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A year ago Lee Tomlinho had the world at his feet.

He had just pulled off a balletic Brazilian spin that bamboozled one of the world’s top defenders and was a whisker away from scoring a wonder goal that would have been on every year’s FA Cup classic clips reel alongside Ronnie Radford.

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The national press gushed over his back-story and skills. Top flight TV pundits knew his name and talked in glowing terms. Riverside fans threw garlands at his feet. He taunted spin cycle victim Kompany on twitter and rinsed him again and we laughed. Top #Bantz!

Tomlinho won rave reviews and the Championship player of the month gong with that scintillating moment of magic (even if ironically he probably wasn’t even the best at Boro in January) and he was talked about in hushed tones as a locksmith supreme who would shine in the Premier League.

And now he has signed on loan for basement battlers Bristol City in a bid to kick-start a spluttering career.

Tomlin has jumped in his escape pod and headed to Ashton Gate after six frustrating months as a fringe figure and some barbed bridge burning foot-in-mouth comments on Twitter about the boss that were “dealt with internally”, Eddie Howe told the press.

But then, he has a habit of leaving with the flak flying.

At Peterborough some fans were furious that he appeared to get himself sent off not once but twice as he tried to engineer an exit to Celtic.

Then at Boro he left a bit of sour taste after saying Bournemouth was a “dream” move, what with that tingling big club atmosphere and passionate fans. Ouch. That stung a bit. It wasn’t just his tummy upset.

Read more How Boro fans reacted to Lee Tomlin's Bristol City loan move

And some people won’t forget. It’s one in the bulging book of Teesside grudges to be fed and nurtured for years to come.

So, Lee Tomlin, from top of the world to the bottom of the Championship in six months. That is some fall from grace.

In truth, after the dazzling day at Manchester City, Tomlin took his eye off the ball at Boro. He seemed to believe the hype and maybe “he wasn’t as good as he thinks he is.”

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He still weighed in with some crucial touches - his ball to Patrick Bamford for the goal at Derby was sublime - but his impact waned when it mattered and he was one of the ones who turned up at Wembley later than the team bus.

It went sour very quickly for him at Boro. It is probably fair to say he didn’t have a good summer. Or that he did. However you want to view it.

He certainly came back carrying a bit of timber but on a frame that was always chunky.

And his new agent started making noises about an improved deal just as the club were working out their costings for the summer spending.

And then outside interest opened the door to his “dream” move to Bournemouth and as the factors collided he was gone as quickly as his turn at City. That’s football.

He did well while he was here and helped create some great memories for Boro fans but left to mixed reaction.

How he will be received at the Riverside is yet to be seen - but we won’t know this year. We’ve played Bristol twice already so don’t have to worry about the fear of football’s Inevitability Drive. For this season at least.

For Tomlin the past few months have been an object lesson in how fickle football fates can be, how the grass is not always greener and how something so sweet can turn sour so quickly.

He must look back and wonder what might have been, regret not knuckling down, sticking with it and being part of a special moment at Boro.

Now he is trying to rekindle his career. I hope he succeeds but you have to worry his moment has gone.