The last time I wrote for this website was in the aftermath of Gareth Southgate’s sacking. That was four months ago - plenty of time for Southgate’s successor Gordon Strachan to have imprinted his mark upon the Middlesbrough squad.

Those four months have seen a tinkering of tactics and personnel. Loan signings have come and gone. Some players have been moved on, replaced by new ones, mostly from Strachan’s back-catalogue of Celtic stalwarts. The result: Boro have slid down the table – out of contention for automatic promotion, and in to a desperate struggle to even make the play-offs. Performances on the field have fizzled and spluttered, but failed to ignite. Beating Peterborough – the Championship’s bottom club - at home last weekend came as a relief, a glimmer of hope for a resurgence of form. Within a week two more defeats and two more blanks in front of goal have dropped us right back in to the pessimism we had only so briefly been dragged out of.

Moved on to pastures new

The majority of Boro fans were happy to see the back of Southgate, having held him solely responsible for ending our decade-long stay in the Premier League. Most fans were happy to see Strachan appointed – believing the fiery Scot would give our young team the sort of snarling motivation that just wasn’t in Southgate’s make-up. It hasn’t worked out that way.

Is Willo Flood really any better than Mark Yeates? Is our back four really any better now? Is Kyle Naughton good enough to keep Tony McMahon, Justin Hoyte and Rhys Williams all out of the team? Maybe he is, but can we really afford to have all four of them on the wage bill?

The wage bill is the key to our financial security. People cite the £12million signing of Afonso Alves as showing that Southgate wasted money, but compared to the Steve McClaren era of bringing in ageing stars of long-term, big-money contracts – the likes of Gaizka Mendieta, Mark Viduka and Ugo Ehiogu draining millions a year in wages out of the club – Southgate made great strides towards safe-guarding the financial future of the club. He did this by moving these ‘stars’ on and cultivating our youngsters to replace them. He did this by stream-lining the playing staff to a manageable and affordable size. The result was relegation – so Southgate must have been wrong, so he deserved to be sacked. Didn’t he?

The way Southgate approached the Boro job led to him being compared to Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal boss has made a reputation for developing young talent, living within his means and, in recent years, for not winning anything. Does that make his philosophies wrong? Football is a results business after all.

On Sky Sport’s Soccer Saturday yesterday, former Boro star Paul Merson lambasted Wenger for not ‘buying for now.’ Merson echoed the age-old sentiments about not winning anything with kids. Of course, we know that that is not always the case.

Wenger himself offers a different take. He recently admitted that Arsenal cannot compete in the transfer market with Chelsea and Manchester United – not because they can’t afford the transfer fees, but because of the wage demands attached to ‘world class’ talent. Arsenal try to remain competitive while still operating within their means. Surely this should be respected?

But no, in football all that is respected is winning. So Chelsea can be bankrolled by a Russian billionaire and spend irretrievable sums of cash chasing their success. Roman Abramovich’s aim is clear – he wants to win the Champions League with Chelsea. Chelsea isn’t a business to him. It’s another trophy-wife, another yacht, another symbol of his wealth – something, finally, that his billionaire friends might envy of him, particularly if he does get his hands on that elusive European trophy. He neither needs nor loves Chelsea, and he might merely discard the club once he tires of it.

If Abramovich departed, Chelsea would be left looking for another sugar-daddy, rich enough and spiritually devoid enough to while away a fraction of his fortune on a prestigious whim.

And yet Chelsea are more respected than Arsenal, because they are winning. McClaren was given the England job because he was winning at Boro. Sometimes. Southgate’s more ethical approach has taken him straight in to the unglamorous world of television commentary.

So who is right? Who is wrong? Is Wenger wrong to have built the best youth academy in Europe, which can self-produce a squad capable of regularly finishing in the top-four, which can compete in the Champions League and which, at some point, must surely start winning trophies again? Is he wrong to shun big-names and big wages in favour of lesser known, more affordable talent?

No. Wenger’s philosophies are right. He is doing the best for his club, the same as Southgate was trying to do for Boro. It falls down for Arsenal because there are too many clubs around them willing to sacrifice self-sustainability for instant success. But, of these, only Chelsea and Manchester United have managed to stay ahead of Arsenal. Arsenal continue to stick to their principles, and they continue to fend off the less ethical challenges of Tottenham or Manchester City, both of whom are haemorrhaging money in the pursuit of Arsenal’s more frugally achieved success.

From a Boro perspective, pre-Southgate we had a good, long stint in the Premier League. We saw silverware and European football for the first time in our history. This was fantastic to be part of, but we were left counting the cost and Southgate, in particular, was left picking up the pieces.

Some of the work Southgate did towards making us sustainable has already been undone. Strachan has swelled the ranks of the squad, and therefore the wage bill, with a number of players, particularly Flood, Chris Killen and Lee Miller, who may not be any better than what we already had. We now have seven strikers on the books – Killen, Miller, Scott McDonald, Jeremie Aliadiere, Leroy Lita, Marvin Emnes and Jonathan Franks – which seems excessive. Emnes seems totally out of the picture, while Lita has only been used sparingly. Killen and McDonald both seem to have arrived with injury problems, and Miller seems to be perhaps sixth choice out of the seven, ahead only of Emnes.

We are not a club who can carry excess squad players, particularly when we are only pulling 17,000 or so fans in to the stadium. Of course, we would ignore these inconvenient truths if we were getting success on the pitch. But we’re not.

Perhaps this is because the key to getting goals isn’t the sheer quantity of strikers you have at the club. The key to getting goals is the quality of service from the midfield players, and our midfield is as short of numbers and quality as ever. Three of the players who seemed most likely to create chances under Southgate – Yeates, Adam Johnson and Didier Digard – have all left. The two additions Strachan has made – Flood and Barry Robson – seem to add more perspiration than inspiration. We are beginning to look alarmingly like what we currently are – an average, mid-table Championship club.

Four months ago, I wrote an article entitled Be careful what you wish for. Sadly what we, the Boro faithful, wished for was exactly what we got – change for the sake of change, change because we were impatient, and change which has, so far at least, achieved nothing.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Strachan yet to convince

Thanks for the memories

But that's not the whole story. Steve McClaren - our most successful ever manager - had left Southgate a legacy of £90million debt and unrealistic expectation. Chairman Steve Gibson had tried to hire Martin O'Neil and then Terry Venables to replace McClaren, but neither wanted the job. So Gibson turned to Southgate. Southgate was captain of the team, with no coaching badges, no experience and no credentials in management. But he had ambition. He would not turn down the opportunity which had fallen at his feet, and he would not argue when Gibson said that we needed to streamline the club. We needed to sell off the best players. We needed to rely increasingly on the academy. We needed to become self-sufficient for the future. All of this made sense to Southgate, and he not only carried out Gibson's wishes but genuinely believed in what he was doing.

Trying to steer the likes of Mendieta, Ehiogu and Viduka out of the club, while trying to persuade the likes of Yakubu, Woodgate and Downing to stay was a unique brief, like which no other manager had experienced before. Forget the big names: the idea was to make the club run cheaper but stay in the Premier League.

For Southgate this was an outrageously big ask. But he put everything in to it. He made some awful signings. He snared some bargains. He was honest, to the last. He did not deserve the indignity with which he was finally dismissed. He had stuck dogmatically to what he had been asked to do. He had tried hard. In the face of the most intense scrutiny, he always remained true to what he believed, and to the brief he had been given.

We were relegated. This was the disappointing result of the necessary restructuring. Perhaps it could have been avoided with more guile and nous. But the guile and nous of O'Neil and Venables had turned us down. Nobody of that calibre had wanted the job. The reason? Because it was going to be a damned hard job. The 'top' managers wouldn't have gone for it, because they would have known it was a dead rubber.

How will Southgate's sacking affect players like Johnson?

Southgate took it on because he wanted to do his bit for Middlesbrough, and because he was willing to put himself on the line for the club. For us to have treated him so shabbily is deeply upsetting. Sacking him after relegation, or even before, would have been acceptable. But to publicly announce, and for Keith Lamb to tell Southgate to his face, that Gordon Strachan had been lined up (rightly or wrongly) two weeks earlier was just plain rude to a dignified man who had always done his best for us.

If Strachan comes in and gets us promoted, no-one will worry about the principle of what has gone before. If Strachan comes in and struggles, perhaps he will get sacked and we'll look for another manager. Perhaps we will start to behave like Newcastle, who never stand by a manager if he ever has a bad spell and perhaps we will end up being as much of a joke as they have been in recent times.

Yes, they are ahead of us in the league now but, prior to Tuesday, we had a greater stability and a better platform for long-term success. We could have been proud of our club for staying true to its principles. If we have now dropped to Newcastle’s level of managing their club by populist whim, then we should worry for our future.

And it is worrying that Strachan is yet to be confirmed. If he was interviewed three weeks ago, what is the hold up? Is he holding out for more spending money, bearing in mind we have just spent three years making the club financially viable? Isn't that why O'Neil didn't want the job four years ago?

Let's hope that Strachan will come in and fix the problems we have had under Southgate, particularly conceding late goals. But if he doesn't, and we fans have simply had Southgate sacked with no evident alternative, then we could have ruined any chance we had of getting promoted at the first time of asking.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Be careful what you wish for……..

For the first time in his reign as Chairman, Steve Gibson has sacked a manager. In the face of indifferent form, supporter disquiet and dwindling home attendances, he has taken brutally decisive action. Not even a comfortable win over Derby was enough to buy Gareth Southgate a stay of execution, and Gibson barely gave the manager time to enjoy the victory before breaking the bad news.

Gibson has revealed that he made the decision about three weeks ago, and has a strategy in place for life after Southgate. In other words, the chairman has an ace up his sleeve: a new man to take the club forward.

The question is "Who?"

There have already been several candidates touted, falling in to four distinct categories: the veterans, the proven, the unproven and the rookies.

Amongst the veterans is Gordon Strachan, who apparently is the favourite for the job. Other older managers who have been mentioned include Terry Venables, Graeme Souness and, incredulously, Kevin Keegan. Venables would be a fairly popular choice, having successfully helped save the club from relegation in the latter stages of Bryan Robson's reign. The biggest doubt is whether he has the appetite for a return to club management, and whether he could be considered a long-term solution.

Strachan and Souness both have the fiery side that Southgate so lacks as a manager. Fans who believe that a good kick up the arse is crucial to players' motivation would favour one of these Scots. However, neither of them actually have the greatest of track records. If you write off his time at Celtic (on the grounds of it being in the SPL and, therefore, completely pointless), Strachan has had an indifferent managerial career. 'Indifferent' could also be applied to Souness' career, although many more cultured observers prefer the term 'shite.' Keegan? At least it would wind the Geordies up, but he is hardly a reliable option.

The proven candidates include Steve Coppell, Alan Curbishley and Paul Jewell. Each of these is available and each of them has had success at taking clubs from the Championship to the Premier League on limited budgets. They are, on the face of it, prime candidates for the job. Coppell in particular may be interested in getting back in to management with Boro. Being young, talented and English, he suits us and, being an ambitious little-big club, we suit him. He did an excellent job at Reading, putting together a solid team capable of playing attractive football and competing with the best.

Curbishley and Jewell are both less suited to the job. Curbishley has aspirations beyond the realms Boro can offer him: he sees himself as a big-name manager, deserving of a top job and formerly a candidate for the England job. Curbishley would see Boro as a step back to his Charlton days. Yes, he has done it before, but does he have the appetite to do that sort of job again? Jewell has a questionable track record, having done well at Wigan but struggling in other jobs, particularly at Derby County.

Big Nigel Pearson is top of the unproven list, ahead of the likes of Paul Ince. The former Boro captain is a like a bigger, harder, less waffy version of the departed Southgate. He gives the impression of commanding respect, something which Southgate never did, and he seems increasingly to be earning a glowing reputation in the game. However, it would be a gamble to appoint one so young, who is still cutting his teeth at this level. In any case, Milan Mandaric, his chairman at Leicester, has already issued a strong 'hands off' warning. Ince has only just gone back to MK Dons, and is unlikely to want to leave them again so soon. We probably wouldn't want him anyway - what does he offer that Southgate didn't?

Let's remember that our last three bosses have all been new to management. Will Gibson do the same again? Will he look for a Robson-esque big name appointment to get fans flocking back through the turnstiles? The rookie that stands out is Juninho. The Little Fella's place in the hearts of the Teesside faithful is as secure now as it ever was, and he remains the most popular character ever associated with this club. Of course, he has no managerial credentials whatsoever. Of course, an unsuccessful stint as manager could tarnish the great memories he has already given us. But that's no different to Southgate, and Gibson gave him the job!

Perhaps Fabrizio Ravanelli - who has his coaching badges and has previously stated his ambition to get in to management - is a more realistic 'big name' candidate. Would he do a good job? Who knows - there is no field of reference in which to assess him, or Juninho, as a potential manager. As romantic an idea as it is, the initial excitement of such an appointment would always be overshadowed by the impending dread of another rookie manager taking the reins. Now, surely, is the time for someone with some experience.

Having said that, Southgate hasn't left us in bad shape and whoever comes in has a great opportunity. We are only a point from the top of the table. We have the makings of a very good squad for this level, including some of the league's best players: Adam Johnson, Gary O'Neil and David Wheater. Keeping these players in January will be one of the new man's most important tasks. Perhaps bringing in a new striker in January is another. Without doubt, cutting out the sloppy defending and sorting out the home form will also be on the list. Those four points make up a straight-forward to do list for the new gaffer, and once they are all ticked off, promotion should follow.

The relegation will always characterise Southgate's time in charge, but the context should not be forgotten. Southgate took over with the club in economic free-fall. He oversaw a major restructure, streamlining the playing squad and the backroom staff, selling off big-names, promoting academy prospects and making the club viable long-term. He managed the club through an impossibly difficult period with dignity, integrity and honesty and that, if nothing else, should be respected.

Perhaps Southgate would have got us promoted this season, perhaps not. There was nothing wrong with his footballing philosophies, and the courage of his convictions was admirable. On the negative side, he never convinced us of his tactical nous. He seemed unable to influence a game with substitutions or tactical changes, and some of his transfer dealings have rightly been criticised - particularly signing Afonso Alves and selling Lee Cattermole.

As a young manager learning his trade some of these things can be forgiven, but there are few Boro fans genuinely disappointed to see Southgate go. Three years is a long time to still be learning and, for Southgate, it was too long. Gibson - the most patient chairman in the league - has finally lost his patience, and Southgate has gone. Only time will tell whether this is for the best.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

What happens next?

The £5million signing of Arsenal’s Paul Merson signalled this intent, but as transfer deadline day approached promotion was anything but certain. Robson decided to dig in to the chairman’s pockets with a further four major signings: Paul Gascoigne, Marco Branca, Alun Armstrong and the enigmatic Columbian Hamilton Ricard.

Signing Gazza couldn’t help but capture the imagination. Branca booked himself a place in Boro folklore by hitting the net nine times in twelve games, including goals against Sunderland and Liverpool. Alun Armstrong scored important goals in the run in too. The first impression of Ricard, on the other hand, was something entirely different.

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As a Columbian international, the signing evoked comparisons with Newcastle United’s mercurial Faustino Asprilla. Looking at the guy he was a big, strong centre-forward from South America. With the size and power and Samba-star flair Ricard would be unstoppable, wouldn’t he?

And then we saw him play. Some fans said he looked like a pub player. Some said he looked like he had never seen a football before. Whether these were harsh words or not, it is certainly true that the big lad struggled to settle in to the English game. His first-touch was woeful, his finishing was worse and he just looked like, well, a bit of a lump.

Of the four players brought in, Ricard was the least effective and least well-received in what went on to become a successful promotion push.

It may then have surprised the sceptical fans that Ricard stood the test of time better than any of the other three. Gazza’s Boro career was brief and, at its best, inconsistent. Branca and Armstrong both had theirs ruined by serious injury problems. Ricard on the other hand went on to be Boro’s top scorer for the following two seasons, and stayed with the club until being released by Steve McClaren in 2001.

Since leaving the club Ricard’s career and life seem to have gone rapidly downhill. He has played in Europe, Asia and South America, with little or no success. More controversially, in 2002 he was given a 12 month ban for attacking a referee. Worse still, in the same year he was involved in a car accident in which a passenger died. Reportedly, he was later charged with causing death by dangerous driving and, in 2007, was sentenced to three years behind bars.

In happier times, Ricard scored 33 goals in 116 appearances for Boro, at a goal every 3.5 games. Take away the 23 sub appearances and that ratio is better than one in three, not a bad return for a player who had looked so dire at first glance. Despite this, he never really won over the fans. Brian Deane, by contrast, scored 18 in 87 at a goal every 4.8 games. Perhaps a more telling comparison is Fabrizio Ravanelli, who banged in 17 goals in 34 games, at exactly one in two. Rav was a hard act to follow, for Ricard, for Deane, and for any one else.

Ricard scored 33 goals in 116 appearances for Boro, at a goal every 3.5 games. Take away the 23 sub appearances and that ratio is better than one in three.

Part of the reason for fans not warming to Ricard may have been that no-one could quite fathom him out. Was he supposed to be an Asprilla-type flair player? Sometimes he looked so leaden-footed that he couldn’t have possibly been compared to that sort of player. At other times though, he would pull out a remarkable goal from no-where. Was he supposed to be a more physical type of player (which we would now call a Heskey-type)? He was big enough and ugly enough for that role, and strong enough to hold up the ball, but he was never quite good enough in the air.

If Ricard confused the fans, he certainly confused opposition defences too, and perhaps this was integral to the small successes he did achieve in a Boro shirt. He scored some memorable goals, including a glorious top-corner curler against Bradford, which even his team-mates seemed surprised by. Hey, even Hammy himself sometimes seemed surprised by his own genius, and maybe that’s what held him back. Had Ricard have been more self-confident and believed in his own ability, perhaps he could have been a more consistent performer, a more regular goal-scorer and perhaps he could even have won over the Teesside faithful.

Hammy scored some memorable goals:

Sadly though, he will go down in our memories as exactly what he was: an enigma. He was the inconsistent, underperforming, goal-shy striker, who was actually our most persistent goal threat over the time he played for us. He was the big guy with bags of flair who never really carved out a niche for himself in our team. He was the player that Robson deemed not as good at leading the line as Brian Deane, and that McClaren deemed less likely to score goals than Noel Whelan and Alen Boksic. He was the player reviled by some Boro fans and revered by others.

He was simply Hamilton Ricard, a unique and perplexing talent. All the best Hammy, thanks for the slightly confusing memories. Ah, one more time: Riiiicard, Riiiicard, Riiiicard!!!

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Hamilton Ricard - Misfit, legend, or a bit of both?

But now, we have won two on the bounce. Adam Johnson is on fire. Jeremie Aliadiere – thanks to some clever man-management from Gareth Southgate – is a striker reinvigorated. We have signed Sean St Ledger. We are, apparently, nailed on to sign Caleb Folan. And, OK, these are not big-name signings, but isn’t that the point?

Look at those who have gone out the door this season: Huth, Tuncay, Afonso Alves, Mido and Stewart Downing. Every one of them is an international star, on big money and with limited regard for club loyalty.

Look at the players who have come in: Leroy Lita, Mark Yeates and Sean St Ledger are all still quite young. They all have a point to prove and they are all hungry. Danny Coyne is veteran of the lower leagues, again with a point to prove and the hunger to do it at Boro who, to him, are a proper ‘big club.’ If we get Caleb Folan, we’re getting a guy who has done OK and shown promise at various lower league clubs, had a good spell in the Championship with Hull, and has gone off the boil. He’s 27 next month, so if he’s going to prove himself he’s going to prove himself now.

Gareth Southgate has taken his share of stick, so let’s praise him when he deserves it. One thing he has always done is speak honestly and openly about his footballing philosophies. He believes in signing ‘the right type of players.’ He has laid out the criteria for this: ideally players in the right age-band, players who will be proud to wear the Boro shirt, and who will work for it, players with a team mentality. All of those criteria are met by each of the outfield signings Southgate has made in this window. They are all in their mid-twenties. They are all looking to make their name. Most importantly, they are all looking to do it at Middlesbrough Football Club. Only Lita has any trace of big-time arrogance about him, and even he proved his desire to play by going on unglamorous loan-spells at Charlton and Norwich last season.

The departure of Alves could be symbolic for this club: the last of the Prima Donnas. If we rewind back, past 1994, past Bryan Robson, can you remember a Boro player who would refuse to turn up for training? Can you remember a player sulking, demanding a transfer? Perhaps I was just too young and naive to know any different, but I remember something entirely different. I remember the likes of Tony Mowbray, Gary Pallister and Stuart Ripley moving on to genuinely bigger clubs, for decent transfer fees, with the blessing of the fans and with their reputations untarnished on Teesside.

We were a community club then, fresh from financial disaster, proud of the youngsters that brought us back from the brink, and humble enough to know the value of what we had. We were realistic enough to not turn our noses up at a million quid for our talismanic leader, and we were happy for Mogga that Celtic wanted him. To see Pallister play with such distinction for Manchester United and England was like seeing one of us doing it. The time may come when we experience the same emotions with David Wheater. Wheater as a player has more resonance with the Boro fans than a more cultured-type like Stewart Downing. Every Boro fan would feel like, if Wheater were playing for England, a part of them was playing for England. He’s that sort of player.

No doubt we will see Downing play for England many times, and I hope he does well, but Downing is the local lad turned modern big-time player. He’s the Pallister Park kid who lost his way, fell in with the wrong crowd (football agents) and looked off to the bright lights. He made the wrong noises at the wrong times, manufacturing a future for himself when he should have been focussing 100% on his hometown club. You can’t blame the lad – that was the culture he was brought up in. He grew up - in a football sense - around the likes of Yakubu, Mark Viduka and Jonathan Woodgate. How could some of their superstar mentalities not have rubbed off on him?

But the Vidukas of this world are behind us now. And so are the Juninhos, the Emersons and the Fabrizio Ravanellis. And for all the great images that are attached to those stand-out names in our history, that’s OK. It’s OK because the joy of the Juninho era was spoiled by the relegation of 1997. It’s OK because the UEFA Cup runs – and the great games they brought – were spoilt by the 4-0 defeat in the final. More than anything it’s OK because all of the glitz and the glamour never brought us anything, other than the Mickey Mouse Cup and the memories, and it nearly cost us everything.

We tried to restructure and arrest the financial decline that the Robson-McClaren ‘glory years’ brought us while maintaining our Premier League status, and we failed. But that’s OK too, because now the restructure seems to be nearing completion. The young, vibrant squad that Southgate has promised all along is finally emerging, and it looks good. It feels good. It could get us back up at the first attempt. And, with a few careful additions, it could compete in the Premier League. What’s more, it – we – could compete in the Premier League on our terms, with a team cast in our image.

We are not big-name. We are not glamour. We are not Prima Donnas. We are Teesside. We are proud of it. We are not trying to be something we aren’t and, in spite of our economic difficulties we will take on all comers.

Forget the doom and gloom - we have got our club back. And, fuelled by the country’s best academy, a realistically modest but fiercely loyal following and sound financial backing, Middlesbrough Football Club just might have a bright future after all.

Up the Boro.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Forget the doom and gloom – we’ve got our club back

Billed as a tantalising opening-day pairing of two promotion favourites, the game petered out in to a flaccid goalless draw. Worse still, from a Boro perspective, we probably lost the bout on points. We looked good at times, but we only mustered one shot on target, and that was a speculative long-range punt from Mark Yeates. Sheffield United managed to get in close to us, and it was the Blades who looked like packing a more powerful punch. Our guard held up, even if it did look a bit ragged at times.

The overriding message from the opening match was loud and clear: we are in a fight and, to win, we will need to be bigger, stronger and nastier than we have been before.

The question is: with the transfer window still open, and our ins and outs far from completed, how capable are we of doing this?

The answer, at the moment, is simple: we don’t know.

If the build up to the new season brought some excitement and anticipation back to the Boro faithful, the start itself has swiftly floored those emotions. Instead, the familiar feelings of nervousness, concern and uncertainty have come back at us with renewed vigour.

And something tells me our next three opponents won’t be pulling any punches as we continue to learn the ropes in this league. Swansea City (away), Scunthorpe United (away) and Doncaster Rovers (home) is a run of fixtures that quickly makes you nostalgic for the glory days, when we could stand toe-to-toe with the heavyweights of English football. But you can only beat what is in front of you, and we need to start racking up points against these supposed smaller clubs. If we can outstrip them with attacking flamboyancy, letting our superior class shine through, that would be great. If, on the other hand, we have to fight dirty and scrape through, then so be it.

One thing is certain: they will all want to be the one who knocks us out.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Swansea City, Scunthorpe United, Doncaster Rovers…. Let’s face it, the glamour has gone!

Gareth Southgate admitted last week that failing to get promoted at the first attempt would probably cost him his job. In truth, most Boro fans will probably start calling for his head if we fail to start the season with a bang.

The club's transfer activity has been pretty limited over the summer, which is generally thought of as a bad thing, as we haven't brought in many reinforcements to bolster the squad. On the other hand, the likes of Robert Huth, Gary O'Neil and Jeremie Aliadiere all seem set to stay, which we probably didn't expect in May.

Mido has gone, which is a boost to the club. Ross Turnbull has gone, which was a shame. Stewie Downing has gone, which was inevitable. Apart from that Tuncay and Afonso Alves' situations are still unresolved. Could either of them line up for us on Friday? Surely Alves could cut it in the Championship, and any matches we get out of Tuncay this season would be a bonus.

We have only brought in two players, which is disappointing. Mark Yeates looks exciting, and Danny Coyne looks like a good - and very necessary - addition to the squad. We fans would have expected more than a combined £500k transfer spend this summer, particularly when you offset it against the £12million received for Downing. Maybe there will be more developments in the next few days, and maybe not. Maybe we will have to wait until the end of August for some more transfer deadline drama. Maybe we just won't sign anyone else.

Let's work on a worst case scenario, and assume that Tuncay and Alves will both go before Friday, and that we don't bring anyone else in. What happens if we just have to work with what we have got?

We have Coyne and Brad Jones challenging for the Number 1 spot, and I suspect that Coyne is in pole position for that one. It will be interesting to see how he gets on.

We have something of a surplus of defenders - although popular comment amongst Boro fans is that we need a new left back - I genuinely believe we have enough options already. Emanuel Pogatetz, Andrew Taylor, Jonathan Grounds, Joe Bennett and Seb Hines could all play there. Our centre-backs should be amongst the best in the division, and we have several right back options. Defensively, we have enough individuals - we just need them organised in to a solid unit. We can't defend set-pieces like we did last season if we want to go up. Apparently Coyne's communication is one of his main strengths, so hopefully this will help.

In midfield the squad is thin, but there is some good talent there. Yeates, Didier Digard, O'Neil and Adam Johnson should be a quality midfield at this level. If Julio Arca regains form he will be a big player for us in the Championship too. Unless we get some more back up in though, we will desperately need to avoid the kind of injury crisis we had last Christmas. One possible surprise solution is the emergence of Rhys Williams as a goalscoring midfield dynamo in pre-season. Whether this could transfer from friendlies to league football remains to be seen.

Up front, the pace of Aliadiere and Marvin Emnes should cause problems. Jonathan Franks has been bigged up in pre-season, so let's hope he can step up. And, er, that's about it for strikers. Again, an injury or two would leave us desperately short.

I'm not as worried as some seem to be, but I would like to see a couple of experienced Championship players brought in, including at least one big centre-forward.

I don't think we're far off having a squad capable of getting us back to the Premiership, but it is so hard to predict this league. Reading, West Brom and Sheffield United will all be gunning for promotion, while teams like Roy Keane's Ipswich and Darren Ferguson's Peterborough could challenge. God knows what Newcastle will end up doing this season - they could win the league or get relegated for all I know!

I can't quite work out whether I'm excited, nervous or absolutely terrified about Friday's kick-off, but whichever way, I really can't wait now.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Are we ready?

In the same year, we signed full England international Nick Barmby. Then we signed Brazilian prodigy Juninho. In 1996, we signed European Cup winner Fabrizio Ravanelli. The excitement was too much to bear.

Now, we are signing Mark Yeates, from League One side Colchester United, for an undisclosed fee. Cue tumbleweed moment.

Is this an uninspiring, unimaginative and un-ambitious signing by a club in financial crisis, with a manager who hasn’t a clue how to mount a promotion challenge? Or is it a return to the Middlesbrough of old?

Before Fjortoft and his famous flying celebration, Boro had precious little glamour. Bryan Robson had only recently arrived on Teesside, and his revolution was in its precocious infancy. The club’s biggest signing to that point had been right-back Neil Cox, for a then club record £1million from Aston Villa. Cox’s signing seems light years away from that of Ravanelli just two years later.

But hang on. Coxy was a good right-back, who played an integral part in the team that got promoted in Robbo’s first season. He went on to give a pretty good account of himself in the Premier League.

Jan was a pretty decent striker, and a natural fans’ favourite. He helped us get promoted, and was then the fulcrum of the famously successful ‘midget gems’ attack that tormented Premier League defences before Juninho’s arrival.

After Juninho signed, we plummeted down the league. After Ravanelli signed, we were relegated. We threw money at more stars. Gazza, Hamilton Ricard and Paul Merson were all bought in the pursuit of promotion, and promotion we got.

Since then, a galaxy of stars has passed through Teesside: Yakubu, Mark Viduka, Gaizka Mendieta, Ray Parlour, Ugo Ehiogu, Michael Reizeger, Danny Mills, Gareth Southgate, Massimo Maccarone, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink; the list goes on. Each world-class player signed was greeted with fan-fare, delirium and the promise of greatness. The result? £90million debt, a mickey-mouse cup and a 4-0 drubbing in the UEFA Cup final.

Now we have been relegated again. Where did it all go wrong?

Shouldn’t we have bought more stars? Shouldn’t we have dug ever-deeper in to Steve Gibson’s bottomless pockets? Shouldn’t we have kept Yakubu and Viduka and Schwarzer even if they didn’t want to play for us? Why on earth are we signing Mark Yeates?

Apparently, Mark Yeates is the first player Boro have signed from outside of the top two divisions (or abroad) since Craig Hignett. Interesting that, particularly as Higgy typifies the change in the club’s culture under Robson. While Robbo went out scouring South America for expensive but glamorous talent, such as Branco, Hignett was on the expendable list. Hignett was forced to take a pay-cut just to stay at the club.

Players such as Hignett, John Hendrie and Robbie Mustoe, much like Coxy and Jan, were not that glamorous. They were not world-beaters or major international stars. But they would run through brick-walls for Middlesbrough Football Club. They were good footballers. They were all integral parts of a good team. They were all parts of a team that could compete with the best.

None of them required a team to be built around them. They were square pegs in square holes. They were hard workers who appreciated the gift of being a professional footballer. It’s interesting that we were performing well in the league with all of these players in the side. They were key players in a side with only one recognised international star, Nick Barmby. But even Barmby was a team player. He has proven this by prolonging his career with Hull City.

The rest of the squad were predominantly workmanlike players – such as Curtis Fleming, Chris Morris and Steve Vickers – who gave their all for the club. Overall, the squad was made up of decent pros picked up at reasonable prices, with a few touches of class.

So, where did it all go wrong?

We forgot where the success up to 95-96 had come from. We forgot about the hard-work and industry. We forgot our roots.

Robson may have set up the Academy at Middlesbrough, but he wasted the talent that came through in his era. Phil Stamp, Alan Moore and Mark Summerbell stand out as players who might have gone far under a different regime.

Compare that the current squad. Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Matthew Bates, David Wheater, Brad Jones, Tony McMahon, Rhys Williams, and so on. All of them could have big futures in the game, and Gareth Southgate seems intent on getting that out of them. He seems intent on teaching them about hard work and industry. He seems intent on reminding them of their roots.

Part of this process is to remove the bad seeds – the ones who don’t want to be here, the ones who don’t want to put in the graft, the ones who won’t take on the responsibility. The big-time Charlies. Cue mini-exodus: Schwarzer, Cattermole, Boateng, Viduka and Yakubu. Southgate can’t have foreseen so many of his top players leaving so readily. He must have been hurt that they wouldn’t embrace his vision, and back his ideals. He must have been tempted to bow to pressure and offer them more lucrative deals, promise them guaranteed first team football and to meet whatever other whims they demanded.

But he didn’t. He stuck to his guns and Boro got relegated for it. Even so, he’s still sticking to his guns, and that in its self should be admired. A weaker man would have walked away.

The mantra now is about hungry players: that means players that want to be at the club, want to work hard for the club and want to be part of success at the club. Players like Hignett, Fjortoft and Hendrie. 110%ers. Players like Mark Yeates will hopefully prove to be.

If signing Mark Yeates signals a return to this sort of transfer policy, is that really so bad?

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Yeates signing signals transfer shift?

The angry majority of Boro fans have been calling for boss Gareth Southgate's head for a long while now, but this back-room departure comes somewhat out of the blue. According to the report on BBC Sport, and Crosby's comments, the decision was down to Southgate. The gaffer himself has called it his hardest decision as a manager. So, the bottom line is that Southgate sacked Crosby.

In my previous article, There's only one Stevie Gibson, I touched on the subject of the replacing Crosby:

A concern that is often overlooked is the quality of the people around Southgate. As a young manager still learning his trade, he is sometimes going to need an older head to guide him. That is his assistant Malcolm Crosby’s role at the club, but how qualified is he to do it?

Perhaps Southgate would be better served asking for some advice from some of his old contacts in the game. Not least a man who has helped us out of trouble before, and who is currently unemployed, Terry Venables.

Whether Terry Venables would be interested in joining Southgate's team is doubtful, but moving Crosby on does create an opportunity for Southgate. It is a chance to bring in, or promote, a stronger number two. There is no doubting that the best managers have quality assistants. It has been a feature of Manchester United's success, with Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren and Carlos Queiroz. Pat Rice at Arsenal, Eric Black at Wigan (now Sunderland) and Steve Clark at West Ham are all recognised as being crucial to the success of their managers and clubs.

If Southgate can bring the right man in this could go a long way to solving many of the long-standing problems at the club. We struggle to defend set-pieces. We don't seem to get the best out of our players, particularly the likes of Mido and Afonso Alves. Morale at the club tends to be fragile, and this has led to some spectacular losing streaks. A strong assistant manager could redress the training methods, take some of the weight of man-management off Southgate and help instil confidence in the squad.

Of course these things are ultimately the manager's responsibility, but he clearly needs to have the right staff in place to support him. Crosby seems like a nice guy, who has clearly been a supportive, possibly fatherly, figure for Southgate. He is experienced in the game but has never had any great success and, prior to joining Boro, as reserve team manager, he had been working some pretty low profile jobs.

Crosby's comforting presence has no doubt helped Southgate to cope, personally, with the tough times this season. Crosby seems to be the sort of assistant who would put his arm around the manager after a defeat and tell him everything will be alright.

This is not what Southgate needs. He needs an assistant with a successful track record of his own, and the personal confidence that brings. He needs an assistant with his own ideas, willing to argue a point to challenge Southgate's thoughts. A commanding assistant could be absolutely crucial in Southgate's own development as a manager and, as a result, the development of Middlesbrough Football Club.

It is encouraging to see Southgate axe arguably his closest ally. This is another example to contradict popular opinion that Southgate is 'too nice' to be a manager. He has sacked his close confidant, his loyal supporter and, presumably, his friend, in order to move the club forward. It's another example to show Southgate willing to make tough choices, and to follow through on his principles. It's another example to back up why some Boro fans still think Southgate could have what it takes to be a good manager for this club, despite having taken us down.

What happens next is critical. If someone of Venables' stature could be brought in it would be a major coup. If someone is promoted internally, most likely Colin Cooper, it would be a major gamble. An option somewhere in between would be a young coach, or a retiring player, looking to make a name for himself. We have always had strong links with Manchester United. Perhaps Brian McClair, currently United's academy boss, or Gary Neville, who has been linked with Boro as a player, would fancy the challenge.

A lot of fans are still going to say Southgate himself should go, but let's face it: he's going nowhere. It is important to look forward now, and at least with this bit of news we can see that this is exactly what the boss is doing.

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Southgate makes tough decision

I rolled over, scrambled around, found the TV remote, and deliriously started pushing buttons to get on to Teletext, desperate to find out what the final score had been in Boro’s Uefa Cup game that night....

And then I realised:

a) It was 4am on a Friday morning, and by all laws of God and Man, I should have been asleep.

b) Boro haven’t played in Europe for 3 years – the football match I desperately needed to find out the final score for had clearly been a dream.

c) I can’t get Teletext on my bedroom TV.

Feeling disappointed, disturbed and probably all the other invariably negative words beginning with ‘dis,’ I tried in vain to get back to sleep. I was kept awake by the terrible truth: Boro’s current plight is so bad that my mind has created an alternate universe in which Boro ARE competing with the big boys, qualifying for Europe regularly and maybe even winning the odd trophy.

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In this new reality, Boro are a fluid and exciting young team, playing ‘total football’ to an extent that Ajax would have envied in their pomp. In this reality, Afonso Alves’ phenomenal scoring-rate has made him the first name on Brazil’s team-sheet. Diego Maradona has firmly pinned his hopes for the 2010 World Cup on Julio Arca, whose pace, trickery and ferocious tackling has taken the Premier League by storm. Brad Jones has become better known across the land by his nick-name: ‘Safe Hands.’

In this reality, Gareth Southgate has a normal sized nose. In this reality, David Wheater is not only Redcar’s Rock, but England’s too. In this reality Tuncay doesn’t flatter to deceive: he runs his heart out, he creates chance after chance AND he scores bucket-loads of goals.

Unfortunately, when a dream is broken by the rude act of waking up, no matter how much you want to you can’t get back in to it. So we must face up to reality, and look at the situation we are in.

Five games to go:

Arsenal (A)

Manchester United (H)

Newcastle (A)

Aston Villa (H)

West Ham (A)

Yikes! I wish I could get back in to the dream. But, that said, if we can sneak something out of the games against the Gunners and Man United, then we give ourselves hope.

If, and it’s a big if, we can do that then what a game the match at St James’ Circus is going to be. It could basically be a relegation play-off. With a win we have a real chance of staying up, and we would send the Mags down. With a defeat we would be all but gone, and Newcastle would probably stay up.

Of course, regardless of our results, we need help from elsewhere. The greatest hope we have in that respect is Hull, who are dropping like a stone. Currently on 34, Hull might not get many more points between now and the end of the season.

They have to play:

Liverpool (H)

Villa (A)

Stoke (H)

Bolton (A)

Manchester United (H)

Given their run of form at the moment, we have to believe (and despearately hope) that they might not win any of these games. If they were to get draws against Liverpool, Stoke and Bolton and lose to Villa and United, then that sets us a target of 38 points to finish ahead of Phil Brown’s men.

If, for example, we draw at Arsenal, lose at United and beat Newcastle, then we would go in to the last two games needing to beat either West ham or Villa to get to 38 points. Beating Newcastle would leave them needing a very unlikely return of two wins and two draws from their other four games to get to 38 points. They may have two winnable home games (other than the one against us), but they also have trips to Villa Park and Anfield to contend with.

I know I’m looking from a blindly Boro-biased view here but, if we can win at St James’, survival is still possible. Isn’t it?

Post from BoroMania: Middlesbrough Football

Even my brain has given up…… but is it really all over?