personally, but I had my own personal motivation as well."

George Boateng thanks the Boro fans in his last game at the club

While Boateng was revved up, one of his young team-mates was frustrated.

"I remember being p****d off because I wasn't playing, I was on the bench," laughs Andrew Taylor.

"I can't remember why I wasn't in the team, I'd probably had a bad game the week before!

"I got told I was on the bench on the day of the game so I was little bit annoyed about that. It's the last game of the season so you want to play, obviously. When you're younger you used to take stuff like that personally but as I've got older I've realised that's the game. The manager picks his team and makes changes, it's nothing personal."

'He works his puddings off'

Taylor's close mate Stewart Downing had been challenged before the game by Southgate to bag a brace which would take his tally for the season into double figures.

That task and Boro's task on the day was made easier when Richard Dunne tugged Tuncay to the deck inside the box on 15 minutes. Off went Dunne and ahead went Boro, Downing hammering a fiercely struck spot-kick into the bottom corner.

Dunne's red card for this challenge on Tuncay opened the floodgates

"When Dunne was sent off I was thinking 'this could be an easy game for us'," says Boateng.

"They gave up I think before half-time."

By that stage Afonso Alves had doubled Boro's lead. The first half was convincing and impressive but there was still no sign that Boro were going to run riot in such rampant fashion in the following 45.

This, after all, was a team that hadn't managed to score more than two goals in a game all season, hence the sheer surprise in commentator Paul Addison's voice as he called the third goal.

"Ey, what about this, Boro have scored three in a match," he bellowed.

And what a goal it was, "pretty special", Boateng remembers. It was Boateng's left-footed cross that was headed out but only as far as Stewart Downing who somehow, with his body angled away from goal, managed to strike a stunning volley with the outside of his left foot into the bottom corner.

It was a moment of genius, yet came as no surprise whatsoever to Taylor, sitting on the bench.

"I used to big Stewy up when I was at Boro with him and did the same after he left," says the left-back.

"I've got quite a few mates who are Liverpool fans and people used to give him stick when he went there. It was the same with England fans. I used to say he's such an underrated player who has so much ability.

"He works his puddings off and technically he's outstanding. And he's such a great lad."

Stewart Downing celebrates against Manchester City in 2008

For David Wheater, Downing's volleyed strike was a contender for goal of the season, though he had competition in the form of Fabio Rochemback's arrowed free-kick that prompted jaws to hit the deck 22 minutes later.

That was number six, after Alves had bagged his second to make it four and Adam Johnson who'd come off the bench had scored number five.

"Fabio scored that free-kick," says Boateng.

"Rochemback, he had a lot of criticism. And when you look back I think that we didn't really appreciate him as much as we should have done at the time.

"For me, it took a season to get used to him but after that we clicked and understood each other quite well.

"I was used to having a left footer next to me, someone like Zenden. But then Fabio came and it was really difficult to understand each other, but we got on very well."

'To the tune of Pink Floyd...'

As Rochemback's rocket hit the net, the bench rose alongside the Boro supporters in appreciation.

"I remember sitting on the bench and watching Fabio line up that free-kick," says Ross Turnbull, who was the substitute goalkeeper that day.

"He used to have a great shot on him but he never showed that on a consistent basis so I think all of the fans in the North Stand had their arms in the air expecting to catch it. They were expecting it to go into row Z, I think, but it ends up in the top corner.

"It was one of those rare days in football where every thing seemed to come off."

Fabio Rochemback celebrates

For Turnbull's opposite number, Andreas Isaksson, the full-time whistle couldn't come soon enough. Not that he was enduring a particularly bad game in the City goal, in fact the BBC report from the day says Boro would have reached "double figures at a canter" had it not been for the Swede stopper, who was preferred to a young Joe Hart who was on the City bench.

Turnbull adds: "I wasn't feeling sorry for him (Isaksson) because you want your team to do well obviously but on a personal level you felt that he didn't deserve that. He made some good saves on the day but the rest of the team let him down."

City let Sven down. And their travelling fans, too. Not that any of their anger was aimed towards the dugout.

The City fans sang for Sven Goran Eriksson throughout

To the tune of Pink Floyd's Brick in the Wall, they sang: "Hey, Thaksin, leave our Sven alone."

The madcap owner either wasn't listening or wasn't paying any attention. Eriksson was made to take City on a post-season tour to Asia after that game but was dismissed on the trip.

After the game at Boro, he'd told City's players they would enjoy the trip even if it was a necessary evil for most of the squad who wanted to wind down after a taxing campaign.

Eriksson was denied the opportunity to say goodbye to the City fans at the Riverside due to ugly post-match clashes between the supporters and police. Frustration in the away end had boiled over.

Manchester City fans clashed with police at the end of the 8-1 defeat to Boro

They were at least treated to a goal, Elano scoring a consolation moments after Jeremie Aliadiere had made it seven.

City's goal - a fine finish from the Brazilian - was ironically cheered by all four stands, before Alves scored his hat-trick that wrapped up an impressive enough debut half season in England for the Brazilian.

"In training Alves was a great finisher," recalls Turnbull of the then-record signing.

"He had a natural ability to put the ball in the net. In games he showed glimpses but he wasn't consistent.

"You could see in training that he had something. He'd obviously scored a lot of goals in Holland as well. I don't think they're renowned for defending in that league like, say, Serie A, but you still have to have a natural ability to put the ball in the net as many times as he'd done."

Afonso Alves scored a hat-trick in Boro's rout of City

Boro's rout was complete, City's humiliation finally brought to an end.

Well, almost.

"I'm sure the bus left without Sven after the game," says Turnbull.

"It was Sven or a player, I can't quite remember. But there was some sort of mix-up, I'm sure. That was all they needed!"

According to reports, Stephen Ireland refused to travel home on the team coach and later described the afternoon as "the worst moment of my career".

'I wanted to go out with respect'

"The biggest shock for me that day was the way Man City played," says Taylor.

"I know they're not the Manchester City that we know now, but it was still a surprise. They still had players like Elano in the team."

Julio Arca recalls the afternoon as a "great day" for Boro, though admits the second half felt surreal.

"It was more like a training session," says the Argentinian, who played for an hour before being replaced by Johnson.

"I remember being involved with some very good Middlesbrough performances and that was one of the special ones."

It was all smiles on the traditional end of season lap of honour

Taylor agrees.

"To do that to any team at any level is good, but to do it in the Premier League was fantastic.

"When you score three or four goals everyone is happy, to score eight, it's just unbelievable.

"It doesn't happen. Look back at the records, how many times have a team of Middlesbrough's stature scored eight goals?

"I remember being involved in the Arsenal game, the 7-0 defeat, and that's not a nice feeling at all, but to be involved in any game when you win like that it's just the complete opposite. Everyone was laughing and joking on the bench as well as in the stands.

"It was a brilliant day, a brilliant day for everyone - well, other than me when I was told I wasn't playing!"

As George Boateng headed for home that night, he reflected on the perfect Boro send-off.

"If you look at that day, what I wanted to achieve before the game was to help sell season tickets and to go out with respect and good memories.

"8-1 was a scoreline that I didn't even dream of."