BORO should now target the FA Cup final as their top priority because it gives them an each way gamble on glory.
Having escaped the big guns in the quarter-final draw a silverware showdown is now within dreaming distance.
The FA Cup can give us an emotional return to Cardiff and a much needed fillip after a trying season.
And crucially it will give Boro TWO chances to secure European football.
BORO should now target the FA Cup final as their top priority because it gives them an each way gamble on glory.
Having escaped the big guns in the quarter-final draw a silverware showdown is now within dreaming distance.
The FA Cup can give us an emotional return to Cardiff and a much needed fillip after a trying season.
And crucially it will give Boro TWO chances to secure European football.
Because if Boro reach the final and face Chelsea or Liverpool or Bolton who have already qualified for Europe through the league then we will get the last UEFA Cup slot by default even if we lose.
It would be brilliant if we could win. Fantastic. It would be another giant leap forward for Borokind.
But if we lose a third successive campaign in Europe is not be a bad second prize.
Yes, it is going in through the back door, but who cares? I don’t mind squeezing through the cat-flap if neccessary..
Don’t get all sanctimonious; the current campaign only came about as Chelsea won the Carling Cup so an extra place went to the league.
Barring a statistical freak that would have NASA number-crunchers working out new theories of probability Boro will not qualify for Europe through the league. Even reaching the Intertoto would mean overhauling Blackburn.
And the UEFA Cup looks tough. If Boro get past Stuttgart, which is not a given then Roma will be difficult and there are still some good sides to be beaten beyond that.
So the FA Cup offers the best chance of Europe. And it is an each way bet.
A trip to Charlton - hopeless at the Valley - is not a bad draw. Chelsea would have been bad. In fact with Jose making much of wanting Boro to get revenge I had paranoid delusions that it was nailed on, that our ball was in the fridge and theirs in the microwave and Roman was wringing his hands and laughing maniacally in his nerve centre on the yacht.
Liverpool should beat Birmingham and Chelsea should batter Newcastle... then with a bit of luck them two will be paired in the semi-finals.
We’ll have the winners of the other replays. Bolton. I don’t mind Bolton. We’ve got a 100pc record against them at the Millenium Stadium.
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