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ONWARDS INTO EUROPE 14-9-04
There is a certain beauty about European football that has emanated ever since the UEFA competitions were taken out of their conceptual stage and turned into reality.
As a child in the early seventies, I can recall the adrenalin of a big European night, regardless of which English team was playing and trying to get to sleep early in the evening, ready for the burst of sheer excitement as I was woken up in time for the action later the same evening.
The European match atmosphere was always very different from that at the English grounds and add to that the mystique of the opposition and the ingredients were in place for a very special event. But the icing on the cake was always the sound of the commentary, crackled and muffled as though the transmission was spoken down a radio wire or a telephone line, giving it that 'from-a-far-away-land' feel.
I used to dream of the Boro taking part in a big European game in those days, knowing deep down that it was currently unrealistic at best and possibly unlikely to ever happen. So I had to be contented with giving my support for one evening only to whichever English team was involved in the evening's hostilities. Unless it was Leeds, of course.
Europe's finest. Ready for action...
Fast forward three decades and that pipedream is now reality and the best bit of it all is that we are not just in the UEFA Cup to make up the numbers. We are true contenders and as the team currently in fourth position in the best league in Europe, nobody will relish being in our group for the second stage, should we overcome the Czech champions. Perhaps if we had somehow qualified for Europe in any given season over the last few years, we would have just been happy to be there and contented with ourselves for having merely taken part after our first round knockout. That won't be good enough this season because Middlesbrough now have an air of invincibility about them and when the team step out onto the turf on Thursday night, our new found confidence and expectation will be worth a goal start to us. The sheer buzz generated by the occasion itself will be worth another and the ceaseless noise from the crowd, egging the lads on to produce a great performance will be worth yet another.
We don't have an England team to be proud of at the moment and so on Thursday night when Boro make their European bow and the action begins, let's hope that we can not only do ouselves proud but restore some of the old style feel good factor that in days gone by would permeate the whole European occasion.
Now is the time for our club to show it's true mettle and claim the place in the spotlight that we have for so long craved. Onwards into Europe. Onwards into glory.
There are always possible pitfalls when tackling unknown opposition but the club appear to have done their homework on the Czech's and I fully expect us to be ready on the night. Things are done slightly different in European countries though and I wonder if Peter Panda will be involved in this year's UEFA Cup. After the headline below, which was altered a couple of hours after it was brought to my attention, maybe Wolfsburg are now hoping that he still was.
Until next week...
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