Birmingham in the late-August sunshine, a summer stroll of a 3-1 win over a side struggling to adapt to its Europa League-saddled schedule. Fantastic goals from Faris Haroun and Malaury Martin that promised great things.
A ferocious FA Cup replay with Sunderland when the team, brimming with Academy products, fought until the bitter end against the Premier League’s form side, giving them their second almighty fright in the space of a fortnight.
And then the final home game against Southampton when a stirring reaction to going behind within seconds galvanised the crowd and sent everyone home with a smile as wide as the River Tees.
And in three brief paragraphs, that’s it. That is the sum of the memorable entertainment at The Riverside stretching back nine months.
Just three games that really gave you a spring in your step. There were other wins, yes. Precisely six of them in the league and a victory over Shrewsbury in the Cup that was about as pleasurable as a filling in each corner of the mouth in one sitting at the dentist.
A win is a win, though. I don’t go to football to be entertained. But I don’t mind being inspired every now and then. Boro’s record of eight wins, 10 draws and five defeats is anything but inspiring.
Only Nottingham Forest scored fewer goals at home than Boro last season. The stats tell the story of what went wrong but the way the demoralising draws, devoid of any drama or bluster, all merge into one does the job just as well.
Turning the home stats on their head is Tony Mowbray’s number one challenge next term. Making that 20-minute trudge from the town centre worthwhile has to be the priority for everyone at the club.
We’ve already had the soundbites about making The Riverside “a fortress” – somewhere that had more appeal than a multi-storey car park would probably be a fair enough start.
“There are no easy games in this division,” is the top rattled cliché for the Championship. But champions Reading won 14 of their home games and Southampton thrashed their way through 16.
Chalking up points at home is the bread and butter.
What became routine at The Riverside for Boro last season were lifeless opening spells that suggested half the team were in desperate need of a new alarm clock. There was hardly ever any urgency and when we did manage to sneak a lead the defensive naivety that has been an ever present since Gareth Southgate’s reign usually conspired to gift the visitors an equaliser.
Southgate and Strachan’s teams ripped the soul out of home games. And despite the excellent job Mowbray has done, he hasn’t managed to turn things round in his first full season in charge.
A couple more wins at home would have landed us in the playoffs. Any serious form at The Riverside would have guaranteed us an automatic spot.
If we’re as strong on the road again next season it would be simply criminal for us to miss out on a tilt at promotion because we haven’t worked out how to break teams down and perform under pressure.
Mogga has to ensure more than a handful of home games deserve a place in our memories.
Coming up in part two: How away days kept the fire burning
Cardiff, bloody Cardiff
After eight months of nerves, excitement and misery the season is all set to boil down to Cardiff. Bloody Cardiff again.
The city that hosted our greatest day four years before its football club guaranteed my generation’s darkest days as fans. Cardiff seems to hang over us like a cloud.
Even this season you could argue that Cardiff away was the best game – a swashbuckling win against the odds at a crucial time – before we surrendered at home when three points was even more crucial.
We don’t seem capable of keeping Cardiff out of the script.
Saturday will be no different. The build-up – difficult to believe we’re only two days in – is mainly about Cardiff. How will Cardiff do? Will Cardiff buckle? Can Cardiff cope with the pressure. Have you read the Cardiff messageboards? I have, I’m hooked already.
Palace will want revenge, people keep telling me. Watford fans will want Boro to win. Cracking stuff.
It’s almost a foregone conclusion that Boro will win at Watford and we’ll all be depending on Cardiff to mess up. Come on Cardiff, you can do it.
If you’re going to Watford on Saturday it would be great if you could help us keep #5minutesforMogga going for, well, five minutes at the beginning of each half. The idea was conceived when it looked like the game was going to be a dead-rubber.
A few of us thought it was important the boss got the credit he deserves for his achievements this season in the face of some unnecessary criticism from the usual quarters.
It promises to be a great atmosphere now even without the orchestration but it still feels right to try something a bit different to let Mogga know what the proper fans think.
We’re going to try and start with Walking In A Mowbray Wonderland and see where it takes us.
Mogga has achieved great things in his first 18 months at the club, not even Cardiff can do anything to change that.
fmttm vrs Southampton 21/04/12
There’s no room on this page for a postmortem, readers. It is though, time for reflection and a moment to again search for answers to the questions that have been bothering us this season. We should have room for seven, so without further ado:
What does Curtis Main have for breakfast?
Whatever he has, it must cost his mam and dad an arm and a leg. The lad seems to be bursting with that kind of angry, sweaty, sharp-elbowed energy I remember some of the hard kids having at primary school.
I can recall one all-action display in the playground at the end of a day that didn’t even involve a football when an on-looking mother gasped “ooooh, so-and-so must have had four Weetabix today”. Well, on that maths Main must eat a full 24-pack, covered in sugar and topped off with clippings from Adam Hammill’s fringe.
Where does the lager at The Riverside come from?
This one, we’re still working on. You will have noticed the ranks of North Stand sleuths, heading to the concourse any time from 32 minutes onwards in each first half. They’re not rushing because it tastes good, they’re just eagerly chasing new clues. I may have mentioned before that it often tastes kind of, well, purple. It’s always worse for a night game and has clearly poisoned many of those selling it from the kiosks. If it gets in your eye, for Christ’s sake wash out with warm water immediately.
How the f*** can we ever fill the stadium again?
Thankfully, an answer to this hitherto desperate situation emerged at a music festival in California last weekend. Amazingly, long-time brown bread rapper Tupac ‘performed’ on stage with his good pals Snoop Dog and Dr Dre.
Mr Tupac delighted the crowd at Coachella more than a decade after he was murdered and even “interacted” with them, according to the wireless the other day.
A British company was involved in creating the holographic image and I reckon if MFC’s marketing department can strike a deal for 22 Juninhos some time in early August we’ll easily have a sell out for a pre-season friendly.
Why was Mark Page brought back to hurt our ears?
Answers on a postcard please. But one of the best things about home games this season was Wildcat Mike Mcgrother shouting “WE ARE MIDDLESBROUGH FOOTBALL CLUB” just before kick off. It really got me going that did.
Are there other instances of Kevin Thomson trying to copy Nicky Bailey’s every move?
Apparently, so desperate is Thomo to occupy all space that is naturally Bailey’s, the two have had several scuffles trying to secure the last remaining place on the back seat of the team bus. Naturally, they both want to be as far away from the engine as possible.
Was there an England under-21 game at The Riverside this season?
Not sure. Didn’t hear anything about it.
Did those who claim “Gibbo didn’t want promotion” also believe the 9/11 conspiracy theories?
They didn’t just believe them, they invented them. Have you ever heard so much tripe in all your life? The town will get the football club it deserves, I mean afford, erm oh I don’t know, pass us one of those purple pints.
Have a nice summer.
fmttm column vrs Doncaster Rovers 17/04/12
I felt sorry for Justin Hoyte at Hull. And then I spent a few days wondering whether I should have. Playing out of position he had a good first half and even looked to be growing in confidence, rare indeed for a man who often looks as if he’d rather be anywhere but on a football pitch.
Disaster inevitably struck for Hoytey as he made an awful pass from Barry Robson look ten times worse and allowed Hull back into the game. Because it was Hoyte, the jury quickly reached their verdict. He “fannied out”. He “bottled it”. We’ve seen it many times before only usually with less disastrous consequences.
Luck now firmly against Hoyte, the winner also popped up from his unfamiliar flank and most fans are now counting down the days until his contract expires. Not Gareth Southgate’s finest moment, I think we can all agree.
I felt sorry for him though, because until he failed to put his foot through Robson’s woeful ball, he had a good game. And he does have good games. He makes good runs and doesn’t get picked out, he gives us width and is better at getting up and down than the much more popular Joe Bennett.
We’ve all worked with a Hoyte. Occasionally they do a good job, but all their previous mistakes and moments of incompetency shroud memories and opinions so much that they may as well give up. Hoyte’s catalogue of errors means he will never get a fair crack of the whip at The Riverside. Perhaps he doesn’t deserve one.
Just what is it about bigger than average travelling supports and woeful atmospheres? The curse struck again at the KC on Bank Holiday Monday as thousands of day trippers swelled the ranks and helped pin the volume down by several notches.
Boro were more than competitive in the first half, had plenty of the ball and crafted some promising attacks. You wouldn’t have guessed judging by the lack of backing from the away end. Almost 3,000 paid their money and made the short journey but the majority failed to get involved. I’m writing this before Pride Park but we all know less than half that number will have displayed more passion win, lose or draw.
While I find the majority of criticism of Tony Mowbray utterly disgraceful given what he’s achieved in the 18 months he’s been back at the club, his comments suggesting a clutch of players are on the pitch or bench when they should be having operations smacks of smoke and mirrors a little.
I don’t doubt that we have senior professionals playing through the pain barrier but we’re not so thin on the ground to have to keep on selecting the walking wounded.
Curtis Main impressed all and sundry with his bursts of bluster and willingness to chase clearances some of our other esteemed forwards would have deemed lost causes. Elsewhere in the reserves Gordon Strachan signing Andy Halliday has scored a sack full of goals and showed a glimpse of what he was capable of in a polished performance at Ipswich last season.
These two and others who have been given a taste of the first team will no doubt find the manager’s statements on the fitness of his first choice players stranger than any of us.
Glover In Brief vrs Bristol City 24/03/12
Book your trains to London, do everything you can to get on Julie’s ticket list and be ready for a night on the cans in Trafalgar Square. We’re off to the playoff final. It wasn’t Bart Ogbeche’s sweet strike on Tuesday night that convinced me. Nor was it the news that Scott McDonald could soon be back in the fold. I’ve believed this was going to be our year under the arch as soon as I realised the Wembley date coincided with me being in Benidorm for one of my best mate’s stag do.
Because on top of Typical Boro, you must understand, there is Typical Boro for me. I usually miss the best away games after sitting through the worst and was even financially ruled out of the Uefa Cup run to Eindhoven when saving up for a spot of what even I pretentiously called “travelling”.
So hold your nerve this afternoon, safe in the knowledge that we’ll do the business and inch closer to securing sixth spot. And despite the fact I’ll miss our first trip to the new Wembley, they’ll be nobody happier than me.
Just imagine celebrating a return to the Premier League by drinking bottles of lager for a Euro before dive-bombing into a minging swimming pool. We’re the famous Middlesbrough and we’re going to Benidorm!
The one bonus of missing the final is it guarantees me a pass out for the away leg of the semi from Our Lass, even if it means going to Reading, West Ham or Brighton on a Thursday night.
In fact, at the risk of turning this week’s column into an episode of Don’t Tell The Bride, Brighton midweek would be perfect.
I’ve mentioned before that I’ll miss next week’s trip to the South coast on account of getting married and while my away record is no longer anything to shout about, some of my mates are missing their first game in years for my sake. So for them to be able to get to the Amex in 2012 would make us all happy ever after.
As I believe is tradition for the groom, I was tasked with arranging the honeymoon. It was all set to be a week in the Lake District followed by Dublin for a few days until I checked the fixture list and realised we faced a crucial double header with Cardiff and Hull on Easter weekend. I quickly explained the honeymoon plans had to be scaled back and the future Mrs Glover simply knowingly nodded and asked “why, who are Boro playing?”
Just touching on matters purely football for a minute, if I may? [praise the Lord – Ed] Can whoever has taken Marvin Emnes please release him? We’ve got a slightly busy spell coming up and could do him back firing on all cylinders.
Against Leeds – the worst Riverside afternoon since Cardiff in the FA Cup – he seemed more interested in waiting to be fouled rather than showing attacking intent and at West Ham most of what he tried was just idiotic. Lukas Jutkiewicz has been pulling up huge trees since he arrived at the club – what he needs now is an effective partner.
Imagining our nine cup finals…
BRISTOL CITY (home)
Win.
Why? We’ll be dripping with confidence after a strong showing in the last 15 on Tuesday night and a pathetically low crowd creates less pressure than one with an extra two or three thousand day-trippers among it. We may even score before half time. Come on Boro, live a little.
IPSWICH (away)
Draw.
But at least we’ll finish the game this time. Portman Road has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for us. N.B I haven’t based that on any actual research, just my shaky memory. If we get out of Suffolk with a point, we’ll be laughing. Other than the doyles who phone BBC Tees, naturally.
BRIGHTON (away)
Lose.
The wheels are coming off by the stage, good and proper. It strikes me as a daunting place to go. Yes, they’ll play Boro videos in the concourse and serve local beers. But then they’ll go and tonk us by two or three. Much soul searching on a long journey home. Other than for the experts who listen on the radio, of course.
CARDIFF CITY (home)
Draw.
Ah, Cardiff. We’ve won our last three games with them (it might even be four – like I said, no time to research, proper job, ironing to do etc). Definitely three on memory. December’s game at their place is in my top five away trips of all time. Easter Saturday will be tense though and we’ll feel lucky to get a point from a bruising encounter. Except the idiots who…..you get the idea by now.
HULL CITY (away)
Win.
One of those trips that will inevitably get turned into the “lads day out” of the season. Buses from here, there and everywhere getting pulled over and relieved of crates of whatever’s been on offer at Thornaby Asda. Fellas with their tops off, kids with sunburn booting balls around in pub car parks. An edgy win, secured with a Jutkiewicz toe-poke in the closing minutes at our end. Dreamland.
DERBY COUNTY (away)
Win.
Cooking. On. Gas. Now. The Riverside with black seats always makes us feel at home, which is actually sometimes a problem. Not this year, though. “Brian Clough, he’s one of our own” bellows out from the depleted travelling army (a few ‘Our Lass’ banning orders imposed after Hull) as The Boro wrap it up with time to spare and gain a little breathing space in the top six.
DONCASTER ROVERS (home)
Win.
I had a soft spot for Donny. Until that is, they signed you know who. Probably mathematically doomed by this stage and happy for us to take the points – we can only hope.
SOUTHAMPTON (home)
Lose.
The Saints to be presented with the Championship trophy after they get power past us for the second time this season. We don’t need to drown our sorrows though, because our playoff challengers drop points again leaving us safe and sound in the top six with a game to spare. All we’re playing for now is the right to avoid the Happy Hammers in the semis.
WATFORD (away)
Draw.
Beach balls. Fancy dress and a competition to see whose smartphone uploads the scores from around the grounds the quickest. Mogga rests a couple but we still manage to round things off competitively and finish in a more than respectable fifth. Afterwards, everyone to get out of Watford asap. It must be home to the grimmest collection of pubs I’ve ever set foot in.
Which means?
We’ll play Brighton in the playoff semis and get to the new Wembley for the first time only to lose to West Ham in the final…
Five things from Forest (home)
Boro’s first league win of 2012 is deserving of a quick Ayresome Gates five things, I’m sure you will agree. Without further ado, let’s get things started with:
1: Feeling the love for Lukaz Jutkiewicz
There was boatloads of February 14 admiration for our new front man. The human battering ram dealt with every ball we launched in his direction as well as plenty of grappling, tugging and shoving from Forest’s defence.
His touch is cute and he seems to be resilient and willing enough to run off minor knocks which is more than can be said for many forwards in the modern game.
His second goal in as many home games was hugely satisfying. Touch. Turn. Shoot. This kid looks like he could be the real deal.
With 16 league games left, I wouldn’t bet against him reaching double figures.
2: We’ve got Jason Steele
Young Steeley didn’t do himself any harm at Ipswich when he led his team mates in saluting the away fans when the abandonment was confirmed. That kind of gesture lives long in the memory but his performance in between the posts last night was even more impressive.
He bravely dived in at the feet of onrushing forwards on at least three occasions and is developing more of a presence thanks to the mildly amusing way he rushes out and berates his back four after mistakes.
Only The Juke beat him to the man of the match award in my eyes. If he gets better at catching the ball we will all be able to relax a bit more.
3: Man In Black
I was flabbergasted by some of the crowd reaction to the referee’s performance. I thought he had quite a decent game and fairly dealt with some of the dafter tackles made by both sides.
I’m yet to see replays of Kevin Thomson’s tackles but in the flesh they were both worthy of yellow cards. Mogga may have said otherwise but until I do see them on the small screen I’ll reserve the right to differ. Yes, even with Mogga.
The booing of the ref was so intense at full time (we had won, remember) that it was impossible to hear our new friendly announcer read the other scores out. These things are important at this time of the season, folks.
4: Death burgers
Night games aren’t much fun when you work in Newcastle. In fact, not much is fun when you work in Newcastle but missing tea before a 7.45pm kick off is particularly annoying. I arrived in the East Stand with ten minutes to spare and decided to chance a pint of concourse Carlsberg alongside a heavily-grilled burger complete with rapidly-discolouring salad. Never again.
5: Our best Curtis since Fleming
The young Geordie enjoyed another run out. Since his emergence I’ve heard him compared to Phil Stamp and Wayne Rooney. If we end up with a finished product somewhere in between, we’ll be doing just nicely.
The way he held the ball up and made bursts towards goal in the closing minutes was a huge factor in us holding on to all three points. Of course he’s raw, but for the minute he’s exciting and a thoroughly decent option from the bench.
