Ironopolis, Boro And The Uneasy Birth Of Pro Football
PLAY UP You Washers. Come on, knack the dirty Scabs! I have always fancied myself as an Ironopolis diehard. Had Teesside been torn apart on historic fault lines of loyalty come derby day - there would have been hell on in the lower divisions throughout the seventies and eighties - then I am convinced I would have stood with the team that echoed our proud industrial heritage against the suburban glory hunters that backed Boro.
Equally there is no doubt that a town of Boro’s size with two teams would leave the dreams of both fatally flawed, a derby to rank down there with Bristol, Nottingham or Stoke, played only rarely and usually in lower leagues... or in the worse case scenario, a case like Bradford where PA went under after a century of struggle.
The calamitous split that almost killed off Teesside’s football dreams at birth has been put under the microscope by some fascinating new research. Red Book holder and Fly Me To The Moon regular columnist Chris Bartley has examined the formative years of the game in the area in his MA History dissertation “The Evolution of Football In Cleveland In The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century�.
The painstaking research for the degree from the University of Teesside looked at the birth of the game as a winter time killer for the town’s cricket playing rich and powerful, the Corinthian ideals that underpinned the rise of Middlesbrough as a powerhouse of the amateur game and the social and economic dynamics that fostered a rival current that pushed for professionalism and eventually led to the ill-fated premature venture that was Ironopolis.
It shows a town under-going an industrial revolution and a population explosion with the rapidly expanding working classes seizing on football as a diversion and putting them at odds with the founding fathers of the game in the area.
It is a brilliant and worthwhile read that adds flesh to the bones of what little we know and the Nops’ swift demise - the tripe supper myth mainly - and while obviously structured as an academic work it still has plenty of colour: there are tales of shady Ironopolis press gangs making secret cross-border raids to kidnap Scottish professionals and allegations of a “honey trap� baited with a sultry Boro babe to lure an England international from Stoke to Teesside with the promise of easy love and a well paid part-time job as a linen weaver.
The paper - which you can read here and which I discuss in the Gazette here - is a worthy contribution to the social history of the town as much as a though provoking illustration of the game’s pioneers.
It also adds weight to the recent rehabilitation of mighty Ironopolis. The embers of the deep-seated historic hatreds may have long ago died out and the righteous anger and passion sparked by an acrimonious split that brought friends to fisticuffs during “friendlies� in Albert Park have long been forgotten but after being airbrushed out of the Boro picture for a century in a Stalinist rewriting of history, Middlesbrough’s first professional team are gradually being restored to their rightful place in our history.
Ironopolis Engineering financed an insert into the programme two seasons ago to promote their name via historic flashbacks and the Noppy The Pit Pony cartoon character. A film company of the same name launched a gritty Northern drama recently. And last year an old club ledger from the Nops only season in the league went on display at the Riverside as part of an exhibition about the club’s Victorian roots.
By accepting the artefact as part of their own history Boro have made a symbolic gesture and acknowledged the town’s wider footballing past. Ironopolis folded after a single season in the Football League but although the story of the impatient Nops ended quickly and amid chaos it is an important part of the sporting heritage of the town and a vital building block in Boro’s own progress towards success.
Because it was the visionary move by ambitious Ironopolis to leave the amateur ranks and join the infant Football League that convinced the athletic elders of the town that Middlesbrough was indeed ready to embrace the new creed of paid players and prompted the Boro to organise and prepare for professionalism themselves.
But the single Nops season in the league was born of acrimony and ended in bitterness. Ironopolis officials had persuaded their deadly Boro rivals to merge as one powerful club and put in a joint application to the Football League in 1892 as strugglers Darwen and Accrington were forced to reapply Hartlepools-style for re-election.
When that move failed Boro split away again - and earned the nickname ‘the Scabs’ - while Nops - ‘the Washers’ - successfully applied again the following year to join a newly formed second division.
Both clubs in Middlesbrough were already successful and vying for the support of a fast growing fan base. Ironopolis were formed in 1889 and soon became a regional power. They won the Northern League - then including Newcastle, Sunderland and Boro - three years in a row and got to the last eight of the FA Cup in 1892-93 before losing to big boys Preston North End.
They took up residence at the Paradise Ground, now Ayresome Green just off St Barnabas Road in Linthorpe with one corner of the ground just nudging into what was later to become Ayresome Park. Boro at the time played an Alan Kernaghan clearance away at the Old Archery Ground in Albert Park and were soon to move to the Linthorpe Road Ground, behind what is now Kwik Save and between Princes Road and Clifton Street.
The Nops had a respectable debut season. Their first match was a 2-0 defeat at home to fellow new boys Liverpool in front of a healthy crowd of almost 7,000 and they went on to beat Birmingham, Manchester City, Walsall and Port Vale.Their full record and more information can be found on Nigel Gibb's obsessively compiled Nops website .
But off the field the money soon ran out with expensive away trips to Northwich and Crewe while crowds for the visits of Lincoln and Burton dipped as title chasing Boro drew big gates for Northern League derby games with South Bank and Stockton. Sadly, but almost inevitably, Nops folded leaving the field clear for Boro to flourish.
The newly rediscovered Ironopolis registry adds flesh to a fascinating story lost in time and outlines some of the key men who originally brought the game to Middlesbrough. In among the collection of saddlers, ships carpenters and smiths on the list of Nops founders and funders are a pickle maker, a tripe merchant, baker John Forbes after whom the buildings in Linthorpe Road are named, and also, intriguingly, one Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Gibson-Poole. He was later to be the Boro chairman banned from football in 1905 for an erratic approach to book-keeping.
The registry also reveals the finances needed to sustain the newly professional club. Or not. Ironopolis entered the newly formed second division of the Football League in September 1893 along with Liverpool and Newcastle and although they finished safely in mid-table they reluctantly resigned because of the crippling costs and folded soon after.
There were bitter recriminations with Nops diehards accusing the faint-heart Boro splitters of undermining their project from the outset. Firstly, they said the Scabs had reneged on the agreement that professional football would be a joint enterprise. And secondly, that their continued growth - Boro, then wearing white, won the Northern League and reached the FA Amateur Cup semi-final in that fateful season - had split the potential crowd that could finance a thriving team of paid players in the town.
For years afterwards bitterness lingered and arguments raged with the former Nops camp insisting Teesside had lost a chance to match the likes of Newcastle who had merged their rival East End and West End clubs early on to form a successful United. Boro finally joined the Football League in 1899 - ironically with a host of ex-Nops players and officials on board.
The death of Ironopolis was a great pity - not least because it is the most evocative name ever to grace a fixture list. A proud Victorian, self-consciously industrial label with a hint of Fritz Lang. A name that suggests a town that does what it says on the tin. A name that Boro fans should revive and use, in a post-modern ironic way naturally, in response to Smoggy smears.
But the death of the Nops was also sad because it has deprived the town the chance to savour the eager anticipation and heightened passion of a real derby clash. No vain looking 30 or more miles North or South for a contrived rivalry with people talking in alien accents but real workplace banter. And there is nothing more certain than the fact that had they survived I would be a diehard Nops man. You Scabs may be lording it now with your fancy all-seater stadium, your posh new Premiership football and your glory hunting middle class fans but just wait till we draw you in the Cup and get you down the Paradise Ground...
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Anthony Vickers
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AV - there is enough bickering between the fans of Boro, to lead me to think that the Nops diehards still linger a few generations down in the Riverside crowd.
Dont think you will get many responses to this. Stockton should have grown a major team then Boro V stockton derby games would have been good.
Anyway onto current boro issues i see century have dumped us for the mackems! Now we are on dull radio cleveland
Suburban glory hunting Scab and proud of it!, oh and yes Teesside uni does give degrees out for anything!
Ironopolis is such a fantastic name, it sums up the town and area in one word, its a shame its not part of the Boro's name.
I like the blue shirt with white diagonal band, that would make a great away shirt for the Boro but presumably the fact it has any sort of white band across the front would automatically mean it was ruled out by the top brass.
One final thought, I notice there was a tripe merchant in the team, I assume his descendants are now part of the Boro PR dept?
I like the ironopolis 500 motorcar race. Ironopolis would be a fantastic name for the Boro, like!
AV - Off topic here but, are you related to the Vickers' from West Lane? I remember Andrew, I think it was, saying his Uncle knew the players or something and he was telling me how big Franck thought he was gods gift haha. May not be you.
**AV writes: Like Newboulds, we Vickers have branches all over Teesside.
Interesting stuff. I'll read the full paper later but from what you say the Boro story echoes the development of football elsewhere in that it is a battle between the public school cricket elite playing as amateurs for a bit of fun and the working class playing to win and for money.
Not long before Ironopolis were formed the new professional teams like Blackburn and Preston saw off the teams of the rich, the Royal Engineers and Old Etonians to set football on the road to being the peoples' game. Once players were paid then teams needed gate receipts and regular games so a competitive league was inevitable - and once there was a regular league with fortnightly away games then players had to be paid to compensate them for wages lost when travelling.
Ironopolis are to be commended for trying to ensure Middlesbrough was at the forefront of the new set-up but obviously had miscalculated badly on the finances (how unlike football clubs today). A lot of those early teams went belly up for the same reason like Darwen, Burton Swifts and Gainsbrough Trinity.
Another thing that should be mentioned was the role of the employers in encouraging football. The Victorian 'rational recreation' crew wanted to get their poorly nourished doing regular exercise to keep them fit for the factories and so supported football, often subsidising rents for playing fields or allowing time off for players for big midweek afternoon games.
They also realised that a successful team boosted morale and productivity. Hence so many league teams grew from works sides: Woolwich Arsenal, Coventry Singers, Thames Ironworks etc.
There was also a religious dimension with many of the employers and patrons of football being from the staid Victorian traditions of temperance so they thought channelling their workers passions into supporting their local team would mean less drunkenness and violence. How wrong can you be?
Interesting AV.
On the subject of the blue shirt with the diagonal stripe, some may remember that when we were debating the white chest band issue - another one the club didn't listen to - I suggested then that we might add some South American panache to the design by going for a Peru inspired red with white diagonal stripe.
The away strip would then have been the Peru white with a diagonal red stripe but the Nops strip in blue and white would have made an extra 'classic' line to market.
We're wasted on the dullards in our club's commercial department.
vickers told you before no one is interetsted in the history. most of the new fans dont give a toss about before the riverside so they sure as hell dont about anything before ayresome park.
gibbo did the big relaunch and talked about taking back our history before 1986 and he neednt have bothered. people only care about now. you wasting your time unless you talking about todays rumours.
some people would rather get themselves all wound up about stupid tabloid guessing games than take time to learn the own history
Bellamy, Koumas, Kamara, Baird all look like being sold this week. Plenty of transfer activity going on, someone should tell GS and Lamb they do not have to wait until August.
JP - against, wall, bang, head, your, brick, a - rearrange and you get what service the clubs, PR, Marketing and Commercial departments offer.
The clubs failure to secure a right sided midfielder for what seems forever, may be the template from which the rest of the club now works.
"some people would rather get themselves all wound up about stupid tabloid guessing games than take time to learn the own history"
Very true!
Apparantly, the average imbecile from FMTTM thinks that if something hasn't occured "in their lifetime", it doesn't count!
Im sorry AV but uve lost me, and many of the boro youth with this topic(or at least any one under the age of 35)
cant we just go back to taking the micky out of lamby or hendrie or something?
oh and by the way i am entirely shocked that bernie and alistair have been let go, even as much as it annoyed me hearing bernie say 'sweet as a nut' every ten minutes and alistair being more defendant of the team than wenger and ferguson rolled into one, we still loved them
You have been passionate and loyal ambassadors for mfc for as long as i can remember, good luck for the future
" as it annoyed me hearing bernie say 'sweet as a nut' every ten minutes and alistair being more defendant of the team than wenger and ferguson rolled into one, we still loved them"
not bernie we didnt,
Fitz, I come into your 'old codger' category at the grand old age of 43, but even I'm not old enough to remember Ironopolis, neither come to that is my Dad who is now 80+ but you can still appreciate the history and significance of the towns first pro. football team whatever your age can't you?
Everything has a foundation stone and it makes a wonderful read, because pioneers are thin on the ground these days and despite all, such days did hold both loyalty and respect.
Now many players make life a damned nuisance for many clubs, because they are simply big bucks and no brains.
Players who earn huge amounts of money, then immediately slag a club off which has put millions in their bank accounts the moment they leave.
Then two years down the line the same pattern develops once again, but their greed cannot be fed.
I always lean to the club, even though much needs putting right. Improvement has no ending, so we must always keep on top of it as best as we can.
I am so looking forward to the season, because this Big Brother thing will soon drive me out of our house if someone doesn’t blow a whistle.
Still, I’ll get me own back in August.
The backroom team at the club haven’t done too bad, if you position what they have realistically achieved given the true facts.
In fact, getting to the final of a major European Cup Final is one huge medal.
Even though we picked up the losers one’s at the final whistle, a lot of people learnt an awful lot on that day.
However, our strongest point is the youngsters who have come through the most admired football academy in the Premiership.
If GS can somehow find this lost link in midfield then it will bring Cattermole on leaps and bounds, because he looked lost in the dark at times, which unnecessary Yellow cards proved.
The Turk and the Frenchman pick up balls on the move which is something we have lacked, because counter attacking at speed is the rule of thumb these days.
Keith Lamb has done a hell of a lot for the club and so have many others.
It must be demeaning to sit down with a soccer agent knowing they are living a life of luxury for doing nowt.
A day will arrive when the Inland Revenue will gate crash their party.
I must admit I did know a bit of the history but it was interesting to read about the roots of out club.
For those who think we should concentrate on the here and now, did ironopolis have a right winger and is he still alive?
I'm only 24, but the history of the club is vitally important to me. I want my club to be steeped in history so that as a fan, I can talk to fans from other clubs about what our club was born from.
It is good to know that we follow a club that has a bit of colour, and not one that only dates back to the '80s. That is why I think the club have made a good call with the badge (not neccessarily the design, however).
Our history is something to be proud of and something to celabrate. In the modern day though, I think a town the size of ours would struggle to fund two clubs in the top-level, so maybe the merger was a blessing in disguise? Especially taking apathy into account.
And for what its worth, I would have been a regular at the Paradise Ground as well...
It's that time when it all goes eerily quiet and a ball of tumbleweed rolls by with a swirling dust devil down the deserted Riverside underpass.
What the hell's going on?
Players? Sponsors? New Kit (when we step out to start losing our pre-season games will it have to be shirts v. skins - no prizes for guessing which we'll be)?
Even Sky Text has resorted to only being able fall back to two pages showing our fixtures and the club website is featuring local athletes.
Come on, Very Happy, lay out The Count's masterplan that he's lurking, giant bat like, waiting to reveal and sink his fangs into us doubters.
My only slim hope is that there is something(s) on the player front brewing that needs to wait until after the Copa final. I am painfully aware, as I write, that this is the feeblest sort of whistling in the wind.
In the words of ABBA, I had a dream
FA Cup Final. Hendrie picks the ball up and nutmegs Lampard before drifting around Essien, spots Hulse pulling away from Terry and chips a ball over the defence. Hulse brings it under immediate control, takes it round Terry and lures Cech off the line before dinking it into the far corner to complete his hat trick.......
Never mind, was driving up to Toon yesterday and there was a horse loose on the A1M just north of Darlo. Its footwork was reminiscent of Jason Euseless and my son and I broke into a rendition of 'sign him up, sign him up, sign him up.' My wife and daughter just sat there in the car giving us pitying looks. There again it was wearing a red blanket but there was no stripe and no sponsors logo. You never know, a horse would make a pleasant change from the usual last minute Donkey in the window.
As JP says, lets hope we have something in the pipeline.
We are still only in mid July and have done several pieces of business, a couple of new players would change the outlook.
The season is only 6 weeks away and right now, I am becoming concerned about our progression in the transfer market.
While I'm delighted with signing Tuncay, he is unproven and may take several games to get into the grove. Aliadiere is a good prospect and could be a breath of fresh air but he has only scored a handful of goals in his career.
Last season our combined midfield goal tally just made double figures with pogatetz and huth the only defenders to get on the score sheet with one goal each.
And if the Yak continues where he left off last season we're going to have to play out for 0-0 draws. Frankly I look at the signings amongst the teams we finished above last year and fear for our survival next season.
I hope I'm wrong. My mood a few weeks ago was the exact opposite when Mr Gibson promised me a couple of 'spectacular' signings. Well, i've been surfing the world wide web every day for a fortnight and not even staggered across a rumour of a development for a top class player-hence my gradual pesimitic decline.
I'm running out of ways to pass the working days through these long, football deprived, summer months. The official website is old fashioned, every other club with the same format have refurbished there layout, we seem to be last ones to refresh ours. i could have played around on that.
No new kit launch that reveals a snippet of the shorts trim or the collar each day... Not even a sponsorship deal explaining how Boro and China's leading online Tetris organisation can go from strength to strength... there's not even any cricket to watch because of the bloody rain.
The Boro are scoring yet another own goal by allowing the small buzz on Teesside that only dogs could hear, fade out to silence...
Wake up Boro, you're going to miss the bus!
JP and Michael, be careful what you say, or else those who constantly wear rose tinted Boro specs will be taking them off and come a looking for you!
If it is a player from the Copa final Boro are waiting to sign, my cash would be on Arsenal reject Julio Baptista.
A loan deal from Madrid, it has happened before.
John Powls
I have already stated that Steve Gibson should have talked about NOW...not Europe.
I am expecting a signing\s to be forthcoming, but maybe staying tight lipped has to be the case.
The history feature above will eventually become us as time moves on.
We will be known as the generations who sold the beautiful game down the river.
Not us loyal fans, people who have only a bank account in their heart and nowt else.
That is what really hurts.
Jimmy Hill’s well meaning logo has soured the game and there is no going back.
GREED rules the game.
Every empty seat at a Premiership ground supports that to the hilt.
Good pictures of the training session at Rockliffe on the Boro website. I think the caption 'all ears' for the Lee Cattermole picture was a bit harsh...
Never Happy
I was thinking of a double swoop for Riquelme and Saviola rather than the Brazilian Beast from the Bernabeu.
You can feel me quaking at the prospect of being menaced by a brigade of the Pollyannas!!
Anthony, I posted a commment and says it was posted by Ian Gill?
Michael (that's who posted it) I'm big enough to deal with the champ man boro fans, thanks for the advice though!
Baptista famously slagged off northern teams during his arsenal spell. I doubt he'd come here. Agree we need someone of his ilk to excite the fans for the coming season.
**AV writes: No, Ian Gill is the name on the post above. Your moniker is at the bottom of your comment.
JP - I wondered what that rumble was. More chance of signing Ardiles and Villa than Riquelme and Saviola.
I do hope that you are right.
The game is in a mess and is being ruined by the people in charge who fail to take any sort of grip. The clubs are like kids in a sweet shop with no parental control.
The latest fiasco is the ongoing Tevez saga with the Premier League threatening more action against West Ham if they dont get the money from Man U for a player they dont own. Oh sorry, they ripped up the contract and the league said that is OK. Barking mad.
We now have the season being disrupted by two broadcasters.
Most clubs have lost touch with reality and there is no one to pull them back. The Premier League is run by the clubs. The FA have their own financial millstone in Wembley and run the game to service the debt and provide corporate customers with first pick. FIFA and UEFA are equally self serving.
We could put up with this if it looked like the clubs were engaging fans at a local level. There appears to be little evidence at many clubs where lip service is paid to the community. Too many own goals.
I still stand by my view that in our case the club are trying but seem incapable of getting the message across and constantly send out mixed messages.
It is creating a sullen atmosphere where every action is disected and discussed. Many are waiting to see what is going to happen.
"The game is in a mess and is being ruined by the people in charge who fail to take any sort of grip."
I am sure if you ask any of the chairmen, agents, players and FA people they will think differently.
Never Happy
Whoever solves our midfield problems must have Bobby Moore’s brains, Dave MacKay’s aggression and Linford Christie's pace, not bottle.
I reckon 200 million quid should seal things.
Alf
Says it all but it is no great surprise.
'The game is in a mess..' how so? The premiership is played in brand new stadiums which are constantly being expanded to satisfy demand, average prem. crowds are far higher than the old first division, where is the mess?
I agree that players, agents etc. are paid (overpaid in many cases) vast sums, but demand is still high.
Boro have had a decline in attendances due to Macs dull boring football. If GS does succeed in changing that then attendances will rise. There are things to be dissatisfied with but I can't see the mess.
On another subject to be controversial, Boro's income is high compared to most clubs if my memory serves me its about 10th in the prem. thats not bad so maybe the clubs marketing dept. aren't so bad after all!
Hey all, off topic here but, I sent an email to the club regarding the switch to Radio Cleveland for commentary. I basically explained my feelings towards the decision. Anyway, I received an email back this morning, just thought you lot might want to have a read of it.
Thank you for your email regarding Middlesbrough FC's decision to grant exclusive radio commentary rights to BBC Radio Cleveland for the 2007-08 season.
As you know, for the past several seasons BBC Radio Cleveland had shared commentary rights with Century fm. This year, however, the decision was made for commercial reasons for the club to grant rights to only one radio station. Whilst they made an acceptable offer for the right, it was felt that BBC Radio Cleveland were in the right position to support the wide-ranging community work the club carries out far beyond the bounds of matchdays.
We are aware of fondness many fans have for the Century commentary duo of Alastair Brownlee and Bernie Slaven. Alastair has always been - and I am sure will remain - a great supporter of the club, while Bernie's name has legendary status on Teesside thanks to his goalscoring exploits with the club. However, things move on and we are confident that the BBC Radio Cleveland and Middlesbrough FC commentary team of Paul Addison and Gary Gill will continue to offer fans a great commentary service too.
There is nothing to say that we will not switch back to Century in the future, but we would call on Boro fans to support the club's decision and help make our exclusive allegiance with BBC Radio Cleveland a great success. For those fans outside the area, the Radio Cleveland commentaries will be available via the club's official website at www.mfc.co.uk.
Many thanks for taking the time to write and thank you for your ongoing support.
Ian Gill
London clubs had no reductions for children on my last count, which forces many children from watching a game, which is wrong and should be looked into.
Aston Villa introduced a scheme which allows two adults and two children to see the odd game cheaper.
£10 -00p for the parents & £1 -00p for yougsters, aged up to 15 yrs.
Such one off occasions make people aware that the club care and after all it is a family born game.
The Boro now have a similar scheme, which is a smart move which I hope to see improved.
Prices must fall in line with what is affordable not acceptable.
Where is the boys-end in these modern day multi-million pound stadiums?
Sky television now print the Premiership fixture list in reality without need for explantion.
However, they have pulled another fast one by moving Premiership Plus into the same division as the Sky Sports Channel.
Another money trap transferred over to the loyal Jokers/Idiots.
Players on that photo of yesteryear, had nowt but big hearts and large families to feed and are
to be admired.
Just like the two boys who stand outside the club forever, who earned peanuts but what gents.
Interesting to read the following.
Premier League clubs have splashed £284m already this summer - their biggest spree ever, more than double at the same stage last year and almost three times of that in 2005.
Boro having spent £9m so far have a bit of catching up to do.
**AV writes: In the spending league in the Sun yesterday Boro were safely mid-table. It would be interesting to see what the figures would be if you took the big four out of the equation.
On the right back front - and if the Icelander and AZ are a problem - the London papers are saying that Hoyte is available from The Gunners for £2m as he has been displaced by an incomimg defender.
He has a bit to learn but he is tall and has the speed and aggression and will have had a good grounding at club and U21 level.
Also Stephen Appiah is making 'come and get me' noises to the Premiership - much to the chagrin of Fenerbahce. We know the parties involved - they may want The Yak. Business to be done.
AV – The list below shows the balance on transfers since the summer (rainy season) opened.
Free transfers and the wages involved not included
Woodgate’s transfer was not included in the list but I have added it to Boro’s spending.
The biggest spenders (net) have been Man U, Spurs and Pompey.
Arsenal +6m
Villa -2.5m
Brum -7.7m
Blackburn + 750,000
Bolton -1m
Chelsea -13.5m
Everton -3m
Fulham -11m
L’Pool -11.87m
Man C - +5.8m
Man U - -51m
Boro - -9m
Skunks - -1.8m
Pompey - -21.5m
Reading - +2.3m
S’land - -4m
Spurs - -28.1m
West Ham - -11m
Wigan - -4.1m
it is not how much you spend what matters it is how you spend it. theres no point getting youre knickers in a twist over what other clubs with more money than sense are spending.
boro need to sort out the right flank and it dontsnt matter if it is solved for free of for £15m so long as they are the right players.
record spending by premier league clubs. 10 years ago boro were one of the big spenders. now a lot of teams have passed us and we will be the ones looking around to pick up bargains and frees.
How much of the premier league transfer fees are going to club outside the premier league?
AV - What is your take on the latest chapter of the Tevez affair? It looks like Joorabchian is going to stitch West Ham up in the high court on Friday.
Sheff U have accepted that they will not be reinsatated to the PL, but are looking for £50m compensation.
West Ham's bubbles may be about to burst.
**AV writes: I think the PL hope that FIFA take over the case and direct that MSI retain the contract. Then they can say they stuck by their guns but were over-ruled by a higher body, Joorabchain gets his money, United get their man and West Ham get off the hook.
sorry i meant outside english leagues.
I would be intrested to know how much our transfer kitty is for this year AV, any ides? We never get a rough estimate as other clubs do. Well most clubs its just comes down to are you rich or are you poor?
I would be intrested to know where we lie in the 'rich club, poor club' table. We havnt really gone mad for a while (not that I blame the club i.e maccarone) Even last season when SG says he didnt have time to find the right players usually in that case you go for the 'last minute panic big money buy' but not even that, we just got jason euesless
**AV writes: Does anyone ever have a 'transfer warchest'? I think the figures bandied around are tabloid
guesstimates.
Boro have always operated on a system that there is not a specified budget to spend but the manager makes a case-by-case argument to buy a particular player and then Lamby and Gibbo try to make it happen.
Apart from anything else it stops you getting held to ransom. If clubs know you have £20m to spend they just add £2-3m to th eprice of even average players. Best all round that everyone thinks we are borrassic.
Great article on the early history of pro football on Teeside. I love their kit, and I agree with an earlier post that the Boro would look great in a Peru-style top.
Here's an interesting article by a Turkish newspaper (Turkey's only English newspaper) on Tuncay's first training session, where apparently he scored a great goal. http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-27669.html. I think that a lot of Turks will be following our season.
I see that we are battling for a Swedish right winger with -- it looks like -- Man City. I hope their newfound wealth doesn't mean that they can offer him silly money wages. He looks like he'd be quite a steal for about 2 million.
I also think that we should just cough of the 4 million for this right back from AZ. In the current market, that's not an awful lot to pay for a seasoned pro. I like that the fact that Southgate doesn't spend his money like my wife spends my money, but there's a danger in being too parsimonious.
So Middlesbrough lost it's derby & it's club with a great name. But never fear just across the river is the wonderful town of Billingham, 2 football clubs the mundane Town & the stratospherically brilliant Synthonia.
As a boy supporting Boro, all teams had a nickname, Boro's name was the Ironsiders,what happened to it?
After all West Ham still call themselves the Irons, from the past. We are now using the old badge 1876, why not the old nickname.