GOOD GOOD GOOD. Well done boys WELL DONE I am over the moon Tony Mowbray OVER THE MOON . We are up in a promotion place (ok its early doors, but we are up there) and unbeaten till now UNBEATEN Only team in the Championship unbeaten.

Now it’s an international break - good. Time to recover, time to train, time to prepare. When the break is over watch them come out of the traps. We have Thompson and Arca to find places for, we have a new striker pushing for game time, we have kids pushing for the bench or the team and with the Pride of 86 back thanks to Mowbray WE HAVE A SEASON TO RELISH

Just look at the league table!!

AV - The start to your article was how I was going to start my post. The only difference was my half empty glass would been have in the dry cycle of the dish washer and well and truly volumetrically challenged by adding in 'knocked out of the trophy we cherish, not won at home since mid August, not won for four matches'

Daughter off to Uni today so she was out with Mrs G shopping as I cleaned the BBQ. Imagine their faces as they came back to see me in the glorious weather listening to the match on the laptop. The beauty of wireless!

An odd situation in the championship as clubs are determined to allow us to remain in second place whilst we keep drawing.

A good time to draw breath and clear the mind, the Mogganaut can be put on the ramp and giving a thorough check over.

What a difference a year makes.

When a bottle is half full it is also simultaneously half empty, that's the thing about halves, there are two of them.

The half of Boro that away from home is head and shoulders above the rest - the Boro that thrusts and parry and moves with pace is something to be proud of, and could well run away with this league.

Yet, the other half - my Boro - the one I see - the one that has only won one game and threw away three of the others and could have lost the fifth. Is what it is - a mid table outfit that runs out of steam and ideas in the last 1/3rd.

I am no armchair chicken runner - just your average season ticket holder who has only seen his team win one game. Strange - I would have settled for mid-table and find this Indian summer global warming ( 1st Oct sat on the beach ) 2nd place a little too freaky to come to terms with at the moment.

Yesterday, after we suffered our worst forty-five minutes so far this season, morphed into one of the most reassuring days: Mogga dealt masterfully with the problems left by not having Joe B bombing down the left-hand side of the pitch. He tried swapping Tony Mc with Justin; that didn't work; so he brought in two creative, but slower, players who also give opposing teams plenty of headaches; and that reduced Reading to looking (as Burnley had) like Strachan's headless-chicken Boro. This man can manage!

Two things emerged clearly from Reading for me: the knockers of Joe B need to think very carefully about what is missing from our team when he is; and Kevin Thomson may be very hard, from now on, to leave out of the side. The Red Army is still on the rise!

Comparisons with Charlton's team, only five goals conceeded to date! A longer unbeaten run than Rioch's team, very very impressive. And this team hasn't peaked yet.
It's turning out to be an exciting season!!

Agree with the comments appertaining to the keeper situation, I'll be amazeed if Mogga isn't thinking in a similar way.

What I would like to see and again I'm sure that Mogga has looked into this is taking on loan somebody like Bednar (I think) of WBA. He's aplayer I feel would improve us quite a lot, he works his doodahs off and also has a good touch, besides being built like the proverbial brick outhouse.

All in all though it's looking very positive, the clean sheets were totaly unexpected.
More of the same please lads.

Mixed thoughts about MacMoses leaving Forest. A lot of fans thought he was on a hiding to nothing fighting the group that controlled purchases.

Billy Davies had the same fight but reached the playoffs twice. As my Derby supporting colleague said 'no Billy Davies team would have lost from 1-0 up against ten man for 88 minutes'.

Moving on, Halifaxp, lets see Mogga sort out the subs and formations at home, we are so close to piecing it together. I stick by my view that if we have a decent run with availability there is a lot of quality in the squad.

testing

As a little aside, I work in Reading and just talking to one of my colleagues about Saturday apparently the Boro team coach had to ask directions to the ground from the City Centre.

The Madejski being right on the M4 Juntion 11 interchange, several miles from the centre of Reading, the obvious answer was 'why are you here?'

Back came the reply 'we had to stop off for someone to buy a new pair of football boots'!

OK, 'fess up, who left their boots at home on Saturday - and did leaving the 'lucky shooting boots' behind contribute to missed chances???

Ian and Vic,

As said, the system no longer seems to 'remember personal info'. It was the same with me but no other problem.

Up the Boro!

It was the second game of the season for me and my boy - we went to Selhurst Park the other week.

I thought that, whilst Boro were very good at maintaining shape (the wingbacks were stuck to the touchline and were always an outlet), the space between defence and attack was very compact.

This is obviously why we are hard to break-down and strong on the counter.

But it meant that the onus of creativity was very much on the overlapping wingbacks. Hoyte found himself in acres of room time and time again but there was no end product. McMahon, I thought, provided some great crosses.

But it wasn't until Arca came on and provided some incisive passing from the left that the game really swung in boro's favour.

Also, Nicky Bailey was outstanding - he was first to every second ball and knock-down. He pretty much controlled the midfield.

I met my Reading supporting mates after the game and they were mightily relieved to have grabbed a point from that game.

I'm usually a glass-half-empty grumpy git I must admit, but there's something about this team that is maybe making me start to think a little differently. Its made me post something remotely meaningful for the first time on here!

Opening a word document and then copy/paste is fine for a longer post; it’s a pain if you just want to post a brief comment. So is entering your personal details every time you post.

Rant over.

We can bask in the glory of second spot for two weeks now!

Three 0-0’s in a row may not look like great form but given that two of those were against Leicester and Ipswich who are two of the form teams then they look like reasonable results. We’re still playing well and creating chances, so there’s no loss of form on Boro’s part.

I also think we haven’t fielded our strongest team yet, I’m looking forward to seeing Tommo getting a run in the team, that should give us more creativity.

What are we going to talk about for the next two weeks, it’s a struggle to find inspiration when everything’s going so well.

That Captcha bloke is really winding me up now…………………..

Ian –

You make a good point, I like you tend to see a lot more away games than home games and as an ‘ex-pat’ my Boro experience is also driven by what I read and watch in the Gazette/Boro World etc. This means I’m currently basking in the luxury of supporting an unbeaten team.

It must be somewhat frustrating for the 20000 ‘home’ fans who regularly pile down to the Riverside to see the team draw….again. For them it must be a somewhat paradoxical experience, second top of the league but because of away form.

If we sustain a promotion challenge through the season, then that will change of course. Hopefully starting a week on Saturday.

One advantage of having to copy and paste a word document is that my spelling and grammatical errors are highlighted so there may be some improvement in others being able to make sense of what I post, although I wouldn’t hang my hat on that!

Richard:

I've been called a pest before so I'll take virus as an upwards step...

Nigel -

As a home season ticket holder, what frustrates me is not the entertainment (a sight better than last year), or even dropping some points.

The real frustration is the knowledge of where we could have been if only we could have ought one good striker before the transfer deadline.

I suspect if we had offloaded Lethal earlier, we might just have managed to afford to bring in another striker. Lets face it, even though we've done very well, another good striker, with a different style, would probably have turned one - probably more- of those draws into a win.

We don't understand the full financial restrictions they might be working under. I presume we could not offer any money for anyone until we had cut our bills substantially.

All the same it does make me - and a lot of others - wonder just where we could have been. Miller for example seems to be able to score for Forest despite their awful start and looks as though he would have been a good buy with his strength and style.

I guess however well a team does, it is easy to dream about what might have been if only.....

**AV writes: There is clearly money available for the right man because Boro offered something close to £1m for Luka Jutkiewisc on deadline day.

I think the key is "the right man." Boro get offered strikers on loan every day but Mogga wants a players who suits his style of play, who fits the financial template, has a compatable personality to slot into the squad, who wants to come here.

I agree that it's a much better than expected, two points a game average - and it's diffcult to argue with second - though some tweaks could have had us top!! That's greedy, though.

Boro can now use the International Break yawn to get some R&R and get Joe Bennett fit again.

If I were Mogga, I'd also be thinking about just how long I could be stubborn enough to ignore all the evidence and keep playing Hoyte - particularly when Tony Mc showed again just how effective he can be at right wing back and we have options for the back three - even more so when Seb Hines is recovered.

The only support Mogga seems to advance for Hoyte is his 'athleticism' - but when have we even seen that?

I might also be reviewing whether trying to soldier on without another loan striker makes sense.

Yes, he has players who aren't getting games - or even getting on the bench - but neither are they the sort who'd get you goals, either.

Three nil nils on the bounce tells just as much of a tale at one end of the pitch as the other and the two first picks are always going to go through lean spells in a season.

And, if he can only afford one loaner, why Alex Nimely who is a lightweight version of M&S and Scott McDonald and, so, offers Boro nothing different as an option. When that loan's up or could be terminated, he could look elsewhere.

But that's all fine tuning. Keep on truckin', Mogganaut!

We have an excellent young keeper in Steele and I feel sure he will go on representing us for many years to come being part of our successful future and winning many honors.

However hats off to Big Ikman, he like Smith last season has preformed heroics behind the best defense outside the Premiership and would be a fantastic acquisition in January if any money were available.

However, tell me is anyone surprised that Mobray picked a very good goalkeeper when we needed one. When I see Turnbull at Chelsea, it always rankles as in my opinion he could and should have been in a Boro shirt and possibly an England shirt for many years.

So boys, how aboutthis one.... If we could choose, which Boro boy would you like to see back home?

Wheater who does not seem to be at his best or appreciated at Bolton?

Cattermole who’s Makem adventure has hit the buffers?

Morrison who’s pace and scoring ability were used so well by Mowbray?

Brunt who can play anywhere along the front line?

Taylor who’s passing and awareness linked so well with boy wonder on the left?

Downing who’s is showing the world his ability?

Woodgate who is performing well for Stoke?

Johnston who only gets the odd game to show his silky skills?

Turnbull who is almost a forgotten man at Chelsea?

Wilkshire who was the second kid from down under to come though our academy?

Graham who scored goals throughout his career but never got a chance at Boro?

So there you are, I have given you 11 a full team of ex Boro starlets who because of mismanagement particularly by G.S.1 and then G.S.2 all this talent was lost to us. More many more slipped the net or were discarded by blind coaches

Over the years, we have seen so much talent leave, many the likes of Coops, Pally and Mogga all wanted to come home and represent this fantastic club. Many of those above never wanted to leave and may jump at the chance to play for Tony Mowbray and his resurgent BORO

So my question to you all is: Ifthe opportunity presented itself which ex-Boro boy would you like to see pull on the shirt once again?

copyandpasteinho said: "Are we now in a position where the question this season is ‘automatic promotion or play offs?"

No. The squad isn't being tested yet (at least not to breaking point). When the winter sets in, the pitches get heavier, the games come thick and fast and the injuries and suspensions start to take their toll, then I think we'll see our true relative squad strength.

That's when I believe West Ham and Leicester, two sides who would appear to have two decent players for every position, will come to the fore. They can swap players in and out without losing too much.

Boro (and Southampton) to me have a first eleven (or possibly thirteen) capable of matching anyone in the division (and beating them), but probably not enough after that.

We've started so well that we probably need to take only half the points still on offer to make the playoffs, and I've upgraded my expectations from a pre-season prediction of 8th-with-a-playoff-chance to top 6, but expecting any more with a small squad (midfield aside) is too much in my opinion. That's not meant to be defeatist, just a healthy respect for our contemporaries.

Very good to see the Boro doing so well especially after the disappointment at the start of last season. Mowbray has transformed the team.Still another 35 games to go but we should be in the frame at the end. The state of play at Xmas will be more indicative of the end of the season.

Very thin on the posts front, any way of assessing failed attempts? Does the system record misses as well as hits?

Jeffery –

Downing. He’s head and shoulders above all other ex-Boro players. Woodgate after that, he’s class too but injury prone .

All the others are average to poor at Premiership level, which is where we were when they were off loaded. Adam Johnson I suspect has an attitude problem which might de-rail his career if he’s not careful.

Am I alone in questioning the idea that we have a ‘thin’ squad? I don’t see it, we have good cover in defence, more decent midfielders than you can shake a stick at and three strikers. So at most we are one striker light.

But every supporter of every club thinks they have an irreplaceable striker. Take manure for example, would their fans be happy if Rooney was injured and replaced by Owen or Berbatov (both has beens).

I think our squad depth is fine, if we don’t go up it won’t be because of quantity.

Definitely need a striker and very soon a keeper.

Very happy with what has happened so far. The draws were against good opposition and winning ways will return soon i think.

Would like to see Johnson back but unrealistic.I also think Turnbull made a mistake going to Chelsea not wage wise but definatly career wise.

Good question Jeffrey, should keep us busy for the next couple of boring weeks.

My pick isn't on your list... Tuncay, presently bottom of the first division with Bolton, but definitely not his partner Wheater. Our defense has improved significantly since he moved. Another good piece of business on our part.

I read a lot about how many 'stars' have left Boro, but I don't really see the evidence. I can only think of three (in my era) that have gone on to have stellar careers...Graeme Souness, Gary Pallister and Craig Johnstone. Plenty of silverware between those three. I can't think of too many others that would have needed to furnish the house with a special trophy cabinet.

Of the more recent batch, Downing has the potential. Like our Brazilian friend Copyandpastinho, I'm yet to be convinced Mr Stepover Johnson has the goods. The rest are lower to mid table first division, and some struggle at that level.

Bob -

I take your point on Boro "stars" that have left, but it's all relative isn't it?

It doesn't matter if James Morrson never wins a bucket load of trohpies, it only matters if he's better than what we've got.

That said, there's very few players that have left that I've had much truck with. Recently, most have been financially motivated and beneficial to all parties. Others I've been glad to see that back of.

copyandpasteinho

I think we'll have to disagree on that one!

I don't believe we have two good goalkeepers. We have one on short term loan and two unproven kids.

Defence is fine except at left back, where we only have Bennett. Arca is not a left back, neither is Hoyte (though he does his best).

We have no wingers. We generally play four central midfielders. Nothing wrong with that, but it does limit your options.

We have two strikers and one kid on loan.

That doesn't make a strong, deep squad for me.

I think we're ok at right back, centre back and definitely centre midfield.

Mowbray, his staff and team have done an incredible job so far but we'll have to be very lucky not to go through a period where our squad is stretched. I guess we'll see then if our cover is up to it. I hope you're right.

Interesting debate on the strength of the squad.

There are areas where we are less strong than others. We could do with another experienced left back and striker, a winger wouldnt go amiss.

But, hang on, wasnt their a cry that we should give kids a chance? That Strachan was useless bringing in experienced players, Gate gave away the kids or lost them because of mismanagement- that is one of mine but dont confuse people with facts.

And what would we do with a winger? Mogga is a lover of 4-3-3, how they fit into that formation? Where is the evidence that Mogga plays a wide man on both sides of the pitch?

The fact is that if we get decent numbers of games from our main players we will have a good season (stop bristling Vic, I am not having a go at Crockcliffe).

Being in the Championship leads on to another topic. Does Gibbo want promotion?

Interesting debate on Radio 5. Blackpool received £40m for one season in the top flight plus huge parachute payments. Can anyone give a coherent reason why a club chairman wouldnt want that, especially one who has bankrolled the club - I hear Richard warming up on the sideelines - even if it has been through his company.

Moving on to a general point about TV money - what effortless links. ManU got £60m from UK TV rights.

So what I hear you yawn? We are nown down the food chain but in the top flight there are collective bargaining rights which are much disliked in the EU and the Poison Dwarf at UEFA hates us as well.

The beacons of fair play aka Barca and Real get well over £100m per year from TV. Apparently they got 17 times the money from TV than the bottom club. Reason? Individual negotiating rights.

Whilst we rant and rave about money in the game we musnt get carried away. We dont have our trotters in the trough because of mismanagement, we had the money and threw it away. Remember all Strickens buys = two thirds of an Alves.

I dont love Sky or the money in the game but that is the world we live in, dont shoot or shout at the messenger

Boss Tony Mowbray has been named on the shortlist for September's npower Manager of the Month award, while skipper Matthew Bates is among the Player of the Month nominations.

I think Mogga will still miss the award and it goes to a promoted team's manager, Southampton's Nigel Adkins. But I feel optimistic enough to say Mogga will get one in a month's time (!).

But I hope Bates will get the award. We have gone so many matches - 4 or 5 - without conceding a goal that a defender of our back four deserves the price.

And we are still undefeated in the league (all others have lost twice already).

But of course we won't receive two awards in succession after Marvin collected that the month before. So typically Boro, Bates will miss this one?

Up the Boro!

John –

I’m not a huge fan of Hoyte myself, although I have to admit to a prejudice against ‘Arsenal lite’ players in general.

However I’m not Tony McMahon’s biggest fan either, I like him because he’s a Boro boy, he’s motivated, determined and committed which can go a long way. But I think he has limited ability, overall I would agree he is a better defender than Hoyte.

Ian –

You’re right we live in the world of SKY like it or not. We need to be in the Prem as soon as possible in order to secure the £40m plus the guaranteed five years of parachute payments if/when we’re relegated.

That amount of money can take you a long way if managed properly. Mogga appears to understand how to manage that money and I’m sure if the Chairman or COO knocks on his door and says ‘my mate the agent has found us a bloke in Holland who is scoring for fun and he’s only £12m plus £50k/week’, Mogga will tell them exactly where to go.

Chris from Beverley

There is a topic for the international break. Which Boro player would you least like to mix it with? Past and present, families included.

Of the current crop Robbo is decidedly scary once he gets his dander up, Bennett seems to use him as a role model and could start a fight in an empty room. Emnes would be a pussy cat, big Mick would be a handful, Bailey looks quietly hard.

Of latter day players, Souness was downright nasty and hard.

Very disappointed in The Evening Gazette running the Hoyte story one day and Bennett the next when both could have been printed on the same day in the same article. Just making the situation worse! You say let's get behind and support the team and you're adding flames to the fire...

Comments on comments about Justin Hoyte and other stuff:

My impression is that Hoyte is a "confidence" player who often lacks it, or momentarily loses it instead of keeping a cool head when final-ball creativity is demanded. He's not going to get any more of it if Mowbray, his present boss/ coach/ mentor, publicly says anything adverse about his innate skills.

He's coaching the guy in private, to get Hoyte to be the best he can be. So he's not about to undo the good work by emphasising his weaknesses in public. There can't be many better ways of disabling a person than his boss to publicly say he has reservations about him. Personally, I'd be disappointed in Mowbray - or any coach/ leader - if they did so.

The one justifiable exception is in being critical of public behaviours that are detrimental to the club, team or others and preferably, after personal consultation with the miscreant. (There are a few historical examples from up the road at the Barcodes - Carol, Barton, Bowyer, Dyer, Bramble, to name a few - and, closer to home, when Lee Cattermole's social activities seemed to be getting in the way of his Boro career.)

It's different for us, as supporters. We can criticise all we like - but our "relationship" with players is not anything like as intimate as that between the player and his boss. Fan opinion, viewed by players, generally, is less impactful on a daily basis than their boss's. Even those communicating with players via Twitter, of whom the vast majority will remain personally distanced from the player and more often than not "protected" by their "nommes de web".

However, if Hoyte is of a "celebrity" or perhaps insecure mindset and needs everyone to love him before he can perform, he may never progress further. He could be paralysed or distracted by fear of making mistakes in front of those he seeks to impress. In such circumstances, moment by important moment, maybe that's where his focus is, rather than on making the right decision on the field, or distributing the ball more effectively. Maybe he becomes too conscious of the crowd.

Part of Mowbray's job is to continuously challenge that and to coach any such tendencies out of him. Mowbray's not likely to be able to do that by "disrespecting" (don't you just hate that inner-city street-speak? - not that I'm stereo-typing of course!) him publicly.

Because there's a lull in the football action……….

…….a great big cheer for Karen Murphy, the Portsmouth landlady who took on the pernicious, socially-distorting and divisive, inflationary alliance of Murdoch and Scudamore - and won! Way to go girl! If only the rest of the population were as principled and had sets as big as your's - so to speak!!

Finally,…… RIP Steve Jobs. He delivered great products that people want and are obviously prepared to pay for, because they're good. Result. Everyone happy. Sorry he's gone, but his lessons should live on, if you get my drift?

Jeffrey-

(5) Centre midfield well we have plenty of choice there however; one wonders what will happen when Bailey is missing through injury or suspension. who covers him?

I think I read Mogga pondering he might bring Thomson in and convert Bailey back to goal scoring midfielder he was at Charlton.

Otherwise a very interesting summary of our squad: Up the Boro!

Middlesbrough Manager Tony Mowbray has been named npower Championship Manager of the Month and defender Matthew Bates has been named npower Championship Player of the Month for September.

Two great wins - who said intentional Breaks are boring?

Best possible advertising for the Millwall game. Let's see if Boro can untypically win the Lions - and comfortably!

Player of the month for October? Rhys or Thommo - we need a hat-trick there.

Cup half full for me. Up the Boro.

Richard –

Steve Jobs RIP, indeed a fantastic designer and visionary. I am a big Apple fan.

However, morally Steve Jobs was no different to Scudamore/SKY was he?

SKY attempt to do everything it can to ensure as many football fans as possible pay as much as possible to watch footie on TV, they try to control when and where SKY is shown and charge very high prices for pubs to show SKY. Clearly SKY make more from us all sitting in out own houses watching a sports channel we have subscribed to.

Steve Jobs did exactly the same thing at Apple, he developed products we all wanted and then made sure that in order to make those products work by buying songs off itunes or downloading apps etc that you have to go back to the Apple store, he did everything in his power to ensure that apple had minimal competition in order to be able to maintain very high prices. He did it very well, but morally Steve Jobs was no different to the Sky shareholders or Scudamore et al.

Speaking of business, if you could make a rule change (or two or three) to the way football is run what would it be?

My captcha theory proved right, the slow post two 2 goes to get through.

Then I went to post saying that and it stopped me for too many posts in a short time

The Manager and Player of the Month awards for Mogga and Batesy are well earned.

I take Matt's point about the well known 'curse of the award' phenomenon and how it's afflicted many in the past and M&S now.

I'm relying on the counter-charms - that now someone else has got an award, it'll free M&S from the spell. And that, because Boro are without a game this weekend the spell won't snare Mogga at all.

I'm going to avoid cracks in the pavement too, for good measure!

I am not so much interested in the return of former players,they have gone and let them and ourselves get on with our futures.

What intrigues me is the point about how we see a game and how Mogga or any manager for that matter, views a football match.

The example of Hoyte is a good illustration of where we, the fans see Hoyte, hugging the touchline, fast, unable to cross a ball, dithers and dallies when he is in the box, unable to kick with his left foot.

Compare that reasonable observation with Mogga's professional eye, a player who is athletic, which I take to mean very fit, mobile, adaptable, can play anywhere in defence and carry out his instructions.Who'se right?

I have often wondered if Mogga, when on the touchline sees the game in a more geometric form than us supporters.

By that, is he looking at who is out of position, who is forward or sideways in position? As he said on radio we may play 3-5-2 but to the untrained eye its a player being fifteen yards forward or back.

I try my best to follow the shape and positoning of the team, the tactics employed and the last two home games were fascinating because of the good defensive play by both sides. I asked the question who is right, perhaps more accurately do we clearly understand what we are seeing in front of our eyes?

The debate still drags on over Hoyte and its obvious why. The guy is a natural athlete probably as fast as any player in the championship A Manager/Coach will always try to make a footballer of guys like Hoyte. And its not fair to say he does little or nothing,

He regally boxes down left wingers and its no coincidence that we do not have many problems down our right hand side with the combination of McMahon’s tenacity and
Hoytes athleticism however its true he struggles when he gets forward and rarely delivers
what he clearly has in his locker.

Wenger could not get the best out of him although he tried and tried and tried again and Mowbray is doing his best to get an exceptional talent to produce and rightly so. However, my guess is that changes are inevitable in midfield anyway as Thomson and Arca are fit again and will edge other players out. Therefore, Hoyte for sure will make way

Jarkko

But what a coincidence!

I am still here. Fear not. It might take a while to come down from the results at the Rugby World Cup though. Thankfully there is no Boro football for a while...

A pretty miserable weekend to be a multisport English fan.

I am more bothered about the rugby union than the football team getting a draw against a country with the population of Leeds.

I dont know who is dafter, Tuilagi for jumping off a ferry or Rooney for his senseless kick. At least the unexpected abandon ship was not during a match.

Oddly there are some parallels between Rooney and Zidane. Both came from a background in areas with problems, both have great skills, both suffered from the red mist. Apart from Zidanes infamous head butt he was sent off a dozen times, nearly all were for red mist offences.

At least the football starts again soon, good to see that Robbo stayed on the bench for Scotland.

I hope to win the Jag this time?

Millwall will be the ultimate test I think. I think a no score draw would be a good result for us.

Allan in Bahrain

Win the Jag?

It will be interesting to see how AV reconciles Captcha and the award of prizes for 100 posts. Does the system recognise attempts as opposed to successes, I suppose it is like hitting the bar in sport - it just doesnt count.

Powmill -

Like many down here, if he isnt at the old firm it is unlikely we will see him or even know of him.

Did I score. Am I number 100?

Just thought I would post left handed as I am currently in a cast after my op on my right wrist.

Gary Lineker eat your heart out.

RED ARMY.

Blimey did we sneak up to 100 when I wasn't looking?

If I lob one into the 6 yard box, will a certain Grove Hill ex-pat be there to poke it home?

Let's give this a go then.

Bosh.

Captcha!? more like Gertcha!

Don't like this new system, it's a pain!

Some people are a bit clumsy. First GHw missed the ton and immediately after that Vic, too. I don't try if I don't have a message to tell (anyhow I wait until we reach 400 - that's my specialty).

Last season I would have expected a banana skin when Millwall is visiting after a good run. But not so sure now as the Mogga-managed Boro seem so different.

Yes, I will go for a 4-1 win for us. Up the Boro!

Can't say I'm having many problems with this Captcha thingy? Has it gone now?

**AV writes: Yes. If it is putting frustarted punters off posting so I've back-heeled it and gone back to the old system. It means I can't allow auto-publication though or we will get swamped by spambots with awesome American accents trying to sell all you dudes extra inches, fake Gucci watches and meeting with hot Russian chicks.