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THE YEAR OF THE GRIFFIN 22-12-04
If you are wondering what the title of this column is all about then you must be one of the many who think that we have a lion on our club badge, just like I did until a few weeks ago.
It's not a lion at all. It's actually a griffin but please don't just take my word for it. Rick Minter wrote a book called 'Mascots: Football's Furry Friends' in which Roary is interviewed in depth. In that interview, Roary states that he should not be a lion but a griffin. Shocking.
 
Left- a griffin, right- a lion. Spot the difference
It matters little though in the big scheme of things because whether 2004 was The Year of the Lion, Griffin or whatever, it was without a doubt the most memorable since 1974.
When Gareth Southgate was interviewed in early January, he said that all of the ingredients were in place for success at the Boro and that season 2003/04 could be the club's most successful season. When that interview was published, I don't think that one single supporter actually believed a word of it.
It didn't really look like we were about to undergo a major transformation over Christmas 2003. We were sometimes very good but mainly mediocre and managed a meagre two points from our three Premier League matches over the festive season. Things had not really changed at all, or so it seemed then.
Despite home wins against Fulham in the league and Notts County in the FA Cup third round, things actually looked a little grey in mid January as we totally capitulated against Arsenal in the league and found ourselves 3-1 down to relegation threatened Leicester at home with a minute to go. OK, we pulled it back but were we lucky? Probably.
We gave up our FA Cup challenge without a real fight and then just as it looked like disappointment was about to set in yet again, it all started happening.
Back to Highbury for the third time in a very young year and thanks to The Little Fella's goal, we came away with a win in the Carling Cup semi first leg and I am sure that single victory was the catalyst that sent us on our way. Nobody gave us a chance and despite Arsenal protestations about fielding a weakened side, we beat the best team in England on their own patch. We deserved to.
January is usually a miserable month for Middlesbrough but this year, we saw it out with a highly impressive 3-0 win at Elland Road. Leeds were not the team that they used to be but they were still Leeds and for some this is a local derby. It was a massive win which boosted our confidence and sent out a message to a future Boro star who must have already known that the grass was greener on the other side of the Moors.
Did anybody concern themselves with our disciplinary record in January? We did not manage to go one game without having at least one player booked. In fact, in our seven games in January, we were awarded thirteen yellow cards. Franck Quedrue topped the chart with three.
We did manage to not pick up any bookings in one game in February but this was the god-awful home defeat to Blackburn Rovers. I would have swapped our blank scoresheet for a yellow or two that day but let's take this game out of the equation, as it proved to be a blip in a month that will go down as the greatest ever in Boro history.
It was a difficult month on paper before we had played the first match which was the re-arranged second leg of the Carling Cup semi final. It's difficult to recall just what the expectation level was just before the game but I do remember the first Boro tackle very clearly and within those first few minutes, all the doubts just melted away like the snow that had caused the previous week's postponement.
That particular win will always stay with me because of the attitude that the team showed that night. They were never going to lose it and despite dogged resistance from our familiar opponents, we hit them with all that we had and their response was insufficient. It set us up for the greatest day of our lives.
We only had three games to play before the final and perhaps the poor display against Blackburn was due to the hangover from the victorious midweek semi final? No such problems at Old Trafford, where we tore into the Champions and showed them what winning was all about. United were no match for Boro that night and we went to St James' Park having beaten the top two teams in England.
We were unlucky at Newcastle having led for the first hour. Shearer's debatable penalty sent us to defeat with seven minutes remaining. It was a setback but we were still in a better league position than we were used to being in at the end of a February.
Every Boro fan the world over will always be able to tell you exactly where they were on 29th February 2004. The moment will live on in our memories forever and whatever we achieve in the future, Leap Year Day will always be the greatest day in the club's history. You never forget your first time.
It obviously gave the club and the town an incredible boost and after the visit to Birmingham a mere three days later, we adopted an air about us and carried a belief that was to serve us well during the rest of this year.
We played four more Premier League matches in March and won three and drew the other. The wins included that very memorable windswept 5-3 revenge win over Birmingham.
And then we went and added another silver pot to our already overcrowded trophy cabinet as Boro lifted the FA Youth Cup. Here were the stars of the future getting used to winning trophies and it was never a secret that if that particular group of players could stay together throughout the prime of their careers, then here was the Boro success story of the future, already in place.
How sad that George Hardwick passed away just a few hours after that fantastic triumph. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only Boro legend to bid us farewell during 2004.
April started off in the same manner that March had been played out and wins over Bolton again and Southampton and a draw at Stamford Bridge put us in the frame for UEFA Cup qualification for the first ever time.
Hang on a minute. We'd already qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the Carling Cup and I think that the players also realised this at around this time because our season went to pot after the Chelsea game.
We were beaten by bottom side Wolves and then Villa at home and then suffered a third consecutive defeat at Anfield in early May but we did restore some semblance of pride in the last home game of the season with our usual win over our whipping boys Manchester City.
And bizarrely, as we were being slaughtered 5-1 at Fratton Park on the final day of the season, the air was heavy with optimism for the season ahead.
And how that optimism was to grow as first Michael Reiziger, fresh from his impressive performances in Euro 2004 was snapped up from Barcelona. Then finally the striker that we had missed during the previous season arrived. The Hitman Mark Viduka was traded in for The Miss Man Michael Ricketts and in probably the greatest piece of business that the club has ever done, we transformed our frontline from stuttering and stalling into deadly and well oiled.
Yes, I know that the official line is that the two deals were not connected but come on...
And then Ray Parlour arrived at Darlington station on the InterCity and within a couple of hours, was a Boro player.
Ray bloody Parlour! A world class player signed from the English League Champions! Now things were getting very serious indeed. But they got even more serious when a press conference was announced for a Friday lunchtime in early July. In walked Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink of all people and as we picked our collective jaws off the floor, we realised that we were now contenders instead of also rans.
Red shirts with a white chestband, the UEFA Cup, the best strike force in the league, an opening day derby fixture and... have I forgotten something? Well if I have, that lot all at once is surely enough for any man with a normal heartbeat rate.
The season started off OK but it just got better and better and better. Jimmy scored on his debut with The Hand of Smog giving us a draw against the Geordies. We then found ourselves 3-1 up at Highbury and although we eventually went down 5-3, make no mistake, we went down fighting and gave Arsenal one hell of a fright as they equalled the record of longest run of league games without a defeat.
Justification for our high expectation level was provided at Craven Cottage three days later as Boro turned in a remarkable and dominant perfomance. Mark Viduka also scored on his Boro debut and played a major part in one of the best Boro performances for many a year.
The Duke endeared himself to the Boro faithful that night by blowing kisses to the crowd as he left the field and scoring twice against Birmingham a fortnight later. Meanwhile, Jimmy took another step towards becoming a Teesside legend with a screaming free kick that saw off Crystal Palace. After five games, Mark and Jimmy were on three goals a piece and Boro were fourth with ten points.
Then came the spectacle that we had been waiting for years to see. Boro's first game in Europe and as well as being a marvellous occasion - one to rank alongside the Cup Final perhaps? - it served as a yardstick of just how far this particluar Boro team had come.
Middlesbrough showed that it had a football team to be reckoned with that night and the people of Teesside demonstrated some exceptional qualities. The fans of Banik Ostrava remain in contact with many of us even now.
However the form book was torn up at Goodison Park when this season's surprise package Everton beat us 1-0 and that was followed up with our only home defeat of the season so far, inflicted by a Chelsea side who stretched the rules and got away with it.
Despite our 3-0 lead in the UEFA Cup tie, relief was palatable when we finished the job in Ostrava and how quickly we proved that we had learned to cope with Europe on a Thursday and the Premier League on a Sunday when we returned to Old Trafford and so very nearly came away with our second win of the year from Steve McClaren's old workplace.
The week that we played Ostrava and United was the week that confirmed that certain members of our Youth team could take the step up if necessary. James Morrison and Tony McMahon proved themselves to be worthy of a place among the Premiership elite and like Stewey Downing, probable future England caps.
They put us in The Group of Death in the UEFA Cup and not only did we come out alive, we won the group and won it in some style. One of the all time great Boro moments for me personally was watching Lazio being slaughtered in a classic Boro display that was reminiscent of the 73-74 side and the way that they used to annihilate opposing teams.
We surrendered the Carling Cup in November but a bigger prize awaits us because there is no reason why we cannot prepare the trophy room for the arrival of the 2005 UEFA Cup.
Am I tempting fate by saying that? You may have thought so a few years ago as we could well have been forgiven for thinking that we were jinxed. But not now. We are now in the enviable position of being able to talk about such things and have confidence that we are not being unrealistic.
2004 was indeed our most successful year. It was the year that future genrations will see as the year that we broke through many boundaries and underwent a metamorphosis that put us into Europe's top thirty.
It was indeed The Year of the Griffin. And the best is still to come from Middlesbrough Football Club.
Until next week.
Steve
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