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Untypical Boro is a lively topical blog by the Evening Gazette's award winning football columnist Anthony Vickers that aims to get behind the headlines to flesh out the stories that Boro fans are talking about.

Incisive, provocative and well informed it seeks to engage with articulate supporters and give them a platform to help set the agenda on the issues that matter.

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Blog Standard: a cyber space mission statement

Posted by on February 14, 2006 12:22 AM | 

AS STEVE McClaren says, a week is a long time in football.

It is a long time between Gazette columns too, especially with the frenetic pace and heightened emotions on Planet Boro in a dramatic season crackling with all the tension of a crucial cup final stoppage time penalty.

And there is so much to say. Not just about the matches which drive our obsession but also about the colour and culture of Boro fandom, the history and traditions and the echoes of Ayresome, the compelling cut-throat politics within a knowledgeable crowd, the wild fluctuations by the hour in terrace temperature and the ability of the club to delight, frustrate, infuriate and inspire us. And to drive us to drink.

So I have spilled off the pages of the Gazette and into the blogosphere where we are not constrained by rigid deadlines and tired old formulas and where a comprehensive Borocentric world view can be refreshed and updated as the news unfolds.

The aim is to react quickly with analysis, opinion and passion to the big events.

Sometimes there will be red hot breaking news straight from Hurworth that can’t wait for the next edition of the paper.

Sometimes there will be afterthoughts and reactions to my Gazette column

Sometimes there will be personal quip-by-quip match reports.

Sometimes there will be searing views of the latest PR gaffe .

And sometimes the veneer of professional decorum will dissolve in delirious air punching EIO triumphalism at mighty Boro’s destruction of the flimsy so-called champions.

But there won’t be any spin. This blog pledges to cut through the media-manipulation, doublethink and delusion that surrounds the game and instead provide a platform for an informed, articulate and honest approach that puts the fans’ views at the forefront.

Because supporters are the lifeblood of the game buthave too long been denied a voice. They are loyal and passionate and intense and well informed - and above all they are honest. This blog will endeavour to echo those sentiments and to join in – and sometimes lead – the debate. It will not be afraid to talk about what the fans are talking about even if it does upset the powers that be.

And it will be accessible and responsive too. There is a facility on here for you to comment. Feel free to challenge the views expressed either here or in the Gazette and to advance your own. Don’t hesitate to question the party line. Go ahead and outline the subjects you think I should be tackling and questions that should be posed.

This blog is intended to educate, inform and entertain and to become the first stop on the net for articulate Boro opinion. I hope you enjoy reading and taking part.

Comments (1)

John Powls wrote...

Vic

Fab idea - count me in for comments in future.

I hope people at the club will take part too - even if it's only by reading every now and again.

I guess everyone who will want to contribute here will be motivated by wanting Boro to succeed. We do know the difference between what's realistic to expect and what's just a dream (even if we still dream, like all fans!) or a nightmare. We can judge the evidence of our experience and make sense of it. But though we may be a small town in Europe we don't see why we need to be a small team or club in Europe - at least one which is smaller than it need be because we constrain ourselves by a perception that aiming for and delivering consistent success isn't for 'the likes of us' and we should be happy with mediocrity or worse.

This also applies to the context the club is operating in. If the Town (and it's political and executive government) can't see that its national and international profile is driven by the club and work with it effectively they need to have some pressure applied to get the crown in place in which the cub can be the jewel.

We're all in this together and we ought to deal with eachother as though we are. That means honesty - not trying to spin wrong into right or, worse, downright lying. That erodes trust.

At its heart - the right descriptor - football is a simple game understood by most which is why it appeals universally. Of course we should respect those professionally involved and give their opinions due weight but most fans know what they're looking at, whether it works, whether they like it or not, whether they are going to pay to see it or not, how it compares to what they see elsewhere and expect and they have valid opinions as to what needs to be done to make improvements. We're also in it for the long haul and most of those employed are just passing through, however successfully. So I like the idea of leading the debate sometimes as well as responding. We shouldn't be afraid of opinions - that's what the game is all about - and passion is a lovely thing!

Looking forward to the debate.

John

Posted by: John Powls  | February 15, 2006 7:50 AM

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