YOU never see a poor bookie. The big boys have legions of Merc-driving number crunchers working on detailed statistical analysis of results, form and squad structure and they are rarely wrong about how the season will shape up.
The good news is Boro are considered fairly safe from relegation this term. The bad news is they are rated as no-hopers in the chase for glory. Furthermore, in the eyes of the odds compilers Boro have slipped back from the pack up there and challenging back into the anonymous scrum of mid-table Monday night makeweights.
The bookies perception is that Boro have tumbled from the company of ambitious Euro-outfits Spurs and Bolton to share coupon space with Everton and West Ham. Look at the numbers.
Last season, with a second successive Euro campaign looming and the Yak just added to the squad, Boro were quoted at 125-1 to take the title and as low as 8-1 in the handicap betting that didn't include the big four. Generally they were rated as a top eight side - which shows the bookies are not infallible.
Maybe that has led them to overcompensate. This term the lowest price is the 250-1 at Hills while most of the bookies quote between 400 and 500-1 with Reg Boyle having Boro as far out out as 600-1, pushing them a rung further down with the Legions of the Damned like Portsmouth, Villa and Fulham.
That may seem harsh considering that Boro's last competitive game was the UEFA Cup final but you can see where the bookies are coming from. Like the legions of 'half-empty' merchants among the Boro faithful, have got the jitters over rookie boss Gareth Southgate, the failure to strengthen the squad and the memory of Boro's at times woeful league displays last time out.
And remember, with Southgate and Hasselbaink yet to be replaced, as it stands this squad is now weaker than the one that prompted Red Book ShotterGate and that image had a considerable negative impact outside Teesside as much as it did here.
Plus, while we may be excited by the teenage Teessider tigers coming through the ranks the rest of the country remain unmoved. We may rave about the kids who are the future of the club but in objective terms those rookies got ripped apart at Arsenal and lost at Fulham.
Boro are considered relatively safe from the drop though. They are 9-1 to go with Ladbrokes which sounds a little bit too slim, especially as Birmingham were 8-1 last term and still went. But it is reassuring that Man City, Fulham, Wigan, Charlton and Villa are all rated more likely to implode along with all the promoted cannon fodder. Like most Boro fans the bookies believe that while we will not set the world alight, there are far worse teams in the division.
Even in the individual markets Boro don't get a sniff. Yakubu is rated 50-1 to be the top scorer in the Premiership which, given that anyone can have a purple patch and the bar has been set pretty low in recent season, seems a bit dismissive and may be worth a daft quid.
The Racing Post, the punters pal, has predicted Boro will finish in 18th spot - a relegation place! - which leads you to wonder what the club has ever done to them. Usually a shrewd and incisive read, they appear to have lost the plot when they suggest only Sheffield United and Watford will finish below Boro.
This suggests that the pundit consensus is that Boro are vulnerable and that could possibly work in Gareth Southgate's favour. Not only does it take the pressure off his shoulders - in reality a mid-table place in his debut season would not be a disaster - if other teams under-estimate Boro in the same way (and they all read the Racing Post and do the ante-post fixed odds) then it can leave them complacent and open to a sucker punch.
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