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Man Utd v Boro (FA ...
 

Man Utd v Boro (FA Cup 4th Round)

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After a gritty win against potential play-off rivals Coventry City, Boro take a short break from Championship action to focus on the FA Cup this Friday evening. Chris Wilder and his squad head to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United for a 4th round tie, televised by ITV, with an 8pm kick-off.

Twelve-time winners Utd are fourth favourites with the bookmakers to lift the trophy once more and the general public will expect them to make short work of a Middlesbrough side who are widely available at 150/1 to win their first ever FA Cup.

The opposition squad list is daunting with global stars among the names such as French World Cup winners Raphael Varane and Paul Pogba, England internationals aplenty and Portuguese duo Bruno Fernandes and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Yet, despite a star-studded squad, this isn’t a vintage Man U. Fourth in the Premier League with 11 wins from 22 games isn’t too shabby but the Red Devils set high standards and already find themselves 19 points adrift of “noisy neighbours” Manchester City. With Liverpool also 10 points ahead, these are testing times for United fans who expect better following golden spells in the 1990s and 2000s, not to mention the previous glories of the Matt Busby era.

The key issue for United has been keeping the ball out of their net. Spanish international goalkeeper David De Gea has been in fine form but the shaky defence and porous midfield shield in front of him have conceded 30 goals in those 22 Premier League games, more than double that of Man City. Their defence may also include experienced internationals such as England’s Harry Maguire (touted for Boro by none other than Redcar Red in the past) and Luke Shaw as well as Varane, but it’s a United team that have not convinced all season at the back.

Like Boro, Manchester United are undergoing a tactical shift following a change in manager back in late November. Interim boss Ralf Rangnick – “the godfather of gegenpressing” and inspiration behind the “heavy metal football” of Jurgen Klopp amongst others – has had some early success in tightening his team up but, despite losing only once since taking over, has perhaps not had the instant impact of Chris Wilder at Boro as they’ve failed to make a serious impression on the title race.

It was notable that in that solitary defeat, which came against Wolves in early January, United were exposed down the flanks as Rangnick’s unorthodox 4-2-2-2 formation unravelled. Rangnick has since moved to more of a 4-2-3-1 but they still play in a reasonably narrow shape that could allow Isiah Jones some space in which to express himself. We shall see.

With Man U focussed on Premier League and Champions League aspirations and Boro on promotion, it’s difficult to predict how either side will line-up. You’d certainly expect changes for the hosts but, unfortunately for us, if the likes of Ronaldo and Fernandes are rested it will likely be veteran Uruguay international Edison Cavani and England’s Marcus Rashford or Jadon Sancho who come in. Gulp.

One player who will not feature is another England international, Mason Greenwood. The 20yr old forward was arrested over the weekend after some upsetting and disturbing photographs, videos and voice recordings were released on social media. Manchester United have since released a statement that Greenwood will not play or train with them until further notice.

As for Boro, Wilder has not made too many changes in the main but this game could be an opportunity to test a new a partnership up front, as well as give some minutes to squad players and rest one or two ahead of the upcoming Championship clash with QPR in the following midweek.

Many Boro fans will be keen to see Folarin Balogun given a start up top after some slick cameos from the bench, as well as one or two clunky mishaps from Aaron Connolly in a partnership with Sporar that hasn’t yet gelled. Martin Payero may also be due a game after he made an encouraging return to action at the weekend. Elsewhere, there aren’t too many places up for grabs in a game you’d imagine many would be keen to play, though we await any news on the transfer front as the deadline draws near.

It’s a heck of a tough task to face Manchester United at Old Trafford but this is a free hit that Boro can enjoy. Whatever the result, let’s hope that Boro come away with their pride in tact and still fresh to face the next glut of Championship games.

This topic was modified 2 years ago by Andy R

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Thanks for a great leader post Andy everything conceded in that preview.

It’s quite disconcerting when you tell international name after name and wonder what team or who of the great players Boro will play against.

Hopefully Wilder will resist playing around too much of the team and have a real go for it.

Hopefully we will see some stand  out performances from Boro players keen to show how good they are in exalted company.

For players like Jones to play in a 70k packed stadium after playing non league football it must be a dream come true.

Fortunately with the game being shown on mainstream TV most of us will be watching it live.

COME ON BORO

 

Me ?

Im going for a Boro win 2 1 !

OFB


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Thanks for that starter again, Andy.

Obviously Boro will be "up against it" at Old Trafford even if Manchester United decided to rest a number of their first-line players, because their replacements are also likely to be international players with a big price-tag when acquired.  But a decent performance, even if the result is not one we hoped for, can still set us up for the Championship games to come.  And the large cheque (or bank transfer) that will follow the game, with 75,000 or so in attendance, will be very welcome as Boro's share of the "gate".

As someone mentioned on Twitter, it would be good if supporters who attend the game refrained from any chants making fun of people involved in a current Police investigation in the Manchester area.  Allegations of domestic abuse and worse should NOT be matters raised in songs/chants or whatever.  They are far too serious for that.  And if it were the daughter, wife, neice or whatever of someone in the crowd, would they REALLY want to hear songs about it?  It is not "banter".


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I couldn't agree more, FD.


   
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Powmill-Naemore
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Thanks for starting us off again AndyR with a frightening who's who of all those international football favourites currently domiciled in the Manchester area.

 

Free hoit it is. ManU have everything to lose and we have everything to win.

I am confident that we will rise to the occasion and make it a difficult game for our illustrious opponents, Whatever the outcome, we stand to win lots of plaudits and lots of confidence to take into the QPR game that follows.

 

I am inviting my ManU supporting friend to share the evening with us on Friday so I'm siding with OFB and can see us winning this one 2-1, just so I can have a bit of fun with my mate !

 

CoB


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Thanks Andy for an excellent if somewhat daunting opener, when one considers all of those internationals who could be available to Man U on Friday night!

All the Boro can do is go out and give their best and as one famous forward once said “it’s a funny old game” and who knows what could happen, as long as we don’t suffer any injuries to key players. 

For me Payero and Balogun have to start and probably Connolly to try and get him up to speed.

I have to confess I won’t be watching live but will record it. Since being double jabbed, now triple, Friday night is our night out with a couple of friends for dinner; I was given the opportunity to switch to Saturday but declined as I don’t regard this as anything other than a money spinner/opportunity to rotate the squad. Had it been a league game then I would have swapped nights out. 

As long as we don’t disgrace ourselves and come away from Old Trafford with our heads held high then I will be happy whatever the outcome; we have bigger bridges to cross in the coming days and weeks. 😎


jarkko
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McNair to score at his former ground, anyone? He played 27 times for the first team at United. UTB!

This post was modified 2 years ago by jarkko

   
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Selwynoz
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Does anyone know how the crowd income is shared in FA Cup ties and thus how much Boro stand to make from the MU game. Also, how does it work with MU season ticket holders? Is there an agreed value attached to each ticket?

utb


   
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After costs are deducted for the host club the recruits are shared  45% home 45% away 10% to FA

OFB


   
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Ken Smith
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I was always a fan of the Red Devils since the 1948 FA Cup Final which I remember listening to on the radio with commentary from a certain Raymond Glendenning. Now there’s a voice from the past that I doubt many Diasborians have ever heard of. I can still remember the Man. Utd players from that side as they were my team in the Redcar Subbuteo Table Soccer League (my colours were of course red shirts but was beaten in the draw by everyone else who wanted to be Boro). We had to name each of the players in our Subbuteo team for scoring details, etc so I was hardly going to forget the make up of the players even after all those years, viz:- Crompton; Carey, Aston; Anderson, Chilton, Cockburn; Delaney, Morris, Rowley, Pearson, Mitten in the regular 2-3-5 formation in vogue at the time. Incidentally the League folded before the season was completed and won by some player choosing Stoke City with Bolton Wanderers runners-up, I all the participants being pupils from Sir William Turner’s Grammar School. It was all serious stuff but my Man. Utd finished well below mid-table.

Later of course during my early National Service days and being stationed at RAF Padgate near Warrington I saw more of Man. Utd than any other team as it was the era of the Busby Babes. I was stationed in Changi, Singapore at the time of the Munich Air Disaster in February 1958 and was devastated as almost everyone else was at the time. Later in the ‘real’ world of football Man. Utd nearly always beat Boro, one solitary draw and seven successive defeats at Maine Road or Old Trafford, and not much better at Ayresome Park - one draw, six defeats but a 5-0 win in 1953.

Once Boro got back into the First Division 22 years later Boro lost another nine times with only two draws before winning 3 of the next 6 meetings at Old Trafford. But this Friday’s encounter is an FA Cup tie and there have been some stirring encounters in FA Cup ties between the two clubs in more recent times. Three seasons in succession the two clubs met each other in the FA Cup - a 1-2 Quarterfinal replay defeat at Old Trafford after 1-1 home draw in 1970, a 2-1 third round replay win at Ayresome Park following a goalless draw in 1971, then a fifth round replay 0-3 Wednesday afternoon home defeat during the miners strike in 1972 following a goalless draw at Old Trafford. Boro lost 1-3 at Old Trafford in 1999, but won 2-0 at home in 2002 on their way to a Semifinal appearance against Arsenal at Old Trafford. Then three years later a 0-3 away defeat, the last time the two teams met in the FA Cup.

In the League Cup Boro lost 0-1 at Old Trafford in 1969, won 1-0 there in 1974, lost there 0-3 the following season in a Quarterfinal replay after a goalless draw at Ayresome Park, lost again 1-2 after extra time in the Second leg of the Quarterfinal in 1992, lost again 1-3 away in 2008, then the never to be forgotten glory winning a penalty shoot-out 3-1 after extra time in 2015.

So maybe extra time needed and a penalty shoot out again to separate the two clubs.

This post was modified 2 years ago by Ken Smith

   
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I would estimate that Boro  share  

 

£1.45 million pounds Sterling        


   
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Selwynoz
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Posted by: @original-fat-bob

I would estimate that Boro  share  

 

£1.45 million pounds Sterling        

Thanks OFB. That’s a significant windfall for the club.

utb


   
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Selwynoz, I believe I read somewhere that Utd season ticket holders are obliged to purchase cup match tickets, otherwise they can’t attend the next 1/2 home matches with no refund.

Come on BORO.


   
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The adult ticket for the Utd v Boro cup match is £47, and as I am staying overnight after the game I purchased 3 adult tickets for the Man City v Fulham cup match on the Saturday afternoon at a cost of £15 each.

Come on BORO.


   
Liked by 4 people: K P in Spain, jarkko, Selwynoz and Original Fat Bob
 
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Selwynoz
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Posted by: @exmil

Selwynoz, I believe I read somewhere that Utd season ticket holders are obliged to purchase cup match tickets, otherwise they can’t attend the next 1/2 home matches with no refund.

Come on BORO.

Good to know and good for us. I wondered whether they might get free entry but I assume that went out the window years ago.

UTB


   
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jarkko
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Posted by: @ken

I can still remember the Man. Utd players from that side as they were my team in the Redcar Subbuteo Table Soccer League (my colours were of course red shirts but was beaten in the draw by everyone else who wanted to be Boro). We had to name each of the players in our Subbuteo team for scoring details, etc so I was hardly going to forget the make up of the players even after all those years ...

Ken, what year was it, when you got your Subbuteo team? And were the players  made from similar plastics at the time like in the later years?

I started to play them in 1980's when my sister and brother-in-law bought the set for their children. I and my younger brother played with them a lot when ever we met during those days. I was Boro always ...

So it was nearly in my teens, when I got hooked. Subbuteo was not that popular in Finland but luckily there was a local shop supplying them at the time. I still remeber the owner and he ordered some extra stuff for us.

Up the Boro!


   
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Muy subbuteo had cardboard players and later my mum bought me plastic ones for Christmas and birthdays [including the goalie on the long stick]

 


   
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Martin Bellamy
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A friend bought me this set for my 60th birthday, although somewhere in our loft I have my original sets from when I was a kid. 

 


   
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Martin Bellamy
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I’ve got the strips displayed as well. 


   
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Ken Smith
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Jarrko 

I’ve still got a tattered old book with some of the scores written down and I note that it was 1952 when I bought a set of flat plastic players of two teams one of red shirts and another of blue ones. By 1954 I had purchased another set of black and white striped shirts. As well as the Redcar League I was in a Youth Club League of only 6 teams all played on a snooker table and a Kirkleatham Estate League of originally 12 teams which ran for 7 seasons up to November 1955. This tattered old book showed the date of every match played and the goal scorers of every match plus weekly updated League Tables. Matches consisted of 20 minutes each half but were played at anybody’s house that was available sometimes 3 matches at the same venue on the same day. The last season showed that I as Manchester United won 19, drew 2 and lost only one of the 22 matches scoring 164 goals and conceding only 11. It was obviously of a much lower standard than the Redcar League as I won one match 20-0. The final League table showed Man.Utd on 40 points, Hull City 37, Boro 30, Rotherham 30, Wolves  29, Newcastle 28, Villa 26, Stoke 12, Preston 11, Bolton 9, West Brom 8 and Everton 4. The lad who represented Boro had a snooker table and was also a member of the Redcar League so I had to remain as Man. Utd.

Two interesting things were that all the scores, etc were recorded by a fountain pen (no ball point pens in those days) and I recall one Cup final was played on a polished table with a black sheet covering it and hand sparklers were used to celebrate the winners only to find that the polished table became pitted with burnt marks afterwards. I’m glad it wasn’t at my parents house.

This post was modified 2 years ago by Ken Smith

   
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Ken Smith
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Looking further through this tattered old book including friendly matches I played a total of 170 matches. Altogether 517 matches were played by 21 different players in a 15 month period with a total of 2,733 goals scored over almost 260 hours. For me Jackie Blanchflower scored 49 goals, whilst the lad playing for Boro had Charlie Wayman scoring 27 goals, Arthur Fitzsimons and Joe Scott both on 22 with Lindy Delapenha 19. These records didn’t include the Redcar League which were kept by Peter Nixon who became a solicitor in Redcar. 

I guess for myself it was the beginning of being a football statistician. Also whilst rummaging around I discovered the Funeral Mass of Boro’s greatest ever player Wilf Mannion at St Mary’s Cathedral, Coulby Newham on Thursday, 20th April 2000 attended by Steve Gibson, Bryan Robson, all the Boro senior players including Paul Gascoigne and Peter Reid the Sunderland manager at the time, as my wife and I were privileged to attend. It included a total of 7 hymns including ‘Abide with me’ sung lustily by the congregation and the many Boro fans outside where the service was relayed. A sad day, but his fans gave him a farewell that Wilf would have been proud of.

RIP Wilf, the Golden man of Soccer.

This post was modified 2 years ago 2 times by Ken Smith

   
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Martin and Ken - Subbuteo was invented by Peter Adolph (1916 to 1994) and he wanted to call the game "Hobby".  He was refused a trademark under that name - perhaps not a surprise as there are many different hobbies - so he called it Subbuteo after the Falco Subbuteo (the bird of prey whose English name is the Eurasian Hobby).  So perhaps he had a sense of humour as well...!


   
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jarkko
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@martin I have seen the ones you showed, only. But I am just 60 years old. As said, they were not so popular in here and I found them reasonably late age. But loved Subbuteo as it was more like real football. 

My wife had a Stiga football apparatus as a kid. Actually we still have it and I have played with my son  - about 20 years ago. 

The Stiga was more popular in here. Partly because there is an Ice Hockey version of it. Partly because Stiga is Swedish and was well marketed in Finland, too.

He is a link to Stiga: https://www.stigasports.com/eu/leisure-play/table-games/table-football

Before anyone asks why my wife had the Stiga, she and her sister had played football. My wife is a Finnish champion in football. She was a Man Utd fan originally, but I have converted her into a Boro fan years ago. She was with me at the  Hartlepool match in 1986 😇.

Up the Boro!

This post was modified 2 years ago by jarkko

   
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Martin Bellamy
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As a keen bird watcher I was aware of the Subbuteo/Hobby connection. I have seen a couple of Hobbies in the wild but they’re not as common as Buzzards (Buteo Buteo). 


   
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Martin Bellamy
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Crikey, that’s one of the blandest articles I’ve ever read. 


   
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Martin, 

I'm still waiting for the article to start.

UTB,

John


   
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McGree tests positive for COVID and is in isolation:

https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/mcgree-miss-socceroos-clash-oman

Come on BORO.


   
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Yes, could we all agree that it will be a great day out with No chants about a situation that is little short of tragic for those concerned. One still thinks of the awful example made of our ex player who was expunged from the game (and his life as a sporting hero) as an example!


   
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Ken Smith
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My classmate at Coatham Grammar school was Alan Keen who lived in Grangetown quite near the Lyric Cinema and he had a table football game called ‘Newfooty’. So we arranged a match against each other at his parents’ house so I cycled there from Redcar and he beat me soundly though I can’t remember the score. We arranged a Subbuteo rematch in Redcar but for one reason or another it didn’t happen.

Many years later there was an obituary in the Gazette where I found that not only he and his wife were Labour politicians, but that Alan was a Boro scout and instrumental in Boro signing Graeme Souness from Spurs and was a good friend of Steve Gibson who praised the work that Alan had done for the club.

l once attended an Old Coathamians function at Redcar Rugby Club. Paul Daniels and Sir Rex Hunt ex-governor of the Falklands were there, but I although knowing Paul Daniels very well was hoping to meet up with my old school chum Alan Keen, but couldn’t find his name on the guest list and was quite unaware of my former school pal’s status. I wonder when my time comes we can meet up again for a rematch this time at Subbuteo. 

This post was modified 2 years ago 2 times by Ken Smith

   
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