August 2011 Archives

DEADLINE DAY: multi-media rumour-mongering, Twitter tittle-tattle and viral hysteria plus hours of hypnotic hopeful obsessive gazing at the yellow rolling banner of destiny.

You know the routine. F5. Refresh Vickers' useless blog. Check club website. F5. Refresh FMTTM in case someone there knows someone who knows Mogga's brother's neighbour's Mam. F5. F5. Fidget through office hours then get home and assume the position in thrall to an exciteable android scoopbot Jim White with beer in hand and five windows open on the laptop as the clock ticks down. FOR GOD'S SAKE MOWBRAY SIGN SOMEONE. Sign a Montenegran full back. Sign a Bulgarian sweeper. Sign Lee Miller.... he's a goal machine!

THE INTERNATIONAL break couldn't be better timed for Boro. The Mogganaut looked to be running out of steam for a spell against Coventry in a very ragged start to the second half and suddenly a leaden legged Boro were left chasing a game that should have been in the bag.

HERE'S SOMETHING to keep you ticking over while we ready ourself for the next stage of our assault on Wembley tonight - a remix of this week's Big Picture column from the old style paper Gazette, a celebration of the day Pheonix club Boro climbed out of their coffins to play out a hum-drum third division draw that was of incalculable historical significance.....

COMFORTABLE. Unbeaten run extended. One defeat in 17, won eight out of nine and but for last minute leak against Portsmouth would be joint top. Goals coming from all around the midfield. Hitting from behind with confidence. Two subs, two goals. Sizzling net-buster of a shot from Martin. Haroun looks lively. Patient passing. Excellent movement. A couple of bits of luck. Great atmosphere. Back up to third. Fantastic.

More later ...

LUNAR leader Tony Mowbray wants to dampened down expectations for this season. That could be tricky if bubbling Boro are going to put in interstellar shows like that!

Bubbling Boro battered Barnsley in a sizzling first half display that was out of this world. Somewhere out of the haze of Championship mediocrity loomed a brief teasing glimpse of the utopian style the boss is working towards, a hint of what is possible. And it was fantastic.

THE MOGGANAUT rolls on. Battling Boro stood up to a physical Leeds, shrugged off the disruptive arbitary justice of a referee who had lost the plot and finished the opposition off with a sizzling angled shot by Dreadlocked Destroyer Marvin Emnes.

Before the game Leeds fans were revolting over penny-pinching Ken Bates stewardship. A crowd of about 500 gathered outside the main stand and chanted "Bates Out" and at one point zeroed in on the doorman and accused him: "Your suit's from Matalan." The anger continued through the game as they vented their spleen at the referee and a string of decisions that had the crowd howling then after the goal again turned on the owner. But they could have little complaint at the result.

VIVA Javi Poves! Viva Los Ingnados! Death To football!

Sporting Gijon defender Poves, a rising star of Spanish football, has wrapped in football in digust at the greed, venality and corruption of a game he says is a commercial racket used to blind society to inequality, injustice and poverty in the wider world and become an instant hero. To me anyway.

LIGHTNING struck twice as Boro splodged through an opening day monsoon to lose a commanding lead and draw 2-2 in a prickly punch-out with physical Portsmouth.

Bubbling Boro dominated for long spells and played some fluid football in a downpour only to be twice pegged back. There were plenty of positives, especially going forward, but in a damp and disappointing climax Boro were dragged into a niggly squabble against a side well versed in football's dark arts and gradually lost their shape and lost their discipline.

They then paid the price as they retreated to the edge of their own box then got caught cold with a unlucky deflection and a stoppage time sucker punch. Welcome back. It's like we've never been away.

WHAT I want is a trip to Wembley in the play-off final. We can do that. We should be aiming for that. It would be something different, something new for the club. It would be fantastic. It would be a concrete achievement. It would show that that the slide had stopped and that there was forward momentum again. It would build on the feel good factor of the Mogganaut and it would be a fantastic pay-off for the supporters after three years of soul-sapping grind and down-sizing. And it is possible.

Let's go for it. This season should be Operation Arch.