Boro Can Save The Soul Of Football
FOOTBALL is back! Football is back! Whoa-oh. Whoa-oh! Football is back. Whoa-oh.
Brazil are in town on Friday for the Olympic warm-up with Jason Steele's Team GB and then Boro travel abroad - well, Scotland - for their first friendly on Sunday. Great.
Boro are away at mighty Falkirk in a cross-border silverware showdown for the prestigious Ramsden's Cup. And it's live on TV. That's real football: the action, the drama, the skills, the magic, that stuff with the ball and plenty the goals - hopefully. Thank God for that, because we sure as hell need a break from the other, darker side of the game.
The return to action comes after a soul sapping spell in which the off the field chicanery behind the mask, the grasping opportunism of officialdom, the shoddy backroom deals and the infantile squabbling of star players have been thrust into the spotlight.
And I for one can't wait to get back down to the real business of football: jeering our flawed heroes for missed sitters and general ineptitude on the pitch but enjoying the honest endeavour and integrity of the action.
Last week was an alarming glimpse of the routine self-serving venality and amoral, systematic rule bending at the top levels of the game's administration and the endemic foul abuse regarded as normal on the pitch. It was hard to escape the conclusion that the game was rotten. Morally bankrupt. And very hard to like.
And it starts right at the very top. Documents that FIFA have trying to keep under wraps for a decade were finally made public by a Swiss court after long legal wrangles and they revealed quite clearly that the world governing body's own marketing arm - ISL - were scattering massive bribes around as a normal part of their business practice.
Kick-backs and sweeteners were part and parcel of deals around the globe when it came to selling broadcast rights. Among those who took millions of dollars in 'commissions' were ex-FIFA president Joao Havelange and former executive committee member for Brazil Ricardo Teixeira, the man who has been in charge of preparations for Rio 2014.
Sepp Blatter - FIFA king-pin and long time protege of Havelange - knew of the payments, knew there had been complaints and legal action and actively prevented both disclosure and any sanctions against the pair, the court papers showed.
When the court forced disclosure and Blatter was quizzed on the toxic case he casually admitted as much with a shrug and pointed out that while such sweeteners are criminal now they were not technically illegal back in the day. Well that's alright then.
Blatter fought off a concerted challenge to his regime last year in which corruption on FIFA's top table was made a key electoral issue. Three executive committee members were caught in a British newspaper sting offering to deliver votes for cash while elsewhere the CONCAF federation - North and Central America - was ripping itself apart with claim and counter-claim over the dodgy practices of long-time leader Jack Warner, a man dogged for a decade by legal action and accusations of nepotism and corruption.
Blatter came out fighting, completely denying all the accusations and - upping the ante - accusing the trouble-making bitter London media - both the Times and Panorama - of lying and smearing good servants of the game as part of their flailing World Cup bid, chastising the isolated English for refusing to accept his grey centralist opaque dictatorship was for the good of the game.
Blatter was re-elected last June with 186 of the 203 votes cast after an English FA motion to delay the poll was thrown out on a technicality. And with a sinister laugh too no doubt as the arch-fixer sat stroking his white cat in his palatial underground bunker.
Meanwhile Scottish football is doing its best to shred any vestige of integrity as its top officials rip apart their own rulebook in a bid to protect the derelict shell of Rangers.
The old club is dead and buried and rightly so after fiddling the taxman and collapsing under a debt mountain. But a summer long attempt to resuscitate the corpse and help Rangers wriggle out of any significant, lasting punishment has been a shabby, undignified and dispiriting display of naked greed.
Officials are terrified of a top flight without the Old Firm engine to drive bums on seats at grounds and in the cash-cow small screen audience and have shown a brass-necked determination to short-circuit sanctions and insert any new club at the highest possible level through a combination of threats, bullying, blackmail and carrot dangling. It has been a master-class in cack-handed, transparent and amateur opportunism that leaves the positions of the leadership looking untenable.
While clubs have repeatedly voted for the new set-up to join the league at the bottom tier - the only solution possible under the rules and a move that polls show even Rangers fans support - the leadership of the Scottish game has been engaged in ever more chaotic attempts to cobble together an unprincipled deal and along the way have abandoned their own credibility, honour, any sense of judicial fair-play or morality. Only the supporters superb and relentless battle to expose the chicanery on twitter and the blogosphere and the actions of lower league clubs who have refused to be brow-beaten has given any hope for the future of the game across the border.
The saga has more twists and turns than a sack full of snakes and without some detailed knowledge of accountancy, tax law and the shifting quicksand of sectarian and Scottish football politics it is almost impossible to follow - but the pioneering Rangers Tax Case blog is probably the best place to start... if you want your brain to explode.
It is of course all under-pinned by 'financial realities'. It comes down to cash and the fear of losing it through the Sky TV deal, the SFA's chief source of funding. Scottish football's problems stems from the massive financial imbalance between the Old Firm and the rest and structures have grown around that that protect the status quo. As in England, the bottom line has formed a noose around clubs dependent on crumbs off the top table.
It is all very embarrassing - but you just know that it would be exactly the same South of the border should Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool be in a position on the edge of financial implosion. In fact, in England it wouldn't have been dragged out this long. The Premier League would have been dissolved back in May with a new invitation only body set-up as part of a radical restructuring. Maybe with guarantees of future security of the league's economic drivers. The end of relegation maybe. You know it makes sense
As if all that wasn't bad enough for the game there was the depressing but in no way surprising infantile asterisk spattered court case featuring the de facto England captain.
John Terry was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence over a caught-on- camera foul-mouthed spat with Anton Ferdinand in which neither came out with any credit. Terry admitted using deeply offensive and vile phraseology - without any obvious sign of shame or contrition - but insisted it wasn't actually racist terminology, merely heavily nuanced satire. In fact it was so heavily layered with complex cultural context and semiotics it could have been a masterful snippet in a script from Kafka.
After three days of unedifying, obscenity laden he said, she said squabbling the case ended in a predictable clumsy fudge with a confusing judgement invoking sarcasm, semantics and a deeply unsatisfying lack of closure. We were left with the notion that such foul exchanges are matchday routine and any responsibility for them leaves the scene in the ubiquitous ethical escape pod of 'just #banter'.
What a shameful spectacle the entire episode made: six months of back-biting, toxic twitter storms and divisive poisonous recriminations on the terraces from fans of some of the game's biggest clubs; police taking action over on-field offences at the very pinnacle of the game; paralysis by the powers that be leaving a racial time-bomb ticking when a swift resolution was demanded; the exit of an England manager over the frozen FA's handling of the case; an impasse with an impact on the composition of the Euro squad leaving rumours to fester; and now the prospect of choc ice 'afters' on club and racial lines spilling over into this season. What a nightmare. Football was definitely the loser.
At times it is hard to escape the impression that much of the professional game is rotten to the core. There is very little to admire in the conduct of the leadership off the pitch or, often, the players on it. Especially right at the top.
Which makes the cathartic return of mundane, honest action a cleansing opportunity.
Boro are at Falkirk on Sunday. It doesn't get more back to basics than that. No bungs, no behind the scenes structural wrangling or, hopefully, no foul slanging matches.
Ironically though, although it is as low-key a fixture as is imaginable, it is LIVE on foreign TV, with the potential to be the most exciting foreign language friendly since star-studded Boro lost 2-1 to mighty Real Madrid in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar back in 2001.
Bizarrely the Ramsdens Cup final that pits Boro, sponsored by the Teesside based pawnbrokers, against Falkirk - the winners of the Scottish lower league knockout, the McJohnsons Paint Trophy - on BBC Alba, the Scots Gaelic language service who have a broadcast rights deal with the competition. Alba is on Sky channel 168 and Freesat 110.
Or, ball-coise beò le geama càirdeal eadar an Eaglais Bhreac agus sgioba bho Fharpais an Lìog Shassain Middlesbrough, as the Alba listings helpfully explain.
So stand by for some incomprehensible consonant mangling and misidentification microphone action. With English sub-titles. It'll be like having Bernie back again.
You may need to know these these handy phrases:
Faigh rèidh (get rid);
Dall air (get stuck in);
Rèitear! (Referee!);
Tadhal (goal!);
Gun fheum asal (useless donkey);
Bocsaig ri bocsaig (box to box);
Meadhanburgh neoni (Boro nil);
A tha de a tha (it is what it is.)
***THIS is the Soul-Destroyaz ft Choc Ice remix of this week's Big Picture Column
Older/Newer
« Jonny Woodgate Is A Red (Reprise) | Gael Force: Boro Batter Bairns In Tongue Twisting Culture Shocker »
33 Comments
Leave a comment
Profile
Anthony Vickers
Latest Football League video
Keep up to date
Follow Untypical Boro on
Brilliant article AV.You tell it like it is.
"AV writes.. "In fact it was so heavily layered with context and semiotics it could have been a masterful snippet in a script from Kafka."
Err.....which script? Does he play for Chelsea? Don't you mean Kaka? Blimey, I don't know, I come on here to read a bit about the Boro and end up feeling paranoid about my lack of education.
At Blakeston School we read "Cider with Rosie" by Laurie Lee. I remember Laurie Lee because at the time Franny Lee was playing for Citeh..and Laurie Mc...Laurie Mcmene....Mcmeneamy..was managing Southampton. Or was it Lawrie?
Sometimes I need wikipedia open in another window to read your columns AV. Yes Yes..we all know you were the school swot and no doubt had your head slapped a few times for the privilege...but Kafka? Come on. Still...you include a link to an article in the Guardian.That says it all.
I can see you looking right now at your much coveted signed framed picture of Polly Toynbee that you keep on your desk, smiling apologetically and muttering ' CSE grade five English lit half wit...so sorry Polly, won't happen again"
PS. Wots a semiotic? is it frendly bakteria?
**AV writes: It is all part of my Reithian quest to educate as well as entertain and inform. Wait for my work on the dialectics of tiki-taka featuring Hegel, Fukuyama and the end of history. That's going to be a barrel of laughs.
Semiotics are the 'hidden' meanings to words that come with context, tone, timing. Its not about what is said but what is meant. Like suggesting I read the Guardian. The semiotic coded content of that is "hand-wringing, bleeding-heart, lily-livered liberal wimp." What a slur!
All nicely threaded together AV, as the norm, a pleasure to read.
Ultimately my take on the scumbag lowlife grab as much as you can greed-mongers is pretty simple - where ever there is an accumulation of money you'll find the wolves (no not the hamptons). They will say anything, do anything and deny all to get and keep their hands on the filthy lucre.
This constant is ever lasting and goes back millennium. I am led to believe that its a fundamental flaw in human nature. It is even suggested that neurologically the brain alters as the more money you make the more you want to keep it and the more insecure you feel at the thought of losing it. So it's inevitable that Napoleon like Blatter types will come to the fore spoiling and besmirching all and sundry that their touch comes near.
Corruption and greed is the downfall of mankind. Its done for the Romans, the Ottomans and many more. Even we Brits have not been immune. Anyone for G4S?
The conclusion is that these people will always appear and will sycophant their way to the top of any organisation. I'm not a great advocate of democracy (sacred cow though it is for some. Look what it did for the Ancient Greeks) but the fundamental of necessary change at least keeps the black vile in check for a while. Until that is the next 'Blatter' comes along.
But caution is the watch word. If you want to take these people on, be aware they will have no hesitation in getting rid of you one way or another. I myself tried and was sacked for my efforts (yes I would do it again). Others, journo's in particular have lost their very lives.
The profession of journalism is not all about shady types from News International tapping people's phones. it's also about brave individual's standing up for what they believe to be right and long may they do so.
Anyway's we can shovel it under the carpet for a wee while and get on with enjoying the footie.
UTB
Well said, AV. Not sure why Colin is quibbling. It's not as if there is a shortage of dumbed-down drivel. You can get it just about anywhere on the internet, not to mention 95% of the content of TV and the popular press. Intelligent, well-written pieces, on the other hand,are like gold dust. Sign of the times I suppose that it is quality that attracts the criticism. Keep up the great work.
Anthony -
We can't afford to mock the SFA as Boro were allowed to rejoin the League in '86 instead of starting in the same division as Darlo have had to join this year. MFC became MFC 1986 and thus a different company, despite the efforts in the last couple of decades to say we were the "same" outfit.
Pauline
**AV writes: Yes, but Boro met every single one of the FA and Football League stipulations including paying every single creditor in full. There was no squirming, squealing or behind the scenes deals to get special privileges from the authorities who took a very hard line. We came out of the whole process with integrity.
Another well written article AV but I suspect Teesside Tommy would have satisfied Colins requirements for hard hitting journalism without the frills better.
**AV writes: No, Colin is just playing. I mean, he knows who Polly Toynbee is. In our dumbed down society that practically makes him a dangerous intellectual.
#onthisboroday, 19th July, “Us,” the Soul of Teeside, reached our highest point of Truth in the unfolding of the dialectical World Spirit. Forty six years ago today.
There was a little short trousered lad there that day. On The Holgate. He still remembers Pak Doo Ik. One of Us.
The dread morality of a globalised world has a grip on sport in general and football in particular. The chosen vehicles of the elites money grubbing, celebrity creating hegemony mock the spirit and demean the Soul of all Sports.
Boro can’t save the day. Were we not effectively banned from The Riverside moons ago? How many season ticket holders with a TS3 postcode?
Our only role now is to not turn up for our duties as Olympian security apparatchiks.
Yet memory remains beyond the grasp of the corrupt, even if our culture, traditions, languages and money do not.
**AV writes: It is the nature of the contradiction at the heart of our struggle.
The sad thing is, is that what you are talking about here is not football, but human society itself.
I think Spartakboro is saying the same thing. Corruption and tawdry behaviour may be widespread at the highest and higher levels in football. But the same is true in most walks of life. Power and wealth will corrupt. While there will always be those with the strength of their integrity that can (and do) succeed, there are always those too weak to resist the lure of power and wealth.
On a scale of things, football's dark side pales into insignificance when you look at what the impact the lure of power/wealth is having on the "little" people now in Syria and has had down the ages in countless nations.
Football is a part of our society and its ills are nought but a microcosm of the ills of human kind. We should expect to find the bad mixed in there as well as the good.
Hats off to good folk in this part of the world (Scotland) for standing up to the bullying efforts of those with the power and insisting on the right course of action for Rangers. There are a lot of (powerless !!) individuals up here who agree that Scottish football will actually benefit greatly from putting Rangers at the bottom the pile. Everyone knows they will be back and probably in back to back to back seasons, but the opportunity is there now for lots of the other clubs in Scotland and especially for the young Scottish player.
Goes to show that ultimately power lies with the people. An individual may be powerless, but as more right minded individuals come together, then they find they have real power.
Oh no .... I think I'm writing my application to join your People's Republic AV ;-) !
Anyway, is the Brazil game going to be televised ? Mrs Powmill has already been primed that we shall be watching (at least recording) the Falkirk game on Sunday. With a lot of luck and a following wind, I might even be able to get to the game ...
**AV writes: Welcome to the forces of enlightenment. Yes, the Brazil match is on BBC1, a pilot for their Olympic coverage. Make sure when you sit down to watch it you are not drinking Pepsi or eating BK, KFC or any other unauthorised products.
Never mind about yer intellectual credentials, I never realised you were such a commie! With you all the way mate. Keep talking sense. We shall overcome, though maybe not in my lifetime. UTW (up the workers) and the Boro too.
David
Nonsense and a little deluded
cheers Sepp....kerching
AV - we already have the flags bearing Che's image fluttering over the grounds in place of the Saltire; and our refridgerated cellars have been purged of anything but the best (and most expensive) organic and free trade luxuries it is possible to source; especially flown in on a fleet of private 747's from every corner of the globe.
I dare say our commercially ethical status shall be proudly maintained as we settle down in front of the TV to see the mighty Brazil adorn the Riverside stage on Friday evening.
Sigh.....I was indeed playing. Apologies for not swooning over your article AV in a typical untypical followers way. You don't need me to tell you that you are a good journo. So I won't.
Perhaps I should have a twotter/frotter account..whatever it is called, that way I could regularly post my tirades, comments, musings, first piece of rubbish that enters my head and people would see the real me.
Oh wait..I do have one, I remember creating one in the days before I realised I did indeed have a life.
Open Golf for me on Sunday, early Birthday present. Now there is a sport free from Blatteresque characters. Isn't it? Mind you, the golf may well be off if i wake up on Sunday morning and find myself transformed into an Insect.
Following so far?
**AV writes: Well I am but I am not sure everyone will follow the metamorphosis of this thread.
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
South East Virtual Terrace 1
Vickerite Anarcho Blog Bloc Meister 0.
Early bird He catch Juche worm.
The dialectic unfolds with ever increasing rapidity: praxis is achieved.
On this and any other Boro day, the Sun rises early in the East. As the Sun rose over the Mighty Mekhong, Tika Taka tactical occupation of Twitting hash tag #onthisboroday and Trotting entrism style Blog contribution heralding the Glorious 19 July clebrations, force sleepy head Vickers to commit culture-max editing error.
Two s’s in Teesside, young man.The Spirit of #OccupyTheBoscoJancovicVirtualStand stand in Jay like lawyerly amusement. Maintain your bailiwick, Sir.
**AV writes: Annoyed at my deviation from the scientific methodology of spelling. I can feel a spell of vigorous self-criticism coming on. You do realise most people will think this is a rogue post that has sneaked through the spam filter.
What a masterful piece A.V. (bravo). I think most football fans around the globe would applaud this piece. FIFA is rotten to the core and Sep Blatter is a corrupt dictator who should be in jail
The racist problem with Terry is an ongoing problem that the world has to deal with
Each and every time it raises its ugly head with understanding compaction and even-handedness.
We all have racist thoughts or slip ups regardless how pure our hearts. I have regretfully worked and lived in many countries and I can asure everyone racism is international.
Your piece AV was sublime. Shame if some readers do not always appreciate your talent. Maybe they will evolve. But hey many football fans don’t appreciate real talent (remember the Chicken Run). And as for reading the Guardian etc. well it’s a good read and that’s from a Boro boy who admits he could not read or write when he left school.
If I may AV, a message to our disgruntled readers:
Our AV would not be out of his depth working for any newspaper world wide. His talent far exceeds his employment status. He could move on and capitalize on his undoubted talent anytime. Or as we hope he stays at home and becomes a legend
AV, please keep doing what you do best you’re a star
That said, back to the Boro -
Massimo to Blackpool free... surely he would have been a good freebie. For sure he would love to come back. He was no Hasselbaink Viduka or Yakubu, however he was good player who could do us a power of good now.
AV, do you expect us to sell anyone soon to help with the recruitments.
**AV writes: I don't think Mogga will sell anyone he wants to keep unless the offer is too good to refuse. If he thinks the cash will help bring in players he wants but currently can't afford, why not? But there is no pressure to sell and no indication the players he wants to keep want to leave. Boro are trying to move on McDonald and McManus who are on wages out of synch with our status and are not value for money and if they got an offer for Thomson would no doubt take it quickly too.
Let's be honest - a job on the International Olympic Committee, FIFA or UEFA must be about as good as it gets.
"Next week, gentlemen, we will be going to start a round of visits to the various candidate cities for the 2024 Olympics. So here is the itinerary: First week in August it will be Cape Town, third week it will be Berlin; first week in September Helsinki, third week it will be Istanbul; first week in October it will be Santiago and the third week it will be a trip to Singapore. In November we are to visit Seattle followed by Delhi. The other 12 cities will be organised in due course, but that first round of visits, with a break at Christmas and New Year, should take us through to next June.
"Of course, next August we will begin the round of "proving" visits, probably in the same order. Then we will have a series of visits to check the intended plans, and to look at sustainability and legacy issues. After that we will cut down the workload by reducing the cities to a short list of five or six, and that will enable us to make the essential more regular visits to our favoured few cities before a decision has to be made in 2016.
"Now, for the new members of our Committee, I appreciate some of this may come as a surprise, but the more experienced amongst us will show you the ropes. At Cape Town we'll be staying at the Mount Nelson Hotel and yes, Pierre, the wine list is to die for. That is, of course apart from the mid-week safari that the organisers are laying on for us "up country".
"A few rules: don't bother taking more than a few hundred dollars and your Olympic Charge Card - you'll not be expected to put your hands in your pockets at any time. Perhaps polite to offer to buy a drink if you've already had a few, but don't argue when the offer is turned down.
"Don't allow your wives to take more than a simple handbag. Inevitably after one of the theatre Visits (while we are all listening very intently to the host chairman giving an initial outline of plans before we sit down to a banquet) the wives will be taken around the best shops and they are usually left with a "goody bag" - literally as it might be a Hermes or a Fendi Selleria and, this being South Africa, there might be a little diamond brooch hiding inside! The wives usually enjoy our visits.
"Don't bother with too much by way of clothing as we have already had requests from nine of the cities for the measurements of our Committee members, and that will almost certainly mean a couple of bespoke suits each and, in the case of Cape Town, I hope you like crocodile shoes.
"There are some downsides though. You will never again feel able to drink a bottle of wine costing less than $400, and the brandies and malt whiskies on offer are always the best. You MUST remember to put some paracetamol in your hand luggage.
"Maybe a couple of the city bids will stand out as exceptional. But the remaining three or four for the shortlist will be judged on the amount spent on our hospitality, and the quality of the parting gifts we are given. And the rule is we ALWAYS have an American city in there somewhere even if its bid was horrible: their corporate sponsors are the biggest supporters of the Olympics and it's good to look after friends.
"Traditionally we add a couple of inches to the waist measurements we provide to the host cities after the first two months, as the dining is really superb. And don't mention this to your wives, but on some of the visits there will be "away trips" for members only because some of the cities like to show us a really personal service and you wouldn't want your wives to find out how personal that can be.
"Most of the members regard themselves as citizens of the world's great cities and it is a pleasure to be on first name terms with so many consierges and maitres d'. If might take a little time to get used to the arduous role we perform for the benefit of the Olympic Family, but it is ultimately rewarding.
"So - we'll see you next week. Once your passports are handed in, there will be nothing further for you to do. The plan is for your limousines to collect you at 10am for the flight to Cape Town, so we will meet again over a drink at the airport."
Seriously - would anyone give up such a job? It's all very well arguing about corruption but someone has to eat all that foie gras and the Champagne won't drink itself. They are doing their best to avoid the rest of us having to get our hands dirty. We all owe them a debt.
In Hamlet a branch breaks and Ophelia is drowned. Did she die because the branch broke or because Shakespere wanted her to die at that point in the play?…The alternative suggested by the question is not a real alternative at all – once you have grasped that Shakespere is making the whole play.
Jeez... omnipotent moral busybodies!
Lewis was on about religion. AV pointing out that footy is, erm, morally challenged (?) is a wee bit different. Shirley?
UTR. Exciting summer eh? Mowbray's got it all sussed. AV, best corner of the internet is right here. Read every word for years. Big up.
Also... I was thinking; Kafka?
Deeeeeplomatic imunitaaaay.
THIS IS A QUALITY BLOG IF I EVER READ ONE!!!
The content, the quality, the repartee, the monitoring etc.,etc., this blog even attracts from outside its own devotees.
gt - excellent reposte - and true in every word. May I steal, yes steal the words of an archetypal world wisely person to add:
Life means suffering. 2. The origin of suffering is attachment. 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable. 4. The path to the cessation of suffering (can be achieved).
Part of my own personal suffering (and are we all not responsible in part or whole for that which we suffer) is the Boro. My God do I love my team and hate them in equal proportion. When they win against all odds is it not ecstasy and when they lose is it not abject disappointment.
Yes I know I am that sad case. Yes I know what the Buddhist Zen master would say 'Your cup overflows with emotion'- but I am weak. I need my fix every season and boy I'm easily able to say I'm a Boro junkie.
So bring on the suffering Mogga and the lads the season is almost upon us.
AV. Don't stop with your golden slaver it is accompanying music to the addiction.
Fellow devotees- never go away, for all your thoughts and words are a pleasure to read (except of course the Leeds fans and that odd chap from Sunderland).
Many thanks to you all - You make my day!!!
UTB
I can only congratulate the supporters of MFC on raising the level of debate about something as mundane as football banter to the point where you need at least a 2.1 in political philosophy to even understand what's being said, let alone comment on it.
jme, but sometimes its interesting just to be a fly on the wall
All you sad interlectuwellies, going on about fings nobodies can understand, fink yer so clever, bet you don't even know the difference between a bison and a buffalo.
(Yer can't wash yer face in a buffalo.)
Coat got.
Looking forward to channel 168 tomorrow.
Time to get the ball out again - well, nearly!!
I think it's a shame that Ashdowne hasn't been taken on. It would have been good to have had some real pressure for his place on Jason Steele (who did himself no favours with a nervy display for what is now likely to be his only 45 for Team GB after Butland showed his stuff in the 2nd half).
I suppose the wages might have been an issue, if the rest of what one reads about Pompey's wage structure is right.
It'll be interesting to see who turns out at Falkirk tomorrow and just as interesting to see how we get on with commentary in Gaelic!
I weep and wail, I beg Mogga and the lads to lead me to Elysium Fields, but the door to Hades is locked and barred, Cerberus stands guard there and will not permit us entry. How will the season progress? Will she, Joy, be awaiting us or will darkness overcome?
Apologies to Pindar and his Odes.
UTB
Dormo, tell the committee to let me know when they get to CT I am in for a trip to the Nelson for sure and I will give them a game drive of their lives for the right bribe.
Onto warmer chimes after Falkirk hoping for a good start to get the ball rolling.
Watching, or more pertitently listening to the Boro match on BBC Alba was a highlight yesterday, great fun. Plenty of goals as well ,although I can't say I learnt too much about how we might perform in the forth coming season.
Might we se Arca at left back and Bennet on the left wing?
For those - unlike Nigel & I - who didn't catch the game on BBC Alba or listen to the website commentary, I did a piece on Boro Banter.
Agree with Nigel that there wasn't a whole lot to learn that was new - but there was some encouraging stuff and some 'same old, same old' and it was fun. Good turn out of Travelling Parmo Army too.
Assuming Mogga's first choice centre back pairing will be Williams and Woodgate, we then have Hines and 'a n other' in reserve, where does that leave Boro and Matthew Bates (when fit)? Surely, assuming he recovers he's too good to let go, or does he have an offer elsewhere we don't know about?
In midfield, who is going to play centrally with Bailey, not Tommo I assume? Surely we'll need someone athletic and mobile, will it be Haroun? That still leaves left midfield to sort out, a fair amount of work to do before kick off.
I though Tommo's 'world at his feet' comment about Luke Williams was the last thing Williams or Mogga wanted to hear (in public).....no pressure then!
One of the commentators said during yesterdays match that the difference between Boro and Falkirk was that Boro's attacks were coming in from all over the midfield, which presumably is mogga's intention for the coming season. Before you ask I can't speak Gaelic, we did get the occasional comment in English!
**AV writes: We struggled defensively last year with a couple of injuries causing chaos. Now with Woodgate, Hines and Williams - plus possibly the artist formerly known as Bikey - and with Friend able to step in and Bates back into action by November or so - that is a decent stockpile of stoppers with a nice varied skill set.
Carayol will probably be the dedicated wide left player but I think Ledesma can play there as well if Mogga goes with a three up front. With Emnes on the right that gives plenty of outlets with a bit of creative intent down the flanks. Looking a bit more adventurous and flexible than last year I think.
Is Carayol going to be an automatic first team player then? I'd assumed he was to be a 'squad addition'?
Watched the game, basically a run out, no one was making serious tackles. I could be a little picky on certain players but its early
What I did see over the weekend was two players that if I was Mogga I'd be on the phone to their respective managers asking to loan them, only kids but exceptional talent.
Lucas Piazon of Chelsea - his speed and movement would frighten the living daylights out of this league,and he scores goals
Ryan Tunnicliffe of Man Utd - a Paul Scholes type, box to box, with lots of energy
Bleeding hell AV, wot a stonker of an article. Can see you went to Redcar beach fer yer hols and no doubt one or two bags of cod and chips, scraps and salt and vinegar. Thought I was a bit of a scribe, however I am just a small child when compared to you and your literary skills. Keep em coming mate.
Now then AV are you down on the Algarve with the boys?
**AV writes: No, Phil Tallentire has gone. I wasn't going to fight him for it. I'm on R&R and having a couple of weeks off with the kids. The pre-season trip is important for us, building relationships with the players in relaxed surroundings, meeting the new boys, getting a steer from Mogga on his plans for the season.
We are the only media organisation there. He is doing a daily diary bit, there will be news and Hello! style gossip and in-jokes. He'll probably be the target of some pranks, get battered at FIFA and left with a big bill at Nandos. Keep in touch via gazettelive.co.uk and follow him on twitter (I'm training him up) @EGazetteSport
The club needs to sign a prolific goalscorer. They were after Simon Cox. I reckon too many fans are getting carried away with these new signings,they are nothing special. You get what you pay for, that is why I think MFC may even be involved in a relegation battle. TM and the rest of the staff at the club are pure garbage, the club may have the facilities for a Premiership club but is run like a bunch of amateurs.