Boro Sunk In Titanic Tyne-Tees Tussle?
BUGGER! That's us needing snookers then. What a mess. Same old story: strange selections and an awkward shape, a failure to take the chances when they presented themselves, a failure to concentrate at the back, no heart, no steel, no urgency and substitutions that swung the game against us.
Your most potent left wing creative force stuck on the right for an hour before being switched to left back? A player who has barely featured all season bar a few three minute cameos starting up front in the biggest game of the season? Way to go.
That said, it is bizarre to find Alan Shearer being hailed by the big name groupies of the tabloid press as a tactical genius because he took off ineffectual former footballer turned bewildered passenger Michael Owen off and put a striker on. If he was agenius Owen wouldn't have been on the pitch at all.
Newcastle are poor. Disjointed at the back (they looked fragile when blunt Boro had a go at them) and far from sharp up front. There is a reason that they hadn't scored in three games and only scored one in five under this week's Messiah ... yes, it is because they hadn't played Boro yet!
But they had a few things Boro didn't: spirit, shape and Mark Viduka. Of these Viduka was the decisive element, not just because he was virtually unplayable (in the sense that Boro's defence just didn't have the ability, nouse of physical strength to deal with him rather than he was particularly outstanding) but also because his presence on the pitch pointed up exactly where Boro's decline has been most marked.
Boro had their bright spells either side of the break but it was hurried, anxious and hopeful rather than incisive and although Newcastle looked fragile at the back you never really sensed that we had the punch or penetration to take advantage. Emnes shoudl have hit the target when he curled it wide, should have thrown himself at Hoyte's second half cross to bundle it home with his dread and O'Neil has been in an Alves shooting master-class because he insists on drilling it straight at the keeper.
Newcastle in contrast were just as nervous in a huff-and-puff error strewn midfield free-for-all but in the box they looked far more dangerous. Viduka hit the post early on, they looked dangerous from corners (or at least, Boro's defending from them was awful) and there were a series of chaotic heart-stopping scrambles in the Boro box. To be fair they could easily have had a few more late on.
It was a soul-sapping evening when a lot of chickens came home to roost: the gamble on a wafer thin and inexperinced squad; the failure to find a goalscorer; the "square-peggism"; the attempts to second guess the opposition rather than find and play to our strengths; the lack of conviction, concentration or bottle; the mental and physical weakness; the lack of leadership on the pitch or motivation off it; and fatally, the failure to compete against teams of equal ineptitude over the full 94 minutes.
So, that's a club all time record of 11 consecutive away defeats - hurray! - and the relegation trapdoor creaking closed above us. And without even the silver lining of dragging Newcastle down with us. Bugger.
Older/Newer
« Derby D-Day Is Bigger Than Eindhoven | No Self Pity From Men Of Iron »
75 Comments
Leave a comment
Profile
Anthony Vickers
Keep up to date
Follow Untypical Boro on
One last chance, cmon Boro - don't let Teesside down!
What a night coming up. Its on live over here. I will say good luck to us all but the Viduka factor worries me other than that I have got to think hope we can win this one.
2-1 to Boro there we go easy wasnt it. Got that from the European web site.
Was looking forward to the game until Isaw the Boro team for tonight on FMTTM from an in the know poster.
If true, this does not look good.
Jones
Hoyte
Bates
Huth
Ttaylor
Downing
Shawky
O'neil
Tuncay
Alves
Emnes
Will some one lock Southgate his team sheet and his southern softy blue eyed boys in the LOO. BASE THE TEAM ON LOCAL LADS and give us a fighting chance. COME ON BORO
i would play 4-3-2-1 formation.3 defensive midfielders in front of the back four,with johnson and downing playing high up the field for counter attacks and alves upfront,he has to play johnson if dunn is left back,keep tuncay on the bench,with allierdier and king
Ive just had my a finals exam at uni but all day i've still being worrying more about the boro. Do I have my priorities wrong or not?
My son won 3 rowing gold medals yesterday in single/double and quad sculls. He showed all the qualities of a winner.
Tonight could make it a perfect couple of days.
Lots of balls over their defenders for our forwards to outpace their defenders and run onto and score and WIN.
C'mon Boro.
PS Will you stop using Peterborough in a derogatory manner?
Typical Boro dictates:
a 3-0 defeat would make us bottom.
Bound to happen then especially since the prospects of Newcastle winning a game against anyone is virtually absolute zero.
Could anyone say it wasnt a deserved position?
They think it's all over. It is now.
Headless chickens.
The game was terrible. Marlon King is rubbish, get rid of him. The defence were rubbish too. We better get our ideas right because it looks like you don't want to be in the premiership anymore.
Monday May 11th 2009
Dear Vic and all Boro fans.
I’m copywriting the title “From Eindhoven to Blackpool – the Southgate years” because I intend to write a humorous look back in 10 years time when we get to the Premier League again about our time spent in the basement divisions;
About how an up-and-coming, young English manager, appointed without qualifications, against FA regulations and many fans wishes; has taken a team which finished in Europe twice on the spin and so thoroughly dismantled it in the time since that by the end of the fateful Newcastle match, it looked like a less organised Teesborough league side.
I will have plenty of time to fill in defeats to the likes of Doncaster Rovers, Peterborough United and Blackpool as a team of overrated youngsters and panic-bought, free journeymen struggle to keep Boro afloat in front of crowds bereft of belief and spirit – but I shouldn’t be too hard on them. Many fear for their own economic futures and still turn out to line the pockets of millionaires.
I will devote whole chapters to matches such as Reading 3 Middlesbrough 2 – the beginning of the end; Middlesbrough 0 Chelsea 5 – like watching a team playing a different sport; Middlesbrough 0 Cardiff City 2 – mental abuse; and of course Newcastle 3 Middlesbrough 1 – the end of the affair.
I live 5000 miles away from Teesside now in the USA but if anything my hurt over the past few weeks, the running down of the airport, the betrayal of the steel mill, the slow death of MFC’s ambitions is more acute in that I cannot share it with my fellow Teessiders.
I wish I was with you all at The Riverside today and hope, to a man and woman, that you remember a previous visit of Aston Villa and the response it achieved.
Please, our club is going over the precipice and the people at the wheel think it’s not their fault, and will keep the skipper in charge for the salvage operation next season.
No more. Mr Gibson - Your frugal/youthful experiment has ended in ignominy, you have made the average chairmen of Pompey, Blackburn and Sunderland look like soothsayers and tarnished your own reputation; you have destroyed several promising careers into the bargain, please don’t take the club with you to prove a point.
Draw a line, start again and we will be with you. Steer the SS Team We Deserve toward High Force and enjoy your four figure crowds* in your Pleasuredome on the Tees.
Guy Bailey, Marietta, GA, USA
*Four figures – You, Keith Lamb, Gareth Southgate and Alistair Brownlee.
what a pile of .......
One moment tonight neatly captured Southgate's increasing incompetence. 2-1 down and chasing the game he substituted Taylor for John son and moved our most creative player to left back. Nonsense.
And thats that folks. Fun while it lasted.
Gutted to be honest, didnt think we deserved to go down in the way we did to Newcastle when we were on the front foot but thats the story of the season. Our heartless footballers, clueless manager, blind boardroom, wonky officials and suicidal sleepworking has cost us dearly.
I just want this season to end now so we can move on, get over it and lick our wounds before next season when we start all over again... ideally without Southgate in charge - but we'll save that argument until June yeah?
So where were the "hunger & passion" Mr (De)Motivator said were needed at Sid James'? Why was Shawky in the team? Where was Wheater? Where was Digard? Demotivator's team selection baffled me!
I could see that defeat coming. In fact, if I'd been a betting woman, I'd've put money on it: the opposition was a team that (allegedly) couldn't defend & (allegedly) couldn't score since God knows when? You can always rely on good old charitable Boro's generosity to help out that team in a game against them! :(
A telling comment by Chris Waddle on Boro in the R5 Live commentary on the match: "no power, no experience"! That's it! We're down! I give up...
Boro players played well although hampered by Southgate's tactics. Southgate was crap, team selection, tactics ,substitutions, body languge, everything. But really, what did we expect? We have to accept we are down now.
The team selection was a huge unbelievable surprise. Jones in goal did not cover himself with glory.It should have been Turnbull, hes our number one keeper. Hoyte at right back was not up for the fight. A passenger.It should have been McMahon he would have battled all night. Left back Taylor, he was not good at all.
I can not see why after so many average games a change was not made with so many options. Huth centre back a colossus, fantastic he was our man of the match. Bates centre back great game two errors cost us two goals I think he would have been more affective in midfield where hes played so well of late.We also have two good kids busting for a chance.
Right midfield Downing given a man marking job on Gutierrez, incredible. He did his best but what a wasted attacking talent that we needed. Centre midfield tippy tappy O'Neil and Shawky. No wonder we lost. Both tried there best but there best is not good enough. Left midfield Tugay he scored a great goal but for most of the game he was wasted on the left.
Up front Emnes had a great game and could have won the game for us with a little more match practice that Southgate has denied him all season. I have been calling for his inclusion all season after seeing him star in Portugal last summer. Alves, did not like the physical game. Injured and out of the fight. King, well I say any fool who thinks he is a Premier League player does not deserve to manage.
Johnson Aliadaire both poor for different reasons, but poor. Southgate out of his league, out of place and out of his mind if he thinks he will ever become a successful football manager. Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser.
Oh dear. Hello my Smoggie friends. What a poor side you are. You have the two worse full backs in the league, no heart, no shape, no one who even wants to score and a clapping seal manager who has no idea.
We are rubbish and haven't won at home this year. If you can't even get a point at SJP then you don't deserve to stay up. Give my love to Doncaster.
Im now living in Oz thank god!!!! what a disaster of a season and what heartbreak, knowing were now doomed to 1st division football for at least a year. Too many good players let go and too much reliance on players that arent up to it.
I suppose Tuncay, downing and any of the half decent players we have will now leave rather than play in division1.
The only consolation i can find, and its a poor one, more me looking for something good, is that i can cancel my Austar subscription and not have to get up at ridiculous times to watch them for a year. In all honesty I still rather would :(
Well, I got up at daft o'clock this morning over here, much against my better judgement but there you go. What a disaster.
Like we've done many times this season we made another poor side look like world beaters, but make no mistake the Skunks were well worth their victory.
They had everything we lacked, passion, strength, steel, and Viduka. In my opinion the fat Aussie did it all except score himself.
The only good thing that may come out of this game is that the Skunks will be even more deluded about their "big club" status, and their ability to stay up, they may be in for quite a shock against Fulham and Villa. We are poor Mr Lurker you are absolutely correct, but I wouldn't count your Brown Ale bottles yet mate. You could still be playing Doncaster yourselves next season.
As for us, we are gone make no mistake. Our hapless man in charge (I refuse to call him coach or manager, he is neither) and the people who support him from within the club and on the touch-line have taken us to the lowest point ever in the clubs premier league history. We will all have plenty of years ahead to contribute to Guy Bailey's book.
As a footnote: why did Mido feel it necessary to turn up at Boro's most important game in years? To rub even more salt into already gaping wounds amongst the Boro faithful?
Apparently there were some choice exchanges between him and some of our fans at the end. What did he wish to prove?
For all the effort the result was never in doubt. yes we had chances but they had much more. Bates a nightmare. O'Neil... has anybody told him how to shoot? Shawky - a joke. Three goal given away by defensive blunders.
If Southgate is not sacked then all I can say is you must be mugs if you buy season tickets. This team is not even good enough for the Championship.
I thought Emnes had a good game. He looked sharp with a bit of pace and nice close ball control. I'm hoping he is our hero come this time next season when we win the Championship!
Geordie Lurker,
You can give your love to Doncaster yourselves. You aren't safe yet.........
One game doesn't decide a season.
Gutted, but there again we have been for months now.
Watch the big names head for the door now!
AV, that's the closest you've come to actually saying that Southgate is clueless - And if my last two longish posts had not have been lost thanks to the system setup by your League 1 journeyman IT guys - I would have raised the same points about Emnes and Downing.
It was joke that if Emnes was good enough to start the biggest game in ten years, then where has he been for the rest of the season? To be fair, Emnes had a half-decent game - but how has he been overlooked in favour of the dire King is simply beyond me.
Now answer me these questions Mr Southgate:
How did Stuart Downing manage to break into the England team? was it by playing:
A - right wing
B - centre forward
C - left back
D - left wing
If you're struggling to remember then just ask the audience or phone your Slump Dog Millionaire friend the highly astute Mr Gibson.
What this game actually showed was just how paper thin the Boro squad actually is - which begs the question of why we put all our eggs in one fragile basket case of a centre forward. Blowing the whole kitty on Alves looks more of a disaster by the minute.
Also, what has happened to McMahon? Did you just play him to dupe him into signing a new contract? Now that he's signed he's donned Emnes' cloak of invisibility.
Anyway, let's look on the bright side - at least we'll have a fully qualified UEFA manager when we play in the Championship!
My last post has been held for approval - perhaps that's because I used the magic key word - i.e. The name of that guy who runs the club who shall remain nameless for the purpose of this test.
**AV writes: No, it is because I have switched something back on again as I fiddle about trying to get rid of 'Captcha'.
That looks like it's that then. If the final nail hasn't been yet hammered into the coffin, then it's certainly lined up, hammer poised.
To be honest, we thoroughly deserve it. Only Newcastle and Sunderland deserve it as much as us, if we somehow manage to escape at their expense then bravo - but to escape at the expense of a team like Hull, or even Brom, who've shown some fight - well, we'd be cheating everyone.
Maybe this is the problem, we've become too complacent, too satiated with the big Premier League experience. Our players have never experienced Championship football in the main, and those who have (Jonno, McMahon, Downing) have all been on loan and should have passed on the horror of it all.
On the subject of team selection, it doesn't look that baffling when you look at the bench. Presumably Digard and Wheats weren't fit, so it kind of forced Southgate to partner Shawky & O'Neill because, well, you'd rather them than Arca right? However - it does painfully expose the fact that selling Cattermole was atrociously bad business - he'd have been all over Newcastle like a rash last night - and would have rattled people in every one of our must-win, must-fight games.
Finally giving Emnes a chance as well! Good on GS for his epiphany, but a shame that the poor lad has been so short of match practice that he hasn't had the chance to make more of an impact. For me, it's got to be Tuncay and Emnes up front now for the next two games.
But, whichever way you spin it, however you analyse it, we are essentially in this mess because of Southgate. We have a squad capable enough, if they were playing a well organised, settled system, of being 13th-14th in the league, especially given the way this year has turned out. But Southgate alone has probably cost us 10, maybe 15 points this season due to bad decisions, bad tactics, mind baffling selections.
You can't afford any passengers in the Premier League - and if the passenger is your Manager! Well, then you're sunk...
Now, I'm not giving up yet, there are two games left, and still something to play for. Realistically though, we're looking at a maximum return of four points (we'll never win 2 on the bounce), which would give us a points total of 35 points and a goal difference of -27 (assuming we only win our match by one clear goal - another fairly certain assumption).
This puts only Hull and Newcastle within our reach, so we're relying on both Newcastle and Hull losing the next two (both have goal differences too good for us to overturn - unless Hull get a spanking) and WBA not getting there act together. Their final fixtures are:
Saturday 16th May:
Bolton v Hull
Newcastle v Fulham
Sunday 17th May:
WBA v Liverpool
Sunday 24th May
Aston Villa v Newcastle
Hull v Man Utd
Blackburn v W Brom
The main problem is that having got beat last night, we are relying now on Fulham to beat Newcastle at St James. If Newcastle get a point there, we need to win both of our last two games to stand a chance. I just can't see us doing that, so we're left relying on Fulham to do the business and Bolton to beat Hull.
Oh, and we need to win ourselves of course, either against Villa or West Ham. Which, given our home record against Villa in recent seasons, is nowhere near a certainty.
Saturday 16th May - Murdoch will be calling it Super Mahoosive Relegation Rumble Saturday.... or something.
I guess the positive is at least we actually attacked a team for the first time in a month.
Same old story, no cut and thrust upfront, no ideas in the final third if we had a decent striker and a decent attacking midfielder we would of burried them.
Dare i say there was a gulf in class as well, we bring on Aliadere (who i never want to see in Boro shirt again) and they bring on Martins. Couple it with the normal below par defending and it was game over. Shame about Alves as well I actually think he looked really good, he was up for it and could of been the difference.
If they go out and attack Villa on saturday we can beat them, Newcastle are out of it now as i think they will beat Fulham. So were looking at Sunderland to lose twice and we need to go to upton park and win. mission impossible?
How many 'big names' have we bought, that have actually done us any good? Not many. We have a serial habit of turning good players into crap, once they've signed for Boro.
Liverpool touting a 12m bid for Downing? Really surprised they value him that highly after the disappointing season he has had. As for the rest, good riddance. Consistently poor performances by players and management have relegated us.
Better off starting with a clean slate, and combination of academy and championship players. Might be lesser quality, but we might get some more effort and passion out of them.
How many more times will Gareth say "we must learn from this".... will he be saying this when we are beaten by Blackpool, Peterborough (add your team)
I am disappointed but we have been relegated before and it will happen agian especially with gareth in charge
The is no spine/motivation in the team..... its sad because I can't see us coming back Murdoch = Gareth = the same result
That's almost it, eleven years in the Premier League and probably leaving it in a whimper. This is a team of faint -hearts led by a novice manager and presided over by an arrogant chairman whose complacency is breathtaking.
We are in the worst of all worlds, a team which is not physical nor skilful enough to be situated in the top flight and lacking the football experience, on and off the field to prosper in the Championship.
There has to be a reckoning for this humiliating mess of a season. For the chairman, a duty to be honest and explain the club's decline, its current finacial plight and what he intends to do in the short term.
For the manager, ideally, resignation. He is responsible for the playing staff, the poor, weak football he has served up. He prides himself on not being a quitter but he is not a winner. He has lost every key match he has needed to win. If he is staying, what changes is he going to make on and off the pitch to arrest the decline?
For the players- most of whom are simply not good enough they should be moved out as soon as possible.
If we are to move forward again as a club there has to be a searching examination of everybody 's roles and responsibilities from the chairman downwards, changes that mean people will leave and a different mindset prevails.
We have to start again from scratch. Some honesty about intentions and what is realistic for this football would not go amiss. A good template to use is Everton, they play good, industrious football with a strong, powerful team ethic but then they have shrewd, football savvy manager who can coach.
Smoggy In Exile said: This puts only Hull and Newcastle within our reach, so we're relying on both Newcastle and Hull losing the next two .
Not true mate, Sunderland could quite easily lose their last 2 games at Portsmouth and home to Chelsea. In fact Boro and Newcastle could both still survive and send Hull and Sunderland down. Unlikely, I know, but still possible all the same
Elsewhere, pre match, I talked about Gate planning or not. In that joke scenario I had Arca on the pitch, Downing up front and Johnno left back.
Not much different in philosophy of Downing right and Tuncay left - a version of what was so successful at West Brom, want away Shawky for Arca (where is Walker), M&S who has barely played a minute as a main striker then finishing with Downing at left back. Unbelievable.
Gate stands indicted for misuse pf resources, Gibbo and Lamb for dealing him a bum hand. The whole thing is rather sad
Well here I go again with my 35 point prediction looking sounder by the minute. With four games to go I predicted two defeats (one pathetic, one battling but ultimately doomed), one amazing win, and one plucky but useless draw.
We've now had the first two of that quadrupule, and in case you're wondering last night's effort was the 'battling but ultimately doomed' one.
I suppose 'baffling' as opposed to 'battling' might be more appropriate, because like everyone else GS's selections are unfathomable.
But I felt that if the team had performed like this in the other 17 away matches to date we might have scraped together at least two or three more points on our travels. I'm not saying last night was good, but at least there was some attacking intent displayed, we scored and could/should have had more.
There is also an argument that Nolan's clear foul in our box at their first goal, and then the same player being offside for their second, would on another day have been punished.
However it is no use crying over spilt milk. GS has had all season to galvanise the team and turn them from powder-puff to potent. He has manifestly failed to do this, and not only this, but act on the signs that have been blidingly obvious to the fans for the past two seasons.
At this late stage, when he looks for all the world as if everything that's happened is a huge surprise and he's only just realised we're bottom of the league, no-one is listening to his nonsenical analysis.
The game is up GS, and the whole world saw it happen.
Thought about getting up at 5am this morning to watch but thought better of it and glad I didn't. I have thought for a while that we would probably get relegated due to a total inability to score goals - has anyone asked Bernie Slaven if he wants to come out of retirement. I now have to go to work and face an ex-Toon player who was quite happy to be relegated to rebuild the team.
Anthony - we need lots of snookers with the resulting fouls and a minor miracle.
Whats more annoying is being one of only two teams to beat Liverpool this season and follow it up with a pile of poo.
Did you hear Shearer's comment about the Owens substitution last night, he said "there are good managers and there are lucky managers, I am glad that I am a lucky one". I am not sure who has said it on here before, I know someone has but I think Gareth is an unlucky manager.
Selling Schwarzer was the right decision, he turns in a blinder against us.
Chris Brunt (Chris who !) turns in a blinder against us for West Brom.
Viduka plays his best game of the season in a bar code shirt.
Cattermole puts our best player out for 8 weeks (where was Digard last night!).
The list goes on and on.
Where to start? The manager is and always has been whilst in the seat nothing short of pathetic. He has not got a single tactical bone in his body. I agree with everything you have stated AV.
The most important game in years and what does he do? Not content with losing one of his best defenders, he makes another change to the back four as well. Selects a central midfield player who most people thought had already left the club. Plays arguably his most creative player out of position and then when chasing the game uses him as a defender. And selects this crucial game for the first start of a fringe player as a central striker.
If Southgate doesn't fall on his sword and SG doesn't get rid of him, he will take Boro to the third tier of English football by this time next year. I would love to find out what is happening to the club from a financial perspective; are the devolopments of a hotel, golf clubhouse and golf course at Rockcliffe Park having an affect on the purse strings at Boro?
You AV, the club, Lamb and SG will spill out the usual diatribe and state that these things have had no effect on the playing side of things, but how many supporters will really believe that? The club needs a clear out and a new direction, otherwise it is going nowhere fast.
An extremely experienced manager and backroom staff needs to be appointed to give us a chance of stopping the rot that has set in, to retain the backbone of the current squad and to add to it to give us a chance of even staying in the Championship next season. I cannot see supporters in any real quantity being prepared to get behind Southgate next season, so over to you Steve Gibson.
Bought a West Ham ticket on Monday morning so i could get 'ahead' of the rush for tickets when we beat the Mags....oh dear thats £45 well spent!!!
AV - please deal with Captcha, if ever there was a time for a debate this is it surely?
I'm currently loosing every post (hopefully except this one)
Just to say I agree with Ian Gill's synopsis, I think Southgate's inexperience and the lack of funds have done for us.
The Villa match will be the last at the Riverside for Stewie in a Boro shirt, I'll miss watching him. As for the rest that leave I don't give a damn, we have a team lacking in leadership qualities and bereft of determination.
**AV writes: I am told Captcha is being addressed.
I feel sick, not that we're down (and we're not yet) but that THEY have put out the light so to speak and the inexperienced SHEARER brings on 2 subs and they both score to seal our fate AND THEY might avoid the drop. So do we want Hull to win or lose in their next 2 games cause we aint staying up. Unless we win ours and they lose their; *Rollseyes*
This will not be Gareth Southgate’s first relegation from the Premier League, nor Steve Gibson’s, as we’re all aware. They experienced it first on the same day in 1993.
The 1992-3 season, the first year of the Premier League, ended on the 9th May with Gareth’s club, Crystal Palace, relegated in 18th place on 49pts. On the 20th May, Steve Coppell resigned as manager of Palace. Coppell acted honourably, despite achieving a larger points total in 1992-3 than Gareth has achieved in any of his three seasons as manager.
Coppell’s replacement, Alan Smith, led the club back to the Premier League the following year, with Gareth as club captain. Coppell has since had a successful managerial career, including three seasons in the Premier League. When Reading were relegated last year, it took a grass roots movement from the fans to persuade him not to resign. Reading finished fourth in the Championship this season, and still have a chance of returning to the Premier League.
By 1993, Steve Gibson was a major Boro shareholder. Boro were relegated in 19th place on 44pts. The manager, Lennie Lawrence, was allowed to continue the following season, but with little investment in the squad. Boro finished the 1993-4 season languishing in 9th place in Division One on 67pts, 23pts behind the champions, Crystal Palace, and 4pts below a play-off position.
By the end of that season, the Boro crowd were chanting “Lawrence out”. The chairman, Colin Henderson, stepped down. His successor, Steve Gibson, bowed to the inevitable and sacked the hapless Lawrence at the end of the season. This occurred notwithstanding a managerial record at Boro that was better than that of the current incumbent, Gareth.
The new player-manager, Bryan Robson, made sufficient impact that Boro were promoted as champions the following season. Lawrence embarked on a tour of the lower divisions, and has not managed a Premier League club since. He is now Director of Football at Bristol Rovers, currently lying 11th in League One.
Palace were unluckily relegated in 1994-5, fourth bottom of the Premier League on 45pts in the only season that four teams were relegated. This resulted in Alan Smith being dismissed as manager of Palace. Gareth Southgate, the captain, did not go down with his ship, however. He jumped into a lifeboat, and set sail for the sunnier shores of Aston Villa. But there was no happy ending.
Despite becoming club captain at Villa, he handed in a transfer request in 2000, citing the club’s lack of ambition. The manager, John Gregory, tried to keep him, but Gareth joined Boro in 2001 after a year on the transfer list. Gregory resigned in January 2002, two weeks after saying he would “never walk away”, when “Gregory out” banners started appearing in the Villa crowd.
What has this history lesson got to do with the current debacle? I’ll leave that as homework. But those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We will know soon enough if Steve and Gareth have really “learnt lessons”.
**AV writes: Top contextualising.
I have given up on it. I don't have the energy to go into detail on what a mess we are in. All i will say is Gareth Southgate has to leave because i will not renew like many others. He is out of his depth and hasn't a clue what to do and blames it all on lack of finances but forgets he had about £25m worth of talent missing from the starting line up in recent games
Southgate out before it gets worse
Well said AV, we haven't always been on the same wavelength - even in the same atmosphere - but well said. Even the "B" word again, I'll just say that's the end of the bull 'shine' for a while, maybe a long while, there's been heaps of it ever since the move from Ayresome Park, and an ineffectual chairman, who must wonder about his 'investments' going down the drain, has only ever encouraged it.
I think Southgate's reasoning powers have gone down the drain, as well, since the humiliating January fiasco, and there have to be doubts about his leadership and motivational powers. I am concerned about his comments about the major changes needed in the summer because things were wrong; they should have been dealt with already
The job, GS, is not a marketing exercise, or a financial accounting exercise, and I bet the fans would have loved the team playing to its defensive strengths, instead of the kamikaze 'principles' of inexperienced pace and powderpuff shooting ability , and still being in the Premiership (although they are not out, yet, )
And that brings in the next point. They are struggling yet again with injuries in a threadbare squad, and as a result of TRAINING injuries. Are they utterly stupid at this club? Could AV catalogue from the archives the number of training ground injuries Boro have suffered in the last 10 years or so ?
Will the fabulous training facilities so desperately needed by Robbo be really helpful in attracting the players to revive Boro ? Or are they a monument to the folly which has been Boro for so many years now; just remember what Terry Venables did in a few months of know how and compare it with the chairman's chosen ones, and I haven't forgotten the League Cup or the UEFA Cup.
But they are memories, and I'm wondering, have been all season, what the fallout is going to be this summer. Just where has all the money gone, in spite of stripping the playing assets bare? It does not all add up. I trust nobody else will have to come in and sort the mess out, football clubs are not valuable assets at the moment. Stupid boys, stupid boys, stupid boys.
Lets hope there is enough bull 'shine' left at grass roots level to encourage some green shoots and for a resurgent Boro to rise again. But don't get too anxious about it. I loved those Bruce Rioch days, and John Neal's.
Mythbuster - A superb post, I'll need to read it a couple of times to digest which lessons need to be learned.
One point, such a post has a much bigger impact when the author puts their name to it. Who are you?
A miracle is now needed, two wins a must! If we fail GS must go , the writing has been on the wall since December and nothing has been done about it.
All his big buys have been flops and that accounts for £30m of our debts of £90m.
I am no coach but I have watched for years where the opposition gets free possession from almost every throw in because the marking is either poor or non existent or nobody is available when its our throw.We are also suckers for the quick short corner. How many goals have we conceded from corners and freekicks, probably half the goals against?
Plus the only threat we offer from set plays is when somebody has a direct shot on goal and that is pretty rare.
Ross Turnbull and Adam Johnson have been poorly treated and no doubt we will lose them.
If we are relegated GS must go straight away to give a chance to a new manager to get things sorted for the new kick off.
This is a very sad day for our entire area. Especially sad for those of you who spent the money you didn't have supporting the team you love with all your hearts and my heart goes out to you all. Through thick and thin and all the miserable English weather you have stuck by your team to the bitter end and that is truly special.
The fact of the matter is that we fully deserve this and have done for a long time.
This Chairman has been happy to just exist and he has been happy to just float along with the tide and this has been our undoing.
He either has no idea about football, coaching, man management and motivation, or he has just been very badly advised. Either way he and he alone is to blame.
He employed Southgate, he gave Southgate a five year deal and a free reign, he opted for continuity in the backroom and he stood by him all the way, utterly convinced. He could have given him the bullet a long time ago but he didn't and this shows an incredible lack of judgement.
He could have even put someone in to give him some help, why didn't he? Why is the world of football so far from the world of work where we all have help?
We didn't lose against Newcastle. We lost the minute we hired a novice to do the job of a seasoned pro. We allowed a novice to learn on the job with an entirely free hand. This is the result.
A poor team that cost good money.
A team lacking in any kind of pride or fight.
A team beset by poor team selection and poor tacticts and poor substitutions.
A team with a buffoon at the helm who never had anything inspiring to say, hadn't a clue what he was doing and just clapped like a man who new how to do nothing else and then the same old, "we have to learn, we must learn from our mistake."
The fact of the matter is that we deserve this as this is what have sown ever since we appointed him.
" JUDGE ME THIS SEASON " Gareth Southgate...
" I'M BUILDING FOR THIS SEASON " Gareth Southgate...
What a sad, sad day this is and how utterly demoralising is the fact that we could all see this coming and yet nothing was ever done about it.
Arise Sir Steve Gibson. Arise and explain yourself. Who is to blame for this? Who is going to take the blame for this and go? How are we going to never allow ourselves to be relegated ever again in such hollow manner ?
I'm sorry for each and everyone in here, I truly am. I'm sorry for the town and all the people and I'm sorry that all the southern folk have yet another reason to laugh at as and beat us with.
TB
Well said tonyblack.
I read the posts this morning with a heavy heart thinking about those who still want to believe in the Boro and SG. For 58 years I was there with them, travelling miles back home to watch games, tuning in on a crackling SW radio when abroad to get results and commentary.
Then a couple of years ago I woke up and smelled the coffee. The cynicism in the club was laid bare as Southgate was made manager and the rest as they say is history.
It took a lot to turn me off the Boro but this regime has done it and I don't think that I will ever feel the same about the team again.
Its very sad and I am truly sorry about the hurt, the town deserved better than this.
An offside goal and poor finishing spoilt it yesterday but I don't think everything is decided yet. Newcastle got lucky but remain a poor team. I'll not be surprised if all of Boro, NUFC, Hull and WBA finish on 34 points. The big hope is that Fulham and Villa hammer the Toon, which is quite possible.
I was one of the crowd at Wembley who sang there is only one Stevie Gibson and I have been around a long time. I can remember shouting to Raich Carter Who was sat just above us at Home Park when we were losing 2-0 and he must of woken them up as we finally got the draw.
But these last 2 seasons we have been promised a lot and been given nothing to shout about I feel that SG and KL lost the plot when they never took a chance with Martin O'Neill but i kept the faith and still paid in advance for my ticket.
But this year has been such a mess absolutely no real entertainment that i have reluctantly decided that enough is enough. The only thing that will change my mind is a positive sign that something is being done and that we will not be dabbling in the transfer market just before the new season starts and picking from what is left over by the rest.
I have just had a look a the MFC website and it is sad reading no adverse comments allowed, good people who had great hopes for last night and all expressing great appreciation of The Chairman and Manager. It is a thoroughly depressing thing to read.
Scrolling to the bottom of these comments, I spot the words "judge me on this season" in capital letters. No real surprise to find the initials TB at the bottom of the post !
Tell me Tony, do you just copy & paste the same stuff each week, or go through the motions of typing it anew? I'm pretty sure that is all Uncle Eric has needed to do this season for his weekly match reports. He just needs to start with a basic template:
Lineup shows at least one player playing out of position (insert name here) - Poor defending at a set piece by (insert name here) cost the team a goal - Decent play followed up with a host of chances missed by (insert name - usually Alves - here) - Strange substitution sees (insert name here) playing out of position, which seems to help the opposition more than the Boro side - Post match interview saw the manager stress the importance of "learning lessons". EASY !!
I had the dubious pleasure of seeing a barcode colleague waltz into the office this morning, with a grin as wide the Tyne. He took great delight in informing me how pie eater Viduka had turned in a "top drawer" performance last night. I took no less delight in informing him that his well run club had paid Viduka approximately a quarter of a Million pounds for each of his "top drawer" performances this season, that have so far culminated in a grand total of zero goals!
SG: 'Gareth, come in mate - what the flip happened?'
GS: 'Steve, what happened when? Are we talking about last night or this season, or before then? Whatever, I take full responsibility - it's not your fault'
SG: 'Listen, you were my appointment, if you mess up - well, if the team lets you down - then ultimately the buck rests with me, it's actually my responsibility, but I appreciate your attitude - that's one of the reasons why I knew, and still know, that you're the right man for this job'
GS: 'Thanks mate - 'by this job', do you mean Chairman? Not sure I'm ready for it but I'll give it a go if you really want me to. Can't tell you how good that makes me feel and how bad it makes me feel as well...I've worked my nuts off this season but it's just one piece of bad luck after another - if only we'd been as unlucky as Chelsea the other night we'd have been ok but its been one bad decision after another, one injury after another, and one awkward get after another - you ship one out and another one sails in...'
SG: 'Listen Gareth, you've got to give me some confidence that you can turn things around: already Keith is saying that there's only 15 people renewed for next season and if you take out friends and relatives we're struggling to make double figures'
GS: 'I'll buy a few season tickets myself and I'll ask Colin to have a word with the lads - can't we just bump up the figures in anticipation? To be honest, I've learnt one lesson after another this season - if I hadn't I could understand if you'd be concerned about honouring my contract, but the truth is I've learned enough to write a book and so I'm really confident that next season we'll be a different team'
SG: 'Ok. So you don't want to resign, you're still up for the battles ahead - you're not wimping out?'
GS: 'Steve, boss, I didn't get where I am today by quiting when the going gets tough - I'll never resign, no matter how bad it gets, or how many divisions we drop, there's one thing you can be absolutely certain of - I'll still be here, working my nuts off and taking the responsibility square on the chin! Absolutely, you can count on me - I'd never be able to look my kids in the eye if I became a quitter'
SG: 'Good man. Gareth - you are the man!! You are the man!! I know you're going to prove me right in the end. Good job mate, good job. Europe, Europe here we come, Europe here we come...'
Bewarethespin
Please differentiate between MFC and the Boro.
MFC is the entity that own the ground and rights to the badge, shirt, franchise etc.
Boro is the bit that we love, the score we always look for and whatever league we ply our trade in will always support.
Oddly Gibson and Lamb and the other people at MFC are also Boro supporters. Whether we agree with them or not, with their actions or not, they will also be Boro supporters for life. We dont have to love MFC to support Boro.
Finally, a piece of info from a Scouse colleague who says the story is that Stewie to Liverpool for £10m is a done deal. Bearing in mind there is a certain antipathy to Liverpool from the MFC hierachy I wonder what AV's views are.
Whatever the truth in the story, we are about to see the vultures circling the club to pick off our 'prized' assets.
**AV writes: Is it that time of the year already?
Well its the day after the night before. Its still too early to put into words how desperate I feel. Although I love my wife dearly, taking me to our local Morrisons for the weekly shop was a step too far - not for many a month have I seen so many black 'n white shirts and Newcastle crested garments worn in one place at one time.
There is no getting away from it,the local rags have front page headlines screaming "the great escape is on" and "toon win £100m match". In these trying times, fellow smoggies, whether you now live in far flung places or God's country, please spare a thought for all of us that have to endure working and living on Shearerside.
"The big hope is that Fulham and Villa hammer the Toon, which is quite possible. "
YAWN, here we go again, the Newcastle obsessed Boro fan and the unrequited rivalry. If Newcastle go down, Boro's job of coming straight back up will be much more difficult. There again, I expect your obsession with all things black and white blinds you to this fact!
Matt,
I do understand why you would say that about me, but you have to remember how everyone stood firmly and squarely behind GS and his team to the bitter end and what was promised by all.
GS said that he was to be judged this season, and judge him I will.
Why can't I judge him?
He banged on about McClaren and slated him and his team at every opportunity and continued to bang on about how he needed time and that this was his team this year and to wait before we should judge him.
If he isn't to be judged are you seriously saying that we should let this man loose on the team for the next few years? Are you seriously trying to suggest that no one should take the blame for any of this?
Are you seriously trying to suggest that we STILL keep the backroom team in place so as to keep the mythical and magical continuity in place?
All the promises and talk of " cutting our cloth " etc and " the fans getting the club they deserved " and " new model " was all just a smokescreen for people at this club happy to pick up their pay cheques and to live the big, wheeling and dealing, VIP lifestyle of the Premiership.
Steve Gibson and the count for me are a busted flush. They represent the past and for me they should all go and be replaced by new people with the real desire and real motivation and hungry as hell, and yes, with more money. Gibson and the count haven't been hungry for years.
GS, Coops, and the whole lot of them need to go and we need to start afresh. We need people hungry for that FA Cup Final or for that European spot, even if it is almost impossible. We need people who dare to dream and who will stop at nothing until they get it. even if it is a 100 to 1 shot.
We need a new era. An era filled with the very best talent on and off the pitch and a club that truly wants the fans to be part of the revolution in which they are truly appreciated and there is genuine and honest dialogue between club and fan based on the one and only overriding truth, namely, that the fans are king and the key to creating a successful club.
The " small town in Europe " mentality that has hamstrung this club simply has to go. We must walk and talk like a big club and we must ensure that we become a big club one small step at a time.
We have an amazing ground and we have an amazing training facility and everyone says we have an amazing youth system, so let's fill these places with amazing people who stop at nothing to be the very best they can be.
Simply existing in the Premiership is simply just not good enough.
TB
Great comment from Geordie Lurker about our full backs being poor etc,spot on.
Go for him AV and we will love you for it. We know, you know and they all at MFC know. Southgate is a loser and must go. Go for him Av, we need some one to follow.
I was under the impression that AA's foot has been broken since August.
My concern about replacing GS
1. No one else wants it. We end up with someone else who we don't know will do any better and we end up worse off or at a minimum no better
2. He goes somewhere else, does the biz, and we all wish we'd kept him
Am I mad or what? I am fully aware I've no substance to my argument.
Still, Hoyte for McMahon, what was that all about? He didn't complete a pass all night. I thought Snoop did ok front though. First shot on target from outside the area I've seen all year. Pity he couldn't hit the target from 10 yards inside it. Showed why he should have been given more chances this year. Wonder if he'll stick around?
Peter Holton, I may be wrong, but I believe M. Sebastian T. may actually be a Sunderland fan if some of his previous comments on here are anything to go by.
Smog on The Tyne - I can empathize with you entirely mate.
My wife is a born and bred Geordie, who I love to bits, but as a result of 9 years living in Wallsend, Shearerside (love that by the way) I suffered years of visual, audio and (sadly) a little physical monochrome abuse.
They had black & white striped carrier bags from the offy, black Xmas trees (I mean what the hell is that all about eh?); black and white Santa's, eh??, they've even got a national monopoly in all the supermarkets across the country, everything has Barcode on it now, I mean what happened to those little sticker machine thingy’s and colored price tags eh? I even had to import a COLOURED TV from MSV in Portrack and secretly install it in the loft under fear of being branded a heretic.
Anyway, two years ago enough was enough, I moved back to SmogLand (well almost, Yarm), took my precious little Geordie Princess with me (and she is by the way) and I’ve never been happier. She’s a registered Smoggette, although I’m still working on her accent, she still can’t quite get her tongue around “yerjokinarnyer” without adding a ‘t’ where there isn’t one, but she’s getting better all the time.
On Monday night she said “I hope it’s a draw because I think it’s sad that one north east team could send another one down”, bless her little cotton socks (she’s got a lot to learn on that one I think).
So my message to you is, if you can, get yourself back home mate. There’s not much in the way of the famous Teesside Smog these days, it’s all shut down so plenty of industrial waste land to buy or rent off.
But best of all we’ve got green Xmas trees, red Santa’s, no stupid striped carried bags and COLOURED TV’s are widely available to install and watch without fear. Unfortunately there are still “lurkers” around like black & white zebra crossings and Barcodes on everything in supermarkets, but we’re working on it.
I GIVE UP I have spent time and energy writing and each time it comes up as error who invented this captcha.tgz3yk
Alves has now suffered a fractured metatarsal after a tackle from behind by Nicky Butt (no great loss I hear a lot of people saying). The point I am making is that other clubs seem to make a point of taking out the opposition's best players or at least have people who go in heavy and early. Remember Cattermole on Digard.
Why don't we do to other clubs what they keep doing to us? Why doesn't Southgate highlite the opposition's dangermen and give instructions to whack them at every opportunity? Nice guys get nowhere.
In support of Tony Black's repetition.
There are many of us who stood against the appointment of GS and have consistently called for his removal as the evidence of his inability to lead this club has been paraded week-in week-out.
Yes we have been repetitive, we have been trying to get through that this 'Emperor' isn't wearing any clothes! We wouldn't be in this mess if you'd listened, but now that the time that we have been warning about is here what is to be done?
The stampede away from The Riverside (of players and supporters alike) can only be stemmed by the removal of Southgate. Players have to be persuaded of a future here, new players capable of performing in the Championship have to be attracted here and, above all, the fans have to believe that we will be competing in the Championship and not enduring another fight against relegation under GS.
Yes we've gone on and on and so has the dismal failing. Southgate - take a leaf out of Steve Coppell's book and go now. There is nothing that you can do to save us and there is no evidence that we will anything other than struggle in the Championship with you and your team at the helm.
If gross professional failing can't get him removed, if the man has no self-respect to resign, then it is down to the fans to show that they no longer have confidence in this man.
We have one last chance this season, against Villa on Saturday, to show no confidence in this management team. SOUTHGATE OUT must be the collective chant this weekend (no apologies for the repetition Matt)
And finally, to repeat Tony Black,
"We have an amazing ground and we have an amazing training facility and everyone says we have an amazing youth system, so let's fill these places with amazing people who stop at nothing to be the very best they can be."
Gibson built this - don't let him knock it down. Knock him out of his blind faith in GS
To anyone wanting to chant Southgate OUT at the Villa match, please all stay behind and do it after the final whistle. This should have been done more often this season, methinks.
Please urge the players to do their best during the game, even if that best is not good enough in the end.
AV
Yes, that time of year has come around again but there is no European or World Cup so the shufflin may start earlier. A clear sign of the onset of the close season was the the resignation of Steve Coppell.
Before we got too involved in the summer merry go round we have the small matter of trying to find a way to stay up.
It was rather disconcerting watching the Paylor tapes to see even Uncle Eric is struggling to be positive. He probably just reflects the views of the rest of us, I dont suppose you Gazette journos have rushed off to William Hill to put your life savings on us staying up.
Villa next and speaking to a fan who works with me they want us to go down because Newcastle "is a proper football town" and they havent forgiven us for some many players and staff leaving to join us. Luckily the players and staff probably dont think like that.
On the subject of tony blacks repetition... I just wish he would change the bloody record.
We all want Boro to be better, to win games, and most of us want a better manager. Saying that for years on end and at great length and with what sounds like a personal agenda doesn't make him mystic meg. It just make him a bitter Bernie Slaven clone.
I pity them. All the way through Boro's fantastic golden age people like them have moaned. They moaned on the way home from Wembley and Cardiff and Eindhoven.
They have moaned so much they have missed the chance to really enjoy the fantastic moments that my dad and granddad never got to see and moaned so much that they have poisoned the atmosphere for everyone else. It make me sick.
And the main point of tony black's ranting crusade makes me sick too - he wants Gibbo out! Instead of being grateful for the fact that Gibbo has bankrolled a decade of unprecedented glory he wants to cynically kick him out now the cash has run out.
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. And unrealistic. Time and again he talks about bringing in a foreign investor.... hello? Where are they, this queue of billionaire Boro fans ready to turn us into Barcelona?
There are NO white knights out there. No one wants to buy into football outside the big four and maybe two or three others. It was fashionable five years ago but now we have all been credit crunched you can't sell clubs. Everton and Newcastle can't find a buyer, what makes you think Boro will?
This fixation on replacing Gibbo is totally unrealistic and completely infantile. It is dummy spitting because you haven't got your way. It is no surprise so much is written with the capslock on and comprises a list of "I want, I want" demands.
Grow up son. This is Boro. This is as good as it gets. Enjoy it while you can.
If we're being honest, we're down. I've already done the permutations and it doesn't look good:
Sunderland D, Newcastle W, Boro L
Sunderland W, Newcastle W, Boro W
Sunderland D, Newcastle W, Boro W
All the above will mean we are pretty much down (unless we overturn a massive goal difference) before the season has ended.
So even if (and it is a big if) Boro beat Villa then we still might be relegated- a draw at Portsmouth for Sunderland will see both teams adequately safe(if Hull fail to beat Bolton) and Newcastle have the wind in their sails now- so a win against Fulham is conceivable. On that note, I think we should look to next season.
Coppell has just resigned as Reading manager and I think he would be a brilliant acquisition. Even with the purse strings tightened at the Madejski stadium, he has still managed to achieve with a decidedly average set of players. With a promising set of talent coming through the academy, and the right management set up, we may well bounce back.
**AV writes: What about Sunderland L, Hull L, Newcastle L Boro W? That will set up a nice nerve jangling final day won't it?
After hearing the news that a Durham man was shot dead by police just hours after the BORO / TOON game, I half heartedly joked to my wife that he was probably a peeved off Boro fan.
Sadly today it is reported in The Sun that the man, Keith Richards, WAS a Boro fan.
He had a lot of other problems and drink was a factor but it just goes to show how recent Boro results can tip the most passionate fans over the edge.
Perhaps the next game should have a minutes silence and let the manager and players realise how their pathetic results affect the good honest fans. My sympathy goes out to the mans family.
**AV writes: I'm not sure it is appropriate to score points off such an event.
Stockport Wiggy - You're ahead of me, I wasn't aware that AA had any feet to break.
Talking of AA I must go to tonights meeting,'Hello, I'm Nigel and I'm a Boro supporter....'
Tees Exile - Very, very well said.
Final whistle on saturday, regardless of result, we should take the opportunity to make our feelings known.
GET SOUTHGATE OUT
Gary - are you for real, suggesting a guy tops himself because of the result and suggesting the team reflect on their culpability. Get a grip. Thats the worst thing I've read on here, ever. I hope his family don't read it. Its utterly offensive.
Tees Exile - couldn't agree more. talk of removing a chairman who helped save, transform, fund and preside over an unrivalled period of excitement whilst keeping his integrity intact and not seeking the pop star status of many, is utter and pure lunancy and unforgiveable ungratefulness.
Tees Exile. Well said and spot on. (I've only ever posted once before and that was also to agree with your perspective on the Boro.)
Thanks to Steve Gibson, there are thousands upon thousands of us who have had the chance to share in little bit of success that most of us were convinced would never come Boro's way. Well, for over a decade now we have been the best team in the North East, with undisputed bragging rights and the only silverware the region has seen in decades.
The man deserves nothing but our gratitude. Sure, we might go down this month, but the essence of being a fan (even a Boro fan) is to always to continue to believe in the impossible.
I still believe that we can get to the end of this season in the top flight. And, if my belief for the rest of this season is let down, then I will firmly believe we will come right back next season. Even if we don't, I'll still believe it for the next season, otherwise why should I bother to call myself a fan.
In an attempt to at least partly counter the growing swell of predictability in some quarters of the Boro support, I will NOT be shouting for Gareth Southgate’s removal on Saturday, irrespective of the result.
That doesn’t mean to say that I don’t expect such a reaction, because I do. I also wouldn’t be surprised for it to be before and during the match also. It’s potentially going to be ugly – and embarrassing. And that is both sad and utterly disappointing. It’ll be worse than being beaten at St James’s Park. And I don’t really want to be a part of any ugly mob culture that turns on its own.
Yes, Boro have had a lousy season – on top of two pretty mediocre seasons, but there are some pretty fundamental reasons for that which transcend and mitigate to an extent, Gareth Southgate’s management. And they won’t change, irrespective of how much people are hurting.
And until people get their heads round the fundamentals, they’ll have trouble coming to terms with the situation and they’ll be eaten up by it. Calling for people’s heads may be temporarily cathartic. But it’s only an analgesic and not a cure.
Tees Exile:
That was more than a half-decent reality check! Great post.
That said, it’s hard not to have empathy with Tony Black's emotional reaction.
In fairness, it does get more than a little frustrating for fans to be on the sidelines and watch while the same errors are repeated time and again on the field. That’s entirely understandable.
But it's precisely that, the repeated errors, the poor decision making, the errors, the inability to adjust – at any level - that makes it obvious to me that the squad, as assembled, simply isn't good enough for the Premier League.
It's NOT down to just one man though. And this is where my views digress from those of Tony Black and many others.
If, to exorcise their ire, people feel the need to point the finger at only one person, it should NOT be Gareth Southgate. No one person is to blame for Boro’s plight. Blame is NOT the right word either. But no single word can possibly capture the entire range of circumstances that have brought about Boro’s almost inevitable exit from the Premier League.
Changing the manager is not the answer and will not bring back “the good times”. Because the manager is NOT the root cause of Boro’s woes.
Many won’t want to hear this, but from where we are now, it’s probably not even part of the answer. As a direct consequence of his experiences, Southgate will be a wiser and better manager than at any time in the last three years. And if Boro are to rebuild, I for one would far rather rebuild with a man of character, integrity and who cared for the club and its long-term future, rather than with a man who sells his services to the highest bidder and whose ambition is focused solely on himself.
Circumstances around and inside MFC have changed and the financial situation, irrespective of whether Tony Black or anyone else considers it otherwise, has been the dominant factor – not the only one, but the dominant one - in moving Boro to where we are now.
No amount of attention to secondary or tertiary influences can backfill for a fundamental shortage of the primary prerequisite for continued Premier League membership. Sure, there are overlaps in the influences of all factors, but fundamentally, you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
I don't suppose that anyone at the club considered when player-trading was ongoing that we were in fact buying pork in Jim Thomson's! (For those who don't know, Jim Thomson was the main influence behind Thailand's modern silk industry).
However, from the fans’ perspective, and with hindsight, judgments were wrong when the squad was being assembled. And although some will quickly jump on Gareth Southgate for that also, that would be unfair on several counts. Principally, because it's NOT how Boro's management team works – so we’re led to believe (and there’s evidence in support of it).
Gareth Southgate doesn’t set the budget!
Gareth Southgate doesn't write the cheques!
Gareth Southgate doesn't do the scouting!
Southgate focuses on what he's got, tries to get the best out of them (whatever that is at any particular time) and tells others what he needs and where he's short of resources. If he can be accommodated, then he will be. If he can't be, he will have to make do with what's available - or what can be made available within the constraints of MFC "the business" or "the market”.
Sure, he’s perhaps guilty of naivety. Which newly-appointed manager – or anyone in a new role in any field - isn’t? That doesn’t make them intrinsically bad at what they do, all of the time. And with time, they usually get better with experience. Most fair-minded people will acknowledge this.
The squad was assembled on a tightening budget and against other constraints facing MFC and our intrinsic external image - which is always something we've had an uphill battle with and in which the national media and the Premier League publicity machine have played no small role perpetuating – subconsciously or otherwise. Sins of omission are just as serious as those which are deliberate!
Regrettably, I feel that Steve Gibson, faced with some difficult choices, possibly even his companies' solvency, probably made sub-optimal decisions (viewed from a purely "Boro" perspective, rather than from a business viewpoint), which may have accelerated, or brought forward the inevitable.
Hard to swallow! But fact, nevertheless! We (have to) live with it and move on!
HOW we move on depends, mostly and primarily, on Steve Gibson’s business strength and what funds are available to redress what's gone wrong. Unless there are substantial playing staff improvement changes – in quality and quantity - Boro will not return to the Premier League anytime soon.
We'll all have different views on that, but there's only one that really matters! It’s not mine. And it’s not Tony Black’s.
Weighing up all the evidence, albeit mostly circumstantial, my personal assessment is that we, the supporters, need to prepare ourselves for a protracted period outside the top flight.
It’s constraints on money that’s brought us here and it’ll be constraints on money that will be the main barrier to a return. Unless Bulkhaul suddenly lands several of its biggest contracts, ever. But somehow, having recently flown over and then sailed through the Straits of Singapore and seen kilometer after kilometer of sea-space taken up by billions of tons of empty cargo vessels and tankers idle at anchor, it’s going to be a while before “normality” is restored to the cargo trade in which Steve Gibson’s MFC-underwriting business operates.
The two cargo ships which have been berthed for several months at Middlehaven, adjacent to the Riverside Stadium, are also testimony to that – but perhaps they’re not seen in that light by everyone.
And for goodness sake, let’s all stop dreaming about there being a queue of investors out there keen to plough the hundred million or so into MFC that it will take to get Boro into the top end of the Premier League. Nobody’s interested!
In considering this, it’s worth asking why, with all their billions, Laksmi Mittal, Favio Briatori and Bernie Ecclestone would prefer to invest in QPR – a Championship club – rather than Boro – a Premier League club – or any other Premier League club that may be available, for that matter?
Even if they were, it would be Steve Gibson’s decision about whether to accept any offer or not. And with Gibson having bankrolled Boro to the tune of £60M of his own assets’ worth, he’s unlikely to write it all off and hand over control to an external asset-stripper. Are we so naïve that we’d expect Steve Gibson to do that?
Now if he was to prove me wrong, THEN there’d be a case for recommending him for the biggest community award in history! But I’d recommend nobody should hold their breath waiting for it to happen!
On the other hand, people should perhaps wonder where they’d have been in football terms for the past 22 years, had Steve Gibson not taken the reins and injected his support.
They may not have had a football club at all, instead of having, like me, the most wonderful football-supporting experiences of my life, in the last 12 or so years!
Don't say I didn't tell you so......
Predictable? What do you think?
Don't say I didn't tell you so......
Predictable? What do you think?
What makes me laugh out loud is people like the insufferably tedious nitwit Stewie Downing (hurry up and join Spurs), Marlon King or Marvin Emnes saying that they could still be in for a shout and win their last two games.....
Yeah, and, to paraphrase Express/Mail sports columnist Niall Hickman (who used to stick by Boro through thick and thin until he too must have got so hacked off with their repeatedly crap results that he's now lost patience with them and given up on them altogether), Gordon Brown might develop a conscience and refund all of his fellow MPs expenses back to each and every one of us in the form of a big fat juicy £10,000 cheque to say sorry for being such a useless PM.
Perhaps Boro should refund us season ticket holders the full wack for the last three dire seasons of utter garbage as well - we'd be able to use that money and collectively help rebuild Teessides' fast disintegrating economy (first Corus, Now MFC, whatever next to add further nails into the regional coffin???).
Going back to the game, I'd have easily told you that if ANY team was going through a desperate winless run and needed to get a positive result (win) to be back on their feet again, they need only ever play one side: and you know darned well who that side is.
If you don't believe me, check the stats over the years and look at practically every side in the PL who have had bad losing/drawing runs of six/seven games and see what their next result is once they take on the ever-obliging Boro. We're such willing lambs to the slaughter it's untrue. Almost beyond cliche! Ergo Newcastle - it was obvious who their first win was going to come against after such a dire run.
Couple that with the Shearer / Viduka factor and you've more or less got quids in!
Believe me, it now looks as if, not content with rewriting the record books with each and every game (so isn't it apt that they should bow out of the top flight with their worst EVER season in it, lowest finishing position, least points, least goals, least wins, least everything!!!), Boro will probably now not win away until halfway into the next Championship season....and that's probably being optimistic.
With the shower they currently have for a squad, and the useless excuse of a manager and increasingly clueless board, they have no chance of even aiming for mid-table in the next division down.
There's still time yet, boys, for the icing on the cake - that West Brom end up 19th on goal difference after Boro's next two games end in deafeat and add another six-eight goals to their minus GD column. You gotta concede that, forall of their eforts, Boro have really gone about being crap in style this season, haven't they? And to think Southgate's job is still safe, after this, doesn't fill me with any hope whatsoever for the next season in the second tier.
I say bring on either Mogga or Steve Coppell, perhaps even Alan Curbishley. Three decent no-nonsense managers who know what they're doing (relative to GS that is), because, after all, how much worse could it get? What more have we got to lose that we haven't lost so much of already?
On the other hand, if it's not players who don't want to come to Boro, then I can't see which managers would ever want to soil their hands with taking over the reins at this sorry place.
Then again, what are the chances of some rich oil tycoon doing a Man City at the Riverside? Practically nil. Gibson is too stubborn and set in his 'principles' (however dubious they may seem now in the cold light of reality) to ever contemplate selling the ownership of the club into foreign hands....so now the shortcomings have all too clearly come back home to roost.... and how!!
Face it, the Revolution is over - only because it never really began in the first place. And we all know whose fault that is!
Game over, we've been caught with our pants down. And boy is it humiliating!
Geordie Lurker,
Your comments were a bit too early weren't they?
As I said, you can now personally say hello to Doncaster yourself. Your arrogance has been suitably answered.
We Look forward to 6 easy points next season. Newcastle a "huge" Club? Maybe 50 years ago but not lately and certainly not today.