@martin-bellamy I have been fortunate in joining the blog after the fixture openers were sorted as I feel in similar awe of the writers, excellent openers, and imposter syndrome kicks in thinking I will be part of that list next season but as everybody mentions and I try to tell myself, just write your thoughts and let it flow.
A few comments recently about the wheels potentially coming off and it set me thinking -
The wheels were falling off with a 4-0 defeat against Doncaster, we then took 9pts against Millwall, Norwich and Sheff Utd.
The wheels were falling off again after 2-2 with Preston, we then took 5pts from 9 against West Brom, Southampton and Stoke.
The wheels were falling off with a 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth, we then took 7pts from 9 against Ipswich, Sheff Wed and Wrexham.
I have to agree, we do sometimes look like we are going to derail but then we get ourselves back on track. For me, it is about blocks of games, we may not set the turf on fire in each game but if we can continually pick up four from six, six from nine, eight from 12, 10 from15 etc then we will be promoted and currently we are doing just that.
Tough tough game Saturday though, keep it tight, set out for a point and see what we can get.
The windmill arms are definitely the thing (or should that be things?) that I remember most about George Smith.
@martin-bellamy. All starters (Headliners) are gratefully accepted by all on this blog.
The standard is very high on here and as with all things, some people are better at some things than others.
It is the giving that counts.
This is an interesting article from the Observer - will we ever have an owner rich enough to compete in the EPL?
https://observer.co.uk/news/sport/article/the-premier-leagues-big-data-clubs-are-threatening-the-big-money-establishment
@martin-bellamy Gibson, for his riches, couldn't compete could he but yet I fear the day that he gives up his ownership of the club, which, if we are honest, can't be too far down the line.
What/Who would we want next ? Americans, Saudi, consortium, local owner ( whoever that could be), overseas investment may well be beneficial in the short term but I fear the longevity of our next owner/s.
Gibson will be the first to admit he has made mistakes during his time but by heck he has been one hell of an owner.
@presidentjump I couldn’t agree more about SG. It always amuses me when fans online bemoan the fact that he hasn’t sold up to some foreign billionaire. There are few clubs of our size and status who wouldn’t want an owner like Mr Gibson.
The Watford game opens up some intriguing comparisons with last season's match, played at around the same time of year.
Boro came to it on the back of a resilient 0-1 away win at West Brom, a game in which we defended brilliantly after Hackney's goal, subduing Fellowes by bringing on McCormick late in the game as support to Borges.
Watford presented a major challenge as they had the best home record in the Championship at that time.
In fact we played them off the park, showing the most fluent midfield passing game that I can remember since the glory days of Juninho et al. This was all the more remarkable since our biggest weapon, Ben Doak, had probably his least effective game of the season, repeatedly failing to get around a full back who matched him for tenacity and pace.
Boro's total dominance failed to produce the goal we deserved until George Edmundson stuck out a leg for a fortuitous second half goal that was nevertheless fully deserved.
Watford brought on some giant and muscular subs, scoring twice late in the game via a long throw and some typically poor defending down our left flank, leaving us all wondering how we had contrived to lose a game we had completely dominated.
As we entered November the quality of the passing game we were playing really shone through with emphatic wins against QPR (0-4), Luton (5-1), Oxford(2-6) and Hull(3-1), and a creditable 1-1 draw at Burnley.
I recount that history, with which every Diasborion will be familiar, as a gentle corrective to the current trope that " Boro would have lost that game last season"
I actually hope that that can be said of the Watford game, because it will mean we will have earned at least one of the points we should have collected last term.
But for the remainder of this November's fixtures, if we can play in a way that summons up even vague memories of last year's scintillating spell, it would count as some achievement
@lenmasterman I recall that 18 goal spell in four games Len, and i hope we can use it as a timely reminder that the championship title isnt automatically heading Coventrys way, which it would seem everybody is talking about with Coventrys, lets be honest, fantastic goalscoring start to the season.
@lenmasterman Great post, Len.
It was spells like that that still leave me in a very small minority - possibly of one - that still wanted Carrick around. The hope that we could blow a team away by four or even five goals, playing swashbuckling pass-and-move attacking football, was always there.
Of course I appreciate that results like the one you recall at Watford last season happened regularly too. But what would Carrick have done with solid signings like Brittain, Targett, Jones and Browne?
We were denied the opportunity to see what a progressive, attacking coach like Carrick could do with a team of consistent, experienced Championship performers.
That’s not to say that I’m unhappy with Edwards in any way. He and his coaching team have done absolutely brilliantly and Edwards himself is excellent in the media and I strongly suspect he’s every bit as good with his players.
In terms of playing style and intent however, Carrick’s approach will always be favourable for me.
Like I say, minority of one, perhaps especially so on a blog that was brought up on Jack Charlton’s team.
... make that a minority of two, Andy.
Carrick continually called for the recruitment of "quality over quantity", something that the club consistently failed to deliver over the tenure of three managers. They were all of the same view: that promotion could only be delivered by a team based around a core of players capable of producing 7 or 8 rated performances week after week.
On his debut as a Match of the Day pundit last week, rightly praised by Werder, Carrick made the point that it is important to blood young players and to utilise their energy and talent, but that the problem they presented was one of inconsistency.
As you say, Andy, it is the presence of solid signings rather than promising projects that gives a more solid base for our optimism than we have experienced in the past.
@andy-r I really liked Carrick, he will go on to be a good manager, i was gutted when he left and, in truth, I wasn't overly enthusiastic with Edwards appointment.
But credit where its due, he has quickly got us to be one of the promotion favourites and arguably more importantly endeared himself to the fanbase with his early appreciation of being given the opportunity to be the clubs manager ( and it felt genuine ), his press conferences, his family environment, his timely substitutions, his people skills and his post match routine etc.
We could be on to something this season, lets hope so.
On another note....Memories
ALMOST 30 years have now passed but Middlesbrough's dramatic 3-3 semi-final draw with Chesterfield has served the test of time as one of the most remarkable FA Cup ties.
And for Sean Dyche, one of the central figures in the rollercoaster game at Old Trafford in 1997, the tie - and everything that surrounded it - stirs all sorts of different emotions.
It was Dyche, then captain of third tier Chesterfield, who scored the penalty to put the Spireites 2-0 up on the hour mark against 10-man Boro, who'd lost Vladimír Kinder to a red card in the first half.
But it was also Dyche who fouled Juninho and conceded the penalty which gave Craig Hignett chance to draw Bryan Robson's side level after Fabrizio Ravanelli had halved the deficit.
But in between the strikes from Ravanelli and Hignett came the game's big talking point - the ghost goal.
Jon Howard looked to have given Chesterfield a 3-1 lead and almost certainly guaranteed a place in the FA Cup final when his close-range shot smashed the bar and appeared to bounce down over the line, but referee David Elleray didn't award the goal.
For Dyche, is still hurts to this day.
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Appearing on Joe Cole and Ashley Cole's Could It Be Magic? podcast , Dyche - now manager of Nottingham Forest - said: “How they missed that is farcical. It’s like the Lampard one at the World Cup. It was that far over. Then it bounces out and [Gianluca] Festa climbs all over Andy Morris, and that would have been 3-1. That changed the whole thing.
“They ended up going in front, with good players like Juninho running all over, by hook or by crook, and then Jamie scored last minute to make it 3-3."
Hewitt's 119th minute goal made it 3-3 after Festa had put Boro ahead in extra-time. The Premier League side comfortably won the replay 3-0 but the first game and everything that surrounded it before, during and after will stay with Dyche forever.
"John Duncan [Chesterfield boss] had the best bit of management still to this day I’ve ever known," says Dyche.
“We are all nervy and he was really quite calm, John, and very dry in the manner he was. We lost him a couple of years ago, rest his soul. Brilliant fella. And very, super helpful to me, both player, coach and manager.
“He was sitting in the dressing room and he said ‘now then lads, I look around and I think you all look like you’re s******g yourself - and I hope you are because I am!’
"Of course I burst out laughing and it diffuses everything. I look back on that, I thought genius. Because I could sense everyone’s nervous. And he went, 'so let’s have a right go’. And he just kept it dead simple.
"I remember after that game thinking genius. We didn’t need tactics, everyone’s too nervous for that.”
Dyche continued: “There were funny side stories at the time.
"Chris Evans invited us on TFI Friday. We had a few beers. He was terrific.
"He said we were watching it and by the end we were screaming at the TV. It was brilliant. Looking back everyone got sucked into it. There was mayhem when Jamie scored last minute.
"It was massive for Chesterfield. It was big for Middlesbrough, of course, but you know, they've got Festa playing, Ravanelli, Juninho...Emerson played in the second game.
“Juninho at that time was arguably one of the best players in Europe. He was great, unbelievable. Little Mark Jules was asked to do a man to man job, I thought we were going to have to stretcher him off.
"Juninho never stopped I swear. He would get it and run all over the pitch, non stop. He could play.”
I think we will have to see more of Rob Edwards and over an extended period of time before we can properly consider whether he has a place in the Pantheon. A good start so far but, for me, Jack Charlton sits on top of the pile.
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2025/october/30/mfc-seeking-fan-representation-for-new-panel/
Did anyone see this article on the MFC website. Can I suggest that one of our local members put themselves forward as a fan group's representative
UTB
@selwynoz I saw the article and was immediately thinking the same. I just wonder if our representer must be located in the UK? Werder is in Germany, Exmil is in the UK. How about Andy?
Anyway, I have been busy travelling to customers with my successor. I plan to retire in January 2026. So the extra travelling has limited me to reading the blog, only.
So a big thank you to @Andy R for the starter. It was really good as were all the responces that followed. This blog is really nice to read while alone in a hotel room while on the road (or a flight). It really keeps me entertained.
The Watford match will be tough. All matches are in the Championship and especially away. But I have a gut feeling that we will have a good performance in BOTH halves on Saturday. We have been training for a full week. If we saw a good performace lasting a full match, I think we could see a 0-2 win. But as we saw last season, we must have a good 90 min plus injury time to get the three points.
So a surprise win for the reds with Conway and Strelec scoring. Up the Boro!
Thanks for that article, Malcolm, and the memories it evokes. It confirms what I’ve always thought, that Dyche has hated Boro ever since! His Burnley sides always seemed to give it that little bit extra when playing us, and I seem to remember some barbed comments about us (sour grapes, usually) from the gravel-voiced sourpuss.
Still, coming from me this comment is very much a case of pot and kettle. Bear a grudge, me? You bet! I still hate Emile Heskey for scoring that late goal in the League Cup final at Wembley. I’ve never forgiven Chelsea for kicking off in the Cup Final before Ben Roberts was ready, nor for somehow surviving the Festa equaliser that was inexplicably ruled out. I’ve never forgiven Roy Keane for leading that disgraceful Man United charge against ref Andy D’Urso, a delay resulting in Juninho missing his penalty. I could go on. There are hundred of other examples. My wife says I have an amazing memory for useless trivia like this. Trivia??? These have been matters of the greatest import!
Interesting article and particularly the shift by american-owner clubs in having specialist teams for set pieces, long throws etc - which is a cultural shift towards how other American sports are coached in terms of breaking everything down into 'plays' and analysing each step - less about the flow and choreography football as we know it.
As for whether Boro would be wealthy enough to compete in the PL should we get there - well I think Sunderland spent £150m in the summer so that's kind of the new cost of being competitive but has the switch to Pulis-ball by the top clubs started to negate the advantage of buying the best and most skilled footballers if games are being decided by having the best corner routines or scrapping for second balls?
It's interesting how the fate of a manager is essentially in the hands of his players or indeed his recruitment team - Carrick's team looked unstoppable after those three free-scoring games as Boro ended November in the top six and only six points outside the automatic places.
Then injuries kicked in followed by that January window disruption that left him without his 2 key players of Latte Lath and Doak as he tried to blend various new signings into a coherent team. His team only won 3 of the next 15 games after November with defensive blunder after blunder where 3-goal leads were thrown away and Boro looked incapable of defending.
Perhaps, the pragmatism of Edwards contrast with Carrick, who really only wanted to play the way he thought his team should - which you could argue the style of this current Boro team are able to better avoid losing. Interestingly, in those 15 games where Carrick only won 3, his team scored more or less the same goals per game as Edwards team has this season but averaged only 0.8 points per game compared to 2.1 this season.
So maybe the fate of a manager is in his own hands to a large degree but being adaptable to tactical changes and formations when needs must is perhaps the lesson a new manager has to learn when he lacks the ideal players.
Whenever anyone pontificates about what a great manager Ferguson was I always want to show them the disgraceful scenes when Andy D'Urso, in his first season as a ref in the top division, showed his inexperience by awarding that stonewall Juninho-Stam penalty. It was the first against Man U at Old Trafford in six years.
To me that is a true measure of a man for whom the result was always more important than the game. Contrast this with Cloughie's habit of wishing refs well before a game and encouraging them to stamp down on his lads before he did if they did anything wrong. Dissent was something he never tolerated and that applied to such hard cases as Kenny Burns, Larry Lloyd, Roy Keane, Stuart Pearce, Archie Gemmill etc all of whom managed to get through entire seasons with scarcely a booking between them
The D'urso incident is widely available online and still has the ability to shock.
The thing is and I find it absolutely abhorrent,the system is rigged to safeguard the top clubs profile,this started in Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain, with these transfer windows, were the top clubs could raid the smaller ones for their top players , the window was shut ,so clubs couldn't replace them
Our system is that Clubs in the Premiership are allowed to lose £105 mill, over three seasons, however based on your overall income that changes , and that's the problem, Boro income compared to the rest would be a pittance, making it difficult to compete , Sunderland have went for it, I don't think we could spend £160 mill, we would rely on loans ,because of wages , Something has to be done with the whole structure of the game, making it a more even playing field , get rid of these transfer windows they inflate costs that include fees and wages, Allow clubs to run them as a business the way they wish, good or bad, without restrictions,
On the football side , I'm not in favour of VAR it's a TV construct, it's also susceptible to corruption, as we've seen recently in the USA , with the betting fiasco, could someone manipulate the the line on offside, considering you can be offside by a toe nail, having said that the referee fraternity as got to be improved, there are a number of issues,seems every tackle is now a yellow card, stopping the game, decisions are delayed, surely you can tell a fake injury to a real one, we could go on .
In conclusion hope Boro go up, but to stay there right now, would be up there with the greatest achievements in our history.
Regarding my starter before the Wednesday match at the Hillsborough, I can now confirm that the Boro defeat was the rock bottom for the club and their supporters. They are now finally heading upwards again. Though they were reduced 12 points since the Boro defeat.
Three parties have given the administrators of Sheffield Wednesday proof of £50m funds to take over the Championship club. And they wait for more bids as the rules state that 298 days are needed to be waited before deciding the prefered bidder.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c751q2drz1qo
I am happy for the Wednesday fans. Up the Boro!
@lenmasterman The behaviour of the Man Utd players that day was a disgrace - Bosnich saving the penalty and Beckham scoring such a soft goal to win the game showed it just wasn’t going to be Boro’s day.
Some YouTube footage here: https://youtu.be/ziddxLE4rsc?si=WU5P7RE68cNpZd3w
Thanks Len and Martin for your comments on the Keane incident, and for the video, Martin. I must say those highlights barely do the Keane charge any justice. My recollection is that D’Urso was chased all the way across the pitch and was severely harangued by a posse of snarling and threatening United players. It went on for 3-4 minutes at least. He could and should have sent Keane off. Yet that penalty was absolutely clear-cut and could also have been a red card. It’s just one of many factors that cured me of calling MU my ‘second team’ when I was a teenager (largely because of Charlton, Law and Best) to what approaches loathing today.
@jarkko I’ve haven’t lived back “home” for over 20 years now I’m afraid.
Been up and down the country and to Scotland in that time but settled in the north-west now.
Just watched an exciting end to end Championship game which was more exciting than many Premiership games. Wrexham v Coventry who were leading 1-0 at half time and then Wrexham came roaring back in the second half.
The player who will get most plaudits will be the old fashioned centre forward Moore. But a player who also caught the eye was O’ Brian a former star of the locals here ( Huddersfield) who had a brief spell at Boro. He never stopped running and was very influential in Wrexham’s attacking play.
Maybe the most pleasing aspect was the score - Wrexham 3. Coventry 2 !!
First defeat for Coventry.
Perhaps this will increase Boro’s commitment tomorrow and hopefully nick a win although I’d take a draw now.
Philip of Huddersfield
👍🤗
Tehe! Wrexham beat Coventry by 3-2 a short while ago (Moore hat trick), the Sky Blues' first defeat of the season, so Boro would go level on points with a win at Watford tomorrow, though still in second place thanks to Coventry's vastly superior GD...
Wrexham 3 Coventry 2, Wrexham were 0-1 down at halftime but a Kieffer Moore second half hat trick before an 88 minute Coventry second, then Wrexham saw out the rest of the game plus 5 minutes extra time.
Come on BORO.
That must be the same Kieffer Moore to whom we were eternally grateful last Saturday for missing an absolute sitter with his head! Thank goodness he made amends tonight…….. !!!