Magnificent win. Boro not only played some great football and scored 3 fine goals, we also survived a spell of very heavy pressure from Birmingham just after they’d scored. Many a Boro side in the past would have folded and conceded again then, but this Boro are made of stronger stuff. Matt Crooks was MoM for me - he had a brilliant game, scoring twice, making Chuba’s goal and generally harrying the Brum defence all game. Great performances, too, from Fry, Smith, Howson, Hackney. But all played their part in controlling this game. All deserve praise.
I’m starting to get just a little excited now. We’ve now won 6 of our last 8 away games. I don’t think I can remember such a run of away wins in all my time as a Boro fan. It takes some getting used to. We’re much more familiar with Boro sides going on long winless runs away from home, often season after season. I’m still having to pinch myself. And Michael Carrick can do no wrong, it seems! UTB.
Well, this is sounding like unreal now. Long may it continue.up the Boro!
I can only concur with what has been said already, a great win, a battling performance with some excellent football played at times.
Every player played their part with notable performances from Hackney, Howson, Fry, Lenihan and Smith but MoTM was Crooks, with two goals and one assist.
Shame about conceding again but does it matter as long as we keep scoring at least one more than the opposition!
If it was down to me I would give a lot of the first team a rest next week, the league is more important than the cup imv. 😎
Vic's verdict:
FT: 3-1 bubbling Boro bull-dozed Brum in a spirited second 45, stepping up a gear to seize lead then digging in when pressure was on. Solid. Determined. Good goals. Kept the good run going. EIO.
Great second half. Gritty with flashes of class. Here's my stars.
*** Crooks: 2 goals & an assist in a makeshift role
** Hackney: midfield machine. Again
* Fry and/or Lenihan. Dug in when needed
Bubbling: Smith, McGree
Definitely a game of two half's, three well taken goals, we are now third top scorers in the division I think and long may it continue.
Interesting OptaJoe stat:
22 – Michael Carrick has won 22 points in his first 10 games in charge of Middlesbrough, the most by a Middlesbrough manager since Bryan Robson in 1994 (23). Maestro.
A pity we do not have Redcar Red here to give us the match reports. I bet he would have liked to write about our last few wins 😄.
Happy days. Up the Boro!
I liked the sound of MC as soon as I heard him speaking about getting busy on the training ground when he arrived at the club. We had no chance with the Manager's we were appointing, to loan out an outstanding Young player, two seasons in a row. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, lets just say it's lucky he decided to leave for a better offer. How lucky we are to have MC is beyond reckoning, because I do not believe our form is down to luck, he does not get exited when we win, and it certainly does not bother him when we get turned over, he merely points out our faults, and compliments our opponents, lovely!.
Carrick seems calmer about the situation than most on this forum by not getting too carried away, and quite rightly so. A play-off FINAL will still be a fine achievement though yet still 22 matches away. I still remember getting too excited in 1951 and more recently in 1975 when the First Division Championship was almost there for the taking. I’m much more circumspect nowadays.
Another outstanding result and even if it is a bit daft to think it, eleven points to Sheffield United with 20 games to play is not completely impossible. All it will take is a couple of games where they don’t win and suddenly it will only be 7 or 8 points and the pressure will start to build up.
Equally it could fall apart but for the moment it’s a great ride and gives huge confidence for the next few years.
It’s an interesting question raised by @KP in Spain about the team for the Brighton game. Could it spoil the momentum if we play the reserves and get well beaten but, equally, could the same thing happen with us playing the best team and still losing. Maybe it’s best to give fringe players a chance.
I’m also curious as to people’s thoughts about a potential bid for Akpom. Would we take 10 mill? Probably not but how about 15 or 20? My guess is that anything short of huge money will be turned down.
All the best to everyone for 2023
UTB
@selwynoz - Was it someone on here, or in answer to an earlier thread, who put up a reference to a list of clubs according to when they last had a 20-goals-a-season striker? To nobody's surprise, out of the 92 League & PL clubs, Boro was the 2nd last with only Northampton Town having had to wait longer to see a 20-goals-a-season striker!
On that basis it would seem a pity (to be as neutral as possible about it) for the club to even contemplate selling a player who might, just might, the first player in AGES get to 20 goals in a season. Obviously everyone has their price but it would have to be a big price to get the player who, despite a fairly reduced number of games as he missed quite a lot earlier in the season, finds himself at the top of the list of current Championship goalscorers. We currently have a player who is already at the club, fits in well with the new manager's style of play, obviously needs no settling-in period and who is scoring goals regularly. Even if we were able to find someone who can score as many, what would he be like on those other aspects and, of course, what if his wife/partner/family "can't settle in the area"?
Best stick with what we've got as anything else is a gamble if we had to replace Akpom. Of course if, in the summer, we have our own home-grown striker returning from a goal-drenched loan spell at Bristol Rovers, and if Forss has continued to make progress, we can re-assess. But for the moment I'd hope only a "silly money bid" would tempt us to sell Akpom. After all, Premier League football is now considerably more than a mere pipe-dream and the PL is worth more to the club in financial terms than the amount the sale of even a very good striker would raise. Better not upset an apple cart that is trundling along very successfully at this stage....
I think it would be weird if Chuba wouldn't attract attention from other clubs. He is the top scorer in the Championship, anyway.
I think it shows that the club, Carrick and especially the player are doing something correctly.
But it needs a creazy offer to let him go in January. And I would be really surprised to see him wanting to leave, when he has finally started to establish himself in England.
And knowing Gibbo, selling Chuba now would be unusual.
So everything is OK for me. Just enjoying the status where we are in at the moment. Up the Boro!
Thank goodness Christmas is over, and also New Year’s Day too. I obviously knew when it was both days, but hadn’t a clue what day of the week either was on, even failing to renew my catheter bag every 6th day. I also appear to have doubled up on my intake of amlodipine tablets instead of my omeprazole tablets as I only discovered last week that I had run out of the former when I should have an equal number of both set of tablets left. The trouble is occasionally both set of tablets look the same and sometimes I can’t find my reading spectacles to distinguish the difference. Last year I even forgot my birthday; that’s the trouble with living too long, most of my relatives and friends have now diseased so hardly anyone around to remind me.
Strange that I can recall events that happened almost 80 years ago, but not always recent events. I’m now housebound since I got rid of my car 3 months ago. but realised it had to go as I was probably a hindrance to other drivers as well as myself. I talk to my late wife every day as if she is in the same room, though it’s a one way conversation. Still, it’s not too bad as I still live in my own warm home having taken out equity release about 17 years ago, so no financial worries, have a lovely couple from Age UK who do all my shopping for me, and intend to stay in my own home until I pop my clogs.
Also I’ve found my reading spectacles!
A very solid argument in favour of keeping Akpom. I’m sure that nothing will happen over the next three weeks and then the situation will be reviewed at the end of January. My guess is that, as you suggest, we will hang on to him until the end of season.
I also think that a few more academy stars will be sent out on loan to give us a lot more information on their real potential. Coburn is the perfect example; he is going to come back as a star in the making along with our two young goalkeepers and it sounds as if there are at least two or three others.
utb
@ken - Well, Ken, you can remember events almost 80 years ago better than events in the last few days or weeks? Many of us say similar things without necessarily going back QUITE so many decades. Who hasn't walked upstairs, or into another room at home, and then wondered what they'd gone for?
However, to bring this back from the general and focus onto the specific: I think in the past you have made comments suggesting you were 75 years old or, maybe, even 85 years (that's MY memory playing tricks now!). I also recall your mentioning living in Redcar and that almost certainly means you attended Sir William Turner's School there. So if I am right, you'd have attended the school some time in the 1950s/60s.
I know the school was formerly in its old premises next to the Coatham Memorial Hall on Coatham Road, hence the school being known as Coatham School, but moved into a newly-constructed building on Corporation Road in 1963, when the old building with its cloisters etc (apart from the Coatham Memorial Hall) were demolished. So, I reckon you will have been a pupil at the "old" school on Coatham Road.
You might remember some of the teachers or senior masters who were there? I am much younger than you and went to SWT a LONG time after you, but maybe some of the older/long term teachers at SWT when I attended were younger versions of themselves when you were there? If so, you might remember the Head SG Barker ("Trog"), or 2nd Master Mr McGregor, the English teacher and Library Head Mr Elliott, Geography teacher Mr Ingham, former old-boy and cricketer and History teacher Colin Rose, the History teacher Seth Hodgson or Mr Escott...? Some of those, at least, must have been there when you were there but, given the length of time that has passed since then, I guess all of them must have died as, otherwise, most of them would be well over 100 years old by now.
I guess when you were there, the school would still have had an officers' training core (OTC) with weapons training - well WW2 wasn't that far in the past at that stage? In the new building there was the "old armoury" where I guess weapons may have been stored, with barred windows etc that had been converted into a language laboratory with separate booths for pupils to listen to tape recorded language lessons and language exercises. By that time any OTC had long since been disbanded. If you went there, maybe for PE there was only rugby and athletics and the dreaded cross-country running in the winter months, and cricket or tennis in the summer term?
The reason I ask is that when I attended I had heard some talk of a maths teacher who'd been at the school years before me, who kicked boys from Dormanstown out of his classes and wouldn't teach them! I guess he went back to the pre-War years when the school was as much a fee-paying as a local authority maintained school and I find it difficult to believe such an attitude would have been tolerated by Trog or Mack when I was there. The other reason for asking about your memories is simply curiosity. What was school like for you in those far-off days? A hard and cruel place, maybe even a little Dickensian, or one where good teaching kept you and your classmates enthused? What did you feel you were being prepared for - University/a professional career/colonial or local authority administration? (I mention "colonial" because I know that the Governor of the Falkland Islands at the time of the Argentinian invasion in 1982 was an "old boy" of the school, Sir Rex Hunt, who I guess would have been 10-11 years older than you). Did everyone have to learn Latin? Did prefects have the right to cane pupils or just require miscreants to write out "impositions" (essays on a subject of the prefect's choosing)? Did you enjoy school or hate it? How much of it can you remember...?
Forever Dormo
You’re correct on all your facts, in fact there’s hardly a day that goes by when I can’t remember the reason for entering my kitchen, bedroom, etc and wondering what I’m looking for. As for Coatham Grammar School I was taught by every one of those teachers you mentioned at some time in my life. My first form teacher and maths teacher was Mr Mayman who was one of the few who along with GEPS Sidaway didn’t possess a degree.
Colin Rose was my form teacher also for a couple of years, a very good wicket keeper for Redcar CC whose wife had an important part to play for Major Petch at Redcar Racecourse. I made friends with Patrick Moorhouse who’s father was my form master also for a couple of years and also occasionally played cricket for Redcar CC and lived on the corner of Turner Street and Queen Street, but had a snooker table in his basement, an added attraction. Although an insignificant member of School House I was never taught by ‘Pop’ Goulding, but still remember Little Billy Pearson with great affection. However although Maths was my favourite subject, physics was certainly not and he sometimes belittled me for spending too much time with my girlfriend at the time. Nevertheless, little Billy always got the most applause at Founders Day, and quite rightly too.
As for punishments, prefects had the authority to tan pupils’ backsides with a slipper for misdemeanours, but not with a cane. Whilst in the first form, pupils had the option of playing football instead of rugby in the winter, but the latter was too rough for the likes of me, so I eventually settled for cross country running. All in all, I enjoyed my schooldays, but when I look back I wasted most of my time, preferring to get my prep (homework) done as quickly as possible to spend more time with my girlfriend, who later jilted me and married someone else. Billy Pearson was right - I did spend too much time with my girlfriend, but then love is blind and I couldn’t have wished for a better wife than the girl that I eventually married.
@ken - Thanks for the reply. Mr Pearson still taught physics at SWT when I was there. Pallant-Sidaway is a name I have heard but he was before my time. And I have remembered the name of the teacher who wouldn't teach boys from Dormanstown, though he was also before my time (I suspect he'd be 120+ years old if he was still alive now): Shiney Williams. He wouldn't have liked me...
The occasion of playing cricket for Middlesbrough High School First X! at Coatham in the Summer of 1958 is seared in my memory.
Their opening bat was a lad called Eddie Nichols who played for Saltburn in the NYSD league. Even at that age he was a fine cricketer and probably of Minor Counties standard.
He scored around 80 and they set us a formidable total.
To our consternation Nichols also opened the bowling and he took three or four early wickets.
I was in next with instructions to try and save the game.
The next morning in assembly our Head announced that we had achieved an honourable draw with Coatham and that "Masterman batted for an hour and a half for one run", which drew not respectful appreciation or applause, but hysterical laughter from the entire school.
I often wondered what Eddie Nichols thought.
Dormo, there is a SWT website that you can Google.
Hi Friends, I have been on catch up on here for the last few weeks. I have been laid low by this current illness that is going round. Talk about being lethargic, that's not really me but this horrible bug has made me just that. Thank you once again for all your comments on DiasBoro. Hopefully I can get the feel good factor again soon.
@malcolm Good to hear you are back, Malcolm.
I recommend you look at the Championship table every now and then. And the results, too for the past ten games or so. That should help. 😉
It is very good to be a Boro supporter now. Up the Boro!
@lenmasterman - Thanks. I may very have a look at it.
Forever Dormo
They say that schooldays are the best days of your life, and having had more time to think about it they probably were in some ways, although at the time very few of us would admit it. I started at SWT school which as you remarked was in Coatham Road, in September 1949 and the headmaster was RWG Willis who I believe was a reasonable field hockey player in his youth. He was Head for only one year whilst I was there and the only thing I can remember much about him was that for the first time ever that our rugby XV beat Newcastle Royal Grammar School and we were given a day’s holiday to celebrate this momentous occasion. He was also a lay preacher and when he left (or retired) Mr McGregor his deputy who occasionally taught General Science replaced Willis temporarily for one term.
Mack was a kindly figure and we all hoped that he would become the new head, but whether he actually was interested in being Willis’s replacement or was even interested in the post of Headmaster or indeed had the qualifications to do so I can’t remember. Eventually SG Barker (who I seem to remember had a military background) was appointed as the new headmaster, and discipline became much stricter. We were all expected to acknowledge his wife and doff our caps whenever we encountered her. As I previously mentioned Johnny Mayman was my form master and Maths master who introduced us all to algebra, which became my favourite subject especially quadratic equations. Sidaway (always referred to as GEPS (his initials) was my Geography teacher, and I recall my father saying that at one parents/teachers meeting that one particular parent wanted to meet Mr GEPS.
After the first year the brightest of us pupils were then separated into either Science or Languages, with the remainder including a certain Teddy Daniels being shunted into Arts. Teddy Daniels was a member of Middlesbrough Magic Circle and took the name of ‘The great Eldani’ when working as a part time professional magician before opting for the name of Paul Daniels who I had previously worked with at Redcar Borough Council. He was not the brightest of pupils at SWT, but what did I know, because he was far more intelligent than I had given him credit for and reputedly made more money from his work on dictatate languages than he ever received from television having taken over the role of Mr Magic from David Nixon who along with Gilbert Harding became the two permanent male members of BBC’s major panel show ‘What’s My Line’ introduced by a former Irish sports commentator called Eamonn Andrews every Sunday night.
Meanwhile I opted for Languages where Moorhouse was my Spanish teacher, Reay my French teacher, and Escott my Latin teacher for one term before Fowler took over. I didn’t particularly like Latin but my father wanted me to eventually go to University much against my wishes, so I had to forgo my music lessons with Mr Buckley and concentrate on Latin. Fowler was far more interesting than Escott and was a dab hand at throwing his chalk at anyone who was not paying attention. I loved music, especially classical, pop and military bands, so was disappointed to miss out on Buckley’s classes which mainly consisted of classical music.
Although Seth Hodgson was my original history teacher, we all found him too much of an old fogey and responded much more to Colin Rose who had been a former pupil at SWT in his youth, and for a slightly overweight character was a very skilful wicket keeper who sometimes stood up to the wicket against Arthur Fawcett, Redcar’s professional and fast bowler. At that time I also worked in the score box rotating the heavy drums recording the runs scored. So that’s how I became interested in cricket as well as football, though it must be said that I was never proficient at either sport, nor golf which I later played at Cleveland Golf Club.
Other teachers at SWT were ‘Fungus Face’ Collard, the Arts teacher, who hated boys sniffling, but handkerchiefs were rare in those days because rationing was still in evidence into the early 50s. My two English teachers were Hargreaves who resided at Red Barns and in charge of the boarders, then Waugh later. By the time I reached the 4th form my classroom was next door to the Woodwork class under the supervision of Ken Bowers who had one finger missing due to a chisel accident. In between classes we were a rowdy bunch, and he frequently came into our classroom to administer punishment with a steel ruler.
In February 1952 he marched into our classroom, but instead of administering punishment all he said was “The King has died”. Unknown to Bowers as it was a Wednesday a lot of our classmates had decided to skip rugby or cross country running to visit Ayresome Park for an FA Cup tie against Doncaster Rovers
postponed from the previous Saturday due to snow. No floodlights of course in those days, so the match would start at 2.15. But the dilemma was whether the match would be postponed again due to the King’s death. In fact although nobody knew the phone number for Ayresome Park or the Redcar Gazette office, most of us including a certain Alan Keen decided to risk going to the match. We had previously skipped games day in Corporation Road to watch the Football League beat the Scottish League 3-1 in which Wilf Mannion had played. Doncaster were fighting relegation to the Third Division North whilst Boro were also facing relegation from the First Division. Typically Boro lost 1-4 with a mere consolation goal in the last minute before a crowd exceeding 40,000. Arguably the biggest defeat in Boro’s history.
Alan Keen played a table football game called Newfooty whilst I played Subbuteo and we played each other a few times at both table games. Alan lived in Grangetown just behind the Lyric cinema where Teddy Daniels’s father Hughie was the projectionist. I sat next desk to Alan at school in Colin Rose’s class, and later discovered that he and his wife became MPs in Neil Kinnock’s government. I was quite taken aback following his death that he became a southern scout for Middlesbrough FC, and became a good friend of Steve Gibson who attended Alan’s funeral and gave him the position of his top London scout after being instrumental in the signing of Graeme Souness from Charlton Athletic. I was absolutely flabbergasted at that revelation, my table soccer school day pal being held in such high esteem.
As for Teddy Daniels (Paul later in life), he disliked Physical Training under Mr Gray and like me skived off the classes. I usually hid in the outside toilets reading a book, but Teddy deliberated forgot to bring his gym kit to school and was then ordered to run naked several times around the snow covered school playground. This of course resulted in his mother Nancy confronting Gray at SWT. I can’t remember the outcome, but the incident was reported in the Evening Gazette and never repeated again. Today Gray would probably have been dismissed for such behaviour, though as far as I am aware he continued his career as sports master. Miles Atterton was head pupil in my first year, followed by Gerald Coles who I believed became a QC, but my age group also included Harry Mead who became a features editor with the Northern Echo, and Derek Ingledew who also became my GP at Saltscar Surgery on Kirkleatham Street, Redcar, though sinced deceased.
Back to my school days I was a member of the school choir, and stayed on in the 5th form for another couple of years whilst awaiting interviews with Lloyd’s Bank in London and Martin’s Bank in Redcar, but neither were willing to employ me until I had completed my National Service which was always in the back of my mind. As I mentioned previously I opted for a position as a junior clerk in the Borough Treasurer’s Department at Redcar Corporation. I would never have volunteered to join the RAF, but it was the making of me from a somewhat lazy schoolboy into a mature adult who became less self centred.
So that basically was the history of my life as a schoolboy at SWT. I’m sorry for going into this much detail, as many of my associates and teachers you’ve probably never heard of. But as you’re probably aware, once started on a subject I never know when to stop. Finally a happy New Year to you and your family with best wishes for the progress of Boro, Pools and Yorkshire CCC.
Malcolm
My carers from Age UK are both laid low with the current disease apparently from Australia. They were both suffering almost from pneumonia, and have now encountered a second dose within a week. So take care, keep warm, and stay indoors would be my advice. My young brother caught double pneumonia as a child, and at the time we thought we were going to lose him. Even influenza can become a killer, as before my time Spanish flu accounted for more deaths than the Second World War, but double pneumonia amongst the elderly is almost certain to become a killer. Hoping you soon feel better, and a Happy New Year.
@ken I later played at Cleveland Golf Club.
Where is the club where you played golf?
If one google Cleveland Golf Club, they tend to give the manufcturer of golf clubs rather than the club in Cleveland or Teesside.
I also wonder what type of clubs you played with? Perhaps Galloway, Cleveland or Titleist perhaps? 😉 Up the Boro!
Ken's golf club, Cleveland Golf Club is of course on Majuba Road, Redcar. UTB!
@malcolm. Sounds like to may be on the mend. Best wishes for restoration to full health shortly. 😎