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"NO SALES PLEASE! WE'RE BORO" 1-8-05
Another season almost upon us and I must admit that the trepidation is building once again. Perennial questions such as 'Who will win the League?' and 'Who will go down?' are being asked by no-one apart from the media due to the answers being so blindingly obvious.
Chelsea are signing exceptional players for exorbitant prices and no one has expressed an interest in going to Sunderland. Meanwhile no-one is paying any attention to the Boro, partly I guess because they still see us as lucky also-rans, despite last season and partly because next to bugger all has happened at the Riverside in recent weeks.
So no change there then. Indeed if a fake bomb scare is the pinnacle of excitement of the last two months - or in the case of Darlington, the last two decades - then maybe things have become staid and desperate. Or maybe I am being unfair to the predictable Zenden exit and the baffling Rosencrantz arrival but then again, I doubt I am.
Never have I met leading Boro news items with such indifference. Maybe it's just the summer and therefore in my eyes, the cricket season. Or then again maybe there's nothing to really excite me at the Boro at the moment. After all, I can't stand cricket.
The Fixture List
The blessed day arrives and dreams shattered a month before are suddenly reborn as we finally find out who we will be trudging to watch on a rain-soaked Saturday in November. Turns out it will be West Brom, which is certainly something worth braving the elements for.
Christmases are planned around who we have away. I'm Dreaming of a White Bolton is probably only something the BNP can realistically sing whilst the excitement wells when we find out against who we will open and close the season.
Yet as usual it's the same old story- starting at home against the just outside the top four club and finishing with one of the easiest away games we could have hoped for. After all, last season when I looked at the fixture list I thought, hmm, Manchester City away last game. If we need something out of that we will get it. And we duly did, despite Queudrue's best efforts.
Now Fulham away and like Harry Potter, the same story is continuously retold. Of all the grounds in the league, the City of Manchester Stadium and Craven Cottage probably engender as much fear in the away supporter as Roary the Lion does when he's 'feeling a little frisky'.
Meanwhile the opening game will be a tasty one. They normally are - after all we got the Skunks last year - but the added spice of the start of Zenden's bench warming duties inject another element of passion to an already passionate tie.
Not on the field of course, as I doubt Zenden will start, but there might be a bit of something in the tunnel maybe. Perhaps Southgate flicking his alice band off his head or messing up his tousled hippy-locks or something. Nothing major, just something warranting an FA investigation and a twenty-seven match ban for any Boro player within spitting distance.
On the surface it appears to be a tough game but there are a few things in the Boro's favour. One is that we took four points off the European Champions last season and won the corresponding home fixture. Two is that we're at home which is always the best way to start a season I feel and thirdly, opening games of the season are normally random and thus it is best to get one of the more difficult games out of the way early on.
The energy and the buzz on opening day are different and this can spur teams on in a way that is often lacking in the middle of January. This gives the minnow a greater chance of winning than they normally would have, and although I do not consider us minnows in this game - we only finished two places below them in the League - I would hazard a guess that they are slight favourites.
Zenden's ex-teammates will no doubt want to show him what he has turned down for warming the bench at Liverpuddle but the negative is that in playing the might of TNS and FC Kaunus, they may have had the perfect preparation for Premier League fixtures in that they have learnt to gel and play well as a team.
We could not have asked for a better fixture list really. We have no clusters of hard games in any month and we should be able to pick up points consistently. To start off with Spurs and Birmingham away, two tricky but winnable games, followed by Charlton at home is very typical of how the fixtures have panned out.
This bodes well provided we do not have another one of our capitulation spells like we did last season. After all I don't mind a bad run consisting of losing to Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea but to lose to Southampton at home and Villa away is quite frankly shaming. No bad run can exist this season if we want to step up the Premiership hierarchy and challenge for a top 4 place.
Consistency is the key and I hope that lessons from last season, particularly in relation to injuries, have been learnt. If they have, then there is no reason why we cannot have a prosperous season and further evolve as a club. If we avoid injuries there is no reason why we cannot go further in the UEFA Cup and possibly even win it.
We should have challenged last season after clubs in Europe were touting us as genuine contenders. Now we have vital experience in that competition, and our youngsters are more experienced generally, then now is the time to cement the Boro's place as the top club in the north-east and to finally lift a European trophy. I trust the training staff won't be as kamakaze as last season...
Bogoff Bogoff Bogoff Bogoff Bogoff BOGOFF Zenden
Well what can be said about the inevitable? There are two trains of thought to this one, the get lost and good riddance attitude and the thanks for your contribution over the last two years school of thought. I sit on the fence and the interview that was conducted by this website only enhances this view.
His curt answers demonstrate a lack of emotional empathy with the Boro faithful but generally he did give his all in a Boro shirt. Furthermore he's not like Ravanelli or Emerson - or even Juninho come to think of it - who buggered off after our relegation and left us to rot. No, he left us when we were in good shape, after the most successful spell in the club's history.
In many ways he has acted, and been consequently villified, like Merson. Granted Merson's excuses were clumsy but he did leave after doing the job he was recruited for, i.e. getting us promoted to the Premier League. He left us on a high and I have always thought fans have been a little too harsh on him.
Its true that he didn't play out his full career potential with us but when he did play for us he benefited the team and this was the case with Zenden too. Remember the double-footed penalty? Nothing can take that memory away, nor can his contribution to the success that followed it.
Maybe this has baffled fans as in our success they see no reason why any player would want to leave. After all, why would anyone want to go to pastures new when they can contribute to the increasing prosperity of the club they are already at?
It's a valid view but one that I think is hiding something. I believe that a lot of Boro fans are afraid. Afraid that Zenden's loss will affect this prosperity that we have worked so hard to create and that without one of our better players we will be a shadow of our former selves, irrespective of squad policies.
This may be catalysed by the non-arrival of new midfielders in the close season so far. After all, to leave being a star from a prospering football club to become an also-ran at a slightly bigger one defies logic in the eyes of many fans.
Maybe it does but that's the decision Bolo has made and fair play to him. Maybe that was his plan all along. Maybe Middlesbrough was just a stepping stone to resurrecting his career but all I can say to Boro fans is Zenden did give his all in a Boro shirt and was committed to the cause for the two years he was here.
However, if he couldn't compete at Chelsea when they were mediocre, then how the hell can he compete at Liverpool now, two years older? It will backfire on him and we've got to move on. Yes the lack of commitment was frustrating but that lack of commitment was never evident on the football pitch.
He was one of our better players last season and he will be a sore loss. But I am sure we will replace him and keep building. Leaving the Boro is Bolo's loss not Middlesbrough's. So good luck to him and I hope he prospers. But then there's the sadistic part of me that wishes that Downing will get picked to play in the World Cup and Zenden won't. And that my friends would be irony. And what a great day that would be!
On Pogatetz
Not much to say on this one really. Time will tell. Accept that to impress whilst playing against us last February is hardly much of a compliment considering how depleted our squad was, due to injury.
Furthermore playing week-in week-out in the Austrian and Russian leagues is quite difference to the Premier League and the question must be asked. Why wasn't he playing in the more competitive Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen instead of being loaned out here, there and everywhere?
And even if he was playing in the Bundesliga, it is still a step down from the leagues of England, Spain and Italy. So his suitability is somewhat in question although I am glad that McClaren has finally plucked someone from obscurity for a small fee rather than paying mega-money for the next big star.
Yet even then there are problems as it appears our scouting missions boil down to the big players or blokes who happened to play well against us, if recent signings are anything to go by. I would still like to see us plucking some players from the lower leagues, plus players we have never heard of, as these could be better value for money.
Still, despite this, Pogatetz is of a right age so he could be a good investment for the future. He is also good cover for Queudrue when the Frenchman decides to go on one of his stomping sprees. We needed cover for Franck because Parnaby is not a Premiership footballer and never will be. He's neither got the assurance or the talent. Now all we need to do is to replace Reiziger...
On Lovenkrands
It seems to be the story of our close-season really. Get linked with mediocre player who comes to visit the club, and then we don't sign him, which is thankful in the case of Owen Hargreaves to be honest.
In terms of signings, this close season has been worringly quiet. Granted we did most of our major strengthening this time last year but last season's injuries demonstrated that we are still short of a few players in key positions.
After all, if our squad was any good then our dip in form between January and March would not have been so bad. It was only our storming finish to the season when a few of our first team regulars returned, most notably Boateng, that enabled us to reach the target we had set ourselves at the start of the season.
So looking at it in this way the Lovenkrands miss is a big blow. Now the reasons McClaren proffered are fair enough- we need to focus on central midfield. And he is right. But Lovenkrands has a versatility that can transcend his typical forward moniker.
We know we have too many forwards. We actually have too many mediocre forwards and should get rid of some but that should not have necessarily stopped us swooping on the Rangers front-man. Missing out on Lovenkrands is frustrating because he has considerable experience playing on the left side of midfield, a position now vacated by Zenden.
So just who will McClaren bring in to strengthen the squad in this area? With Mendieta back, the hope could be that we carry on like we did for most of last season with one creative midfielder instead of two.
Getting in another creative, left sided midfielder is still paramount and I hope McClaren can pull something off in the last month that transfers are permitted. Yet even if he doesn't, despondency should not reign too much as last season proved that Hasselbaink thrived in a good partnership with Viduka, a player who can hold the ball up.
Yakubu is similar to Viduka in this way and if the Yak can maintain fitness and a regular partnership can ensue then I am sure that our slight weakness in midfield will not count for too much. But by the by, here's to hoping it will be sorted so that we can enter the season with our strongest squad ever.
But with Southgate, Ehiogu and Boateng all aging, the time to act is now. And if we do, there is no reason why we can't finish in the top 4. But consistency is the key. Let's just hope we don't shoot ourselves in the foot again. Come on Boro.
Packwolf.
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