As Derby County enter the weekend in Administration and -3 points at the bottom of the table - its always nice to reflect and take us back to Karanka`s team on the rise......Derby had defended like lions, but ended up Rams to the slaughter [OK its a crap joke].
A well worked ball through defence from our Captain - Grant Leadbitter, followed by a sneaky side-footer from Albert Adomah. On this occasion, defender George Friend scored a rare goal - going potty in front of the south Stand in the proccess!
Chris Wilder has taken time to understand the history of the club and saviour the atmosphere of the Riverside. He genuinely comes from the other "Steel City" and wants to connect to the fans and the area.
Lets just remind ourselves.......
We are a bigger club than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.
In typical Teesside fashion - we take the rise vout of ourselves and the club....
......but woe betide anyone who takes the mick out of Teesside and The Mighty Boro!
Neil Warnock described us fans as "enthusiastic", whilst George Friend described the Boro as "an obsession". He described people wearing the colours in the street, in school, in the shopping centre and at family events.
Written by a deluded Skunk 4 years ago.......oh how things change.......[read on]
Opinion
Why does nobody care about Middlesbrough?
Middlesbrough is a strange one.
It must be totally baffling to the rest of the country as to why the football team only 30 miles down the road means absolutely nothing to Newcastle fans. [Thats why you find a reason to write about us]
When you consider the football map these days, it will be even more puzzling.
The likes of Darlington and Hartlepool have even lost their league status and are in the wilderness.
Whilst Sunderland have dropped off a cliff and after successive relegations looking to join them, now in the process of being bought by bidders that are headed up by the owner of non-league Eastleigh. [Ever heard of Saudi Arabia?]
As for the Premier League, Newcastle United found themselves with no other team within a round trip radius of less than 240 miles or so.
No local Premier League clubs and indeed not one in the whole of Yorkshire, trips to Burnley and Huddersfield the only two closer than visiting Manchester and beyond. [How the map changes - Next season you will be the richest club in the Championship]
As for Middlesbrough, it is hilarious really as to just how little they are in our conscious thoughts. [?!]
I was astounded to see this morning that they had already qualified for the play-offs and would be one of the four with the opportunity of making up the three clubs coming up the top tier. [Divint worry marra - your time is coming]
I honestly had no idea and haven’t heard a single Newcastle fan talking about them, plenty interest with Fulham and the Mitro connection, even Villa to a much smaller extent because of their capacity to annoy in recent times, but Middlesbrough…?
If anybody had asked me what I knew about Middlesbrough this season, I would have known they brought in Tony Pulis halfway through and they were kind of somewhere between mid-table and the play-off positions, but that is it really, apart from guessing that as usual there had been loads of empty seats. Certainly not that they had ensured a top six spot with time to spare. [Beats filling your seats with dummies]
Middlesbrough of course always want to be Newcastle’s rival on those occasions when we happen to be in the same division but no normal person counts this as a big game…and most definitely not as a derby. [Who wants to be a rival with you?!!!]
Do I want Boro to come up through the play-offs? [Wouldnt mind lyke]
The choice at the moment is Villa and Middlesbrough, with Fulham and Derby hot favourites to join them in the play-off semi-finals.[So much for informed judgement]
I suppose if pushed I would probably say I’d want Fulham to go up due to the Mitro thing, plus they play good football, and it is a canny place to visit.
Middlesbrough doesn’t have any of that. [You dont play football. Full Stop!]
I don’t have any strong feelings about any of their players, with Pulis in charge I can’t imagine they play anything that resembles football, whilst as for visiting the place…it has always been a case of in getting in and out in the minimum of time spent there. The locals are about as friendly as the skyline is attractive, so can’t really think of anything in favour of Middlesbrough sharing a division with Newcastle. [Talk about resembling football! Sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League - shipping goals and sinking faster than the titanic]
I had to check when we’d last played them, the last and maybe only big memory of the place being when Tino Asprilla came off the bench and added some magic and a win on his debut under Kevin Keegan.
It is actually over eight years since we last crossed paths, playing each other in the Championship the first time Mike Ashley got Newcastle relegated.[Wont be the last pal]
Turns out Newcastle beat them 2-0 at home and drew 2-2 away that season on the way to 102 points as champions.
Actually, you have to go back 12 years and eight games since Boro actually beat Newcastle, a 1-0 defeat for NUFC at their place in October 2006.
If Middlesbrough do deserve recognition maybe it will come from Mike Ashley, as he can proudly boast that Newcastle have never lost to the Smoggies in his entire 11 year reign. [An yuse havent won a domestic trophy since 1955 - when National Service was compulsory! At least the Mackems - your local "neighbours" have won more than you]
Millwall return to Sky Bet Championship action on Saturday afternoon as The Lions make the journey to Middlesbrough (kick-off 3pm).
www.millwallfc.co.uk
Preview | Middlesbrough v Millwall
Back in action...
Millwall return to Sky Bet Championship action on Saturday afternoon as The Lions make the journey to Middlesbrough (kick-off 3pm).
Gary Rowett's side signed off before the final international break of 2021 with a 1-1 draw at home to Derby County and will be seeking a third win in four away matches at the Riverside Stadium. They will, however, come up against a Boro outfit buoyed by the arrival of Chris Wilder.
The fitness of Murray Wallace, George Evans and Billy Mitchell will be assessed prior to kick-off, whilst Shaun Hutchinson should return to the squad following his absence against The Rams due to illness. Everyone else is available to Rowett, with the likes of Danny McNamara, Sheyi Ojo, Matt Smith and Tom Bradshaw pushing for starts should the boss opt to change his XI from last time out.
Sunderland`s Anthony Patterson has done a sterling job during hisrecent short loan spell at Notts County. Last Saturday he played in front of the National League record crowd of 12,843! Now recalled to the fishing village team on Wearside. Doubtful he`l be seeing a crowd as big as that for a while...
Not a patch on a Parmo!
Gateshead:
looking to push on in the great North East tradition of
non league taking on the big guns in the cup:
Alun Armstrong - Manager of Darlo.
The same blonde lad who scored two beauties in the 6-0 victory over Swindon Town - took us top of the Championship. The Quakers are currently 12 th in the Vanarama National League North - one point behind York City and take on Gloucester - one place above bottom club, Blyth Spartans.
Whitby Town and York City are due to meet each other
in what is bound to be a fiery match in the North riding senior Cup.
The enigmatic player shone brightly as he burst on to the scene at Ayresome Park - but he never realised his potential
www.gazettelive.co.uk
Eric Paylor: Stephen Bell was one of Boro's greatest talents; he was lost to the game too soon
The enigmatic player shone brightly as he burst on to the scene at Ayresome Park - but he never realised his potential
My first opportunity to see the enigmatic Stephen Bell in action was playing for Boro Juniors in a Northern Intermediate League game at Hutton Road.
I can’t recall the name of the opposition, but it’s no understatement to say that Bell tortured them for the best part of 90 minutes.
Every time the Middlesbrough-born left-winger got the ball, you knew something was going to happen.
Stephen was only 16 but he was a class apart. He went past players as if they weren’t there.
He would put his foot on the ball, look up, then suddenly flash past his nearest opponent and run clear before the unfortunate lad could blink.
Bell frightened teenage opponents to death because he was so much better than them – despite the fact that some of them were two or three years older.
I’ve never, ever, seen a player perform to such a standard at youth team level.
But Bell did it every week. On the evidence of his uncanny natural talents, he was going to go on to become a world beater.
Boro felt the same way too. They knew they had a potential football genius on their hands.
There appeared to be no reason why Stephen couldn’t become the new George Best.
That’s a massive label to put around anybody’s neck.
After all, Best is regarded as one of the greatest football talents of all-time.
Best was an outstanding footballer when he first broke through as a teenager – and so was Bell.
Stephen’s outstanding form for the Boro youth team and the reserves side left manager Bobby Murdoch wondering just how he could hold him back.
The answer was that he couldn’t.
Stephen was doing the same things against the Boro first team players in training as he was in the Northern Intermediate League.
Murdoch eventually decided to pitch his teenage prodigy into the action in a First Division home game against Southampton on January 30, 1982.
Bell was just 16 years and 323 days old, which at the time made him the joint youngest Boro player ever to turn out for the club.
Stephen didn’t pull up any trees on his debut, and Boro – who hadn’t won a league game since September – lost 1-0.
It wasn’t the best of situations.
Boro were in grave danger of relegation.
It would have been unfair to ask a 16-year-old to try to save a season.
So Murdoch decided against playing Bell again that season.
Probably it was the correct decision, even if the campaign ended with relegation for the Boro after eight years in the top flight.
However, there was a dramatic change of heart following the summer break.
Not only was Bell pitched in from the start of the 1982-83 season, but he held on to the No 11 shirt and went on to play in every league game.
In fact, he ended up as joint second top scorer in all competitions with 10 goals – not to mention lots of assists.
There were fantastic flashes of brilliance from Stephen that season which had the big clubs’ scouts flocking to Ayresome Park to watch him.
There were times when the Teessider was not prominent in games, but after all he was only 17 when the season started.
It was crucial to get him tied down, so Boro were absolutely delighted when Stephen committed himself to the club by putting pen to paper on a four-year contract.
It meant that Bell had security for himself at such a tender age.
In addition, Boro could not lose out because Stephen was earning his corn by making an impact on the pitch while, should they decide to sell the teenage talent at any time, then he would command a massive transfer fee.
One of Stephen’s finest moments came 31 years ago to this very day when he was virtually unplayable as Boro ripped Grimsby Town to shreds in a 3-0 win at Blundell Park.
By that time, Malcolm Allison had replaced Murdoch in the hot seat and was similarly taken with Bell’s terrific ball-playing qualities.
If there was to be any criticism of Allison, it was that he was always publicly singing Bell’s praises and might have placed him on a pedestal too early.
However, Stephen was still going from strength to strength.
He had been playing some of his best football for the club in the build-up to the trip to Grimsby.
He had scored in consecutive home wins against Charlton and Carlisle, and also played well in narrow defeats at the hands of Leicester and Derby.
Boro’s team at Grimsby included another superb teenage prospect in Gary Hamilton.
The 17-year-old Scot, who was a hard-working competitive midfielder, had also been earmarked by Allison as having a massive part to play in the club’s future.
In the event Bell did not score at Blundell Park, but he was unplayable on the left flank and created any number of openings.
Hamilton did get his name on the scoresheet when grabbing his first senior goal, while Paul Sugrue and Dutchman Heine Otto also netted.
It was a vital win, but this wasn’t the greatest of Boro teams.
Experienced players such as John Craggs, Tony McAndrew, David Hodgson, Billy Ashcroft, Bobby Thomson and David Thomas were among those who had left before the campaign started.
Boro had been forced to replace them with players from a lower shelf which they could afford, and also blood some of their better youngsters. However, talents such as Bell and Hamilton offered fresh hope for the future.
After winning at Grimsby, Boro lost just one of their final five games to make sure that any remaining relegation worries were banished.
The fans were hopeful that Allison’s new-look side might start to push on up the table, especially when Boro were unbeaten after their first six games of 1983-84.
But, then it all went astray.
Boro lost five in a row, and the rot set in.
To make matters worse, there were signs that Bell was struggling to maintain his initial impact in the team.
He was in and out of the side, and was nowhere near as effective both in scoring goals – he managed only two – and creating them.
There were also reports emanating from the club that the teenager was a bit of a handful and that Boro were struggling to keep him on the straight and narrow.
His football was certainly on the wane.
By the middle of the following season, Stephen was just a shadow of his former self.
His remarkable movement, ball control, speed off the mark and impact on games had gone.
All evidence suggested those once limitless qualities were not going to return. His talent had all gone to waste.
Sadly, Bell’s contract was cancelled after only 85 senior appearances in the summer of 1985. He was only 20.
In later interviews, Stephen admitted he had been his own worst enemy.
He had got in with the wrong crowd and had struggled to handle both the fame and the money.
Portsmouth offered him the opportunity to resurrect his career many miles from home, where they felt they might be able to put him back on the straight and narrow.
But it didn’t work out, while a stint with Darlington also proved a disappointment.
One of the best teenage talents ever produced by the Boro was lost to the game without ever going close to realising his immense potential.
Then, in 2001, came the greatest tragedy of all when Stephen very sadly passed away at the young age of 36.
But those of us who were fortunate to witness his amazing talents will never forget.
A band of rain is spreading from the mid-Atlantic, which will fall on Eire and The Lake district.
A quick prayer > Chris Wilder`s first game will be under the clouds with perhaps some sunshine.
No slippery pitch or wind to pick up the goalies long balls.
If you will be listening on the Med or North Africa - you jammy barstewards!
The Blades have struggled since relegation from the Premier League last season and sit 17th, while the Sky Blues are surprise playoff contenders in fourth.
We say: Sheffield United 1-1 Coventry City
The international break came at the right time for Sheffield United, who will have used the two-week gap to refocus after a difficult run of form. Coventry will provide a stern test though, even if their away record requires improvement. A tight game lies in store.
While the international break undoubtedly came at the right time for Bristol City, we do not believe that it will change the end result at the weekend. Blackburn have the potential to be a strong team away from home, and that has led to us backing a Rovers victory.
With a new head coach to impress, it would come as no surprise if Barnsley put in a strong performance in the capital. Nevertheless, we cannot back against Fulham, who we expect to record a win and clean sheet versus the Tykes.
We say: Huddersfield Town 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
Taking into account Huddersfield's strong record at home and West Brom's poor run on the road, the Terriers may actually be favourites against their higher-ranked opponents. We think it will be a tight affair and cannot separate the two sides.
With Birmingham still facing an injury crisis in defence, Hull may fancy their chances on Saturday. The Tigers' lack of goals remains their main issue, so we think it will be a low-scoring draw at the MKM Stadium.
Regardless of Wilder's presence, Millwall are good value to collect at least a point in the North-East this weekend. Nevertheless, Boro were not necessarily playing badly under Warnock, and that leads us to predict a narrow home victory.
Cardiff's results have improved of late, and they could now do with finding some consistency under new permanent boss Morison.
Preston have won back-to-back games at Deepdale, but it has been almost a year since they won three on the spin there, and we can see them being held this weekend.
With both teams winning before the international break, we expect this contest to be competitive. Each club can claim to be the marginal favourites, and it leads us to back an entertaining share of the spoils.
The international break came at the wrong time for Stoke, who picked up six points from six before the hiatus, and they will be looking to hit the ground running here.
Peterborough's last win came a month ago and, given their poor record in this fixture down the years, we are backing the home side to come out on top.
Swansea's excellent home record makes them strong favourites for this game and we think they will take the three points. Blackpool have proved more than capable of holding their own in the Championship though, so it should be a close encounter.
UTB. Millwall have been inconsistent this season. Rowett plays boring football but his teams are difficult to break down. More suited to away displays really. Not universally popular with their fans.
Jed Wallace always a threat. Cooper at the back as good as any in this league.
