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STILL TIME TO TURN IT ROUND 7-11-06
Udayan Mukherjee
Just as I thought I was getting too old to really let how Boro perform affect me, we turn in a couple of performances that would be unacceptable if it was a team of eleven inbred, drugged up, pissed up grannies from Sunderland with arthritis in all twenty-two of their inbred, drugged up, pissed up knees and with more strokes between them than Micheal Ricketts has had hot dinners.
From a period where there was no end to what we could potentially achieve, to uncertainty and abject performances of the magnitude of anything since the dawn of the so called Riverside Revolution.
The main problem that Gareth Southgate has right now is that it is not one just area that needs improving, it is the whole team, because it positively reeks of apathy.
The bottom line is that if the Boro team was full of journeymen and old pros who in all honesty were not very good, we wouldn't care as much. Sure it would hurt to see us get beat, but at least it wouldn't be due to a lack of effort.
The lackadaisical attitude and lack of quality shown by the boro 'players' in the previous two matches is evident from an inability to pass a ball side ways two yards without booting it at each other in the same manner as last ditch clearances.
This inability to pass at all is exemplified by our captain George Boateng. Boateng, in all the time he has been here has been the player that many of us connect with, along with Cooper, Southgate, Quedrue et al. This connection stems from the way he played, all blood and thunder. Indeed, this is the way many of us imagine ourselves as playing like, if we were to put on the hallowed red and white.
I know from my time in the North Stand that a crunching tackle from the Boat was greeted with as much enthusiasm as a surging run from the likes of Stewart Downing.
The fact that he was (is?) a fans favourite purely down to graft and crunching tackles, even though he could not and still cannot pass or shoot, make it even sadder that his legs have finally gone.
Last season, I would have sworn that he was a better player than Makalele (what do you mean the men in white coats are at the door?) but this season I think that Phil Whelan would give his a run for his money. OK, maybe not, but hopefully you get my point.
Another person who seems to undergoing a fall from grace is our manager Gareth Southgate. Like the Boat, I desperately want to see him succeed, for he was a wonderful player, allied to the fact that he seems a genuinely nice guy.
Therein it seems, is the problem. Gareth Southgate may be such a nice guy that the transition from 'one of the lads' to the gaffer may prove impossible. The team as it is seems to be lacking the drive to succeed at the best of times, and it is essentially the managers job to provide this.
There doesn't seem to be any real passion or desire in our side. I'm sure most of us, assuming we don't hate our job, go and try to do the best work we can, so that people respect us. Surely, playing professional football with high levels of public exposure, and crucially, doing a 'job' that most of us fans would do for much more nominal fees than the exorbitant sums taken home by our players must generate some sort of enjoyment. After all, as they are playing football for a living, they should show at least some sort of pride in their work.
Southgate, although he is undoubtedly a Middlesbrough legend, is fast in danger of being deemed incapable by the fans, something that I am not quite sure about. Southgate, admittedly has shown on occasion that his tactical knowledge is poor and plays people out of position, but his situation has not been helped at all by players in the team.
The way I see it, Southgate hasn't really been given the chance to prove whether he is indeed a bad manager or a good one, because the players have been so incredibly poor in terms of quality and effort. I know it is the managers remit to give the players motivation, but seriously, how much motivation do players need?
They are playing Premier League football, they are earning millions, they are essentially living the dream, but act like they're in a dead end job. Even without good tactics or motivation from the manager, they should be running around chasing every ball, because they surely must want to give a good account of themselves. I refuse to believe that football players lose all the moral values that us mere mortals have.
Gareth Southgate will be a good manager, but I fear it will not be for a while. Far be it for me to criticise Steve Gibson, but surely he knew this may happen? The fact that Boro went behind the Premier League's back in appointing Gate, and gave them the proverbial two fingers meant it was an unnecessary gamble. Indeed, if Southgate is fired or not allowed to continue, I fear his future managerial career may be over.
If a manager with experience was brought in, even in an advising role, it may have helped Southgate with establishing his new role, within himself and with his former team mates. As it happens he was brought in as manager of a team where many believe there is a hidden discontent carried on from the time when Steve McClaren was manager. Maybe we could have done with a strong authority figure that would keep the kids and even the underperforming, underachieving but over-earning older pros in check.
After saying everything, I believe there is still time to turn it around and achieve something approaching a position that a team with the quality of Middlesbrough should reach. Gareth Southgate showed us a couple of weeks ago that he can get tough and achieve results, even though as a club and a set of supporters we are at just about rock bottom.
At least Gareth Southgate cares, seemingly genuinely deeply, about our club. His post match comments are always brutally honest, something spin merchant SMac never ever did. Every time we lose or concede, the pain on Southgate's face is obvious, he looks as if someone ran into his house on Christmas day and pissed on his kids! Remember that McClaren had a pretty poor start to his career as Boro manager as well, and look what he achieved.
It is important that all involved with our club retain a positive outlook, and maybe we can lift ourselves from the doom and gloom, although like Captain George, we have gone from indestructible to an empty shell.
We shall overcome.
That's all folks
P.S. Apparently, in Wigan a 'Riggot' means an arsehole. Wonder what a 'Fabio Rochemback' is? Answers on a postcard please.
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