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LILLIBET M'S MONTHLY OUTLOOK JAN. 2005
A New Year brings new perspectives. Last year at this time Boro were optimistically looking forward to success in the Carling Cup and aiming to finish in the top half of the table - in other words pretty much business as usual.
This year Champions League qualification is a real possibility and there is no reason to think that our current successful Euro run is likely to end any time soon. This is a significant change in just twelve months, and whilst the Boro faithful are rejoicing, there is also uncertainty.
After so many years of stability in mid-table mediocrity, the club's ambitions are now being realised and adjustment to this deserved status is not immediate. How much of the confidence and exuberance demonstrated by the fans this season to date is just for show?
One abysmal performance at Birmingham sees hand-wringing and the thought that the bubble will burst and it was all a horrible dream after all. Teesside negativity or harsh reality? Hard to say but one thing is sure - the fans are yet to be convinced on a large scale and no-one is feeling safe.
Recent media reports of the Premier League conducting an inquiry into issues such as ticket pricing, TV rights and hence the dominance of rich clubs is also adding to the tacit thought that this may be as good as it gets. However, the latter point has been around since before the introduction of The Premiership and this story will run and run.
There has been much talk recently of the power of positive thinking and everyone has to bear this in mind - this is not a sudden fluke coming out of nowhere, but the realisation of Steve McClaren's foundation building over the last four years. By the end of this season we will definitely be ready to take on the world! In the words of a popular TV show "I want to believe"...
Staying in the top six for the whole season to date is undoubtedly a strange position to get used to. For all previous seasons since God was a boy, we have been the underdogs and potential giantkillers in cup competitions. Success brings a different kind of pressure, and the magic of cup competitions means that this pressure is greatly increased as any lower teams we meet will be going all out for our blood, and if we are beaten by a better side on the day there will no doubt be all sorts of whispering about how we are above our station, impostors etc. Bollocks to them I say.
Anyone still wondering how we have come to be in this position should listen to Century Radio's live match commentary and hear Steve McClaren screaming at the top of his lungs at the players. It's also slightly surreal to hear him being interviewed after matches when we have secured a decent win, such as Villa, when he sounded disappointed and we were all dancing around the room! We should be thankful that our manager is such a perfectionist and so driven, but I do feel for him on a personal level, if only for his vocal cords.
We expect many more years service out of him yet, so I recommend this honey and ginger throat drink which really does work. This is what Tori Amos drinks on stage, prepared by her personal chef Duncan Pickford. It may also help the rest of us when we have shouted ourselves hoarse at Boro's thrilling performances in the rest of the season.
6-8 slices of fresh ginger root
Slice of lemon
1/4 teaspoon slippery elm
3 drops each of peppermint, eucalyptus, and fennel oil
2 dessert spoons honey
Hot water
If you can't be bothered with that, then try Vocalzone tablets - available from Boots. Unfortunately I have no such helpful advice for the recent crop of injuries suffered by the squad. I really feel for poor old George though - I broke my toe 8 weeks ago and it has only just healed. It is absolute agony and you really are incapacitated.
It's the looking like a fool limping around and not being able to get up stairs that is worse than the pain in some ways - having blind old ladies overtaking you at high speed and that sort of thing. Please heal quickly George - we desperately need you! And I miss hearing the "You are BOA-teng!" chant.
AOL, like most of the media, was on the bandwagon of end of year retrospectives. There was a vote for player of the year - and the choice was Steve Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes or Thierry Henry. The marketing of sport continues to be dominated by the so-called premium brands.
Here in exile there are shops around selling football memorabilia and prints etc - if you want Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea. Marketing of clubs as a brand is nothing new, I know, but it is a shame that the charisma and magnetism of the wider game, of which fan experiences are a major part, are lost in the great leviathan of the institution and got-us-over-a-barrel-with-those-prices merchandise - so noticeable when living in an area like this. Talking of merchandise, if anyone knows where to get a decent poster of Man of the Year and sexiest squad member Bolo Zenden in Boro kit, please let me know - it's just what I need for my office.
So onwards into 2005 after a - let's face it - not as bad as all that Christmas period when put into perspective. I didn't get an i-Pod but got a fabulous red cashmere jumper instead and we are still in the top 6 - and Schwarzer may be with us until the end of the season. We should be back on an upwards roll again (is that physically possible?) with the Norwich game next week.
Steve McClaren says that what's good about Norwich is that they play football. That's a relief as if they were playing water polo then it would all get a bit surreal and if they were playing chess then it would be very boring for the crowd. I wouldn't be impressed with banjo playing either I have to say.
Apparently Delia was going home to braised venison with bacon, chestnuts and wild mushrooms in a rich madeira sauce after losing at The Riverside in December. If anyone sees her this week ask what she's planning for dinner on Saturday night - it will have to be something equally as comforting after we have done the double on Norwich and thoroughly trounced them!
Until next month...
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