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LETTERS
We want to hear your opinions on current issues concerning Boro and football in general. Or anything else that you want to write about for that matter. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Have Your Say. Write to us now...
From RedRef. FAO Toby Higgins: Rockliffe Files, 30-1-07
2000-2001 Season (The start of the great escape for El Tel)
Jan
1 Leeds A 1-1 Boksic 39,251
13 Derby H 4-0 Boksic 2(1 pen),Ehiogu,Ricard (pen) 29,041
20 Liverpool A 0-0 43,042
31 Everton A 2-2 Ricard, Cooper 34,244
How short your memory is.
We also did it in the 1988-89 season, and no doubt many other times through out our history prior to this.
I don't know why I am feeling so smug, pointing out that we have only done the relatively standard feat, twice in twenty years!
Thanks for the correction RedRef but we did in fact lose an FA Cup 4th round tie to Winbledon in January 2001 so we were not unbeaten in all competitions as we are this season. Same as 1989. We went out to Grimsby in the 3rd round that year.
********************
GREAT site.
I am actually an Everton fan, but I like to flick around sites of other teams and this one stands out like the dogs balls as being head and shoulders above the average fare that is served up.
It is superbly informative with news relating to all teams and the Boro comment is fair and beautifully presented.
Being all the way down here in Australia, it is difficult to get up to the minute information, but your site is a gold mine in that regard. Being Evertonian I spend most of my time at bluekipper, however, ComeOnBoro is clearly my second most inhabitted site!!
WELL DONE I have passed on the URL to the Evertonian web ring in Australia as I am sure our other lads would be of the same opinion.
Best regards
Kris Wetton
Many thanks Kris. Much appreciated and it's good to know we are doing something right.
********************
Dear Andrew Morgan,
I am an Everton fan and have stumbled across your article IT'S NICHE TO KNOW YOU'RE HERE PART I and couldn't help myself to respond and ask you how you can consider Middlesbrough as a club of equivalent size or bigger than Everton?
"Indeed in terms of success and size I would argue that Middlesbrough was certainly of equivalent size, if not bigger".
First of all, in terms of size Boro has a 35,000 seater stadium and fails to fill it week in week out. Everton on the other hand has a 40,000-seater stadium and gets around about 38,000 week in week out. If Everton had a NEW stadium, which provided UNRESTRICTED views, we would easily fill 45,000 week in week out as the 2,000 seats that are left empty each week at Goodison Park are the seats that have HIGHLY restricted views.
This brings me to your point on Boro enjoying more success than Everton. Everton are the 4th most successful club in England and up until the inception of the Premiership Everton were the 2nd most successful behind Liverpool. I think in 2004 you won your first ever trophy (the Carling Cup) in the club's entire history, therefore going on this (especially because it was ONLY the Carling Cup) I assume when you mention success you don't mean in terms of trophies.
Fair enough, you got to the UEFA Cup final and I am not being nasty but you get nothing for second place mate. Everton have also played in the Champions league in recent years, which Boro have not.
I am not being smug but I will list Everton's trophy haul just to show our success.
(Old) First Division titles: 9
1890/91, 1914/15, 1927/28, 1931/32, 1938/39, 1962/63, 1969/70, 1984/85, 1986/87
FA Cups: 5
1906, 1933, 1966, 1984, 1995
Charity Shields: 9
1928, 1932, 1963, 1970, 1984, 1985, 1986 (shared), 1987, 1995
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1
1985
(Old) Second Division title: 1
1931
On top of this Everton are a club that has embedded itself in the TOP FLIGHT of English football. NO OTHER club has spent more years, played more games, won more games or accumulated more points in the top flight than Everton FC.
I am currently situated in Newcastle and I came down to watch Everton at Boro about a month ago (you were well worth your win). I cannot fail to mention what I read in the Boro programme that day about two of our club's legendary strikers head-to-head. It was about a Boro striker (can't remember his name) in the 1920's and an Everton striker (William 'Dixie' Dean) of the same era. It mentioned that the Boro striker obtained a then record of 59 goals in a season in the 1926/27 season. It went on to say that the Everton striker broke the Boro striker's record by scoring 60 goals the following season (a record that still stands to this day). HOWEVER the Boro striker DID NOT do it in the top flight and that seems to me as the underlying difference between the two clubs mate and I have to say I do find it baffling when clubs in the same mould as Boro claim to be bigger than Everton.
It is true to say Everton's history and success is very much overshadowed due to the size, and success, of clubs in the same part of the country (the North West). There is obviously our 'more illustrious neighbours' Liverpool, and also the Manchester clubs. I firmly believe that if Everton was situated in London, the North East, Yorkshire, the South West or the Midlands (basically anywhere outside of the North West!!) we would be regarded by everyone as a HUGE club let alone big.
Anyway mate your probably half asleep already so I won't bore you any more (laughs to himself). I would like to see you respond to my post by email, and I am sure if the shoe was on the other foot you would look at the facts and be in the same group of thinking as me and the rest of the worlds Evertonians.
Anthony
********************
Re your article regarding Chelsea ticket prices (Stuart Ward, 19-1-07). We don't like them either, but that is the average price Chelsea members have to pay in the majority of the ground for both premiership games and as a season ticket holder, my seat for Champions League games also costs £48. Ticket prices are reduced to £25 for FA Cup games and £20 for Carling Cup, with appropriate concession prices.
Our ticket prices have been frozen this season. Unfortunately, however, categorisation of games has not been reinstated. As an away ST holder as well, I have found that prices have gone up all over the Premiership this season. We are always a category A match and I have paid £39 for Bolton, and I think my Boro ticket was also well in the £30s this season. An Arsenal ticket this season will be costing us around £50.
I cannot get a child's ticket for my son for under £19 any more either. So please don't just single us (Chelsea) out (although I appreciate we are an easy target). Kind regards.
Michelle Shaw
Lend us £50 for a cup of tea Michelle...
********************
Dear Sir, I just had to write to thank Mr Dalton for his erudite, insightful and objective remarks on the 'Boro vs Toon game this weekend. (Tale of the Tape, 20/10/06) I won't bother even checking the result, so superior are the Riverside gang. I just didn't know they were that good to be honest but I expect to see them around the top of the table in the next week or two.
John Gradon
So do we John, so do we. It was 1-0 by the way...
********************
Watched the Sheffield United match yesterday and was astounded to hear Gareth Southgate say in his post-match interview that the performance was 'healthy'! He said his players had done all that was asked of them which is a frightening thought for you boys. Andy Morgan was spot on in the Observer today when he used words such as pathetic, embarrassing etc.
I'm a Pompey fan myself so I suppose it's not my issue, but I do think it's an insult to all football followers, especially those who have paid to travel, to suggest that the likes of Mark Viduka and Rochenback had given everything in that sort of performance.
ps yes, I know only about 300 Pompey fans travelled this season, sorry about that!
Martin Walls
Thanks Martin. Yes, we are worried. How could we expect more Pompey fans when it's such a distance and was played on a Monday night?
********************
James Bassett - hound
What a brilliant article vis-a-vis the yet another flop from boro in losing to Glasgow Rangers - 37th best team in Britain! (The Anti News, 14-8-06). Lets put it this way when your crap side are looking up from the championship - 2nd Division - next season my 37th best team in Britain will be playing Champions League football. Something your lot can't even begin to dream about...
Roddy Kerr
Thanks Roddy. Come back when you're good enough to reach a European final mate...
*****************
LETTERS FROM LAST SEASON
You mention having a shared dream of playing Daftarse Rangers of
Litchenstein or wherever in the UEFA Cup... 0-2 down and a four-goal
miracle needed, 23 minutes into tonight's match... where was John
Hickton when you needed him.?
Well, I felt the same back then, long
before the frenetic but compelling yo-yo years of Robson, TLG and the
real prospect of covering up that bit of blue felt in the trophy
cabinet... Imagine juxtaposing Real Madrid or Barcelona with the
mighty Boro on the scorecard... or was that something that just
happened to the predictable clubs like Arsenal and Man Utd?
Then the magic began... by the time Riggot hoiked in the third, there
was that feeling back again and the walls of Bucharest were under
serious seige. Oh frabjous day! Or spring night at the Riverside.
I'm
surrounded by peasants here - noone here understands the significance
or, worse, cares! Enjoyed your piece about Robbo - he dared to
dream, too, before the hangovers took their toll.
A night of unprecedented glory awaits on Wed 10 May!
Up the Boro!
Jim Costello
*********************
Greet..
Forerank in want to you say as am from Romania. The county Bacau, the town Onesti... I the body and the soul therefor equip even if am Roumanian.
I said to many... WHEN E WORD OF ENGLISH I AM THE BODIES AND THE SOUL FOR THEY... Chiefly for MIDDLESBOROUGH... To disbelieve as I am some mad...
I have 14 years.I Pratic the football of age of 6 years... In in all have of now 8 years of footballs... This in the town to do the nought... Isn't somebody carry to sees me... I shall a level ma an erect. MY DREAM IS TO ARRIVE AT MIDDLESBOROUGH. Love this team and you up to death, even if I am an which rifle blathers. But isn't such. I want to demonstrate them peoples as the is a rifle to which were bred that in the place. Still once... I am the body and the soul therefor equip...
You please from all my his heart to contact me... YOU LOVE FROM ALL TO don't FORGET me... AND HEARTILY MY contact me!... YOU LOVE... MANY LUCK
From Manu The Moroder, Romania
Write to Manu here...
*********************
Dear Ed
I see in today's fans' verdict (April 9) that the Newcastle fan (David
Thompson) gets away with continuing the Geordies myth of St James Park
always been full.
His comment that Newcastle would have had 25,000 locked out for a UEFA
cup
qaurter-final isn't quite supported by the facts. Two years St James
DID in
fact host such a tie. The attendances? I seem to recall a disappointing
16,000 or so UNDER capacity. If only they hadn't locked 25,000 out,
they
might have had a sell out.
Yes, the Boro attendance v Basel was disappointing but can we please
not all
pander to the Geordie mythology - even their fans have limits, both
financial and otherwise.
Paul McKeown
ComeOnBoro provides analysis of every Boro game for The Observer
*********************
Well, Mr Bassett, you were somewhat wrong, no? Not even a dyed in the wool olourblind Geordie heedcase would deny Boro's heroics in Switzerland, but your team stank today. And as for us, we don't wait 'obediently' for anyone, however rubbish we are at any given time. Whatever that nice Mr O'Neill finally decides to do, we've already got a perfectly decent manager and -- after today -- a genuine possibility of sneaking into Europe through the tradesmans' entrance. After the season we've had, that leads to magnanimous thoughts: I loved what Hasselbaink and co did in the week. But we simply KNEW we were getting three points today. It's called true faith, and 52,000 people there come wind rain shine or Souness.
Yours perfectly amicably
APManley
An Observer-reading Gallowgate season ticket holder
ComeOnBoro provides analysis of every Boro game for The Observer
*********************
This is the first time I have ever read your site and what a thoroughly uncouth write-up we have from your first contributor. Each and every team has a 'bunny rabbit' somewhere and 'brough' are lucky to have us. We guarantee you
six points every season we play together so show a little generosity to the
afflicted.
Maybe my granddad trod on a black cat the first time we
played you but there is no need for such appalling arrogance. Maybe this is why
you only ever come second.
Cyril Randle, WS5 3DJ - Albion since 1944 and still hoping to beat you!!
SG - I can't remember the last time we came second Cyril. We're aiming higher than that...
*********************
How big of you to now publicly back Steve McClaren. It's a pity that you
didn't see fit to do so earlier on in the season when the team, as most
teams do, had a bit of a wobble. During his reign we have been completely
transformed as a club, not just the team but the club. Your earlier
stance against the manager reflected that of many others who scream for
change at the merest hint of trouble. Supporters should stand firm
through any trouble and the time for change is when things clearly can
not be put right. Our chairman is a true Teessider, he's got
courage, determination and loyalty. It's a pity that many other
Teessiders lack these qualities.
John Donovan
SG - Thanks again for your comments John. We consider the matches against Charlton, Portsmouth, West Ham, Everton, Wigan and Sunderland to be more that just a wobble. There is no doubt that Steve McClaren had lost the plot at one point this season but he now seems to have found it again. Of course, we are very happy about that.
*********************
I read with interest your article regarding the attendances at the UEFA
cup matches and can see some valid points you make about the club and
its PR. However lets face facts. We have many 'supporters' who are too
quick to drop the Boro when the going gets tough. They are the ones who
choose to boo 10-15 minutes into a game. They boo at half time if the
scoreline is anything but one that favours the Boro, i.e. a winning
one. They come up with some fantastic excuses for missing games, the
weather, the traffic, the wasteland around the ground, the non sale of
alcohol, the smoking ban, the change in kick off times etc etc.
Some of these factors may be annoying but they shouldn't deter a
supporter from going to see his team. Genuine reasons for missing are,
work related issues, finance (I understand fans who have to choose which
games to see), family reasons (unable to get a babysitter for night
games) and travel. But the number of times I've spoken to people who
have chosen not to go because they can't be bothered, but make up some
lame excuse to cover the fact is disgraceful. Yet they will gladly go to
the pub, throw ale down their necks and scream at the telly as if they
were the most knowledgeable men in football.
Gibbo invests a lot of
time,effort and money into pushing this club forward. He can't do it
singlehandidly. He needs the vast money that TV are offering, he needs
cash from supporters and that's why its dissappointing to see our European
nights being largely ignored.
Personally I don't care who the opposition
are, its the boro I want to see. I dont care if its raining when I go to
the match, afterall thousands waited in the snow of a freezing February
morning to get their coaches and cars for the journey to
Cardiff.
Hopefully we will progress to the latter stages of the UEFA
cup, then the airwaves, message boards and Gazette pages will be bursting
to the seams with diehard supporters bleating about not being able to
get a ticket despite not being present at the earlier rounds.
Years ago I watched European nights on the telly and dreamt and wished
that it would be my team one day. Well now it is but a large section of
our support can't be arsed. Gibbo won't let us down. He never has. He
doesn't do knee jerk stuff, he's a true steel hard Teessider.
I wish there were many many more like him.
John Donovan
*********************
Greetings guys
Found your site off a Google search to gauge Boro reaction to the game
- I'm a 51 year old Hammers fan.
First - congrats on a very fair and objective match report and an
acknowledgement that we played the better football.
What I do find worrying, as an England fan too, is your manager's
proximity to the national team and any talk that he will take over from
Sven. The guy is not up to it.
Given the talent at the Riverside -
albeit that England's number two has got hardly any Englishmen near his
club team - I find it troubling that he runs such a negative and
unmotivated team.
Watching Viduka and Jimmy Floyd "warming" up in front
of us and bearing in mind this was players earning a total of 120k per
week, I saw two lard buckets who seemed to think the whole thing was a
laugh - mind you either might have been preferable to Maccarone.
The goal that wasn't gave McClaren a chance to winge and hide the real
problem that his team had been outplayed - and of course to completely
ignore the fact that the corner Boro scored off should never have been
given as a red shirt was last to touch the ball.
It must be mighty
frustrating for fans who made a long slog like that to watch such a
performance and I'm not surprised at press reports suggesting that
Gibson is getting fed up too with the style of play - sadly i recall
the last time Boro came to us in the season we went down - almost 90
mins of time wasting cynical injury feigning and no attempt to play
decent football - luckily Sinclair scored our winner - at least this
Sunday the team showed a bit more adventure but as I said, I do worry at
the the attitude of a man who clearly is the one telling his team to
play like that 3 seasons ago and even now can't lift them above the
average.
And i thought we had problems -staying up will do and then try moving
on.
Anyway - well done on your site - and keep on being real fans - and if
the chairman wants to tell McClaren he has to give up his England role
and concentrate on Boro then all the better for the rest of us English
football fans.
REGARDS
JOHN PRITCHARD
*********************
Dear Mr. Haverton,
My name is Dimitar Sterev, and I'm 23 years old CSKA - Sofia fan.Please be aware next time when you try to describe a Bulgarian football team like LEVSKI - SOFIA that this team is named after the most important person in Bulgarian history - Vasil Levski , and he is not "a founder of a revolutionary Russian socialist party". If you like, you can read a little more about this issue here :
http://levski.magde.info/
Good luck in UEFA CUP
Regards,
Dimitar Sterev
*********************
I read your recent column "Why Boro cannot fill the Riverside" with
interest.
As an "exile", I can't comment too much about the Customer Service
issue, and I
agree that it is important. In my few dealings with people at MFC,
I've had
excellent service, but I don't doubt the contrary experiences you cite.
However, as far as the other issues are concerned, I have to take some
exception
with a couple of points.
Your statements concerning McClaren and his interest in the Leeds and
England
jobs, boils down essentially to saying that Boro PR is at fault.
Would
Allardyce or Redknapp have taken the Leeds job, and would they take
the England
job? Undoubtedly. Redknapp even took a job with his team's bitter
rivals.
McClaren is just more frank about what clearly applies to any other
manager in
football. If Boro fans are basing their support of the club on
whether any
particular coach or player continues to work for the club, they are
living in
the distant past of pre-Bosman football.
The foundation of a football club is the chairman, and Boro has a far
better one
than most of the Premiership teams. Yet, the attendance does not
reflect this. Is the average Boro fan oblivious of the difference between a Gibson
and an
Ellis or a Ridsdale?
The other point I want to address is this idea of "uninterested
players". Yes,
in the past, there have been a small handfull of players who were
apparently at
the Riverside merely to collect a salary (Karembeau comes to mind as an
example). However, a large number of Boro fans seem to evaluate
players
solely on the basis of how many times they have run the length of the
field
during the 90 minutes. In top level professional football, the
players are
instructed to perform various strategies of the coaches.
Fans may say to themselves, "Why doesn't he run over there and do
that?" Often
times, it is because they have been instructed specifically not to do
that, or
else to do something different.
An expert player takes advantages of opportunities to score (or prevent
a goal). Considering that 1-0 is a normal outcome, these events can be quite
infrequent
during a match. A 20-goal a season goalscorer FAILS to score every
other
match!
I remember "Headless Chicken O'Neill". He was lauded for his
"workrate", but
he never knew what he was doing.
Players like Maccarone have energy and movement as their strengths, but
highly
successful players like Viduka have different qualities that may give
them an
appearance to some people of being "disinterested".
In summary, with a few exceptions, I don't think it is possible as a
spectator
at a top level match to judge the effort and interest of the players.
Overall, I think that most Middlesbrough residents would actually be
happier
with a League 2 team like Cheltenham, since almost all of the factors
described
in articles like yours, and letters to the Gazette, etc. simply decry
the modern
reality of Premiership football, rather than anything peculiar to MFC.
Cheers,
Ken Stuart
*********************
Well, well, well.....absolutely bloody utterly disgraceful....YET AGAIN!
I sit here, upside down, hanging off the arse of the planet till 1:30 am in the
morning West Australian time, quaffing on a few tinnies ( well I had to do
something in the dark apart from have a ham shank), to watch about as much
effort and application as a eunuch trying to get a root in a brothel full of
slappers!
Even worse for you lot as you were probably at the game and had to listen to the
Blunderlanders singing "Can we play you every week?"
Defeat by Blunderland at the best of times is unpalatable BUT what we saw
yesterday were two teams playing with very different and opposing motivations.
Sunderland ALL heart and endeavour and tenacity who played and would've went
over a cliff for their Manager (who incidentally has the longest head in
football!). Mind you on saying that, if I lived in Sunlan I'd wanna jump, minus
parachute, over a cliff!!!
Boro, festering rotting garbage to say the least apart of course from Boateng.
I don't know why Viduka didn't bring his roll out mattress and camp bed and just
have an afternoon kip in the shadows of the Main stand.
Fabio Rogeralot, our ex Brazilian porn star, was a bit like his blue movie days,
all dribbling and off target shooting!
While it was obvious that Blunderland played wholeheartedly for 'EeeBye Gum
Mick', it's also blatantly obvious that our collection of vastly overpaid,
underperforming, disinterested, heartless, gutless wankers certainly don't play
for McLaren, which maybe says it all.
Mr.Marvellous gets his contract extended and the players react by giving another
dispassionate display of ineptitude against the worst team in the EPL.
Enough said.
"We love you Mogga, we do, we love you Mogga we do.....!"
Bring me another Manager...this one's split !!!!!!!!
ERIMUSRED.
Over-opinionated Smoggy gobshite!
P.S. Gonna be interesting in a few days at Xanadu....wonder if Olivia Neutron
Bomb is still their manager?
Peter Holmes, Perth, Australia
*********************
Happened to stumble on your website from Newsnow.co.uk. It's quite funny (the comments about Newcastle and Sunderland) but you really should
get some proper rivals (Leeds is the traditional one I believe). I know
they aren't in the same division and the above may not also be next year!
A lot
of Sunderland fans (me included) have Boro as their second team. You
won't
see much anti-MFC talk in either SAFC or NUFC fanzines. Surely the
inferiority complex can't still apply when MFC are EASILY the best team
in
the region and will continue to be for a while yet. It all seems a bit
misdirected.
The further away the Geordies roam from the City of
Cultcha,
the more fanatical they become - do you have a shavan heed and pot
belly?
Steven Garland
SG - Thanks for the comments Steven. I personally do consider Leeds as our main rivals but we eliminated them a couple of years ago. I've never ever heard of a Sunderland man having Boro as his second team. You are obviously one oif the smart ones. I don't agree with you about the Newcastle and Sunderland publications containing no anti-Boro talk. Every rival message board that I visit is full of it. Just visit 606 to see what I mean. No, I don't have a shaven heed but the more I drink, the bigger my belly gets.
*********************
I can only surmise that Dr Vits spent his free time as a medical student
drinking beer rather than spirits, (which seems right and proper to me).
How else could it be that he wrote: "You can also
legitimately get tanked up on gin - a source of the anti-malarial drug
quinine".
As any Malay planter would have known, it's the
tonic water that contains
the quinine:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990813.html
The gin contains some plant extracts which as far as
I know have no health
benefits.
As his penance, I suggest Dr Vits is obliged to
spend an hour in a dodgy
nightclub drinking a miraculously glowing glass of
gin and tonic.
Regards
Iain Lazenby
Dr Vits- Right enough, it is tonic rather than gin that is the source of
quinine. My only excuse is as a Glasgow graduate gin was not allowed on campus due
to it being "puffy" and "English". I can't stand the stuff anyway and once
spent two weeks trying to teach myself to like the muck but failed and I
write all this crap whilst on nightshift and the dog ate my homework and bigger
boys did it. Sorry bollocksed up, won't happen again, honest.... at least I
didn't have to go to coroner's court this time.
Vits
*********************
Let's ask the question Boro Mafia!
Do the Geordies want McClaren the 'magnificent' ?!?!?!!?
If I hear that toothy gob utter those bloody words again after yet
another passionless performance I'll scream!
"Henry may have scored a hatrick and we shipped six goals but we were
magnificent at times!!!!"
Please, anybody, take the useless Yorkshire pudding off our hands 'cos
after watching my Bonny Boro from afar last season and now on three
separate occasions this season LIVE on Foxsports in Oz, I'm not
impressed.
I can say we are bereft of flair, passion, heart, bollocks and worst of
all any level of imagination and soul!
Entertainment value ZERO!
The Brum game was a blip because lardarse Viduka realised it would be
his last attempt to impress anyone before the transfer trapdoor shuts
and played a blinder. Y'know the blinder the bludging enigmatic sod
plays for every team he graces just once a season. Having him in the
team is a bit like having a thoroughbred V12 Ferrari in the garage that
has a flat battery.
Just read the match report on "ComeOnBoro.Com" and the subsequent
observation that the team have lost all respect for McClaren echoes my
opinion.
To badmouth a set of players who he predominantly brought to the club
and not accept any blame is typical and explains how little
motivational ability he and his bunch of brainiacs have. After all
isn't he England's number two also? Look at the way they play....belch!
Yawn!!!!
The final line about Hibs beating the Gers 3-0 and the inference that
Mogga should be our boss is so totally in line with my thinking for
ages it's freaky!
McLaren was always using us as a stepping stone to somewhere else, well
that time has come because one of Boro's legendary Gods is ready,
willing & very able to return to his true home and his rightful
throne......Boss of Middlesbrough Football Club.
Hail MOGGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peter Holmes,
Perth, West Oz!
*********************
2-0 to the Spurs.
Do you feel silly after having this page on your web: http://www.comeonboro.com/programme/tota/002003.htm
Says more about the writer than any of the players.
How about writing something that is interesting and not 100% based on the writers bias?
Richard Douglas
SG- I certainly do feel silly after those second half substitutions Richard. The articles on ComeOnBoro.com will always be based around writer's bias. We are a Middlesbrough site, not a general football site and we do not intend to change our partisan style.
************************************
Just read your article on ComeOnBoro and let me be the 1st to say
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh"
How you can take heart from that performance is beyond me. Your threat
was confined to set pieces and your shower didn't test us at all.
As for your very witty remarks re Davids "swimming goggles" I think him
and the rest of the boys will be laughing tonight as they took the piss out
of the haphazard bunch of mercenaries you call a team!
Dawson playing keepy uppy in your box sums it up for me....well and
truly outclassed.
HAHAHA!
Super Spurs 1961
SG- Hands up on that one but you're not the first I'm afraid. You deserved your win because we shot ourselves in the foot. Good luck to the league leaders for the rest for the season.
************************************
I have just read your piece on the visit of the 'Boro' to Anfield and would like to say thank you for the kind and, I thought, heart felt mention regarding the Hillsborough Memorial and the fact we should never forget.
I'm a Liverpool red living in Stockton and your words made me feel like some barriers had been broke down. Thank you.
All i can say (as a Liverpool fan) is You'll Never Walk Alone
Mr Steve Maher
SG- Thanks for that Steve. It was heartfelt and it was a good day out. Good luck to you next season, after the first game of course. Steve
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what as sad load of crap about LEEDS UNITED you write, bitter,bitter,bitter, we've been through hell as fans this year or two, the only assets left are the loyal supporters week in week out we stand by our team unlike your plastic so called fairweather fans, just any excuse to get a dig-in eh? yes Bates is in and to be honest I never cared for the man but he has somewhat saved us and things (fingers crossed) can only get better, as a so called "football fan" what is wrong with that?
Calling the Revie years..... come on now get off the band wagon, we had a great team and you know it, any one of them players would have been snapped -up had they been put on the transfer list although I doubt boro would have been high on there places to transfer too!
To have a sports writer writing a article on a lower division team who have fallen on hard times and then slag a great team thirty odd years ago baffles me, we must be doing something right to keep attracting this negative press??? trouble is we at LEEDS don't now what it is?...... well actually we do, and so do the people who write the "stuff".
To close off, I don't have a problem with your team, okay a couple of "pay-packet" players and a manager from a team I detest but I wish you well in the league.
Phil Hastings
HH- Thanks for writing Phil. We're not bitter about Leeds at all. Why should we be? I stated in my column that I think Bates' arrival will see your re-emergence. Incidentally, Jack Charlton and Terry Cooper saw fit to leave Leeds for Boro in the 70's. I understand that Bremner fancied it as well but we lost interest after he was banned from the International arena after testing positive for drugs. Good luck in your comeback. Harry.
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Hi Kenny,
You mentioned The King Of Ayresome Park, John Hickton. When he left Boro in the mid seventies he signed for Fort Lauderdale and yes indeed he broke his leg on his debut !
Big John has been a frequent visitor to The Riverside and always gets a good ovation from the supporters.
I am secretary of the YARM REDS. We currently stand at 166 strong and take two coaches to every home game and regularly to away games.
Andy Wilson.
SG- Interested in away day travel with the Yarm Reds? Contact Col Walker on 07813809228
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Great writing (AM's Southampton report)... I was there, my daughter was the Boro mascot for the day... we took a box for ten of us right next door to the one being used by non-playing Southampton players... along with Matt Le Tissier.
Got pulled by the stewards several times for waving scarf, standing with one foot out of the box, and quote "displaying an away banner in a home supporters area." No sense of humour these southerners.
The box next door went very quiet in the 89th minute, you could almost sense that they knew what was going to happen and when the second goal went in they all just put their heads in their hands, waiting for the third.
You have to feel for all the Soton fans who left 5 mins before time, getting home to their wives/girlfriends etc telling them they had won 2-0, only for them to be told that it was 2-2 and where had they been all afternoon..!!
After the match Steve McClaren and the Boro guys were great, the wife and kids went to see them off on the bus whilst I tried to finish off the booze in the box, photographs and chats with everyone, nothing too much trouble for them.
It really was a great day, just a pity that we can't get 2 goals in the first 3 minutes for a change.
SG- What a lovely few words from a lovely day out. Thanks a lot AD.
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From Kenny Brown in Canada.
Just thought I'd drop you a few lines. Your article about Mark Viduka and Big John is spot on. Someone's been stealing my thoughts, lol.
I remenber when we signed him, they were showing some clips of him on the box and he was charging down the wing ala John Hickton, bustling strong, couldn't be shaken off the ball. Straight away he reminded me of Big John and I thought that's a good sign. Armed with this knowledge I was talking footie with a mate on the phone and he asked me what my opinion was of Viduka, I told him and he just replied, "does he, can't see it myself". 30,000 eyes and all see a different game, what?
It would be interesting to see how John would fare in The Premiership today, with the increased fitness levals and better coaching, his pace would terrify defences and there's not many that can hit or head a ball harder, or am I being biased?
I imagine it was a big disappointment to him that we finally made the top flight towards the end of his career and he was never fully able to prove himself in the First Division. The big clubs came sniffing around at some points in his career, but he was always locked into a contract and there was chance of him going, good for us bad for him.
Then he was just thrown away like an old shoe, sickening! I felt for the guy when he played in the American league, chance to make some big money and got his leg broken, lifes a bitch! I think he played for Vancouver Whitecaps?
Needless to say John Hickton will always be my hero. How many other players were called "The King of Ayresome Park"? I tend to think that terms like hero, legend and super star are banded about far to lightly these days.
This was only supposed to be a few lines, got carried away, it's all this nostalgia and excitement. What a season, really building up now. I'm going to be greedy now, I want a Cup and fourth place. Is it possible? I think fourth is, cups we need a bit of lady luck. Fingers crossed.
Watching the Southhampton game on the tv tomorrow, it's a two hour tape delay so it's like a live game for me, if I can keep off the computer. That's the added bonus though, I don't have to listen to Century, but that's another subject...
All the best,
Kenny.
SG- Nice one Kenny. Nice to know that I'm not the only one who made the comparison. Yes, you are being biased but you are right as well...
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About the police brutality at the Villarreal match, I'd like to add my small contribution to the debate. I've lived here for a long time and, on different occasions I've had my head split open and been shot at with rubber bullets by the Spanish police. It seems to me that part of the problem is a question of policing philosophy and the fans' attitude towards it.
Basically, the Spanish have more hospital beds than custody berths. As a result, the plan for any demonstration is to break up the concentration of people into smaller running groups and so dissolve the more dangerous large mass. If in this process, somebody gets in the way, they get smacked with the regulation truncheon. This sport was very popular in the Eighties but recently the only opportunity for any regular exercise for the police is football matches. Plan A is that if there's no trouble it seems a shame to have travelled all the way from their HQ in the centre of Spain for nothing so they start something - they it's bound to go off and everybody's happy. The fact that there an amazing small number of arrests after a disturbance would seem to back up the theory about their preference for dispersal trather than arrest.
Next point, I know that nobody should have to put up with the treatment received at Villarreal but also it should be remembered that the uniformed dolts at the stadium were not in fact all police - a number of them were from a private security firm. These companies offer a handsome cash-in-hand sum to people on a six-hour contract and they get a big stick and the opportunity to beat up foreigners with immunity - is that a good deal or what? You can imagine the understanding of public order maintainance that these people have...
Also the police find this very convenient - no backlash - our lads were not involved, it's not our policy to provoke fans bla, bla, bla..
The reputation of British fans in general is bad over here - the Spanish word for hooligan is er, well, hooligan. The build up of tension in local and national press is pathetic and by the time the fans arrive the locals are expecting Ghengis Khan and the Mongol hordes to raze their city to the ground. Obviously there's going to be trouble and if there isn't, revert to plan A.
Also, at Villarreal it seems that nobody at any level of organization had done their homework, the transport was inadequate and badly organized, people were ripped off by taxi-drivers out to make a fast buck, tickets were sold on the day of the match under the auspices of Villarreal FC - something which I understand is against UEFA regulations- there was nobody to liase between the fans and the police and the PA system was inadequate. That said, if you know of anybody who wishes to lodge a formal complaint against the police, let me know and we can organize contacts here in Spain if necessary.
Chris, Inland Travel
SG- If anybody does want Chris to help, then get in touch with him though the link on the right hand side of this page.
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On the subject of the Spanish police at the Villareal match, I think all will agree they were heavy handed but the point at which they intervened was when some of our supporters near the front of the queue at gate 25 started dismantling the safety barriers which were there to avoid a crush happening directly in front of the turnstiles. I don't think they had much choice because the consequences of them not intervening would have certainly been much worse.
I think the real origin of the police violence was they had no means of communicating in English with our supporters, they were not properly trained in crowd control so they resorted to physical coercion. That's no excuse for the brutality described on your website, but it makes it easier to understand how it happened. I was fortunate because as soon as the horses arrived, I asked one of the mounted police what they wanted, (in Spanish), and he motioned me away out of the queue.
I did not witness any of the brutality at gate 25 because having moved out of the queue I chatted to a policeman from a different service. It turned out he did not know what was going on and he advised me to enter by the adjacent gate which turned out to take me into a different section with no way out.
As with the rest of the ground, there were more fans than seats, but it was a lot quieter than in the section I was due to enter. In fact the policeman I spoke to at half time told me they had had nothing to do and they were happy it looked as if there would be no problems for them to deal with.
I think the problems at Villareal: policing, taxis, etc all arose because they had neither the organisation nor the experience to cope with a very large number of, (in their eyes), potentially violent visiting supporters.
The main issues they should address are:
Communication: at least one officer at each turnstile should be English speaking and have a megaphone to communicate with the supporters. Failing that MFC should have assigned a steward at each turnstile to liase with the police and our supporters.
Training: the police and security staff should be properly trained in peaceful crowd control. That way they would have the confidence to defuse unsafe situations without resorting to violence.
Turnstiles: It might have seemed like a good idea at the time to separate the Boro supporters into 3 distinct zones, but that merely complicated the task of communication and access. To have only 1 turnstile operating out of 4 at the entrance I used was incompetent and was at the origin of the crush that led to the incidents we are commenting on.
Transport: It was great of them to have laid on an extra train from Castellon at midnight, but daft not to have provided buses from the ground to the station.
Iain Lazenby
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Hello!
My name is Uri Bright and I'm 16 years old, from Israel.
I am a fan of Middlesbrough and I watch their games on TV whenever I have a chance, but unfortunately I can't come to England to see the real thing. Because of the same reason, I can't buy any item of the club (scarf, flag, pin.....).
I want to ask you, if it's possible, to send me something like this, so I will fell like a real fan, of this wonderful club.
My address is:
Israel
Givat Ela
POB 15
23800
Thank you very much !!!
Uri Bright.
SG- If anybody has something that they can send to Uri in Israel, then that would be fantastic. You will be getting some ComeOnBoro.com merchandise as soon as we actually have some Uri...
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Dear Friends
Im a girl from Bulgaria. My name is Tzetza Kaneva and im 19 years old. I love the football game and I found your e-mail address and I wrote this letter. With letter I want to express my senses towards your team. When I was a child I became your admirer girl. For 11 years I look your every match on a tv and I'm very very happy when your team become a victor.
I collect a materials for a team. I haven't many materials in my city. There are about 10 of your admirers and I also. Some day I want to travel in England and there I shall go in the stadium of a club, in the museum of the team and I shall see the football legends. This is my dream and I want to realize it.
With this letter I want you please to help. I want you to publish my address in your programme or club, magazine and the admirers of the team from England can write me and from all over the world.
I have a favour to ask of you: You please send me official programmes and photocards players and souvenir of team.
Thank you friends!!! I send you my address and I hope you write me.
Yours sincerely
Tzetza Kaneva
ul.Hristo Botev 10
ap.15 BOX 15
BG-Sevlievo-5401
BULGARIA
SG- Come on lads- get writing. We may be playing in Bulgaria some day...
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West Brom fan Allyn Harley wrote:
Just read your article about Robbo. As a Baggies fan, I thought I should point out that guy in the famous striped shirt is not Robbo but Johnny Giles.
SG- Amazing how similar they look. I actually got that particular image by 'googling' Bryan Robson...
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We are AS Roma fans.
We strongly thank you for defeating Lazio yesterday.
you can see here how we celebrated the event
cheers!
Please note that Lazio is from the countryside. We are Romans, not them
Lorenzo C.
SG- Happy to oblige Lorenzo. Any time they want a good beating, just send them over to Teesside.
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Hello
I live in Belgium and since 1997 I collect the football tickets. Today I have about 5500 tickets from 85 countries. I am currently looking for people who could send me here in Belgium some used tickets from the next match of MIDDLESBROUGH FC.
Thank you for your care and thank you also for your possible collaboration.
Best greetings from Belgium.
Pascal GHISLAIN
RUE LONGUE, 77 C
BE - 7504 FROIDMONT
BELGIQUE - BELGIUM
pascal.ghislain@skynet.be
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