When I took my seat I always sat next to the same person. We talked about our families, where we lived, worked, went for a pint, holidays, things we got up to when we were younger, the news, politics, roadworks, bin collection, what was for tea when we got home, the state of modern music and how it was much better in our youth, the schools we went to, our first wages and what we spent them on, old featues, places, etc of the town and anything else you could imagine. We would talk about the top teams and how they were doing, who the surprises might be or will be. Who would be relegated from the Prem, who would win the cup/league cup, European and international results. Closer to kick off we would talk about betting odds and predictions, the team: selection, formation, form, tactics, weaknesses, strengths. The same for the opposition. Pigbag would boom from the speakers. "Me Mark Page" would screech out and deafen us and we would whinge about it being too loud, as the teams walked onto the pitch. We would comment on the visiting teams strips, how many away fans we could see, how tall their centre forward was, how quick their left winger was, the centre backs hair style, the keeper seeming to have extra long arms. We would point to the flags being waved opposite and the massive banner being passed around the ground. We would applaud the stewards for escorting a drunken man out of his seat and to the exit for shouting racist stuff at the black players.
So you see, Bock 86 ,this is not just a football board, it is a football board that has brought us together. Like the Riverside, it is a meeting place for all of us and we can talk together about any subject we like. We are all welcome to join in the conversations and we are all welcome not to. No one will pass judgement. The thing we all have in common is that we are all Boro fans.
, each to their own I suppose 
