Author: Diasboro

Middlesbrough		Wolves
Bamford	90′ +4	Costa Cavaleiro ▮ Neves ▮ Doherty	58′ 37′ 56′ 71′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	55% 17  3  6 10	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	45%  7  6  2 13

Pack mentality frustrates Boro

This was the ultimate test for a resurgent Boro with the League Leaders arriving at the Riverside this evening to see if Boro could shake off the hoodoo of being unable to beat teams around them let alone one twenty points ahead of them! TP confirmed in his press conference that there were no injury concerns apart from Rudy Gestede so hopefully that meant Ayala was back to full fitness, Besic had come through his International travels without a recurrence of his earlier Hamstring problems and Paddy was fit and raring to go. The biggest selection dilemma for TP presumably was a straight choice between Grant or Clayts.

Wolves Manager Nuno Espirito Santo would likely be missing Diogo Jota with an ankle problem but that was his only fitness concern with danger man Afobe very much likely to start. Boro have an impressive record against Wolves stretching back to 1951 for the last time the visitors took away all three points from Teesside or two as it was back then. Wolves had never completed a double over Boro and depending on your perspective it would be unlikely that Wolves would break the habit of a lifetime or it was inevitable that tonight was the night that that record would be broken “Typical Boro” fashion with Wolves not losing back to back away games since March last year.

Boro’s team was as expected by many with Grant being recalled but surprisingly Howson left out so we had Clayts and Grant playing alongside Besic in a somewhat unadventurous looking Boro midfield that was to be totally bossed by Neves. The game started with both sides probing and testing their opponents but the wing backs from Wolves were opening up the game and stretching Boro’s backline and causing us problems. Shotton and Traore struggled to cope on the right whilst Friend and Downing had an easier time on the opposite flank with George having one of his better games in a while. In the first half Downing struggled to create anything of real merit whilst Traore seemed a little lost and confused at times apart from three cameo runs which highlighted both his value to the team and the futility of being unable to get him on the ball in dangerous places.

Boro started to gain a bit of control and started playing with some confidence but ironically just when we settled we were hit by a sucker punch clearance out and Grant took one for the team as he scythed into a challenge on Cavaleiro for which he was lucky to receive just a yellow. Despite that Boro still exerted their influence in the game although it has to be said it petered out in the final third due to a lack of a cutting edge pass, momentum, continuity, pace and bodies supporting Bamford who battled very well considering it was often 3 to 1 in the favour of those in gold.

Wolves took the lead against the run of play after some scrappy last ditch defending which had a hint of a hand ball in the build up to the goal but neither the Ref or his Assistant had the same view as the North Stand. Cavaleiro managed to get to a Randolph saved ball first and managing to keep it in play it fell to boo boy Douglas whose chipped effort was volleyed past Randolph by Costa. One-nil against the run of play or not it was a warning or it should have been but minutes later Wolves doubled their lead with an awkward ball floated in from a corner that forced another brilliant tipped save from Randolph but nobody in Red was covering the right hand post and a simple knock in from Cavaleiro was the price paid for our defence going awol.

Frustrating in the extreme at the manner in which we failed to clear our lines and also that we just couldn’t get Adama firing and Paddy supported at the other end. For all our “dominance” at that point which fate was tempted by choruses previously of “Top of the league you’re having a laugh” our persistent passing was a throwback to former times of windscreen wiper vintage. Half time came with a small amount of boo’s ringing round more out of that word “frustration” again than bile at the players efforts.

Thankfully the half time break would give Pulis the opportunity to shuffle his pack and inject some pace and drive centrally. To the surprise of most we came out with the same eleven lining up and almost instantly were on the back foot as Wolves looked to put the game to bed early on. Boro steadied themselves but couldn’t break open the men from Molineux. Things were becoming a bit feisty with a few choice challenges from Boro in the first half now being matched but the ante now upped from Wolves and Stuart Attwell started dishing out yellow cards to those in Gold in addition to the one he had issued in the first half to Ruddy for timewasting.

TP had switched Adama over to the left at half time to continue to keep him in earshot and as George continued his forays but now feeding Adama his magic drew the unwanted attention of Wolves as they entered a period of serial fouling and increasing their card count on the way. Paddy had a great chance set up by Adama that he worked well but slipped at the vital time when he was one on one with Ruddy. Adama had also slipped previously as questions were impolitely muttered around me about stud selection and pitch watering activity.

Most annoying on the night was that Boly looked like an accident waiting to happen and Ruddy was less than confident in his handling and distribution yet we never tested him, instead continuing to play this slow predictable passing retention game without any end product. Grant as great as he is and Clayts just didn’t possess the magic to match Neves and Stewy seems to getting worse with his decision making and shooting which was highlighted when he had the chance to pull things level in the dying seconds but again missed the big white target while earlier scooping a shot well over the crossbar by several feet.

As envious as our glances were towards Neves he managed to get himself booked for arguing with Attwell and then went flying into George in a ridiculous lunge which had the North Stand screaming for him to be sent off which was duly obliged when he received his second Yellow and then Red. Down to ten men Boro now surely would go for it and bombard Wolves to try and pull back the deficit. The sending off was controversial from an away perspective as seconds earlier George looked to have brought Costa down from behind when clean through on Randolph but Attwell had adjudged the fall to be theatrical or the coming together accidental which seemed very fortuitous to those in the South East Corner and therefore George had remained on the pitch.

George again was linking up well with Adama to have a terrifying effect on the ten men of Wolves and a high ball that looked to be going out for a Goal Kick was contested by George and Doherty who already booked looked to have led with an elbow to pick up another Yellow and Wolves second Red of the evening. By this time Wolves were now in total disarray, down to nine men yet Boro were still content to pass the ball around the edge of the box instead of driving shots at force from a distance looking to take advantage from ricochets’. No quick unlocking pass and play movements from Boro and despite having a two man advantage we still made hard work of it and tactically things weren’t improved by introducing Crainey for Shotton when the opposition had their backs to the wall.

Shotton had just picked up a Yellow and had been fortunate to avoid one earlier so there was some methodology behind the decision. Assombalonga had also been introduced and he battled well inside the box fending off defenders but the build up to him was slow predictable and ponderous and therefore easily read and defended against. Six minutes of added time seemed scant reward for the amount of stoppages and time wasting but Paddy managed to cleverly toe poke an effort in with two of the six minutes remaining to provide false hope, too little too late.

Wolves are not top of the League by luck and showed their unity, undoubted skills and understanding but three shots on target was a very poor return especially against nine men for a large chunk of the second half. Downing looks to have lost creativity out wide and slowed things down on too many occasions, Clayts and Grant likewise struggled to inject any va va voom and as a consequence we just ground things out by passing out wide or back centrally again when we needed a Ramirez to unlock the defence or in his absence some power pressing with pace and passing instead of slow Chess moves. Howson was brought on to try and remedy that one dimensional aspect but he had the touch of a baby elephant unfortunately and failed to make any impact.

Besic had been quiet in the first half but had a lot more influence on things in the second as did Adama who was also incidentally our best ball boy as he vaulted the advertising hoardings like a hurdler on several occasions to retrieve the ball. Randolph was great in goal and wasn’t to blame for either goal and indeed kept the scoreline down but MOM for me was George, whilst Adama caught the eye in the second 45 George was consistent for the full 90 minutes.

To end on a positive despite numerous sections of the ground emptying before the final whistle those remaining stayed loyal and gave a generous round of applause at the final whistle which despite the disappointments and frustrations echoed the wider sentiment of this still isn’t over and the fans are still believing that a Play Off place is there for the taking.

Boro hoping to have another
good Friday in front of the cameras

After a two-week break in proceedings so that Gareth Southgate’s England team can practice some essential phrases in Russian like “Sorry, I’ve never heard of Boris Johnson” and “No thanks, I don’t want a McMafia Unhappy Meal” – it’s time once again to stop pretending you’re remotely interested that some unknown Australian secretly stuck a yellow piece of plastic into some round piece of leather because he was so bored of standing around and wanted an early tea. Yes, football is back and it’s still winter even though the clocks are all wrong and the lambs are refusing to frolic until they see written proof that it’s officially spring.

Boro welcome table-topping Wolves to the Riverside, who continue to lead the promotion pack and show the hunger needed to properly smash the league. Tony Pulis will be hoping to uphold the unusual but good Friday agreement that they are normally allowed to win when they play in front of the cameras as they attempt to at least temporarily halt the team in orange from their inevitable march towards the Premier League. Though rather appropriately for Good Friday, the Holy Spirit will be present at the Riverside – but before Boro followers start to anticipate having a religious experience (other than the usual raptures in time added on) it should made clear that this unearthly presence is merely the Wolves manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, whose surname literally translates as ‘Holy Spirit’. Just to add to the Easter symbolism, the Wolves manager was also born on the Portuguese island of São Tomé, which translates as Saint Thomas, who was according to the famous book, the doubting disciple of Jesus after his resurrection following the crucifixion.

On the subject of doubters, Boro opened their season as the bookies promotion favourites with a visit to Molineux and suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat in game of few clear-cut chances as the teams shared possession. There was little to suggest back then that there would be the massive gulf in points accumulated by both teams and with just 8 games left to play Wolves are an unassailable 20 points ahead of Boro. The Defensive record of both teams is pretty similar but it is at the sharp end where Nuno Espirito Santo’s team have out-performed the Teessiders with 15 extra goals. Nevertheless, Boro have out-performed the leaders in that department during the last six games with an impressive 14 goals to their 12 – which has left many wondering what might have been this season. For all the talk of Wolves having an unfair advantage over other clubs in the league, Boro can’t really point their finger, as let’s face it, the club squandered their massive budgetary advantage on too many attacking players that just weren’t fit for purpose. It may prove to be the most costly of mistakes if Boro miss out this season but the team have scored three goals in their last three Riverside outings and Wolves may still be mindful that their last trip away to Villa ended in a 4-1 defeat.

Middlesbrough		Wolves
Tony Pulis		Nuno Espirito Santo
P38 – W18 – D8 – L12 – F54 – A36		P38 – W25 – D7 – L6 – F69 – A33
Position Points Points per game Projected points	6th 62 1.6 75	Position Points Points per game Projected points	1st 82 2.2 99
Last 6 Games Brentford (A) Barnsley (H) Birmingham (A) Leeds (H) Sunderland (A) Hull (H)	F-T (H-T) 1:1 (1:1) D 3:1 (2:0) W 1:0 (1:0) W 3:0 (2:0) W 3:3 (0:1) D 3:1 (2:1) W	Last 6 Games Burton (H) Reading (H) Aston Villa (A) Leeds (A) Fulham (A) Norwich (H)	F-T (H-T) 3:1 (2:1) W 3:0 (1:0) W 1:4 (1:1) L 3:0 (2:0) W 0:2 (0:1) L 2:2 (2:1) D

The big bad Wolves have been facing howls of protest from some quarters, mainly in West Yorkshire area, over claims that they’ve blown the house down when it comes to fair competition. Following their 3-0 home defeat to the leaders at the beginning of March, Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani sent a frustrated post-match Donald-style Tweet that questioned the legality of the link-up between Wolves and so-called super-agent Jorge Mendes. He complained: “Not legal and fair to let one team owned by a fund whom has shares in the biggest players’ agency with evident benefits (top European clubs giving players with options to buy… why the other 23 teams can’t have the same treatment?)”.

The Leeds owner has not been alone in raising the issue of the complex arrangement between the Wolves owners, Jorge Mendes, their manager and some of the players. In the summer of 2016, Chinese investment group Fosun International acquired Wolves via a British Virgin Islands-registered holding company for an estimated £45m, with Fosun’s chairman Guo Guangchang having an estimated personal fortune of over $6bn. It was reported in The Independent newspaper that a few months earlier Mendes had sold a 20 per cent stake in his world-famous Gestifute agency, through which he operates, to a company called Foyo Culture and Entertainment – which is in fact a subsidiary of Fosun and this deal was announced as part of a major partnership between Mendes and Fosun.

After Wolves was acquired, Mendes was brought in as an “adviser on transfer dealings” and the subsequent view on the deal by the FA was that the formal ties between Fosun and Gestifute were considered to be so minor that they were not enough to represent a ‘conflict of interest’ under their rules. Incidentally, those FA regulations in the section relating to conflicts of interest state that intermediary organisations “shall not have an interest in a club”, and that a club “shall not have any interest in the business or affairs of an intermediary’s organisation.” – so hard to make much sense of that ruling.

In addition, current Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has been represented by Mendes for over 20 years since his playing days, as too were many of the players signed, including £15.8m record signing Ruben Neves and on-loan Atletico Madrid forward Diogo Jota. David Conn wrote in the Guardian about the transfer dealings last season after the takeover by Fosun that Mendes influence was clearly evident in some of those signings, including a then club record £7m paid to Monaco, for the Portugal midfielder Ivan Cavaleiro. He also observed that the FA now publish an annual list of ‘intermediaries’ involved in transfer deals and it stated Carlos Osório de Castro, a lawyer based in Portugal acted for the player, with Valdir Cardoso, a Portuguese agent understood to work for Gestifute, representing the club. In January, Wolves then paid Monaco £13m for the Portuguese midfield player Helder Costa, which listed the same two intermediaries Osório de Castro and Costa on the deal.

David Conn added that Carlos Osório de Castro is believed to have acted as Gestifute’s lawyer for many years, though the Guardian were told by them that they don’t comment on business undertaken for their clients. The subsequent arrival of fellow Portuguese player, João Teixeira was listed as having no agent but Wolves had Andy Quinn, a director of Gestifute International based in Ireland, acting for them. However, the Portuguese defender Silvio, who signed from Atlético Madrid, was not listed in the FA document so the agents on that deal have not been publicly disclosed. In all 12 players were brought in 2016-17 and Wolves finished in 15th place under Paul Lambert, who subsequently left the club. Wolves stated that they only paid £1.25m in agents fees last season and that was below the average. They also claimed Mendes was an adviser to the owners, in the same way as many other agents and influential figures within football are – the club have signed players within his portfolio as well as players from other intermediaries.

Of course there is a danger that people can get drawn into the hype that if you want to be successful then you need to enlist the services of the likes of Jorge Mendes. Perhaps the Leeds United owner was simply trying to deflect criticism from his club’s own short-comings, which have seen Leeds season take a nose-dive after looking like possible promotion contenders. Granted Wolves may have some good players that are only at the club thanks to their spending power and contacts to Mendes, but let’s not build them up into some kind of ‘Invincibles’. Having good players is certainly not a hindrance, but they got where they are by also playing as a team and forming a winning mentality – this is also the task of Tony Pulis and he has 8 games left to prove Boro can have a shot at the play-offs. After that it will be down to who performs on the day and Boro’s cause will be greatly improved if they manage to see off the current leaders to continue the recent momentum with their six-game unbeaten run.

So will Boro silence the doubting Thomases who are still unsure that their season has been resurrected by new saviour Tony Pulis? Or will the presence of the ‘Espirito Santo’ and his team of actual league smashers prove to be a heavy cross to bear as Boro are left feeling stigmatised by their own failure? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Boro continue their three-game record of scoring three goals at the Riverside?

So who is Jorge Mendes?

Mendes was a budding professional footballer who had to abandon his dream in his early twenties after being rejected by several Portuguese clubs. He was looking for a new career and after the less than glamorous job of running a video rental shop, tried his hand at being a DJ before opening a nightclub in the small town of Caminha on the north-west border of Portugal, which was famous for hosting one of the country’s oldest rock festivals. Then in 1996 Mendes apparently had a chance meeting at a bar in the historic town of Guimarães with a goalkeeper who played for the local club Vitória and he agreed to let Mendes become his agent.

That player was none other than current Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo and Mendes brokered his first deal in football as Nuno joined Spanish side Deportivo de La Coruña on a five-year contract, although he only actually made 4 appearances and spent much of his time out on loan. Incidentally, the town of Guimarães where they met was known as the birthplace of the Portuguese nationality as it is believed that Portugal’s first King, Afonso Henriques, was born there in the beginning of the 12th century – rather appropriate for a man who was to become king of all agents.

Perhaps the key to Mendes success was that he quite early made the decision to target young promising players and has been hailed as someone with a brilliant eye for talented players, who scouts players and is quick to sign up those who catch his eye. He was a frequent visitor to the soccer schools and youth teams and spotted a young Cristiano Ronaldo and quickly signed him up. Mendes also reportedly learned the importance of being straight-forward and loyal to his clients when he witnessed the fall of the number one agent in Portugal, Jose Veiga, who’s influence waned after he fell out with Porto over the sale of midfielder Sergio Conceicao to Lazio, leaving him out in the cold with the most lucrative Portuguese club to do business with.

The decline of Veiga left Mendes as the go-to agent in Portugal and seemingly nobody left the country without Mendes having a hand in the deal. Mendes’s first major international deal was Hugo Viana’s move from Sporting Lisbon to Newcastle for around £8.5m in 2002 and a year later he brokered the £12m move of the teenage Ronaldo to Man Utd. His next big deal came in 2004, when he stepped in and negotiated José Mourinho’s move from Porto to manage Chelsea – Mourinho’s agent had lined up a move Liverpool but Mendes cut a deal with the Israeli super-agent Pini Zahavi, who was acting for Chelsea to try and bring the Special One to Stamford Bridge instead. This deal established Mendes’s importance and every Portuguese player that followed Mourinho to Chelsea became a client of Mendes – including Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Tiago and Maniche. with Mendes being paid by Chelsea to act for the player and for the club.

Those who are represented by Mendes argue that he offers a very personalised service and goes that extra mile to take care of their needs – though no doubt what they are also getting is his leverage in being able to squeeze out the maximum return on deals. When Mourinho left Chelsea for Inter Milan in 2008 it made him the highest paid coach in the world and his subsequent move to Real Madrid netted Jose a four-year contract worth £40m. Mendes also secured the deal that saw Scolari to move to Chelsea on a three-year contract worth around £6m – which was also rewarded by Scolari by allowing Mendes privileged access to the Portugal national team’s hotel during the Euro 2008 tournament so he could plot his players next moves.

In 2009, Mendes handled the £80m record transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Man Utd to Real Madrid and then in 2011 brokered three deals to Monaco worth £120m for James Rodríguez, Falcao and Moutinho. Mendes then ‘earned’ himself around £30m in 2014 when he saw through four big money deals for James Rodríguez again who went to Real Madrid, Ángel Di María who left Madrid for Man Utd, Diego Costa from Atlético Madrid to Chelsea and Porto defender Mangala who joined Man City. The figures involved in those 8 deals add up to around £400m and those are just but a few – in addition, it’s been assessed that Mendes was responsible for nearly 70 per cent of all players transferred from Portugal over a ten year period between 2001-2010 with deals from the big three of Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon amounting to nearly €550m alone.

It seems if you want to get ahead then it helps to have Jorge Mendes behind you and it’s probably no coincidence that England has seen a recent influx of Portuguese managers with contacts to the super-agent. Marco Silva, who recently managed both Hull and Watford is represented by Mendes, with fellow Portuguese manager Carlos Carvalhal also enlisting the help of Mendes in the January transfer window to bolster his squad, though despite agreeing fees for some Mendes’s clients it appears the players themselves weren’t too keen on joining the relegation threatened club.

Third-Party Ownership

Getting paid for doing transfers was just one aspect of the business but Mendes had set up a company, GestiFute, that was also involved in part-owning the economic rights of many of his players. The name GestiFute is the short version of Gestão de Carreiras de Profissionais Desportivos, which translates as Management of Careers of Professional Sportsman – and basically did what it says on the tin. Though when we talk about ‘economic rights’ we essentially mean third-party ownership and although the FA made this illegal in 2008 following the less than transparent ownership that surrounded the Tevez and Mascherano deals to West Ham, though it was still allowed by the Portuguese Football Association, as well as in South America and some other countries.

GestiFute was also involved in part-owning the economic rights of a number of their players and part of these were sometimes sold on. For example, Porto bought 20 per cent of Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer Deco’s rights from GestiFute in exchange for €2.25m million, plus 5 per cent of the economic rights for Ricardo Carvalho, 10 per cent of Benni McCarthy’s rights and then a further 15 per cent of Deco’s economic rights €1.25m. It meant that Mendes could generate cash from his players without even selling them, which is especially useful if clubs had players that were on long contracts.

In addition, Mendes also bought the economic rights off his clients too and this proved particularly lucrative in the case of Bebé in a move to Man Utd Mendes received in addition to his nearly €1m agent’s fee, €2.7m from the €9m deal as part of the economic rights. Again, David Conn had also investigated this deal and discovered Bebé was playing in the Portugues third tier until his agent got him a free transfer move to Primeira Liga club Vitória de Guimarães. Before the season has even began, Bebé sacked his agent and joined Mendes, who also puchased 30 per cent of his economic rights for just €100,000 and reportedly inserted a €9m release clause in his contract.

Stories appeared in the Spanish press that Mourinho was keen on buying Bebé, which then apparently forced Ferguson into a quick decision to buy – just two days after Bebé had joined Mendes. In fact Bebé only actually made two league appearances for Man Utd before being sent out on loan and Alex Ferguson admitted he had never seen him play but reportedly bought him on the recommendation of his former Portuguese assistant Carlos Queiroz, who was also a client of Mendes and at that time was coach of the Portugal national team. Incidentally, Queiroz’s relationship with United had been important in the transfers of Anderson and Nani in 2007. Indeed, unspecified aspects of the deal were investigated by the Lisbon anti-corruption unit but ultimately nothing ever came from it.

Nevertheless, third-party ownership allows investors to receive part or all of the financial rights owed to the player from transfer fees or contract negotiation fees. These investors can be anyone from a football agent, company or even hedge-fund. We’ve seen in the past that clubs often don’t receive the lion’s share of big transfers as others get their slice of the action. The concept was often used in countries like Brazil and Argentina to encourage investors to pay for the training and accommodation of young players on the promise of getting a return in future transfer deals. However the problem then becomes that players are moved around or parked until their value increases so that the ‘investors’ get a bigger return on their investment and often the player becomes just a commodity, who is encouraged move around and doesn’t personally financially benefit from the moves.

Our man David Conn also did an investigative piece in 2014 for the Guardian on plans by Mendes and Peter Kenyon to raise €85m to buy stakes in footballers via a Gibraltar tax haven for a fund registered in the tax haven of Jersey. The Guardian were shown a prospectus in which Mendes’s Gestifute agency and Kenyon’s company, Opto, are described as advisers to the fund, helping to identify players and make “partnerships” with “development clubs” in Spain and Portugal, and using their “relationships” with clubs in the “Big 10”. All sounds none specific, but it suggests the fund will do substantial business with them, buying stakes in players who will then be sold on, at a substantial profit to the investors. The plan is for the fund to advance the money to an Irish-registered company, which will buy the stakes in players.

The document says of Mendes and Kenyon that they have “developed many relationships throughout the football community. By leveraging these relationships, Peter Kenyon and Jorge Mendes have demonstrated a proven track record in brokering football Transfers” – Conn was unsure what ‘leveraging’ meant but it seemed to imply they would be able exert some kind of influence on which players were bought and sold. In addition, the article claims the document lists four other funds investing in third-party ownership of players which it says Kenyon and Mendes have advised – the Guardian claimed these were Jersey-listed partnerships and that Chelsea strongly appear to be involved in one of these funds. The document also claimed that Mendes may act as the player’s agent and may be remunerated independently in that capacity.

Conn argued that was likely in breach of FIFA regulations on agents, which stated: “Players’ agents shall avoid all conflicts of interest in the course of their activity.” and that FIFA “…imposes an obligation on clubs not to pay any part of a transfer fee to a player’s agent, and specifically prohibits the agent “owning any interest in any transfer compensation or future transfer value of a player”. The Guardian raised their concerns with FIFA but a spokeswoman only said: “We cannot provide comments based on a hypothetical situation. The disciplinary committee decides on a matter after analysis of all the specific circumstances pertaining to a case.” David Conn noted that FIFA has never brought any proceedings against any club or person in relation to third-party ownership funds.

In May 2015, FIFA banned third-party ownership, and specifically prohibited either clubs or players from entering into economic rights agreements with third-party investors. The European Parliament also announced a similar ban in sports, after raising concerns over the integrity of competitions as there was a risk players could be encouraged into criminal activities such as match fixing by unscrupulous third-party owners.

So is this the end of investors and third-party ownership? You would think so, but cast your mind back to England’s most successful manager (on paper) with a 100 per cent record. Yes, Big Sam Allardyce, who after one game and one win was shown the door by the FA after he was caught on camera by undercover reporters boasting to a bogus Far East business consortium how they could circumvent FA rules which prohibit third parties “owning” players. Over the course of two meetings Allardyce told the fictitious businessmen that it was “not a problem” to bypass the rules introduced by his employers. Big Sam added he knew of certain agents who were “doing it all the time” and claimed “You can still get around it. I mean obviously the big money’s here.”

So is it common knowledge in the game that players are still owned by third-parties? Perhaps the regulators are just not able to follow the money in a world where clubs, agents and players are often paid and operate through offshore holding companies – though like most things finding the proof is another matter and anyone making unsubstantiated claims will no doubt receive a letter from the expensive lawyers acting on behalf of their clients. It seems from what has happened in the past there is little will on behalf of the various footballing regulators, or perhaps even expertise, to investigate such matters.

An Agent for Owners too?

As well as representing an ever-growing list of the best players and top managers, Mendes has been also been involved in finding new super-rich owners for clubs too. In 2014, Mendes was instrumental in the takeover by Singapore businessman Peter Lim of a Valencia club struggling with €350m debts. Lim was the son of a fishmonger who grew up in a cramped two-bedroom apartment with six siblings, who went on to study accountancy at the University of Western Australia. He made his money after investing in an Indonesian Palm Oil start-up company that he eventually ended up taking over with a $10m loan before selling his stake for a staggering $1.5bn after the demand for palm oil in US food products rocketed. Lim had previously tried to buy Liverpool but failed and his preference was to invest in English football but was brought instead to Valencia by Mendes.

Mendes then brought in his old client Nuno Espirito Santo as manager, which had apparently been a condition of the takeover and the club were soon signing players from Mendes’s portfolio. Interestingly, Lim also acquired the image rights for Cristiano Ronaldo and then bought a 50 per cent stake in Salford City, which is co-owned by Giggs, Scholes, Butt and the Neville brothers. After a poor start to the 2015-16 season Nuno was dismissed and Lim’s co-owner of Salford, Gary Neville, was surprisingly installed as manager but was sacked just four months later after recording the lowest ever number of wins for a Valencia manager with 3 from 16 games. Valencia under Lim initially struggled and even flirted with relegation amid rumours that the new owner wished to sell the club – though six managers appointed in a little over two years with unrest behind the scenes can’t have helped the club.

It was claimed in Spanish newspaper El Pais that it used to be that “shambolic Valencia were regarded by some as a clearing house for players on the books of agent Jorge Mendes” – with one journalist, Aitor Lagunas, who writes for a Spanish football magazine saying “Valencia was seen as one of the showrooms for Jorge Mendes in European football. The way of Valencia used to be accept any kind of player with a Jorge Mendes profile.” He added that last summer was the other way around with new manager Marcelino sending the club’s owner Peter Lim to PSG and telling him: “Don’t come back without Goncalo Guedes. From all the players of Jorge Mendes, I want him.” And that is what happened – Guedes has been regarded by many as the player of the season in Spain and now Valencia are currently in fourth place, just one point behind Real Madrid.

Mendes also has had a long-standing influence at Monaco, where one of his clients the Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim has been the manager since 2014. Monaco were taken over by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev in late 2011, who appointed Jose Mourinho’s former technical scout at Real Madrid, Luis Campos, as Sporting Director in 2013. Campos was also a client of Mendes and it was he who appointed Jardim and Monaco were soon signing players from Mendes’s portfolio too – including James Rodríguez, Falcao and Moutinho. Another club where Mendes has influence is Zenit St Petersburg through his relationship with another Russian, Suleiman Kerimov, who was a major stakeholder in Gazprom, which bought Zenit in 2005 and both had good links with Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. In 2014, one of Mendes’s clients and a Mourinho former technical scout at Chelsea, Andre Villas-Boas, was installed as manager at Zenit – with more players from his Gestifute agency soon following such as Bruno Alves.

Opening Doors

Clearly Mendes now has influence at many clubs and he has many of his clients either operating as managers or directors of football, who are subsequently signing players from the portfolio of his Gestifute agency. Indeed, he now even has business links with the billionaire owners of some clubs, with Wolves being the obvious example who are quite open in having invested in his agency. When an individual is involved all the way down the chain from owner, manager and player you would think that the footballing regulators would see that as a conflict of interest but they seemingly have little interest in pursuing the matter. It’s quite possible that Mendes may in the future or already has been involved in a deal where both clubs and both managers, along with the player are all his clients. In such a case, what is the point in any of them being represented by someone who is supposed to act in the best interests of them as a client?

Perhaps it’s a case of nobody complaining because in the end everybody wins, one club gets the player they sought, the manager strengthens his team and the player gets a good contract – the other side offload a player and get paid a good return. Even when Mel Stein, chairman of the Association of Football Agents in England, who argued that agents can represent a player and be a broker in his transfer if efforts are made to avoid a conflict, he also declared “What is not acceptable is seeking to earn money from both ends of a transfer without ensuring that there is no conflict” – though Just how you can ensure there is no conflict of interest in such deals is hard to imagine. Of course the main winner is probably the man in the middle who gets another slice of the action for simply moving one of his assets from one of his clients to another and often banks a seven figure sum for ‘brokering’ the deal. In the end it’s not clear who is representing who – do the ‘clients’ represent the agency or does the agent still represent his clients?

The other issue that the Leeds owner alluded to was that it was not a level playing field because Wolves had access to an agency that controlled some of the top players at bigger clubs that were perhaps available at ‘mates rates’ and were out of reach for clubs who were not in the exclusive circle. It’s perhaps possible that if such agencies control a large group of players then for others to gain access to them may depend on accepting conditions dictated on the terms of these powerful operators. We shouldn’t forget that Steve Gibson also forged a relationship with Peter Kenyon in 2013 and gave the reason that “I’ve known Peter for almost 20 years… It’s of huge benefit that everyone in football takes Peter Kenyon’s call.” before adding “His contact book is extensive and he has given us a route to the most powerful agent in world football in Jorge Mendes”.

It was through those contacts that Boro appointed Aitor Karanka, who was one of Mendes’s clients and Gibson also announced “We’ve got two Academy teams in Madrid as we speak and we’ve built up other links that we’re not able to announce. We see ourselves being part of a three or four-club group that will help each other.” There has been little to suggest Boro’s relationship with Mendes proved to be of major benefit in terms of transfer deals and perhaps the most notable deal signed from his portfolio was goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Negredo was a player who arrived from Valencia, where Mendes had a strong influence, but was not represented by him and had subsequently fallen out of favour at the Spanish club after questioning Nuno’s tactics – his £28m signing from Man City was triggered before Mendes’s time and the club were keen to offload his hefty wage packet.

Perhaps Boro are not big enough fish for the likes of Mendes who seems more keen on keeping company with the billionaires of Asia and Russia, along with their deep-pocketed clubs. Having asked Peter Kenyon as a “very successful man” to give his “outsider’s view” and “come and look at everything and say where he thought we could improve”, Gibson seems to have now asked a similar question of Tony Pulis, who will no doubt have given his no-nonsense opinion on what Boro need to do if they want to compete in a football world where money now talks in much louder numbers than Steve Gibson’s northern dulcet tones.

Money is Power

In conclusion, Jorge Mendes has been at the centre of many of the big money deals in football for over 15 years and has an ever-growing list of clients that either own, manage, sanction transfers or play for some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Football has long since become a big-money industry where transfer deals are now being measured in the hundred million pound bracket and new owners and investors are frequently billionaires. Indeed, many of those involved in football ownership often appear to let their hearts rule their heads and regularly make poor, sometimes foolish decisions in the fear of missing out or possibly let their vanity get the better of them. It’s probably easy to exploit such people and it may be no surprise that FIFA have not shown much interest in ensuring that everything is seen to operate as transparently as we may expect, after all their record in matters such as integrity is not exactly setting an example.

We’ve also seen in recent years that those who regulate the game are also busy trying to extract large amounts of cash from very rich people – The Football League have themselves been courting the same billionaires businessmen of Asia in search of investors, such as Mr Caraboa and the subsequent bizarre EFL Cup draws aimed at courting rich Asian businessmen. The FA have also deemed that billionaire owners of clubs, such as Wolves, have no conflict of interest by investing in a football agency that controls the players they are buying. Even the PFA Chief Executive, Gordon Taylor, awarded himself a £2.2m pay rise last year to reflect the belief that you’re nobody in football unless you can demonstrate your credentials through the size of your wedge. Football is probably just a more public face of what is happening in the wider world of business – very rich and powerful people now control all aspects of our lives with governments and regulators appearing either unable or unwilling to intervene.

Mendes is probably just the equivalent of a multinational company like Google or Facebook, which gradually become more powerful by giving everyone what they want until eventually they control a huge chunk of the market. So we shouldn’t be surprised that men like Jorge Mendes exist, it’s just the inevitable consequence of a super-heated market that only has light-touch regulation where ultimately the powerful just become richer and more powerful as they operate on the edge of the rules. Mendes may even be a nice guy, as many of his clients profess, who is just able to do things better than others in the same way Mark Zuckerberg apparently is. The problems come when others start to see opportunities to go a step too far as we have seen with Cambridge Analytica – by which time it’s too late for the regulators as the consequences have already happened.

Anglo-Portuguese relations: the story
of the oldest alliance in the world

As an added bonus this week after some tangential research – here is a short historical meandering look at how the start of Anglo-Portuguese relations helped to ensure that Portugal is not just a region of Spain and whether there are any tenuous parallels to be scribbled between that and the UK’s exit from the European Union.

While you’ve already heard that the surname of Nuno Espirito Santa translates as ‘Holy Spirit’, his first name Nuno is quite a popular name given to boys in Portugal as it is likely derived from the important historical figure of General Nuno Álvares Pereira, who played a pivotal role in the country’s history. General Nuno was instrumental in seeing off the Kingdom of Castile (the precursor to what is now Spain) who invaded in 1385 during the battle between the rival camps for the contested Portuguese throne. It was a struggle that divided a country between those who wanted to join the wider alliance of an Iberian Kingdom and those who wanted to remain an independent country – unfortunately there were no referendums back then and sword was mightier than the pen when it came to making decisions.

The Portuguese struggle for independence is a somewhat complicated story that almost makes Brexit sound civilised. It involved a battle between the southern regions who wanted to remain independent of Castile and those to the north that sought to have Portugal annexed into a greater Iberian power. The situation arose after King Fernando heard the drums calling him to leave this mortal coil and left Portugal without a male heir – he’d earlier married off his only daughter Beatrice to King John I of Castile, which was viewed as an attempt to make Portugal a protectorate and deter the English from invading the Iberian peninsula. However, the prospect of being swallowed up into a greater Castile lead to an uprising in Lisbon, who backed Fernando’s step-brother John for the throne instead.

To add to the confusion both pretenders to the throne were called John – John, Duke of Valencia (who we are also confusingly told should not be confused with John of Castile, Lord of Valencia) and Fernando’s step-brother John, Great Master of Aviz (not an early horse rental organisation but a monastic military order that emulated the Knights Templar). Aviz John was the great hope for those who wanted to remain independent and is often referred to in Portugal as ‘the Good’, ‘the Great’ or even by the rather unforgettable catchy title ‘of Happy Memory’ – though to add balance he’s sometimes also referred to as ‘the Bastard’ instead, especially in Spain. I suspect that latter title is where similarities with Nigel Farage end, who I presume has been called far worse both in Europe and the UK, but nevertheless John was someone who was definitely in the ‘We want our country back’ tradition.

The story took another twist with the arrival of another John – this time it was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and father of the future King Henry IV – who landed in Galicia to stake his claim to crown of Castile (his second wife Constance was heir apparent) with help from Portugual but failed to get the backing of Castilian nobility and instead returned to England after being paid off by a rival claimant. Although he did leave his daughter behind, not in the absent-minded David Cameron sense after a decent Sunday lunchtime session, but in order to seal the Anglo-Portuguese alliance with a marriage to the newly crowned John I of Portugal and the Algarve (who was formerly known as the Great Master of Aviz).

It’s probably worth noting that John of Gaunt (or Ghent as it’s now known) is perhaps responsible for many of the Royal houses in Europe through the descendants of his children. Although he was the third son of the Plantagenet King Edward III and never became king himself his children led to the three houses of Lancaster, York and Tudor and all subsequent monarchs of England since 1603. In addition his daughter Catherine married into the Castile Royal House, from which all monarchs of Castile and Spain are descended, plus all subsequent monarchs of Portugal are descended through his daughter Philippa – in addition, so too is the House of Habsburg descended from his children.

This union between John of Gaunt’s daughter and King John I spawned a generation of highly educated princes known as the “Illustrious Generation”, who led Portugal into its golden era of great explorers and the ‘Age of Discovery’ as the lands from Africa, South America, India and China were successfully navigated by a succession of great sailors such as Vasco da Gama who circumnavigated Africa and reached India. Incidentally, this Anglo-Portuguese Alliance that was ratified as the Treaty of Windsor in 1386 is the oldest alliance in the World and still exists today with neither country ever fighting on opposing sides – even when Portugal was absorbed into the Iberian Union in the late 16th century many of the deposed Portuguese Royal House fought with the UK in the Anglo-Spanish war.

Although, it’s mainly thanks to Nuno Álvares Pereira that Portugal remains a separate country and is not just a western province of Spain – for his efforts, Nuno was bestowed many titles and had great wealth but went on to build numerous churches and monasteries before giving his wealth away and joining the Carmelite order of monks following the death of his wife. He actually died on Easter Sunday in 1431 and was later beatified in 1918 by Pope Benedict XV.

Whether any parallels can be drawn between the quest for Portuguese independence and Brexit is another matter entirely. Whilst Lisbon survived a siege early in the conflict thanks to England sending four ships laden with food (though only one got through), the current British Government appears to have been under siege since it triggered Article 50. The country is still divided on the issue and neither side on the Brexit argument has subsequently been convinced by the other that they made the right decision.

It seems the argument will continue to be conducted by attempting to scare the other side into submission or just hoping it will go away in order to return to a quiet life. The latest surreal stunt of throwing dead fish into the Thames by the Ukipper who shall not be named as proof that the final deal will ultimately be a stitch-up is just one in long line of Red Herrings. Perhaps the parting words of the EU in the yet to be written ‘A Hitchhikers Guide to Brexit‘ will just be unerringly similar to the Douglas Adams classic ‘So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish’ as the UK is cast adrift towards Trump’s America to make way for a European bypass…

The latest in a series of profiles and interviews, Orginal Fat Bob gives his personal view on the life and career of a footballing guest, before sitting down for a chat and asking a few questions. Our Diasboro special guest this week is Gary Pallister.

1. The Overview – the man and his career

Gary was born in Ramsgate, Kent although he has always been considered by most of us a local lad. He is one of those football players who began and ended his professional career with the Boro. When you see him strolling down Yarm High Street, or still patrolling the corridors of Middlesbrough and Manchester United, where he usually acts as a match host at their grounds, he is welcomed and greeted with smiles at every turn. Tall, greying at the temples and still handsome and athletic looking, he has the appearance, now in his early fifties, of being self-assured and a man comfortable with life. This can be evidenced when seen on Television, when he appears as a guest football summarizer on Sky Sports and other Televised Sports Channels.

He says “I didn’t come into the game until late. I was 19 when I turned pro and I hadn’t done an apprenticeship or anything like that, so I was privileged to end up having such a good career. You take it for granted at the time but, looking back now, I realise how lucky I was.”

He is always ready to laugh, and joke and he obviously loves still being in the football environment, where he can enjoy the craic with his fellow former team mates, as they playfully make digs at one another. Just like the young lads they once were and how we all remember them.

Pally was signed as a youth player from Billingham Town when spotted by the late great Willie Maddren and his management team. A fee was agreed and paid to them of a new football strip (a bargain signing OFB). I remember seeing him as a tall gangly youth and he was quickly packed off to Darlington on loan, to get used to the rough and tumble of lower league football. He came back determined to make his mark and he was helped in that, because he was to have alongside him another Boro legend, in the form of Tony Mowbray. He played as a centre-half and made the rare achievement of representing the English national side in 1988 before appearing in the top flight. He did this whilst playing in the Second Division for the Boro. I remember listening to that game on the radio, in my Managing Director’s office at work. We were surrounded by another ten keen Boro fans, eager to hear how he was doing. Well the boy done well; he was capped 22 times by England between 1988 and 1996 and I tried to see every one of them, proud that we had one of our own, playing for our Country.

Partnered by Mogga, the defensive partnership went from strength to strength and is still considered by many (including me – OFB) as one of the best that the Boro have ever had. Later that year Pally helped ‘Boro win our second successive promotion and reach the First Division, just two years after we almost went out of business. However we were relegated on the final day of the 1988–89 season. As one of the highest regarded defenders in England, his days at Ayresome Park were looking numbered as soon as Boro were relegated, but he did begin the 1989–90 season. He was still at the club in the Second Division, before his move to Manchester United was completed.

He played for Manchester United from 1989-1998, for which was then a club-record of £2.3 million for a Second Division defender. It was also the highest fee between British clubs, and the second highest fee to be paid by a British club (second only to Ian Rush’s return to Liverpool, from Juventus a year earlier).

A few eyebrows were raised when Alex Ferguson paid such an amount of money for him, but Fergie needed a centre-back to partner Steve Bruce. Pally was the only man to feature in the first 10 major trophy successes for the manager at United where he won four Premier League titles and three FA Cups.

Following a blazing row with the Manchester United boss, Gary tells how he feared his career under Sir Alex Ferguson would last just 12 months, though as we now know he survived the dressing room confrontation with Fergie as an Old Trafford novice. Speaking in a documentary to celebrate Ferguson’s 25 years at United, he reminisces about that incident and it reveals a different side of Fergie to that we think we know.

“I’ve certainly witnessed the good cop, bad cop versions of Sir Alex Ferguson. I could take you through a whole file of them! There are far too many to mention. But he does have a public persona and a private one. We all see the fiery Scotsman on TV, at loggerheads with the press, and referees, but I can tell you he is a well-balanced individual. Yes, he put the fear of God into players, but you wouldn’t last 25 years at United if that was all you were about. There is so much more to him than the facade the public get to see. His man-management is great. He’ll rip into you if you deserve it, but publicly he’ll protect his players.”

“I recall once at Anfield, when I was having a shocker and he took me off at half-time, but when I read the papers, I discovered I had an injury. He’d told the press that was why he’d substituted me.”

“But one incident that really stands out for me happened after about a season at the club. I’d joined in 1989 from Middlesbrough, for a British club record of £2.3m and it is no secret that the first few months were difficult for me.”

“In that first year it always seemed to be me, Lee Sharpe and Steve Bruce who copped for the hairdryer. But in one match he really laid into me at half-time in the dressing room. I thought he had over-stepped the mark with what he came out with and I’d had enough. He pushed me too far and I responded.”

“I had an almighty bust-up with him. I thought my United career was going to be over as a result of that. A couple of days later I was called to his office. I went there expecting to get my P45 and be told I was on my way. I entered his room and I was still full of anger and adamant I had been right. I was readying myself for another argument and to be told I was being put on the transfer list.”

“But he really took the wind out of my sails. He deflated my balloon by apologising. He said he had crossed the mark and was wrong for what he had said. I was so taken aback, I forgot to say sorry myself.”

“It was a pivotal moment in my United career, because my respect for the manager grew enormously. He was man enough to admit he was wrong. More than ever before I knew from that day on that this was a manager I could work for.”

“He has dealt with so many different personalities and nationalities and has managed to adapt from pre-Premier League days when the job was so different, to the modern-day game and how the power of the player has changed. He was an old-school style boss, but has managed to adjust. He embraced everything and took new styles on board.”

It seems unfair to point to Pally’s lack of goals, when his main job was keeping out the opposition at the other end. The two headers at Liverpool to virtually clinch the 1996/97 title for Manchester United were truly special but there was something magical about his free-kick in the final home game of the 1992/93 campaign against Blackburn, when Old Trafford celebrated ending the 26-year wait for the championship. Everybody was willing him to get off the mark for the season and his perfectly-placed set-piece proved he was no ordinary centre-half and that he had skill in abundance.

By the time of his departure from Old Trafford after nine years, he was the only player to have collected winner’s medals in all of the club’s successes under Alex Ferguson’s management, and second only to Brian McClair (who left United at the same time) he was the club’s longest serving player.

Pally came back to the Boro for £2.5million, signed by Bryan Robson who had played alongside him until 1994. The fee was actually more than the money Manchester United had paid for him nine years earlier in July 1998. He scored once against Southampton in 55 League appearances, as well as appearing in two FA Cup matches and four League Cup matches.

His final playing season, in which we finished 14th in the table, was season 2000–01. He retired from playing due to a succession of injuries on 4 July 2001, at the age of 36. This was just three weeks after the appointment of Steve McClaren as our new manager. I was always grateful that I saw him play and he talks to us now.

2. The Interview – a quick chat

OFB: What year did you join Boro as a professional footballer?

GP: I joined the boro in 1984.

OFB: Where did you stay? Did you rent, or did you live in digs?

GP: I was living with my parents in Norton, so I didn’t have to live in digs.

OFB: Who was your favourite Boro player and others that you have played with?

GP: The best Boro players I played with were Alan Boksic and Gazza.

OFB: Who were the best and worst trainers in the team?

GP: The best trainers in the Boro team were Curtis Fleming and Gary Hamilton.

OFB: When did the team travel for away games, how did they get there, by bus or by train?

GP: It was usually the day before and nearly always by bus.

OFB: How many players usually travelled and did the Directors travel with you?

GP: In my first spell it would be a squad of 15 then about 18 in my 2nd spell, no Directors came with us.

OFB: Did you have nice hotels or was it just bed and breakfast?

GP: It was always a decent hotel that we stayed in.

OFB: Who did you room with for away matches?

GP: During my first spell with the club it was Bernie Slaven, then Colin Cooper in my 2nd spell.

OFB: Who was the joker in the team?

GP: First it was probably Slav, then it was Gazza.

OFB: Can you tell us any amusing anecdotes or pranks that were played?

GP: None that I could tell publicly!

OFB: Whose boots did you clean as an apprentice and who cleaned yours?

GP: I was never an apprentice, so I never had to clean any boots.

OFB: Did you try and emulate your style of play, on any individual player who played in your position?

GP: Alan Hansen

OFB: What was your most memorable game, your own individual performance and best experience with the fans?

GP: The Chelsea play-off game in 1988 at Stamford Bridge

OFB: What was your worst game or experience and why?

GP: I suppose it has to be the Leicester game, the last game of the season in 1988 when we failed to win the game and get automatic promotion.

OFB: Is there a game that you wished you had played in, either for Boro or another team?

GP: The 1999 European cup final for United.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the best manager that Boro have ever had?

GP: Jack Charlton.

OFB: Who was the manager that had the greatest influence on your career and why?

GP: Willie Madren, he took me under his wing and pushed me to be a success.

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you fear playing against?

GP: I used to hate playing at Plough Lane, home of Wimbledon and never really feared playing against anyone.

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you like playing against?

GP: I liked playing at Anfield, it was always the biggest test for me.

OFB: Who is your favourite Boro player of all time and why?

GP: Willie Maddren, because he believed in me.

OFB: Who is your current favourite Boro player and why?

GP: Ben Gibson, I like the way he’s developing as a leader of the team.

OFB: How do you think the match day has changed from the time that you played professional football to the present day?

GP: I Think the pitches have changed dramatically, it’s so much better to play good football on now.

OFB: If you could be a fly on the wall, is there any dressing room you would wish to eavesdrop on?

GP: Pep Guardiola at Man City.

OFB: Do you have any regrets in your career, or missed opportunities?

GP: It’s hard to have any regrets, when I was so fortunate to have the career that I did have.

OFB: Do you still follow the Boro and their results

GP: Yeh, I go to most of the home games.

OFB: Whereabouts in the Country do you live these days and what do you do?

GP: I still live on Teesside in Yarm (He is also a TV Pundit – OFB)

OFB: Whom have you made a lifelong friend through football?

GP: Slav, Mogga, Brucey.

OFB: Finally, if you hadn’t had a professional career as a footballer, what do you think you would have done as a career?

GP: Ha Ha, not got a clue, probably something involving sport.

OFB: A huge thank you Gary, for taking the time to talk to Diasboro and our readers.

Brentford		Middlesbrough
Macleod ▮ Sawyers	34′ 90′ + 1	Adama	21′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	68% 24  6  9 10	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	32%  9  4  4 19

Randolph the red nosed Saviour!

The Bees have been swarming around the periphery of the play off places for a while now and despite some recent setbacks with two consecutive losses are more than capable of gate crashing the party despite being eight points adrift before this afternoon’s game. A defeat for them would just about finish their hopes for another season but a win would catapult them back into the mix so there was a huge amount at stake for both sides with no quarter expected and given.

Injuries had left the West Londoners a little depleted of late as squad depth starts to play a major part in the run up to the season’s finale. Bee’s Defenders were a scarce commodity in midweek when they lost to Cardiff with none at all spare on their bench. Hopefully Boro would be able to take advantage especially with the scintillating form of Paddy and Adama of late. Dean Smith was without four of his squad on Tuesday night with Andreas Bjelland, Florian Jozefzoon and Rico Henry all missing through injury. The fourth, Henrik Dalsgaard was in attendance at the local maternity ward awaiting the birth of his child. The Bee’s Boss however expected that both Jozefzoon and Dalsgaard would be back today to boost things against Boro but that Bjelland and Henry would still be absent. Alan Judge and Lewis Macleod were both easing their way back from long term layoffs and if available their fitness levels might be questionable.

For TP Dani Ayala had picked up a groin strain and had missed training all week but Grant was back giving him a conundrum as to who to pick centrally as Clayts has filled in well in his absence. Besic and Bamford were both carrying niggles last weekend but hopefully not having a Tuesday night fixture may have sorted them. Fabio appears to be fit again so apart from Ayala only long termer Gestede was definitely unavailable. The team news at Griffin Park revealed that Dalsgaard and Jozefzoon both made the Bees starting line-up as expected along with MacLeod and Judge making the bench. Boro were unchanged from Barnsley with Ayala passing a late fitness test and the only change being Grant in for Marvin Johnson on the bench.

The sides tentatively entered the Griffin Park pitch initially looking more concerned about the blustery icy cold than their opponent’s abilities. The game perhaps dictated by the meteorological influences rather than game plans started like two boxers dancing around the ring, weighing up their opponent before trying to land and serious blows. The first real action occurred in the 10th minute when Ben saved our blushes followed by another attempt into the box a moment later which was cleared by a half fit Ayala.

Brentford should have taken the lead from close range as a free kick was delivered into the Boro box but fortunately Neal Maupay sliced his shot over from just outside the 6 yard box. Boro then broke away down the other end with Adama sprinting clear before being cynically chopped down by Woods receiving a yellow for his troubles. On twenty minutes Stewy got a great ball in for Howson who couldn’t quite get the ball under control and Bentley managed to push the effort out for a Boro Corner. From that Corner it was Brentford’s turn and broke down the opposite end only for the ball to come straight back up to Stewy who grappled past two defenders feeding Adama who tracked across the 18 yard box losing his marker and smashing the ball home from the “D” to put Boro1-0 up against the run of play. That’s what Adama gives us away from home, that ability to break and turn defence into attack but now under Tony Pulis the lad now has an end product.

Not long after Adama unleashed another effort causing Bentley to pull off a good save. Brentford needing to get a result from this game now pushed up with even greater gusto. A Besic intervention conceded the Bee’s first corner of the game but the poor execution never troubled our defence. Clayts clattered awkwardly into Mokotjo to pick up a yellow as Brentford were trying to get their heads clear and take the game to Boro who were now characteristically sitting deep.

After a Bamford effort Brentford again then quickly turned taking the game back to Boro resulting in Macleod putting the ball past Randolph into the bottom right hand corner after some suspect defending. A few harsh words were exchanged between those in white shirts mainly Gibson, Clayton and Besic. Mo Besic may only be here on loan but he clearly takes his football very seriously and was particularly unhappy at the manner at which his side was undone and with very good reason.

The warning signs had been there as only five minutes previously Randolph had to tip an effort over the bar from the same player. Boro were now being pulled all over and Pulis was extremely animated at what he was witnessing in the coaching area. Brentford were moving the ball around quickly with TP yelling instructions onto the pitch to get closer, anticipate and cut out the slick build ups from the wide areas.

At this stage Boro needed the half time whistle to go as they were on the ropes. Everything cleared up the pitch was being picked off with the Bees getting straight back at Boro, clearly now feeling they were capable of taking the lead before the half time whistle. An Adama run had Maupay desperately chasing his vapour trail and Bentley closing his angles resulted in the ball going out for a Boro throw in. A Clayton headed clearance from a Macleod corner ended the first half keeping the scores level and TP an opportunity to reorganise his troops and provide better service to Bamford and Adama.

Both sides restarted the second forty five minutes unchanged with Boro now kicking towards the freezing travelling army. The second half started pretty much the same as the first half had panned out with Brentford putting pressure on the Boro defence and Adama the sole outlet for Boro. We intermittently flickered to life with a penalty claim for a foul on Howson and then Downing left two Brentford players for dead with Dalsgaard taking a yellow for the Bees. Adama sent the resulting free kick into the Brentford box but the Ref blew for a foul on Bentley the Brentford Keeper. Boro now enjoyed a little more influence in the game and just as they looked to be asserting themselves Brentford went down the Boro end and created another opportunity of their own which defined this game. A great game for the neutral but a bit nervy for both sets of fans and as Dael Fry was warming up a great chance fell to Paddy who missed his chance. Brentford then appropriately and predictably flew up the other end with the ball cannoning off Ryan Shotton for a Bees corner.

Randolph comfortably gathered the Corner kick into the box as Dael Fry continued his long wait to replace Dani Ayala eventually entering the field on 60 minutes in a like for like swap. Besic went in hard on Dalsgaard to pick up a yellow with the home fans screaming for his dismissal. Maupay then had another chance immediately after the Besic booking only to repeat his previous high and wild effort thankfully for Randolph. Traore then duplicated the feat at the other end sending a Boro chance well over as the game was opening up a little. Chances were occurring at both ends with Brentford pressing, Boro looking to break and neither side settling for the draw.

Grant was brought on for Howson as TP was keen to try and break up the Brentford attacks which resulted almost immediately in a dangerous free kick on the edge of the Boro 18 yard box. The kick from Jozefzoon hit off the White wall and quick clearance up field resulted in a Boro throw in allowing Dean Smith to make his fist sub of the day with Canos coming on for Watkins. Upon the restart Randolph almost immediately had to get down to his left to prevent the Bees taking the lead. Tactically Besic had moved further up the pitch when Grant was introduced with Clayts and Grant now shielding the defence.

The game see-sawed up and down Griffin Park with Boro still content to set up breaks from deep and Brentford continuing their passing with movement and pace. Smith then brought off goal scoring returnee Macleod whilst TP brought off Besic and put Assombalonga on in a more determined 442 formation for the remaining quarter of an hour. Boro then had Ben to thank for another block with Clayts making a pigs ear of trying to clear the ball (giving away a corner in the process) followed up immediately with a second corner which was finally cleared up to Britt releasing Traore who lost possession and the ball came straight back at us again and another effort flew past Randolph’s far post.

Ten minutes remaining and Brentford were still pushing despite Boro’s tactical switch and Randolph once again pulled off a brilliant save to concede a corner which he gathered safely. The clearance up the pitch saw Bamford lose out but Clayts pick up the loose ball and ended with a Traore effort going out for a corner which was eventually delivered badly with the ball going out for a goal kick along with the snow flurries building temporary momentum.

The last throw of the Brentford dice saw Mokotjo go off and Northern Irishman Judge come on and immediately launch an attack after robbing Assombalonga. Some sloppy play from Grant kept us on the back foot. Brentford kept peppering the Boro box pushing for the winner as a cleared ball once again failed to be held up by Britt and Boro were rocking. In a Boro break out Traore charged out of his own box heading towards the half way line but Sawyers took his turn to cynically fell Adama and break the attack up. From the free kick Adama was once again ridiculously brought down for another free kick allowing Boro’s big units from the back to go up to the opposition 18 yard box. Stewy deftly dropped the free kick onto Britt whose header looped up but was adjudged off side and once again Brentford stormed out taking the free kick quickly.

In the last minute Traore lost the ball as his attempt to break Brentford came straight back at us with George this time taking a yellow for the team. As the ball was eventually cleared the fourth official signalled five minutes of added time with Sawyers clattering into breaking Britt for his second yellow and sent off. At this stage the 11 Boro men versus the 10 of Brentford mattered for little as any semblance of tactics and organisation was diminished along with Clayton hobbling off injured temporarily restoring the sides to 10 v 10. Clayts manfully limped back onto the pitch as Brentford kept the pressure up winning a corner off a Grant deflection. Bamford met the corner with Randolph collecting it setting up Britt who back heeled to the now advancing Bamford who was wiped out as yet another yellow was issued.

Boro took their chance from the free kick and won a corner which Paddy then connected with but was blocked for another Boro corner in the dying seconds which was cleared at the Ref blew signalling the end of the game. An away draw against a decent side, keen to preserve their own play-off hopes and in very difficult conditions was a good result from a rear-guard Boro perspective.

MOM for Boro on St. Patrick’s Day unfortunately wasn’t Paddy as we had all hoped for but perhaps more appropriately was Darren Randolph who pulled off several saves to keep the very busy Bees at bay and Boro still in the top six over the International bore fest. My main observation from this afternoon was that teams are deciding to take Traore out rather than try and play him. If we are to keep the fair advantage he gives us some equally cynical gamesmanship needs introducing and soon. Some ridiculous over the top faux reactions from Boro players charging over to the fouling defender early on should focus Officials attention.

Boro begin to spy a play-off place
as season comes in from the cold

As the world increasingly takes on the tone of a John le Carré novel, Boro followers are more focussed with the intrigue surrounding the cloak-and-dagger world of trying to make the Championship play-offs. The recent run of good results have meant everything is a bit more smiley on Teesside as Boro’s less than clandestine promotion plans have come in from the cold. Many had been rushin’ to write off the season after agent Monk was finally exposed and then expelled for being careless in the field as operation ‘Smash the League’ was seemingly sabotaged beyond repair. However, Tony Pulis has not been one to tinker much with his first XI since he arrived as he much prefers to tailor his players to his needs rather than soldier on with those who have been defective, which has left the Boro manager beginning to spy a place in the play-offs.

Despite Sheffield United winning in midweek to close the gap on Boro to just two points, the Teessiders will be determined to prevent the Blades slicing further into their lead as they hope to avoid being stung by the Bees. Tony Pulis heads to Griffin Park in search of that rare mythical beast of four wins in a row, the likes of which have not been witnessed for quite a long while. Indeed the Boro faithful were beginning to doubt they would ever see such a winning run, though help may be a hand as it was once believed that a feather from the griffin could restore sight to the blind. Other key fixtures this weekend see both Sheff Utd and Bristol at home to Forest and Ipswich respectively, with Preston off for a day out at the Stadium of Light, so our promotion rivals may be hoping to gain ground. However, Boro have a good record at Brentford and have won their last three encounters there, including the one in the play-offs, which may be a good omen and Tony Pulis’s team will be buzzing if they return with all three points.

Psychologically it will be important for Boro to ensure they remain in the top six, especially with the two-week snooze-fest coming up and any dropping off the pace on Saturday will leave plenty of time to lie awake at night worrying about the Good Friday visit by top of the table Wolves and the nightmare of missing out on the play-offs. Though one player who may soon be looking forward to international breaks is in-form striker Patrick Bamford – who has been courted by Martin O’Neill to play for the Republic of Ireland. Bamford seemingly qualifies to play for Ireland by virtue of being called Patrick, which apparently is written into the Irish FA constitution as you are then deemed to be a grandson of the emerald isle. Admittedly he’s still working on the accent and is still unsure (to be sure) that he’s up for the crack as he hasn’t yet given up on being the next Harry Kane instead – incidentally, I think being called Harry also probably qualifies you to play for England, though is possibly a bar to managing them.

Tony Pulis now finds himself in the somewhat strange territory of being involved in a battle at the top of the table where the name of the game is winning rather than avoiding defeat. It perhaps requires a different mindset of developing a winning mentality and one he needs to instil into the players if Boro are to remain in the top six. The Boro manager may have allowed himself a nostalgic glance towards the foot of the Premier League table, where he will have no doubt noticed that his three former clubs (West Brom, Crystal Palace and Stoke) currently occupy the three relegation slots. Indeed, if Pulis fails in his mission to take his new team up this term it may well be at these old stomping grounds where Boro will need to stamp their promotion credentials next season.

Brentford		Middlesbrough
Dean Smith		Tony Pulis
P37 – W14 – D11 – L12 – F53 – A45		P37 – W18 – D7 – L12 – F53 – A35
Position Points Points per game Projected points	11th 53 1.4 66	Position Points Points per game Projected points	6th 61 1.6 76
Last 6 Games Cardiff (H) Millwall (A) Burton (A) Leeds (A) Birmingham (H) Sunderland (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:3 (1:2) L 0:1 (0:1) L 2:0 (0:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 5:0 (2:0) W 2:0 (2:0) W	Last 6 Games Barnsley (H) Birmingham (A) Leeds (H) Sunderland (A) Hull (H) Cardiff (A)	F-T (H-T) 3:1 (2:0) W 1:0 (1:0) W 3:0 (2:0) W 3:3 (0:1) D 3:1 (2:1) W 0:1 (0:1) L

International breaks at the best of times have become an unwelcome interruption to those who are mainly absorbed by the main event of following their club. Meaningless international friendlies are like an eternal ad-break of PPI ambulance chasers tempting you with the money to buy a cheap DFS beige leather sofa to make your simple life sophisticated, as you only wish that the fast-forward button worked so that you could skip to the crucial stage in the thriller you were intensely watching. Although, the merits of having such an ill-timed distracting pause is now even more dubious with the sudden semi-return to cold war politics, which may yet prove to be a final curtain call for Putin’s now seemingly pointless big state PR event on the world stage that was supposed to cement his ‘re-election’ after quite literally seeing off the opposition.

Mother Russia’s apparent unwelcome recent gift of a box Novichocs (other more military strength spellings are available) to a former intelligence colonel has had them labelled a rogue state, which were seemingly anonymously delivered with barely a glimpse of the man dressed in black with a Moloko Tray calling card – replacing the usual Polonium tea and deepest sympathy that is reserved for those who have fallen deeply out of Kremlin favour. Whilst the UK’s response of not deploying the likes of Boris Johnson or Prince William at the tournament may not be overly concerning to Mr Putin, it seems the political manoeuvring and increased tensions ahead of the forthcoming World Cup will probably end up overshadowing events on the pitch – even placing in doubt whether it actually takes place at all.

At the very least, it will perhaps leave Gareth Southgate and his players feeling that they’re unlikely to receive favours from any Russian linesmen in their bid to emulate their 1966 predecessors in lifting the trophy. Indeed, one can only imagine the fate that awaits any fueled-up English supporter who foolishly places an unwise toenail out of line before barely getting the chance to finish the chant of ‘Ingerland’. Though Russia’s treatment of those elements among the English supporters, who in their delusions believe they’re acting as pseudo-ambassadors for a fallen empire as they spoil for more than just a Ferrero Rocher, may prove to be beneficial to some. I suspect West Ham owner David Sullivan, whose penchant for wearing the Russian ushanka hat with a similarly themed Politburo overcoat, will be more than happy if a huge swathe of his less-than happy Hammers spend much of next season in a Siberian Gulag.

The ugly protests at the Olympic Stadium last weekend had Sullivan eventually being escorted from his seat for his own safety, plus some young children caught up in the bile were kindly given refuge on the Burnley bench. Perhaps the under fire owner may be inspired for the next home game by the Russian owner of Greek side PAOK Salonika in terms of giving off a message that he’s not to be messed with. The Russian oligarch Ivan Savvidis came onto the pitch to protest at the referee about a disallowed goal in the top of the table game against AEK Athens whilst nonchalantly packing a pistol in a hip holster – better still perhaps Sullivan could accessorise his Soviet chic with a rather fetching Kalashnikov and then we’ll see how many of the seemingly derailed ‘Inter City Firm’ feel lucky. Incidentally the Greek league was subsequently suspended following the incident and will only resume once the issue of crowd violence has been resolved – with a recent game between PAOK and Olympiakos also being suspended after opposition manager and former Watford boss Oscar Garcia was hit in head with toilet roll and ‘taken to hospital’ – whilst it doesn’t sound like weaponised Andrex is an obvious danger to health, it’s not clear if the Labrador puppy was still attached.

Talking of lethal weapons, the Russian president only last week boasted that they now possess a advanced hypersonic missile, which travels so fast and can change direction that it cannot be stopped by any existing defences. The fear spread by launching an Advanced Defence Avoidance Missile Attack (ADAMA) has lead to many strategists wondering just how to stop something so fast – doubling or trebling up defensive resources has been tried but usually by the time it has been spotted it’s usually too late to do anything as it accelerates past them. Earlier launches of this ground-hugging missile initially proved to be a little wayward but with the introduction of the Pulse guidance system it has turned it into a much more effective weapon and has now frequently started hitting the target. Whilst in the developing stages it proved to be a little temperamental it has also been further refined to avoid the earlier risk of self destructing. We are now perhaps only beginning to understand the potential of such an offensive weapon and many fully expect to see its deployment on the world stage in the near future.

So will Boro hold their nerve and apply the pressure on their opponents as they continue to expunge their rivals from the promotion party? Or will Brentford lure Tony Pulis’s men into a honey trap before swarming our defence and stealing all the nectar points? As ususal your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Paddy prove he’s got the luck of the Irish and continue his run of scoring on St Bamford day?

The latest in a series of profiles and interviews, Orginal Fat Bob gives his personal view on the life and career of a footballing guest, before sitting down for a chat and asking a few questions. Our Diasboro special guest this week is Doug Weatherall.

1. The Overview – the man and his career

I met up with Seaham born Doug Weatherall down at the Riverside on a match day, where he was still indulging in his favourite pastime of watching football. He is still looking good and as sharp as a tack at the ripe old age of 85. Now well retired, he was an award-winning journalist, who reported all sports coverage in the North East of England for most of his career. I used to read his match reports and see him on Television when he was a broadcaster for the BBC. Mike Neville, the well-known host on the Look North programme, once asked him on air if he was a Sunderland supporter and he said vaguely “they WERE my original team!”

Don’t say it too loudly on a Boro blog site, but he is a self-confessed Sunderland fan. He obviously has better memories of the club in their past than can be enjoyed by him today. Doug edited the Army newspaper in Austria whilst on National Service before returning to the Sunderland Echo where he’d joined as a 16-year-old. He moved onwards and upwards to the Daily Herald and then to the Daily Mail, where his work was read by all those who loved football.

I remember travelling down to London many years ago and by chance we sat opposite each other on the train and I recognised him from his TV appearances. We spent the next two and a half hours talking about football non-stop. Having a chat with Doug now in the present day, he thinks that all those years ago that he was going down to Wembley to report on an England game. Like most things, it’s all lost in the sands of time now.

A generous man and an admirer of all North East football legends, irrespective of which team they played for. He loved Jackie Milburn and when these great footballers played many years ago they didn’t earn a lot of money. Milburn’s last game for Newcastle was in 1957. But, 10 years later, a testimonial for the “people’s gentleman” drew a crowd of 46,000, earning him £7,000. To Doug who had initiated the event, Jackie Milburn gratefully said: “You’ve just paid for my house.” A house that he could say was his and had never owned one in his life before.

One of Doug’s most treasured possessions is a silver salver (pictured above) with the inscription: “To Doug with everlasting gratitude for Your Journalistic Approach in Starting my Testimonial Match”. There, too, in gold lettering, is Jackie Milburn’s signature.

Today Doug says quite emphatically that he is not a fan of midfield players, who play the ball sideways or backwards. He also doesn’t like the way that some free kicks are taken, which results in a back pass to the goalkeeper, as he strongly feels that the game is to attack. I think most of us on this blog would agree with him as we all like to see goals and that is what we pay to see.

2. The Interview – a quick chat

OFB: Did you play football before going to watch it as a spectator and what position did you play?

DW: At Deneside Junior School I organised many matches and around that time I, being right-footed, taught myself to be far more proficient with my left foot. When I passed the 11-plus to attend Ryhope Grammar School, I hoped to make my mark as a scoring forward. The mistake I made was to play in goal for Seaham House juniors. I meant it to be a one-off until the house captain found a regular keeper. It was with amazement that after that first house match I, a first-former, was included as a keeper in a trial game for the whole junior years. Third-former Kenny Allen, another Seaham lad, was the other keeper and he was to be preferred. In any event, when I told the sports master I wasn’t a goalie, he ruled with emphasis I’d play where he picked me!

I never missed an appearance, as a keeper, in any of our matches whilst I was in second and third years at school. In that third year, I played for Sunderland and District under-14s and I was proud to turn out at Roker and Goodison parks. In that year, too, our school established a Northumberland and Durham record which still stands. We won seven of the eight competitions we entered, and I was an ever-present, our photo is still on the wall at Durham F.A. headquarters.

The next year I won another trophy as the keeper for Silksworth Independent Order of Good Templars. Yes this ale drinker admits that was a temperance outfit and the following season, for Dawdon Colliery Juniors, I picked up another trophy

OFB: What was the first football match you remember going to see?

DW: I’ve been wrapped up in sport, particularly football and cricket, for almost as long as I can remember. Football boots and a size one ball, were gifts from Santa for my fifth Christmas. My first viewing of a football game was at Seaham Colliery Welfare.

My memory of my first visit to a “big” ground was going to see Sunderland v Leeds United at Roker Park. I was aged nine and went with lads I played with on the Deneside estate where I lived. It was a memorable October day for me during World War II, since Raich Carter who was my idol was home and I’d heard so much about him from my Dad. Raich was on leave from the RAF and starred that day. He struck a hat-trick in a 7-2 win and even to this day I can still see one of his goals. It was a left-foot drive from the angle of the Fulwell End penalty area which thudded inside the far post. This was recalled years later when he was managing Middlesbrough and I was earning a living as a sports writer and we talked about it.

By coincidence, for the first Football League game at Roker after the war, Derby County were the visitors and again I was thrilled to see my hero in action. Raich Carter was playing for Derby by then, but I wasn’t too upset as Sunderland won 3-2. What did Boro do that day? Oh, they won 1-0 at Aston Villa.

OFB: Why did you decide to be a journalist?

DW: On the afternoon of the night my club Dawdon won that Cup I’d learned what l’d be doing when I left school. Via a prefect I was summoned to the headmaster’s office. I wondered what I’d done wrong, but Mr. S.B. Graham wanted to know my post-school intentions. Only three weeks earlier my Dad had read a Daily Herald article about how to become a cub reporter and he reckoned my English and interest in current affairs made me a candidate. Mr. Graham explained that Mr. Browne, the Seaham office reporter for The Sunderland Echo, wanted his first junior. I met Mr. Browne that night, the Echo’s editor the next day. I knew then what I’d be doing on leaving school: journalism.

I have so loved my life as a journalist from the age of 16 that if I’d had private means, I’d have done the job for nowt. Most lads of my age were called up for National Service. My two years were served in the Army (pictured above as the centre-forward with his army football team). After basic infantry training with the Highland Brigade, I somehow passed a three-month Royal Army Educational Corps course. I thought I’d be teaching as I headed for Austria; I’d have been hopeless, but, good fortune again, my task for 18 months was to produce the BTA Weekly Journal. My most glamorous assignment was to report Austria 2, England 3 from the Prater Stadium, the game in which Bolton’s Nat Lofthouse, though valiantly scoring the winner, earned his “Lion of Vienna” nickname.

Back in Civvy Street, I returned to The Sunderland Echo but soon developed itchy feet. I wanted to cover bigger stories, so I travelled to Manchester, which was known as the Fleet Street of the North, in the hope of landing a national paper job. The first and only office I visited was the Daily Herald’s, I then became, two months after my 22nd birthday, the country’s youngest national newspaper reporter.

I revelled in the variety of work, murders, train crashes, human interest stories, but bosses knew of my sporting interests. I scored goals and hit runs for the Herald football and Cricket Teams. I talked with great sports writers like George Follows (a victim of the Munich air crash). I was asked to be the paper’s first full-time sports reporter back in my native North East. I said I’d give the job a six-month try and the try lasted all those years until my retirement.

I still played football and cricket with clubs in Seaham, Ryhope, Murton and Spennymoor until I was too old to play anymore.

OFB: Who was your favourite player then and others that you have watched over the years?

DW: My work has naturally meant my getting to know well some wonderful sportsmen. It was a joy for the North-East branch of the Football Writers’ Association to honour at our first dinner, three all-time greats. I was the chairman, and the celebrated guests that we had were; Jackie Milburn, of Newcastle and England, Raich Carter, of Sunderland and England, and Wilf Mannion, of Boro, England and Great Britain.

My favourite Boro player of all time has to be Brian Clough (Doug and Brian pictured above in Majorca). My first viewing of him was at a midweek game at Ayresome Park against Grimsby in 1956. I wrote in the Herald the next day that he was the most exciting player to enter a penalty area I’d seen in years, yet Doug Cooper had been Boro’s No. 9 at the start of the season.

I still think the Boro attacking forward line Brian led is one of the best I’ve known. I have difficulty these days remembering forwards I saw a fortnight ago, but I have no bother with remembering Billy Day, Derek McLean, Brian Clough, Alan Pecock and Eddie Holliday even though they never played together in the top division. It’s one of the best forward lines I ever saw.

OFB: What has been your most memorable games and your best experiences with the clubs?

DW: My happiest football occasions? Certainly, Newcastle’s Inter-Cities Fairs Cup win in 1969 and Sunderland’s 1973 FA Cup triumph over Leeds. The parties afterwards couldn’t have been better. How could I ever forget the hug manager Joe Harvey gave me in the Budapest dressing-room.

I will also always remember the smiles of Bob Stokoe, as we downed champagne from the trophy in Wembley’s dressing room.

Middlesbrough’s League Cup win and European campaign came after my retirement from full-time work. But I was so delighted for them – and particularly for Boro John who drinks in my local club.

OFB: Was your job as a sports reporter as glamorous as it sounds?

DW: I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy the glamour of my work. To this day it’s heart-warming when readers, television viewers and radio listeners recall my observations and writing. I was so pleased when my close friend, Charlie Summerbell of the Daily Mirror, told a gathering of journalists I was “a born reporter.”

DW: Did you travel to within Europe and the rest of the world during your career.

DW: I travelled abroad to see Newcastle win the Fairs Cup and also to watch England Youths play. I regret that I was retired by the time when the Boro went on their great runs playing in Europe.

OFB: What was your worst football game or experience and why?

DW: I never had any worst football experiences.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the best manager that North East Football has ever had and why?

DW: Bob Stokoe, was the most successful North-East-based manager I have known. He won the Division II championship as well as winning the F.A.Cup in that memorable Wembley final against Leeds United.

The most consistently happy five years of my career were those of Kevin Keegan’s reign at Newcastle. The Geordies’ fabulous football brought back all my boyish enthusiasm. Let me tell you, I couldn’t wait for the next game to come around, it was great to see them in action.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the best manager that North East Football should have had and why?

DW: Brian Clough. He was only 20 when I first met him, but I believe he could have managed a team even then. His views never changed all through his managerial career. As he told me after his first few months when he had taken over as the manager, at Hartlepool,

“Management is about judgement of players; those that you have, also know those you want.”

He and his assistant, Peter Taylor (the former Boro keeper), were brilliant judges of footballers.

By the way, I think I’m a good one! (brilliant judge of a footballer OFB)

OFB: Who was the greatest influence on your career and why?

DW: Charlie Summerbell, of the Daily Mirror he was the greatest sports writer of them all.

OFB: How do you think the match day has changed, from the time that you started watching and being involved with it and how it is played in the present day?

DW: Current football writers tell me I still get worked up at matches even though football has changed so much from when I used to watch it and write about it for a living. Today football can be very boring and uninteresting to watch, with all its square and sideways passing and free kicks back to the goalkeeper. When I watched football, it was exciting, now it isn’t as entertaining as it used to be.

OFB: Do you have any regrets in your career, or missed opportunities?

DW: My greatest footballing regret is that Brian Clough never managed one of the North-East’s three main clubs. Three times I set it up for Sunderland to appoint him as the manager; three times they turned him down. By the time they wanted him to take over the club as their manager it was too late. Early in his trophy-winning years the chairmen of Newcastle, Sunderland and Boro told me they wouldn’t appoint him. The word prejudice occurs…

OFB: Whom have you made a lifelong friend through football?

DW: Bobby Mitchell, Newcastle’s brilliant Scottish International left-winger, was my closest friend in football. My late wife, Edna, and I holidayed with Mitch and his lovely wife, Belle.  I later delivered the eulogy of my late friend at his funeral. I also did the eulogies at the ceremonies for Jackie Milburn Bob Stokoe, Bobby Cowell, Billy Elliott and Ian Porterfield.

Brian Clough was also my treasured friend and I was very moved when I attended his memorial service at Derby’s Pride Park, as well as at the later unveiling of Brian’s statues at Albert Park in Middlesbrough and the one near Nottingham’ s city centre.

OFB: Whereabouts do you live these days, what are you doing in your retirement?

DW: I live in Northumberland and these days in my retirement I still go and watch football. It was great, to come to Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium and meet up with Peach Peacock this season and talk about old times. I thank him for sending me a photo of him and Brian when they were dashing young men.

OFB: Is it nice for you to think that you acted as an ambassador for the North East area and its people?

DW: Yes, I was very proud of my roots and where I came from and remember it was always said that North East football was the hotbed of soccer.

OFB: Finally, if you hadn’t had the career that you have had, what do you think you would have done as a profession?

DW: I couldn’t imagine what I’d have done if I hadn’t been a reporter, it was the only thing I wanted to do.

OFB: A huge thank you Doug for taking the time to talk to Diasboro and all our readers, posters and bloggers.

Middlesbrough		Barnsley
Ayala Adama Bamford	1′ 18′ 53′	Moore	58′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	46%  9  5  3  7	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	54%  9  3  5  9

Game of two halves

Having finally achieved a Play Off position the pressure was now on Tony Pulis to maintain that spot this afternoon against a struggling Barnsley outfit who have never kept a clean sheet at the Riverside. In fact their last recorded victory on Boro soil was back in April 1992 with a 1-0 win. Barnsley hadn’t won any of their matches against sides in the top 10 in the Championship having drawn five and lost 10 of the fifteen games played. On paper at least games didn’t fall much kinder than this one but of course this is the Championship and Boro we are talking about!

Boro were having a few injury concerns before the game as apart from Fabio’s thigh, Gestede’s ankle and the injured/suspended Leadbitter Tony Pulis was sweating over the fitness of new midfield maestro Muhamed Besic and stalwart George Friend. On Tuesday night we saw Adama take a knock and Paddy Bamford limping adding to the worry list!

A positive for Pulis was that after today’s game Captain Grant’s ban was up although whether his Hamstring knows that is another matter. For Barnsley another protégé from the Mourinho stable was in charge after Paul Heckingbottom departed for Leeds. Jose Morais could call upon the services of returning ex Boro trainee defender Adam Jackson after missing Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat at Cardiff as a result of being stretchered off with concussion at the end of February against Hull.

Matt Mills has missed the last three games with an ankle problem for the Tykes but was close to returning to action although it was 50/50 if he would make the squad for this afternoons clash. Club Captain Andy Yiadom started against Cardiff mid-week after only being a sub against Hull previously so there were indications that the Barnsley back line didn’t exactly pick itself and knocks and niggles were in abundance. All encouraging signs for Adama Traore and marksman extraordinaire Paddy if fit.

The real area of interest was the duel of the Championship’s two in-form Strikers. Since his loan debut from Swansea in February, Oli McBurnie has scored five Championship goals and only Bamford has scored more in that time with seven goals to his name. Boro took to the field with our current “preferred” line up with Clayts in for Grant. Besic was declared fit enough to start as was George, Adama and Paddy. Barnsley had made five changes from their last outing in an effort to rescue their faltering season.

The game kicked off with Boro repeating their Leeds Kick Off only this time getting it right and Adama immediately had the men from South Yorkshire under the cosh. An ensuing throw in for Boro saw Shotton launch one of his long throws and Townsend in the Barnsley goal seemed to flap and slip simultaneously in a farcical fashion allowing Dani to stick out a leg to deflect the ball into the Barnsley net past the hapless keeper. It was one nil to Boro and a minute hadn’t even ticked over on the clock. As starts go this was as good as they get.

The expectation was that Barnsley now knew they had to come out and attack Boro having gone behind so early on but such was Boro’s dominance and stranglehold on the game that resistance from the Tykes was futile. As Adama started another foray ripping into the Barnsley midfield en route to their back line Gardner unceremoniously upended him to go into the book with less than five minutes gone. A couple of minutes later Paddy was clattered in the 18 yard box which looked a nailed on Penalty but the Ref waved claims away. Boro were strutting their stuff, passing the ball around with aplomb and ease as the Tykes looked to be in for a very difficult afternoon.

As organised the whole of the Riverside stood up on the 17th minute to pay respects to the two young Boro fans George Turner and Mason Pearson who tragically lost their lives this week. As if rehearsed Adama picked up a loose ball on the left side of the Barnsley box, cut back inside with gusto and unleashed a shot which went well past the once again despairing Townsend to make it 2-0 in the middle of the one minute applause which the Barnsley fans joined in, a poignant moment with a fitting tribute from the wing wizard the timing of which was impeccable.

The game was all but over and thoughts around the Riverside were being focussed now on how many goals we could score in an effort to leap frog Derby rather than if we could win this one. The passing between Red shirts was sublime and Barnsley looked a spent force, depleted with nervy clearances and passes that at times were pure comedy gold. The only anxiety for Boro was the sight of George limping after taking a clattering on his right thigh; perhaps TP’s press conference concerns were genuine after all. Just before the half time whistle a screaming cross came in from Adama down the right flank but Downing fluffed his lines as he tried to spectacularly connect and the golden opportunity was gone to make it a deserved 3-0 and the scoreline remained 2-0.

The whistle went to end the first half and the home fans stood up to give a standing ovation whilst the despondent away fans dismayed at what they had just witnessed roundly booed their team whose dark navy/grey shirts matched the mood of those who had travelled North. The half time team talk for TP would have been simple, just more of the same whilst in the opposite changies the talk would have been more about saving face and do or die.

Morais made a sub at half time with the more creative Thiam coming on for the largely ineffective Hedges. TP unsurprisingly kept things the same and just after the restart Stewy came close with a daisy cutter which went past Townsends right hand post which was just as well as the Barnsley shot stopper must have had industrial strength thread holding those “neat” shorts together and getting down could have proved both uncomfortable and embarrassing. It didn’t take long for the inevitable third to happen albeit in the most sublime and embarrassing manner.

Stewy looped a corner in which Townsend once again flapped at and whilst the big lads had been jostling and pushing to try an gain a height advantage the ball sailed over all of them with Townsend once again flailing and with Paddy instinctively on the far post the ball hit him on the knee and hit the back of the net. Paddy’s expression was priceless, a momentary look of surprise and embarrassment quickly replaced by oh well I’ll take it anyway who cares and sailed around to salute his 8th goal in five games, 3-0 and the floodgates were surely likely to open. In stark contrast the Tykes equivalent in Oli McBurnie had been well marshalled and kept out of the game by Shotton up until this point.

At this point the game swivelled on its axis and either Boro sat too deep or Barnsley figured they had nothing to lose. Either way what ensued was fairly remarkable as Barnsley who up until this point had been by far the worst side to grace the Riverside all season suddenly looked like Brazil as they tore into Boro and within 5 minutes they had remarkably pulled one back as Randolph pushed a fierce long range shot straight back at Moore instead of pushing it upwards and out of danger. 3-1 and the very nerve of the Tykes to upset the status quo was clearly overwhelming for the rest of the afternoon as Boro quickly switched form dominant superiority to scrambling, panicking and clinging on for dear life.

Such was the shock of the Barnsley goal with their first effort on target the away fans indulged in a verse of self-deprecating “We’ve scored a goal” to which the Boro fans responded with a round of applause. The only problem was that a goal is all it was but now the Tykes clearly had ideas above their station and felt that a second could be on the cards. Sensing the same Morais sent Isgrove on for Knasmuller to bolster their offensive options and TP decided to withdraw the up until then Boro MOM Besic who really had been carrying a knock all week but had left an impression on Townsend seconds earlier with a decent drive.

Lewis Baker came on for Besic and whilst clearly a little game rusty did get stuck in and escaped in a burst up field with Traore played in by Bamford on the half way line who should have put the game beyond reach but unfortunately Adama didn’t see the Chelsea loanee and instead saw Townsend clear his solo effort with his head taking the impact as Baker remonstrated in a not so subtle manner and I have to say with good reason. Morais made his final switch between Williams and Mallan as the pressure was building considerably on Randolph’s goal with scorer Moore now hitting the post.

TP brought Stewy off for Cranie in an effort to shut up shop with seven minutes remaining. Since action man Besic came off Boro looked susceptible and dropping far too deep which has been a regular feature lately. In the final minute a penalty appeal this time it was McBurnie going down fortunately like the previous claim the Ref dismissed it. A second Barnsley goal then would have made for a very uncomfortable four minutes of added time especially as Moore had just headed on to the upright moments before. TP replaced Paddy with Britt to run the clock down and gave the crowd the opportunity to show their appreciation for their new goal machine. The few remaining minutes ticked away anxiously in a bizarre about turn in what had started off as a footballing masterclass from Boro ended up clinging on for dear life.

The result was three points which is the important message to take away from today along with the pleasure that other results by and large went Boro’s way as they drew level on points with Derby for tonight at least and put more daylight between themselves and the chasing pack. Overall Bamford and Clayts were my men of the match for totally opposite reasons. Clayts was effective and efficient in cleaning and tidying up in front of his defenders (who had a few squeaky moments in the last half hour whilst Paddy led the line brilliantly. Paddy had chased and harried, got back defending at set pieces and also putting a few telling tackles in, never giving up the cause. His goal was fortuitous to put it mildly but you make your own luck in this game and Paddy made his.

There was a moment of note in the first half when Ben made a mess of a clearance with George pushing up anticipating launching an attack but the ball ended up being gifted to Barnsley with three players chasing into the Boro box. Shotton came across behind Ben to cover, Besic ran in between the pair of them closing down the danger and Stewy had chased back and harried the Barnsley attacker with the ball going out of play. George and Stewy high fived with Besic who fist pumped Shotton who then gave Ben a consolatory hug in a moment of togetherness. I recall being told and it being reported ad nausea about “Team Spirit” in the Boro dressing room over the last few years but never really bought it. Those few seconds showed more genuine team spirit than any spin I have heard for a long time at the Riverside.

Will Boro capitalise on improved form
as business end of the season arrives

With just ten games left to play, Boro have officially arrived at the business end of the season and they will look to capitalise on the visit of Barnsley to the Riverside in order to bank another three precious points. The long-awaited back-to-back victories against Leeds and Birmingham have decrypted the mental block chain of fixtures under Tony Pulis that saw their currency as promotion contenders fluctuate just below the much valued sixth spot. To his credit, the Boro manager has finally started to appreciate some of the assets in his squad with the stock of Patrick Bamford soaring after seven goals in his last four outings.

It’s taken some time to find the right combination for Tony Pulis and perhaps everyone shouldn’t be surprised that a new manager can’t walk through the door and fix long-standing problems without set-backs and false starts. Though one thing he can take pride in is the that Adama was named as Championship player of the month – perhaps the award should be shared between player and manager for while many have tried to unlock the explosive enigma that is Adama Traore only Pulis has succeeded. Indeed, regardless of what happens this season the investment by Pulis on this project will be almost equivalent to an extra parachute payment if the anticipated value of the player is realised in the summer – though hopefully if he is playing Premier League football next season it will be with Boro.

After Paul Heckingbottom was poached by Yorkshire rivals Leeds, Barnsley have appointed Jose Mourinho’s former assistant, José Manuel Ferreira de Morais, who has worked alongside the Special One at Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea – though it’s not quite the Karanka model where Boro gave him his first head coach job in football as the 52-year old has already had spells as a number one in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Greece. After a year out of the game he’s signed up to the Tykes for 18 months and declared “I’m a coach with vision about not only a way to play, but a way to live and a way to believe and a way to make things greater, bigger, better. That’s the coach I am” – though I’m not sure if they found a way to believe in him at his last club, AEK Athens, where after taking the hot seat in October 2016 he was soon looking for a different way to live after he was dismissed following only 3 wins from 14 league games.

Middlesbrough		Barnsley
Tony Pulis		José Morais
P36 – W17 – D7 – L12 – F50 – A34		P35 – W7 – D11 – L17 – F35 – A50
Position Points Points per game Projected points	6th 58 1.6 74	Position Points Points per game Projected points	21st 32 0.9 42
Last 6 Games Birmingham (A) Leeds (H) Sunderland (A) Hull (H) Cardiff (A) Reading (H)	F-T (H-T) 1:0 (1:0) W 3:0 (2:0) W 3:3 (0:1) D 3:1 (2:1) W 0:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W	Last 6 Games Cardiff (A) Hull (A) Birmingham (A) Burton (H) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:2 (0:1) L 1:1 (1:0) D 2:0 (2:0) W 1:2 (0:2) L 1:1 (1:1) D 0:1 (0:0) L

Whilst at first glance, some viewing the Barnsley club crest may be wondering why it depicts two members of the Village People holding a shield, it actually on closer inspection shows a coal miner rather than a hard-hatted construction worker and incidentally the chap on the left is not in fact drinking his beer through an incredibly long straw (perhaps soon to be the latest trend among the vaping hipsters in the laid-back South Yorkshire pub scene) but he is in fact a glass-blower. Although aficionados of the 80s American disco scene, or indeed observers of ill-conceived military recruitment campaigns, may have been struggling to place the glass-blower in the Village People – no doubt the idea failed to make the final cut in the auditions due to concerns it may be deemed too suggestive and he was instead overlooked in favour of the less controversial ‘leatherman’.

Nevertheless, these once proud working class traditions of the Barnsley folk have been gradually eroded as it’s now over 20 years since the last mine in the area closed. For many, the name of the town was synonymous with coal and it was from where dogmatic class warrior King Arthur Scargill ruled the NUM, with many a night around the table spent plotting his battles before his downfall was eventually secured by his nemesis Mordred Thatcher. Faced with a future without its traditional industrial heritage, the local council launched a consultation in 2002 entitled ‘Rethinking Barnsley’ – perhaps more an admission that the past wasn’t returning than an existential question – though the great British decline in manufacturing is probably represented by the fact the town now provides the energy for the masses by instead boasting the largest cake bakery in Europe – which has no doubt attracted the displaced northern workers from as far afield as Pontefract to Eccles.

Football has long since lost its identity as primarily the quintessential sport of working class men with the gentrified all-seater stadiums creating a high ticket priced repackaged product that was marketed at the expanding middle classes who could easily afford the several hundred pound season-ticket membership to join the club. The arrival of the executive boxes to lure the so-called prawn cocktail brigade of businessmen keen to entertain clients in the hope of persuading them to make the deal was a further signal that football was now a wider socially acceptable entertainment ‘event’. Furthermore, it has almost become mandatory in public life that coming out as a football fan is now a prerequisite to demonstrate you are in touch with the public.

Even privileged Eton-educated Prime Ministers now felt the urge, or were indeed urged by their spin doctors, to ‘pick’ a soccer team in an attempt to flag-up their man of the people credentials on the mast of convenience that football offered. Although the credibility of their random fandom sometimes unravelled in spectacular fashion as the carefully constructed fabrication collapsed as they fluffed their lines by instead becoming the accidental supporter of a team with similar colours. When long-time Villan David Cameron was giving a speech on the multicultural identities of the British, he’d just argued it was possible to be both a Man Utd fan and West Indies cricket supporter before joking that he rather wished people would support West Ham instead.

A few days later he apologise to his fellow Villa faithful for confusing them with the Hammers by explaining “I went past the West Ham stadium the day before and I had just said the word West Indies in my speech and I was making a point about the cricket Test and all the rest of it – I meant to say Aston Villa and I am profoundly embarrassed.” Pretty feeble for a genuine football fan to imagine forgetting which team they supported and the prosecution may cite a speech Cameron gave in 2001 during a debate in the Commons about banning orders for English football hooligans: “Many of those who have spoken in the debate or have written about the subject are either lawyers or football fans, but I have to confess I am neither.” – no further questions your honour!

Though its no surprise that football lost its working class identity as indeed workers have also lost their greater sense of collective identity as a class of people whose labour directly related to the wealth of the nation. The cultural norm that the working week was punctuated by the Saturday afternoon pilgrimage to cheer on their local heroes who represented their proud communities has all but become the preserve of a bygone era. Not only have many of their own jobs been lost to the market forces of globalisation, so too has the notion of a local team being represented as primarily a locally-owned entity.

In the modern world almost everything tangible becomes viewed as an asset, in the same way a house is no longer just deemed a place to live, neither is a club just about playing a game of football but is often viewed as a potential brand waiting to be exploited beyond its geographical boundaries. Football clubs are now commodities, available to be purchased by a random oligarch or traded as a disposable asset to the investors, who all play by the same market forces rules as the ones who facilitated the removal of the traditional industries from the towns where the clubs were originally founded by the workers.

However, this redefining of identity between supporters and their football club is simply a reflection of how society has become less interested in who brings the money just as long as it arrives. The individualisation of cultural experiences and geographic displacement have been combined through the explosion of technological innovation to create the virtual worlds that most now inhabit without a second thought of whether it is still real. What football still offers is that collective experience of everyone simultaneously witnessing an event that unfolds in real time with the added benefit of them still having a genuine emotional attachment to the outcome instead of being the dispassionate observer of someone else’s narrative.

Although many of the gathered masses still struggle to resist the urge to live in the moment as they collectively raise their smart phones to record the mandatory selfie to post on their social media as proof that they were there. The predilection to record life with an individual time-line has meant an event didn’t happen unless ‘I was there’ – however, how this sits in the world of typical Boro, where many are conditioned to the experience that it’s probably not going to happen if they are indeed there, is uncertain. Whilst much of our cultural identity may have been formed by our actual shared experiences of the past, it’s not clear if what we will relate to in the future as disconnected individuals will prove to be as deeply ingrained without that shared reference point of physically being there – for instance what will technology find to replace the smell of Bovril in triggering those memories to transport you back to the terraces of Ayresome Park…

So will Tony Pulis manufacture a third successive victory with an industrious display from his team at the Riverside? or will Boro make it hard work as they struggle to show their class as their promotion charge is undermined by Barnsley? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will José Morais be ‘rethinking’ Barnsley if they drop into the bottom three?

Birmingham City		Middlesbrough
		Bamford	39′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	55%  9  2  5  7	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	45%  8  3  5 12

Bamford banishes
Monk’s birthday Blues

Tonight’s game went from a run of the mill Championship Tuesday night away fixture in winter to one with added spice and significance with the appointment of GM. Boro have a dismal record at St. Andrews at the best of times and Tony Pulis himself didn’t have a good record there either (three draws and one defeat) so historically the stats didn’t make good reading for Boro but the Blues are dire this Season and looked very poor earlier in the season up at the Riverside. They are down in the mire for a reason and I couldn’t see anything other than one of the easiest away fixtures for Boro since Bolton. A professional demolition job was surely in the making to spoil Garry Monk’s birthday and his Brummie baptism.

TP had the usual suspects crocked in Gestede and Fabio along with Leadbitter who was suspended for tonight’s game and Saturday’s at home to Barnsley in any case. Garry Monk had serial card collector Maikel Kieftenbeld available in midfield but Davis, Vassell and Grounds would all be sitting this one out. It remained to be seen if ex Boro Striker Juke would start or be on the bench but whichever way I looked at the squads and permutations I still just couldn’t see anything but a convincing Boro win despite only winning once in our last 19 visits there (the last win coming in August 2005).

Birmingham sat bottom of the form table having lost six consecutive games in a row and seven of their last ten home games having only won six at home all season. Apparently the last time they lost seven consecutive games was in 1986 which is a year we are all too familiar with. Boro’s side was pretty much as predicted with apart from Clayts in for Grant TP deciding to carry on with where you left off lads. Birmingham’s eleven was pretty much best described as best of a bad lot with Jota recalled from the cold and the Juke in the line-up.

Birmingham had a lively start with Jota earning a free kick from which Randolph punched clear simultaneously complaining that Ben should be carded for his attention in the build-up to it. Seconds later Downing was taking a free kick at the opposite end then with Birmingham breaking away and Friend needing to clear things as Jutkiewicz was making his presence felt. Not by any means classy but typical Championship fayre. The best Boro action of the opening moments came when Besic set up an attack with Howson linking up with Bamford whose effort went out for a corner.

With fifteen minutes ticked over the only thing of real note was Dani Ayala having to change his tattered shirt. Bamford picked out Besic on a break but unfortunately Stockdale was alert to the danger from which Birmingham broke down the other end with a Gardner attempt on the Boro goal as the game seemed to go in fits and starts and waves. Jota was next to test Randolph but hit the side netting instead as the Blues had started a little head of steam. You had the feeling that despite their endeavours like Leeds on Friday if they went a goal behind they would sink without trace or perhaps that was more my hope.

The game overall had become very scrappy which probably suited the Blues more than Boro with twenty minutes lapsed. Maghoma, Jota and Juke were creating all the problems for Boro especially Maghoma up against former Blue Shotton. A corner led to claims for a hand ball in the Boro box which were ignored by the Ref awarding another quickly taken Birmingham corner instead.

The period of Birmingham pressure was building almost as quickly as the corner count for the home side, Shotton was still struggling to deal with Maghoma and Juke was keeping Ben and Dani very busy. Boro balls out from defence were coming straight back at us as Traore was being starved of possession and with it little outlet. As the Birmingham possession and pressure started to subside more down to energy levels than anything Boro construed we came back into things and started to finally string some passes together showing intent as the game neared the final ten minutes of the first half.

TP had swapped Adama and Stewy over to try and get a better grip of the game and offer some threat by freeing up the shackled Adama. Bamford put an enticing cross into the box fizzing along the ground reaching Stewy but like he did on Friday he misjudged the ball and sliced it well over. News meanwhile was filtering in that Derby, Cardiff, Villa, Fulham and Preston were all winning, upping the stakes as Bristol and Sheffield United were also trailing.

A George Friend headed attempt went out for a corner then from that poorly taken corner by Traore in which the ball was headed straight back at him it provided an immediate opportunity to make amends. Juke glanced a defensive header backwards from Traore’s arcing cross and found Hatrick instinctively at the far post to hook the ball down and slot it home from two yards out. Despairing off side claims from those in blue shirts were ignored as Paddy once again tested the off side laws. One nil it remained until half time and whilst it wasn’t anywhere near as fluid as Friday night the scoreline was favouring Boro who had started to impose themselves a little more.

The second half would mean Birmingham had to have go at Boro to try and get something from the game which we hoped should suit Traore, Downing, Howson, Besic and Bamford all perfectly. The game recommenced after the break with a sloppy Shotton tackle on Maghoma handing Birmingham the initiative and a much needed early opportunity. In the opening stages Boro looked as though they had dropped down a gear with Shotton looking nervy on his return to St. Andrews. Birmingham were applying pressure with Boro now desperately focussed on clearing their lines as the Blues had clearly had a flea in their ears from either Monk or Clotet during the interval.

A long range opportunistic effort from Bamford was as much as Boro could muster in a hugely disappointing second half. Downing then tried another similar effort from outside the box but Stewy hasn’t had his shooting boots on for most of this season and the effort like most of the rest of them was woeful.

An off side Juke effort ramped up the pressure on Boro just before he was hooked for Sam Gallagher with GM now going for it. Boro were back to looking scrappy, Traore now back on the right seeking a half chance to run at the Birmingham defence rather than the virtual spectator he had become. With 20 minutes left Adama was switched over again to the left presumably within ear shot of TP as Cranie was readied to enter the fray to tighten things up in place of the struggling Shotton. As is his want an errant back flick from Traore put us back under pressure unable to wrestle a grasp on the game. We were sitting deeper and deeper, looking susceptible and really needed an outlet somehow to try and break the by now Birmingham onslaught only momentarily relieved by a Gardner free kick sailing wastefully over Randolph’s bar to give us some respite.

As the ex-Birmingham Keeper readied his goal kick the Boro bench decided to bring Paddy off and throw Britt into the fray to create a fresh outlet and try and sneak a second goal to break the Birmingham defiance. Adama was then clattered and hobbling badly as Ayala was required to slide in to rescue Boro blushes once more meanwhile Baker was being readied to replace Adama. Stewy then went back over to the left and Baker wide right. Cranie got down the flank and crossing into Britt with the ball eventually ending up with Downing who passed to Besic who frustratingly lost possession and put us on the back foot again.

Nerves were jangling as the game entered the last five minutes with George now guilty of poor decision making resulting in a free kick and then a corner to the home side. Boro once again were sitting too deep and “inviting” (if that’s the right word) far too much pressure onto themselves as they had in many previous games losing out to a late sucker punch which at this stage was just going to be inevitable especially with results going our way at that point.

Digging deep and holding on best described a very poor and underwhelming second half Boro performance with Britt left lonely and isolated as so often has been the case for Boro Strikers of late. Another silly free kick this time given away by Cranie thankfully went out for a goal kick yet again as the board went up displaying four long angst ridden minutes. In fairness to Birmingham they put up a spirited performance which belied their lowly position but Boro were far too deep giving away stupid free kicks and with them set piece opportunities. As the last one went out for yet another goal kick Randolph’s final action of the night heralded the end. Boro had survived by digging deep and winning ugly, really ugly!

Phew was the only way of describing the moment when the Ref blew the final whistle. My MOM was Ayala for his heroics and never say die spirit alongside Gibson. Results elsewhere on the night in the end went pretty well for us. Bristol lost, Derby dropping two points as they look to be possibly replicating another end of season implosion, the Blades had lost to Fulham stuffing their game in hand advantage in the process with Boro now firmly in the Play-off positions in sixth place albeit by a solitary point. Strangely it was an awful experience to witness but joyous at the same time. I just wish we didn’t sit so deep desperately defending slender leads; it does nothing for thousands of collective Teesside blood pressures and mine in particular.

Boro plan to give the birthday boy
an unhappy return to management

Boro head to St Andrews on Tuesday after the Chinese stage whispers that started to emerge last week from Birmingham were eventually proved to be unmistakably loud as Garry Monk was unsurprisingly unveiled as the new king of the Blues by owner Paul Suen Cho Hung. Whether he can strike a chord with his new group of players and quickly get them back in the rhythm will depend on whether he’s still in tune with his former assistant at Leeds and Swansea, Pep Clotet, who he is now reunited with after his sacking as manager of Oxford in January. However, the Teessider’s trip to Small Heath will be lead by a man in a baseball cap with a red right hand as Boro are also under new management by order of the Peaky Blinder Tony Pulis!

After easily seeing off Leeds on Friday night with the best performance of the campaign, the renewed optimism that just maybe Boro were back in the promotion game sent a shiver down the spine of Riverside faithful – though many were perhaps too numb from the biting cold to distinguish it from the shivers that they had been experiencing since arriving at the ground in the -10 degree wind chill conditions. Though the warm glow that came from the knowledge that some winnable games were to follow, starting with a trip to struggling Birmingham, which offered Boro another chance to turn up the heat on the play-off pack.

This previously unremarkable fixture appeared just a good opportunity to bank three points against a struggling club – however, it has been elevated after Birmingham played their typical Boro joker by dismissing Steve Cotterill following defeat to Aitor Karanka’s Forest on Saturday and replacing him with Garry Monk. The risk of invoking the wrath of the footballing gods with this ex-Boro manager tag team has got quite a few of the faithful fearing the worst from such coincidences – especially after discovering it’s also Monk’s birthday on Tuesday. Many don’t believe in happy returns from ex-managers, surely Monk won’t be left with just a few crumbs of comfort and no icing on his birthday cake after Steve Gibson previously knocked the stuffing out of his turkey by sacking him two days before Christmas. While others feel there’s no room for sentiment in football,  many of his former players who were frequently left out of the party will probably be all too keen to give him the bumpiest of birthday bumps as he begins with a Brummie baptism of fire.

It’s hard to imagine now, but Adama Traore wasn’t even in the squad for Monk’s last game in charge and was perhaps beginning to be peripheral to the ex-managers plans after only appearing for ten minutes of his last three games in charge – though Bamford was actually back in favour and had started all three of those games instead. While Tony Pulis has been instrumental in creating Adama as Boro’s most influential player, the emergence of Patrick ‘Hattrick’ Bamford was an accident that few believed was waiting to happen – sometimes a manager just gets lucky and things fall into place in spite of his plans and not because of them. Though Pulis appears to have adapted his tactics and formation to allow for a different type of centre-forward in Bamford and there was more urgency from the midfield with Besic and Howson looking to find the forwards rather than improve their Opta stats by completing endless sideways and backwards passing.

Birmingham City		Middlesbrough
Garry Monk		Tony Pulis
P35 – W8 – D6 – L21 – F23 – A53		P35 – W16 – D7 – L12 – F49 – A34
Position Points Points per game Projected points	22nd 30 0.9 39	Position Points Points per game Projected points	7th 55 1.6 72
Last 6 Games Nottm Forest (A) Barnsley (H) Brentford (A) Millwall (H) Aston Villa (A) Sheff Wed (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:2 (0:1) L 0:2 (0:2) L 0:5 (0:2) L 0:1 (0:0) L 0:2 (0:0) L 3:1 (3:0) W	Last 6 Games Leeds (H) Sunderland (A) Hull (H) Cardiff (A) Reading (H) Norwich (A)	F-T (H-T) 3:0 (2:0) W 3:3 (0:1) D 3:1 (2:1) W 0:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L

Paul Suen Cho Hung is just one of a growing trend of overseas club owners who have dominion over an English club from afar and are expecting quick results from their investments both on and off the pitch.  Monk is Birmingham’s fourth permanent manager since he appointed Gianfranco Zola 15 months ago as the club try to avoid the real prospect of relegation into League One. For a man who in his business life specialises in buying distressed stocks or failing companies and restructuring them in order to turn them around, it appears Mr Suen has so far seemingly only caused more distress to the Blues. Owning a football club has almost becoming something of PR exercise to raise the profile of the rich and powerful, or even states in the case of Qatar, to help add legitimacy to their business portfolios.

Autocratic owners are nothing new in football, particularly in England, where it is perhaps one of the last bastions where ruling as a dictator is still regarded as the acceptable modus operandi. Normally, the best supporters can hope for is that they have a benign dictator running their club and that they find themselves on the same blank page. However, it’s not unusual in the modern high financial stakes environment that fans suddenly find themselves as more like supporting serfs subject to the whims of those lording it over their local club. Rich men who are used to getting what they want often don’t take kindly to supporters questioning their diktats, with for example Hull owner Assem Allam once telling the fans that sung “City till we die” in protest against his proposal to change the club’s name that they can “die as soon as they want”.

Investment hungry fans who eye the billionaire owners of Chelsea and Manchester City with envy often forget that they are handing over their clubs to let them do whatever they wish in a pact that is born out of the sentiment that anything must be better than what we have now. Call it desperation but it is what every charlatan, demagogue or dictator has fed off since time immemorial and when things go wrong it’s usually too late to have second thoughts. We now live in a world where events are more likely to be shaped by such people as being held to account becomes increasingly less fashionable as just simply saying what people want to hear has replaced having a plan. Football fans are in some ways just following the trend of allowing powerful people to increase their power over us in return for an irrational hope it will bring a better future.

Of course there has been a long tradition in football of absolute power, whether it be the club owner who seeks to be the benign dictator that wants to be loved and respected by his adoring public or indeed the football manager who demands his authority is unquestioned and dissent is rarely tolerated from within their court of staff or players. There is little room for democracy and the only vote allowed is the vote of confidence that the chairman alone casts, often before casting out the beleaguered manager shortly afterwards who carries the can of failure out of the door. Though the increasing desire for instant results has meant leadership has instead become about finding quick fixes, taking gambles and purging the old ideas of the previous regime rather than planning for a future that rarely exists beyond immediate success.

Though even a modern dictator must first dress up as a democrat to gain the pretence of legitimacy before redefining the inconvenient elective process to fit into the wider aims of not being accountable to anyone. Often a dictator will rise on the promise that only they and them alone have the answers to improve the lot of the people. President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 promising to make China great again (I’m sure I’ve heard that before somewhere) and vowed to restore the Middle Kingdom to its rightful place at the centre of world affairs. China was traditionally referred to as the ‘Middle Kingdom’ or Zhongguo, who believed that they were the centre of all civilization. Perhaps this is similar to how the ‘Middle Borough’ came to get its name too, with this cradle of civilisation on the mighty River Tees lying between the marauding Geordies to the north ruled by the Whey Ay dynasty and the stubborn hoarding Tykes to the south under the ruling Wazzocks – though it’s possible other more etymological accurate scholarly interpretations may also be available.

News that China’s strongman President Xi (pronounced She) has recently chosen to bring forward plans to abolish the Communist Party rule that no leader can serve more than two terms in order to help secure his lifetime grip on power has come as no surprise – some are already calling him the Chinese Arsene Wenger with this blatant attempt to cling on in the belief that nobody else can do the job as well as him. Whilst Xi’s argument is that it may risk China’s reforms if he were no longer president, Wenger just shrugs his shoulders in typically Gallic manner and bemoans the lack of patience from the supporters. Whilst the notorious Qincheng prison is reportedly ‘packed to the rafters’ with Xi’s political opponents who are waiting to settle scores once he loses power – Wenger seemingly only has the ramblings of Paul Merson to worry about and the ‘Wenger Out’ sign holders randomly scattered at the Emirates. Though President Xi did gain support from one of Twitters most prolific tweeters who lives in a large white house in Washington who declared “He’s now president for life. President for life. And he’s great, really great” before adding “Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day”.

Following the announcement by Xi who must be obeyed, China last week took the bizarre step of banning the use of the letter ‘N’ in its own version of Twitter (called Weibo incidentally) – although nobody has quite worked out why that particular letter was deemed subversive, its use was quickly restored after it was probably pointed out to the paranoid genius who came up with the idea that nobody could now type the word China. Though imagine if football club owners or indeed managers could start banning letters then I’m sure expunging ‘L’ would make the recent form appear far healthier reading for many – though other than the benefit of not seeing the overuse of LOL in social media, no doubt we’d still hear from one local newspaper “These are the questions we would have asked if the letter ‘L’ hadn’t have been banned”

Also blocked on Chinese Twitter last week were a whole series of words too, including Lifelong, Shameless and Disagree – which may have proved problematic for any lifelong Birmingham City fans who wanted to Tweet that they disagree with the shameless decision of their Chinese owner to sack Steve Cotterill just a few days after making a rare visit to show him support. Cotterill himself seemed quite lifted by the owner’s visit to the club and said “Being the distance he is away from the football club, and the time zones, he now has more of an idea of what’s gone on. He’s incredibly supportive and also came in the following day and spoke to the players collectively and a few individually. As a manager, you’re not sure if you’d want that but I was quite happy as I had a pretty good idea what would come out of the players’ mouths.” Well it seems whatever did come out of their mouths the owner promptly lined up Garry Monk and sacked his manager a few days later. All of which has added spice to the otherwise expected mundane task of Boro picking up their usual three points from a team struggling at the bottom of the table.

So will Tony Pulis’s side be at their peak and play a blinder as they turn into  party poopers on Garry Monk’s birthday and blow out his candles? Or will the Boro players come on to the pitch bearing gifts to give their old manager a reminder of why he lost his job? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Boro supporters by asking Garry Monk to give them a wave once the team are 3-0 up!

Middlesbrough		Leeds United
Bamford	31′, 36′, 68′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	47% 20 6 13 10	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	53% 11 1 5 10

Bamford triple numbs
hypothermic Leeds

Leeds ended a 10 game streak without a victory with a 1-0 win over fellow Play Off contenders Brentford last time out. New manager Paul Heckingbottom was grateful for the win at his fourth attempt since arriving at Elland Road and had his sights set on closing the gap on Boro tonight drawing level with them on points in the process. Pablo Hernandez and Kemar Roofe both missed the win over Brentford but listening to Leeds fans their views on Roofe are less than complimentary and see his absence as more of a plus.

Long term Leeds crocks Tyler Roberts, Conor Shaughnessy and Luke Ayling would all be absent from the squad making the trek up the A19. On a positive for Heckingbottom, Samu “spit” Saiz had returned from his 6 game ban against Brentford last week after taking up the Diouf mantle of the White’s chief spitter in waiting to start tonight. Saiz’s behaviour was at least an improvement on a few years ago when Leeds forward Souleymane Doukara was banned for 8 games for biting an opponent. The hope was that the only thing biting or spitting tonight would be weather related.

Tony Pulis’s only injury concerns centred around Rudy Gestede now out for the season with a broken ankle, Grant who had struggled with his hamstring in training and Fabio who presumably has a passport related hamstring pull. Adama was the only suspension worry but that was resolved earlier in the week courtesy of the appeals panel.

All of Teesside’s finest shovellers and gritters were in evidence for the last three days around the Riverside as MFC tried desperately to get the game on with the added pressure of it being a very “rare” Leeds appearance on Sky TV. Minds went back to the farce at Leicester a few seasons ago when players and fans alike struggled to get to the ground for a match that was eventually played out to an eerily empty stadium for the sake of Sky’s scheduling. Tonight’s game would probably have been cancelled two days ago but such is the desperation for Sky TV to get Leeds onto their screens at every opportunity it was likely to take a darn sight more than a mere act of God to halt tonight’s proceedings and the quick return of Adam Forshaw.

Baltic didn’t even go remotely close to describe the temperature. Walking up to the ground attired in thermals and several layers of clothing complete with a scarf wrapped around my face I still struggled to feel my nose and toes. Despite supposedly “thermal” gloves my fingers were numbed within five minutes of leaving the car and remained so for the rest of the evening. The team news had Grant fit after all and Leeds unchanged from their Brentford win meaning that Boro old boy Forshaw was on the bench.

The game kicked off at a frenetic pace with Leeds showing intent from the off pushing for a goal and unsettling Boro. Both Dallas and Alioski looked lively and the opening four or five minutes were mostly Leeds as Boro struggled to settle and find some rhythm. Gradually Boro weathered the early storm and started to play their own game as Besic and Shotton worked to feed in Downing who fluffed his lines.

The atmosphere in the Stadium was bouncing despite the expanse of empty seats as many had seemingly and sensibly decided against the trip or were too isolated to make it in such extreme conditions. In fairness to Leeds they brought a big and vociferous following with them as they created plenty of noise in a sing off with the South Stand. Against that backdrop Boro were starting to get a hold of the game but Leeds looked threatening on the break and if it wasn’t for some wayward finishing they could have caused a few blushes for Boro with Alioski, Saiz and Dallas all linking up well and breaking quickly.

Boro pressure was beginning to tell however as Adama had a few runs which spelt ominous trouble for the Leeds defence and both Paddy and Ben had headers fly wide. As much as Boro looked comfortable Leeds did have a few purple patches but Boro’s backline was unrecognisable from the pantomime endured at Sunderland previously. Gibson and Ayala were strong and headed balls fizzed in from corners clear along with Friend and Shotton. At the other end Ayala was an unexpected goal threat with an overhead kick that went well wide but it showed how confidence levels were growing steadily in Boro.

Just around the half hour mark the deadlock was broken when a perfectly weighted ball in from Downing on the right just bounced in front of Paddy about seven yards out who swept it in with his right boot to the near post past the despairing Wiedwald. It was what Boro deserved and of course it meant another point well proven for Bamford. He may not be a hold the ball up type of Striker instead he just calmly despatches opportunities as it just saves all that messy backing into opponents waiting for colleagues to get up and support malarkey.

That was four goals now in three games for Bamford but more was to come as five minutes or so later Adama started one of his bums off seats runs, dribbling through the middle of the pitch past four Leeds players, bowling them aside like nine pins before slotting through the remaining two Leeds defenders for Paddy to slide the ball this time with his left foot through the legs of the hapless Wiedwald. 2-0 and Paddy’s unstoppable on this form, the Bamford of old has returned, better than ever!

The remaining ten minutes or so of the first half were “just” Boro strutting their stuff, dominating and playing the sort of football that will get Season tickets renewed after all. Grant’s hammy eventually caught up with him and he had to go off just before the whistle with Clayts taking his spot but at this stage the Boro midfield was imperious. Besic was snarling, chasing and running around creating and setting up chances albeit sometimes being a little too ball greedy but heh who’s complaining when a Boro midfielder runs and passes forward. Same goes for Howson who was equally as impressive with first Grant then Clayts doing the gritty stuff behind.

The expected dual which I had been relishing between Lasogga and Ayala was a non-event as the big German never got close enough to even ladder his lederhosen. Jansson and Cooper spent most of their evening complaining about being man handled all night or worse feigning injury which would have been more fitting if they had been wearing Lasogga’s tights. From a Boro perspective there wasn’t a single poor performance from anyone in a red shirt.

The second half got underway with Heckingbottom making two changes bringing on Viera and Forshaw in an effort to add stability and try and get a foothold in the game. Truth be told even with 45 minutes left the game was beyond them. Despite some decent bits of play the finishing from Leeds just got worse and even wilder than in the first half with Randolph rarely if ever troubled. George went on one of his runs and fired a ball in but Howson just couldn’t get to it and later George himself had a gift wrapped opportunity of the sort where it was easier to score than miss but somehow sliced it wide past the far post.

This was a game that Boro never looked like losing and Leeds never looked like they had the heart to win after going behind. The game dipped a little bit but understandably as the pace was starting to have an effect on a few players not helped by the biting freezing cold conditions which being honest I hadn’t noticed until this point such was the entertainment levels and the song fest which by now was being won in rampant fashion by the Red Faction as the Leeds fans repertoire dipped somewhat and sounded more despairingly defiant than hopeful despite the twirling of scarfs and the unsporting throwing of a bottle after Boro’s second went in.

If the game was in doubt the result certainly wasn’t when Adama again traoritised the Leeds defence by dancing around the edge of the Leeds 18 yard box unleashing a right footed shot which careered off the toe of the hapless Jansson straight into you guessed it Bamford’s hitherto offside path and the tap in was a formality to make it 3-0 and game over. Tonight’s performance was by far the best all season let alone since Tony Pulis arrived and as a benchmark before KO there was considered to be very little separating the two sides with David Prutton unsurprisingly predicting an away win for the whites who looked distinctly blue like their shirts all evening.

Hatrick Bamford as he was now being christened by those around me and as I later found out the press was the MOM but that was almost a shame because Adama’s contributions were awesome even after he was switched to the left again to be in TP’s earshot. Besic and Howson were excellent as were George and Stewy who linked up particularly well in the first half. Bamford finished the game with a token subbing for Cranie to come on and let Paddy milk the richly deserved applause with only a few minutes remaining.

Many times I must sound like a broken record with the needle stuck on here but tonight was most certainly different and everyone from those who cleared the snow to the entire squad should deservedly take a bow. If Boro were to start a run then tonight looked like it could provide the platform. Adama is a class above (several actually) and on recent form Paddy will finish well into double figures, just what a team making a late Play Off break needs, just please don’t go and spoil it at Birmingham lads.

Apologies for any typos, errors and omissions in the above but it was helped afterwards by a few libations, purely to warm myself up of course!

Boro Beasts from the North-East
hope to blow Mighty Whites away

After a week of arctic conditions left the frozen region under a blanket of snow, the club having been working their thermal socks off in an attempt to allow the Friday night televised fixture against local rivals Leeds to be played. Even chief executive Neil Bausor was pictured smiling with a shovel as if it were a new signing, with all hands on deck to clear away the white stuff from the pitch. All that remains now is for the players to do their bit and blow away the Mighty Whites on the pitch to stop our lingering promotion hopes from melting. Boro have the opportunity to grab that sixth spot again and at some point surely they will avoid passing up the opportunities that keep presenting themselves – it’s just not feasible to keep waiting for other teams to fall below us as surely now is the time to rise to the challenge.

However, following a discontented winter on Teesside, the chilling fact still remains that Boro’s season has been subject to severe drifting, though as Tony Pulis’s team plough on ahead it will perhaps need more than just grit to clear the road to promotion if we are to avoid being frozen out of the Play-offs. Despite warnings not to undertake any difficult journeys unless you are well prepared for the treacherous conditions, there is a risk that Steve Gibson may have to abandon his promotion vehicle and hope it can be salvaged and put back on the road at a later date. However, it may be a bit premature to start thinking Boro have slipped up once too often this season and are prone to appearing a little too flaky when it matters – it’s still possible a late flurry of good results will allow the supporters to hail their team as the Beasts from the North-East.

After the disappointment of conceding a 96th minute equaliser at Sunderland, both the team and supporters were left feeling flatter than the flat-footed flatmate of Michael Flatley on his way to the Flat Earth Society. OK, it may not be the end of the world (spherical or otherwise) but the draw certainly felt like the proverbial defeat at the Stadium of Light, which ultimately cast a huge shadow over the weekend after a potentially famous Boro comeback was thwarted at the death. Incidentally, for anyone of a deeply sceptical nature who is still struggling to see hope on the distant horizon for Boro’s season, you may be interested to discover the Flat Earth Society recently relaunched itself in 2009 before subsequently splitting into two factions after one ironically deciding to go global on social media.

Still, those who are looking at some of the players to demonstrate they have the courage of their convictions could perhaps point them towards the example of one flat-earther known as ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes, who is so determined to forward his cause that he even built a steam-powered rocket and plans launch himself into the heavens and boasts “I’ll shut the door on this ball Earth” before claiming a conspiracy that “NASA is controlled by round-Earth Freemasons”. Sadly for Mike the planned launch a few weeks ago failed due to a blown O-ring, which was apparently in the rocket not himself – though a previous launch in an earlier model saw him reach the less than staggering height of 1,300m before he collapsed from the G-force. That experience didn’t deter him and he admits “It’s scary as hell but none of us are getting out of this world alive” – which is a theory he’s probably more likely to prove than the flat Earth one. Still, we can only hope Boro’s season reaches such dizzy heights before our own steam-powered promotion campaign actually runs out of steam.

Talking of people who’s world has fallen flat, Leeds United arrive at the Riverside after their team entered free-fall in 2018 following a stratospheric early-season rise that had fuelled optimism this year could herald a return to the top tier. Manager Thomas Christiansen was dismissed in early February after the 4-1 home defeat against Cardiff as the team slipped to tenth after not winning since Boxing Day. Owner Andrea Radrizzani then turned to fellow Yorkshire club Barnsley for a new manager with Paul Heckingbottom taking over a few days later – he had impressed last season by leading the Tykes to a creditable 9th place finish and it was hoped his knowledge of the Championship would get Leeds back on track. After losing his first game at Sheff Utd, he has managed to gain draws against Bristol and Derby, before finally ending Leeds nine game winless run by beating in-form Brentford last week. Whether the Elland Road faithful will start chanting “it’s like watching Barnsley” in homage to their Yorkshire rivals famous ‘Brazil’ chant is probably too early to say. One player hoping to get a rare game at the Riverside will be Adam Forshaw after his move to Leeds in January – despite the freezing conditions he should receive a warm welcome from the Boro crowd.

Middlesbrough		Leeds United
Tony Pulis		Paul Heckingbottom
P34 – W15 – D7 – L12 – F46 – A34		P34 – W14 – D7 – L13 – F47 – A43
Position Points Points per game Projected points	8th 52 1.5 70	Position Points Points per game Projected points	11th 49 1.4 66
Last 6 Games Sunderland (A) Hull (H) Cardiff (A) Reading (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H)	F-T (H-T) 3:3 (0:1) D 3:1 (2:1) W 0:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D	Last 6 Games Brentford (H) Derby (A) Bristol City (H) Sheff Utd (A) Cardiff (H) Hull (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:0 (1:0) W 2:2 (1:1) D 2:2 (0:2) D 1:2 (0:1) L 1:4 (0:3) L 0:0 (0:0) D

Steve Gibson had probably already made the decision to dismiss Garry Monk ahead of his last game in charge at Sheffield Wednesday – at that moment his team were only averaging 1.45 points per game, which was well below expectations and heading for a season total below 70 points. Presumably the thoughts of Chairman Gibson were that the new man’s agricultural revolution would galvanise the players and improve the points haul to give Boro even an outside chance of automatic promotion and at least make the Play-offs. Tony Pulis has now been in charge at Boro for ten games and his return of 1.4 points per game hasn’t really captured the urgency of why he was installed – indeed he’s only managed more or less the same numbers as the man he replaced.

Despite coming from behind to win at Hillsborough, managerless Boro were still three points shy of the play-offs and 8 behind the automatic places – fast forward to the beginning of March and the team of Tony Pulis are still three points short of the play-offs but instead now trail the automatic promotion spots by a massive 15 points. The reality is that Boro are probably one of around half-a-dozen clubs fighting for sixth spot as the gap to the other promotion contenders continues to widen. In fact the only reason the Teessiders are still within touching distance of sixth spot is not down to their own performance but the collapse in form of Bristol City, who have won just one of their last ten games and sit 23rd in the ten-game form table.

The club to watch out for is actually Millwall, although they are currently four points behind Boro in 12th spot they have amassed 21 points from their last ten games and that is automatic promotion form – they are currently gaining two points on Boro every three games and if they continue to show this form until the end of the season then will most likely find themselves pinching that coveted sixth spot. Below is a table that projects how the final Championship table could end up if the clubs continue the season in the same form as their previous ten games. Whilst there is still time to improve results or for other teams to have a dip in form, it gives an idea of where we are currently heading unless there is an upturn in our points haul. Boro are currently on course for around 69 points but will probably need to exceed that with a couple more wins, which essentially means we’re back to needing two points per game from the remaining 12 games.

Projected Final Table Based on Previous 10 Games
Projected Position	Current Position	TEAM	Current Points	Last 10 Games	Next 12 Games	Projected Total
1	1	Wolves	73	18	22	95
2	3	Aston Villa	63	25	30	93
3	2	Cardiff	67	20	24	91
4	5	Fulham	59	24	29	88
5	4	Derby	60	15	18	78
6	12	Millwall	48	21	25	73
7	6	Sheff Utd	55	14	17	72
8	10	Brentford	50	16	19	69
9	8	Middlesbrough	52	14	17	69
10	9	Preston	51	14	17	68
11	14	Norwich	47	17	20	67
12	13	Ipswich	48	12	14	62
13	7	Bristol City	54	7	8	62
14	11	Leeds	49	7	8	57
15	16	QPR	39	12	14	53
16	19	Bolton	34	15	18	52
17	15	Nottm Forest	40	9	11	51
18	22	Birmingham	30	13	16	46
19	17	Sheff Wed	37	7	8	45
20	20	Hull	33	10	12	45
21	21	Barnsley	32	10	12	44
22	18	Reading	34	7	8	42
23	23	Burton	29	9	11	40
24	24	Sunderland	27	8	10	37

Following the gloom of conceding that late late equaliser at Sunderland, the mood darkened even further with the realisation Adama Traore was set to miss the next four games after he saw red just after the half-hour mark for what looked on the video replay to be an attempt to bury Sunderland’s Oviedo in the six-yard box with a pile-driver of a forearm thrust. Traore subsequently left the field in such a hot-headed temper that the fourth official he was heading towards was already anticipating early retirement on full pension with stress counselling – thankfully bench-sitter Adam Clayton took another one for the team by putting his body on the line to block Adama’s path to nuclear confrontation and as the ink started to drain out of the midfield stopper’s tattoos, the unjust seething of Traore in meltdown was redirected down the tunnel where a controlled explosion could be better managed.

Having initially spoke of his disappointment, Pulis and the club decided to appeal the red card after viewing video replays that supported claims from Adama that he’d only reacted to attempts by Oviedo to poke him in the eye. Now even the most optimistic of Boro supporters (of which I believe their numbers are now well into double figures) couldn’t imagine the FA would rescind yet another red card for the club so soon after the Gestede one – normally such gifts are only bestowed on Boro followers once in a generation as the rite of passage of handing down the rescinded red card anecdote is a tradition that should not be messed with. However, it seems under Tony Pulis that tradition has been discarded after he once again went cap in hand to the FA appeals panel, who then duly obliged. Still there are those of a typical Boro persuasion who believe the footballing gods are just postponing the punishment, after all Gestede’s rescinded red card only meant he was allowed to play in a game that put him out for the season and there are those who still believe the only luck allowed to come Boro’s way is of the bad variety!

Nevertheless, having Traore available for selection is a massive boost as the next four games are a run of fixtures where Boro would hope to maximise their points haul if they still entertain hopes of sneaking into the Play-offs. Despite the disappointment of failing to capture all three points, there were still positives to take from the game against Sunderland – Patrick Bamford’s brace showed just what a good finisher the former Championship player of the season is and his first goal in particular demonstrated great ability and speed of thought. There have been some suggestions that Bamford may continue on the left but after showing finishing ability seldom seen this term it’s hard to find a case to not play him up front. Also shining out was Mo Besic, who looks to be the kind of solid creative midfield player with an eye for a pass that Boro have been lacking for several seasons. Though perhaps the biggest negative from last Saturday were the defensive lapses that lead to Sunderland’s goals, particularly the first that was conceded from a throw-in and the late equaliser that allowed an unmarked man to pick his spot from a corner. Defensive solidity was supposed to be the Tony Pulis trademark and not the team’s weak spot – only unfashionable Bristol City have shipped more goals than Boro in the top half of the table since Pulis arrived.

So will Boro warm to the challenge of breaking into the top six and melt away the misery of the long hard winter? Or will they lose their footing trying to climb the slippery ladder to promotion and give the supporters a chilling reminder of their grip on reality. As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Adama Traore be sporting ski-goggles to avoid red-card seeking Dirties poking him in the eye?

The latest in a series of profiles and interviews, Orginal Fat Bob gives his personal view on the life and career of a footballing guest, before sitting down for a chat and asking a few questions. Our Diasboro special guest this week is Archie Stephens.

1. The Overview – the man and his career

Arthur, or better known as our own, Archie Stephens, had played 127 times for Bristol Rovers, scoring 40 goals before moving North to us at the Boro. He had been picked up by Terry Cooper at Bristol Rovers from non-league football club Melksham Town. When Archie joined us in 1984, he made up a two-pronged strike force with Bernie Slaven. During our post liquidation period, Archie made over 92 appearances for Boro and scored over 24 goals, however, it should also be noted that he also made a lot of assists for his striking partner, Bernie Slaven.

He is just under six feet tall, but always gave the appearance of being taller on the playing field and could outjump most players, Now, in his early sixties he looks today like a man that you wouldn’t mess around with and some ten years younger than his age. After leaving Middlesbrough he later went on to play for other local teams Carlisle United and Darlington before finishing his career at Guisborough Town. Admired by the Boro fans and respected by opposing defenders he has even had a record made in his honour, “Archie Stephens Birthday Party by Shrug!”

When his striking partner Bernie Slaven spoke about him to the Gazette, he said “I’d just moved down to England and he showed me how I needed to play, to adapt to the league and the game. He was probably a couple of inches shorter than me, but he could jump about 10 times higher. When he was up in the air he used to hover, and hang there like a kestrel. We struck up a good partnership and scored 33 goals between us in Division Three, when we got promotion, the season after liquidation.”

Bernie and Archie are still good friends and regularly travel to see their old team mate, Gary Parkinson who suffers from locked in syndrome.

2. The Interview – a quick chat

OFB: What year did you join Boro as a professional footballer?

AS: 1984.

OFB: Where did you stay? Did you rent, or did you live in digs?

AS: I lived in the Stork Hotel at Stockton On Tees.

OFB: Who was your favourite Boro player and others that you have played with?

AS: I must say that all my team-mates I played with in 1986 were my favourites and still are. I also played with Gary Mabbut at Bristol Rovers, who was one of my favourite all time footballers.

OFB: Who were the best and worst trainers in the team?

AS: Me and Gary Pallister were the worst trainers in the Boro team! Gary Gill and Bernie Slaven were always the best trainers.

OFB: When did the team travel for away games, how did they get there, by bus or by train?

AS: The team travelled by bus on Friday afternoons, especially if we were going on long journeys like London.

OFB: How many players usually travelled and did the Directors travel with you?

AS: There were about 15 players who travelled on the bus and no Directors ever came with us.

OFB: Did you have nice hotels or was it just bed and breakfast?

AS: Oh yes, we always stayed in nice hotels, never any cheap ones, or bed and breakfast.

OFB: Who did you room with for away matches?

AS: I always roomed with Paul Kerr.

OFB: Who was the joker in the team?

AS: There were quite a few jokers in the pack, nearly all footballers have a good sense of humour.

OFB: Can you tell us any amusing anecdotes or pranks that were played?

AS: The favourite trick of the other players, was getting your hotel room turned over and wrecked whilst you were out and then leaving you on your own, having to explain all the mess afterwards!

OFB: Whose boots did you clean as an apprentice and who cleaned yours?

AS: I come from a non-league background, so I wasn’t an apprentice and I didn’t clean anyone’s boots. I’m afraid I can’t remember the apprentice that used to clean mine.

OFB: Did you try and emulate your style of play, on any individual player who played in your position?

AS: No, there was no one that I tried to copy, I just played my own game, my way.

OFB: What was your most memorable game, your own individual performance and best experience with the fans?

AS: My most memorable game was the first game of the season, Boro against Port Vale when I scored 2 goals. My best experience with the fans was when we played at Doncaster All the fans surrounded us and were at the edge of the pitch waiting for the game to finish. When the final whistle went, they all invaded and stripped me of all my clothes except my underpants!

OFB: What was your worst game or experience and why?

AS: My worst game and experience was when I was playing for Bristol Rovers and we were away at Millwall. I was sent off and when I was going to the dressing room, I had to run down the tunnel where all the Millwall fans were. So, I had to run past them all and they were all shouting at me. To make matters worse, I ended up getting fined as well.

OFB: Is there a game that you wished you had played in, either for Boro or another team?

AS: It has to be for me, the 1965 FA Cup final, playing for Liverpool who won it for the first time against Leeds. It wouldn’t have been possible of course as I would only have been 11years old at the time, but I can still dream.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the best manager that Boro have ever had and why?

AS: It has to be Bruce Rioch, because 1986 was the year that changed everything within Middlesbrough Football Club forever and look where they are now. It wouldn’t have been possible without Bruce Rioch.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the manager that had the greatest influence on your career and why?

AS: Without a doubt it was Terry Cooper, who signed me from non-league football and changed my life forever. He was a big influence on my professional footballing career, no matter how short it was.

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you fear playing against?

AS: I didn’t fear no one! (No other comment required is there? OFB)

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you like playing against?

AS: At Millwall they had a centre half called Dave Cussack and we used to have some good battles. That’s who I got sent off against at Millwall, when I mentioned having to go past all the fans.

OFB: Who is your favourite Boro player of all time and why?

AS: Tony Mowbray was and still is great reader of the game. He encouraged everyone around him and was an outstanding player as well.

OFB: Who is your current favourite Boro player and why?

AS: I don’t really have a current favourite player at present.

OFB: How do you think the match day has changed from the time that you played professional football to the present day?

AS: I couldn’t play now because the physical contact has gone out of the game which the fans liked to see. The ball is lighter and football boots are like slippers. Oh, and the main reason I couldn’t play now, as you also need a designer haircut, which I don’t have! (laughs OFB)

OFB: If you could be a fly on the wall, is there any dressing room you would wish to eavesdrop on?

AS: I would like to be in the Everton dressing room, so I could go back to the Liverpool dressing room and let them know what was being said

OFB: Do you have any regrets in your career, or missed opportunities?

AS: I wish I had been picked up earlier as a professional footballer. It’s an amazing life doing something you love and getting paid for it.

OFB: Do you still follow the Boro and their results

AS: Yes, I religiously follow their results at every opportunity.

OFB: Whereabouts in the Country do you live these days and what do you do?

AS: I live in Great Ayton, just outside Middlesbrough and I’m counting down the years for retirement.

OFB: Whom have you made a lifelong friend through football?

AS: My best friends are; Terry Cochrane and Bernie Slaven.

OFB: During our talk you mentioned being associated with our new manager Tony Pulis. What was his role at the club? Did he influence your career, and did you think then he would go on to be a great manager?

AS: When I arrived at Bristol Rovers Tony Pulis was not there. He was playing in a Hong Kong League. The club arranged a house for me which happened to be Tony’s. When Tony came back from Hong Kong he re-signed for Bristol Rovers, and was working with the 2nd team. I played a few games with Tony in the 2nd team, he was a bit of a handful as a player. As a coach you don’t know how far they will go. He didn’t have any influence on me.

OFB:  Do you think Tony Pulis is the right man for the Boro and what can we expect to see from him?

AS: Tony hasn’t managed in the Championship before but is proven in the Premiership. What you will get from Tony is a determination to get Boro in the Premiership. It might be a bit more direct but will try his upmost to get them back in the Premiership.

OFB: Finally, if you hadn’t had a professional career as a footballer, what do you think you would have done as a career?

AS: I was a painter and decorator when I was noticed and signed as a professional footballer. If I had carried on being a decorator, I would have had my own business now, as a self-employed painter and decorator.

OFB: A huge thank you Archie, for taking the time to provide an interesting talk with me at Diasboro and giving our readers and bloggers worldwide, an insight into your life at Middlesbrough Football Club.

Sunderland		Middlesbrough
Asoro Williams McManaman ▮ Clarke-Salter	11′ 58′ 90’+6 24′	Bamford Leadbitter ▮ Traore	49′, 68′ 53′ (pen) 37′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	51% 17 7 4 14	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	49% 11 4 2 10

Defensive Callumity costs Boro

Normally I begin these pieces with a bit of up to date background info on our opponents and how they are shaping up with specific regard to any problems, injuries, suspensions and possible team selection headaches etc. coming onto the game. This however is Sunderland and it’s very difficult to know where to start and where to finish. Allegedly Ellis Short is now so desperate that he is willing to give the club away if someone is willing to take on the supposed £170m debt.

I wonder if Chris Coleman knew when he took the job on that the depth of the clubs problems are even deeper than the former Wearmouth Colliery upon which it stands and that the monumental Davy Lamp outside was supposed to be a beacon of light for the clubs future. Either way it looks a complete shambles from the outside looking in with League 1 Football beckoning (or worse should Short pull the plug on his unbeloved sojourn in the world of Soccer). Ellis Short’s Wikipedia page describes him as “founder of Kildare Partners, a private equity fund investing in distressed European real estate assets”. Well they certainly don’t come any more distressed than SAFC!

On the actual footballing front defender Adam Matthews and midfielder Ovie Ejaria were hoping to be available to Chris Coleman in the Makem’s desperate struggle for survival against their “local rivals” as oppose to “a derby” of course, Middlesbrough. Matthews has been struggling with a hamstring injury while Ejaria was 50/50 with a thigh problem.

Boro were concerned about Ben Gibson and if he had recovered from his illness bug on Tuesday evening. After 85 consecutive games his absence should have been sorely missed but all credit to Dael Fry who slotted in seamlessly alongside Ayala and given today’s opponents many thought it would make sense to let Ben fully recover and give Dael another run out.

Of more concern was the doubt over our new found Goal Machine who seemed to somehow tweak his ankle in the dying seconds on Tuesday night? Rumours during the week had ranged from a slight twist and he will be fine to a broken metatarsal but the formal diagnosis was much worse with a fractured ankle and will now be out for the season. Other than that TP’s Friday pre match conference gave little away and as we now know what TP says in those conferences and what is actually going through his mind can be somewhat disingenuous.

Boro were looking to make it 6 wins on the trot against the Black Cats and with odds of 21/20 It was a game that looked almost impossible to lose especially with Sunderland letting in eleven goals in their last five league games with 10 of them coming in the first half. The hope for those of us travelling up the A19 was that the sea of pink plastic would have grown significantly by half time as is now the custom these days on Wearside. The Hull victory over Sheffield United last night piled huge additional pressure onto Sunderland but simultaneously provided Boro with a massive incentive as an away win today would put us in sixth spot with Bristol not playing until Sunday.

TP went with Assombalonga for Gestede and restored Gibson to CB in place of Fry who took a seat on the bench and thereby keeping disruption to the starting eleven to a minimum with everyone else in their usual positions or so we thought as Traore was on the left flank. Coleman had Matthews available and so went with wing backs or more likely five at the back. He gave starts to both Asoro and Maja up front as he realised with a solitary goal apiece all season between them the teenagers probably weren’t going to be a major concern for Boro’s back line on their own.

The teams entered the pitch in bright winter sunshine but with a distinct chill in the air caused by the proximity to the North Sea rather than the Home fans although that was subjective. Judging by the empty seats and lack of enthusiasm from the Makem fans the “derby” question had been answered as they kicked off. Early intent was seen from Asoro after a poor Shotton clearance led to the youngster blasting his effort well over the bar.

Cattermole gave away possession allowing Boro their first serious foray into the Sunderland half but he got back making amends for his error as the game started with plenty of energy. Sunderland were certainly attempting to have a go and those wing backs were endeavouring to create rather than defend surprisingly. The Swedish youngster Asoro got his head to the ball beating a Shotton/Ayala sandwich this time from a long throw in after a flick on beat Friend to open the scoring exploiting some sloppy defending on eleven minutes. Boro had been “outPulised”, beaten at their own game. Traore had been anonymous up to this point apart from one dribble which was perhaps no surprise considering he was ineffectively deployed on the left yet again.

Boro needed to clear their heads and get stuck in because the opening quarter of an hour was non-descript with Sunderland good value for their lead. McNair clattered into Paddy and looked to be in some pain for his efforts and not long after Matthews looked to have also hurt himself after a tackle on Friend. Twenty minutes gone and the most cause for Boro optimism at this point was that Sunderland may end up with a few players struggling through injury.

A Shotton throw in was launched for Ayala who had run forward into the Sunderland half but it went out aimlessly for a goal kick which summed up the lacklustre start from those in white shirts. A break from Asoro nearly doubled the lead for Sunderland as Boro contrived to try and find some shape with both Friend and and Shotton guilty of some defensive panics. Immediately afterwards Traore who by now had been switched to the right since going behind was scythed down by Clarke-Salter in a challenge that sent Adama literally flying into the air on the half way line and rightfully receiving a straight red for his horrendous assault. Why Traore was stationed on the left was bizarre as it is well known that Sunderland have struggled down their left flank all season so surely Adama on the right would have been a match made in heaven?

Now down to ten men after 28 minutes Coleman was forced into a reshuffle to try and defend his side’s slender lead. Traore meanwhile had become the target for abuse from the Home fans jeering and booing his every touch of the ball for his audacity in avoiding a broken leg. A couple of minutes later a ball in from Friend presented Traore with a half chance but he stabbed it over the crossbar. A Downing free kick was then poorly executed as Boro had begun to start to make the extra man count but still no breakthrough was forthcoming.

McNair looked crocked and was hobbling around as Coleman looked at his scant options and didn’t want to bring off one of his more experienced players so early in the game. His previous challenge on Bamford looked to have seriously left its mark on the Northern Ireland International rather than Paddy. A Grant corner then saw a Bamford effort cleared away for another Boro corner, immediately after/during Sunderland clearing the corner there was an “off the ball” incident involving Traore and Oviedo. Adama got his marching orders as a consequence reducing both sides to ten men but not before he threw several strops and fits on his way off the pitch including a verbal assault on the fourth official and even wrestling with a team mate trying to usher him away down the tunnel.

Less than ten minutes now to go to half time, a poor start, a failure to take advantage of ten men and Boro now found themselves down to ten men due to sheer petulance from Traore and in his absence now zero creativity. McNair eventually limped off with Welsh International Williams taking his place just before half time.

Maja picked up a yellow for a challenge on Leadbitter which saw Grant put in another of his infamously poor free kicks straight into Camp’s arms. I sometimes wonder if Stewy and Grant have a wager on who can take the worst corner or free kick so consistently poor are their deliveries of late. Eight minutes of additional time due to the injuries to McNair and Matthews and the two sendings off didn’t inspire Boro in what was a below par first half for the visitors.

The half time whistle went. Overall we had looked flat, lacking conviction and were second best to Sunderland’s fighters for survival. After the first sending off we had come back into it but with Traroe then seeing Red we just faded. My take on it was that Boro had started this game with the same mind-set they finished off with on Tuesday night and had struggled to shake that mentality off. TP not for the first time since his arrival had some major talking to do during the interval, like Downing and Leadbitter’s set pieces a pattern is emerging and not a good one.

The twenty players started the second half with Boro kicking off and Shotton then immediately hoofing a ball aimlessly. Our full backs pushed up with Shotton, Stewy and Friend linking up and feeding Bamford who controlled brilliantly from Friend’s header in a packed box turning, twisting and swivelling to equalise. The game then entered a manic few minutes as Boro wasted a quick free kick then Assombalonga was going wide past Camp who “brought” him down after a cleared ball deflected into the Sunderland box off Shotton and a penalty was awarded to Boro literally seconds after Paddy’s goal. Grant stepped up and despite his dire free kicks his spot kicks are calm, cool and collected and he stroked it home into the bottom right hand corner for Boro to take a 2-1 lead.

George Honeyman raced free into the Boro box from the KO and Shotton interrupted his flight just outside the box. Sunderland now had an opportunity to quickly draw back level but fortunately Cattermole hit it wide much to Randolph’s relief. Ten minutes of the second half gone and the match had erupted into life as Assombalonga now latched onto a ball down the other end only for the Lino’s flag to rule him offside. Oviedo then went past Downing on the left flank to put a ball into Sub Williams who had lost Grant and blasted it unmarked into the Boro net (just as the home fans had been getting onto the backs of the Black Cats) pulling it back to 2-2 and restoring hope once again to the beleaguered home fans.

Boro were once again rocking again as the Black Cats had their tails up sensing shell shocked Teessiders who had thought they had already done enough to seal the points. Heads once again needed to be cleared as silly balls were now being given away and Boro needed a spark. That spark came in the form of Harrison as Britt was taken off much to his disgust and my surprise. TP I suspect felt that we needed more energy and pace than Britt provided and almost instantly Paddy had a chance that he fluffed after being played in by Besic. Coleman then responded by bringing on McManaman in an effort to turn the game in his favour.

With Bamford now leading the line Besic once again put a clever ball through the split Sunderland defence that Paddy latched on to, went wide of Camp and cut back an acute left footed shot to send the away fans euphoric.

The game was by no means over as literally anything could happen and Sunderland still fighting as the Boro fans gave a rendition of “you’re going down”. McManaman meanwhile tested Randolph’s palms and Shotton fortunately cleared the danger then in the next phase managed to give a free kick away for a foul on Williams. Fortunately Shotton himself reacted first to the ball with McManaman closing in hitting a wild shot wide.

TP then made two changes with Grant and Stewy coming off for Clayts and Howson respectively. Grant received a warm ovation from both sets of fans as he made his way for Clayton with TP presumably wanting to add some fresh legs with a like for like swap. Coleman countered with George Honeyman coming off for Sunderland and Aidan McGeady coming on with a quarter of an hour to go. A well won corner won by Asoro hassling Ayala was flapped at by Randolph as Sunderland still had belief and no wonder considering the manic events of the afternoon in general.

Pulis was out instructing his players to keep their heads and remain calm rather than do anything rash. Howson was then wiped out by McGeady in a clash of the subs which ended in a Boro free kick from Howson himself but the ball was once again a poor one and this time neither Downing nor Grant were on the pitch to blame. Sunderland desperately needed something from the game and were pushing but also looked susceptible and the lively McManaman reminded Randolph once again to stay alert with Shotton coming to the Boro Keeper’s rescue once more who wasn’t having the best of afternoons. Cemented to the bottom of the table versus potentially sixth place meant that anxiety levels were high and rising as the Black Cats pushed forward with McManaman trying to entice Friend into a rash penalty but the Ref was having none of it.

Six minutes of added time was found from somewhere. Clayton played a ball through for Bamford and he was fouled by Oviedo. Bamford stood isolated supported only by Harrison arriving late and decided to take charge of the free kick. He fizzed the ball over the Sunderland wall forcing Camp into a save in what was by far the best set piece of the afternoon. In fairness to Paddy he made a strong claim this afternoon to be the man to fill Gestede’s central striker vacancy.

A foul on Williams saw the Ref wave play on and Asoro almost nicked an equaliser but Randolph got down this time making a good save. A corner in the last minute for Sunderland found McManaman ridiculously free running around the back of the Boro defence in another atrocious piece of defending to pull the sides level and with it Boro remained out of the top six after having briefly entered it and the game ended 3-3.

MOM for Boro was Besic but overall Boro were unconvincing throughout the afternoon. This game highlighted far too many avoidable deficiencies across the entire side from woeful set pieces, poor discipline again to defending that was pure comedy made worse by the fact that defending corners and poor concentration had done for us yet again.

Pulis hoping the Mackems continue
to make a habit of losing to Boro

Boro head to their charitable north-east neighbours Sunderland on Saturday in anticipation of collecting their usual donation of three points to help them with their worthy cause of closing the gap on the promotion pack. After play-off rivals Fulham and Bristol City shared a point in midweek, they now face tricky fixtures against Wolves and Cardiff respectively, which offers the tantalising prospect of Tony Pulis’ team actually breaking into the top six. Boro will be in confident mood of picking off another fellow relegated club after the midweek victory over Hull, especially with the Wearside outfit low on confidence after returning to the foot of the table following defeat at relegation threatened Bolton. Boro are usually lucky when the familiar opposition of the Black Cats cross their path and have enjoyed a spell of good results in recent times. Admittedly Tony Pulis said he didn’t possess a magic wand when he took over, but with the season fast heading towards its conclusion, many supporters are hoping his new broom will help Boro conjure up a winning run with some wizardry on the pitch.

As welcome as it was to beat Hull on Tuesday, Tony Pulis needs his Boro team to go on a winning run if they are to end up in the play-off zone come the end of the season. Not an easy task if you consider Boro have just once managed three wins in a row (Reading, Hull, Sunderland) and in addition only twice managed back-to-back victories (Games 2-3: Sheff Utd, Burton and Games 23-24: Sheff Wed, Bolton). After nine league games in charge since replacing Monk, the new Boro manager is still looking to win two successive league games and that was probably not why he was installed by Steve Gibson. The trip to Sunderland gives him his best opportunity so far of achieving this feat and only after that box has been ticked should we start talking about continuing the run against Leeds, Birmingham or Barnsely.

Sunderland are once again staring relegation in the face and even manager Chris Coleman is sounding resigned to the fate of the club as they continue where they left off last season. The former Welsh national manager has already seemingly placed the blame at the bullet-ridden feet of the Wearside club’s owner Ellis Short. The aloof American has abandoned the spurned supporters to leave them feeling like a humiliated jilted bride in a replica red and white striped wedding dress who has barricaded herself in a Stadium of Light executive box with just a congealed chocolate fountain and several crates of room-temperature Asti Spumante to see her through to the inevitable confirmed relegation. Coleman declared: “Obviously Ellis wants to sell the club and they [the fans] recognise that maybe his love for the club was yesterday… so until we get someone that wants to turn a corner with it and love it, care for it and look after it, you get the negativity.” All of which has seemingly left the club in search of a cat loving philanthropist who is somehow capable of grabbing the steering wheel off the absent owner to prevent him driving the club off the Seaburn Cliffs by proxy.

The accounts of the Black Cats are heavily in the red with a debt, which depending on reports, is estimated between £150-200m, with owner Ellis Short having investing less than £2m on new players this season despite £47m parachute payments and £30m received from the removal of former keeper Jordan Pickford to Everton. Coleman understands all the anger and frustration from everyone associated with the club but admits they have no choice but to accept the situation and said “We’ll take that on the chin. But until we have a new owner with new ideas, we are where we are.” – which appears to be somewhere between rock bottom and the hardest of hard places. However, after Coleman swapped Wales for the wails of Wearside his words at his unveiling were hardly ones that looked like rousing the supporters: “Someone’s going to turn this club around. Whether it’s me or whether it’s the next one, sooner or later this club will start climbing again, start playing in front of a full house again” – I suspect it may be later, very much later.

Short will have his work cut out to find a buyer for a club that so rarely delivers – though there is one possible American buyer seemingly fond of red and white stripes in the news recently that although may not have the faithful on Wearside licking their lips in anticipation, it will perhaps have them lickin’ their fingers instead. Whether these potential new owners have the secret recipe for success is another matter but a suitable owner for Sunderland could well be Colonel Sanders along with his recent infamous organisational ability. However, before any upstanding Mackem is tempted to reach for their phone and dial the police with evidence of fowl play, they should be warned that their local constabulary may be following the lead of Tower Hamlets Metropolitan Police Service on such matters. If you’re not aware, they urged the public to stop calling them to report that KFC has run out of chicken by tweeting: “Please do not contact us about the #KFCCrisis – it is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.” Maybe so but try telling that to Chicken Runners on Teesside who have gone cold turkey and have been contemplating the possibility of deep frying foam hands to get through the crisis. Nevertheless, serving up a well battered boneless product that includes a moist tissue at the end is something Sunderland fans have got used to over the years.

Sunderland		Middlesbrough
Chris Coleman		Tony Pulis
P33 – W5 – D11 – L17 – F34 – A58		P33 – W15 – D6 – L12 – F43 – A31
Position Points Points per game Projected points	24th 26 0.8 36	Position Points Points per game Projected points	8th 51 1.5 71
Last 6 Games Bolton (A) Brentford (H) Bristol City (A) Ipswich (H) Birmingham (A) Hull (H)	F-T (H-T) 0:1 (0:1) L 0:2 (0:2) L 3:3 (0:3) D 0:2 (0:2) L 1:3 (0:2) L 1:0 (1:0) W	Last 6 Games Hull (H) Cardiff (A) Reading (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A)	F-T (H-T) 3:1 (2:1) W 0:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W

Along with Sunderland, Boro have been no stranger to defeats this season, though whilst they have not suffered as many they have nevertheless proved costly and the job of a manager is to deliver psychological messages that prevent defeats from undermining the team’s confidence. When a team loses, particularly narrowly, the manager will often focus on the key events that didn’t go in their favour – such as a refereeing decision or an individual error. The aim is to rationalise the defeat and try to find legitimate excuses for the failure to win so that the players remain convinced that they were capable of achieving victory under the manager’s methods. When this is not possible, an alternative tactic is often to say ‘we were simply not good enough on the day’ or ‘we must learn from our mistakes’ – this is instead creating a mood that the team had an off-day and can do much better. In both instances the manager wants to keep the players confident that the team is capable of winning games, both as individuals and under his game plan.

This ‘excuse’ strategy is geared towards getting a response from the players so that they will continue to play with the belief that they will perform better in the next game and hopefully win. Winning after losing a game will usually help negate the impact of the previous loss but much will depend on the overall mentality and ability of the team in deciding if this is sustained or not. Creating a winning mentality also needs the manager to instil the right attitude into the players and part of that is also learning to deal with the consequence of winning. It sometimes creates the trap of believing that you are better than you are, which can results in players thinking that they only have to turn up to win a game against perceived weaker opposition. This is why we often talk about needing leaders on the pitch, who like the name suggests, lead by example and will always give 100% regardless of the strength of the opposition – or even 110% if their manager is prone to hyperbole and an advocate of quantitative impossibilities. Without such players in the team there is a risk that some will play within themselves in the belief they will ultimately beat their opponents due to the perceived superiority.

Psychologists have shown that the emotional response to losing or making a mistake can manifest itself in one of two ways – engaging in risky behaviour to try and make up for the failure or becoming instead over-cautious out of fear of repeating the error. It’s something we may observe with strikers who have gone on barren runs or defenders who have made a costly error. If the player can follow up a bad performance with good one or even score a goal then the slate has been wiped clean in their mind – but it’s no fun to watch a player struggling on the pitch as their confidence has deserted them and suddenly the crowd are on their backs. More experienced players who have come through similar runs should have the resolve to get through it but sometimes it can stall the career of a younger player, who often finds themselves out of the team and feeling their chance has gone. That’s why good managers will view mistakes by players as an opportunity to learn and not try to openly blame or discard them from the team.

So what is it about winning that lifts those who experience it? Well when biologists are not busy on random projects like growing human ears on the back of mice, they sometimes turn their attention to other less tabloid-friendly matters. Studies have shown the testosterone levels of athletes who win races increase significantly and this in turn increases the chemical dopamine, which is the chemical messenger that hits the reward centre in our brains and makes us feel better. In the animal kingdom, the ‘winner effect’ is a term that describes how competing males first fight off weaker contenders to boost their dopamine hits to their brain as it then subsequently means they are far likelier to win a contest against a stronger contender.

It’s a bit like the scenario of a young male lion, possibly called Roary, who wants to boost his confidence ahead of a pending battle against a big bad wolf from the Birmingham area, he would first perhaps test himself against a toothless lame Tiger from a nearby circus run by clowns before attempting to savage the beaten-up neighbourhood black cat from up the road. So when Boro fans start singing to the Sunderland supporters “can we play you every week” it’s not intended as an unkind bout of gloating but is simply their inner evolutionary biologist wanting to get their team up for the next big game against stronger opposition. All this valuable work helps us understand the biochemical consequences of sport – though researchers are still awaiting funding to discover how much the testosterone levels would increase if you were to shout ‘Boo’ behind a mouse with a huge ear on its back while it wasn’t looking.

Anyway, the task of a manager who wants to tap into this ‘winner effect’ phenomenon should be to try and extend the concept of winning from merely just the actual result and instead make it into a more fluid concept – though some will already be familiar with the fluid nature of what constitutes success in the eyes of Boro managers from listening to post-match interviews over the years. Though rather than talking about attempts after the game to rationalise the failure to win, it is important for a manager to set individual and group goals ahead of the game, which can then be used to gain positives when they are achieved. It is not possible that simply setting the target of winning a game can be used to help a group of players progress, so other measures need to be used to build the confidence and a sense of achievement. For example, keeping a clean sheet is often used as one such goal – though under some recent Boro managers it sometimes seemed that was indeed the only goal witnessed!

How the club ultimately performs over the current season tends to be judged in the context of what the expectations were. Whilst we all may have our own ideas of what we are expecting from our team (with some supporters less easily pleased than others) its normally from the owner where the real expectations are driven. If we look at Boro, it was clear from Steve Gibson that he had indicated that automatic promotion was the target – with his infamously misquoted sentiment of wanting to ‘Smash the League’ seemingly engraved on the baseball bat that was used to beat the manager and players with every dropped point and position below the top. Whilst ambition is admirable, being measured against over-ambitious targets has a similar effect of being on a losing run – both are held up as failure and anything below automatic promotion was perceived as thus from both inside and outside the Boro camp. It probably also didn’t help to suggest that before a ball was hardly kicked in anger, it was boasted that we had the best squad in the league – possibly the biggest budget but that is never a measure of quality unless it is wisely spent.

Did some of the players suffer from loss of confidence as a result of not sitting at the top of the table? Or were the players who were brought in not mentally tough enough to fight for the right to sit at the top of the table? Perhaps the continued pressure of needing to try and win each game in order to play catch-up with expectations has ultimately prevented the team from building a good run of results. If you also add into the equation that a significant number of players in the squad were still feeling bruised and fragile from their Premier League experience, then it may have been better in hindsight to have set the target of making the play-offs as the only target and then less people will have viewed the season in the context of under-achievement.

The idea of setting manageable goals in sport is a crucial aspect of the psychology of ensuring achievement – If expectations are placed beyond what can realistically be achieved, then without a well defined improvement plan, the mental pain response will kick in and leave sportsmen feeling miserable – which is certainly true in the case of Boro followers, who have generally felt miserable all season as most expected a lot more. Too many people were perhaps caught up in the hype that spending big money equated to a guarantee of success rather than just the price of failure being more costly.

Despite Tony Pulis having a less than auspicious start to his tenure, there are some signs that he has a good understanding of how to get the best from his players. His transformation of Adama Traore from a bit-part player with potential to probably now our most effective player has been to his credit. He has done this by focusing on what the player can do well and giving him some slack on other aspects – it has improved his confidence and made him feel an important member of the team, which has added belief in himself and belief from others too. The problem of giving a player too many tasks to carry out will lead to them failing at some and distract from what they do best, which contributes to undermining their confidence. Pulis was also not afraid to drop players who weren’t performing in their roles and with Assombalonga it appears it’s going to be a hard road ahead. Two goals for Gestede will have given him a boost that he can be a Pulis target man that also scores goals and with Bamford showing he still has the scoring touch it leaves Britt with a lot to prove. Whether he will get the pitch time to show it is another matter and at some point he may mentally start to shut down if he no longer believes he can offer something that his manager wants.

Overall there are perhaps signs that Tony Pulis has enough players at his disposal who are maybe capable of showing the form needed to reach the top six goal that many were starting to think was just beyond reach. Mo Besic has shown in his last two outings that he offers the drive that was missing in central midfield with the hope that Jack Harrison will also soon be match fit to add a little extra guile to the team. If some of the strikers also rediscover their scoring touch then it will mean Boro could be finally ready to go as the business end of the season arrives. However, failure to pick up the points against a poor Sunderland side at the weekend will leave the concept of forming a ‘winning mentality’ back on the drawing board as Boro miss out on yet another opportunity to prove their critics wrong.

So will Boro be the alpha male that get the much needed dopamine hit after defeating the neighbourhood pretenders? Or will the Black Cats reveal our beta-release team is just not up to scratch? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will the KFC chickens finally come home to roost at the Stadium of Light?

Middlesbrough		Hull City
Gestede Bamford	15′, 68′ 45′	Evandro	41′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	33% 11 4 4 8	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	67% 9 5 4 10

Boro take “The Deep” to a new level

The Tigers had won just one of their last 18 visits to Boro arriving at the Riverside desperately engaged in yet another relegation dogfight after their demotion with Boro last season. After the mutually consenting departure of Leonid Slutsky, Nigel Adkins now has the dubious task of trying to save the Tigers, something that even the WWF would have enough sense to walk away from. They are of course beset with injury problems as is often the case for struggling sides as luck deserts them and obligatory fate deals cruel blow after cruel blow. Pre match news from Humberside was that Harry Wilson and Jarrod Bowen were out along with Moses Odubajo and James Weir. Hernandez was optimistically tipped to get a place on the bench rather than a start after coming back from injury but he didn’t materialise. Kingsley was still out and Seb Larsson would be sitting out the second of his two game ban.

The positive news for Adkins was that Boro nemesis Grosicki should be near fit after a few weeks out and that Dawson would have Hector back alongside him at CB. Hope sprung eternal that tonight maybe TP might abandon the wasteful and quite frankly pointless exercise of Rudy alone and abandoned. An hour before kick-off we saw that TP had gone with the same again with the exception of Paddy back in for Howson. I have to say that there were more than a few raised eyebrows and shakes of the head in the North Stand concourse around me at the team news.

The Boro line up however was to take another twist before KO as Ben Gibson had to pull out after complaining of being unwell during the warm up meaning that Dael Fry was hurriedly and unexpectedly partnering Ayala at the back for Boro. The shuffle also meant that the spare seat on the bench was filled at the last minute by forgotten man Lewis Baker. The game commenced with Boro looking lively and in the opening quarter of an hour or so Besic caught the eye with his reading of the game and energy, chasing things like a demented Jack Russell on Saltburn Beach. Tellingly he was playing forward balls for the wide men and Gestede to chase. It made a refreshing change from the metronomic midfield norm for Boro. Bamford was again on the left, Adama right and with what looked like Besic and Downing slightly forward of Grant who was protecting the back line.

Paddy nearly opened the scoring when he almost latched onto to a ball played over the top of Dawson and Hector but his touch was a bit heavy. Traore had really looked up for this one and was tormenting the Hull defence twisting and turning them inside out. A cross from Adama found Gestede at the far post but his header glanced off the upright sparing McGregors blushes in the Hull goal resplendent in an unmissable Hi-Vis Pinky/Orangey ensemble. On the quarter hour another cross in this time from Shotton found Bamford or more honestly arrived slightly behind him but Paddy flicked up a boot and managed to add another lobbed trajectory utilising his heel for Gestede to this time head home to open the scoring. Hmmm I know I had joked pre match about a hat trick from him but one off the woodwork and now a goal after just 16 minutes had me thinking!

At this stage Boro looked comfortable, relaxed and by far the better side but they also took their foot of the gas and Hull gratefully welcomed the encouragement to push Boro as they sought an equaliser. The thought of Hull getting back into the game seemed remote but still Boro sat tight, kept their shape and didn’t seem perturbed that they were inviting pressure. Adama had a few trademark bursts so that was enough to keep them occupied as we looked completely comfortable. A bizarre Refereeing decision however resulted in a corner after Stewy had challenged and won a ball that to me at least looked like it had deflected off a Hull Player and Randolph simply ushered it out for a goal kick. Much to everyone’s astonishment including the Hull players a corner was given to the visiting Tigers in their dark blue kit (presumably due to the blatant colour clash of Amber and Black with Boro’s Red and White).

Hull now had a few Corners during the game that were taken short and had all fooled Boro several times and yet we never learnt or responded to the lesson. This one was another well worked routine and the ball came in low to the edge of the box rather than lofted into the big lads and unmarked Evandro despatched the ball to make it 1-1 four minutes before half time. Prior to the goal there had been a few moans and groans from the home support disappointed and frustrated in equal measure at the tactics Boro were employing to stifle the game and unnecessarily living on the edge at times.

Throats were being cleared for a few choice words at what was unfolding in preparation for the half time whistle along with some prescription recommendations for the Ref and his Official running the East Stand touchline. As the half closed a sloppy sideways pass in the Hull defence was latched onto and intercepted by Paddy, he sprinted into the Hull box avoiding a sliding challenge that would have had Leroy Sane or Dele Alli in wondrous freefall complete with arched back, slow motion mid-cycle turn and mid-air twist. Paddy though kept his composure, stayed on his feet and dinked the onrushing McGregor to make it 2-1 and so the anticipated cacophony of boos and jeers at half time were replaced by the joy of another of our Strikers actually scoring. His celebratory routine was somewhat bizarre as it looked to me similar to “that” Robbie Fowler one but listening to his interview in the Car on the way home it was apparently something that over 14 year olds would be lost with.

Boro were first out of the Tunnel for the second half with no changes. Randolph’s distribution had been a bit wayward, Ayala had a dodgy moment or two and Friend was running and overlapping but not really penetrating. Shotton was solid and well supported by Adama who got back and put a few telling challenges in but also caused a few nervy defensive moments but in all this Dael Fry looked the most settled and composed. Elsewhere on the pitch Besic had quietened a little but Gestede was having his best game, running and chasing and was unlucky to be booked for what was adjudged to have been a high boot in the first half.

From the second half KO Adama immediately made one of his dribbling runs that should have put the game to bed but it fizzled out along with a Besic dead end later on. Despite our superiority it had the makings of a very strange game, Boro were in control yet looked as though they were almost inviting Hull to get back into the match. Hull were clearly sensing that they could get something plus had nothing to lose and were now taking the game to Boro.

Adama broke free again down the right and skinned the Hull defence as he had been doing with ease all evening and cut the ball back across the 6 yard box for Gestede who was closing in to deflect the ball into the net to make it 3-1 and with that Rudy had doubled his tally for the Season. As I was seriously beginning to wonder if the hat trick was on he had another brilliant opportunity as the ball came to him with the goal at his mercy on the edge of the box but he somehow managed a swivelling air kick with the ball stuck between his legs and normal Rudy service was resumed.

Up until this point the game was no classic but felt we should have had a couple more goals. Instead of pushing on we sat further back than I have ever witnessed a Boro side sit back in a very long time. Defensively our defenders were in their own 18 yard box hacking and nervously swinging and slashing at the ball when it came anywhere near them not helped by our midfield that was treading on their toes. Pressure was mounting and we seemed to want to sit so far back the Red Faction had to clear a few seats to accommodate their heroes. This was defending and sitting deep that even Karanka would have found negatively dispiriting. I haven’t got any stats but I would wager that the last thirty minutes of the second half was the most time the ball had stayed in one half of the Riverside pitch. The North Stand felt totally isolated as Boro commenced desperate keystone cops, last minute defending against a very poor side robbed of key players and bereft of confidence.

It’s strange, winning 3-1 but witnessing that was an affront to the senses made worse by some tactical subbing and tinkering. Yep Adama was put out wide left again and to make matters even more perplexing Howson was brought on for Paddy to seemingly play wide left behind Adama although I suspect that it was more where he ended up than planned (maybe not). Cranie was introduced for Stewy to go and play wide right and previously Besic had been retired presumably due to fatigue for Clayts which made some sense. We had throw ins that we somehow managed to get the ball back into our own danger area whilst recycling the ball and put ourselves in trouble. Set pieces from Grant were poor and offered little including a free kick with an Assombalonga angle on it although not quite as high and no nesting birds were injured. This was painful to witness.

Winning was great, winning ugly is supposed to be satisfying but the last half of the second half was the most puerile and soul destroying performance that I have witnessed at the Riverside. It was chaotic and a marginally better side than Hull’s second finest would have ripped us wide open. Three points are three points but that was a very unpleasant experience to endure. We ended the game with Adama now playing centre forward with Rudy dropping deeper to help the onslaught and hoofing balls out of defence which came straight back at us.

In the dying embers Adama took the ball up the pitch to remind the North Stand what it looked like and brought out a full stretching save from McGregor. The resultant Boro corner ended up with a short, tight, mix up between Adama and Grant, ultimately losing possession and putting us back in danger. How on earth that constituted football on any level is beyond me, it was simply an awful second half spectacle, akin to gouging your own eyes out only less pleasurable. Ticket renewals? Good luck to the Marketing team with that one despite the win.

MOM was probably Adama again but I’m going to give it to goal machine Gestede for the massive upturn in his personal performance and of course his two goals.

Boro in last chance to salvage season
as the joy of pessimism darkens mood

If Boro’s faltering promotion campaign is to salvage anything, then they will be looking to overturn a rather rusty Hull who are listing badly as they scrap for survival while anchored just above the Championship Plimsoll line. Few will be anticipating a riveting contest as the Teessiders entertain (in the loose sense of the word) a fellow relegated team at the Riverside on Tuesday evening and many are beginning to wonder if Tony Pulis has the ability to brighten the gloomy forecast that lies ahead for the remaining voyage that once harboured dreams of promotion. The clouded judgement that oversaw the refitting of the team in the summer has increasingly left supporters feeling in a less bouyant mood, as despite a new man at the helm, Boro have failed to turn the tide with the passage of time.

Tony Pulis said this week that he felt at home surrounded by the Teesside Docks but one wonders if his Reading moment (Ottis) came a week too late as he appears to be sittin’ on the dock of the bay wastin’ time as the season drifts away – though perhaps on reflection another verse from the song is probably more appropriate: Looks like nothing’s gonna change, Everything still remains the same, I can’t do what ten people tell me to do, So I guess I’ll remain the same – it certainly sounds more in tune with his stubborn footballing philosophy and the lack of cohesion between the outfield players, which is beginning to prove less than a hit with the lost souls of Teesside with more than a hint of the blues.

The Boro faithful are hoping that someone somewhere at the club may also be able to shed some light on why this team have failed to offer the opposition something resembling a serious goal threat in recent weeks. That lightbulb moment has yet to arrive when somebody flicks the switch in the tactical head of Tony Pulis as he stares at a lone lost striker who thinks he’s on the pitch to flick the ball to an invisible team-mate who never arrives. At some point many suspect the manager may ultimately begin to wonder whether a system that employs three non-scoring forwards may not be the best method of engineering a promotion-winning team.

Whilst many players appear to be left somewhat in the dark as to how they see their futures under Pulis, a few years ago, scientists at National Physical Laboratory developed a black that is so dark that it is now the blackest substance known to man and can absorb 99.96% of all the visible light. This high-tech coating of carbon nanotubes is known as Vanta Black (Vertically Aligned NanoTube Arrays) and is currently being used by installation artist Anish Kapoor who said, “Imagine a space that is so dark that as you walk in you lose all sense of where you are, what you are, and especially all sense of time” – though after recent performances you could be forgiven for thinking it sounds like the kind of place that Tony Pulis has been taking his team to train. However, should Boro lose to Hull on Tuesday to end all but the faintest of lingering hopes for making the play-offs, then scientist will need to develop an even blacker black to describe the mood in the Riverside stadium.

As the Boro supporters still await the new dawn promised by the arrival of Tony Pulis, they at least can console themselves that they don’t exist in the twilight world of the other two teams which fell through the trapdoor of the Premier League’s darkened basement. There is a very real prospect that both the Tigers and the Black Cats will fail to claw their way out of trouble and will drop a further division down through the Championship cat-flap. Hull achieved a rare win last time out against Aitor Karanka’s Forest, which was only their second win in 16 games since we last beat them 3-1. Former Scunthorpe physio and Southampton manager Nigel Adkins has taken over from Leonid Slutsky as manager but the divisions between the supporters and the Allam family still casts a shadow over the club – despite claims that the owners wish to sell there appears little belief that they mean it.

Middlesbrough		Hull City
Tony Pulis		Nigel Adkins
P32 – W14 – D6 – L12 – F40 – A30		P31 – W6 – D11 – L14 – F42 – A47
Position Points Points per game Projected points	9th 48 1.5 69	Position Points Points per game Projected points	21st 29 0.9 43
Last 6 Games Cardiff (A) Reading (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A) Fulham (H)	F-T (H-T) o:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L	Last 6 Games Nottm Forest (A) Preston (A) Leeds (H) Sunderland (A) Reading (H) Bolton (A)	F-T (H-T) 2:0 (2:0) W 1:2 (1:2) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:1 (0:1) L

Although optimism may be in short supply among the Boro faithful, it was perhaps the famous French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, who did most to persuade us of the joys of pessimism. He declared that ‘Misery is the norm’ and stated “If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it.” Indeed, he argued that “man’s greatness comes from knowing he is wretched” – though he probably wasn’t advocating self loathing per se but pointing out the incompatibility between the grandness of our aspirations and the reality of life that ultimately leads to disappointment. However, rather than blaming general negativity for our gloom, he thought the source was instead ‘hope’ and it was with regard to our aspirations that this hope was primarily to blame for anger and embitterment.

He believed it was far better to have limited expectations, as the religious context of his time preached that failure and boredom were not a sign of error but instead a signal that life was just proceeding according to plan. Optimism on the other hand was based on the view that things will improve and life can be more perfect, which is a philosophy that is nearly always destined to end in disappointment as he posed that mankind is a flawed species. Pascal’s work on the subject was compiled and published posthumously as the ‘Pensées’ (which translates as ‘Thoughts’) – it was primarily a theological work that used the opposing philosophies of scepticism and stoicism with the aim to “bring the unbeliever to such despair and confusion that he would embrace God”.

While the concept of scepticism probably needs no introduction for the doubt-mongers on Teesside, the move to Stoicism may need some encouragement as the concept is based on the path to happiness being found in accepting the moment as it presents itself and not allowing yourself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, while at the same time treating others in a fair and just manner. Clearly a quantum leap for the hardened football supporter to suddenly bear witness to the unfolding events on the pitch without such emotional opinionated involvement – though perhaps Stoicism is best summed up by one of Teesside’s famous sons as ‘It is what it is’.

Whether the sceptical Boro supporters will remain stoic this season is hard to say but it’s unlikely that the despair and confusion they are currently witnessing in disbelief of what has unfolded on the pitch will lead them to embrace the methods of Tony Pulis. Nevertheless, a pessimistic outlook doesn’t have to entail a life bereft of joy as we are told pessimists can have a far greater capacity for appreciation than their more positive counterparts. The gloomy among us never expect things to turn out well and so may be amazed by the modest successes which occasionally ‘makes me happy when skies are grey’ (as the famous terrace song goes) – even though they also think that their Boro may never notice the ‘love’ they have for them, which all sounds like complex state of delusion and denial.

Those pessimists out there of a sceptical nature, who may be struggling to think that they’re on the right path to happiness, will be glad to know that experts of the none taxi-driving profession have been studying how people process positive and negative information. It turns out that some brains tune in automatically to the negative stuff while others can filter this out and instead focus on the positive – I won’t mention any names but you know who you are! Unsurprisingly, people who are pessimistic remember far more negative than positive things, while optimists tend to recall relatively more of positive rather than negative – for example, some may just focus on the actual penalty blazed over the bar by Britt, while other will have been impressed to actually see him in the box for a change. The key is selectivity, as it’s not that optimists don’t remember bad things it’s just that they pay relatively more attention to positive things and tend to remember the good rather than the bad. Of course in the carefully scientifically controlled environment of the Riverside it may be difficult to get an equal number of positive and negative events – especially in the last 18 months – unless of course my observation is biased towards pessimism but then again if the displays had been balanced Boro probably wouldn’t have gone through four managers in the last 12 months!

In the words of one former leader who was known to have his demons and enjoy a drink, Winston Churchill once famously said “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. However scientists have studied the brains of pessimists and optimists and have noticed the differences in how they are wired. The research indicates that the biases on how somebody perceives something, no matter how minor, build up over time and have a cumulative effect. Each small tendency to orient towards the negative reinforces the ‘rainy brain’ pathways embedding them even deeper and making them harder and harder to change.

The good news for long-suffering Boro supporters contemplating the likely longevity of their diminishing whisky stocks, is that these biased neural pathways can theoretically be re-trained with a long-term programme that is reverse engineered to obtain a healthier balance between the ‘rainy’ and ‘sunny’ brain – plus it doesn’t necessarily involve switching allegiance to a more successful club. These techniques are aimed at those who are not clinically depressed but would simply like to become a bit more optimistic, as there is also scientific evidence to suggest being optimistic is not only healthier but leads to a longer life – though hopefully it’s not in line with the cynical theory that giving up alcohol doesn’t actually make you live longer, it just seems like it!

The technique is called cognitive bias modification, or CBM, which works by presenting two images side by side very rapidly and asking people to respond to small targets that appear in either location that subtly re-train the brain to shift the attention away from bad images and towards more pleasant ones. For example, maybe a picture of Rudy Gestede falling over the ball on the left and an image of Adama Traore running past three defenders on the right – perhaps even a photo of the Riverside scoreboard indicating 0-0 on the left and something ridiculous like 3-0 on the right – clearly the therapy has to be subtle so we shouldn’t move into any fantasy scorelines in the early stages. However, it’s not at first apparent where you should look if a photo of Garry Monk was on the left and one of Tony Pulis was on the right – as far as I’m aware putting your head in your hands is not one of the allowed options.

Some may argue that they are perfectly happy to wallow in the misery of following the Boro safe in the knowledge that seldom hoping for the best and fearing the worst is part of the Teesside DNA. It is after all their birthright, having descended from several generations of supporters who liked nothing more than a good post-match moan as the team kindly confirmed their expectations that the spell of typical Boro is unbreakable. As Pascal proposed, it’s not the negative disposition and acceptance that your aspirations are unlikely to be fulfilled that does the damage – it’s actually the hope that kills you!

So will Boro keep the optimism of promotion afloat as they lighten the mood at the Riverside? Or will lumbering Hull sink our remaining hopes as they kill the dream dead in the water? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Tony Pulis push the boat out and silence the sceptics with attacking football.