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MAKE THE MOST OF THE GOOD TIMES 2-3-06
Well, well, I sit writing this a far calmer and more contented person than the usual ranting, raving, manic, over-opinionated Smoggy gobshite you usually have torturing your senses.
A month is a long time in football and this has been a very good month for that team they call the Boro. Who would have thought that after all the angst, negativity and crap we've all put up with for half a season that as we wander into March our fortunes are far rosier than expected and we actually have something to look forward to on various fronts.
It should help to keep us all positive, proud and predominantly in party mode. Unbelievably, when you think of the dire dross that preceded last month, we've managed to finally get our shit together and our beloved are in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, into the last sixteen of the Uefa cup and beginning to put some decent performances and thus results together in the Premier league.
Whether the drubbing of Sunderland in disguise, Chelski, was some form of catalyst by quite simply giving a massive injection of confidence, well who knows. But the fact that the media played it out all so gloriously as 'Chelsea's largest single defeat since Mourinho took charge!' seemed to change our season for the better.
Maybe a whole lot of navel gazing has stopped and the injection of well deserved respect has lifted the players to a place they should have been all season. One things for sure, its pretty obvious that if Steve Mc could bottle the reason for that turnaround, the "Essence of Change", well he could retire a very, very rich man instead of just being a millionaire a few times over.
We have even gone substantially up the ranks of the comparative table of all European teams on the Eurofootsie website to 38th. thats a rise of six places, while wedged between two other risers in Marseilles and Real Betis. We were in 70th spot only one month ago which helps explain how good the month of February was for us.
Anyway, the table makes fascinating reading especially as they use a very calculated method of ascertaining the league over the last fifty games, Barcelona are top of the wozza at present, followed by Chelsea then Juventus. Have a gander: www.eurofootsie.com
With the Engurland managerial hot seat ready for a new arse to polish the leather and Sven moving on to pastures where he hasn't crapped in his own nest - yet - there are reports that Steve Mc is favourite to swig from the poison chalice, with him being one of a possible half dozen on the FA's shortlist. We could be losing our leader to International football which would probably not cause undue consternation around these parts. If McClaren departs, have you thought about the flow-on effect?
If the bumble brigade at the FA are to be believed an English manager (or is that British or Irish?), will lead the three lions for the next four years following Sven's forced abdication after his many faux pars. Hypothetically if McClaren does score the poison chalice, well who will replace him at our Beloved?
Will Gibbo be so well informed of the situation, with an inside line from the FA that we can get a replacement signed, sealed and delivered ready for the pre-season and not at the last scampering minute? Bugger England's shortlist, who would be on our short list of possible Boro supremos?
In truth, the job would be a very attractive proposition, with all the financial backing of Gibbo and the board while commanding a squad of up and comers mixed with some experienced talent. An excellent modern stadium, one of the best training facilities in Europe, and possibly another season in top line Euro competition to look forward to. Oh. And a very knowledgeable and passionate set of supporters.
I was at an Italian mucker's place, Antonio, the other day doing some hard yakka. He's a Bari boy from the South of Italy. He made me a coffee and we watched RAI Italian TV, specifically the celebrations of AS Roma. They had just broken an age old record held jointly by Milan and Juve by consecutively winning eleven games on the trot in Serie A. They actually remain unbeaten for fifteen consecutive games in all comps.
By the time we play them at the Riverside they may have stretched this out to sixteen games if they overcome Inter at home. They are playing some excellent stuff and are undoubtedly one of Europe's best teams and are in an obvious rich vein of form, even without their top-scorer and the talismanic favourite of the maroon and orange side of the Stadio Olympico, Francesco Totti.
Now the odds are pretty much in Roma's favour for not only our tie but for the competition as a whole, with the calculators of odds heaping short numbers on the heads of AS Roma with around 9/2 for the Uefa cup win. The Giallorossi will expect nothing more than a two leg victory for AS Roma. Now that could be very good for our beloved as the rest of the Europe and the Italian communities scattered around the planet will be of the same opinion. The pressure will be on them totally, and we will be expected to get beaten and when we are playing quality opposition, as we have proven this season, we prove to be at our most dangerous and highly unpredictable.
Antonio tells me that the Roma faithful are far friendlier than their cross city rivals at Lazio and some of their other Serie A cohorts but he did warn that friendlier was used as a relative term. So, you excellent Boro travellers who have set Europe alight with your canny Teesside charm and hospitable joviality, caution and beware, and take care of each other over in the beautiful Eternal city. I am sure you'll win hearts and make friends somewhere along the line as you always do.
Could make for two very tasty, highly charged games though. We certainly enjoy ourselves when playing the celebrated end of town. We are in Europe for this very reason and although AS Roma don't have a huge trophy haul, they have a huge European history and are regarded as a slumbering but awakening giant inside the Italian game. A young vibrant team playing some tasty stuff coached by Luciano Spalletti and sitting in fourth spot in the race for the Scudetto with only one away defeat all season. Mouth-watering stuff. Bring it on.
The Australian Socceroos were awarded the International team of the year over here in the recent Australian Sports awards and they interviewed big Skippy with the verdant green fields of Rockliffe in the background. No live cross to the usual suspects of captain Viduka or Kewell but to 'Socceroo penalty hero and goalkeeper for top English Premier league side Middlesbrough - the brilliant Mark Schwarzer'. He accepted the award on behalf of the team no less, very graciously, and good to see the big man getting the recognition he deserves. Incidentally, there was no sign of Millet stalking/lurking around.
This all happened in the week that the Aussies became part of the Asian confederation, football wise that is, not geo-politically. It's all part of the master plan to elevate the game in these parts but can't help thinking that national competition the 'A-league' needs some work. It contains only eight teams, one of which hails from New Zealand, and concludes with a play-off system that the Aussies appear to prefer for deciding all their sporting competitions. So in the Grand final will be decided the inaugural champions. A bout between Dwight Yorke's Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners which sounds more like a bloody fishing club.
The big problem with it all is the season is then over and it's only March. then a bloody big break which means that Yorke and any of the Aussie based Socceroos have to scrape and scrabble round for a club to play with to stay fit for the World Cup. Stupid or what?
In Yorke's case his old employer Manchester United came to the rescue which allows him first class training to stay fit while clubbing away around Cheshire. I recall a post game TV interview with John Gregory, the then Aston Villa boss, in which the young Darius Vassel burst speedily and skilfully onto the scene and comparisons being made by the interviewer with the Old Trafford bound Dwight Yorke.
"So John, having managed both Yorke and now Vassel, you must be pleased at their obvious similarities?" Gregory answered wryly, "Yes they have a few things in common but Darius tends to sleep in his own bed at night."
There have been a few reports over here this past week about Viduka's future emanating out of the Sydney press, specifically the Daily Telegraph. Namely that the laid back languid one will be leaving Boro after the World Cup. That's loud vociferous cheers from this correspondent. He apparently stated that he would not be pursuing a new contract on completion of the remainder of his current term. He further added that negotiations did take place with Everton but it didn't suit him with the close proximity to the World Cup finals. Well what about staying to fight the good fight at the Riverside Chor?
He poured cold water on the bust up rumours, but then I suppose you would, wouldn't you? Would we get a transfer fee or would the big Aussie negotiate a Bosman and hang around like a fart in a space suit or be released from the remainder of his deal?
He then said some nice things about the EPL and England apart from the weather, which makes one think he's negotiating now or he's angling to finish his career somewhere in Little Britain. Are you thure Mark? Computer says No!
Funny how we are suddenly looking the goods again without his input. We could always do a transfer deal for fresh meat which happened in Romania's lower leagues recently, when a second division player from UT Arad was transferred for fifteen kilos of meat to a fourth division club, Regal Horia. The player ended up buggering off to Spain to work as a hod carrier. You've got to laugh because I mean there can't have been much at steak.
So we've done Chelsea, brought Preston North End's twenty-five game unbeaten streak to an end in the FA Cup, qualifying for the quarters with a tie against Charlton and squeezed through against Stuttgart to draw the glamour boys of the Uefa Cup AS Roma. Plus, of course, that excellent win at the Hawthorns with the partnership of the Yak and JFH looking very potent and the whole team brimming with confidence.
What next in the unpredictable life of a Middlesbrough supporter? Enjoy every minute of it and live for the moment.
Enough said.
ErimusRed.
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