Boro v Sheff United

First game of the new season left me a little disappointed – don’t know if it was the hype, result or performance but I left the game down heartened.

For me, I watched the same Boro as I did all last season. We lacked any sort of attacking threat, we could not hold the ball up, we looked overpowered in midfield, and ultimately we were clueless up front. We did though put in a lot of effort, and Mark Yeates was a revelation on the right wing. He looked strong and skilful, and wasn’t scared to have a shot. I also appreciate his work ethic and attitude which was apparent throughout the game.

We may only be one game in, but the early signs worry me. There are too many rumours around regarding Huth and O’Neil being sold for it just to be paper talk, and our alleged transfer targets are no nearer a move to the club. We need one, possible two creative midfielders with Championship experience, and a proven Championship goalscorer to go alongside Leroy Lita.

Lets just hope that the speculation is just that, speculation, and that the players we require are snapped up.

Southgate on Tees...

So, what can we deduce from Gareth’s appearance on Radio Boro on Monday night? After listening to the show I think not much… It was nice to hear Gareth talking positive, handling the difficult callers well, but all this was to be expected.

I must admit though I was a little disappointed after listening to the show, as I was after Steve Gibson’s question time, as I seem to expect some sort of revelation, something I didn’t know, but both appearances just confirmed what we already knew from the various websites and local newspapers that we read. Anyhow, at least he had the bottle to go on, and he didn’t get slated too much.

As I write we have 9 days until we kick the Championship off on Friday night, and still I’m concerned about the lack of transfer activity – both incoming and outgoing. As per Gareth’s revelations we need to move a striker on before we can get one in, so I wait with baited breath for the news that Mido has been moved on so we can maybe bring a proven Championship goalscorer in.

Macclesfield 0 Boro 3 – Boro Fan Goes Mad!

Well it was nice to start the new campaign off with an away win, and 3 away goals at that. I couldn’t get to the game, but it sounded like a spirited performance from Boro and the Boro fans…

One fan in particular seems to have gained a little notoriety, having blasted Jeremie Aliadiere for his performance in the game. This outburst confused me – why would a Boro fan start slagging players off on the first game of the season, in the first friendly, when we are trying to get promotion? Did he think that somehow this would help? What was even more confusing was his explanation for his actions on a Boro fans message board… claiming that Ali should have been throwing himself around like it was a cup final. I think the majority of fans would accept that in the first friendly its about easing yourself back into your football, not pulling muscles and getting your match fitness back, not running around like a headless chicken.

Anyway, the un-named fan managed to make a fool of himself both at the game and online – thankfully the team didn’t. It may have taken a 71^st minute penalty to get things going but a win is a win, and the lads can carry that confidence up to Scotland for the next friendly.

It will be interesting over the next few weeks to see if we reinvest the £10m Downing fee, as despite scoring 3 goals on Saturday I am still very worried where our goals are going to come from. Come on Gareth and Steve, lets get a proven Championship goal scorer through the doors before the season gets started.

A final thought goes to Mido – he really isn’t doing himself any favours in attracting a new club by staying away from Boro, at least if he showed the right attitude in pre-season someone might have come in for him by now… lets just hope he gets shipped off back to Egypt sooner rather than later.

Radio Tees Is Off

Unfortunately due to me losing my voice and now sounding very croaky I have emailed Ali Brownlea and told him that I can't make the fans panel tonight.

I am gutted as I was really looking forward to it - especially after Steve Gibson's interview on the radio last night. Did anyone catch it by the way? It seems that Gareth is here to stay, and that there will be wholesale changes within the club, including coaching and playing staff... it will be an interesting summer...

You can listen again to Gibson's radio interview here... - let me know your thoughts...

Season Round Up

Well, it was finally confirmed on Sunday that we are relegated... and if that wasn't bad enough already I only got to the second round at quoits, hurting my thumb in the process! Anyway, that aside I thought it would be a good time to give my brief thoughts on the teams performance this season:

Chairman

Steve Gibson would have been happy with the teams early performances, we were playing good football and look liked we had progressed under Gareth Southgate, but in January action needed to be taken. We were desperately looking for points, and it was obvious that Alves was a £12 million flop - we needed players to help the cause badly - we needed a manger with some tactical ability - but we got Marlon King...

Fair play to Marlon, he got a couple of goals which is more that can be said for most of the team, but Gibson could have cashed in on Downing, gave GS £15 million to strengthen - or he could have sacked Gareth and got someone in capable of keeping us up... Well we all know the resulting mess now anyway...

Manager

I love Gareth Southgate - he's the man who lifted out first proper trophy, a solid captain, a gentleman on and off the pitch... but also the man, in my opinion, who is mainly responsible for our relegation. He has consistently left in form players out, played players regularly out of position, filled our starting 11 with centre backs, employed clueless tactics, squandered millions of £'s on crap etc... the list goes on.

Please Gareth, do us a favour and resign - its not committing suicide, its getting out of jail free after murdering our club.

Players

Players of note have been Tuncay, Huth and Digard.

Tuncay has worked tirelessly all season giving 110% in every game. he has been critisised for 'going missing' for a few months mid season, but if we had a team of Tuncays we wouldn't have been relegated (especially as he's played in goal for Turkey - take note Brad Jones!)

Huth has come back from injury, been solid and worked well with Wheater. Wish we could keep hold of him!

Digard who was unlucky with injury was solid when playing, his passing got better as the season progressed, and he was not afraid to shoot in front of goal - something that has been a rarity this season.

The rest of the side has been averagely average - the only exceptions to this are Afonso Alves & Mido who have both do not deserve to wear a Boro shirt again. Mido started well but showed his true colours causing trouble to manufacture a move to Wigan, and Alves... well least said about him the better.

The Fans

After an optimistic start to the season many were predicting great things for this young side, but as we got closer to Christmas the truth started to dawn on us all. The fans stuck with the team right to the bitter end. I don't know how we all managed to be so patient, and how we didn't turn on Southgate earlier...

The Aftermath

So, what does the Championship hold for Boro? It may be a little tricky getting the better championship players in with Newcastle providing competition, but on thing is for sure - there will be wholesale changes at the club. Tuncay, Huth, O'Neil, Shawky, Alves, Downing and Bates look definates to be moving on in the summer, and the replacements could be anyone's guess. One thing is for certain though is that we need more players in the squad, as over the past few weeks we have looked very short of quality.

One departure that I feel is necessary that looks unlikely is the loss of Gareth Southgate himself. I feel the club need to start the clear out from the manager down, but hey, what do I know - I'm only a fan!




Anyway - on to other news - I have developed an extremely sore throat and I'm struggling to talk so the radio appearance may be in doubt, but I will know more on this tomorrow...

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment - they are appreciated...
Joff

Going On The Radio!

Been meaning to start a blog for a while now, especially after my MySpace blog was so popular (all of 1 subscriber!), and with my impending radio appearance and resulting superstardum I thought now is a good a time as any!

So, how did I get on Radio Tees you may ask? That's a simple one... I was outraged at the seemingly biased coverage from Radio Tees that seems to be so Pro Southgate and Pro Gibson that I thought I would write in, asking why there was no representation for the fans who are sick of Southgate's ineptitude, and Gibson's mismanagement of the club over the past 3 years... and in a reply from Ali Brownlee himself I was invited on the Fans Forum!

Please don't judge me as a Gibson hater though, the man has done wonders for our club since the dark times of 1986, but in the appointment of Gareth Southgate I think he has let down the fans, and here we are, 3 years later, staring relegation in the face. Now we need Gibbo to be strong, get rid of Southgate and appoint a manager with a proven track record, and with the nouse and ability to take us back into the Premier League - this man for me is Steve Coppell...

Steve Coppell's record speaks for itself, especially with his former club Reading. Check out Wikipedia for his pedigree - far superior to Southgate's...

Anyway, enough of the doom and gloom for now - we have an important game on Sunday to look forward to before all that... West Ham v Boro - if somehow we can get our goal difference better than Hull's, and if Hull and Newcastle lose, and us obviously beating West Ham, we might have another season of Premier League football to look forward to... but I'm not holding my breath.

The Radio Tees show is on the 27th May 2009 @ 6:00pm - you can listen here...

Take care
Joff