WANTED: attractive opposition for Riverside friendly on Saturday 12th August. Must be glamorous with big bums-on- seats potential to help launch Gareth Southgate's new era with a Riverside cracker. Greek teams need not apply.
Surely I'm not the only one to see there is one glaringingly obvious team screaming out for this gig. - SEVILLA!
Olympiakos pulling out was unfortunate. It has left a hole in Boro's pre-season preparations and besides my boy was looking forward to seeing Brazilain pensioner RIvaldo and Championship Manager legend Haruna Babangida in the flesh. Now we need new opposition and fast.
It is important to have a good home friendly if only so supporters can familiarise themselves with the new boys' body language, practice a few new chants ('GarethSouthgate's Red and White Army') and shake off the ring rust with a few disparaging comments. "Have you seen the kite on him?" "Well he's a bloody waste of space." "How much??!?"
And it is important to have opposition that can stir the imagination. In that respect Sevilla would be perfect. The Eindhoven trip was an historic moment for both clubs and the match and the build up to it created a bond of deep friendship between the two sets of fans and memories that will last for ever.
Nothing would stir the imagination more. Imagine if we had won. Imagine if Viduka's chance had gone in, if we had been given the stonewall penalty. Things could have been so different. Yes, there will be a masochistic element to it: "Let's see what you would have won. " But Boro fans are not bitter about it. Not many any way.
Reaching the final was a massive achievement for Boro and we should be proud of that. It is a famous and unforgettable moment in our history we should cherish. Playing Sevilla would be a fantastic way of reliving that. In an ideal world it we would be playing them in competitive high-stakes action again, and soon. But in the meantime it would be nice to meet again in a friendly while there is still a warm glow over our European adventure.
I'm sure they would agree because they will want to relive the moment too, and more than us. If it was a success then maybe we could make it a regular pre-season clash, alternating venues each year.
I'd be up for a trip to Sevilla every other August. Yamos Sevilla! C.mon Boro.
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