Queens Park Rangers vs. Middlesbrough Tue 5th November 2024
As I do not know any Cathedrals near Shepherd's Bush, a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, I will use a more personal starting point to QPR.
In 1970, my brother, who is 2 years younger than me, had learnt to read. So again, we were looking at the pools coupons my father used every week here in Finland. It must have been wintertime as from August until April, the Football League matches were on the coupons. At the time – before global warming – we had snow on the ground from Christmas time until early April and the local football season was played in summer.
So my brother – was he more childish or not as educated as me – chose Arsenal as his favourite team. It was the first team on the coupon as the matches were alphabetical order. I used more thinking to choose my favourite team – a club called Middlesbrough sounded so strange and exotic. A much more difficult word to pronounce – more fascinating. My late father never learned how to pronounce it. His version was “mildebo” or [mid-le-boh].
Our father was very keen on all sports. As a youngster he was in gymnastics and pole vaulting, and later he played volleyball at work. When he retired, he started to jog and loved cross country skiing. He did ski over 1 000 km per annum even when aged over 80 years – if there was enough snow here is the south.
Anyway, he loved to watch all sports on TV, too. Every Saturday me, my two brothers and our father gathered around the TV set to watch a live match from the English Football League. It was usually the First Division, but if you had snow in England and the original match was postponed, it could have been lower league, too.
The first match I remember live on TV was the FA Cup match between Boro and Arsenal played at Ayresome Park on 5 th February 1977. Of course, there were many matches we had watched earlier in the 1970’s, but this match was the first I can remember. And one over my brother’s Arsenal by 4-1 (a Mills hat trick and one by Armstrong).
Visit to Loftus Road
Next, I will go fast-forward to the 1980’s. In 1980 I was abroad for the first time, when I came over to Middlesbrough, Great Ayton and Darlington, where I had pen friends. And a couple of years later I was travelling in the UK with my girlfriend (now my wife). Also, my brother was travelling in Europe by interrail. Before leaving Finland, we had agreed a meeting in London at Trafalgar Square on one evening some two weeks later. Not compulsory, but if we all were in London at the time.
So, we met in London and went to see Queens Park Rangers versus Arsenal match together. My girlfriend and I were returning from Teesside, and this was my first match in London. I still remember the stand at Loftus Road – the pitch was very close to the seats we had. I had a feeling I could touch some of the Arsenal players, who were more familiar to me because of TV matches and my brother’s affect on me. We still lived with our parents at the time.
I have been to Highbury later, but I absolutely loved the smaller Loftus Road ground. It was more compact than Ayresome Park and the atmosphere was excellent. Since that visit, QPR has been a kind of favourite club in London – not that I have any affection to the London clubs in general. Not as a Boro fan! I also like their kit – the blue hoops on white are very nice and unique (until I found out Reading’s kit is similar to QPR).
This reminds me of my favourite Boro players. My first favourite player was perhaps David Armstrong – I had met his mother and sister during my first trip. I also had a cup of tea with Terry Cochrane – he is one of my all-time favourites with Jim Platt. But I got to know Jim Platt as a person in 2014 and we have been friends ever since.
Albert Adomah was my last favourite player at Boro. I loved watching him play on the right wing during Mogga’s days at helm. I never met him but saw him on-line as well at the Riverside. I loved his personality, too. He was always smiling and funny. Remember him dancing with the cheer leader girls at an away match? Fabulous!
Albert was born in Lambeth, London and is a dye-hard fan of the Hoops. I remember reading that while at Boro he went shopping in the Rs’ club shop and bought a QPR shirt. Albert joined us from Bristol City on 8 August 2013 for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £1,000,000. After three years, he signed for Aston Villa on transfer deadline day for an undisclosed fee, swapping directions with Adama Traoré who went the other way. Not a bad deal.
Later Adomah went to Nottingham Forest and then on to his boyhood club on 5 October 2020. On 15 January 2022, he played the duration of his QPR's 1–0 top-of-the-table victory against West Bromwich Albion, his 456th appearance in the second tier, making him the record outfield appearance holder in Championship history. He became the record holder with his 525th appearance on 26 April 2024, overtaking Lee Camp.
On 2 May 2024, the club announced the player would leave the club in the summer when his contract expired. Now Albert is playing for Walsall on a one-year contract in League Two. Born on 13 December 1987, Adomah is now aged 36.
The White City Club
The QPR club was formed in 1886, when a team known as St Jude's (formed in 1884) merged with Christchurch Rangers (formed in 1882). The resulting team was called Queen's Park Rangers and their official formation date is considered to be 1882, which is the original founding date of Christchurch Rangers. The club's name came from the fact most of the players came from the Queen's Park area of west London.
The club is very similar to Boro in its success. In FA Cup the Rs have been Runners-up in 1981–82. And they have won one trophy – the League Cup in 1966–67. They have also been Runners-up in 1985–86. And their European record is quite similar. QPR's first foray into European competition came when they qualified for the 1976–77 UEFA Cup reaching the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by AEK Athens on penalties. The club also qualified for the 1984–85 UEFA Cup but were knocked out in the second round by Partizan Belgrade.
In 1980, Terry Venables took over as manager and in 1981 the club installed an artificial turf pitch. In 1982 QPR, still playing in the Second Division, reached the FA Cup final for the only time in the club's history, facing holders Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham won 1–0 in a replay.
Current form
Now QPR is second at the bottom of the Championship Table. They have ten points from 13 games. – just a point above bottom club Portsmouth. The Rs have drawn their last three matches. Before that, they lost the previous three matches. So, their form is the worst in the league at the moment.
But they had a creditable result of a 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland on Saturday. The only notable happening in the game was the straight red card of Jobe Bellingham in the 58 th min. The QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes told BBC Radio London:
"We can look at the game in two ways - we are a little bit disappointed not to score a goal and close the win we are really looking for, but the positive is that we played a good level against a very high-level team that is top of the table for good reasons.
"We had many good performances from individual players, and it is a third game unbeaten and second clean sheet.
[On the man advantage] "Experience tells you that it wouldn't be easy. The stadium demands and the momentum demands you score in every action and it's not easy against a team that doesn’t concede many chances especially as they defended low.
"Jonathan Varane was really good and he and Steve Cook did really well in the centre back position."
Martí Cifuentes Corvillo, born 7 July 1982 is a Catalan football coach born in the Barcelona area. After a couple of teams in Spain, he has been a head coach in Norway, Denmark and at Hammarby IF in Sweden, before joining the Rs on 30 October 2023. The 41-year-old replaces Gareth Ainsworth who was sacked on the previous Saturday after a sixth straight Championship loss left them 23rd in the table. We all remember the latter from his time as a player and manager at Wycombe Wanderers, too.
And Boro
Boro’s recent form has been mixed. After a couple of losses, we beat Sheffield United and then went to Norwich. After a difficult start and being 1-0 down, the Boro started to play well. In fact, they played the best football ever seen since the culmination of Juninho and co in the Premier League. We played the unbeaten home side off the park and were well worth the 1-3 lead at half time. Then we missed a penalty and Norwich equalized in the end. But still, it was the best match I have seen Boro play in ages.
Typically, the following match at home to Coventry was the worst performance of the season so far. We started the game badly and it got worse when Hayden Hackney got his second yellow in the 22 nd minute. Isaiah Jones was so rusty that there is still a small hill of rust around the halfway line. Matt Clarke was not at his best, and we missed Ben Oak badly. We played actually better with ten men, but the goals were too easy to concede.
I think we have the correct, positive manager in Michael Carrick to guide the young squad. And he has a good team with Woodgate, Leadbitter and the other Carrick. I love the playing style, and it can be very effective in the Championship as we saw last season. We just need some consistency and a winning run to get to the top six. I still think we could be in the top two by the end of May 2025.
I refer to Selwynoz comment of today (November 4, 2024, 1:55 am). He wrote: “People have commented on the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our performances this season and then piled onto Carrick as if he is the reason. At what point do the players have to take their fair portion of the blame. If they can do it for one week, why can't they do it next? Consistency comes, at least in part, from mental discipline and our players don't seem to have it. Can this be coached? I don't know but it is hard to blame Carrick when someone misses a penalty when we are leading 3-1 away at a very good team and the side manages not to win. For me, that was a real 'Sliding Doors' moment, and I wonder how long it will take to recover.
“We have a good squad, but we are not a good team and I'm not sure why.”
And I agree. I am very happy with the team. The first 11 played well last season and now we have enough strength in depth, too. The players must step up – with the help of the coaching team. Perhaps we need a few leaders on the field. And at QPR we naturally will have Howson back as Hackney is suspended. I like Dijksteel over Ayling and Morris over Howson. But perhaps we need a few older heads in the teams now. To guide the young squad through this batch of indifferent results. The performances were there except versus Coventry when we did not play well at all. Neither team did not deserve the points on Saturday, Coventry did not impress me much.
I do not think the problem is the lack of a plan B. The problem is lack of consistency. I think we need to find the best eleven and stick to the current formation and style. As said a million times, the performances have been there. But we need a few good results next.
I will go for a 1-3 win on Tuesday. I think OFB deserves a result with his optimistic Boro3. It was the wrong three on Saturday, but at Norwich it was double Boro3 in all possible ways. I hope to see Latte Lath starting again as he is a kind of leader on the field, too. I hope to see LL score a brace with Conway adding another goal, too. But could that happen?
One for @Dormo: I see that the home club was formed as Queen's Park Rangers. And the players were originally mainly from Queen's Park area. This is logical to me.
But now in most of the places the name is spelled without the '. So the BBC spells it Queens Park Rangers.
I could not find out when the name was changed - or are people more lazy to spell it correctly now?
The team from Glasgow called Queen's Park is still spelled in genetive.
Up the Boro!
Jarkko
This is a staggering piece of work. It would be excellent even if your first language were English, but to be able to produce such a detailed and well-written piece in a foreign language is really amazing. I love how you have interspersed some family history with the football analysis, which makes this one of the most original starters we’ve seen. It’s a marvellous opener. Very well done indeed!
It was very interesting to learn how you adopted Boro as your first team. I suppose I’d always imagined you must perhaps have seen a Boro game live in England or on TV at some stage and that you’d fallen in love with us, maybe because of John Hickton, Graeme Souness or Bobby Murdoch, or some other great such as Phil Stamp (🤭🤭). I think it’s fantastic that you have stuck with us all these years through thick and thin (and mostly thin!)
QPR: not one of my favourite clubs, I must admit, but not for any particular reason. Boro simply must win tomorrow. For once, I won’t be happy with an away draw. But I’m not going to make a prediction - I have no idea whether Jekyll or Hyde will turn up. I do know that Rangers will make it very difficult for us, as they’re in a relegation scrap.
I’m surprised the BBC leaves out the apostrophe. Who are the heathens allowing this to go out? This is a cardinal sin in my book. It’s the park belonging to the queen, so must have the possessive apostrophe. What is the world coming to?
@clive-hurren Yes, it was the name that attracted me most. My brother was seven and I was nine year old at the time. And the pools coupons were exotic, too with a lot of foreign names on it.
When I and my two brothers were playing football in the garden, my elder brother called me "Giraffe". I was taller than him and have been always a defender. So I was Jack Charlton of Leeds Utd, he was Jairzinho or Bobby Charlton. England was the reigning World Champions back then. Perhaps we were Peles and Jairzinhos only after the Mexico world Cup, though. The youngest brother (the Arsenal fan) was usually in goal.
But the BBC does spell the "big" Scottish club as Queen's Park. But of course the level of journalism has gone down in recent years. Up the Boro!
@clive-hurren Even their web site spells it "Queens Park Rangers Football Club".
https://www.qpr.co.uk/club/history
Up the Boro!
A lovely piece, Jarrko. Very well-written, interesting and entertaining. And very sensible on the Boro's current situation.
I remember the Arsenal game and the David Mills hat-trick very well. It's one of the few occasions when we put the Gunners to the sword. Very satisfying, since traditionally throughout the 40s and 50s Arsenal were always seen on Teesside as the "Bosses' team": They were dirty, underhand, ruthless, and the epitome of metropolitan arrogance. And we rarely beat them. I recall Good Friday in 1948 when we were beaten 7-0 at Highbury. I was 7 years old, playing football in the street when I heard the score. I didn't realise that we could lose by so many. It's an experience still seared in my memory.
I too was a great fan of Albert and was saddened when the club failed to mark his popularity and great service by making a terse and dismissive announcement that he was leaving. So saddened in fact that I penned my own tribute to him on Untypical Boro.
Thanks Jarrko, It's a smashing article.
They’re now even less of a favourite club!
Many thanks Jarkko for really great opener, I really enjoyed reading about your early life and how you became a Boro supporter - plus lots of interesting history of QPR that I didn't know.
I went to my first Boro game at Loftus Road when I was 24 with my IT Manager at UNEP, who was a massive Hoops fan - though seemingly like most of my Boro games that I see it ended 0-0 with little excitement. However, the afternoon was more memorable for what had happened at another game as it was actually played on the same day as the Hillsborough disaster (15 April 1989) - we kept hearing reports from people around us on the radio and then went back my colleague's house to see the tragic events on TV.
As for the game on Tuesday, surely Boro will win this one - they certainly need to and if Ben Doak is fit then we have a better chance. Though as I mentioned yesterday, after the international break Carrick will need to utilise his squad and make earlier subs to keep everyone fit and fresh for 11 games in 42 days. Let's not forget our season last year was snookered by all the injuries we picked up around this time.
Absolutely fabulous Jarkko. Lovely to read a little bit about your young life, your brother and your dad. Like Clive said, a really nice and personal touch.
I had a similar reaction to you on my first vistit to Loftus Road in the late seventies. It really is one of those grounds where you feel you are right on top of the players. Long may these intimate little football stadiums stay with us. I also recall QPR fans being far more welcoming of visiting fans than are/were the supporters of other more glamourous clubs in the capital.
I wish I could share your optimism for a Boro3 event this time out. After me totally embarrassing myself by pitching an outrageous 5 goals for Boro against Coventry, for the foreseeable future I am going to remain much more circumspect... at least until the team does begin to play with some consistency. Happily, we are away form home and we do seem to do better away these days, so my fingers are crossed. That is as close to a prediction as I will permit myself.
In the mean time, here is a link for you to have a look at though: https://www.stnicholaslondon.com/history-of-the-cathedral.
The only cathedral in Shepherd's Bush 😉
Btw that Abert Adomah dancing with the cheerleaders was at Yeovil - here's a video link...
❤️
@Jarkko. An excellent and enjoyable read thank you Jarkko covering a variety of topics which were all interesting and informative, very well done.
As for tomorrow night, I am not feeling confident as I have seen Boro lose on too many occasions at Loftus Road, hence they and their ground are not one of my favourites.
No prediction from me other than to expect another inconsistent performance from our team which could result in any one of three outcomes.
What I do know is if we lose again then the chances of a top six finish becomes even more challenging. Yes we may be only three points away but to make up ground we need to win and those above us lose which is far from a given and does not account for what teams around us are also doing.
I am not suggesting it is yet make or break time but continuing to play as we have done so far this season and in parts last season, will be the way to consign us to another season in the Championship. ☹️😎
Jarkko
A very impressive opener and thoroughly enjoyable. Giving your own personal views makes it so real to all the Diasborians who empathise with all your trials and tribulations by being a Boro supporter.
It’s really appreciated the time and trouble you have taken to research this opener and also add to it, your own views and the impact that Boro have made on your life.
Well done and I’m not going to change my views it’s going to be Boro3 !
Now that’s not me being stupid (honestly!) Carrick and Woodgate will hopefully have played that Coventry game over and over again on video, showing where the mistakes were made.
Although Carrick hasn’t castigated HH publicly I would hope that behind closed doors he let rip with his feelings in no uncertain way.
Well done Jarkko many thanks !
OFB
Jarkko, thank you for one of the most interesting opener’s I have read, I just wonder if on the coupon instead of the “interesting and exotic” Middlesbrough, they had us listed as “Boro”, would you have become a life long Boro fan 🤔.
Come on BORO.
Top quality work, @jarrko. I think we’re all in awe of your language skills and I hope you’re aware of this Forum’s members’ affection for our far-Northern correspondent.
I suspect few of us will ever get to visit Finland, but if everyone is as positive and friendly as you are, then we really ought to make the effort. Well done again on such an inspiring starter.
@clive-hurren Thanks for the feed back. I thought I might tell my story of becoming a Boro fan and tried to add some connections to QPR, too. But I was confused about the spelling (still I am).
@lenmasterman Thanks for your words. If I remember correctly, the FA Cup match vs. Arsenal was played in bright sunshine. I mignt have seen Boro play earlier on TV, but I feel I got my first feeling ofAyresome Park in the match against Arsenal. A wow match for me.
@werder Opps, your memories from Loftus Road were not as good as mine. And I can really see why. The most horrible day in English football.
I enjoyed the video of Albert Adomah at Yeovil Town. Excellent!
@Powmill-Naemore Yes, you said it even better than me. It really is a place, where you feel you are right on top of the players. I have missed the cathedral in there, though 😆.
@KP I think we are a decent side now. Cannot be but optimist - please remember the matches at Carrow Road, West Brom and at home to Sheffield United, too.
@OFB We tend to remember the bad results - but I think the performances have been there. Do not underrate Woody. He was a success at Bournemouth and he knows Boro inside out. It seems that the players love him and his tips as a defender, who has played for Real Madrid.
@ExMill The Finnish coupons never had us as 'Boro'. So I started with the name and then saw a Boro match in every second season or something - we have never been a favourite for the braodcarsters, have we. in all it was just one match every Saturday for half a year. And the highlight of the season was the FA Cup Final - even thought Boro never played in one before Robbo's time, of course.
Thank you all for the nice words. Really appreciated.
The Boro, reading Shoot! for years and listening to BBC World Service and the results, have given me a lot. Both me and my younger brother learnt a good level of English, and we have worked for decades for two different International companies. My four other siblings made their careers in domestic businesses. So English football has given both me and my younger brother a lot. And we still follow our clubs vividly!
Up the Boro!
@Jarkko - I have read your Match Preview and, I think, two of the replies. I was then interrupted by something I will not trouble you with at present.
BUT - that was a Gold Medal winning starter piece. I loved the "how I became interested in Boro whilst my brother did not" and other information about your visits to the UK and matches you have seen, and former players you have met etc. Great stuff. It will have to be a performance of epic proportions for Boro's performance in the QPR game to beat that. The sort you might read in a football magazine and it deserves a wider audience. Let's see what we can do about that...
Jarkko, I can only echo those previous posts by our colleagues, and as Clive said “staggering”
Such an article composed and written, not in your mother tongue, I am so jealous.
@jarkko - QPR's name.
Normally as you know, in order to show ownership by a single person, you'd expect to use an apostrophe. So the pen belonging to Algernon is Algernon's pen. And the College in Oxford founded by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault who was the Queen of King Edward III (Robert was the chaplain to his Queen) is Queen's College as it is named after ONE Queen.
Queens' College Cambridge is ALWAYS spelled with an apostrophe at the end (after the "s") because it was founded by TWO Queens: Mary of Anjou in 1448 (Queen as she married King Henry VI) and Elizabeth Woodville who re-founded the college in 1465 (she became the wife of King Edward IV, her 2nd marriage!). So founded by two Queens and it was therefore the College of both of them.
There are lots of Queen's Parks in the UK. Well, we've had a few Queens and the ones who reign in their own right tend to sit on the throne for a long time! So you have a Queen's Park in London, Glasgow, Chesterfield and no doubt other towns and cities. It WAS Queen's Park Rangers FC in London (just as it still is Queen's Park FC in Glasgow). The apostrophe was apparently last used on the front of the QPR match programme for QPR v Millwall on 21st October 1967 but staggered on until 23rd March 1968 for the game against Blackpool when it last appeared on the back of the programme. The then Club Secretary Ron Phillips later admitted it was his decision to drop the apostrophe as a simple "aesthetic decision" because he was of the view that apostrophes in names and titles didn't look good! However other clubs playing QPR, no doubt used to seeing the apostrophe for decades, continued to use it in THEIR home match programmes for games against QPR for some time after QPR ceased using it. I think other organisations have just, over time, copied the practice followed by the club itself.
It has to be said that newspapers and other publishers often have their own "house style" and therefore it is possible that some organisations would decide not to use an apostrophe in cases other than QPR. I would also mention that, often for simplicity and to enable quick recognition, road signs in the UK often miss out apostrophes - the names of streets for example.
Hopefully that answers the query!
@forever-dormo Thanks, mate. That is clarifying it well, indeed.
Over here, one person would not made a decision like like about the use of Finnish language! It would be unbelievable.
But I must admit that the use of an apostrophe (a new word for me 😊) can be a problem in road signs. As we do not often use one in our language, we do not have that problem, too.
But you could imagine my confusion, when I realised the two different spellings (original name vs. BBC). Like Clive, I had always spelled it Queen's Park Rangers until yesterday. That is the logical way to presume it, I think.
Dormo, I still cannot believe your number of knowledge. How can you know and remember all the Queens you have had, and even more the smaller details like above.
But knowing you, I knew you would respond and thanks for that. Up the Boro!
Over here in Germany, you wouldn't have the apostrophe to denote possession so Queens would be the correct writing of it rather than Queen's - However, there has been a recent outcry that the idiot's apostrophe (as it's known) is to be introduced into the German language - with many calling it further anglicisation of the German language - though fine by me 😉
Here's an article reported by the Guardian on the matter...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/07/germany-influence-of-english-idiots-apostrophe
I forgot to tell the opponents in QPR's last three matches. In the last few weeks, they have been recording three straight draws against Coventry, Burnley and Sunderland. But they are still to claim their first home win of the season, though. Typical Boro, then?
Up the Boro!
@jarkko - Thanks for that. Since apostrophe is a new English word for you, I should perhaps say that it is pronounced as if it were spelled "APPOSS-TROFFEE" with no gap between the parts of the word. To rhyme with sticky toffee rather than sounding like APPOSTROFF.
I DO know many of the Kings & Queens and my mate who sits next to me at The Riverside frequently says he is surprised that I know dates, names and battles etc from history, but many people older than me learned those things by rote and are far better at it than me. One of those knowledgeable older people is a (76 year old?) Geordie chap who also frequents the Poisoned Parrot. But I'll let you into a secret. Obviously I knew that Queens' College, Cambridge was named after two Queens and I even knew that one of them was Mary of Anjou but I didn't know the second Queen or the dates other than they were in the 15th Century, so I had to look that up. The trick is to know enough so that you know where to look for the detail. I had to look up the information about Ron Phillips. He mentioned the criticism he received for removing the apostrophe but I suppose since that happened well over 50 years ago, most of that has died down now.
I like the apostrophe. As you may remember when you learned English, its use in English is quite simple. It denotes firstly a letter or letters missing when a word or phrase is shortened, such as DO NOT into don't or WOULD NOT into wouldn't or, to use something very topical as it was only a few days ago, All Hallows' Eve(ning) into Hallowe'en. Secondly it shows ownership as in Bill's house or Tom's car (the car belonging to Tom). BUT it is famously abused in the UK so much that the apostrophe or its misuse is often called the "Grocer's apostrophe" as you will often see boards or notices in the grocery shop window advertising "sprout's" or "turnip's" when neither of those vegetables own anything - it's just that the shop staff seem to think that a plural has to have an apostrophe. Many people in the UK are very annoyed by such things. (Incidentally if I want to say a poliitical party may have "had its day" my mobile phone seems always to want to autocorrect that to "had IT'S day" which IS annoying).
People who have learned English as a second language often seem to have a better understanding of English grammar than a large proportion of the British population. School teachers and people who write for a living like journalists would be an exception (unless they write for The Guardian). PS. That was an attempted joke.
@werdermouth - Thanks for that link to the article in The Guardian. If I'd read it first, I wouldn't have bothered to mention the grocer's apostrophe! Interesting though. Of course whilst there might a be German body and, in France, the Academy Francaise (forgive absence of accent), to make pronouncements on the correct use of the German (or French) language, there is no similar body in the UK for English. Some dictionaries might carry some weight or the BBC or some newspapers of record, or even "Fowler's Modern English Usage", but mostly it is up to "Annoyed of Leamington Spa" or "Pedant from Chipping Norton" to raise issues from time to time.
@forever-dormo I think I have seen Middlesbro', M'bro and 'Borough in the past but let's use Boro as we normally do.
But cannot remember Middlesboro' or M'boro, but I could be wrong. Up the Boro!
@jarkko - I used M'bro as "shorthand" for Middlesbrough when writing notes on court files in th 1980s, just as S'ton for Stockton etc. Not "official" though! Cliff Mitchell (a predecessor to Anthony Vickers in reporting on Boro for the Evening Gazette) used Borough as a name for what would now be universally written as Boro, but that might have been half a century ago! It's not often that people ADD letters to a name. It is said that Middlesbrough is a mis-spelling of the name intended for the town but once written down in the offical document, they stuck with it.
Middlesboro in Kentucky was originally founded under the spelling Middlesbrorough ("in honour of the English town then of that name") in 1888-90, but the name used by the US Post Office was Middlesboro from 1994 onwards and the town later adopted that spelling.
Although I have to raise my hand and own up to being quite pedantic about the use of written English myself, I also recognise that any language in common use is a living thing that evolves and changes over time, with new words and features and pronunciations and spellings and grammar continually being added to enhance what is already there, with other words and features and pronunciations and spellings and grammar declining in use to become archaic and even redundant. The pedants (including me !) are the ones that lose out on enjoying the full and colourful experience of a language. Whatever august authorities such as the Académie Française or the Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung or even the Oxford English Dictionary may say, both written and spoken language is and will be just as it is written or spoken by those of us keeping it alive. There are so many more truly important things to worry about in this world than how someone writes a sign about how much the sprout's cost today, just so long as everyone understands what the cost of the sprouts is.
How about Finnish @Jarkko, does your language continue to evolve and is there ever such a debate about correct grammar and spelling?
It’s interesting that on other football blogs, posters are reminded to watch their language and be careful what they are posting.
This blog,what can I say..? It turns into a literary discourse and theory and history lesson on grammatical, spoken and written language!
Does Anthony Vickers know what he started all those years ago when we were all thrown together?
Delightful stuff chaps but I’m still saying Boro3 for tonight !
OFB