BoroBlog

Annus Horibilis

2009-12-23T20:18:00.001Z

So ends 2009 – what a miserable twelve months it has been. The feeling of getting simultaneously slapped in the face and kicked in the balls by witless, spineless displays on a near weekly basis has long since developed a wearying monotony. Where once there was anger, there is now only despair and a poisonous, contagious apathy. The descent must be stopped promptly – if this freefall continues for another year, it doesn’t bear thinking about where we may be by the end of 2010.

The only thing consistent about Middlesbrough Football Club this year has been abject, weak-willed football and confused, muddied thinking. The year began with a series of crucial relegation battles – Sunderland, Blackburn and Wigan all visiting the Riverside in the first two months of 2009. With the situation far from irreversible, the onus was on Boro to take the initiative and take control of the club’s future. The three games brought no wins and a solitary home goal.

Away from home, the team began the year three games into a record-breaking run of consecutive away defeats. That became four with a heartbreaking capitulation at bottom of the league West Brom. It was the day relegation stopped being a danger and became a near certainty.

It was also clear warning that this group of players lack the mental courage to succeed as a group. Under pressure, basic, inexcusable errors were made at both ends. There was no raging against the dying of the light. The briefest glimmer of hope from embarrassing Liverpool was soon stamped out by capitulation at Spurs four days later. Boro slipped away into the sunset with barely a fight.

When the final whistle went at Upton Park in May, there were many emotions. More than anger, sadness or frustration, I felt relief. Despite the succession of soul destroying performances, we had somehow kept in touch with 17^th place until the bitter end. The gnawing sense of hope meant that we could never quite accept the inevitable. But those moments – the scrambled opener at St. James’ Park, the rousing atmosphere as the first half ended against Villa – served only to make the drop that much harder.

The new season was supposed to be a fresh start. But without Robert Huth to steady the nerves and Tuncay to act as an unexpected plan B, the same cracks started to show. Sickening trademark concessions in the dying moments against Bristol City, Coventry and Leicester. Nervous, unconvincing home performances, especially utter humiliation against West Brom. The change had to come – the right decision was made but months too late.

Gordon Strachan may well be wondering what he’s got himself into. Shaky and unconvincing before his appointment, the wheels have since well and truly come off. For all the talk of one point from the top, Southgate’s legacy has been a horribly unbalanced and inadequate squad.

The malaise has also spread to the stands. Let down week after week, many have simply given up. The official figures of around 17,000 for the Cardiff and Derby games are bad enough without even taking into account the number of those who paid but did not want to attend. Those left struggle to rise above the gloom. The vacuum has been filled with nervous silence and the thoroughly depressing scapegoating of Brad Jones, whose cack-handed display at Newcastle will now provide the North Stand boo boys with months of ammunition.

The fans and the area need a lift. 2010 is unlikely to bring promotion. A team we can begin to feel pride in again would be enough.

From the Boxing Day Fly Me To The Moon

Forest stump Boro

2009-11-22T16:16:00.000Z

Gordon Strachan is still waiting for his first victory after another concerning afternoon at the Riverside. After a promising start, Boro reverted to bad old habits and were fortunate to escape with a point. Boro have taken just four points from the last six home games, failing to score in four of them.

Strachan made further changes to his team, replacing both full-backs, recalling Julio Arca and a masked Emanuel Pogatetz, pushing Rhys Williams into the back four and handing a debut to Dave Kitson up front. The reshuffle paid off almost immediately as Boro took an early lead. Adam Johnson found an unmarked Arca and, although Lee Camp managed to stop his shot, the Forest keeper's limp wristed parry gave Leroy Lita an easy chance.

For the opening half hour Boro looked comfortable, although clear-cut chances were still at a premium. Defenders snapped into tackles while Isaiah Osbourne and Gary O'Neil ferried the ball around midfield sharply and accurately. As half time dawned, Boro loosened their grasp on their game and were indebted to Brad Jones for maintaining the lead at half time. The oft maligned keeper blocked magnfiicently when Dele Adebola took advantage of a slip by Sean St Ledger to send David McGoldrick.

The limp end to the first half set the tone for a depressing second 45 minutes, during which Forest completely dominated. The equaliser had been coming long before the 73rd minute when Rob Earnshaw clipped a free kick into the gaping left-hand corner of Brad Jones' net. At the other end, Lee Camp was a spectator. Kitson and Lita were starved of service and struggled to hold the ball up - their replacements, Marcus Bent and Jonathan Franks, fared little better.

With automatic promotion an increasingly remote possibility, even the play-offs may be beyond Boro based on their current form. The points earned in the early weeks of the season, with a defence marshalled by former captain Robert Huth and an attack sprinkled with Tuncay cameos, have given the current squad an artificial position in the top half of the table.

Since the double sale to Stoke, Boro's record reads P13 W4 D3 L6 F16 A18 Pts15. Over the whole season, that kind of form would leave Boro two-thirds down the table at best, looking nervously over their shoulders. There are severe systemic flaws with the current team and Gordon Strachan is being left to perform major surgery mid-season after being parachuted in. It is going to take more than a few weeks on the training ground to sort out a nervy defence and tepid attack or the stodgy, unimaginative home performances that have pockmarked 2009.

When opponents can neutralise the threat of Adam Johnson, as Forest did by fair means and foul, Boro are worryingly limited. The vast turnover of players reflects the attempts of two managers to find short term solutions to underlying issues. Boro are wasteful, timid and uninspired on the ball, particularly at the Riverside, and have been for at least a year. Too many players make the wrong decisions at crucial moments at both ends. There is a fundamental lack of resilience and quality in the squad. Of the current top fifteen teams in the division, Boro have beaten only one (Swansea City, way back on the second weekend of the season).

It is a long road back to the Premier League from here.

Shuffling the pack

2009-11-20T17:03:00.000Z

Having spent years throwing cash about with wild abandon, these are new and austere times at Boro. Gordon Strachan doesn’t seem too keen on the squad he’s been left with (with good reason, it should be added) and has already made attempts to spruce things up. Unfortunately, with the transfer window shut and funds sparse, the only option is to rummage through football’s equivalent of the reduced items shelf in the supermarket in the hope that, hidden behind a dubious looking slab of beef or a dented can of Stella, there may be a shop-soiled Dave Kitson lying about.

There’s always a suspicion about players clubs are willing to lend, something planted during my formative years. For every Uwe Fuchs, there was a Rab Shannon, a David Winnie and an Anthony Barness. And then there was John Gannon. Signed in late 1993, with the Lawrence era now firmly enveloped by a gentle but terminal haplessness, he only stayed for seven games but left horrible memories.

Boro now have five loan signings on their books, meaning Strachan only has a few weeks left to decide who has a future and who will be out on their arse quicker than John Eustace (Boro career: one two minute substitute appearance, one yellow card).

Sean St. Ledger seems to have the most secure future. Its unlikely that Preston would have agreed to release one of their key players without a guarantee there would be hard cash to come in January. It’s hard to gauge how good an idea this is without confirmation of the true cost. On the one hand, with Joe Bennett seemingly out on the naughty step already, St. Ledger is the only defender left who looks happy carrying and passing the ball. However, the partnership with David Wheater hasn’t been convincing, even if St. Ledger has increasingly looked the more composed of the pair.

The remaining quartet may be less permanent figures. Caleb Folan (remember him?) has so far made the least contribution of all the strikers signed by Gareth Southgate. Half man, half ball repellent, Folan twanged his hamstring almost as soon as he’d removed himself from Jonas Olsson’s pocket. Still, at least he said some mean things about Phil Brown, so he’s not all bad.

The speed with which Strachan has moved for alternative options up front and in midfield doesn’t bode well for the previous incumbents. It’s too early to judge Isaiah Osbourne, Marcus Bent or Dave Kitson but they all now have eight games to make an impression before the transfer window opens. It doesn’t seem too long ago that Kitson was scoring on a regular basis for Reading in the top flight. Unless Stoke are prepared to write most of the £5.5m they spent on signing him last summer though, it’s probably best not to get too attached.

The new manager seems to be left with something of a dilemma come January. There seems to be a realisation that the current squad of permanently contracted staff isn’t going to be good enough to get the club back into the top flight. With a million or two seemingly set aside for the St. Ledger deal, there isn’t going to be a fortune left for other deals. The manager will have to choose between trying to inject much needed quality on a budget or sacrifice his left winger, best player and most valuable asset. Now where have we heard that one before...

From tomorrow's Fly Me To The Moon

Grim start for Strachan

2009-11-01T16:56:00.000Z

Gordon Strachan's reign as Boro boss has begun with dispiriting defeat. Plymouth Argyle, struggling in penultimate position in the Championship before yesterday's game, earned a 1-0 win as Boro once again laboured in front of their home fans.

An improved crowd of 21,141 turned up for the start of a new era but the all too familiar failings that cost Gareth Southgate his job were clear for all to see. If Strachan is to succeed, he needs to find some quick solutions to a defence prone to costly lapses of concentration and an attack incapable of breaking down opponents who sit deep.

The new manager struck a surprise by deploying Julio Arca on the right side of midfield, while Emanuel Pogatetz returned in place of the mysteriously absent Joe Bennett. New loan signing Marcus Bent was restricted to the bench.

The pattern of the game was quickly established. Plymouth sat deep but showed both defensive resilience and nimble counter attacking that belied their poor league position. Boro enjoyed greater possession and territory but, apart from an early chance for Marvin Emnes that was well blocked, Romain Larrieu was rarely tested. Indeed, the Pilgrims' attempts to exploit the rustiness of Pogatetz looked far more ominous.

Despite a long pause as Pogatetz departed with a nasty looking facial injury, Boro started the second half much better. While evidently unfit, Marcus Bent provided a much more robust presence up front than Emnes although he did head wide from an inviting cross. Even Arca briefly sparkled with one twinkle toed run teeing up Wheater for a scuffed shot that Larrieu eventually stopped.

An opening goal seemed inevitable. Unfortunately, it came in front of the largely deserted South Stand. A long punt upfield was met by Jamie Mackie, who somehow evaded David Wheater to slot past Jones. It was an appalling error of judgement by the Boro captain, whose lack of progress since his breakthrough year is a growing concern.

Wheater's partner Sean St Ledger enjoyed one of the better performances of his loan spell, frequently bringing the ball out of defence to try and spark a lethargic Boro side into life. There should have been an equaliser after one such surge, when the referee generously awarded a spot kick when St Ledger tumbled under pressure after playing a one-two with Leroy Lita. However, Adam Johnson failed to test Larrieu, his kick glancing the outside of the keeper's left hand post. Despite seven minutes of injury time, a Bent header glanced wide was the best Boro could muster. For the fourth time in five games, Boro left the Riverside with no points and no goals.

The defeat leaves Boro one spot outside the play-off zone and they could slip further before next weekend's trip to Crystal Palace. Boro's abject home form (seven goals and seven points from eight fixtures) is reaching crisis levels. Unless its solved, and solved quickly, even the play-offs could be beyond Gordon Strachan. If the new man wasn't aware of the task in front of him before Saturday, he surely will be now.

The Strachan Inbox; plus Boro get Bent

2009-10-30T16:34:00.003Z

New Boro boss Gordon Strachan made his first signing today by securing Birmingham striker Marcus Bent on a two month loan. Bent goes straight into the squad for tomorrow's game against Plymouth and is expected to partner Leroy Lita in attack.

Strachan's immediate priorities are the subject of the following article, coming soon to a fanzine near you....

****************

Drifting away from the Riverside after a useful but uninspiring victory over an abject Derby County, it certainly didn't feel like one of the most important nights in the recent history of MFC. The departure of Gareth Southgate was unexpected, most of all by the man himself. The Southgate era has come to a brutal end. If Gordon Strachan is to succeed where Southgate ultimately failed, he has some key issues to address.

GET THE FANS BACK ON BOARD

Much was made of the attendance against Derby dropping below 50% of the Riverside's capacity. We know now that Steve Gibson's mind was already made before the game. Even so, a fractured, apathetic and disenchanted fanbase was clearly one of his reasons for removing Southgate. The club's finances have been steadied by the summer sales but the 6,000 fans who've disappeared since the Sheffield United game punch a big hole in the books. Gibson has called the bluff of many critics by removing the man perceived to be the main problem. There's still a long road to getting the Riverside bouncing an even 75% full on a consistent basis...

SORT OUT THE RIVERSIDE COMPLEX

...and the main reason for that is a long run of insipid, unconvincing performances at the Riverside Stadium. The players often seem to find a home advantage more of a burden. Too many were tentative, wilting under the expectation of victory. The crowd have generally shown more patience than would be expected at many other clubs but that has its limits. Even when winning, Boro haven't come close to achieving the level of fluency at the Riverside that they have done repeatedly away from home. Outside of the Premier League, matchday income becomes a far greater proportion of the club's funding. Starting today, a few good home wins could be worth more than just three points.

SHARPEN THE ATTACK

Leroy Lita hasn't contributed as many goals as might have been hoped but has been impressive in recent weeks. His fitness is clearly getting better, he's a willing runner and he did show his potential with that terrific goal at Reading. Otherwise, its been slim pickings. Barring a freakish four days which yielded three goals, Jeremie Aliadiere hasn't convinced. Marvin Emnes is still too raw for regular first team football. Caleb Folan galumphed around for an hour against West Brom then twanged a hamstring.

In Adam Johnson, Boro are still far too reliant on a player who might be gone in three months. A new striker, even on loan, has to be a priority.

PLAY TO THE WHISTLE

Two more points were thrown away in stoppage time at Preston last week. It happens far too often for comfort. Boro's habit of leaking late goals cannot be written off as bad luck or coincidence. It went a long way to relegating us last year and it will scupper our automatic promotion hopes at this rate.

David Wheater and Sean St Ledger are promising players in their own right but haven't totally convinced as a partnership. Wheater still seems to be pining for Robert Huth while St Ledger's generally positive have been blotted with lapses of concentration.

Nevertheless, this problem seems more like a reflection of mental weakness than any individual players. There might not be an easy answer – Southgate, at least, seemed powerless to find one.

Read this and more in tomorrow's Fly Me To The Moon

Strachan confirmed as new boss

2009-10-26T16:55:00.001Z

A Keith Lamb-shaped man looks pleased with himself

Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was today confirmed as Boro's new manager on a three and a half year contract. Strachan's first game is on Saturday against struggling Plymouth Argyle at the Riverside.

"It's a special job. I don't have to be here, I don't need to be here, I want to be here," said Strachan. "My job is to make the players better technically, physically and mentally, as a group and as individuals."

"I know you get time here, and the stability of the club means you have the chance to develop things the way you would like to see them develop. Celtic was fantastic, and I hope it can be as enjoyable here."

Strachan has been joined by his long-time assistant Garry Pendrey but insisted he was happy to work with the existing staff. "I think you must try and keep the continuity at the club. I brought Garry Pendrey here, but he has been everywhere with me so it's a bit of a double act and I wouldn't feel comfortable without him being here."

Strachan said he hadn't thought as far ahead as the January transfer window but confirmed he had spoken with Gordon McQueen about "one or two priorites" - a new striker is likely to be one of those.

Boro throw away win again

2009-10-24T17:14:00.000+01:00

Boro's old failings showed up again as an equaliser deep into stoppage time earned Preston an undeserved draw at Deepdale this afternoon. Boro twice took the lead but failed to defend a free kick, allowing Billy Jones to glance an equaliser past a static Brad Jones.

Under the temporary management of Colin Cooper, Boro made one change with Marvin Emnes replacing the injured Jeremie Aliadiere. Boro dominated the first half and finally made their superiority count just before half time when Gary O'Neil's free kick somehow evaded the grasp of Andy Lonergan. Boro should have doubled the lead before the break but Adam Johnson shot wide with the Preston defence exposed.

North End equalised on the hour when a cross from the left caused panic in the Boro defence. Brad Jones managed one block but couldn't prevent Paul Parry from equalising. Parity didn't last long however after Adam Johnson took possession from Leroy Lita, darted into the area and drove superbly inside Lonergan's far post.

Boro looked comfortable in the lead and could have gone 3-1 up when Rhys Williams smashed a shot against the post. But having failed to put the game to bed, Boro were punished at the death when the defence failed to deal with a Preston free kick.

Boro remain 4th, three points behind new leaders Newcastle, and maintain their poor record for beating sides in the top half of the table, one of the factors cited by Steve Gibson for his decision to sack Gareth Southgate. Gordon Strachan is expected to be appointed as Southgate's full time replacement on Monday. On today's evidence, there may be cause for cautious optimism but there's still plenty for Strachan to work on.

Gibson swings the axe

2009-10-21T10:54:00.001+01:00

There's been many points over last 12 months when it would have come as no surprise to learn that Gareth Southgate had lost his job. Finally, in the early hours of this morning, just hours after a 2-0 win over Derby County, a short club statement was released confirming Gareth and 'football consultant' Alan Smith had been "relieved of their duties".

There will certainly be comments raised about the timing. A relieved Southgate faced the media after the game last night, apparently unaware that Steve Gibson was already sharpening the axe. The cosy cabal of ex-players and managers who staff the punditry circuit never support the sacking of an English manager, regardless of circumstances. In this case, the fact that the three points earned last night took Boro to within a point of West Brom and Newcastle at the top will be used as a stick to beat a chairman previously renowned for seemingly unending patience.

But the current league position is too fragile to base any decision on. QPR are three points behind with a game in hand yet sit in tenth. Saturday's trip to Preston could just as easily toss Boro out of the play-off positions altogether as send them top.With the last three home games ending in dismal defeat with no Boro goals, the only sensible conclusion is that Gibson's mind was made up between the final whistle on Saturday and kick-off last night. Perhaps there is something to rumours sweeping Teesside earlier this week.

If there are questions over the timing, those who would query the actual decision are in a minority. As Gibson himself said, Southgate was handed a very difficult job, tasked with reshaping a squad on a reduced budget with the spectre of Eindhoven and the consequent rise in expectations hanging over the club. But the bald truth is, even allowing for that, Southgate did not do a good enough job in his last two seasons.

Good players were allowed to leave and their replacements were not up to scratch. For all the financial constraints, Southgate's abilities were under question from the point he wasted £20m the club couldn't afford to waste on Mido and Afonso Alves. By the end of a disastrous season, with barely a fight put up against relegation from a Premier League half full of terrible teams, the fans' support had been lost irretrievably.

Despite the growing feeling of impotence amongst a disgruntled crowd, it is the fans who have ultimately cost Southgate his job. Last night, the Riverside was officially half empty, and the actual attendance looked even less than the 17,459 announced. With no Premier League TV money to fill the coffers, Gibson may have felt, if he could ignore those booing and jeering at the ground, he could no longer ignore the thousands who no longer wanted to even turn up.

There should be no dancing on Southgate's grave however. This was the right decision but it was still a painful one. Watching a man who captained the club with such dignity and distinction subjected to a drawn out, public failure was thoroughly depressing. There can be no question that he gave his best to the club over 8 years on Teesside. Once the dust has settled, I hope people remember Southgate lifting the League Cup or punching the air in Rome rather than for the sad end to his first job in management.

When the new manager arrives, whoever he is, it should at least provide temporary relief from the poisonous atmosphere at the Riverside. The new man has to unite players and fans and remove the air of decline that has settled over the club. Steve Gibson has acted decisively and now must follow that up to restore a sense of momentum and win back disenchanted fans who have abandoned the club.

******************

None of this tumult seemed on the cards after a mundane victory over an awful Derby County side last night. An unremarkable match will now always be remembered by association with Boro's Night of the Long Knives.

Adam Johnson notched both goals. The first came from the penalty spot after Johnson went down a little too easily under Shaun Barker's challenge. The second was altogether more impressive, as he drifted free of three defenders before arcing a shot beyond the grasp of Steven Bywater.

With Derby decimated by injuries and without an away win all season, Boro needed nothing more than a workmanlike display. The play was still laboured at times, with Leroy Lita getting limited service in return for his admirable efforts in running the channels. Boro still need to move the ball quicker and with more purpose if they are to see off better teams than the Rams.

Boro stung by Hornets

2009-10-18T16:33:00.002+01:00

The pressure on Gareth Southgate continues to build as Boro lost a third successive home game. Eviscerated by West Brom, mugged by Leicester and now stung by Malky Mackay's Watford, Boro have lost half of their fixtures at the Riverside this season. It does not bode well.

There was a certain amount of misfortune in this defeat with Scott Loach's goal living a charmed life at times during a frantic second half. That should not however deflect focus on another disjointed performance in front of another low crowd.

Boro did create some chances early on. Leroy Lita somehow headed wide from close range, although the linesman's flag was raised, while Adam Johnson was found in space on the right but took too long turning onto his favoured left foot.

Watford, however, started to exert more influence. Arsenal loanee Henri Lansbury was neat and tidy in midfield while former Boro striker Danny Graham led the line while. When Sean St Ledger was caught in possession, it was Graham who found the intelligent run of Tom Cleverley, another loan signing, who comfortably beat Brad Jones. The Hornets held their lead to the break and merited their advantage.

There was at least a response after the break. A flurry of corners should have lead to an equaliser but St Ledger's header was harshly ruled out. Watford continued to look tentative from set pieces but Boro were struggling to threaten from open play. The only time Loach's goal was threatened came when Tony McMahon launched a speculative long range shot which spanked the underside of the crossbar before bouncing to safety.

If there was a lack of quality in Boro's play, the effort remained intense. The final chance came from another corner in injury time. In desperation, Brad Jones raced up to supplement the attack but succeeded only in blocking an apparently goalbound header. The final whistle was greeted with the obligatory half hearted boos from three quarters of a sparsely populated ground.

Boro could easily have taken at least a point from the game. Had St Ledger's header stood, there would have been over half an hour to press for a winner against a side who looked shaky against aerial attack. But Watford could reasonably argue they deserved their win - during their time in the ascendancy, they passed the ball with a fluency that eluded Boro all afternoon. Their winning goal was a result of by far the slickest move of the game.

Boro were hampered by all too familiar faults. Individually, Wheater and St Ledger are promising players but both look they need a more senior partner. St Ledger's largely impressive display was again marred by a lapse in concentration. Further forward, the centre of midfield remains a constant concern. While Didier Digard was combative, his distribution was desperately poor at times and overall there was a real lack of movement. Leroy Lita and Jeremie Aliadiere were left isolated for large periods of the game.

There is, at least, not long to stew on this latest failure, with Derby County at the Riverside on Tuesday night. Boro fans will note the Rams' ominous away record, with Nigel Clough's men yet to record an away win this season. Home form is quickly becoming a blight which could ruin a season. Gareth Southgate must fix it before its too late.

Opinions Without Accountability

2009-10-15T19:13:00.002+01:00

“Everyone has an opinion now. Its opinion without accountability. But I don't need mollycoddling. I'm a big bloke. I accept stick. I've got to.” So speaks Gareth Southgate, sounding more than a little bit like he fancies a spot of mollycoddling.

He may have an account on some Boro message boards, perhaps with “I'll learn lessons from this” as a signature, but its unlikely. Anyone can record their views for all to see – its the focus of modern media - but Gareth is Not A Fan.

To a large extent its possible to sympathise. The internet has democratised access for fans and too many abuse that by contributing ill-informed drivel laced with poisonous cynicism and aggression towards anyone who might disagree.

It allows half-truths and misinterpretations to become FACT. On the one hand, the club risks accusations of being secretive and aloof if Lamb or Gibson aren't wheeled out for the Gazette or Radio Brownlee every couple of months. On the other, you have to wonder why they bother when their words are so frequently skewed and turned against them.

Keith Lamb's comments about Teesside eventually getting 'the club it can afford' were a classic case. It was a perfectly reasonable comment – as we're all painfully aware now, there is no way a club attracting crowds in the mid 20,000s could maintain Premier League expenditure without borrowing or a benefactor. No club can rely on such factors forever. Instead, this interview is frequently cited as a stick to beat the club with, “afford” replaced with “deserve”.

Similarly, 'the club earns more from walk up sales than season ticket holders' and 'we earned more from TV than we did from ticket sales' become not simple economic facts but a slur on those who commit money up front for another 9 months of punishment.

This does all of us a disservice. When Steve McClaren had the team halfway up the Premier League and playing in Europe, it was easy to dismiss the grumblers as a lunatic fringe. Southgate might like to draw a line under it but it was a matter of months ago that the club were relegated, breaking the club record for consecutive away defeats and scoring fewer goals than any other team in the country. If that doesn't legitimise a certain amount of protest then what does?

The manager, chairman and chief executive all subjected themselves to trial by phone-in over the summer, which they deserve credit for. The ever-growing band of militant opponents might not have got the public self-flagellation they demanded but all three politely defended their position in the face of some vehement criticism that missed the target more often than Afonso Alves bearing down on goal.

Southgate's comments were a cop-out, an attempt to deflect dissent by smearing all critics, whether valid or not, as jaundiced and irrational. Under any other chairman than Gibson, to openly claim that “it doesn't matter what the fans think about me” would be tempting fate. He shouldn't be worried about the fans booing him as much as the thousands who are now staying at home.

But when genuine insight and valid comment from fans is buried under bile and invective, it just the excuse needed to dismiss criticism. Fans have contributed to the tone of debate, taking polarised views on complex, nuanced issues and allowing senior figures to wriggle off the hook by repeating urban myths. Until that changes, as fans of the club, we'll get the level of scrutiny we deserve.

This article will be also be available from men with fluorescent Evening Gazette bags in Saturday's Fly Me To The Moon.

Southgate fights back

2009-10-04T11:19:00.004+01:00

Its been a tough week for Boro boss Gareth Southgate and at times the pressure has started to show. The manager was the target of abuse from sections of the Riverside's smallest ever league crowd after the defeat to Leicester on Tuesday night. Southgate's response was somewhat prickly. "I don't think what the fans think about me matters," he told the press. "Clearly my relationship with some supporters has changed. I have my own feeling on that but I'll keep them to myself."

"Everyone has an opinion now," continued Southgate. "It's opinion without accountability. But I don't need mollycoddling. I'm a big bloke. I accept stick. I've got to."

The manager was probably therefore entitled to a smile after a 2-0 triumph at Reading yesterday, extending the Royals' winless run in front of their home fans to an epic 14 games. Its a sequence that puts Boro's Riverside wobbles into context. It was Boro's fourth away win of the season, with the team having taken 13 points and scored 13 goals in six games, as Southgate always likes to say, "on our travels".

The deadlock was broken in a similar manner at the modestly titled Madejski Stadium as it had been in the previous away game at Coventry. Adam Johnson swung in a corner from the right, which was emphatically met by Sean St Ledger. Leroy Lita claimed the last touch without convincing neutral observers.

The recalled Lita, warmly welcomed by fans of his former club, was the undisputed scorer of the second. Twisting into space in the middle of the pitch, Lita burst clear of the defence and lashed a shot into the bottom corner.

Southgate pointedly praised the "incredible" support of the 1,500 travelling contingent. With Newcastle being held, Preston and West Brom sharing a goalless draw and Sheffield United unable to defeat Doncaster, Boro were able to make back some ground on promotion rivals. Boro are now third in the table, a point behind the Baggies.

With two weeks off for the international break, Southgate now has plenty of time to figure out how to tackle his problems closer to home. Boro haven't kept a clean sheet at the Riverside since the victory over Doncaster in August and failed to score or pick up any points in the last two home fixtures. Boro will be under pressure to take six points from back-to-back games against Watford and Derby - as a point of comparison, it should be noted Cardiff City have beaten both sides this week, scoring ten times in the process.

Its a task that may be undertaken with the help of a new striker. Caleb Folan has managed just one substitute appearance since arriving on loan from Hull and will now be out for six weeks with a torn hamstring.

Outfoxed

2009-09-30T11:44:00.001+01:00

Boro's stuttering form continued last night as Nigel Pearson's Leicester City stole victory in a dire match at a half empty Riverside Stadium. Having spurned several chances to take the lead, Boro then allowed Lloyd Dyer an obscene amount of time and space to score the crucial goal with just seven minutes to go.

Gareth Southgate made one enforced change to the side who threw two points away at Coventry on Saturday, with Tony McMahon replacing the hamstrung Justin Hoyte. Leicester made five changes, including introducing the fantastically monikered Frenchman Yann Kermorgant.

The first half was spectacularly awful. Boro were listless, justifying every single one of the 17,000 empty seats. Leicester were even worse, looking every inch a side just escaped from the barren wastelands. The most threatening effort on goal was an errant David Wheater passback that Brad Jones had to stretch to stop. The grinding monotony of the Championship was in full evidence here - rarely can such earnest endeavour from two sides have resulted in so little end product.

Boro at least perked up after the break, particularly when Leroy Lita and Mark Yeates replaced Emnes and Arca. Leicester keeper Chris Weale was still rarely tested, the only scare coming when Adam Johnson lobbed into the corner of the net from distance after Weale had conceded a throw. The referee called the action back, restarting with a Boro throw that saved Weale's blushes.

The keeper was finally forced into making a save from St Ledger as a Yeates free kick induced panic in the Leicester defence. It was from another free kick soon after that trouble began to brew in the home defence.

Brad Jones could not collect the initial shot and Jack Hobbs inexplicably smashed against the post with the net gaping. Boro failed to heed the warning, almost instantly ceding another chance for the visitors. From a simple throw in, Leicester were somehow allowed to find two men in the area with only Tony McMahon for company. Oakley sqaured for Lloyd Dyer and, although McMahon managed a partial block, he couldn't prevent the goal.

Boro did at least put Leicester under pressure in the dying moments but to no avail. Gareth Southgate was subject to the most vocal criticism heard from the Riverside crowd in some time. Several called for his head and optimstically joined in with the visiting fans' chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning".

There's no chance of that happening in spite of the growing body of evidence against Southgate. A superb player, inspirational captain and an honourable man, Southgate is unfortunately not a good manager. He may have been handed a difficult job but he has done little to inspire confidence that he can succeed. Boro looked depressingly toothless against a horrribly limited Leicester side. Even when they managed to build up a head of steam after the break, Weale was rarely tested.

The lack of defensive organisation that led to Leicester's goal was concerning. After four consecutive clean sheets at the start of the season, Boro haven't kept one since Robert Huth left for Stoke. There has to be a fear that the last three games are a truer reflection of Boro's abilities than the first five. The poisonous cycle of last season is being repeated again - rallying cry, soul-destroying defeat, "I can handle the flak", "Southgate demands response" rallying cry, defeat (repeat until you lose the will to live). How much longer can this go on before something gives?

Hearts and minds

2009-09-28T22:45:00.001+01:00

Boro's promotion push continued to stutter on Saturday as a two goal lead was thrown away. Sean St Ledger and Rhys Williams' first goals for the club helped Boro into a 2-0 half time lead. However, with the home side applying mounting pressure in the closing stages.

First, with twelve minutes remaining, Clinton Morrison outmuscled Justin Hoyte to score from close range. Then, in the dying seconds of injury time, St Ledger failed to clear after a penalty area scramble, allowing Leon Best to poke an equaliser past the recalled Brad Jones.

Southgate and his team have an imminent opportunity to make up for the disappointment of the last two games, with former Boro skipper Nigel Pearson bringing his Leicester City side to the Riverside. The following article will be in tomorrow night's Fly Me To The Moon, available on all good street corners...

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Just over a fortnight ago, the visit of Ipswich Town saw the first sub 20,000 crowd for a league game at the Riverside Stadium. There's a good chance that the expanses of barren red plastic will be greater still tonight. If Boro were beginning to enjoy life as a big fish in a small pond, the hammering at the hands of West Brom was a sobering dose of reality. Twelve years on, Roberto Di Matteo and Eddie Newton conspired to deliver another sickening kick in the knackers.

The consequences of that game could be felt for a long time. Despite the protestations that it was just a 'bad day at the office', it felt like the continuation of a recurring theme of Gareth Southgate's tenure. The expectation that is inevitable after moderate success seems to be encourage timid performances and complacency. For a team to get an important game that wrong, writing it off as bad day hardly seems an appropriate response.

The performance ten days ago had all the hallmarks of what may still be the nadir of Southgate's time in charge. The day when Cardiff became synonymous with FA Cup failure rather than Carling Cup glory. The excitement around town before that game was palpable. Beat a combination of lower league sides and/or a solid but unspectacular Portsmouth side and we could do it. The most glorious day in the club's history was tantalisingly close.

We all know it didn't work out as planned. Boro blew it in soul-destroying fashion, a spineless, witless, slow-motion car crash of a performance. The context was everything – to lose the game was bad enough but the anticipation made the fall so much worse. Southgate lost a huge chunk of the fanbase that day and there's plenty of hardened opponents who have never been won back.

The commendable efforts the club has made with ticket pricing helped keep numbers healthy last year. But the Riverside has rarely been an enjoyable place to be over the last year or so. Last season took on a tiring monotony – successive home game where insipid, negative football sapped all the passion from a crowd which game after game tried to lift the team and saw little response.

No-one seemed to see the West Brom debacle coming but maybe we should have done. Before the game, the general sentiment was that people were looking forward to the game much more than normal. A chance to go top of the table, two solid victories and positive news on the club's finances and ability to recruit seemed to have put the bad feeling about the Huth/Tuncay deal firmly in the past.

The team and the manager couldn't handle it. The lunatic fringe of vociferous critics of Gibson and Southgate have another axe to grind. More damagingly, the moderate centre of match to match attendees have been given a convincing reason to stay away. Winning back their trust and filling the empty rows at the Riverside will not be done easily.

Bouncing Baggies demolish awful Boro

2009-09-20T19:55:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, there was a noisy Gay Pride march through Middlesbrough. Always keen to keep in touch with the local community, Boro tapped into the mood by bending over to receive the mother of all shaftings from West Bromwich Albion. All the promise of successive wins over Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday evaporated as Boro were simply eviscerated by Roberto Di Matteo's men. The 5-0 scoreline, if anything, flattered the home side.

After a bright start, Boro began to labour. Rhys Williams and Julio Arca struggled to keep tabs on Youssuf Mulumbu and Graham Dorrans in the Baggies midfield. The opening goal was fortunate - a very generous free kick was given against Williams and former Boro trainee Chris Brunt's innocuous shot was transformed by a deflection off Arca. Danny Coyne was stranded and the visitors led. A poor start but there was still hope the home side, emboldened by a perceived injustice, would carry the fight to the league leaders.

In fact things got much worse. The second goal could not be blamed on the referee as Brunt exposed some abysmal defending. A simple ball over the top almost sent Luke Moore free and, although Coyne managed to get the ball first, the keeper could only shank his clearance straight to Brunt, who returned it with interest into the gaping net. An awful half was ended with a third goal, Albion toying with a ragged defence before Mulumbu met Dorrans' cross with a superb, looping header.

West Brom took their foot off the pedal after the break, sparing Boro an even greater humbling. There were still two more goals as Roman Bednar and Jerome Thomas exposed more feckless, powderpuff defending to beat the helpless Coyne.

Its hard to pick out the worst players after such a performance but I'll try anyway. With due credit to Mark Yeates, who displayed an almost comic inability to pass to his team-mates, the finger has to be pointed at Tony McMahon. With little assistance from the hapless Yeates, McMahon was tormented by the visitors. By the end of the game, he was struggling to get within five yards of his man. And even by his own low standards, McMahon's distribution was appalling.

The rest of the team ranged from the inept to the anonymous. Jon Grounds had a torrid afternoon on the opposite flank while the old problems in midfield returned. Julio Arca was given a chasing, substituted before he was sent off while Rhys Williams was emasculated by an early booking. Given this total absence of protection, the fledgling centre back pairing of Wheater and St Ledger could be given limited sympathy.

Quite where we go from here is unclear. There's a good chance Danny Coyne will carry the can, with Southgate favourite Brad Jones fit again. While Coyne could only be faulted for one goal, such a move, while understandable, shouldn't negate changes in the real problem areas - full-back and centre midfield.

Ground has done well enough to be given another chance but surely the time for McMahon to be dropped has arrived. Yesterday was by the far the worst of three shaky performances in the space of a week. Justin Hoyte may not be the most appealing alternative but he must at least be given a chance.

Midfield remains a mess, with Gary O'Neil sorely missed. Williams looked every inch a makeshift solution against Albion's assured passing while Arca fared little better. After a couple of promising displays, Arca was miles off the pace, reverting to the dismal form of the past two seasons. And while the goals scored column might ward off strident criticism of the attack, you have to wonder what role the clumsy Caleb Folan has in it.

The biggest questions have to be asked of the manager. How on earth could Boro get such a big game so horribly wrong? Having been unable to instil confidence last season, the suspicion is that Southgate allowed confidence after some encouraging but hardly earth-shattering results to turn into complacency. It is of course naive to expect a team not to have bad days and be well beaten from time to time over a 46 game season.

Even so, the manner of yesterday's defeat was shocking. It was the very worst of a series of witless, spineless performances that have occurred far too often under Southgate. It was another gruesome sequel to the horrors of C-A-R-D-I-F-F. There was no fight nor any sign that the players were still battling for any semblance of pride even when the game was lost. West Brom could have scored as many as they want.

Not for the first time, Boro have crushed the fragile shoots of optimism amongst the fans. Its further evidence for the lunatic fringe amongst the fanbase and further justification for the ex-season ticket holders. This wasn't just any defeat, it was a loss that has knocked thousands off the gate for months to come. The manager has no choice but to try to pick his team up again. How many more times he will be allowed to take us to these depths, you can only wonder.

Folan agrees loan deal

2009-09-17T16:26:00.000+01:00

Gareth Southgate made his second signing of the week after the three month loan of Hull striker Caleb Folan was confirmed. Ireland international Folan goes straight into the squad for Saturday's table-topping clash with West Brom. Like Sean St Ledger, who made his debut in Tuesday's 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday, Folan has arrived on a temporary deal with a view to a permanent move.

St Ledger's signing bodes well with fans, team-mates and manager ruing his departure from Preston. Folan arrives without such a ringing endorsement - Hull manager Phil Brown stating that he "didn't really look like scoring" this season. Folan's less than prolific scoring record at his previous clubs does little to inspire confidence.

Boro maintained second position in the Championship after last night's fixtures. Newcastle missed the opportunity to return to the top of the table, losing 2-1 at Blackpool. Former Boro midfielder Jason Euell struck the winning goal for Ian Holloway's men.

Owls can't stop Boro

2009-09-16T16:26:00.004+01:00

Boro moved back into the top two of the Championship, for 24 hours at least, with an impressive 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Gareth Southgate's side had to recover from the early setback of Luke Varney's spectacular goal but ended the game comfortable winners.

Southgate made one change to his line up, with Jeremie Aliadiere's two goals against Ipswich earning him a start in preference to Leroy Lita. After completing a three month loan deal (with a view to a permanent move), Sean St Ledger was named on the bench.

It was Brian Laws' Owls who started quicker. Varney skipped past a flat footed Tony McMahon and slammed the ball home via the underside the crossbar. Boro were now faced with the task of coming from behind to win for the first time since a FA Cup tie at Bristol City in January 2008.

Boro's equaliser came with some assistance from the home team. Towering centre half Darren Purse tried to deal with Adam Johnson's curling cross but succeeded only in glancing beyond the grasp of Wednesday keeper Lee Grant. Johnson may have given Boro the lead before the break but his effort was ruled out for offside.

The visitors stamped their supremacy on the game after the break. Gary O'Neil intercepted a sloppy free kick and passed to Emnes, allowing the Dutchman to pick out Jeremie Aliadiere's surging run. The Frenchman beat the closing Grant with a composed left foot finish for his third goal in four days. Boro continued to pile on the pressure and could have sealed the game with another goal. However, Grant somehow managed to keep his side in the game with a superb tumbling save from Seb Hines' header.

Wednesday came back into the game, enjoying greater possession without building any penetrative attacks. Boro continued to look a threat on the break with Adam Johnson jinking past defenders at will. It was Johnson who secured the points for Boro with a third goal five minutes from time after some neat build-up. Aladiere latched onto Rhys Williams' pass into the channel and ferried the ball back to Gary O'Neil, who picked out Johnson at the far post. The winger cut inside and fired his sixth goal of the season into the bottom corner of Grant's goal.

Once again, Boro may have lacked fluency but were still too good for mediocre opposition. Johnson is quite simply a cut above the vast majority of players at this level and even derided squad members like Aliadiere and Julio Arca appear to be much more comfortable at this level. The young defence may have had the occasional wobble but still defendly stoutly for the most part. That department will be bolstered for the next three months at least by the proven Championship quality of St Ledger.

The Preston defender may only be the start of this week's recruitment. Widespread media reports suggest Gareth Southgate will increase his attacking options by signing Hull targetman Caleb Folan and/or injury-prone Everton youngster James Vaughan on loan.

West Brom's visit on Saturday will provide the sternest test of the season so far. For the time being, Boro seem in good shape for the battle ahead.

Boro plough on past Tractor Boys

2009-09-13T18:38:00.002+01:00

Boro got their promotion push back on track yesterday, defeating Roy Keane's struggling Ipswich Town side 3-1. Victory was a welcome boost after two successive defeats and the departure of Tuncay and Roberth Huth to Stoke. The growing pessimism amongst fans was reflected by a sub-20,000 crowd - the first time this has ever happened for a league fixture at the Riverside.

Keane has certainly stamped his mark on the Suffolk club - they may be without a win all season but they could generously be described as committed. They picked up five bookings, an unsurprising tally given a string of clumsy lunges, including a challenge by Damien Delaney on Gary O'Neil that was so late it hasn't started yet.

The returning O'Neil started strongly and was heavily involved in the opening goal. He seemed to be fouled as he was baring down on Richard Wright but the referee waved away Boro's appeals. The reprieve didn't last long - Gareth McAuley dithered, allowing Marvin Emnes to return the ball back in the area where O'Neil had regained his footing in time to steer a looping header beyond the grasp of Wright.

Ipswich did have their moments, forcing a string of corners midway through the first half, one of which required David Wheater to clear McAuley's effort from the line. Despite lacking fluency, it was Boro who looked a more potent threat - a linesman's flag spared McAuley the embarrassment of an own goal while a sparkling run from Adam Johnson ended with an lamentable attempt to win a penalty, which led to fully deserved booking for the winger.

The pattern continued after the break as Ipswich struggled to convert possession into real chances while Boro offered sporadic incision. Two men often derided had a key influence. Julio Arca wrested control of the midfield, winning the ball well and prompting attacks intelligently. But it was the unlikely figure of Jeremie Aliadiere who provided the greatest influence on the outcome of the game.

Shortly after replacing the ineffective Leroy Lita, Aliadiere met Johnson's inviting cross with a deft header past Wright. A second followed when the Frenchman showed smart footwork to create space to drill into Wright's bottom corner. He should have also been credited with an assist - having linked smartly with fellow sub Mark Yeates to set up Emnes, the young Dutch striker missed the ball completely.

Boro couldn't hold on for a clean sheet as Ipswich became the first visiting side to score this season in the dying seconds of the game. Adam Johnson risked a second yellow card with a silly foul and again by getting involved in a frank exchange of views with penalty taker Jon Walters. Walters managed to regain his composure to beat an irritated Danny Coyne.

Not for the first time this season, Boro showed that they didn't need to achieve a great deal of attacking fluency to see off a limited side, overly reliant on set pieces and physicality. Even on a mediocre afternoon, Adam Johnson possesses more invention than most Championship defenders can handle.

The games come thick and fast over the next few weeks, starting with Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night. Brian Laws side have made a decent start to the season and the Owls can be expected to provide more of a threat than an uncomplicated Ipswich side.

Off the field, there is growing expectation that highly rated Preston defender Sean St Ledger will soon move to the Riverside on a loan deal with a view to a permanent deal being completed in January. Goal-shy lump Caleb Folan is also the subject of heavy speculation, with a loan move to either Boro or Newcastle seemingly imminent.

With last season's relegated sides already congregated at the top of the league, the gap between the top two division is already being highlighted. The early suggestion is that this may turn out like Boro's last season in the second tier. Then, Forest, Boro and Sunderland dominated, with the mackems amusingly missing out on promotion despite accruing over 90 points. In such context, next week's match against second placed West Bromwich Albion takes on increased importance.

Boro end window empty handed

2009-09-01T17:10:00.002+01:00

With the transfer window shut, barring any late and unexpected announcements, Boro's squad remains unchanged. Gareth Southgate's attempts to revitalise his pool of strikers appear to have failed.

Afonso Alves' mooted £7million move to Qatari club Al Sadd has not yet been completed. Amidst an afternoon of hilariously overblown coverage, Sky Sports News claimed the Middle Eastern side are in no rush to complete a deal with their transfer window remaining open for a further two weeks. The suspicion remains that the Brazilian was less than keen on the move from the start.

The search for a target man goes on, with Derby County confirming an unsuccessful bid was made for Rob Hulse, widely believed to have come from Boro. That deal seemed to be reliant on Alves' departure in any case.

Boro still have the option of recruiting free agents or loan signings which Southgate may take up if the Alves deal does belatedly go through. Unfortunately, that only heightens the possibility that the only attacking addition to the squad, if indeed any is made, will be Danny Webber.

A disgruntled fanbase will now be asking serious questions of the club's hierarchy. The departures of Downing, Tuncay and Huth have brought in over £20million and shaved a considerable amount off the wage bill. If Alves does still leave, that would bring another £6-7million in and relieve Boro of their obligation to honour his £40,000 a week contract.

In return, Boro have signed Danny Coyne and Leroy Lita on free transfers and Mark Yeates for around £700,000. The club's stated ambition of winning the Championship has certainly been hindered by a transfer policy that has seemed short-sighted and ambitious. The only explanation is that the club's finances are worse than most believed at the start of the summer. Either way, uncertain times lie ahead.

Late goal sinks Boro

2009-08-30T09:11:00.003+01:00

A difficult week for Gareth Southgate ended with a first league defeat of the season at Ashton Gate yesterday afternoon. Bristol City striker Nicky Maynard struck his second of the game in injury time to secure a 2-1 win for Gary Johnson's side.

Robert Huth had captained the side and marshalled the defence impressively in the opening weeks of the season. With Huth and Tuncay departed to sit on the bench at the Britannia Stadium, a defensive reshuffle was necessary. Jonathan Grounds shifted to the centre of defence alongside new skipper David Wheater with Andrew Taylor remaining at left back. There were also recalls for Tony McMahon and Leroy Lita after Tuesday's Carling Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.

After a goalless first half, it was the home side who took the lead after the break, Maynard taking advantage of Grounds' slip to curl past Danny Coyne. Boro were drifting towards defeat until Louis Carey handled Jeremie Aliaidere's cross with ten minutes remaining. Adam Johnson slotted the penalty home for his fifth of the season.

As on Tuesday night, Aliadiere then spurned a glorious chance to win the game, blazing over the bar from inside the area. As on Tuesday night, Boro were punished for it. With the ninety minutes up, Maynard secured a late, late win for the Robins with another composed finish.

Southgate doesn't have any time to start feeling sorry for himself. Two defeats in five days have shown the squad isn't as strong as the opening four games suggested. With just over two days to go until the transfer window shuts, Boro have still to find a buyer for Afonso Alves, the last of the real high earners.

The squad is also desperately thin across midfield and attack. If Southgate can't do any better than Danny Webber, Boro are unlikely to be able to keep up with the Championship pacesetters.

Double deal stokes fires of discontent

2009-08-27T17:34:00.003+01:00

After weeks of speculation, the flurry of expected departures from the Riverside began in earnest today. Tuncay Sanli and Robert Huth have both joined Tony Pulis' Stoke City in a double deal reported to be worth £11m to Boro.

Tuncay's departure has been touted for some time - indeed, Gareth Southgate had expressed his amazement that the Turkish international was still available at the start of the season. A charismatic if inconsistent influence during his time on Teesside, it will be intriguing to see how the enigmatic Tuncay fits into Pulis' direct style. His touch, poise and generally high workrate were always likely to attract attention from a top flight side, although its hard to believe this is the move Tuncay had in mind at the start of the summer.

His disappearing act during the middle of last season seemed to be forgiven almost instantly. He will depart with the goodwill of most fans - when he was good, he could be very, very good.

The departure of Southgate's latest captain is more of a disappointment. Robert Huth had played a key role so far, leading a defence yet to concede a league goal this term. The club had seemed somewhat more optimistic about retaining his services but with Afonso Alves still an unwelcome drain on resources, Boro felt they had little choice but to accept the chance to get the well paid German of the wage bill. With Chris Riggott and Emanuel Pogatetz still to return to the squad, the manager clearly felt he had adequate cover in place.

The departure of Huth and Tuncay has led to some predictable bed-wetting from some more excitable members of the Boro fanbase. Although some will quibble the transfer fee received, it has to be remembered the damage done to Boro's position by relegation. It was never feasible to maintain a Premier League wage bill, even if it was one of the lowest in the top flight. The departures of Stewart Downing and Mido (and that only on loan) were never going to be enough.

After growing accustomed to life at English football's top table, some fans don't seem to have grasped the consequences of demotion to the Championship. Stoke may not be regarded as a particularly large or glamorous club but they do have Premier League money and that, along with the increased exposure in World Cup year, is the crucial factor. Indeed, it would be naive to think that it was anything other than that source of income that brought Huth and Tuncay to Teesside in the first place. The club can't offer the money and exposure that Stoke can - its that simple. Neither player should be condemned for treating football as a job.

Much of the criticism of last season's relegation that has been aimed at the club is fair. But to suggest that today's sales are a further error is wilful ignorance. It is an inevitable consequence of last season's events. The need to balance the books cannot be ignored. The holes in the club's finances have to be plugged and if that can be done without the sale of academy products like David Wheater and Adam Johnson then all the better.

Steve Gibson and Gareth Southgate made mistakes last season and have admitted as much. Given the choice, this writer would have changed the manager in January and, given the chance, at the end of last season too. But to use every action the club takes as a stick to beat them with isn't healthy for anyone. To question the motive of either man is ridiculous - both deserve better. Their competence can and should be subject to scrutiny but some of the most vocal critics need to accept the reality of the club's position.

Most important now is using the belated arrival of funds to strengthen the squad. The mooted signing of goal-shy Sheffield United reject Danny Webber does not inspire the least bit of confidence. Rob Hulse is an even longer term target - an offer to Derby may finally be made. It promises to be a hectic bank holiday weekend, with the game at Bristol City almost relegated to a sub-plot.

Boro crash out of Carling Cup

2009-08-26T15:39:00.002+01:00

Boro suffered their first set back of the season last night as Nottingham Forest earned a place in the third round of the Carling Cup. Forest won 2-1 after extra time with Polish midfielder Radoslaw Majewski sealing the win in extra time.

Gareth Southgate made three changes from Saturday's side, replacing Tony McMahon, Jonathan Grounds and Leroy Lita with Justin Hoyte, Andrew Taylor and Jeremie Aliadiere. Boro looked good to continue their winning run when Adam Johnson completed a neat move by sweeping past Paul Smith just before half time.

The defence was breached for the first time this season early in the second half. Boro failed to clear a corner kick and Danny Coyne could not keep out Luke Chambers' shot. Forest's influence grew after Billy Davies introduced Nathan Tyson and Dele Adebola. Adebola was involved in the winning goal, squaring for Majewski to score in the 103rd minute.

The Carling Cup exit may yet prove to be a timely reminder of the limitations of Boro's squad after a strong start to the season. It is clear that any additions to the squad can only be made after players have left. There may finally be some progress in this regard, with Southgate confirming he omitted Tuncay from the squad as he "didn't feel he was in the right frame of mind for the game".

There will continue to be plenty of distractions until 5pm next Tuesday. What shape Boro's squad is in by then will dictate how successful a season lies ahead.

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Boro's exit was far from the top of the Carling Cup agenda after a night of depressingly predictable violence at West Ham. It is cliched in such instances to point out that the troublemakers represent a minority of West Ham and Millwall fans - in this case that minority is still far too big to be ignored.

A man lies in hospital today after being stabbed. More were injured. Local residents endured a night of terror. For this to happen over a football games isn't just wrong, it is absurd.

Its hard to think of anyone who comes out of last night untarnished. The majority of the blame has been apportioned to the West Ham fans but the visitors are hardly unblemished. There were widespread reports of monkey chants towards Carlton Cole and fights with police and stewards.

As well as widespread violence before and after the game, Hammers fans invaded the pitch on more than one occasion. Junior Stanislas' mindless goading of the away fans after his equaliser is not a moment to be proud of either.

After a traumatic week for the club, there may have been a forlorn hope that some semblance of dignity would descend on the occasion. Calum Davenport's career may well have been ended by a horrific stabbing at the weekend. Midfielder Jack Collison's father died a day after Davenport and his mother were stabbed. The contrast between Collison's quiet dignity and the brainless louts on the Boleyn Ground pitch could not have been starker.

The most depressing result of last night is that the inevitable consequences will hurt normal, civilised people more than the morons who instigated the trouble. Many of those in attendance were already the subject of banning orders and it seems naive to think many of those were even bothered with the match as a sporting contest.

The reasonable bulk of West Ham's fans will be the ones to suffer if their club is penalised by expulsion from the competition or are ordered to play behind closed doors. Wider still, it seems the frequently heavy-handed treatment of away fans will not be going away.

There's few other spheres of social life where the kind of profiling and restriction of movement that travelling fans can face would be tolerated. Such a high profile instance of public disorder at a football game will only encourage a safety first, guilty until proven innocent approach.

Thanks to the actions of some who choose to associate themselves with these two clubs, the rest of us will all suffer. Sadly, you really don't need to wonder if they'll be proud of themselves for very long.

Boro march on

2009-08-24T10:58:00.002+01:00

Another Championship fixture brought three more points and a fourth successive clean sheet for Boro. Gareth Southgate's side rarely had to work to ease to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers at the Riverside. The win took Boro to the top of the table for 24 hours before Cardiff thumped next Saturday's opponents Bristol City.

The developing partnership between Leroy Lita and Marvin Emnes was interrupted early on during the game. After a bright start, the Dutchman was stretchered off after being clattered by Rovers keeper Neil Sullivan. The ex-Wimbledon veteran must have considered to himself fortunate that his recklessness was punished with only a yellow card.

It was Emnes' replacement who made the breakthrough for the home side. Tuncay ran onto Lita's deft flick to fire confidently into the bottom corner.

Neither side managed to build any attacking momentum on a warm summer's afternoon. The visitors enjoyed their fair share of possession but their attacks floundered on the imperturbable partnership of Robert Huth and David Wheater.

For their own part, despite the occasional glimpse of class from Tuncay and Adam Johnson, Boro struggled to create a great deal of chances. However, any fears of a Doncaster comeback ended with twenty minutes remaining, when Lita controlled Tony McMahon's cross smartly before blasting the ball past Sullivan from close range. Lita earned a yellow card for his enthusiastic celebrations, a nonplussed Tuncay trotting some thirty yards behind carrying the discarded no.9 shirt

It was not a performance to quite dispel all the concerns over the ongoing difficulty to achieve attacking fluency at home. Nonetheless, it was a largely positive afternoon. Despite an often underwhelming display, Boro still won comfortably. The defence, led impeccably by Robert Huth, looks a class above at this level. Adam Johnson looks confidence and the early indications are that Danny Coyne and Mark Yeates are solid additions to the squad.

Nottingham Forest tomorrow night could well prove a stiffer challenge, even if Billy Davies' side have not started the season as well as had been expected. With the heavy 46 game schedule in full swing, Gareth Southgate may well be tempted to use some fringe players with Saturday's game at Bristol City in mind. His side have started well - only 42 more games to go...

Video highlights of Saturday's game here (UK only!)

Johnson on the spot

2009-08-19T17:04:00.001+01:00

A second away win in four days sent Boro into second place in the Championship table last night. Adam Johnson claimed both goals in a pulsating encounter at Glanford Park, with Scunthorpe providing a sterner test than Paulo Sousa's Swansea City side.

The Boro line-up was unchanged from Saturday's game at the Liberty Stadium, with Tuncay Sanli again on the bench. As at the weekend, the opening goal was scored by Adam Johnson, although if the goal at Swansea was a shade fortuitous, no such claims could be made last night. Johnson latched onto Gary O'Neil's flighted through ball to lob a stranded Joe Murphy.

The game exploded into life early in the second half in a flurry of yellow cards. The controversy started when Boro were awarded a dubious penalty when Michael O'Connor was adjudged to have fouled Rhys Williams. Johnson's penalty was parried by Murphy but the keeper immediately brought the winger down as he beat him to the loose ball. After sustained protests from the home side, Johnson converted the second spot kick with comfort.

Tempers flared as Paul Hayes and Robert Huth clashed soon after as Scunthorpe piled on the pressure. David Wheater cleared one from the line while Danny Coyne's emerging cult status was boosted by some strong saves.

The result leaves Boro trailing only Cardiff City in the early season table and the only side in the division yet to concede. Saturday's opponents Doncaster Rovers have earned a reputation for progressive, passing football under Sean O'Driscoll. Early indications suggest such an approach should suit Gareth Southgate's side. After two positive performances to banish an apalling run of away form, Boro must now maintain this momentum in front of a Riverside crowd starved of excitement in recent times.

Boro sink Swans

2009-08-15T17:00:00.004+01:00

Boro picked up their first win of the Championship season this afternoon with a convincing 3-0 victory at Swansea's Liberty Stadium. Paulo Sousa's side never recovered after Adam Johnson opened the scoring.

Marvin Emnes smashed a second shortly after the break before substitute Tuncay sealed the points in the closing stages. Swans keeper Dorus De Vries failed to collect Mark Yeates' corner and the Turk headed home.

The result brings to an end a club record run of 12 consecutive away defeats. Boro are up to third in the embryonic league table after the biggest away win of Gareth Southgate's tenure. Today marks the first time Boro have won an away game by three goals since Pogatetz, Parnaby and Hasselbaink scored in a 3-0 win over Sunderland in January 2006.

Boro can now look forward to Tuesday's trip to League One play-off winners Scunthorpe United. The Iron also earned their first win of the season today, with an impressive 3-2 triumph against Derby. With 2,000+ fans travelling to Glanford Park, its a real opportunity for Gareth Southgate to finally build some positive momentum.

Blades stalemate can't hide lack of progress

2009-08-12T16:38:00.002+01:00

The new season kicked off with a whimper on Friday as Boro earned a point from a turgid goalless draw with Sheffield United. An increasingly disgruntled fanbase saw little evidence that Gareth Southgate has been able to solve the glaring flaws that led to relegation last season.

It was a game that will have reminded many of the visits of Blackburn, Sunderland and Wigan earlier this year. In each of those games, Boro struggled to create any attacking impetus and settled for a point. Few teams have ever built success on the back of home draws.

Sheffield United's game plan was simple but effective. The Blades' style may be attritional but its a formula that has worked consistently at this level. The home side showed little idea of how to counteract the physical advantage enjoyed by Chris Morgan and Matthew Kilgallon or the extra protection provided by the visitors' five man midfield.

There were moments of promise from the widemen. Mark Yeates showed a neat touch and a willingness to test the keeper on debut. Adam Johnson looked to have the beating of both full-backs but again his decision making at the crucial moment left plenty to be desired. Johnson has some way to go to match the standards set by Stewart Downing.

Both deserve some slack considering the difficulties of linking up with a powder-puff attack. The enigmatic Marvin Emnes struggled to make much of an impact but could still consider himself unfortunate to be replaced by a clearly unfit Leroy Lita. Jeremie Aliadiere's continued selection is depressing and mysterious. The Frenchman has a goalscoring record that would make Lee Dong Gook blush and its far from clear what else he offers. Morgan and Kilgallon can barely have had an easier evening, required to simply mop up the mindless long balls punted towards the anaemic attack.

There was at least more cause for optimism further back. Rhys Williams looked combative and tidy in possession playing obligatory defender-in-central-midfield role. David Wheater and Robert Huth were very comfortable at the back and Danny Coyne made some smart saves, although there were a few nervy moments against the crossed ball.

The damning reflection of the game is that all of last season's criticisms are still valid. The attack was insipid and the service to them generally witless. The visiting keeper was largely a spectator. It was near impossible to see where one goal was coming from never mind the two a game Southgate claimed as his target for the season. At this stage, Boro are a million miles away from achieving the stated goal of promotion.

There is only limited time to fix Boro's unbalanced squad. For all the speculation, the departures of the likes of Gary O'Neil, Tuncay and Afonso Alves are still just the subject of speculation. The likes of Rob Hulse may be sensible target but time is becoming an issue. By the time funds have been raised by selling players, there will not be long until the window shuts. Southgate will be left with a choice between pursuing players whose clubs are reluctant to sell, with the according risk of ending up with no-one, or recruiting second choice players. For a club that's become rather too accepting of mediocrity, that is a real concern.

If Sheffield United could be hailed as promotion rivals, there will nothing to qualify criticism if Boro fail against Swansea and Scunthorpe. Two away games in four days come far from the glamorous environs Boro had grown accustomed to. Impressive in the first season in the Championship, the Swans have been sorely weakened by the loss of Jason Scotland, Jordi Gomez and manager Roberto Martinez to Wigan. They lost their opening game at promoted Leicester City.

After the trip to Wales, its the shorter trip to Glanford Park. Scunthorpe, last season's League One play-off winners, are one of the favourites for the drop and began the season with a four goal caning at Cardiff.

Gareth Southgate needs to convert his pre-season words into results if there is any hope of salvaging his reign. If the run of twelve successive away defeats becomes fourteen, it may already be too late.

Championship Preview

2009-08-02T16:05:00.005+01:00

With two days to go until kick off, its time to assess the competition. Unlike the stagnant top flight, this season Boro will be taking part in a hugely competitive division that has chewed up and spat out plenty of Premier League alumni in recent years.

Pushing for promotion

Gareth Southgate will be aiming for promotion but there are plenty of teams hopeful of napping one of the automatic promotion spots or at least a place in the play-offs. West Brom may have finished bottom of the Premier League but look well equipped for a promotion push. New boss Roberto Di Matteo enjoyed relative successive in his first year taking the MK dollar, while new striker Simon Cox was hugely prolific for Swinon last term.

Last year's play-off finalists and Friday's opponents Sheffield United will also expect to put up a strong challenge. The Tevez money should offset the end of parachute payments and several solid signings should offset the loss of Kyle Naughton to Spurs and Paddy Kenny to the naughty step. Cardiff will also expect to be around the top six if they can put last season's late collapse behind them. Reading will be feeling more nervous having lost their manager and several players, including Marcus Hahnemann, Kevin Doyle and Boro new boy Leroy Lita. New boss Brendan Rogers needs a good start.

Roy Keane's changes at Ipswich Town have been relatively low key so far but the millions of elusive chairman Marcus Evans should bolster a stronger challenge from Suffolk. Derby County will also be hoping for to push for the top six in the first full season for their owners and manager Nigel Clough.

Newcastle have to be considered as potential promotion candidates despite the farcical summer on Tyneside if Mike Ashley abandons his one-man mission to take the club to new depths of ridicule. The resources should be there to win this division but big changes need to come fast if the Geordies are not to suffer another year of embarrassment.

Loitering in the middle

There are several teams who could emulate Burnley's unexpected run to promotion last season. Crystal Palace have struggled to achieve consistency for much of Neil Warnock's reign but have made some promising signings such as West Ham youngster Freddie Sears. Preston North End will fancy their chances of troubling the play-off places again, despite adding only Paul Parry to their squad. After a summer of extensive recruitment, Billy Davies will expect to guide Nottingham Forest back towards the top end of the table. Having raised expectations with by reaching the play-off final in Bristol City's first season in the Championship, Gary Johnson will be expect to challenge again.

Since Flavio Briatore became QPR chairman, the focus has been more on extravagant ticket prices and the new owners' plans to build a "boutique club" than any solid results. The appointment of Jim Magilton and the summer's transfer dealings have done little to remove doubts over whether Rangers are ready for a promotion push.

Sheffield Wednesday can begin to look the future after the arrival of new chairman Lee Strafford in January but are unlikely to put up as strong a challenge as their city rivals. Local rivals Doncaster Rovers put a slow start behind them last season and will be hoping for a more comfortable mid-table finish.

Former Boro skipper Nigel Pearson led Leicester City to the League One title last time out and will be hoping the likes of Matty Fryatt can keep up that form. Peterborough United joined the Foxes in the promotion spots last year and have momentum from successive promotions under the stewardship of Darren Ferguson.

Battling the drop

There's no such optimism at Coventry City where Chris Coleman faces a tough task coping with the loss of key players like Scott Dann and Danny Fox. Swansea City earned a reputation for their passing football last year but face similar difficulties having lost manager Roberto Martinez, Spanish loanee Jordi Gomez and top scorer Jason Scotland to Wigan.

Having defied expectation to maintain Championship status even after the departure of Simon Grayson, Blackpool will again be amongst the favourites for the drop.

With money tight and a new, inexperienced manager, Watford face a gruelling season. Perennial strugglers Barnsley and Plymouth Argyle will also be wary of the drop.

League One play-off winners Scunthorpe United earned the thanks of many neutrals by emergy from an unholy pool of semi-finalists including Leeds, Millwall and Milton Keynes. However, it will take a concerted effort from Nigel Adkins' team if this season isn't to end the way of the Irons' last, brief, stay in the Championship.

Downing exits for Villa Park

2009-07-16T15:39:00.009+01:00

Stewart Downing today became the first of Boro's major players to depart this summer after agreeing to join Aston Villa in a £12million deal. Downing has signed a four year deal at Villa Park although he is not expected to make his Villa debut until October as he continues to recover from a foot injury.

So it turns out Downing's last moment in a Boro shirt was being stretchered down the tunnel at the Riverside with Boro leading Villa 1-0 in their final home game. With Downing departed, a hitherto insipid Villa regrouped and Boro's momentum was never recovered. The game ended 1-1 and Boro were effectively down.

Downing made 234 appearances for the club since making his debut in a 1-0 defeat at Ipswich in April 2002, scoring 22 goals in the process. He's also earned 23 England caps, was in the 2004 Carling Cup winning squad and was pivotal in the dramatic run to the 2006 Uefa Cup final.

However, with Boro's decline since Eindhoven having culminated in relegation, Downing feels that a move to a competitive Premier League side is essential if he is to feature in South Africa next summer. In explaining his decision, Downing also admitted that January's transfer request was an error of judgement.

"The Boro fans have been brilliant to me. I'd like to thank them for all their support but especially for sticking by me after all the speculation in January," he said. "In hindsight, it was a mistake to ask for a move at that point. I was frustrated but I know now I should have waited until the summer."

In truth, most fans shared Downing's frustration. Where fans once mocked Villa as our 'feeder club' as Ehiogu, Southgate and Boateng defected to Teesside, no-one could argue with any sanity that they currently represent a step up in quality.

He broke into the team at a time when the club were showing real ambition, regularly coming off the bench during 2003-04 and being selected as an (unused) substitute for the Carling Cup final against Bolton.

Downing came off the bench to score against Newcastle on the opening day of the following season and did not look back. Scoring six goals and becoming a first team regular, Downing was integral in Steve McClaren's side's 7th place finish, ensuring a second successive season of European football on Teesside.

The following season was marred by a five month injury absence but the left winger still made a key contribution as Boro forged ahead in the cups and staved off the threat of relegation, scoring in the memorable 3-0 win over Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and also creating three goals in the semi-final fightback against Steaua Bucharest.

Downing was selected in the squad for the 2006 World Cup and was regularly picked in the starting eleven at the beginning of Steve McClaren's ill-fated reign as national coach. In 2007/08, Downing enjoyed perhaps his most productive season in a red shirt, scoring ten times with the final goal a thumping volley in the 8-1 molestation of Manchester City.

Off the back of that success, last season's form was disappointing. The pressure of being the side's sole creative outlet, frequently in addition to captaining the team, looked to be weighing heavily. Early season penalties against Stoke and Sunderland were missed and Downing ended the season without a league goal to his name.

There can be little argument with Downing's contention that he now needs to move to further his career. Having developed so quickly as part of a successful team under Steve McClaren, it has become clear that Downing's talents merit a stage that Boro are facing increasing difficulties in providing. It may be fashionable to disparage Downing (a habit a disturbing minority of our own fans seem to inexplicably cling to) but the best managers around (and Gareth Southgate) have consistently rated him.

The £12m fee should at least give Southgate the opportunity to step up the rebuilding process, although his mooted targets do not inspire a great deal of confidence. Boro have been heavily linked with out-of-contract Sheffield United striker Danny Webber, whose record of ten goals in two seasons does not suggest he will be the man to fire Boro back to the Premier League. The reported move for Hull midfielder Bryan Hughes does not convince either.

It is obvious that the calibre of player we can attract is now significantly lower. Nonetheless, the likes of Hughes and Webber will only pad out the squad. They're not the men to make Boro's stated target of winning the division come to fruition.

The departure of the finest player to graduate from Boro's much vaunted academy is a sad but inevitable. Downing carried himself with a level of professionalism and dignity that some of his team mates could have learned a lot from. If and when he returns to the Riverside with Villa, a warm welcome seems likely. Even in his absence, the funds raised by his sale could go a long way to funding a promotion push. Its a legacy Southgate mustn't squander.

Back to work

2009-07-07T14:45:00.002+01:00

The Boro squad have returned to Rockliffe this week to begin pre-season training. With a month to go until the season opener against Sheffield United, there is still some work for the beleaguered Gareth Southgate to undertake.

There are some notable absentees from the training ground. Although the reports that Tuncay's absence is unauthorised are wide of the mark, expensive flops Mido and Afonso Alves have not bothered to turn up.

With Southgate believed to be keen to move on at least one of the pair, the Boro boss will have his work cut out after this latest lapse in professional standards. If this development is disappointing, few can be surprised. Mido has a long history of disruptive behaviour which was no secret before Boro paid Spurs £6m for the Egyptian in 2007. There has been little improvement since the move north with Mido's contribution seriously restricted by injuries and a relaxed attitude to personal fitness.

While it is has been some time since Boro condemned Mido to the naughty step, Southgate is likely to feel more let down by Alves' no-show. After a dismal showing in his first full season in England, it is unlikely Boro will be able to recoup anything like the £12.7m paid to Heerenveen in January 2008. The club's bargaining position is even weaker now.

Alves does have form in this area. He refused to attend a fans' award ceremony while trying to engineer an exit from the Dutch club in 2007. His agent released a statement to the press comparing his employers to Nazis.

"Much is said about slave labour in Brazil," it began. "And yet in some cantons of liberal Holland slave-trading instincts still bloom strong. Heerenveen have tied Afonso to the bars of an outdated contract. And yet now they ask him to go to their fans' awards ceremony! No. Why should Afonso show up at an event full of Nazis?"

That perhaps should have been a warning.

Two players who have turned up for training are new signings Mark Yeates and Danny Coyne. Coyne, 35, has signed on a free transfer from Tranmere and is expected to act as back-up to Brad Jones. While not a move that will attract the headlines, Coyne's performances in League One earned praise and he should provide some reliable cover. It should also allow young Jason Steele some time to develop.

Yeates has signed from Colchester for £500,000 with a reputation as a set piece specialist. Capable of playing down either wing or up front, the Irishman became a favourite at the U's after joining from Spurs. Boro will be hoping Yeates' lower division experience will help him to make an immediate impact.

There has been little else taking place on the transfer front. As expected, Ross Turnbull has accepted the cushy role of sitting on his arse watching Petr Cech and playing the occassional Carling Cup tie for Chelsea. Matthew Bates however has signed a new contract and seems likely to be heavily involved in the first team picture next season.

With last season's horribly ineffective midfield and attack still largely untouched, July promises to be a busy month. The desire to sell duds like Mido must be balanced with the need to raise cash should offers be received for more desirable players. At the same time, Boro need to bolster both the first team and the squad to ensure they're ready for a gruelling 46 game season while working out their budget on the fly. There is much work to do.

Hammer blow puts Boro out of their misery

2009-05-25T11:23:00.002+01:00

A desperate end to a desperate season. A relegation that has been on the cards for months was only confirmed on the final day of the season. Boro, ravaged by injuries, needed a minor miracle to stay up. With Hull and Newcastle obliging with defeats, it was inevitable that it was our own part of the equation that went awry. Boro went not with a bang, but with a whimper.

If few expected Boro to claw their way to safety, we had at least hoped for a fight. Sadly, Upton Park saw yet another timid display almost entirely bereft of aggression and purpose. Having knocked the ball around comfortably without ever giving Robert Green a hint of concern, it was yet another soft goal that saw Boro fall behind. The defence imploded allowing Carlton Cole to convert a cross from an unmarked position.

There was a flurry of resistance at the start of the second half. Parity was briefly restored after Tuncay fed Gary O'Neil. O'Neil drove across goal and into the bottom corner of Green's net. The scores only stayed level for seven minutes with West Ham back in front after a horrific error by Brad Jones. Junior Stanislas' optimistic shot was at least heading for the corner but lacked any other virtues. The ball somehow dribbled through Jones' inadequate dive and plopped pathetically over the line.

Once West Ham's lead had been restored, it was only a matter of time. By 6 o'clock, Boro were a Championship club for the first time since 1998. Only 35 points were needed to stay up. Its telling of the quality of the Premier League this season that after a pathetic season, yielding only 32 points (seven fewer than the tally that took us down in 1997), Boro still had at least half a chance of survival until half an hour from the end of the season.

A long and difficult summer awaits as the vultures circle. There doesn't seem to be much chance of a new manager coming in to change the mood so it will almost certainly be up to Gareth Southgate to clean up his own mess. Steve Gibson could face some difficult questions when he faces the fans tomorrow night on local radio.

For his own part, Gareth Southgate seems slightly dismissive of his critics. "I have to accept a large percentage of our supporters want a change of manager," said Southgate after the match. "The chairman will decide what happens ultimately. The newer supporters have not experienced this and they're the ones haranguing me and wanting change, but the majority of our fans will be aware that this club has been through a lot, lot worse than this."

Southgate would be foolish to continue to use past crises as an excuse for this season's ineptitude. A difficult history should make our club and our fans more able to take this relegation with more of a sense of context than our friends up the road at least. However, there is no escaping that Southgate and his team could and should have done much better this season. Its insulting to suggest that the only ones criticising the manager have simply been spoiled by eleven years of top flight football.

The "£83m" debt that has been Southgate's preferred fig leaf in recent weeks is believed to have been vastly reduced in practice. There has to be an end to a culture of excuses. The players and the manager haven't been good enough this season. Its important that Southgate accepts and understands the mistakes that have been made if he is to take the club forward.

There can be no doubt that massive changes are necessary. To reverse footballing cliche, we can't change the manager so we'll have to change the players. Southgate at least seems to have accepted this. There are some players who will almost certainly go - Tuncay being the foremost. Stewart Downing would have been considered the same before his foot injury but may well now be forced into staying until January at least. The likes of Jeremie Aliadiere, Gary O'Neil, Robert Huth, Didier Digard, Mido and Julio Arca are more than likely to go. Ross Turnbull and Matthew Bates seem unlikely to extend their contracts while Adam Johnson has only a year to go and seems reluctant to sign an extension.

Most of those, to be brutally honest, would not be greatly missed. A new Boro must be forged now - the attempt to be a Happy Shopper version of Arsenal has failed. The manager can afford to be a tad more pragmatic with his choice of player without turning Boro into another Bolton or Stoke. Build a defence around David Wheater and Chris Riggott. Start again with the midfield and attack. Southgate has built one team that has failed. He now has the good fortune of being allowed to build another one. We can but hope he gets it right this time.

Relegation party updates

2009-05-24T16:50:00.008+01:00

Its been 12 years since Boro were last relegated

17:58 Its all over. West Ham win 2-1 and Newcastle's 1-0 defeat at Villa means they join Boro in the Championship next year. Hull and Sunderland survive despite defeats. A long and grim summer awaits

17:48 Gary O'Neil is lucky to get away with a yellow card for a horrible lunge at Diego Tristan. Newcastle and Boro heading down with West Brom at the moment.

17:41 Franks prepares to come on. West Ham look the more likely to score. Its only a matter of time now.

17:19 Back to square one. West Ham lead again and that must be that. Junior Stanislas' daisy cutter squirms past Brad Jones. That was a horrible error by Jones.

17:15 Matthew Bates flashes a speculative shot just over the bar. Hull and Newcastle still trail by a single goal but Kieron Richardson has equalised for Sunderland.

17:11 There is hope, there is hope. Tuncay slips it to Gary O'Neil who drives across Green into the bottom corner. 1-1.

17:07 We're off for the second half at West Ham. Josh Walker and Joe Bennett are on for Tony McMahon and Julio Arca. Stone the crows, after 46 minutes thats a shot on target at last.

Sunderland fans might be getting a bit twitchy after Nicolas Anelka scores a stunner at the Stadium of Light.

16:50 Howard Webb brings a dismal half to an end at Upton Park. With less than an hour to save Premier League status, Boro are losing the game they had to win. Abysmal defending allowed Carlton Cole a simple tap in. Despite plenty of possession, Boro haven't tested Robert Green at all. With Marlon King the latest player to drop out, Boro's attacking option on the bench is Jonathan Franks. Its a pathetic conclusion to a pathetic season.

Typically, the other results are going our way. Hull trail to a Darron Gibson howitzer at the KC Stadium while Newcastle trail after a barnstorming finish to the first half from Villa.

16:00 Its kick of at Hull, Villa and West Ham. Boro need to beat the Hammers to have any chance. If that happens, Newcastle and Hull lose and we can wipe out the Tigers' goal difference advantage, a miracle could happen.

West Ham team: Green, Spector, Ilunga, Neill, Upson, Noble, Kovac, Collison, Boa Morte, Stanislas, Cole.

Boro team: Jones, McMahon, Hoyte, Wheater, Huth, O'Neil, A Johnson, Bates, Arca, Tuncay, Emnes.

Downing injury could ruin summer plans

2009-05-19T18:10:00.004+01:00

Stewart Downing's foot injury may have ended his season but it appears it may prolong his Boro career. It is widely accepted that Boro resolved the messy January transfer saga, when Downing handed in a transfer request, by agreeing to let the winger leave at the end of the season.

Initial reports suggest that the injury sustained after Stilian Petrov's clumsy challenge could rule Downing out for up to six months. The club are remaining coy but this summer's transfer plans will now be up for major revision.

Even if Boro somehow manage to evade relegation on Sunday, several departures are likely. Most observers expect Tuncay or Gary O'Neil to remain at the club next term, while relegation would surely curtail the Boro careers of high earners like Robert Huth. Ross Turnbull and Matthew Bates are out of contract and seem likely to move on other Premier League clubs.

Having received eight-figure bids from Spurs in January, the club were surely banking on receiving at least £10million for Downing this summer. That sum would have allowed the manager, whoever that will be, to add some new faces to the existing academy graduates to form the bulk of a squad to compete for promotion.

Having fought so long to keep Downing away from the White Hart Lane stalkers, the decision will be taken out of the hands of club and player if he is unable to pass a medical. With no transfer fee in the bank and Downing's top flight wages an unplanned presence on the books, the likes of David Wheater and Adam Johnson may have to be sacrificed to keep finances in shape.

When the final nail is driven into the coffin at Upton Park on Sunday, it will only be the start of a long and difficult summer. If Downing is forced into an unexpected cameo in the Championship, the task of rebuilding Boro will only become more complicated.

Staring down the barrel

2009-05-17T21:47:00.003+01:00

They came for a wake but, for a while, it was a party. After the disappointment of Monday night, the picture seemed to be a little too black and white for comfort. Newcastle now had their destiny in their own hands and Boro needed two wins and an awful lot of luck.

Yet for a brief moment yesterday, hope flowed through Teesside veins again. The home team, so despondent on Monday night, had roared out of the blocks against an Aston Villa side in summer holiday mode. The opening goal was not long coming, Downing's shot blocked only to divert the ball to Tuncay. It was almost certainly the Turk's last appearance before the Riverside, in a red shirt at least, but his spectacular overhead finish is a fine memory to leave.

Ten minutes later, Gretar Steinsson's shot somehow squirmed through Boaz Myhill's grasp and Bolton were doing their part of the bargain. Surely Hull couldn't reverse their plummet now? When confirmation came just before the break that Fulham had taken the lead at St. James' Park, some twenty or so minutes before murmurs of such a score had spread in the stands, the Riverside was buoyant. The home team were roared off the pitch at the break, the 'Great Escape' belting out as players and public warmed to their task.

The cruel alignment of scores at half time only encouraged the gnawing sense of hope. A nervous, insipid second half display saw to that though. As has been the case all too often this season, taking the lead proved more of a burden than a platform for a side sorely lacking in belief. Tentative in possession and at the back, Boro let Villa back in the game and were now straining to resist the visitors' attacks. Ten minutes into the second half, a straightforward attack prompted familiarly calamitous defending. After several chances to clear were spurned, John Carew threaded the loose ball past Brad Jones.

Boro tried to rally and restore the lead but never looked up to the task. Only when Tuncay headed Justin Hoyte's cross just over Brad Friedel's crossbar did a second goal look likely. At the other end, Villa could easily have found a winner. Although Boro at least retain an arithmetical chance of staying up, the point earned was scant consolation. If Villa can beat Newcastle next week and Hull lose to Manchester United, Boro still need to beat West Ham and overturn a four-goal deficit on the Tigers' goal difference.

Boro never recovered after Stewart Downing's enforced replacement midway through the first half. Stilian Petrov's cynical challenge has most likely ended Downing's Boro career. Boro struggled to maintain shape and balance with Marlon King ineffective and Tuncay unable to pose the same threat from the centre of midfield. For all the effort that was put in yesterday, there was a distinct lack of quality. Villa's defence was rarely troubled after the opening flurry of Boro attacks.

Gareth Southgate seems intent on continuing as manager despite the disapproval of the crowd being made clear to him after the final whistle. The booing of the man who was integral to some of the most glorious moments in the club's history, as eleven years of top flight football draw to a close, was deeply depressing but completely understandable. The bald facts are that Southgate has taken the club from Uefa Cup finalists to relegation fodder in three years. No amount of cost cutting can conceal the scale of the plummet in Boro's status.

Steve Gibson has shown little sign that he's incline to make the changes that are surely needed this summer. Southgate's relationship with the fans has been irreparably damaged - the vast majority quite simply have no faith in the manager's judgement. The time for the chairman to make a difficult decision is drawing ever closer. With the future uncertain and thousands of disillusioned season ticket holders unlikely to renew, many clearly fear relegation might only be the beginning of Boro's decline.

Running out of time

2009-05-14T18:23:00.003+01:00

It was a game that stuck out on the calendar for weeks, even months. Gareth Southgate put all his eggs in one basket, barely bothering to organise any resistance to Arsenal or Manchester United. Monday night's game at Newcastle was do or die. We didn't.

The last time Boro were relegated from the top flight, hopes were raised by defeating Aston Villa on the penultimate weekend of the season. Our plight now seems terminal and even a repeat of the 3-2 victory of twelve years ago may not be enough to drag the soul-sapping battle out for another week. The wrong result at the Riverside, St James' Park or the Reebok could confirm our relegation by 5 o'clock on Saturday.

If the fixture list has echoes of familiarity, there is little else in common with the doomed end to the 1996/97 campaign. The failings of the players and the management were concealed by a burning sense of injustice. The team had earned enough points on the pitch for 14th place and were undone by a draconian penalty. The consensus was that we did not deserve our fate. Whether that was true or not, it at least helped galvanise the club and the fans through the relegation battle and the subsequent promotion campaign.

The raw passion evoked by that season has been absent this term. Only the most blinkered could contend that, if and when relegation comes, we will not deserve it. As rival clubs got richer and our debts grew, it was always going to be harder to compete. Yet the efforts of recent months have been pathetic. There are some awful teams that are going to maintain Premier League status at the end of the season. Wigan, Stoke, Bolton and Blackburn are all safe or as good as now – can the club seriously claim we cannot compete with such teams?

The club has been overwhelmed with defeatism. You couldn't mount the stirring comebacks against Basle and Steaua, embarrass the Big Four so often or reach five cup finals in nine years without balls, ambition and aggression. However, you can certainly manage a record-breaking run of away defeats. Even after taking the lead against a dreadful Newcastle team, the impression was that no-one really believed we could hold on. Not the fans. Not the players. Probably not even the manager.

Gareth Southgate has been far too protective of a group of players who don't warrant such treatment. The attitude of some has been appalling while even those who have put in the effort have lacked composure. Few members of this squad can honestly say they have given of their best this season.

For his part, Steve Gibson must surely reassess his support for Southgate. It is grim watching a man who has given the club such sterling service tarnish his legacy with every passing week. His tactics and press comments have been increasingly erratic as the season has gone on. Gibson is the only man who has the power to put him out of his misery.

By the time we're back here in August, we'll have another long season, most likely in the league originally known as Division Two. We don't want to follow the same path as Charlton, Norwich and Southampton. We need a team with passion and belief that the fans can rally around. We need a team we can feel proud of again.

Read this and more in Saturday's relegation party edition of Fly Me To The Moon

On the brink

2009-05-12T15:52:00.003+01:00

That, surely, is now that. It will take the most unlikely turnaround to avoid a return to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1998. Gareth Southgate gambled on last night's Tyne-Tees derby to save Boro's season and came out empty handed.

It all started so well. Tuncay wriggled into space and while Steve Harper managed to block his shot, he could only deflect it into the shins of Habib Beye. The ball, almost apologetically, rolled into the empty net. Several miles away in the clouds, there was bedlam. The visiting fans had come more in hope than expectation, particularly having learned of rare starts for Mohammed Shawky and Marvin "The Project" Emnes.

Once again, it didn't last. Despite the warning of Mark Viduka hitting the post, Newcastle were allowed to equalise with a goal of sickening simplicity. Danny Guthrie took the corner, Steven Taylor ran unchecked and Boro's lead disappeared after all of six minutes.

It was a contest of stomach-churning tension. It was impossible to relax for a moment - both sides displayed the nervousness and wretched incompetence that had left the clubs pegged on a pathetic 31 points with three games to go. As half time approached, despite the departure of Afonso Alves with a broken foot, Boro were looking the more composed on the ball. Marvin Emnes was the biggest surprise - a bright if somewhat erratic presence up front. After Harper blocked his first shot, for a millisecond it seemed Emnes would restore the lead. Instead, he fed his shot inches wide.

The second half continued in a similar vain. Neither side seemed to have the composure or belief to assert superiority. Boro again looked more composed on the ball but lacked purpose going forward. The crucial slip came soon after Alan Shearer withdrew the insipid Michael Owen. His replacement Obafemi Martins squirmed clear of Matthew Bates and shot past Brad Jones. It was a crucial blow.

Adam Johnson joined Jeremie Aliadiere from the bench as Boro pushed for an equaliser. The tide had turned though and Boro struggled to take advantage of Newcastle's tentative defending. With gaps being left at the back, there was always a risk of a third concession. With six minutes to go, Peter Lovenkrands turned in a cross from the right and the contest was effectively over.

In the biggest game of the season, all the familiar failings cost Boro. There was a failure to capitalise when we were on top, with Marvin Emnes missing a wonderful chance to make it 2-1. Then, when Newcastle managed to apply some pressure, Boro could not cope. Once again, defending on set pieces was simply not good enough.

Gareth Southgate highlighted the poor tackle on Alves by Nicky Butt, questions of offside over the second goal and the unfortunate absence of Didier Digard and David Wheater. Yet there can be no excuse. We're heading for the Championship because its where we deserve to be. This team lacks the belief needed to stay in this division. Only those who believe in miracles can have any confidence of Boro starting next season in the Premier League now.

Day of Destiny

2009-05-07T18:32:00.007+01:00

Robert Huth was the hero last year with an 88th minute equaliser

Its still four days away but the nauseous feeling is already rising in the pit of my stomach. On Monday night, Boro make the short trip up the road to St James' Park to take on Newcastle in a game which both sides are banking on winning. The consequences of defeat are stark.

Thanks to Setanta's intervention, the rest of the Premier League's stragglers can crank the pressure up before the Tyne-Tees derby. Blackburn or Portsmouth have the chance to confirm another season of top flight football when they go head to head at Ewood Park. If Sunderland could win at Bolton, they would be tantalisingly close to doing the same.

The biggest game though surely involves fourth bottom Hull City. They host Stoke City, a more presentable opportunity for three points than their other games, at Bolton and at home to champions elect Manchester United on the final day. As last Saturday proved, even a watered down United line up is a colossal test for a struggling side. A win would leave Hull on 37 points and any loser on Monday almost out of reach. Anything less and a draw at St James's would leave both teams to fight another day.

Bearing in mind Boro's goal difference is seven worse than the Geordies, Gareth Southgate mustn't entertain thoughts of playing for a draw, as he has done against so many of the division's lesser lights this season. Finishing level on points with Hull or Newcastle will not be enough unless, like last season, there is a victory of freakish proportions in store at the end of the season.

Alen Boksic in 2001 - Boro's last win in Geordieland

Calling this game is not going to be straightforward - neither team has shown anything to inspire confidence in recent games. It is the resistible force against the movable object. Watching Boro's timid surrender against Arsenal and then Manchester United, there doesn't appear to be much evidence of fight left in the team.

Yet despite a more experienced and expensively assembled squad and the latest return of a departed messiah, Newcastle have arguably been even worse. A combination of sloppy finishing and the crossbar denied Liverpool a cricket score at Anfield last week, where Newcastle barely registered a shot. On top of that, Joey Barton dragged the club's name even further into the gutter with a sterling afternoon's work. Having been sent off for a pointless lunge at Xabi Alonso (a man who seems have replaced Pedro Mendes as the country's premier magnet for footballing violence), Barton topped it off by rowing with Alan Shearer after the game, pronouncing himself the club's best player and branding his manager "a prick" and "a shit manager".

Anything seems possible. A dismal 0-0 draw. A thumping home or away win if one side bottles it. A panic-ridden goalfest. Recent history would suggest honours being even. The last four meetings at St James' Park have ended in draws - the last time Boro lost at Newcastle, there was the consolation of the Carling Cup win eight days later. Boro haven't won at Newcastle since Alen Boksic's brace in 2001. With relegation as big a danger as its been since Terry Venables' salvage job, the time to end that record has surely come.

Going down with a whimper

2009-05-03T13:46:00.002+01:00

For the second week in a row, faced with opponents amongst the best four in the league and the last four in Europe, Boro caved. The reputation earned for tweaking the nose of the rich and powerful seemed farcical as a half interested Manchester United cruised to three points with insulting ease.

Just as at the Emirates last Sunday, the entire gameplan was based on deep defence and hoping a goal could be plundered on the break. There were sporadic glimpses of attacking intent in the opening stages yesterday - John O'Shea did well to clear at the back post with Stewart Downing looming while Jeremie Aliadiere hit Ben Foster's legs with a tame effort. However, once Ryan Giggs had expertly slotted the ball into the bottom corner through a statuesque defence, the game was up.

If Boro had at least competed before the break, the second half performance was abysmal. United passed the ball round with an almost embarrassing ease. A simple run from Park Ji-Sung and a probing reverse pass from Wayne Rooney were enough to split the home defence wide open. Park didn't give Brad Jones a chance.

The rest of the game amounted to little more than a training exercise. United seemed able to score as many as they wished and merely settled for two as sufficient to complete the day's task. Rooney tormented Tony McMahon down the left before the full-back was withdrawn, and his replacement Matthew Bates stopped a third with a desperate block.

David Wheater battled manfully in the centre but was given little assistance by the alarmingly ponderous Robert Huth and an overworked midfield. Tuncay offered composure on the ball if little in the way of tactical discipline, leaving Matthew Bates to shuttle fruitlessly as Berbatov, Scholes and Giggs ferried the ball around the middle.

As an attacking force, Boro barely registered. Stewart Downing looks increasingly jaded by the responsibility of leading such an insipid, feckless outfit. Gary O'Neil is so patently disinterested it is a damning reflection on the rest of the squad that he is still selected. Marlon King was anonymous and Jeremie Aliadiere simply dire. Afonso Alves' second half appearance was his Boro career in microcosm - one twinkle-toed run ending in a stumble and a fall, one injury time free kick blasted woefully, embarrassingly off target.

With the club stubbornly sticking with a coaching staff and a set of players who have failed week after week, there seems little stomach for the fight. Its hard to see where the next goal is coming from, let alone the six or seven points that will surely be needed from the last three games to achieve an unlikely escape. The sense of enjoyment has evaporated from a crowd wallowing in muted resignation. When the club possesses neither the ability to win games nor the wit or intent to do anything to change matters, dissent seems pointless.

As Southampton, Norwich and Charlton contemplate life in League One, there can be no doubt the Championship can be tough going for Premier League alumni. With the club clearly no longer in a position to throw money at fixing the team, the fear is that, no matter how monotonously depressing this season has been, it may only be the tip of the iceberg. Whatever division we start next season in, there seems little hope of the drastic changes that are clearly needed.

Next Monday's game at Newcastle looms large on the horizon. A last chance to save ourselves, a game where failure would surely condemn Boro to relegation and maybe even give the barcoded hordes enough momentum to stagger to safety. After the meek performances of the last eight days, the worry is not whether we can win that fight, its whether we put up any fight at all.

Do Or Draw

2009-04-30T17:51:00.002+01:00

The comments coming from the players and staff at the club has rarely been more predictable than in recent months. “Lessons will be learned” has become a catchphrase of a caricatured Gareth Southgate, a verbal tic every bit as irritating as any of Steve “Magnificent” McLaren. More cynical observers have been moved to play “rallying cry” bingo, trying to guess which half-interested player is wheeled out midweek to apologise for the previous week's dross and promise this Saturday will be different.

Its therefore tempting to treat recent comments about taking the attack to opponents and going down fighting with a pinch of salt. Last week's tame surrender at Arsenal was symptomatic of a manager who seems to have lost the courage to act on his attacking instincts. Once Fabregas made it 2-0, any fight and belief from the team or the manager. The tactical approach in the closing stages could generously be described as experimental. It almost seemed that Southgate felt scared to goad Arsenal into upping their efforts for fear of exacerbating our abysmal goal difference.

This total lack of ambition is almost excusable. Edging out Hull for 17th on goal difference seems a slightly less remote possibility compared with hopes of turning around a two-goal deficit at the Emirates. Furthermore, the way the team has performed all season makes aggressive tactics risky.

The weaknesses throughout the spine of the team make playing high up the pitch a real problem. David Wheater might not be the quickest but he's relatively rapid compared with Robert Huth, a man with the turning circle and nimble dexterity of an aircraft carrier. Consequently, the defence has to stay deep or ask the goalkeeper to act as a ad hoc sweeper. As Brad Jones has proved, that has its own risks.

The centre of midfield has been been a problem all season – incapable of retaining the ball for any sustained spell or providing adequate protection for the defence. In the second game of the season, Boro blew the opportunity for a historic win at Liverpool in the dying minutes. Having been comfortable for most of the game, the team left the door open, unable to keep the ball and struggling to close down opponents finding space in front of a retreating defence. It does not reflect well on the coaching staff that eight months and 32 games later, we don't seem any closer to solving this problem.

Matthew Bates has done better than most would have expected but it is indicative of the difficulties Southgate has had solving this problem that he has settled on the man who started the season as his fifth choice centre back to fill the role. Tuncay has at least provided some vision and composure on the ball for the first time since the unfairly maligned Fabio Rochemback left.

With games running out, circumstances must now dictate tactics more than personnel. There can be no other option than to attack. Manchester United's defence has looked vulnerable in recent weeks – we must now throw caution to the wind and hope our luck holds. And it should be remembered that, if relegation comes, it will not be because we were unable to beat teams who are in the last four of the European Cup.

Boro may be unbeaten at the Riverside in 2009 but that record has come at a cost. Insipid draws with Sunderland, Blackburn, Wigan and Portsmouth do not represent an adequate return considering they came in the middle of a record-breaking run of consecutive away defeats. Having passed up the opportunity to attack the weaker opponents, we've been left with no option but to do so against the best the league has to offer.

Read this and more in this Saturday's Fly Me To The Moon

There is hope

2009-04-12T10:05:00.004+01:00

A dead cat bounce or the start of the greatest of escapes? Yesterday's 3-1 victory over Hull City may yet prove to be too little, too late but at least, for the first time in too long, there was a semblance of fight and spirit from the home side.

With Gary O'Neil suspended, Tuncay was finally given the opportunity to reprise his Euro 2008 role in the heart of midfield. Gareth Southgate kept faith with goal-shy Afonso Alves while recalling Marlon King. King's recall was no surprise after he left Hull in acrimonious circumstances in January.

It was King and Alves who combined to help Boro make the perfect start. Pouncing on a loose ball after Tuncay hustled Ian Ashbee, King released Alves. Matt Duke could only parry Alves' shot into the path of Tuncay, the Turk opening the scoring with a simple finish and risking the ire of Sue Watson and Phil Dowd by celebrating with the crowd.

The lead didn't last long as old frailties showed again. Hull's corner was only partially cleared and Nick Barmby returned the ball into the box for Manucho to power a header past the helpless Brad Jones. With the back four still prone to jittery moments, Jones was called upon to deny Craig Fagan with a sprawling block.

Nevertheless, it was Boro who took a lead into half time. TV replays suggest the linesman was just correct to award a corner, which Tony McMahon swung in and Matthew Bates swept in at the near post.

As so often this season, Boro sat perilously deep in the second half, paralysed by fear of conceding an equaliser. For all Hull's pressure, there was little penetration, the closest to a second goal coming when Jones flapped unconvincingly at a cross and David Wheater had to clear from the line.

There were still opportunities on the break. There was a trademark run from the left flank from Alves, ending with a trademark shot smashed into the centre half's legs. Stewart Downing might have done better from an acute angle.

When the relief of a third goal came (for the first time in a league game since Manchester City were clobbered 8-1 last May), it was the returning George Boateng who made a crucial error, dallying on a pass from Duke with Aliadiere in close attendance. King picked up the loose ball to slot past the exposed Hull goalkeeper, much to the chagrin of Phil Brown. His sour post-match comments didn't reflect well on the Hull boss, although its hard to be too critical of anyone questioning King's character.

It was a messy game, typical of those involving struggling teams at this stage of the season. There were moments of tentative defending and the midfield still does not entirely convince. Whether Tuncay can save Boro's season from a deeper position is not clear but he at least injected a sense of urgency into a frequently insipid midfield. There is still a very long way to go to survival. For now, there is at least still hope.

You Are Boateng

2009-04-10T11:28:00.005+01:00

Happier times - Boateng scores against Man Utd in 2007 FA Cup quarter final

Tomorrow's opponents Hull City could have a familiar face in their midfield tomorrow, a reminder of happier times. With typical tenacity, George Boateng is expected to be back from a knee injury earlier than expected and is likely to feature for the Tigers at some stage. A warm reception surely awaits.

Boateng's time at the Boro included some of the proudest moments in the club's history. His six years on Teesside included the 2004 Carling Cup win, qualifying for Europe after that dramatic draw at Manchester City and two European campaigns, including the run to Eindhoven.

Despite there being a year left on his contract, the former Dutch international was allowed to sign for Phil Brown's newly promoted side last summer. The relationship between Boateng and his former team-mate Gareth Southgate was strained over the course of the last season. In January 2008, it seemed Boateng would be allowed to leave after a training ground row. With Boateng increasingly left on the bench or shunted into an unfamiliar role on the right wing, he clearly felt his time at Middlesbrough was up.

Boateng consoles Andreas Isaksson after his last Boro appearance - an 8-1 win over Man City

There's no denying Boateng was struggling to maintain the standards set in his early years on Teesside. 2006/07 was a difficult season, with Boateng carrying an injury much of the time. Performances slipped. With a range of passing that could never be described as expansive, Boateng's critics felt his legs were going too.

But even last year, there was evidence of the commitment and passion that made Boateng such a fans' favourite. The game at Arsenal springs to mind - soon after the Cardiff City debacle (when Boateng was an unused substitute), Boro were desperately trying to restore pride. Jeremie Aliadiere scored a goal so much against the run of play it was almost insulting. Boro defended manfully to protect their lead with Boateng tearing across the pitch, tackling, blocking, deflecting everything that moved.

To some extent, Boateng's departure was understandable. His technical limitations didn't always help to build swift attacks and he was no longer quite the force of his early years at the Riverside. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find anyone better than Boateng and, even worse, have not replaced his leadership. A captain who led by example, Boateng's sheer force of personality often kept Boro going in adversity.

We've rarely been in a position where a more technically adept midfielder would've thrived this season but there surely should have been a role for Boateng. It seems unlikely so many points would have been lost from winning positions had he still been around to galvanise the team against a late onslaught. As a player, he put everything he had into the game - if only we could say that about more of the current squad.

The Great Escape

2009-04-09T16:51:00.003+01:00

There's no point denying it – after getting shafted by Bolton last week, we are in serious trouble. There really isn't anything on the pitch to inspire much confidence – the defence is hopeless and the attack toothless. Given Boro have made clear they won't be relying on underhand tactics like tactical organisation or competent management, is there anything we can learn from those teams who have managed to defy footballing gravity in the past?

OLDHAM ATHLETIC (1992-93)

Distracted by a run to the FA Cup semi-finals, few gave Joe Royle's Oldham much chance of survival in May 1994. With one week to go, they needed to win their three games while hoping Crystal Palace took no more than one point from the two they had left. After winning 1-0 at high flying Villa, an Ian Olney-inspired Latics side beat Liverpool 3-2 while Palace could only draw at Man City. On the last day of the season, Royle's men raced into a 4-1 lead while a defence marshalled by a young Gareth Southgate was being overcome at Highbury. Despite conceding two late goals, Oldham held on to stay up on goal difference.

What lessons can we learn? Keep faith with crap strikers. Hope your opponents employ Gareth Southgate.

COVENTRY CITY (1996-97)

A relegation battle we can remember well. For a while, it seemed Coventry were going to save Bryan Robson's bacon. The tide turned at the beginning of April – on the same day Emile Heskey bundled that heartbreaking equaliser past Mark Schwarzer at Wembley, Gordon Strachan's City side nicked an improbable, last minute win at Anfield. This meant they were level on points with Boro and two behind the Mackems going into the final day. With neither side winning and kick-off at White Hart Lane suspiciously delayed, Coventry knew a win would save them. They beat Spurs 2-1 and stayed up by a point.

WLCWL? Hope you can find two inept north-east based sides to go down instead.

PORTSMOUTH (2005-06)

Portsmouth were in trouble in 2005. With agents' favourite Harry Redknapp gone, top scorer Yakubu buggered off to Boro. “You're welcome to the idle, moody get”, the Pompey fans said. They were clearly just bitter. Hmm.

On the pitch, Pompey stank, even after Redknapp returned to replace the permanently bemused Alain Perrin. Eight points adrift at one stage, a run of six wins and two draws in nine games ensured an unlikely rescue was confirmed with a game to spare. The run began with a preposterous last minuter winner, blattered from 30 yards by Pedro Mendes against Man City.

WLCWL? The best manager is the one you've just had. Tremendous.

WEST HAM UNITED (2006-07)

Like Boro, West Ham were five points adrift with seven to go. Unlike Boro, West Ham had Carlos Tevez and, inexplicably, the ability to avoid a points penalty in their hour of need. The Hammers became the first team to beat Arsenal at the Emirates and clawed their way into touching distance of the pack above. With rivals Sheffield United and Wigan going head to head on the final day, West Ham had a chance to haul themselves out of the bottom three but had to go to Old Trafford. With the title already sealed, a Carlos Tevez goal kept the Hammers up. Wigan won at Bramall Lane to send the Blades down and, by god, we've never heard the end of it.

WLCWL? Crime pays. Beating Arsenal and Man United would help.

FULHAM (2007-08)

After employing Lawrie Sanchez and foolishly financing his attempts to sign the entire Northern Ireland team, it was no surprise to find Fulham up shit creek bereft of paddles. Poor Roy Hodgson was almost in tears as his team stared “wewegation” down the barrel, five points adrift with three matches left, then 2-0 down at half time in their next game at Man City. Three goals in the last twenty minutes sealed an improbable win. Rivals Birmingham were doomed after losing 2-0 at Craven Cottage. On the last day, with Portsmouth's minds already on Wembley, Danny Murphy's goal completed the great escape.

WLCWL? Its not over until its over.

So there we have it – it might not feel like it but there are still straws to clutch at. I'd love to present a case for our survival based on our peformance or ability but I can't. The only hope left is that we can become another statistical freak. If robust defence and penetrative attack can't save us, adherence to footballing cliché may yet.

Read this and more in this Saturday's Fly Me To The Moon

Always new depths

2009-04-04T22:19:00.003+01:00

Boro lurched deeper into the mire after a desperate 4-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers today. Abject defending cost Gareth Southgate's side dearly, exacerbating both relegation woes and the poisonous atmosphere in a mutinous travelling support.

It didn't take long for a simple defensive error to set Boro on the back foot. Emmanuel Pogatetz inexplicably failed to cut out Ricardo Gardner's cross, leaving Kevin Davies with a simple finish. Boro looked uncomfortable with Southgate's unusual 5-3-2 formation, with David Wheater looking particularly ill at ease.

Yet with the awkward Pogatetz withdrawn through injury and a tactical switch, Boro began to get a foothold. An Afonso Alves free kick hit the post and Tuncay beat Jaaskelainen only to be denied by the linesman's flag. Not to be denied, Boro levelled after a slick move was finished off by Gary O'Neil.

Having got back in the game, Boro undid their good work with another awful piece of defending just before half time. A simple punt in the box caused untold problems and Gary Cahill was given a farcical amount of time to beat Brad Jones.

To their credit, Boro regrouped and started the second half well. Tuncay came close with a series of acrobatic efforts but the pressure passed without Jaaskelainen being unduly troubled. With the bench in stasis, Bolton began to exert a greater influence and Boro's threat receded. But when the third goal came it was something of a surprise, as Matthew Taylor's innocuous free kick somehow drifted into the far corner of Brad Jones' net. The rank defending as Ricardo Gardner added a late fourth on the break was now an irrelevance.

Boro's defending was nothing short of abject and the team looked totally bereft of belief in their own ability to save themselves. Pogatetz was simply awful, Wheater nervous, O'Neil wasteful, Downing peripheral. The travelling support expressed their anger at a team who inspire no passion or confidence. You have to wonder how low an ebb Boro must reach before Steve Gibson feels compelled to act. Gareth Southgate's team are heading down and, on this evidence, it is richly deserved.

The Escape Must Start Here

2009-04-02T18:11:00.005+01:00

Gareth is relying on one of these men to save Boro's season...

The final international break of the season is over. 8 weeks and 8 games are left for Boro to save themselves, starting on Saturday at Bolton Wanderers. With the need to increase the goal output imperative, and Tuncay doubtful after two games against European champions Spain, goal-shy Brazilian lunk Afonso Alves is likely to be given another opportunity. Adam Johnson may get also get a chance after an impressive showing as England's under 21 team were taught a lesson by their French counterparts.

The formbook does not give any reason for optimism for the game at the Reebok. Its not just that Boro haven't won an away game in the league since November 9th. They haven't taken an away point since drawing 1-1 at Everton on a week later, and haven't scored on the road since Tuncay's strike at Hull on December 6th. Boro have notched eight points and eight goals "on our travels" this season. Its an appalling record.

With the gap to seventeenth place and survival up to four points, its getting harder to see which teams could crumble and save Boro. With eleventh placed Tottenham now safe on 38 points, the relegated three can only plausibly come from nine clubs. Defeat to Bolton on Saturday would almost certainly ensure survival for Gary Megson's side.

The great escape must start here

Hull's dismal form means they must still be considered candidates. However, they start from a position of relative strength. With Portsmouth on Humberside this weekend before a trip to the Riverside, they do have an opportunity to avert danger soon. Two wins from eight will be enough for Phil Brown's team but if they don't get them soon they could be in trouble.

The same goes for Sunderland, who still have to face Hull, West Brom, Bolton and Portsmouth. Their safety is in their hands. As with Hull, it would take a total collapse over the next two months for relegation to occur.

Despite being level on points with Sunderland, Stoke and Portsmouth seem more realistic candidates for the drop. Stoke's dismal away form puts immense pressure to keep on picking up points at the Britannia. Even trips to the KC Stadium and the Hawthorns are unlikely to be rich pickings for a side who only have four draws to show for fifteen away games all season. Back to back home games against Blackburn and Newcastle will go a long way to sealing their fate.

Having looked doomed under Tony Adams, Portsmouth are starting to suggest they can scrape their way to safety. They had much the better of a poor game at the Riverside and the took an unexpected win over Everton. Their home form seems to be recovering, and with West Brom, Bolton and Sunderland still to go to Fratton Park, there's a good chance it will be enough to stay up. Like the other sides mentioned so far, Pompey not only have a handy points advantage over Boro but also a less imposing run-in.

Assuming West Brom are beyond hope (and if they're not there yet it surely won't be much longer), that means it likely to come down to two from three - Blackburn, Newcastle and Boro. Sam Allardyce has stabilised Rovers and kept them in touch with safety since taking over mid-season. They've still struggled for wins, particularly at home, with just three wins at Ewood Park all season. With away games at Liverpool, Stoke, Manchester City and Chelsea to come, that has to change. The main consolation for Rovers is that, should it come down to the last day of the season, they're at home to West Brom.

The latest Geordie dream team

Newcastle have listed dangerously in recent weeks and the appointment of Alan Shearer is either a last, desperate gamble or the act of a Match of the Day viewer at the end of his tether. There will be no disputing that the Tyne-Tees derby matters this year, with Boro's trip to St James's on May 3rd already looking crucial. With four tough away games (Stoke, Spurs, Liverpool and Villa) and Chelsea on Saturday, it will be all about about beating Portsmouth, Boro and Fulham at home for the latest Geordie messiah.

All of the above leaves Boro with no margin for error. The Riverside double header against Hull and Fulham must produce four, maybe even six, points to keep Boro in touch as the last five games look tricky. Of those fixtures, the first is at the Emirates and the two at the Riverside are against Manchester United and Aston Villa. That puts huge importance on taking points at Newcastle and then at West Ham on the last day of the season. There cannot be confidence but there is at least still some hope. Rapidly dwindling, blind hope but hope nonetheless.

Predictions

Bolton - 42 pts
Portsmouth - 42 pts
Stoke - 40 pts
Hull - 40 pts
Sunderland - 39 pts
Blackburn - 39 pts
*********************
Newcastle - 36 pts
Boro - 34 pts
West Brom - 28 pts

Gibson backs Southgate

2009-03-24T18:50:00.002Z

Gareth's the man for Gibbo

Steve Gibson today gave Gareth Southgate his firm backing. The Boro chairman accepted the team's form was a cause for concern but said he had no plans to sack the manager in a statement published on the club's official website.

With relegation a bigger threat than it has been at any time since 1997, questions over Southgate's future have inevitably arisen. Gibson's levels of patience with his managers is well known and it seems unlikely the chairman will be doing anything to change that image any time soon. Hopes/fears Southgate would retain the job next season even in the Championship can only be heightened by Gibson's words.

While acknowledging the growing unrest amongst fans, Gibson stated "the magic wand in our situation isn't sacking Gareth Southgate...if I was to sack Gareth now, how would it help the situation?". Gibson does have a partial point - having stuck with Southgate through the bulk of a tough campaign, there would be little to gain from bringing in a new man with little time to work with the team and no scope to recruit new players. Even if Southgate were to go, the choice would be limited. It would be virtually impossible to attract a manger already in employment. Even those without a job may baulk at a taking over a team staring relegation in the face.

Whether Gareth is the man to lead us through a challenging future is harder to argue. Southgate has been under strain in recent weeks with the growing crisis having visible effects. With Stewart Downing almost certain to leave in the summer, and others likely to follow, whatever division Boro are in next season promises to be another difficult campaign.

If the great escape is pulled off, the manager will have to remodel a squad which has struggled for months into one capable of winning Premier League matches with minimal resources. Turnover will be even higher in the event of relegation, with vital importance attached to building a new squad to tackle a gruelling 46 game campaign. Unlike last time, there will not be £5m to blow on a talisman like Paul Merson. The final eight games of this season will not be the end of these challenging times.

Running out of time

2009-03-22T11:07:00.004Z

Boro are now four points from safety at the bottom of the Premier League after a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Stoke City yesterday. Ryan Shawcross glanced Rory Delap's long throw past Brad Jones to give the Potters victory with six minutes to go. With just nine games to save Premier League status, three against members of the current top five, the situation is becoming desperate.

Yesterday's game was typical of so many this season, particularly away from home. There were glimpses of passing and movement that showed promise but we failed to capitalise when we were on top. Boro haven't scored an away goal since Tuncay's tap in at the KC Stadium on 6 December. Then, when under pressure, defending our area in the dying moments, we cracked. Shawcross' header was the 12th goal Boro have shipped in the last ten minutes of league games this season. Those goals have cost 12 points - the difference between battling for survival and aiming for Europe.

The most damning reflection of Gareth Southgate's management is that the same mistakes are being made time after time. Despite getting the team to pass the ball nicely at times, a tally of 21 goals in 30 games is asking for trouble. The repeated defensive lapses late in games and against set pieces do not suggest the manager or his coaching team are able to exert any significant influence over performance.

The future looks bleak. Fulham may have succeeded in what seemed a hopeless cause last season but there's little evidence that Boro are capable of the same. The team simply doesn't score enough goals and seems to lack the inclination or personnel to take a more attritional approach to collecting points.

There is no guarantee that replacing the manager would have improved performance or the chances of staying up. However, its becoming harder to argue that making a change could make things any worse. Boro have scored fewer goals than any other team in England or Scotland, won once in eighteen league games and lost eight successive games on the road. Those statistics cannot be argued with.

Its hard to blame those who are now turning on Gareth Southgate and even Steve Gibson. It doesn't feel like the club has done all it can to succeed in a relegation scrap that has been on the cards for months. The failure to bolster midfield looked a bad move even before Lee Cattermole ended Didier Digard's season. Even if those talking of the 'death' of the club are being ludicrously melodramatic, the gaggle of Premier League alumni at the bottom of the Championship hints at difficult times to come.

That said, Southgate deserves much better than some of the stick being dealt out by keyboard warriors. The man lifted our first trophy, was a hero in Cardiff and Rome. A man with no previous connection with the area who has represented the club since 2001 with great dignity and genuine commitment. We should never forget that. His competence as a top flight manager has to be questioned - the dire position we're in and the run that has got us there demand it. His attributes as a man cannot.

Stay of execution

2009-03-15T17:15:00.002Z

Marlon King gets Boro out of jail...

Somehow, some way, yesterday's relegation battle with Portsmouth didn't end in defeat. There's scant encouragement to be taken from another insipid performance that did absolutely nothing to suggest Gareth Southgate's team have enough about them to avert the drop.

Boro's first half display was amongst the worst seen in a grim season at the Riverside. Boro were toothless up front, anonymous in midfield and nervy at the back. Niko Krancjar wandered unencumbered around the middle of the pitch, free to pick out his fellow forwards time after time. Even when David Nugent hit the post, Boro did not heed the warning.

Emmanuel Pogatetz screwed a clearance horribly out for a corner, the nadir of an execrable first half from the skipper, who was mercifully withdrawn at the break. The home defence was half asleep as Portsmouth teed up Peter Crouch to volley past an unsighted Brad Jones.

After the break, there was some improvement but this was almost inevitable after the opening 45 minutes. David James was at least forced into action, saving well from a Tuncay header and a Taylor volley. Pompey's threat on the break was eroded by fatigue and tactical conservatism. Matty Bates' embarrassing red card worked to Boro's advantage, galvanising a tetchy and irritable crowd.

With Bates dismissed and the ineffective Arca withdrawn, Tuncay dropped back to midfield and lifted the team into one last charge. Haring all over the pitch like a hyperactive schoolboy, the pressure began to grow. The home fans drew an unflattering comparison between the Turk's efforts and those of his team-mates, much to Southgate's chagrin.

Finally, in the fourth minute of added time, Boro earned a reprieve. Adam Johnson's corner was turned back across the face of goal by Robert Huth. David James did magnificently to parry Tony McMahon's header but the rebound was unmissable, even for Marlon King.

Having evaded a potentially catastrophic defeat, it could and should have gone even better. With seconds left, substitute Afonso Alves ran onto Johnson's superb through ball. The Brazilian's tentative finish was typical of his frustrating spell on Teesside.

Despite the point saved, it was still a deeply concerning performance. The lack of poise and ability shown in the first 45 minutes was frightening. Even if the effort in the second half was unstinting, the quality was still not much better. Few teams would let superiority slip as meekly as Portsmouth did in the closing stages.

Off the pitch, a crowd of just 24,000 were reduced to grumbling for much of the game. If the manager was right to point out that some of the criticism was self-defeating, he really is in no position to test the patience of fans who are reaching breaking point. If his team could defend set pieces with the half the tenacity the manager defends his under-performing 'group', there wouldn't be an issue. Whatever the wisdom of terrace chants, they are borne out of an understandable anxiety about the future. Faith in Southgate's ability to safeguard our top flight status erodes with every passing week.

The Final Countdown

2009-03-12T16:54:00.001Z

Its quite commonplace to denigrate the FA Cup as a “distraction” these days even if it doesn't really convince. Complaining that the extra games would be an irritant after busting a gut in an attempt to get through rings hollow. Either way, with a rush of blood from Jones and a flick of Fellaini's bouf, our season is now distraction free and we are free to revel in the relentless, soul-sapping grind of a survival battle.

Its certainly been a curious few weeks since the cathartic defeat of Liverpool. Its always been a trait of the Boro that straightforward incompetence just won't do. Not when you can raise the hopes of your long-suffering fanbase, let them just begin to believe that everything will work out before turning round and kicking them square in the chaps.

The last fortnight is Middlesbrough Football Club in microcosm. Unexpected, heroic, raucous victory against all expectation. Months of negativity washed away with a performance that finally revealed the potential concealed over those bleak, winless months. People left the stadium smiling, feeling better than when they entered. It couldn't paper over all the cracks but at least we could enjoy the renewed optimism while it lasted.

Which was precisely four days. Where Spurs were supposedly floored by a gruelling 2 hours at Wembley, we had momentum for the first time in months. It didn't work out like that – Droopy managed to rustle tens of millions worth of fresh, cup-tied players from his unbalanced, bare bones squad while we never looked capable of emulating the Liverpool performance. Robert Huth displayed mobility befitting the 'Berlin Wall' nickname. The manager and players seemed shell shocked afterwards. We should have known better.

Last Sunday, there were signs that we might be able to save ourselves but bitter reminders of this team's failings. It takes impressive resilience to bounce back from the humiliation of White Hart Lane and take the ascendancy in such a tricky fixture. Everton were tentative, the fans nervous – the half time lead was merited. If those levels could be maintained, we should have no problems collecting enough points over the next ten games.

Unfortunately, the only consistent run we've achieved all year was that horrific, epic run between Villa Park in November and the Riverside in February. Maintaining concentration and standards have hitherto proved beyond this set of players and coaching staff. It has been a very long time since we achieved the kind of consistent run that we now need to stay up. Survival hopes realistically hinge on the next few weeks, with games against Stoke, Bolton, Hull and Fulham after today. If we're not moving clear of the bottom three by then, it will be a tall order to save ourselves over those tricky final five games.

The recurring weakness to aerial attacks has cost countless points already. With the exception of Roy Hodgson's team, the tactical approach of all of our opponents during this key run is tailor-made to expose this frailty. With every passing week, the pressure builds, the grim consequences of our current position cloying every minute of every game. Our habitual mid-table comfort zone has been abandoned. There are no more second chances.

Read this (including original typos) and more in Saturday's Fly Me To The Moon.

Boro come unstuck against Toffees

2009-03-10T18:26:00.003Z

Boro's fourth successive FA Cup quarter final ended in defeat on Sunday, another lead thrown away with Gareth Southgate's men unable to resist Everton's second half fightback. Having merited a half time lead against the nervy Toffeemen, familiar failings ended dreams of a first trip to the new Wembley with both Everton goals coming from straightforward balls into the box.

Any optimism created by the unexpected triumph against Liverpool was comprehensively squashed by Wednesday's dismal capitulation at Spurs. The defensive solidity of recent weeks evaporated at White Hart Lane and the paralysing failure to resist set pieces had made an unwelcome return. Despite the heavy defeat, Gareth Southgate decided to entrust the same starting eleven with the task of reaching the last four of the FA Cup. The best hope seemed to be that the weight of expectation overcame David Moyes' team as it did so painfully to Boro twelve months ago.

If that seemed unlikely pre-match, hopes began to rise throughout the first half. The home crowd were quickly silenced as the visitors made a confident start, keeping the ball well high up the field. There could, and maybe should, have been an early lead when Jeremie Aliadiere shanked a presentable opportunity over the bar.

With their striking options limited and their only inventive midfielder out for the season, Everton looked anything but a top six side. The frustration in the home stands was palpable. If Goodison Park, with its wooden stands and restricted views, is a relic from football's past, it befits the views of a fanbase that gorged on success in the 1980s but hadn't enjoyed an FA Cup semi-final since 1995. Belief amongst those in red, on the pitch and in the stands, crept higher.

Just before half time, the home defence could only partially clear a free kick idiotically conceded by Leon Osman. Matthew Bates swung the ball back in and Tim Howard's efforts to repel David Wheater's header were somewhat less than convincing. In the Bullens Road Stand, it was bedlam. The whistle went - for fifteen minutes we were going to Wembley.

When the teams re-emerged after the break, roles were reversed. Everton re-jigged midfield, dropping Tim Cahill back and introducing Louis Saha to spearhead the attack. Once Aliadiere's efforts to add a second had been thwarted, Boro never looked capable of protecting the lead. Just five minutes in, the defence was breached. For once, Marouane Fellaini escaped the attentions of Robert Huth and with Brad Jones in the midst of an ill-advised dash from his line, the ball plopped depressingly over the line.

Having made his first error since being recalled, Jones looked increasingly nervous and the defence in front of him seemed little better. A further five minutes passed, Boro didn't clear a right wing cross, Osman retrieved the ball and Saha evaded Jones and Wheater to nod his centre home. Capitulation seemed a real danger as Leighton Baines spanked a free kick against the crossbar.

Despite Jones' jitters, there was still time for a late rally. Marvin Emnes and Adam Johnson ran at a tiring defence and Stewart Downing got greater joy on the right wing up against Baines. The nerves consumed the home team again, Tuncay almost equalising from a horribly miscued clearance and then Tim Howard spilling a free-kick from Gary O'Neil, the rebound cleared from the tips of Emnes' toes. A manful effort but in vain - a blast of the whistle sparing Everton from one final corner, leaving Boro with nothing to play for but survival.

As the manager admitted, the frailties which cost cup progress on Sunday are the very reason why the league season has turned into a grim battle for survival. That task looks increasingly difficult - another four wins seems a minimum requirement and the time left to get them is running out. As crushing a disappointment as Sunday was, if its the worst thing to happen to Boro this season, we should all be relieved.

Back down to earth

2009-03-05T17:43:00.003Z

Brad does his jazz hands to no avail

Well that didn't last long, did it? The goodwill created by last week's victories over West Ham and Liverpool was all but erased by last night's 4-0 humping at White Hart Lane. The frugality of recent weeks disappeared as a rampant Tottenham took at aim at a horribly exposed Brad Jones. Boro conceded as many goals in ninety minutes last night as in the last seven matches.

Perhaps things may have been different had Tuncay not been the victim of a marginal offside decision with the score at 1-0. But that cannot conceal a desperate defensive display, which Gareth Southgate made no attempt to excuse. The first goal was the result of familiar failings from a set piece and two more goals came before half time after missed tackles left Jones helpless. Robert Huth, the stalwart of last week's clean sheet hat trick, had a miserable evening and did not emerge for the second half. The table makes for worrying reading, with only the unexpected three points accrued on Saturday keeping Boro in touch with the pack.

With ten games left, points need to be accrued fast. With 26 points on the board, its likely a minimum of four wins will be required. The best chance will come over the next five games - home games against Portsmouth, Hull City and Fulham sandwiching trips to Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers. Its imperative that a position of relative comfort is achieved by teatime on 19th April as the final five game look foreboding. The run-in includes only two home games - against Manchester United and Aston Villa - plus a trip to Champions League chasing Arsenal. The 'easier' games are at Newcastle and, on the last day, at West Ham - neither being particularly fruitful venues in the recent past.

With such a crucial time coming up, the fact that we're 90 minutes from playing at Wembley seems almost incidental. It still seems some way off - Everton are in resolute form and must be heavy favourites to win Sunday's quarter final. Its a stark contrast to 12 months ago, when Boro caved under the weight of expectation against Cardiff. Defeat when it almost certainly comes will at least be low-key and thoroughly predictable. That's consolation, of sorts.

Green shoots of recovery (plus Brad Jones: an apology)

2009-03-03T17:47:00.002Z

It was a hell of a long time coming but it was almost worth the wait. Liverpool's title challenge may be suffered a terminal blow but Boro's fight for survival may be a fight after all. For the second time in four days, a rejuvenated Riverside revelled in post-letter liberation, saluting a second 2-0 triumph. At long last, there is hope.

Of course, it would be foolish to get carried away after one game. The league table still makes sobering reading, with only Stoke and West Brom sitting below Gareth Southgate's side. Only the most blinkered could deny the assistance given by the profligacy of Nabil El Zhar and Dirk Kuyt. And performing against Liverpool is no guarantee that Southgate will be able to resolve the issue of insipid displays against more limited opposition.

Nevertheless, there were several encouraging signs. Robert Huth managed to complete three games in eight days and was a colossal presence in all of them. Huth seems to be having a becalming influence on his colleagues too with David Wheater beginning to recover from an indifferent run. Matthew Bates has helped to buttress a once leaky defence. The troublesome right flank has been bolstered by the return to fitness of Justin Hoyte and Gary O'Neil. Stewart Downing looks every inch an international quality footballer. The reinstatement of the Tuncay-Aliadiere strikeforce has added graft, flair, pace and two goals from the Turk.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the form of oft maligned keeper Brad Jones. Some ill-qualified observers may have questioned his abilities but he's yet to turn in a below par performance this season. Assured in the air, smart reactions in the box and assertive in distribution, he's justifying Gareth Southgate's faith and proving the doubters, myself included, very wrong. Long may it continue.

Most encouraging of all was the collective resilience shown. The team has wilted in the closing stages of too many games this season but on Saturday it was Liverpool's spirit was broken. Carragher and Gerrard made sullen departures, passes began to drift out of play with increasing frequency while Boro grew in confidence. Rafa Benitez must at least be grateful for the finishing of Marlon King, who really should have heightened Liverpool's embarrassment during a clumsy cameo appearance.

Attention now turns to Tottenham tomorrow night. With the likes of Cudicini, Chimbonda, Palacios and Keane cup-tied on Sunday, the impact of Sunday's gruelling Carling Cup final is unlikely to have a huge effect on the game, however much Harry Redknapp protests. With the bad blood over Spurs' protracted efforts to recruit Stewart Downing still fresh (never mind the departure of Jonathan Woodgate last January), victory tomorrow would mean more than just another three points.

Video Vault

2009-02-27T18:00:00.003Z

After another depressing afternoon of mind-numbing tedium at the Riverside, its tempting to begin to question why we all shell out hundreds of pounds every summer to 'enjoy' another year of boredom and frustration. I've dusted off my collection of 'vintage' VHS season reviews in an attempt to rouse spirits – if the present is dire and the future seems worse, at least the past can provide some comfort. Particularly if it comes in an officially licensed box with generous narration alongside.

My particular favourite is the 1991/92 promotion season. Commentator John Helm responds to Jimmy Phillips deciding a ZDS Cup tie with a spanking free kick by boldly stating “unless you're a Derby County fan, you won't mind seeing that goal over and over again”. He's not wrong. That kind of hyperbole might be grating when Sky are worshipping at the altar of the Champions League but its endearing in these less glamorous locations. Helm's enthusiasm isn't matched by all his colleagues. The guy charged with covering a perfunctory defeat of Port Vale describes Alan Kernaghan's solitary goal with all the exuberance of a man completing his tax returns.

The production values of modern TV coverage of football (ITV aside) has taken much of the charm and warmth out of watching the game on the small screen. The amateurish nature of those early 1990s videos provides a charm of their own. Its like a time capsule from a different era – from the Casio soundtrack and some extremely shaky footage to Brighton's ludicrous stripy shorts, its a world away from the today's version on and off the pitch. A time when fans who wished to stand up and support their team got tickets in the Holgate instead of a snotty letter from a safety officer. A time when footballers had names like Geoff Twentyman.

The video culminates in the drama of Molineux, where Boro came from a goal and a man down to win a place in the inaugural Premier League. Paul Wilkinson's crucial header, described by the man himself as “the worst of my career”, in all its spawny, bobbling glory, ends a gruelling season. A barechested Jamie Pollock E-I-Os in front of the away end. John Hendrie offers his incomprehensible post-match thoughts. Happy days.

The 'Champions' tape, documenting the final season at Ayresome Park, was another childhood favourite, particularly as Nigel Pearson can be heard quite clearly exclaiming “you f***ing beauty” as the Division One trophy is held aloft within a minute of pressing play. There are some great memories - the last game at Ayresome, Robbie Mustoe's goal of the century against Watford, Jamie Pollock (ugly bastard) silencing the, in fairness, accurate taunts from the Roker Park crowd.

The modern versions don't have the same charm. Having been given the option to skip through the dross by DVDs, there's not much left to revel in. The season review no longer feels like a vital document of a season, the only place to revisit long-forgotten games and players, its thunder well and truly stolen by YouTube. It'll be sometime before I can bring myself to throw them away though. Whether its Bernie scoring at Old Trafford or Pollock volleying from preposterous range at Filbert Street, it doesn't take long for the anger and frustration of 14 winless games to fade. There's a reason why we do this and now, more than ever, we need to remember it.

Read this and other better written, funnier articles in Fly Me To The Moon 437 tomorrow!

Boro deal Hammer blow

2009-02-26T14:42:00.003Z

You don't save those

Boro have booked a place in the last eight of the FA Cup for the fourth successive season after despatching an insipid West Ham team last night. A performance of unexpected verve and competence including two goals in the opening 20 minutes ensured a comfortable passage to the quarter-finals and a tough tie at Goodison Park.

There have been few finer strikes at the Riverside than the opening goal. After Tuncay was impeded, Stewart Downing struck with a free kick of unerring accuracy. Curling away from the diving Robert Green, the ball glanced the underside of the crossbar on its way in. Downing was lively throughout and came within inches of adding a second soon after following sloppy work from the West Ham midfield.

More unconvincing defending from the visitors led to the second. Tomkins' clearance lacked purchase, allowing Tuncay to volley past an unsettled Green. Boro's supremacy was rarely threatened in the remaining 70 minutes as the changes made by Gareth Southgate had a favourable impact. Matthew Bates screened the back four athletically and grew in confidence, carrying the ball deep into Hammers' territory as the game progressed. Although he didn't last the whole game, Jeremie Aliadiere's movement and workrate again provided a riposte to those who highlight his unquestionably meagre goal tally. Even the frequently maligned Julio Arca made some telling defensive contributions. Robert Huth was simply unbeatable.

Even with 2,500 from London to swell the numbers, the game was modestly attended. Yet despite the crowd numbering 15,602, the Riverside produced the best atmosphere for some time, moving captain Emanuel Pogatetz to praise the fans. 'Lettergate' appears to have had unintended consequences, galvanising the crowd against the unlikely scapegoat of Sue Watson.

The much improved performance and stunning early goal were obviously important but this was a more patient and supportive crowd than normal. With Sue's boys adopting a sensibly low-profile approach, the club's most vocal fans were freed from the restraints of moaning fans and jobsworth stewards. There was a rare confluence of passion in the stands and confidence on the pitch. A repeat is needed for the remaining six games at the Riverside, starting on Saturday with a Liverpool side fresh from defeating Real Madrid.

A shot in the foot

2009-02-23T19:50:00.002Z

Another week and another depressing chapter has been written in the grim tale of Boro's season. A promising start soon faded after Didier Digard suffered a serious injury following Lee Cattermole's challenge. Ultimately, it was another tepid display that further tested the patience of the dwindling Riverside crowd.

Fans seem increasingly resigned to relegation and, despite the protestations of players and management, its hard to escape the impression that this sentiment has spread onto the pitch. The lack of belief and purpose shown yet again on Saturday is sending our club down and those who protest otherwise are struggling to sound anything but deluded. No wins in 14 games and one goal scored in nine - those are facts that leave little room for debate.

Those who haven't given up are simply fed up. Another turgid afternoon of football was depressing enough but that was not the only thing from the weekend to dent pride in MFC. The vitriolic response to Cattermole's challenge may have been harsh in retrospect but it was understandable and it succeeded in creating an all too rare atmosphere in the stands. However, the attempts of Afonso Alves to get Cattermole sent off were completely inexcusable. If we cannot go down with a fight, it would be nice to go with a shred of dignity.

How to make friends...

The growing disillusionment amongst the fans will not be helped by the spectacularly ill-judged letter (see above) issued to fans in the south east corner. Its not the first time the club have targetted fans in this way (as a Block 17 season ticket holder, I've had first hand experience). The club's belated apology will be too little, too late for many. At a time when club and fans must stick together more than ever, it was a staggeringly ill-considered response. Sitting in the opposite side of the stadium, its hard to judge whether there is a genuine problem. Even if this is the case, its baffling that anyone at the club considered this was the way to solve the matter.

At times like this its hard to know whether to laugh or cry. Some credit must then go to forgotten midfielder Mohammed Shawky for his surreal transfer request in a Sunday tabloid. Discretion would seem the obvious path for any player being kept out of the side by the horribly out-of-form Julio Arca.

Cup holds mixed fortunes

2009-02-15T10:24:00.003Z

The opportunity of a fourth successive appearance in the last eight of the FA Cup remains. Victory against Premier League opposition remains elusive after profligate finishing and sloppy defending sullied another away day.

Once again, blame will be apportioned to record signing Afonso Alves. After an encouraging run of 4 goals in as many games in January, Alves has reverted to form over the past two weekends. Last week, Shay Given's performance may have offered some excuse. The criticism will be harder to deflect after this game. Alves was the chief culprit as Boro should have put the game to bed during the opening 20 minutes of the second half. Although he was unfortunate in some instances, the moment he shot wildly over the bar with Gary O'Neil and Stewart Downing queuing up to take a free shot at Robert Green betrayed a lack of confidence and questionable judgement.

It was Downing who had given Boro the lead after West Ham's opening flurry. O'Neil's cross should have been cut out but Downing continued his run to the far post and beat Green with a diving header. Although West Ham still had moments of danger (including a miss from David Di Michele that defied logic), Boro were looking increasingly comfortable. Didier Digard was a tenacious and imposing presence in midfield.

Unable to extend the lead, it was a familiar failure that allowed the equaliser. Savio's free kick somehow evaded the entire Boro defence. Herita Ilunga's task to head beyond Brad Jones from point blank range was straightforward.

The home games against Wigan and Liverpool will now sandwich a replay on Tuesday 24 February. The draw for the quarter finals takes place tonight and there's still a distressing Welsh contingent in the hat/perspex bowl. Boro will need to develop a hitherto unseen streak of ruthlessness if the Cup is to provide any relief from the grind of a relegation battle.

Man of the Match Stewart Downing

Drifting into the abyss

2009-02-10T12:32:00.003Z

Another week and another defeat. Boro's 2008/09 season is descending from difficult to disastrous, from failure to farce. By any measure, the team's form is disastrous:

No win in 13 Premier League games
The lowest scoring team in the not just the division but the entire league
No goal in 4 league games
One goal scored in 8 league games
One clean sheet in 10 league games

There may have been equally disastrous spells in the past but rarely has the mood surrounding the club been so depressing. There's paranoia in the dugout and growing apathy in the stands. The club are so deeply entrenched in their position that it barely seems worth to effort to voice dissent. Gareth Southgate has made it clear he won't walk. Keith Lamb has made it clear he won't be sacked. They've been rather less clear on what they will do to save the club from relegation.

Saturday's defeat at Manchester City barely raised a grumble. The home side may have spent a great deal of money but the likes of Nigel de Jong, Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy, able as they may be, should not inspire dread. City are an erratic and largely mediocre side. The winless run may well have been ended if Afonso Alves had taken even one of four presentable chances. But once City were in front, they were rarely troubled.

Its a sign of how expectations have gone through the floor that defeat with the merest semblance of fight is now deemed acceptable. The last game at the Riverside against Blackburn saw the lowest crowd of the season. Bar five minutes baiting pantomime villain Sam Allardyce, there was barely a sign of life in the stands. Defeat on Saturday was met with troubling ambivalence. Its hard to believe a Boro crowd has ever taken defeat at the hands of Craig Bellamy this lightly.

The fans cannot be blamed. Criticism has no impact. The drastic action taken at Chelsea and Portsmouth this week will not be replicated at the Riverside, regardless of results. If 13 winless games and an increasingly inevitable relegation don't make the manager's position untenable, its tempting to think that nothing will. The club's hierarchy clearly feel showing doubt would be an unacceptable sign of weakness. Yet this stubborness is now the biggest threat to Boro's Premier League status since promotion in 1998.

Saturday offers a break from the dreary monotony of the league campaign but its hard to see the afternoon offering much in the way of rewards. Gianfranco Zola's West Ham (Zola's for the time being at least) are a resilient and compact side who must be strong favourites to reach the last eight. Less than a year ago, Southgate was castigated for the feeble perfomance against Cardiff, the failure to sprinkle a dash of glamour and excitement into our stodgy existence in the middle third of the Premier League. Most people connected with the club seem past caring about the FA cup any more.

A glance at the foot of the Championship table makes sobering reading. Of the bottom seven, only Doncaster Rovers have never played Premier League football and there's plenty more top flight alumni lolling around midtable with little sense of purpose. Last time Boro went down, the promotion campaign was spurred on by a burning sense of injustice. If relegation does come this year, there can be no excuses. We must hope that there will at least be a fight.

Window Watch: Farewell then, Mido (groin)....

2009-01-24T10:24:00.004Z

One out...

After 18 frustrating months, Mido's Boro career is drawing to a close. The Egyptian striker has signed a loan deal at Wigan to replace Villa-bound Emile Heskey. Despite his undoubted talent, few will mourn his departure. After completing a £6m move from Spurs in August 2007, Mido made an immediate impression. If his debut goal owed more to comedy goalkeeping from Tony Warner, his second in two games created more of a stir. Having being subjected to the full scope of Geordie 'wit', Mido ran on to Fabio Rochemback's through ball to silence the visiting fans.

The Egyptian has been living off the goodwill from that game for some time. Injuries soon put an end to his good start and when he eventually returned for last year's 4th round tie at Mansfield, he was embarrassingly unfit and overweight. His only meaningful contribution was to help Boro towards the last eight of the FA Cup, scoring via the post and Paddy Kenny to end 200 minutes of turgid stalemate with Sheffield United. A red card at Arsenal brought a premature end to the season.

This campaign started brighter. Clearly in better physical shape, Mido came off the bench to score the winner against Spurs and then a thumping drive at Anfield seven days later. First starts in the league and cup also brought goals. Having made such a vocal case for regular first team football, things soon went sour. The past few months have seen niggling 'injuries' occur with suspicious regularity, regular moans in the press and an all-too-familiar weight gain. Mido may have all the technical attributes to make a big impression in the Premier League but until he learns to conduct himself in a disciplined, professional manner, his nomadic career is doomed to being a tale of wasted opportunities.

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...and one in

Mido's replacement will be fomer Watford and Hull target man Marlon King, who has joined on a six month loan deal. King's signing has had a mixed reception, with concerns about his character almost as prevalent as those about his ability. King had spent the first half of the season on loan at Hull but that spell was curtailed after a dispute with manager Phil Brown last week.

Its not the first time King's spell on Humberside was tainted by controversy. In the past three months, King has been arrested after accusations of punching a 20 year old girl, banned from driving after doing 106mph in a 60mph zone and was involved in a bizarre scrap with team-mate Dean Windass in a Scarborough casino. His time with first club Gillingham was also tarnised by brushes with the law.

Although Gareth Southgate will no doubt be relieved to have removed the malignant influence of Mido from the dressing room, there has to be concern that the club have replaced one disruptive influence with another, less talented one.

Hopes of a second signing are receding with Crystal Palace midfielder Ben Watson set to opt for a move to Wigan. Boro had agreed a £2m fee with Palace but the move appears to have broken down over Watson's personal terms - with some reports suggesting the midfielder requested £25,000 a week. With Wigan presenting a more attractive alternative, based on current form at least, the move seems destined to failure leaving Southgate still desperately short of options in midfield. Its a depressing reflection of Boro's plummet down football's food chain.

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Thrown to the Wolves

After a desperate defeat in West Bromwich last weekend, Boro will be hoping for a more rewarding trip to the Midlands this afternoon. Championship leaders Wolves host Boro for a place in the last sixteen of the FA Cup. Boro's last FA Cup tie at Molineux in 1981 proved to be a seminal fixture, defeat proving the start of the break-up of a young squad, relegation to Divison Three and almost the end of the club's existence.

This fixture is unlikely to provide such portents of doom. The hope must be that an escape from the growing pressures of the league campaign can liberate a squad whose confidence and togetherness is clearly damaged. With the home side looking set for promotion, its debatable which result would consititute a shock. Although Mick McCarthy's side have stuttered a little since loanee Michael Mancienne returned to Chelsea, they still possess some of the most promising players outside the top flight, such as winger Michael Kightly and striker Sylvain Ebanks-Blake.

In previous years, FA Cup runs have helped dragged the club out of trouble, providing some sporadic relief from the toil of a relegation battle. Whatever the manager may say about fixture congestion, Boro should be pleased if Wolves are brought back to the Riverside.

Prediction: Wolves 2 Boro 1

Window Watch: No Go For Gary O

2009-01-09T10:18:00.003Z

Stewy: I love this club

'Downing to Spurs - Day 4,629': The already frosty relations between Boro and Tottenham Hotspur will not be getting better in a hurry after Gareth Southgate's latest press statement. The Boro manager stated his belief that if Stewart Downing does leave the club, it should be for a better side than Spurs. That may seem a fair point given Spurs are only above Boro on goal difference but its unlikely to foster a friendly atmosphere in the boardroom when the teams meet at White Hart Lane on March 4th. Although it was a bit of a cheap shot, its a measure of how much Spurs' conduct has irritated Gibson, Southgate and Lamb.

It now seems likely that Downing will be involved against Sunderland - both manager and captain have pleaded with the Riverside crowd to lay off Downing. Despite their best efforts, anything but a convincing home win is likely to see at least sections of the crowd turn on the no. 19.

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After much speculation, Portsmouth yesterday confirmed they had made an unsuccessful bid for Gary O'Neil. The bid was described as "equating to £4.5m" with a fair chunk of that fee covering installments almost due under the deal that brought the midfielder to Teesside in 2007. That move had been initially agreed to cost £5m until O'Neil failed a medical, leading to the deal being restructured with £2.5m dependent on appearances. It is believed O'Neil is only a few games away from triggering the appearance-related payment. Even so, Boro seem intent on sticking to their pledge not to sell any senior players this month.

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Barely a week ago, many Boro fans would have been content to give Mido a piggy back to his preferred destination after 18 months riddled with injuries, weight problems and precious few appearances. However, the temperamental Egyptian seems more appealing by the hour given the replacement strikers being mooted in the press. Mido is apparently furious that Gareth Southgate has discussed a swap deal with Newcastle involving perma-knacked goal-shy midfielder/striker/substitute Alan Smith. He won't be the only one - even the Marlon Harewood rumour seems comforting compared to Southgate's inexplicable fascination with Smith.

Boro dig their heels over Downing

2009-01-07T16:47:00.002Z

The Stewart Downing saga rumbles on. Boro reiterated their vehement intention not to sell any senior players this month in a terse statement this morning. Reports this morning claimed Spurs had upped their offer to £14.5 million but chief executive Keith Lamb denied the offer had even been made. Suffice to say, it seems Downing has underestimated the determination of the club to keep the squad together until the end of the season or at least drive the price up.

With the growing realisation that the transfer is unlikely to happen this week, attention has turned to Downing's potential involvement in Saturday's vital derby match against Sunderland. Captain Emmanuel Pogatetz has already pleaded with fans not to turn against the winger. This seems somewhat optimistic. While many fans seem to sympathise with his frustrations, at least as many have been angered by the nature and timing of his request. The small minority who have vocally criticised Downing throughout his Boro career have been given license to step up the vendetta.

Gareth Southgate has a difficult decision to make as to whether to involve Downing at all. The fear will inevitably be that the benefits of having his talents available on the pitch will be outweighed by a negative response in the stands. With no league win since early November, the team simply can't afford to have the crowd's ire focussed on one of their own, particularly considering the strained atmosphere that pervades most fixtures at the Riverside.

January always promised to be a challenging month and the first seven days have been hard going for the club and its supporters. The fear remains that things could get much worse.

Cup is empty vessel for Boro

2009-01-05T17:01:00.003Z

Downing's last game?

Boro won for the first time since November 9th against Barrow on Saturday but its still been a grim few days for Gareth Southgate. The 2-1 win over the Blue Square Premier side was not always convincing but any joy at progress to the 4th round of the FA Cup was tempered when Stewart Downing handed in a transfer request.

Firstly, the on-field action. There were some postives to be taken - Afonso Alves getting two much-needed goals, Josh Walker's tidy full debut in midfield and a bright showing from Downing, whose invention in a central position was marred by some terrible finishing.

Nagging concerns remain though - Downing was far from the only guilty party in front of goal. Barrow should have been out of sight by the time Jason Walker pulled one back for the non-league side. Boro's defending of set pieces was ineffective yet again and the creaking defence was grateful when the referee finally signalled the end of seven minutes of injury time. If a side in 20th place in the fifth tier of English football can cause so much discomfort, it does not bode well for the upcoming six-pointers against Sunderland, West Brom and Blackburn.

Any worries about the performance were put into perspective, however, when reports began to circulate on Sunday that Stewart Downing was preparing to hand in a transfer request. The grim news was confirmed this morning, his father and agent citing a lack of investment in the squad as the major motivation. While the timing of the request is remarkably inconsiderate, few fans would dispute that the club has stagnated (at best) since reaching the Uefa Cup final in 2006. This evening Boro have confirmed that Downing's request has been rejected.

Steve Gibson also issued an angry insistence that no players will be sold. There's no doubt the immensely hypocritical conduct of Tottenham has irritated both Gibson and Keith Lamb. Spurs' interest in Downing has been common knowledge for some time, with Lamb publicly condemning the Londoners' tactics as long ago as August 2006.

If their transfer tactics were unscrupulous before, it can be no surprise that matters have got even worse since Harry Redknapp became manager at White Hart Lane. Lamb's words on Sunday were very similar to those said two and a half years ago. Having used the media to unsettle Downing and his other target, Jermain Defoe, Redknapp feigned innocence when again talking about other clubs' contracted players in a press conference today.

Only goal difference separates the two clubs in the table and the club are understandably loath to sell to a relegation rival. Perhaps the biggest question the club should be asking is why Downing now seems so desperate to make a move.

Despite lurching from one crisis to the next for what has felt like years, Spurs retain huge ambition. Deluded, unrealistic ambition, but ambition nonetheless. Downing has recognised his hometown club are sleepwalking to the Championship. Results have fallen away in line with costs. No amount of bravado or angry press statements can disguise that uncomfortable truth.

Barrow boys on their way

2009-01-02T17:57:00.003Z

From Holker Street...

...to the Riverside

Cliche fans should have their loins girded - its FA Cup 3rd round weekend. Boro have a chance to end a winless run thats approaching two months against a Barrow side struggling themselves. The Cumbrian side are just outside the Blue Square Premier relegation zone while co-manager Dave Bayliss threatened to replace the majority of the team within a fortnight after defeat at Forest Green Rovers. Its not just the home team looking forward to a break from league troubles. Win, lose or draw, a crowd bolstered by almost 7,000 Barrovians is a timely financial boost for the non-league side.

Gareth Southgate is expected to name a strong side and has confirmed Josh Walker will make a full debut in midfield. With Mohammed Shawky, Gary O'Neil and Julio Arca all unavailable, the welcome return of Didier Digard alongside Walker seems likely. Southgate has also confirmed Brad Jones will get a rare outing at the expense of Ross Turnbull. Tony McMahon is available again. Unsurprisingly, Mido (groin) isn't.

Despite the gulf in league places between the teams, it could well prove a difficult afternoon. While a hefty beating is a possibility, its far from a certainty. Boro's recent record against non-league opposition hardly inspires confidence. It was Southgate himself who conceded a late penalty at Nuneaton Borough three years ago allowing Gez Murphy to force a replay.

In 1997, there was also a real scare in a 4th round tie with Hednesford Town, switched to the Riverside. Joe O'Connor made a name for himself by scoring twice and giving Hednesford an early lead. A Boro side containing luminaries such as Juninho, Ravanelli and Alan Moore belatedly went in front when Jan Aage Fjorfoft scored with four minutes to go and were grateful for a 3-2 win.

Prediction Boro 2 Barrow AFC 0

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If Boro are the big boys tomorrow, the opening of the transfer window has shown our position in the Premier League pecking order. The club seem to have decided against letting Stewart Downing move on at this moment. Nonetheless, Southgate's words do create the suspicion the sale has been vetoed on the grounds of timing rather than principle.

Its been made clear that the transfer window fund is at best next to nothing. Yet the press seem to have exaggerated the club's willingness to sell over the next month. With Portsmouth and West Ham looking likely to be forced into multiple sales, holding our nerve for this window could be crucial in staving off relegation.

There will still almost certainly be some departures. Mido seems the most likely to go and few would mourn the loss of a talented but infuriatingly unreliable player. The suggestion remains that Gary O'Neil still hasn't settled on Teesside so a return to Pompey can't be ruled out. Yet if either or both of these players do go, its possible that some careful re-investment or loan signings could leave the squad in a stronger shape.

Its much harder to make that argument about selling Downing or Tuncay. Whatever the fee on offer, there is little value in letting the major assets go.

Bouncing back?

2008-12-30T10:59:00.002Z

If the Everton game was the footballing equivalent of driving to Dundee barefoot gorging on (medium-sized) Toblerones, then last night's 1-0 defeat to Manchester United was an important step on the path back to respectability. The figures still don't look good - one place outside the bottom three by virtue of superior goal difference, no wins in eight games, only two goals scored in six games and none in the last three.

It should also be remembered that this fixture is of trifling importance compared to the next two league games - at home to Sunderland and away to West Bromwich Albion. These fixtures, rather than trips to Old Trafford, will determine whether our flirting with the relegation zone proves a brief dalliance or a drawn out affair.

That there were changes to the side who struggled so grimly against Everton was unsurprising, even if Gareth Southgate's hand was forced in some areas. The cynics were given further ammunition by another groin injury for the apparently careless Mido, allowing Afonso Alves a starting opportunity. Only Chris Riggott and Emmanuel Pogatetz remained from the defence that creaked on Boxing Day, and even then the skipper reverted from the centre to left back. Matthew Bates and David Wheater replaced Tony McMahon and Andrew Taylor.

Despite the 4-5-1 formation, Boro were relatively purposeful. Under heavy pressure, the defence coped well. There were inevitably some scares - bete noire Cristiano Ronaldo spurned two presentable chances while Ross Turnbull made an excellent save from a stinging Wayne Rooney half volley. On the break, Boro were neat and patient with the ball without creating any clear cut chances. The main drama of the first half came in injury time as Pogatetz foolishly grappled with Ronaldo in the box. The Portuguese was not reticent in letting the Boro skipper and referee Martin Atkinson know of his displeasure.

The second half began in an encouraging fashion, culminating in Tuncay heading a Matthew Bates cross inches wide of the post. There could have been even better openings had Julio Arca and Stewart Downing showed more composure when given time and space in front of the United defence. Cruelly, Boro's strongest patch of the game was ended by the decisive goal. David Wheater failed to clear a cross and Dimitar Berbatov poked the rebound past Turnbull. While Paul Scholes did seem to foul Chris Riggott, any complaints should be muted given the referee's failure to punish Pogatetz for his earlier misdemeanour.

The visitors tired considerably as United played keep-ball for lengthy spells. There was only the briefest scare for the home team, coming in the closing seconds of injury time. The ball was clipped into box and Tuncay executed a spectacular bicycle kick. However, had the post not denied him, the linesman's flag would have.

Having put up a creditable display when nothing but defeat was expected, Boro now have to deal with the weight of expectation. Once the banana skin of Barrow has been negotiated, there's a derby with Ricky Sbragia's Sunderland. With the Mackems just two points away, a worthy performance will not be enough.

Man of the Match Ross Turnbull

Sinking towards the abyss

2008-12-27T10:27:00.006Z

Boro slumped to within one place of the relegation zone after a depressingly predictable Boxing Day defeat to Everton. 2008 began with a soul-crushing loss to the Toffees and, 12 months on, nothing much seems to have changed.

With an ominous trip to Old Trafford to come on Monday, all it would take is positive results for Blackburn and/or Stoke to see Boro end the year in the bottom three. It was less than two months ago when Boro won at high flying Villa to close in on the European places. After a run of seven winless games, our best hopes of continental action next season is a trip to Swansea or Cardiff.

The one-goal margin of victory flattered the home side. A team with the strikers or sense of style that Everton singularly lack would surely have run up a cricket score. The prospect of Manchester United against this team is truly terrifying.

Despite his repeated post-match insistence that 'lessons will be learned', Gareth Southgate continues to make the same mistakes. It has been some time since Andrew Taylor convinced at left-back. Once again, his lack of strength and positional sense were exposed.

The centre of midfield is a complete disaster without Didier Digard. Julio Arca's move to the centre has long since gone sour. His ponderous display was perhaps the worst of any home player yesterday (no mean feat), leading to several chances for the visitors. Gary O'Neil is a willing but limited partner.

Perhaps the biggest indictment of the manager's plans is the feckless attack. Stewart Downing looked a pale shadow of last season's top scorer, his performance making a mockery of a mooted £15m price tag. Tuncay may have been poor yesterday, but the withdrawal of the team's only maverick attacking talent ten minutes into the second half was mystifying.

Hopefully, Downing and Tuncay will stay long enough for Boro to benefit when their form does return. Adam Johnson is some way off being ready for a regular starting position. His attempt to win a penalty was shameful and rightly punished by the erratic Mike Riley, one of the few decisions he got right.

Mido charged around conceding free kicks, doing everything but his job as a target man. Afonso Alves made one good chance for himself but fell over. While Southgate does have some basis to refer to financial restraints making his job harder, it should not be forgotten that these two were both signed by him for a combined total of around £20m. Their contribution offers scant evidence that the manager should be trusted with any more money.

The price for injecting new blood into this side seems to be the unpalatable loss of one of the side's few assets. Its vital that if Southgate does remain as manager (and its highly unlikely there will be any change before the season ends), that he retains his conviction that he is the man for the job. The grim truth is that it is the current staff who will be responsible for ensuring the club's survival as a Premier League outfit.

Southgate was a player of such class that his attributes often hid the deficiencies of others. Unfortunately for him, he's now unable to rely on his players to prop up a ropey managerial record. The question anyone connected with the club must now be asking is how much worse things have to get before it gets better.

Man of the Match Ross Turnbull - retaining his form as all around him lose theirs. He'll need to be on top form at Old Trafford to keep things respectable.

Mark-ed man

2008-12-19T10:51:00.002Z

Schwarz: The Bananaman years

The journey to Craven Cottage may be one of the longest trips of the entire season but Boro can be sure of a familiar face guarding the Fulham goal. Mark Schwarzer spent over 11 years on Teesside, joining from Bradford City in the midst of the mayhem of the 1996/97 season before eventually moving south during the summer.

During that time, there were some memorable moments. A sprawling save to deny Luis Cavaco was crucial in denying Stockport on Boro's run to a first major Wembley final. A stunning performance to resist Port Vale in the closing weeks of the 97/98 promotion push. A string of fine saves to redeem his horrific error in Cardiff. That penalty save at Man City to win a second crack at Europe.

Yet, despite those highlights and sticking with the club for such time, Boro's fanbase never really seemed to fully embrace the big Aussie. Despite occasional murmurs over his abilities, only the nostalgic romantics ever argued on this basis. Schwarzer is head and shoulders Boro's best post-liquidation keeper.

Some sceptics were never won over after the Schwarzer/Crossley schism of the 2001/02 season. With the Australian injured, Mark Crossley enjoyed an extended run in the team. The ex-Forest stopper put in a series of superb displays, keeping ten clean sheets in a 17 game spell. This would be an impressive record in any team, never mind one labouring in the lower half of the table.

Celebrating his finest hour - Eastlands, 15 May 2005

Convinced on the identity of his number 1, Steve McClaren immediately replaced Crossley on Schwarzer's return to fitness. Many fans were irritated by the decision, which smacked of a pig-headed refusal to acknowledge Crossley's fine form. It would be churlish to hold Schwarzer responisble for that decision but many chose to do so anyway.

More were turned off when Schwarzer handed in a transfer request in January 2007. On this occasion, McClaren did decide to omit his keeper after a series of ropey displays. Schwarzer's response did not befit such an experienced professional. Suggestions from his agent that his client fancied a move to Milan (the day before sitting on the bench at Nuneaton Borough) implied a distant relationship with reality. The spat was patched up fairly swiftly. Schwarzer made a valuable to domestic recovery and continental success in the following months. Yet the impression left was not of a man loyal to the club, but one who showed a startling lack of grace towards the fans and the club who'd paid him well for such a time.

That, however, would be an unfair appraisal who contributed much to the successes of the past decade. There may have been low points but these are surely outweighed by the positives. Both Gareth Southgate and new no. 1 Ross Turnbull have been quick to praise Schwarzer. As the manager points out, the transition has gone better than could have been expected. If Turnbull goes on to enjoy a career as fruiftul as his predecessor's, we we should all be grateful.

Patched up Boro defy Gunners

2008-12-14T17:06:00.003Z

Ali counts how many goals he's scored this season

Are Boro Arsenal-lite? The Guardian's excitable north east correspondent Louise Taylor is not the first to draw parallels between Gareth Southgate's Boro and Wenger's Arsenal. There certainly some similarities - a priority for lean, young squads and disinclination for big money signings. Its typical of Boro that we chose to emulate a club at almost the precise point their capacity to win trophies disappeared.

Arsene Wenger has been uncharacteristically gracious in his assessment of Southgate - perhaps he is trying to divert attention from the novice's unbeaten record against his team, which now runs to five games. Pools aficionados must also be in the Southgate fan club - this is the fourth of that run to end in a 1-1 draw.

Despite that impressive track record, expectation amongst a fairly sparse home crowd was not high. The post-Villa optimism seems distant already - the subsequent four games yielding just two points. The combination of another foul winter's day and the loathed lunchtime kick-off dampened spirits to something less than festive.

There was also concerns over the fitness of a makeshift backline. With Wheater suspended and both regular full-backs injured, Chris Riggott and Robert Huth stepped up from the treatment table, Emmanuel Pogatetz played through the pain barrier again while Tony McMahon made his first Boro start for some time. Real Madrid target Adam Johnson made a rare start while the manager's patience finally ran out with the struggling Afonso Alves.

Operating in an unusual 4-5-1 formation, Boro made a surprisingly purposeful start as Didier Digard flashed over a succession of dangerous corners. The visitors began to make an impression, one particularly ominous move ending in Robin van Persie narrowly missing. When their opener did arrive it came in a less stylish manner, Emmanuel Adebayor left to head home Fabregas' corner with disconcerting ease. There may be convincing arguments for using zonal marking systems but Boro seem to be undermining the concept with a particularly sloppy version on a weekly basis.

This Arsenal team may retain the passing verve of their predecessors but they lack the resolve of the Petit/Vieira side of the late 90s or the 'invincibles' of 2004. Boro were back level within 12 minutes and if there was fortune in the opportunity there was undeniable quality in the execution. Clichy's ricocheted clearance only found Tuncay, whose whipped cross was met with a superb stooping header from Jeremie Aliadiere.

Having threatened to run away with it at one point, Arsenal could perhaps consider themselves fortunate to remain level at half time. Didier Digard was an increasingly efficient and competitive presence in midfield. The revised defence grew in composure. Only an appalling decision by referee Peter Walton prevented Boro having a gilt-edged chance to lead after Gael Clichy clearly tripped Adam Johnson in the area.

In the opening periods of the second half, Boro continued to look strong. Several promising counter attacks fell just short of opening the Arsenal defence. When Julio Arca did breach the backline with a beautifully weighted pass, Boro were thwarted by Manuel Almunia. Stewart Downing, leaving Bacary Sagna in his wake, thumped a powerful effort that was sneaking inside the near post before the Spaniard's intervention.

Over the closing half hour, Arsenal's dominance of possession grew. The prodigious effort from the likes of Aliadiere and Digard left the side looking increasingly jaded. Yet the defence showed remarkable concentration - despite seemingly incessant pressure, Ross Turnbull was rarely forced into anything beyond the straightforward.

The gap between Boro and the bottom three remains uncomfortably slim but this was still a worthy point against Wenger's dangerous but fragile outfit. The performances of the resurgent Chris Riggott, the returning Tony McMahon and the increasingly assured Didier Digard offered real encouragement. Its unlikely either of these sides have the quality to achieve their stated goals this season. Both teams suffer from a lack of depth, questionable resolve and infuriating inconsistency. The wait for potential to become achievement continues.

Man of the Match Didier Digard

A Striking Problem

2008-12-13T12:00:00.002Z

In two of the last three transfer windows, Gareth Southgate has made late and expensive moves for strikers. Unless Boro's difficulties up front start to clear up, we may well be stopping up late on January 31st again. Despite the odd bit of tabloid tittle tattle, its highly unlikely Tuncay will be going anywhere. But the Turk will be much more effective given license to drop off a main striker and bring the midfield into play. He may run around like a demented rooster, but the Turk should still be more artist than warrior.

The problems with Mido and Afonso Alves are very different. Mido seems a more complex character than many give him credit for. Its not hard to see why he's been labelled a mercenary. In a professional career that is not yet ten years old, he'd already played for El-Zamalek, K.A.A. Gent, Ajax, Celta Vigo, Marseille, Roma and Tottenham before signing for Boro last year. His time at Ajax was fruitful on the pitch but fraught off it, the most noticeable indiscretion being an alleged scissor-chucking incident involving team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The recent Boksic-esque run of suspiciously late injuries before games, particularly away from home, does not help in this regard.

It would be a little harsh to brand Mido in the same way. The Croatian was the classic hired hand, unmoved in defeat or victory, with scant motivation beyond self-interest. In admittedly rare moments of fitness during his Boro career, Mido has shown a surprising capacity to inspire team-mates and fans alike. Its the story of his career – at his best, he's a hard-working, technically sound and physically imposing target man. Getting 'his best' out of Mido remains an enigma.

Articulate and intelligent (for a footballer anyway), Mido still seems to be his own worst enemy. “I have made mistakes in my career with some of my moves. I didn't stay and fight for my position," he said in September. "Now I have to learn from the past and think that it is not always an option to go somewhere else when I am not in the team.” You have to wonder how many more European clubs will be prepared to give him a chance if his time at Boro ends in all too familiar frustration with a wasted talent.

If many feared such issues with Mido, its fair to say the record signing of Afonso Alves in January met with something a lot closer to universal approval. Gareth Southgate's faith in the Brazilian remains strong but the doubters are growing in number and volume. A patchy start could be explained away with talk of time needed to adapt and achieve full fitness. A superb brace against Manchester United and a last-day hat trick in the 8-1 humping of City assuaged many concerns.

Instead of flowing, the goals have dried up this term – three in total and just the one from open play. Alves cuts an increasingly fraught figure, struggling to come to terms with the physical side of Premier League defenders and bereft of confidence in the penalty area. The harder he tries, the worse things seem to get. His insistence on retaining free kick duty against Newcastle was brave but the results were embarrassing. Fans in the upper rows behind the goal cowered in a fashion not seen since Stewart Downing last limbered up to take a penalty.

The £20m spent on these two dwarfs the investment made in other areas but its hardly new for expensive strikers to turn into injury-riddled, jelly-legged flops as soon as they arrive on Teesside. We can only hope that if the chequebook has to come out, the curse of Davenport doesn't strike again.

From Fly Me To The Moon 432 (Boro v Arsenal)

Just Typcial

2008-11-28T09:17:00.002Z

There are many words, most unsuitable for a family fanzine, to describe last weekend's grim capitulation to Bolton. Surprising is certainly not one of them. The “typical Boro” tag is an infuriatingly negative attitude on the one hand yet sometimes it is hard to find suitable words to explain our consistent travails against the inept and the mediocre. I’m not suggesting it would be bad idea to start playing before the last half hour of home games or to start marking opponents on set pieces. Yet maybe we need to examine our expectations first.

Middlesbrough Football Club has changed enormously in the twenty years since this fanzine began. Having made my own Ayresome debut on New Year’s Day 1991, I’ve never been entirely sure whether I should consider myself fortunate or not to have missed the tumult of the 1980s. The number of fans who went to games and never returned, victims of violence and/or dilapidated stadia, is shocking. The responses from authorities were rarely anything other than depressingly reactionary. Squeezed by hooliganism on one side and a Thatcherite government on the other, the ‘80s cannot have been an easy time to be a football fan.

On top of that, its hard to imagine the club, the area or indeed the domestic game being at a lower ebb than was reached that summer. To achieve what Bruce Rioch then did would be remarkable anywhere, but to do so under such perilous circumstances is an achievement of scarcely credible magnitude. It was perhaps inevitable that, having achieved such rapid success, a small and youthful squad would feel the pressure. A cruel last-day relegation was almost followed by another.

Rioch achieved near miracles with a club with no money, no ground and barely a squad with a belief that things had to get better. Gibson dragged the club forward in the 1990s because he recognised that investment in new players and a new ground were essential if Boro were not to be left behind by the growing commercialisation of English football. In 1986 or in 1994, the goals were clear if ambitious - promotion in the short term, stability in the top flight in the long term.

In 2008, those goals have been comfortably achieved. Premier League status has been maintained since 1998 without any major scares. Most of you reading this have seen Boro win a trophy and play in a European final. The club operates on a different level - where painful defeats in the latter stages of the FA Cup used to occur once a decade, they now seem to happen once a season. That is progress of sorts. Having come so far, what counts as success now?

Safely positioned in mid-table Premier League, you could reasonably argue Boro are now just battering their head against a glass ceiling. Looked at soberly, this is a golden era, even if it may not have felt that way last week. There may not be much more distance this club can travel upwards. Having grown accustomed to rapid progress, you don’t need to look far at the Riverside on a match day to find fans harbouring unrealistic expectations. There is a danger when a club’s image of itself becomes divorced from reality. We need only look at today’s visitors for an example of how self-defeating this approach can be.

There’s nothing wrong with ambition in itself but if it becomes unconstrained, that can be counter-productive. We shouldn’t abandon hope but we must accept the next chapter could be Boro’s hardest yet.

This article is from Fly Me To The Moon 431 - the 20th birthday spectacular

A painful lesson

2008-10-21T18:17:00.003+01:00

Yes Gary, you probably should have tried to tackle him

Gareth Southgate may have an endearing humility that his predecessor never possessed but his 'lessons will be learned' mantra is wearing as thin as Steve McClaren's blinkered post-match appraisals. Boro's patchy start to the season took a severe turn for the worse on Saturday as Chelsea molested Southgate's side 5-0. A hefty chunk of the 29,221 crowd left long before the end. Those that stayed to the bitter end can only have done so through a combination of morbid fascination and paralysing rage.

No mistake should be made about how dismal a display this was. Its hard to recall a more feckless, feeble performance in nigh on 18 years watching Boro. Southgate's selection and tactics were abysmal but the eleven chosen implemented his misguided plans with a staggering lack of poise and commitment.

Much was made before the match of Chelsea's list of absentees, but their reserves were still head and shoulders above anyone in a red shirt. More telling was how Southgate moulded a side missing Huth, Pogatetz and Tuncay. Scolari's team ruthlessly exploited Boro's makeshift defence. Jonathan Grounds, an inexperienced centre-half cum left-back, was on a hiding to nothing at right back. If it was unfair to ask Grounds to perform an unfamilair role against such skilled opponents, there could be no such excuse for Andrew Taylor on the opposite flank. Taylor simply appeared hopelessly out of his depth while David Wheater looked jaded by every single one of the pointless air miles incurred by his midweek sortie to Minsk.

Things looked little better further forward. The centre of midfield has been a concern all season and was simply abject. Gary O'Neil's distribution was desperate to the point of embarrassment, Didier Digard fared little better while Mohammed Shawky's influence was neglible. Julio Arca was rightly derided for his form last season but will surely get another chance if he can regain fitness. The status quo cannot just remain until the January transfer window.

On the flanks, Adam Johnson left Boro's struggling full-backs exposed while playing on either flanks. Stewart Downing seems a million miles from the star man of last season. The decision to burden him with the captaincy and deploy him in a multitude of positions in the same 90 minutes is perplexing. Downing's great strength is his ability to provide telling crosses and goals from a wide position. Southgate deserves credit for the way he has cajoled greater consistency from Downing since becoming manager. Unfortunately, his current plans seem to be having no impact on Downing's shattered confidence.

Nor has the early season theme of expansive, attacking football translated into a flurry of goals. Boro have scored seven times in eight league games, and only three times in five matches since the end of August. Mido's early season form has evaporated as the Egyptian has dropped ever deeper to prop up a failing midfield. Afonso Alves should be ashamed that he was justifiably considered not good enough to start in a team that played so poorly.

Chelsea are always difficult opponents, particularly given the attacking vibrancy Scolari has added to the side. Yet there can be no excuse for the total failure to give ourselves the best chance possible. Deploying so many players outside of their natural position would be risky with experienced professionals. To do so with such a callow, creaking squad was inviting disaster.

The manager has his work cut out to revive spirits before Saturday evening's trip to Blackburn Rovers. Emmanuel Pogatetz should return to bolster a flagging defence. Tuncay's return is looking unlikely and even so, an unreasonable level of expectation is being laid on the Turk's return. He won't be able to fix a leaky defence or a porous midfield. Several players need to show Southgate's faith in them is justified. Sadly, the pre-season concerns about the midfield and the lack of experience or sheer numbers in the squad are coming home to roost.

The manager's judgement and reputation are on the line now. His pre-season planning met with far from unanimous agreement. Those who silenced their doubts after a bright August have no reason for such reserve now. With seven games between now and the end of November, the next six weeks will have a crucial bearing on whether there will be another winter of discontent as we peer nervously over our shoulders. Southgate's credibility is barely over the bruising of last season's shameful defeat to Cardiff. Many more debacles like Saturday, and the damage could be terminal.

Boro squeeze past Stoke

2008-09-01T18:49:00.003+01:00

"Oh s-hoyte..."

It might not have been pretty but Boro confirmed their best start in nine seasons by beating Stoke City on Saturday. Tuncay Sanli ensured that this week it was Gareth Southgate's side who stole all the points in the closing minutes.

Tony Pulis' Potters were a different proposition to Liverpool or Spurs. Boro had looked dangerous in their opening games against teams who were prepared to pass the ball and occasionally commit men forward.

Stoke's style was somewhat different. Rory Delap must be the first footballer selected as a specialist throw-in taker. While his mammoth throws did cause the odd moment of uncertainty, Delap's clumsy, leaden footwork was embarrassing. Fuller and Kitson provided a muscular if uncomplicated threat up front while Liam Lawrence was busy in midfield. For the opening half hour, the visitors looked fairly comfortable as Boro struggled to assert their technical superiority.

The game changed after Amdy Faye's two footed lunge on Mohammed Shawky. Faye received a thoroughly deserved red card and Afonso Alves arced the resulting free kick into the top corner. Stoke keeper Thomas Sorenson was reduced to joining the bulk of the 27,627 crowd in slack-jawed appreciation.

Jeremie Aliadiere was bright down the right flank again, crossing for Tuncay to screw a simple finish over the bar. Further frustration came after Griffin tripped Alves in the penalty area. Stewart Downing, scorer of 2 penalties last season, could only smash the ball against the crossbar.

Hardened Boro cynics began to fear the worst. Sure enough, Stoke equalised on a rare excursion into enemy territory. Liam Lawrence curved an inviting cross to the far post beyond the grasp of Ross Turnbull. With Kitson playing close attention, Justin Hoyte deflected the ball into the gaping net for Boro's third own goal in three league games.

Frustration grew on and off the pitch. A clearly irked Mido finally made it onto the pitch with thirteen minutes left as Afonso Alves was surprisingly withdrawn. A reprieve came after another mishit Didier Digard shot. Just as against Spurs, the Frenchman inadvertantly found a red shirt in the area. This time, it was Tuncay who had the space to take the ball down and poke past Sorenson. Stoke looked in vain for a flag - replays showed the Turk was definitely onside.

Boro held on to secure an important if unconvincing win. Despite looking prone to the old insecurities, they showed enough resolve to see off Stoke's resolute challenge. To some extent, some sympathy is due to Stoke who put in a prodiguous effort for no reward. Yet, their tactics limit any such niceties. Their direct style and throw-in fetish is acceptable is unappealing. However, the number of late challenges, often when the ball was no longer in play, was indefensible. Its hard to imagine them lasting more than a year in the top flight. Few will miss them.

Player Ratings

Turnbull 6 Little to do
Hoyte 5 Nervy
Pogatetz 6 Doesn't look entirely comfortable at full back
Wheater 7 Strong in the middle and at right back
Huth 7 Stood up well to Stoke's physical approach
Aliadiere 8 Very bright - constant threat
Downing 7 Awful penalty seemed to hit his confidence a little
Shawky 6 Ineffective before the break. Improved but struggling to resist Digard's challenge
O'Neil 6 Struggled to impose himself
Tuncay 7 Tireless running and composed finish at the death
Alves 8 Beautiful free kick was the high point of a classy display.

Subs

Digard (for Shawky) 7 Much more assertive presence in the middle
Taylor (for Hoyte)
Mido (for Alves)

Boro Must Harry Potters

2008-08-29T00:40:00.002+01:00

Be afraid

In the increasingly homogenised Premier League, its not very often we get to welcome a new team from outside the cabal of perennial yo-yo clubs. Yet you have to cast your mind back to August 1997 for Stoke City’s last visit to the Riverside.

Boro had an underwhelming victory over Charlton under their belts before that depressing afternoon. Paul Merson was still making a very sluggish start to his brief Riverside career. Fabrizio Ravanelli marked his final appearance in a Boro shirt with a display of breathtaking lethargy that went unmatched until Yakubu’s leisurely stroll around the JJB twelve months ago.

There had been difficult moments during the relegation season when goals were hard to come by for Rav, chiefly away games and when it was a bit wet. However, he’d still retained enough motivation to deliver the occasional stream of vitriol at passing linesmen or Mikkel Beck. Even Wendy’s belated appearance couldn’t goad Rav into life.

It was the kind of flaccid, bloated display that crept up with alarming regularity through the Robson era. We were horrifyingly, gruesomely bad. Inevitably, with half an hour to go, Paul Stewart scored the only goal. He managed a further two goals that season. In the six years that had passed since leaving Spurs, Stewart’s goal count had barely crept into double figures. His incompetence had stood out in a Liverpool squad containing such luminaries as Torben Piechnik and Istvan Korma. Even Sunderland had washed their hands of him.

It was a fairly unremarkable game but it had a profound influence on me. I’d seen dross before - one of my earliest games was John Gannon’s infamous corner-taking master class against Tranmere. I’d seen ludicrous defeats to cloggers before - it was barely a year since Bolton had scored their only away win of a dismal relegation season with a preposterous 4-1 win at the Riverside. Yet, through a mix of youthful naivety and a blind refusal to accept facts, I’d been able to write them off as isolated incidents.

But this time, as that greying doyen of mediocrity tucked the ball past Ben Roberts, I wasn’t surprised. I half expected it - this was ‘typical Boro’. I’d turned into a miserable old gadgie at the age of 13.

Since then, the ‘inner gadgie’ has never left. I approach games such as today’s with blind panic. Over the years, the list of unexpected nemeses has grown - for every Paul Stewart, there’s another Trevor Benjamin, Gavin McCann or Luke Moore. I really don’t like the look of Richard Cresswell, although that may be to do with more than just the football. I’m also disproportionately concerned by Rory Delap. Sure, we can keep Fernando Torres quiet, but what about a gap-tooted simpleton launching endless throw-ins in the vague direction of goal?

The optimism generated over a bright start to the season only heightens the distance from which we can fall flat on our faces. The battering of Yeovil on Tuesday was a good start - it does suggest some progress when you recall the Notts County fiasco in Southgate’s first season in charge. I’d love to be able to leave my irrational fear of the inept and mediocre behind. After all, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t win comfortably today. Is there?

This article will appear in FMTTM 425.

You can read more of my drivel at http://b17mb.com/articles/2008/08/28/a-striking-problem/.

Anfield of broken dreams

2008-08-24T19:09:00.003+01:00

"Nice goal Mido. Now, nothing daft for the last 20 minutes lads..."

Well that was a sickener. Boro still haven't won at Anfield since 1976. Its hard to believe we've come much closer to breaking that depressing record in the last 32 years.

Still, there is still much to be optimistic about. For 85 minutes, Boro did a perfect job. Solid at the back, industrious in midfield and sharp up front, the team looked comfortable. Fernando Torres was marshalled far more effectively than in either encounter last season while Steven Gerrard was anonymous for large periods. Liverpool's widemen needn't have bothered turning up such was the scant attention paid to them by their team mates.

Once Ross Turnbull, a late replacement for finger-knack victim Brad Jones, had made a comfortable early save from Kuyt, Boro grew more assured. Andrew Taylor almost broke the deadlock with a stinging half volley athletically diverted over the bar by Jose Reina. Gary O'Neil's ceaseless running in the centre was crucial in disrupting Liverpool's flow. Even when Torres managed to squirm away from Huth, David Wheater was on hand to make an excellent intervention.

Having got to half time with the deadlock unbroken, Boro grew in confidence after the break. Mido's introduction in place of Afonso Alves prompted a period of ascendancy. One left wing cross from the Egyptian found Tuncay, back to goal and fifteen yards out. The Turk beat Jamie Carragher with an outrageous turn but unfortunately his finish was not off the same stellar quality.

That was not a problem for Mido twenty minutes from time. With the home defence retreating to the 18 yard box, the substitute launched an exocet of a shot past a helpless Reina from a good 25 yards. That lead could have been doubled had Jeremie Aliadiere shown more composure after rounding the onrushing goalkeeper.

Boro still looked in total control before Jamie Carragher took a potshot six minutes from time. The ball careered of Emanuel Pogatetz past a hapless Turnbull for a thoroughly undeserved equaliser. Worse was to follow in the dying embers of injury time. Wheater failed to gain purchase on his clearing header and the ball ricocheted into Gerrard's path. With depressing predictability, Gerrard lashed the ball unerringly into the top corner.

It was a fine performance despite the result. If Gareth Southgate can keep the bulk of this team fit and confident, it could be a memorable season. Two home games in five days against Yeovil Town and Stoke City are a big test. If these less glamorous opponents are despatched efficiently, then maybe we can all start to believe we've taken a step forward.

Player Ratings

Turnbull 8 No chance with goals - dealt with everything else with composure and authority.
Wheater 7 Solid again
Taylor 7 Tenacious display and almost scored a stunner
Pogatetz 7 Committed
Huth 6 Dominant in the air but cumbersome at times
Aliadiere 7 Prodigious running but lacked composure in the final third
Downing 7 Wasteful at times in good positions
O'Neil 8 Ceaseless running was crucial
Shawky 6 Solid without exerting much influence
Tuncay 7 Excellent workrate and some sparkling touches
Alves 6 Peripheral

Sub - Mido 8 Superb goal. Changed the game again.

Mido's touch downs Spurs

2008-08-17T19:38:00.003+01:00

The Wheat goes on

For the first time in seven years, Boro have made a winning start to the Premier League season. Pre-season optimism will last into a second week after a 2-1 win over Tottenham. David Wheater and Mido scored the goals to earn a deserved three points.

Boro had the best of an opening half against a Spurs team who failed to convert their impressive ball retention with any serious goalscoring threat. It was a combination of profligacy and refereeing ineptitude which kept the scoresheet blank at half time. Afonso Alves should have opened the scoring after Tuncay broke clear but the recovering Benoit Assou-Ekotto managed to make a decisive block.

Referee Martin Atkinson then came to Tottenham's rescue. Wheater evaded the attention of Michael Dawson to head past Heurelho Gomes but Atkinson inexplicably ruled the goal out. Replays clearly showed the only possible infringement had been committed by the visiting centre-half.

The threat to a new-look back line increased when Spurs belatedly introduced the mercurial Dimitar Berbatov to a mixed response from the 3,800 visiting fans. It was Berbatov's touch which sent Jermaine Jenas through on goal but the much-maligned Brad Jones responded with a fine stop.

Belief had begun to drain but Jones' intervention reinvigorated Boro's spirits. The breakthrough came with twenty minutes to play. Downing's corner was only partially cleared but the winger's second effort caused more problems. Afonso Alves' near post shot was superbly turned onto the bar by Gomes only for the ball to rebound to Wheater. The makeshift right-back, positioned a yard from an unguarded net, could not miss.

The lead was doubled four minutes from time as Boro's two substitutes combined. The impressive Didier Digard screwed a shot across the face of goal and ex-Spurs man Mido turned the ball home. A buoyant home crowd took the opportunity to ask Jonathan Woodgate to confirm the scoreline.

A tiring Jeremie Aliadiere wasted a chance to make it 3-0 before Robert Huth's glanced own goal gave Spurs a consolation in the dying embers of stoppage time.

It was an uplifting start to the season, an exciting, high-quality game in front of a healthy crowd. Whether that optimism can survive a trip to Anfield remains to be seen but, for now, there seems much to loom forward to.

Match Ratings

Jones 7 Only flapped once and made a crucial save from Jenas
Wheater 8 Fine effort in an unusual full-back role and a huge threat from set pieces
Taylor 6 Competent without being totally convincing
Huth 7 Own goal was an insignificant blot on a solid display
Pogatetz 7 Commanding
Aliadiere 7 Lively presence down the right
Downing 8 Dangerous as ever. Quality service.
O'Neil 7 Energetic if a little wasteful on the ball
Shawky 7 Solid
Tuncay 8 Never gave the visiting defence a moment's rest
Alves 8 Showed his class and a deft change of pace

Gareth Luke-s elsewhere for right-back

2008-08-07T17:54:00.003+01:00

Luke Young makes a break for it

Boro today accepted an offer from Aston Villa for right-back Luke Young. While the amount hasn't been disclosed, Gareth Southgate described it as too good to turn down. "Sometimes an offer can be one that makes it very difficult to turn down," he said.

Given that the offer is reported to be somewhere in the region of £5-6m, the financial logic of the decision is clear. Young cost £2.5m from Charlton only 12 months ago, and at 29 with two years remaining on his contract, its unlikely such an offer would be forthcoming in the future. It is also possible that the occasional rumours about the full-back being unsettled on Teesside may have had a factor.

Nonetheless, it is still a surprising and disappointing move. Boro's callow squad is about to lose one of its most consistent and experienced members. With huge doubts over goalkeepers and central midfield already, Southgate now has to deal with another problem position just nine days before the opening game of the season. The manager worked very hard to convince Stewart Downing and David Wheater of the club's ambitions during last year's contract negotiations. How Boro's better and more ambitious players will view the sale of one of last season's most impressive performers is worth considering.

Southgate has promised to move quickly to sign a replacement, although the early rumours about the execrable Justin Hoyte are deeply concerning. Its likely a chunk of Villa's cash will be invested in filling the gaping hole in the centre of the field, meaning Young's replacement may well come on the cheap. For all the improvements made to the squad's attacking talent, Southgate seems to be almost wilfully weakening his back line by allowing Young to leave and failing to replace Mark Schwarzer.

The wisdom (or not) of Southgate's decisions will only become apparent in a few months' time. In the meantime, he's testing the faith of the fans. We have to hope he's right - if his gamble goes wrong, it could be a sobering autumn.

Prediction time

2008-08-06T17:11:00.004+01:00

Gareth can't believe I said Derby would stay up

The barren summer months are coming to end - another thrilling season of two-thirds down the table mediocrity is almost upon us. I made some predictions this time last year that were somewhat patchy - my faith in Derby County was utterly preposterous. However, its nice to see the circus up the road did not disappoint.

Undeterred, I'm bravely taking a stab at how the next ten months will unfold in the crazy, roller-coaster world of the Premier League:

1 Chelsea (2nd last season) After an underwhelming interlude from Avram Grant, Chelsea have opted for another outspoken presence in the dugout. Scolari's squad has unparalleled depth. If Carvalho stays fit to marshal the defence and Bosingwa performs consistently enough to keep Essien in midfield, it could be a long time until we see John Terry blubbing for our amusement again.

2 Manchester United (1) Its hard to see the double winners dropping far of the pace despite a summer dogged by the most tedious transfer saga since, er, last year. Nevertheless, they only just edged out Chelsea last year despite the autumnal shambles at Stamford Bridge. It'll be considerably harder this time round.

3 Liverpool (4) Rafa Benitez has never put together a convincing title challenge at Anfield and thats unlikely to change this year despite investing a slightly perplexing £20m in Robbie Keane. The midfield lacks the creativity and width of the very best teams meaning they often drop points against sturdy but limited opposition. Their challenge will be in tatters by the time the leaves change colour, just like last year and the year before...

4 Arsenal (3) It could be a trying year for Arsene Wenger, a man who seems to have grown into the belief that winning trophies is a bit too vulgar for his tastes. The midfield looks barren although Flamini will be a more significant absence than Hleb - Arsenal should be able find another amusement arcade to deposit out wide and shoot twice a season easily enough. There's enough talent to do much better than 4th in this team, as was shown for much of last year, but the suspicion that they lack the necessary mental fortitude remains.

5 Portsmouth (9) Droopy has splurged a healthy chunk of last season's FA Cup bounty on Peter Crouch, who he correctly acknowledges as a triffic, triffic player. How much progress Pompey make rests on how Crouchy links up with Defoe-y. James and Campbell provide a very solid base and Krancjar and Diarra add a sprinkling of class to midfield.

6 Aston Villa (6) Poor old Martin O'Neill has not had much of a summer. His holiday in the Alps was spent next to Alan Shearer, who spent a solid month spouting inanities, his modesty barely concealed by gonad-hugging shiny trousers. He then returns home to the ball-aching tedium of the Gareth Barry saga. It seems safe to assume that Barry will finally leave although Steve Sidwell should form a respectable midfield partnership with Nigel Reo-Coker. Villa could still have a job on moving up the table as O'Neill had little spare time to strengthen the weaker areas of his squad. Despite a total dearth of full-backs, he's only just got round to giving Luke Young the gladeye.

7 Tottenham (11) It wouldn't be this time of the year without talk of revolution at White Hart Lane. Juande Ramos has replaced several members of last year's entertainingly madcap outfit. Several fringe players have been offloaded, largely to Sunderland. There is the potential to push back towards the fifth place Spurs claimed in 2005 and 2006. However, with Keane gone, Berbatov's future uncertain and a defence reliant on the fitness of King and Woodgate, there is also plenty of scope for problems.

8 Manchester City (9) After a very peculiar 2007/08, its hard to judge how Mark Hughes will fare in his first campaign in the employment of the Premier League's most popular deposed dictator. He's spent a healthy chunk of Thaksin's legitimately acquired cash on the Brazilian striker Jo. If he and the returning Valeri Bojinov can provide a more potent goal threat than Vassell and Mpenza then City could improve on last year. Drawing some consistency out of Elano and retaining the services of Vedran Corluka would help too.

9 Everton (5) Its been a turbulent summer at Goodison. David Moyes has held off signing his new contract in an attempt to prize more funds out of the board without success. The Toffees have lost a chief executive and almost all their central midfielders without any significant recruitment. With Andy Johnson almost out of the door, the pressure on Yakubu to deliver will increase. That all too familiar transfer request could be winging its way on Moyes' desk sooner than he thought.

10 West Ham (10) The Hammers were calcified in tenth place from sometime around October last year and its unlikely they'll move very far. There's been no significant alterations to the playing staff. Despite the rumours of belt-tightening, Alan Curbishley won't be deviating far from his trademark mid-table finish.

11 Newcastle (12) Whether it was Joey Barton's imprisonment, Sam Allardyce's managerial reign, an 11-1 aggregate thumping from Man U or just Alan Smith, Newcastle never seem far from humiliating themselves. Its hard to believe it'll take too long this year. Surely an emotional Keegan resignation is on the cards sooner rather than later?

12 Boro (13) Better than last year - but not much.

13 Sunderland (15) Roy Keane's expensively assumbled collection of Irishmen and Spurs reserves should avoid the bottom three comfortably enough. Still, its hard to identify where the class or creativity to break out of the confines of lower mid-table is going to come from.

14 Blackburn (7) It doesn't look too promising for Rovers. Paul Ince did a sterling job for the evil overlords of Milton Keynes but he hasn't made the most convincing start - Robbie Fowler on a free is unlikely to reverse the damage caused by the loss of a manager and arguably the team's two best players in Friedel and Bentley. Roque Santa Cruz needs to maintain last season's form, particularly if Benni McCarthy does likewise.

15 Fulham (17) After last season's freakish escape, Roy Hodgson has gone for quantity more than quality in his attempt to stave off "wewegation". Jimmy Bullard revitalised the Cottagers in the closing weeks while we know well enough that Schwarzer is a safe pair of hands for a mid-table team. Its hard to see Hodgson's side escaping too far from the bottom three.

16 Wigan (14) Steve Bruce has a mixed reputation as a boss after an inconsistent time at Birmingham and a history of dugout sluttiness. He did, however, galvanise a side tanking horribly under Chris Hutchings and fully deserves a spotter's badge for the acquisition of Wilson Palacios. Wigan should be OK but their summer signings and Emile Heskey's fitness record mean its unlikely they'll break out of the division's bottom quarter.

17 West Brom (P) Tony Mowbray has made an impressive start to his managerial career, creating fluent attacking sides at Hibs and West Brom. Although doubts persist about the defence, the Baggies should have enough firepower to give themselves a chance of survival.

18 Hull (P) Hull's rise through the divisions has been rapid. However, its hard to be optimistic about their chances of making their stay in the top flight permanent. George Boateng showed last year that he remains fiercely committed even if his powers are undeniably on the wane. In Myhill and Turner, Hull do have players who could step up another level. However, they haven't replaced Frazer Campbell and its unlikely they'll be able to score enough goals.

19 Bolton (16) Gary Megson has never been the most convincing manager and his decision to spend much of the Anelka bounty on Johan Elmander is curious to say the least. Another long hard season is in store.

20 Stoke (P) The new Derby. Nowhere near good enough.

FA Cup Manchester United
Carling Cup Chelsea

Delving Into The Annals: Boro 6 Derby 1

2008-03-21T10:20:00.002Z

The Class of '97

Derby may be staring demotion from the Premier League down the barrel but it was Boro who were teetering on the brink of catastrophe when the Rams made their first trip to the Riverside. A dismal 3-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday four days earlier had left Boro rooted to the bottom of the table. In contrast, newly promoted Derby were safe in midtable. There was still a mental advantage to fight for, with Boro travelling to the Baseball Ground for the FA Cup quarter-final three days after the league encounter.

It wasn't long before the Derby defence began to creak but they were given an astonishing reprieve when Fabrizio Ravanelli contrived to steer the ball wide when presented with an open goal ten yards out by Mikkel Beck. Its suprising Wendy didn't take the rare opportunity to give Rav a fully merited bollocking.

Still, the White Feather's blushes were spared soon after by the calamitous Derby keeper Russell Hoult. Vladimir Kinder cut in from the left flank and hit a speculative shot, which bounced three times and stopped to wipe its feet on the way to the bottom. Hoult gave the ball the kind of cursory glance passers-by might use on encountering a drunken tramp.

Derby might have equalised early in the second half when Mark Schwarzer made a smart stop at the feet of Dean Sturridge. Given how quickly his career evaporated afterwards, its perverse to think Sturridge was once viewed as one of England's most promising strikers, linked with a move to Arsenal. Although I suppose it should be remembered the era of Chris Kiwomya and Glenn Helder was barely over at this point.

Hoult soon settled any Boro nerves. Wandering idly in the penalty area, he remained oblivous to the incoming Ravanelli until it was too late, able only to dive over Rav's shot. When Craig Hignett evaded the Derby defence by cunningly standing still fifteen yards from goal with twenty minutes left, the finish was cool and the floodgates open.

Ravanelli returned the earlier favour by presenting Beck with a chance he couldn't miss - he didn't. Juninho was now taunting Derby's threadbare defence, teasing them with the ball before spiriting it away to a team-mate. A dismal attempt at an offside trap allowed Ravanelli a second. A third goal in four minutes followed, Rav suspiciously offside as he collected Juninho's pass and poked past the hapless Hoult.

There was still time for Derby sub Paul Simpson to curl an exquisite free kick past Schwarzer in injury time. It was no consolation for Jim Smith. Always dangerous at 1-0, they folded in the face of a rampant Boro. Juninho and Ravanelli were truly in their pomp. Even with Hoult ditched, the pair still managed memorable goals as Boro won 2-0 in the ensuing cup tie. For a few weeks, confidence growing after this emphatic win, the great escape seemed on. Progress in the cups was incessant. What could possibly go wrong now?

Boro: Schwarzer, Fleming, Kinder (Cox), Festa, Pearson (Blackmore), Mustoe, Emerson (Stamp), Hignett, Juninho, Ravanelli, Beck. Subs not used: Moore, Roberts.

Goals: Kinder 24, Ravanelli 54, 82, 85, Hignett 70, Beck 81.

Derby: Hoult, Rowett, Powell, Stimac, Laursen (McGrath), Dailly, Carsley (Simpson), van der Laan, Asanovic (Willems), Ward, Sturridge. Subs not used: Flynn, Taylor.

Goal: Simpson 90.

A vague sense of doom

2008-03-21T10:10:00.000Z

I've started writing here. Enjoy...

Crime & Punishment

2008-02-26T20:41:00.002Z

According to the FA, this...

...is not as bad as this man's girly slap

In an uncharacteristic deviation from sensible judgement, the FA today extended Jeremie Aliadiere's suspension to four games, ruling Boro's appeal as "frivolous". Therefore, Aliadiere is now receiving a more stringent sanction for his ludicrous mitted slap than Martin Taylor has for his amateurish attempt to amputate Eduardo's ankle. The Frenchman's ban starts tomorrow night against Sheffield United.

There are doubts over the Boro defence for the crucial FA Cup replay with Robert Huth still doubtful and David Wheater suspended. Jon Grounds and Seb Hines are likely to plug the gaps. Elsewhere, there could be a belated chance for Afonso Alves to make his full debut after a couple of bemused substitute appearances.

There was at least the welcome news that Stewart Downing's new five year contract has finally been signed. Inexplicably maligned by many, including at times a disturbingly vocal minority of his own club's fans, its not any coincidence that again Boro's best form has been inspired by an on-song Downing. Lets hope he's left to prosper at the Riverside for some time yet.

Fernando gives Boro Torr-id time

2008-02-24T12:17:00.003Z

Its Torres again - bugger

An afternoon of promise at Anfield ended in defeat yesterday. Abject defensive errors allowed Liverpool to steal all three points in a game where Boro had looked comfortable leaders. However, at the risk of sounding like Paul Collingwood in the aftermath of another England pounding, there were plenty of positives to be taken from the game.

As Gareth Southgate himself states, the real disappointment at not taking at least a point is a measure of the progress made in recent months. The team posed a real threat against a nominal member of the self-styled 'Big 4'.

Liverpool's patchwork defence was quickly exposed. A pitiful offside trap failed, leaving the returning Tuncay Sanli at the head of a queue of Boro players to nod past Reina. Thereafter, Boro seemed in total control, composed at the back and busy in midfield. The home side were growing frustrated, their passing wayward. Steven Gerrard displayed an uncanny knack of picking out the bloke in row five with his endless Hollywood balls.

Boro's serenity was broken by a horrible error by the increasingly erratic Julio Arca. A ludicrous attempt to head the ball back to Schwarzer sent Fernando Torres clean through and the Spaniard's composed finish was inevitable. Much the same as it was when he was left a free shot twenty-five yards out. Advantage to deficit in one torrid minute.

A composed start to the second half was undone by another calamitous error. Wheater dithered over a long ball while Schwarzer inexplicably raced from his goal. Torres rolled the ball into a forlorn, gaping goalmouth to comeplete his hat trick. Having performed strongly for much of the opening hour, Boro trailed 3-1 and were in danger of a dicking.

The response was pleasingly resolute. Boro stuck at their task and Arca played a magnificent pass to cut open the correct defence this time. Stewart Downing capped another strong display with a well-taken goal. Any chance of an equaliser was undermined by Jeremie Aliadiere's foolish dismissal. While the contact was minimal and no worse than Mascherano's provocation, Aliadiere gave the referee a decision to make, and at Anfield, they tend to go one way.

Player Ratings

1 Schwarzer 6 Solid enough save for howler for Torres' third.
2 Young 6 Dealt with lively Babel well for the most part.
40 Grounds 8* Another solid display. Promising.
31 Wheater 6 Could have closed down Torres for second goal.
6 Pogatetz 7 Can't be faulted for Liverpool goals.
4 O'Neil 6 Struggled to make an impact.
19 Downing 7 Once again, Boro's most potent attacking threat.
10 Rochemback 6 Tidy rather than influential.
3 Arca 6 Excellent pass for Downing's goal but too many errors.
17 Tuncay 7 Very bright first half. Faded.
11 Aliadiere 6 Hard running but struggled to make an impact. Stupid red card.

Its Sheffield United in the crucial FA Cup replay next. Another obstacle cleared on the path to Wembley and the disappointment of Anfield will be forgotten. Wheater and Aliadiere will be suspended but with Robert Huth returning and Mido and Afonso Alves waiting in the wings, Boro should be able to absorb those losses.

Blades drawn for Robbo

2008-02-14T18:23:00.005Z

Robbo in happier times (looking surprisingly like Gareth Barry too)

Its FA Cup time again this weekend. Nearly 6,000 Boro fans will be making the short trip to Bramall Lane on Sunday, hopefully bereft of balloons. With at least 3 lower league teams guaranteed to be in the draw for the quarter-finals, dreams of a first trip to Wembley are growing.

It seems like aeons since our last trip to Sheffield United, in the bleak early weeks of Gareth Southgate's tenure. It was just 18 months ago but so many players in key roles have already been consigned to Boro history - Woodgate, Yakubu, Viduka, even Gaizka Mendieta managed 10 minutes in that game.

Your trusty correspondent was suffering very painful six-a-side related knee knack at the time so even Yakubu's equaliser was not so much a moment of joy as a desperate struggle to remain upright. Phil Jagielka sealed the Blades' first Premier League win with a thumping injury time strike and a long winter seemed ahead. Since then, things have got a lot better before getting worse then better again.

Poor old Bryan Robson. Things just seem to keep getting worse for him. The much maligned former Boro boss has been dismissed, a sop to the mutinous Bramall Lane crowd. If the abuse Robson receives for his work at Boro and, to a lesser extent, West Brom is a little harsh, its hard to dispute Blades fans' grievances over a dismal season. Promotion was expected but United languish 16th in the Championship. In their last home game, bottom-of-the-table Scunthorpe played all but the opening ten minutes a man down but still emerged with a point from a goalless draw.

This all makes it hard to judge how the mood will be on Sunday. Its hard to know if the brooding discontent of the home fans will be erased by removing Robson or to judge how well ex-assistant and former Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell will be received. This all suggests that scoring the opening goal could be the killer blow, puncturing fragile self-belief.

This could be easier said than done, with more pressure on the increasingly impressive Jeremie Aliadiere. Tuncay Sanli is still a week or two from fitness while Mido is a month and several pounds from such a state. It seems like Afonso Alves' introduction to the English game will continue to be gradual. That leaves Lee Dong Gook. Bugger.

Still, with solid away form intact and no defeat since New Year's Day, Boro should have the confidence and ability to pass this test.

Prediction: Sheff Utd 0 Boro 1

** It seems the Boro taste for ludicrous Uefa Cup performances lives on in northern Scotland. On-loan midfielder Josh Walker scored against Bayern Munich, and Aberdeen held on for 2-2 having led twice!

Boro win; Alves signs

2008-01-30T15:24:00.001Z

Its been a tense but productive week at the Riverside. Wigan were eventually dispatched on Tuesday night in a crucial relegation head-to-head before Boro completed the record signing of Brazilian international striker Afonso Alves for a reported £12m.

The Alves saga has dominated the transfer window and rumbled on until 11:30 on Thursday night. The bleating of AZ president Dirk Scheringa suggests there may still be more to come, although it seems unlikely anything will result from the Dutchman's posturing. While there is an undoubted gamble in investing an eight figure sum for the first time in a player with no Premier League experience, hopes are high that Alves can provide the cutting edge the team have been missing. With a goal scoring record in the Eredivisie that beats Ronaldo, Romario and van Nistelrooy, Alves has the potential. Its clearly enough to convince Gareth Southgate to stake his managerial reputation on Alves delivering.

Alves was at the Riverside on Tuesday and must have been pleased at the creativity his new team mates showed. For the opening half hour, Wigan were repeatedly carved open. Tuncay Sanli's deft turns and twisting runs were as thrilling as his finishing was awful. Doubtless spurred on by Fabio Capello's presence, Stewart Downing tormented Wigan down the left. It was Downing's flighted ball over the top that allowed Jeremie Aliadiere to notch a belated first goal at the Riverside, emphatically beating Kirkland with a firm left footed shot.

Once again, Boro suffered from not taking their chances while on top. Wigan should have been out of sight by half time but clung on to make it a nervy second half. Boro were indebted to Mark Schwarzer for a terrific save from Emile Heskey's header that sealed three points.

Its a trip to Newcastle tomorrow, up the world's largest staircase for the worst view and most fascist stewards in the Premier League. No doubt they'll be turning a deaf ear to the inevitably droll paedophilia jibes from the home crowd. If Mido plays, expect more political commentary, the Toon Army having been outraged by the way the Egyptian took their racist abuse with good humour at the Riverside. With Alves without his visa and Tuncay's hamstring thoroughly twanged, it seems likely Mido will have a role to play.

The Keegan 'revolution' seems to coming off the rails already, with the farcical recruitment of Dennis Wise and no goals scored in three games under the liberating, attacking influence of the (latest) Geordie messiah. With Boro's impressive recent away form, this could be the year to do something about our depressingly poor record at St. James' Park.

Prediction: Newcastle 1 Boro 1

Stag Party

2008-01-28T17:13:00.000Z

Its been a very busy few days with progress in the FA Cup, more rumour-mongering and a crucial relegation clash on the horizon. How the club negotiates the rest of this week will have a huge bearing on the remainder of the season.

1. Up for the Cup

One concrete development over the last few days was Boro's progress to the last 16 of the FA Cup. Mansfield may be in deep trouble at the foot of League 2 but the passage to the fifth round was far from easy. Gareth Southgate decided to ring the changes and few of the players who came in excelled.

In a truly staggering development, Dong Gook Lee opened the scoring, rifling in from close range after Adam Johnson's corner. Sadly, the Korean reverted to type afterwards, his existence barely registering. He also managed a trademark miss with an open goal after clever play from Aliadiere on the right flank. The Frenchman's performance was full of intelligent running that was undermined by the failure of his colleagues to provide adequate support.

The midfield stand-ins failed to make a case for the removal of O'Neil or Downing. Cattermole's display was charcterised by typical ill-discipline while Adam Johnson's twisting runs were too often curtailed before a telling contribution could be made.

Despite a couple of scares, victory was rarely in doubt although it was not until the dying moments before a second goal sealed the game. Buxton's own goal came after one of the few moves of Premier League quality Boro managed.

Its the short trip to Bramall Lane for round five and a clash with Bryan Robson. We must be wary - 'Balloongate' suggests he's developed much more tactical ingenuity since his Boro days.

2. Woodgate to Spurs

It seems the tide has turned with Woodgate's relations with the Boro fans. With rumours circulating of Newcastle's interest on Saturday, a significant minority of Boro's travelling fans at Field Mill were vocal in their condemnation. Despite Keegan's intervention and a rumoured bid from Arsenal (denied by Arsene Wenger), it seems Woodgate is heading to Spurs.

Few Boro fans believe the decision to allow Woodgate to leave has been made on a football or financial basis. Whether we'll ever know how much truth is in the murmurings of Woodgate's off-field conduct is doubtful. Southgate's pointed comments about Woodgate having to decide 'whether he wants to be part of what we're doing' confirm suspicions Woodgate's attitude is the problem. Its a brave decision but only time will show whether its the correct move.

3. Downing's Mr. 10%

Football agents generally enjoy the kind of public respect and affection afforded to paedophiles and murderers. And with good reason. Odious Geordie parasite Ian Elliott has again been mouthing off about Stewart Downing. Today, Elliott launched another self-serving rant in his continued feud with Boro's management. It seems the refusal to sanction Downing's departure, denying Elliott a major payday, has riled the Geordie leech into claiming Downing will not sign a new contract at the Riverside.

Despite Elliott's shameless hawking of his client this month, there's been no interest beyond Spurs' muted approach. The fact remains Downing is rated much higher on Teesside than elsewhere, so his immediate future is unlikely to be anywhere else. Whether Elliott will be so welcome at the club is doubtful. Steve McClaren's agent may be able to tell him how Steve Gibson prefers to deal with truculent agents.

4. Afonso near, yet so far

The official site is reporting that the appeal hearing for Afonso Alves' work permit application will be held on Wednesday. Thats on the basis that a deal has been concluded with Heerenveen and Alves. Reports claim this will be done in the next 24 hours. As they have for the past fortnight...

5. There is a game tomorrow...

Amidst the excitement over the FA Cup and the endless transfer tittle-tattle, the fact Boro have a crucial Premier League fixture tomorrow has almost been forgotten. Wigan visit the Riverside two points in arrears on an evening packed with clashes between the league's strugglers. Gary O'Neil and Tuncay Sanli should be back in contention for the game, although Jonathan Grounds may once again be pressed into action if Emmanuel Pogatetz is ruled out.

Prediction: Boro 2 Wigan 1 - anything less than 3 points can't be contemplated.