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Untypical Boro is a lively topical blog by the Evening Gazette's award winning football columnist Anthony Vickers that aims to get behind the headlines to flesh out the stories that Boro fans are talking about.

Incisive, provocative and well informed it seeks to engage with articulate supporters and give them a platform to help set the agenda on the issues that matter.

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August 2007 Archives


Injury Shadow Over Season's Opener

Posted by on August 1, 2007 11:41 PM

CRISIS? What crisis? Boro fans of a nervous disposition may be increasingly jittery as a highly localised injury epidemic grips the side's specialist stoppers but boss Gareth Southgate remains stoically unflustered. "Whenever players are injured, it gives an opportunity to other members of the squad," he said, opening the door for forgotten utility man Jason Euell to make a spectacular opening day stop-gap appearance at the heart of the defence.

Continue reading "Injury Shadow Over Season's Opener" »

Season Ticket Love In Is Over.

Posted by on August 2, 2007 11:35 PM

KEITH LAMB'S nonchalance in the face of what appears to be a season ticket collapse is confusing to say the least. Guesstimates suggest a slide from last term's still relatively healthy 21,500 locked in crowd base figure down to a problematic and as yet still highly confidential figure of between a generous 18,000 and a more alarming meltdown trigger point of 15,000.

But hey, not to worry. What does a quarter of the gate matter in these days of Sky Sports pumping money with the urgency of a Gloucester flood relief team? “The season ticket situation doesn’t concern me at all,” Lamb told the Gazette when quizzed on sales figures.

Now forgive me if I have this wrong, but shouldn't it concern him? Given the club's gamble on not making symbolic cuts in prices along with a host of their similarly challenged rivals you would expect marked anxiety at what appeared to be a strategic misjudging of the market that has resulted in a sharp downturn in a key indicator of sales performance and a vital source of considerable revenue. But no. He is "relaxed".


Continue reading "Season Ticket Love In Is Over." »

Poggi Crock Shock!

Posted by on August 6, 2007 9:58 AM

OKAY, now I'm worried. Pogatetz crocked and out until Christmas (full story exclusive in today's Evening Gazette). Woodgate missing for the first three weeks. Huth's return shrouded in mystery... Boro will be frighteningly short at the back for the start of the season and if we don't get off to a flyer it will be another long hard grind.

More on Poggi as the story develops....

The Thin Red Line

Posted by on August 8, 2007 10:37 PM

YOU CAN tell how strong a squad is by looking at its bench. For the muted friendly against AZ Alkmaar - the last before the big kick-off and traditionally a game where bosses turn out the team they expect to start the season - Boro's bench looked woefully short of the Premiership: Brad Jones, Jason Euell, Dong Gook Lee, Seb Hines, Jonathan Grounds, Josh Walker and Tom Craddock.

Some of those youngsters have plenty of potential and may well yet follow the well worn path from academy to first team pioneered by Stewy Downing and Lee Cattermole (or veer off on the Jock Morrison branchline and pay back some of the investment in the youth system) but you would not like to stake Premiership survival on them. The older ones have been tried and tested in the big league and you wouldn't gamble on them as match-winners from the bench either.

And yes, there were a few senior players out with niggles or suspensions but that will happen when the campaign kicks off for real too. There will come times in the season when Boro will need to call on the full depths of the squad and as it stands it is Posh Spice visibly boney.

Continue reading "The Thin Red Line" »

Opening Day Defeat Is No Disaster

Posted by on August 13, 2007 2:04 PM

BORO may have lost the opener but there’s no need to write the season off just yet.

Going into the game amid a deep defensive crisis and an unprecedented air of doom and gloom over ticket sales, Keith Lamb's comments, transfer activity seen by many as well short of 'spectacular' and abrupt radio silencefrom Ali and Bernie their were low expectations. Many expected a Boro side with a makeshift backline to be battered by bogey team Blackburn.

In fact Boro sparkled for an hour, deservedly took the lead and showed promising signs that the new attacking mentality was taking root before two defensive slips in concentration cost them the points in 15 minutes of madness.

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Wigan 1 Middlesbrough 0

Posted by Adrian on August 15, 2007 10:07 PM

By ADAM STEEL

MIDDLESBROUGH suffered their second defeat in as many games when they went down 0-1 against Wigan.

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Warning Signs In Wigan Woe

Posted by on August 15, 2007 11:02 PM

WHEN the Sky fixtures came out and we saw Wigan against Boro had been selected I inserted tongue firmly in cheek and quipped that the only reason they could have seen it as worthy of airtime was that they thought it was the season's first relegation six pointer. How we laughed.

It's not so bloody funny now. Yes, Boro have injuries but the creditable opening day display against a polished Blackburn side in a game that they arguably should have won showed that even with a makeshift defence Southgate's side could play with panache, pace and passion. Against Wigan - a side so poor that they think adding Titus Bramble has strengthened them - a shadow of that team showed very few redeeming features.


Continue reading "Warning Signs In Wigan Woe" »

Boro Need Mido's Touch.

Posted by on August 17, 2007 2:47 PM

MIDO is set to be thrown straight into battle as Boro go to Fulham tomorrow desperate to kick-start the season. The £6.8m Egyptian targetman - physical but with a deft touch and good in the air - may not start but he looks certain to be blooded in a crucial clash at Craven Cottage .

With a makeshift defence, the main creative force on the left carrying a knock and the Yakubu not in the squad - draw your own conclusions on that one - the stage is set for a hero and the former Spurs striker is the only proven Premiership predator at Gareth Southgate's disposal.

I want Mido to dominate and sparkle and score a last gasp winner - if only so we can use a banner back page headline screaming: "He Sphinx It's All Over!"

Continue reading "Boro Need Mido's Touch." »

Yakkity Yak: Transfer Talk Is Complex Code

Posted by on August 20, 2007 2:23 PM

YAKUBU is happy at Boro, definitely not for sale - “he is very much part of my plans,” has been the Southgate Summer mantra - has not put in a transfer request and has not been the subject of a single transfer bid.

So why then is the national football media making merry with constant speculation that he is on his way? Why has ‘expert’ pundit Alan Hansen analysed Yakubu's potential as an aerial threat alongside Andy Johnson? And why have the Everton club shop staff ordered an extra consignment of iron-on ‘U’s?

Continue reading "Yakkity Yak: Transfer Talk Is Complex Code" »

BREAKING NEWS - YAKUBU

Posted by on August 22, 2007 2:40 PM

BORO have confirmed they have agreed a fee with Everton for Yakubu and the Nigerian hitman has been given permission to talk to the Goodison outfit. He is en route to Merseyside to discuss personal terms as we speak and the deal is expected to be pushed through quickly.

The fee is believed to be £11.25m.... which is a fantastic bit of business by my reckoning.

Of course, we've all been resigned to it for a while now and the only question then was how much he would realise. Now the only question is: who will we spend the dosh on?

Derby "Banter" Is Beyond The Pale

Posted by on August 26, 2007 4:53 PM

SOME THINGS transcend the petty parochial squabbling of football rivalries. Whatever team you support and however passionately you express it, most people are still bound by the norms of society and the same moral spectrum that guides everyday life.

Only the foaming zealots fail to see that fans on the other side of the segregation lines are basically the same as them. Only the real hardcore idiots really believe the opposition are dehumanised scum and that anything goes. Only the ignorant dregs of humanity believe that being at a football match means you can set aside civilised standards of behaviour and have free licence to indulge in the basest of offensive behaviour.

You know, the kind who sing that someone is “a paedo” and think it is incredibly witty.

Continue reading "Derby "Banter" Is Beyond The Pale" »

Deadline Day Transfer Watch....

Posted by on August 31, 2007 9:17 AM

DEADLINE DAY.... and time to clear through the early morning debris of disinformation, rumour and speculation. The papers are all full of it. "Everyman and hsi dog" know Boro need a specialist right sided midfielder, a striker that offers something different and who is not going to the African Nations Cup in January and cover for Andrew Taylor at left back.

Looks like it could be a long day sat watching and waiting for a mention on the Sky Sports yellow banner at five to midnight (or five past one as it was last year). I'll update this as the day proceeds and try to stand up the stories and rubbish the rumours - starting with the latest on Ameobi, O'Neil and Pistone...

Read on for all the news as it breaks....

Continue reading "Deadline Day Transfer Watch...." »

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