GARETH Southgate probably won't get the Manager of the Month award. Liverpool and Arsenal have both won all their league games - and Arsene can claim two convincing cup wins over Rafa to boot - plus if the LMA have any imput at all they certainly won't be voting for a badgeless boss that has dented their self-proclaimed standard of excellence. And besides, given the curse that traditionally comes with the bottle of Bells maybe he won't want it anyway.
But Southgate can lay claim to a more elusive accolade this month. He has laid to rest the ghosts of Christmas past and shattered one of the pillars of the "typical Boro" menatlity by steering Boro unbeaten through the entire month of January - incredibly only the third manager since World War II to pull off the feat in the top flight.
Since the turn of the year Boro have beaten Sheffield United, Charlton and Bolton in the Premiership and ground out a decent draw away at Portsmouth, traditionally the venue of a trouncing. Boro have also drawn with Hull and Bristol City in the FA Cup and seen off the Tigers in a replay. Played seven, won four, drawn three, lost none, goals for 18, goals against nine.
That's not too shabby is it? Doesn't he understand what is expected of a Boro boss in the month following Christmas, our long history of allergic reactions to turkey and the tradition that Boro go down with the decorations? Breaking that particular mould is very welcome and has put Boro well ahead of most seasoned observers' points projections.
Southgate is the member of a very exclusive Middlesbrough managerial club. The previous "boss" to achieve the feat was Terry Venables. Teesside Tel's functional remix of Bryan Robson's flops ground out draws away at Leeds, Liverpool, Everton and tonked Derby 4-0 at home plus beat Bradford in the FA Cup for a far less exciting record of P5 W2 D3 L0 F8 A 3 that turned that season around and more of less sealed safety.
And Big Jack Charlton achieved the feat in 1976-77, his final season, as Boro beat Derby and drew with Stoke and Coventry then in the FA Cup edged past non-league Wimbledon in a reply and then beat Hereford. That run went on as Boro followed up with league victories over Arsenal and Spurs then beat the Gunners 4-1 in the cup.
Bruce Rioch came close back in 1988/89, at the height of the football fairytale he carved out at born again Boro. After successive promotion his young side was just starting to establish itself and January saw them edge into the top half with wins over Manchester United and Southampton and draws with Spurs and Coventry but the record was besmirched by an 2-1 FA Cup defeat at home to Grismby.
A few managers have done it in other divisions. Malcolm Allison pulled it off in 1983-84, just as the club were about to plummet towards disaster, with a win over Chelsea and draws against Portsmouth and Grimsby in the league and FA Cup wins over Arsenal (again) and Bournemouth while Stan Anderson did it in the same division in 1969-70 with wins over Oxford, Blackburn and Carlisle and a draw with QPR in the league plus FA Cup wins over West Ham and York.
And Bob Dennison could claim the feat too in 1962-63 but it would take some front. Boro did not lose a game in January, or the first half of February either - it was the Big Freeze and football was suspended for six weeks.
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LIVELY local web-zine ComeOnBoro.Com has picked a prestigious 'Site of the Week' award from The Football Paper/Non League Paper. And it is well deserved.
The fast maturing site has a broad stable of regular writers with different styles and diverse positions on the traditional Boro rara-chickenrunner spectrum so it always has a diverse range of opinion on the issues of the day, all well written and forcefully argued. And there is a fast turnover of comment an opinion pieces so the site always feels fresh. In terms of content it is a far more comprehensive package than older sibling Fly Me To The Moon and there is always something new that is provocative and passionate.
I admit I'm not a massive fan of the New Holgate Message Board ("the sweary board") on the site, but that is more because of the format, all bells and whistles with too many moving avatars, gifs and embedded graphics that make it far too busy on the eye rather than the content. I still dip in now and again though. Just to check they are not slagging me off.
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