Looking on the Bright Side - This cut hurts the deepest
By Mike • May 25th, 2009 • Category: Featured ArticlesI have supported Boro since 1986, in the wake of the 'Hand of God' World Cup in Mexico and our club avoiding destruction by the skin of a parmo-bound chicken giblet. This means that in my time, I have suffered four relegations - a lot by some people's standards, not bad going by others. This time will be the one that hurts most.
The first, in 1989, was disappointing yet it came as the last heave of relief after the post-liquidation drama. Those who remember the young side put together by Bruce Rioch will look back fondly at the sheer momentum they picked up as, by happy chance, they realised they were a pretty good unit after all and stormed through two divisions on their way to the top flight. The First was a stage too far. Boro's infrastructure was still that of a club recovering from nearly being snuffed out of existence. Money wasn't swilling around the coffers, and it told as Bruce's boys were expected to grapple with the likes of Barnes, Beardsley and a raft of pedigree teams and star players. Tony Mowbray was injured for swathes of the season, and that mattered, as did the botched signing of Peter Davenport, the first in a Top Trumps of Boro strikers who failed in England's premier league. Mostly, we were just happy to be there, to be anywhere, in fact, following a horrible period when it looked as though there might not be a team to support.
In 1991, Lennie Lawrence completed his first year in charge with promotion to the freshly established Premiership. For much of that season, Boro looked far too good for Division Two and Lennie had complemented some fine signings by his predecessor, Colin Todd, with Paul Wilkinson, Willie Falconer and, er, Andy Peake, to finish second. This was no squad of superstars, rather a well managed group of honest, decent players from an age before the money started rolling in who represented the best value around at the time. Piece by piece, Rioch's scratch side had been dismantled and in most cases Lennie's replacements added slight improvements to the overall picture. On the downside, his previous experience and profile - as manager of a workaday Charlton Athletic - meant he was never going to attract the players we needed to survive in the top flight. When Gavin Peacock and Robert Lee rejected moves to Ayresome in favour of Kevin Keegan's Newcastle, who were then playing in the second tier, the writing was already on the wall. One or two incredible results aside - the best was beating champions, Leeds, 4-1 - we weren't good enough for the top table, and Sky TV's marketing of their new baby seemed entirely odds with grim reality at Ayresome. After all, we just felt sorry for those cheerleaders they employed to rally the crowd on a bitterly cold March night whilst the side busily lost to Oldham.
Our next brush with the drop came in 1997, the inevitable end to a chaotic and exciting season in which Boro were rarely out of the headlines, often for the wrong reasons. I could spend thousands of words going on about this campaign, and in fact I have. There's a lengthy essay I once wrote about this term; if you would like a copy, leave your e-mail address in the Comments box below and I shall see you right. Speaking broadly and with the benefit of hindsight, it now seems incredible that we did as well as we did, that Boro's relegation came by the margin of three points that had been taken from us by the FA. Whether they were right to do so remains a debatable point that will never be resolved. What mattered was that they were fateful, as were so many things that season. Bryan Robson sought to augment his already lavish unit with a highly promising Brazilian midfielder who had amazing hair and a striker who came fresh from winning the European Cup with Juventus. Both Emerson and Ravanelli promised much, yet came with stings in the tail, the former sodding off to Rio de Janeiro when the feeling took him, the latter openly scornful of his new paymasters, their supporters and the area in which he found himself. More importantly, Robson made the mistake of grafting several undoubted stars to a side that was still largely 'Division One' in terms of overall ability. Too late he made decisive changes in defence. By the time Festa and Schwarzer arrived, our cards were already marked. That said, scoring goals was never a problem for us. And we had Juninho. By some distance the greatest pleasure of being a Boro fan was to watch this delightful, skilful and committed player strut his silky stuff for the place he stunningly decided to embrace. The biggest failure of that year's relegation was that it took the little fella away from us. We, and he, would never be the same again.
With Boro down, Robson was given fresh funds to send us straight back up. Though losing Juninho meant we now had a gap in the side that could never truly be filled, the manager did his best, signing Paul Merson from Arsenal. This turned out to be great business, not to mention a sure sign of our intention to charge towards promotion. 'Merse' was a pedigree England international, albeit a troubled one; he wouldn't normally have dropped a division but no doubt the wages were good and sure enough, a quick return to the Premiership we mounted. Robson then changed the tactical outlook of the team in an effort to ensure we wouldn't fall again. Sadly, what this meant was an increased negativity, a reliance on 'Route One' football that was signified in the arrival of Brian Deane to complement Hamilton Ricard and give us the two archetypal big lads up front. I guess it worked, but it called an end to the attractive, expansive game Boro had tried when Robson first took us up, a philosophy maintained to an even more stupefying extent under Steve McClaren.
1997 was avoidable, yet I don't think I would trade the memories of that glorious failure of a season. One thing we didn't do that year was capitulate, play as though we weren't good enough. Robbo's Boro thought they could survive, and do so in the right spirit. The latter part of that campaign showed signs that we had a great escape in us, something that was missing completely from what has happened this term. Yesterday, I noted a comment that Southgate's team had simply given up. I can't disagree. What makes relegation so painful is that it didn't have to happen. Boro were given more 'Get out of jail free' cards than a bent Monopoly player and failed to use them.
We could all see it coming by Christmas, our doom writ large as we entered the January transfer window and hoped Gareth would buy one or two players, if only to add other options to a wafer-thin squad. It didn't happen, unless you count the Mido-King swap deal that handed us a limited striker in exchange for someone far better but more troublesome. The folly of our lack of action became clear late in the season, when we would look at the players and line-ups available to Boro, and found very little for Gareth to play with. In the meantime, Blackburn and Portsmouth sacked their young, English managers when it looked like they were in peril. Both teams recruited more experienced hands, and as much as we might scorn the lack of time they gave to their charges it's they who will be playing Premiership football in 2009/10.
We go down with a game West Brom side that wasn't really talented enough to play open football with the players they possessed, and the team that Mike Ashley turned into a joke during his stewardship. I would have hoped for better where Mowbray was concerned; I don't think Newcastle deserved anything more than they got. As for us, our place in the Premiership has been taken by Hull, or by Stoke City. They're next year's cannon fodder. Neither squad has the kind of ability Gareth had to play with and wasted. The bottom line is that relegation was entirely avoidable, and that's why it hurts. Unlike in 1997, I can't see us rushing back to the top flight anything like as quickly.
Mike is from Redcar but now lives in Greater Manchester, worshipping and shaking his fist at Boro from afar. His favourite players are Sir Tony Mowbray, Stuart Ripley, Juninho and Robbie Mustoe. That Digard fella looks all right too.
Email this author | All posts by Mike
Wondering how you get a custom picture next to your comment? Simply sign up for an Avatar at Gravatar.com and everytime you comment using the email address you provided your picture will show.
Loading ...
This one definately hurts the most because we just seem to have accepted it, rolled over and let it happen. Sunderland stayed up with what 37 points was it? Normally 37 points would send you down, we had all the chances in the world to avoid relegation but never took them. Beat Liverpool at home and lose home and away to West Brom, typical Boro?
I want so much not to hate Southgate because he is a legend and as a player was superb but if he stays he really is going to have to do something special to win the fans back.
I see where you’re coming from but for me, the season we went down with The Little Fella, Emerson and Rav was the one that hurt the most because I really thought we would get out of it.
This season I have just seen us slip away without a fight and it’s been coming for months. I’d resigned myself to relegation in February so it came as no shock
Got to agree with Ste to an extent. there was a air of inevitability about this year, even when everyone around us was loosing their heads and not winning from November to March.
Also, I think that with ‘97 being the first time I really felt the sting of relegation, it cut that bit more deeply.
As for Southgate, I think he’s one of us, he deserves his chance to get out of it, if only because I think that Mowbray (my actual preferred choice) will go on to bigger things than the Boro.
Ste and Glen have a point. I’d accepted once and for all that we had no chance after the collapse at St. James’s. Tuncay aside, who can come out of this season with their head held high?
Anyway, good article. I left my E-Mail address in the box, would you forward that 1996/97 article to me? I’d be interested in reading it.
It’s the lack of fight that hurts, which is where I was coming from, but I see what you mean. There was a definite sense in the mid-nineties that Robson was trying to build one class act of a team and relegation ruined all those plans.
Thanks for the comments, everyone, and article sent, Si.
It hurts to see us go down, what hurts even more is the fact that we will loose players like tuncay and david wheater, who for me gave their heart and soul to every game they played in. If only southgate had of played tuncay more in the weeks he kept using him as an impact sub. If only middlesborough had of bought quality midfielders and a quality striker to partner tuncay before it was too late.
I dont think southgate is experienced enough to bring us back up straight away, I think middlesborough is like a stepping stone for him and I think we are all being too optimistic and sensitive only because he was a good footballer, but the truth is he is not a good manager yet.
I’m obviously older than Mike because I’ve now endured 7 relegations. This was the most most frustrating because it was the most unnecessary and wasteful. The high hopes of summer into ashes The writing was on the wall when WBA hammered us in New Year. By the time Bolton made us look inept in March, it was all over. Given a manager with some tactical nouse, who knew how to get the best out of players, we had the squad to survive. 18-24 months ago, we had the players to get into the top half with the right manager.
As Mike says, in the late 80s-early 90s, we were just relieved to still be around, regardless of which division. Now we’ve glimpsed the footballing summit the let-down is bitter. Clearly, we were never going to make the top 4. However, Gibson’s vision seemed credible: every decade a cup win plus a final, several European runs and several top-8 finishes. Sounds silly now doesn’t it?
Managers are judged by results, by getting the best out of their resources and also by transfers. GS’s results speak for themselves - the lowest no of goals in the club’s history and the lowest in the country. He seems unable to motivate as illustrated by the lukwarm performances. His much-acclaimed new fitness regime didn’t work, judging by the way players ran out of steam and we conceded so many goals late on. Southgate’s player judgement stinks (Cattermole, Hoyte, Alves, Mido, Shawky). Compared to managers like Moyes, Allardyce, Bruce, Megson, McCarthy, Hodgson and, previously, Coppel and Curbishley, who have operated successfully with the same or less resources, GS has no idea how to turn ‘a silk puse into a sow’s ear’. Nice idea, total failure, time to go.