Boro Mania

Back in 1995, Boro signed Jan-Aage Fjortoft, from Swindon Town, for a club record £1.3million. The fans were delighted.

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?