Many thanks for your generous comments.
Interesting that you were considered a "late developer". I vividly recall all those many years ago at Acklam Hall two such lads, Smith and McCue, who joined the school aged 13. They were put in the B stream and came top of the class, so they were promoted to the A stream. They came top there too.
They were not only the brightest kids in their year, but two of the most modest, conscientious and personable pupils I ever taught. I think this was because they were determined to make the most of their second chance. They gave every impression of truly appreciating and wishing to take full advantage of everything the school had to offer.
If they felt fortunate to have been taken on by the school, they were mistaken. The school was lucky to have them. Indeed they were entitled to feel some degree of injustice at a system that had almost deprived them of the education they deserved. But the path they had been forced to take helped make them both wholly admirable young men.
Funny, these memories. I have occasionally brought Smith and McCue to mind over the past 60 years. Told their stories to friends. They will be in their mid 70s now. I expect they will have had not only highly successful but very worthwhile careers.
As indeed have you Dormo.
After tonight’s results it doesn’t matter what the scores on the weekend, we will still be 2nd on Monday before (and after) the game v Shef Utd.
Come on BORO.
Yes I know about the blog being more than just football but I was under the impression that other than the football (such as cricket, politics, religion school etc) would be under separate headings 🤔, or have we abandoned that 🤔. The reason I am on this site is to discuss MFC or there are other sites such as @Whereborowalk, The Twe12thman etc. where they discuss all things Boro..... and please write out 100 times the doctrine of the Blessed St Anthony of Vickers:
"This blog is, and always has been, about more than football"
Come on BORO.
@exmil - I reply to this as I sit on the side of my bed before getting in! The blog is primarily one for Boro supporters, wherever they may be in the world, so they can read and write about Middlesbrough football club. But obviously there may be occasions when we take a little diversion. Especially now - with there being such a gap between Boro's home game against Norwich and the next game away to Sheffield United. Ten days I think, from Saturday 31st January to Monday 9th February.
Yes, Sir. I am with you in there. "A club was promoted last season. I think Arsenal were the club." Sound not correct to me. I find the US and Australian way easier for me as it is logical. But as they have voted for Trump, I will try to use the British norm. So Boro are the best Championship team....right! As I was saying before I was interrupted:
The thing to avoid is mixing the singular and plural as in "A family displaced by the fighting PREPARES (singular) to return to THEIR (plural) village...". The same principle applies to all the main collectives like army, audience, clan, committee, company, court, crew, folk, government, group, herd. The rule is much more restrictive in American English, in which the verb and any attendant pronouns are usually in the singular. "The army was defeated in ITS advance towards enemy lines...".
2. The principle at work in British English is that the collective noun is thought of as a singular unit.
3. Collectives for inanimate objects (luggage, cutlery, linen, stoneware) are always treated as singular.
4. (Ignore for this purpose - too much detail!).
5. There are particular cases (eg (a) the USA, The Vatican, the UN, the House of Commons) which are always treated as singular: "The United States HAS demanded X, Y, Z..." (b) institutional names usually require a singular verb: "The Central Electricity Generating Board FINDS it cheaper to buy-in French electricity..." (c) animal names which are in singular but are being used in the plural naturally require plural verbs and pronouns ("Five bison WERE grazing..." and "Several silver fish WERE scuttling across the sea-floor to THEIR hiding place...").
I almost always follow British usage and rarely follow the use of our American cousins (assuming that recent events haven't caused a rupture in that family relationship). However on the plural/singular issue for collective nouns, I have my toe dipped into the Gulf of America - (SORRY! That slipped in!). I would always say "Middlesbrough FC is my football team....Boro/Newcastle United/Fulham was victorious in the league game played yesterday..." etc. But that means I have to go on to use singular forms afterwards in the same sentence: "Boro is the club I support, and its form in recent months has been exceptionally good..." Others may say "Boro are the best team the world has ever seen" but I would rarely be heard saying such a thing!
The reality is, Jarkko, that the vast majority of the English speakers, whether in the UK or the USA would find it very easy to understand any of these sentences and uses, whichever use is followed. The real crime would be to mix up the singular and the plural in the same sentence. So: use the singular throughout or the plural throughout.
My next post will be about the use of accents in European languages (or NOT...!).
I see that I have the honour to write the Match Preview for the away fixture against Sheffiled United - to be played a week into the future on the evening Monday 9th February and, I think, to be shown live on TV. Since Sheffield United has a game tomorrow (Tuesday 3rd February) as one of 4 Championship games listed, I will turn my attention to that game either later tomorrow or Wednesday. That should still allow several days before the game is due to kick off, and will also allow the conversation/repartee on Jarkko's thread for the Norwich game to continue. No ideas yet, but we will see how things turn out...
Thanks for clarifying, it is tough to learn a foreighn language properly. You are never fully in there.
Up the Boro!
PS. DId I tell you that our language, Finnish in NO way related Swedish, German or English. Nor Russian. Ours is only related to Estonian and very, very distantly to Hungarian. But no other language in Europe. And please do not ask why Hungarian - nobody knows but the language group is called Finno-Ugric.
Good info.After tonight’s results it doesn’t matter what the scores on the weekend, we will still be 2nd on Monday before (and after) the game v Shef Utd.
Come on BORO.
Tuesday night's Championship fixture between Portsmouth and Ipswich Town has been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch at Fratton Park.
It is the second time this fixture has been postponed after the original date at the start of January had to be rearranged because of a frozen playing surface.
I think it is only good that Ipswich will have more games in short space of time in the future. They still have a FA Cup fourth round match to navigate through at Wrexham on Friday 13th February.
Up the Boro!
@malcolm Sorry, but where do you live?
I found two Skeltons.
1. Skelton is a village in the unitary authority of the City of York. It is four miles (6.4 km) north-north-west of the city of York, west of Haxby, and on the east bank of the River Ouse.
2. Skelton-in-Cleveland or Skelton is a market town at the foot of the Cleveland Hills and about 10 miles (16 km) east of Middlesbrough centre.
I guess the latter. Up the Boro!
Such is the organic nature of conversation - this tangent occurred after I replied to a reply from Stircrazy to Jarkko with Dormo then replying to mine with very informative reasons why - which then led to similar posts covering that reply. It's unlikely anyone would start a new thread to reply to a post on a thread so it is what it is. Anyway, it's all been an enjoyable good-natured interesting mini conversation within a thread while there's a hiatus on footballing matters - with only Boro signing a third-choice keeper on loan and Hull drawing nil-nil being of note.
btw I'm quite relaxed that the forum has more or less reverted back to a contiguous game-by-game thread (as with Untypical Boro) and is no longer a series of multi-threaded topic based discussions as that is presumably how people prefer it to be. Of course, if you set out to post something well defined as separate to a match then it's easily done as a new topic where people can quickly find what they're want to know - i.e. Writers preview, COTS challenge or Exmil Challenge - but if something just arises in reply to a post then not sure anyone is thinking about starting a new thread.
@werdermouth I’d agree with your view. I think of Diasboro as a virtual pub and I wouldn’t want to go to a pub where we could only talk about one subject all evening, even if it was the Boro.
The odd diversion or flight of fancy provides a bit of relief on here as well as a bit of education on occasions.
I’m sure it can’t be too much of an issue for you, @exmil. As you say there are plenty of other forums out there, many of which focus solely on the football and none of us would want to lose you to the lure of those. Maybe forgive us the odd indulgence and skip past the posts that aren’t of interest to you personally.
I'll chip in as well. One of the joys of Diasboro is, exactly as AV's Untypical Boro was before, that it is a forum when any flight of fancy or interest or whimsy that grows out of an ongoing conversation about all things Boro is welcomed. Like Martin said, it is like going to the pub. Which one of us when we are actually at the match itself will only talk about the Boro and nothing else? Not very many I should wager.
When ever something doesn't particularly interest me I skip it. I know it will always come back to something "Boro" sooner rather than later.
There might well be other forums out there, but few (I suspect) as tolerant and respectful as this one. We certainly can't do without the Exmil Challenge, nor your passion for the Boro, so I hope there was no genuine suggestion you might be leaving us behind @Exmil.
@forever-dormo As another aside to the thread, I noticed that you post was timed at getting into bed at 1.09am. My question is: Is that the exact time of the post, very late, or just the time it is received at this end, ie DiasBoro.
When KP and myself post from Spain, is the hour difference changed to UK recieved time. Then of course our friends in Australia live in different time zones. I have never taken much notice in the past.
It seems the big boys are sniffing round Cruz Ibeh already:
Grrr! 
Wildsmith done deal. Loan till the end of the season.
And a not exactly confidence-inspiring addition to the squad:
Grrr indeed! If I had the power, my response to these scavengers would end in OFF, but we know football doesn’t work like that.
Let’s hope that a) the lad’s head has not been turned by the attention and b) we win promotion so it might be easier to retain him.
Wildsmith. OMG! What have we done? Surely Seny Dieng must be better than him on this evidence?
And, last, but not least, Tony Pulis, late of this parish, thinks Boro has what it takes to pip Coventry to the post:
Slightly off topic, but still on the footie, the blue half of Manchester is putting the Mags to the sword in the second Carabao Cup semi - the Beeb's analysis:
Manchester City's first half:
- 12 attempts
- 6 on target
- 3 goals
- Showing no mercy whatsoever.
@pedro - That WAS the time I was sitting on the side of the bed and pressing "send". It was 1.09am (appropriately).
@clive-hurren -Maybe, if he looks special, he should be put on the pitch so he has a chance to PROVE he is special. If he is getting game time it's less likely he will want to move. But I appreciate a stellar performance (a hat-trick, I think) in an age-group game doesn't necessarily mean first team quality (yet).
Not sure going to Arsenal or Chelsea is a good career move for a young player looking to break through - Arsenal have reportedly around 25 players between 18-21 on their books and Chelsea currently have 45 professional players on their books. The reality, they will be being sent out on loan to somewhere in Europe until they make a big impression or an exit if they don't.
Ibeh Cruz has time on his side and since he's been at Boro since the age of 9 will know if he's getting a first team chance this season then he has a better opportunity of making the grade at his local club. Of course money may well come into it but in the long term he's better off in the next few years breaking through in an environment where he hasn't got off-field issues to deal with and trying to settling in.
Meanwhile, up the road in Barcode land…
@werdermouth Of course money may well come into it:
My brother has a good friend whose son was with MFC in their Acadamy.
Chelsea came along, offered a salary, housing package and excellent schooling and that was the end of his time at MFC. His wages jumped from pounds a week to thousands per week.
A very difficult offer to turn down irrespective of possile future game time opportunities. After all not many youngsters make it anyway.
@martin-bellamy 'Be careful what you wish for', is a phrase that springs to mind. Without malice of actually wishing it all implodes for them, there would be some sense of moral justice being done and few in the real world of English football would shed a tear
Though once a player has played in the first team like Ibeh Cruz then he's got a good chance of making it - though yes thousands per week and a house is not something many teenagers would turn down.
Incidentally, Chelsea just signed 13-year old Blackburn prodigy, Camden Schaper, for a fee of £750,000!
Interesting table:
Opta Championship predicted table
How the table should look at the end of the season.
| 1 | Coventry | 85 | 49 | 77.1% | 22.6% | 0.0% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Middlesbrough | 84 | 34 | 66.9% | 32.4% | 0.0% |
| 3 | Hull | 79 | 8 | 23.1% | 68.5% | 0.0% |
| 4 | Ipswich | 79 | 9 | 26.0% | 67.2% | 0.0% |
| 5 | Millwall | 73 | 1 | 4.2% | 60.7% | 0.0% |
| 6 | Wrexham | 70 | 0 | 1.4% | 38.1% | 0.0% |
| 7 | Derby | 68 | 0 | 0.6% | 27.2% | 0.0% |
| 8 | Preston | 66 | 0 | 0.2% | 14.3% | 0.1% |
| 9 | Watford | 65 | 0 | 0.1% | 9.5% | 0.1% |
| 10 | Birmingham | 64 | 0 | 0.2% | 10.9% | 0.2% |
| 11 | Southampton | 64 | 0 | 0.1% | 10.6% | 0.2% |
| 12 | QPR | 64 | 0 | 0.1% | 7.8% | 0.2% |
| 13 | Stoke | 64 | 0 | 0.0% | 8.9% | 0.3% |
| 14 | Bristol City | 64 | 0 | 0.1% | 8.5% | 0.2% |
| 15 | Sheff Utd | 64 | 0 | 0.0% | 8.2% | 0.3% |
| 16 | Swansea | 60 | 0 | 0.0% | 1.9% | 1.6% |
| 17 | Leicester | 59 | 0 | 0.0% | 1.7% | 2.9% |
| 18 | Charlton | 57 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.6% | 7.1% |
| 19 | Norwich | 55 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.3% | 12.5% |
| 20 | Portsmouth | 54 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.1% | 17.4% |
| 21 | West Brom | 51 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 36.5% |
| 22 | Blackburn | 51 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 40.2% |
| 23 | Oxford | 45 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 80.1% |
| 24 | Sheff Wed | 6 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% |
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😎
@stircrazy I am no fan of Newcastle !!! had some scary moments I we went up there, to watch 3 Boro Games.
For those fearing a returning forward on Monday night (Bamford) Chris Wilder has reported that Bamford has suffered an injury during training and will be out for 2/3 weeks. I am not going anywhere, I was just pointing out that other sights are just about MFC, you don’t get rid of me that easily 😂😂😂.
I found this very entertaining:
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2026/february/04/yer-joking-aren-t-ya--kim-hellberg/
Come on BORO.
@exmil You’d be much missed if you left. Indulge us old b*ggers a ramble from time to time. 😉