Many happy returns Craig Johnston who turns turns big 60 today

I detect he ain’t too warm to us but I guess you can hardly blame him if it’s true about the car park lark . However as detailed above we did give him a leg up ( and probably a leg over in the Maddo ) !
 
Borobarmy said:
Agree , we did a fire sale and it was heartbreaking to endure . Remember we had Steven Bell and Darren Wood in the making and then add Otto and we were a centre forward short of great days
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always baffled by how we ended up skint, selling Johnson ,Hodgson and Proctor.
 
r00fie1 said:
Erimus: I dont know if you agree, but at its best - all Jhon Neale needed was a couple more quality players and that team would have taken off to the moon! With Proc, Hodgo, Johno, Terry C an Platty we had a good core - not forgetting Spike an Tony Mac. I think the board didnt have the nous or foresight to look beyond the end of Ayresome Street and thats why we ended up flogging the lot:(
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Totally agree roofie (y)
 
Craig is extremely warm re Boro fans and cared very much about how the club under Amer was letting the fans down.
I know this from personal experience.

Still, what would we have done without that miniature sports centre that never got a full certificate, leaked and was dangerous to use.?
 
Borobarmy said:
Agree , we did a fire sale and it was heartbreaking to endure . Remember we had Steven Bell and Darren Wood in the making and then add Otto and we were a centre forward short of great days
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I thought Woody had a great future and Steven Bell looked about 14 when he played in the first team! It was a shame that the continuity and connection with more established players was severed. Thos who replaced that squad - Joe Bolton, Bobby Thomson, Ray Hankin - were second rate. Saddened to watch as the crowds fell away week by week. Eventually the Holgate felt like a morgue - plenty of empty spaces and an echo of the missing fans where the noise and elation had been only a few seasons earlier.:(
 
indeedido said:
Craig is extremely warm re Boro fans and cared very much about how the club under Amer was letting the fans down.
I know this from personal experience.

Still, what would we have done without that miniature sports centre that never got a full certificate, leaked and was dangerous to use.?
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I have it on a small video casette that he said he never wanted to leave, he was happy here, the club more or less got rid of him for £££££££££'s
 
r00fie1 said:
I thought Woody had a great future and Steven Bell looked about 14 when he played in the first team! It was a shame that the continuity and connection with more established players was severed. Thos who replaced that squad - Joe Bolton, Bobby Thomson, Ray Hankin - were second rate. Saddened to watch as the crowds fell away week by week. Eventually the Holgate felt like a morgue - plenty of empty spaces and an echo of the missing fans where the noise and elation had been only a few seasons earlier.:(
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It was cataclysmic how quick the demise happened . I remember the highlight of Wolves at home in the QF and then 3 years later like you say we were skint and I remember a coffin Getting walked from The Empire down Linthorpe Road to AP .

edit . I would be well impressed Erimus if you have a gazette clipping of that mock funeral ?
 
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it was a troubled time for the Boro.... JN was indeed building a decent team, ( never got the Billy Ashcroft signing tho ) and he sussed the way the board was going and got out in 81, he was replaced by Bobby Murdoch who had a poor team left after the cashing in... all downhill till 86 and the Bruce Rioch wonder team
 
Borobarmy said:
It was cataclysmic how quick the demise happened . I remember the highlight of Wolves at home in the QF and then 3 years later like you say we were skint and I remember a coffin Getting walked from The Empire down Linthorpe Road to AP .

edit . I would be well impressed Erimus if you have a gazette clipping of that mock funeral ?
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It does happen though, it happened again under Southgate then Strachan.

Its fragile, and you have to admire the clubs who recycle their teams for not just years but decades, the likes of Everton who I know are a big club but they haven’t been relegated for 70 odd years.
 
HolgateCorner said:
It does happen though, it happened again under Southgate then Strachan.

Its fragile, and you have to admire the clubs who recycle their teams for not just years but decades, the likes of Everton who I know are a big club but they haven’t been relegated for 70 odd years.
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Think Everton & Arsenal are the only clubs that have never been relegated from the top flight
 
I get where your coming from but I personally am still miffed how we weren’t assisted as much as the likes of West Ham have been leant a favour . We and clubs similar to our ilk such as Sheff Utd ( Carlos Tevez ) have had to do it the hard way .
We had to pay all of our creditors in 86 as it was to me like they did all they could to push us over the ledge
 
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Didn’t I read on here that Bernie Slaven had just turned 60 too?
Weird - CJ and Bernie feel to me like they come from completely different eras.
Guess CJ was a kid when he joined us but Bernie was no spring chicken 🤔
 
Badonde said:
Didn’t I read on here that Bernie Slaven had just turned 60 too?
Weird - CJ and Bernie feel to me like they come from completely different eras.
Guess CJ was a kid when he joined us but Bernie was no spring chicken 🤔
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Yes Bernies was the 13th November & both Bernie & Craig Johnston wrote to club & others asking for a trial, the Boro replied to both, they came & served the club magnificently (y)
 
Michael_Vronsky said:
Bernie was 24 when he signed for us if I remember rightly.
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October 1985 – Willie Maddren organised a trial game against Bradford City that Bernie played in & scored, Ironically he made & scored in his home debut v Bradford, he impressed the Boro management enough to snap him up

Terry Yorath, Bradford's boss also wanted him to sign on the dotted line, but the then Albion Rovers owner negotiated a deal with Boro, which satisfied all parties, & manager Willie Maddren picked Slaven up for a bargain price of £25,000
 
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