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BORO v BLACKBURN BLAST FROM THE PAST II
I wrote a spiel the other day about Blackburn, one that was probably about as forgettable as the football club itself. But since last Wednesday's Carling Cup reverse I suppose they have shown us that we should all sit up and take notice.
But it's still hard- Kuqi and Dickov as your danger players does not an exciting club make. But it is an effective one and one that is still poses a significant threat to us. So to commemorate the many encounters against our north-west friends, we present more of your memories against the Lancashire side...
The Oort Cloud
Middlesbrough 1-1 Blackburn Rovers, 26/12/1987
Time travel, depression, lycanthropes and fluorescent tentacles.
Boxing Day 1987 was a crazy time for planet Earth. In just three days time, Prozac would make its debut in the United States as a miracle cure for all ailments, from depression (hey you fellow Boro supporters must know what that is), to rickets (no not him), and possibly to haemorrhoids too. Well hey, I've shoved a few of them up my backside and I certainly felt better twenty minutes later...
Also Kings Cross Station had burnt down because in those days, we could all smoke on the underground (crack pipes and everything- actually these were the pre-crack days- what dull times). EcstasyT was however, just around the corner...........in the form of our triumphant promotion that year.
And it should also be noted, that the events in that really crappy Doctor Who episode where Rose goes back in time to save her dad's life was set in November 1987, so when they saved the universe and existence and all that stuff they were also making this extremely forgettable draw against our then promotion race rivals possible, except Doctor Who isn't real, it's shit, so they never saved the universe so this game could take place.
That year we of course finished third and went up through the play offs after winning a fight against Chelsea fans.
It was during this Blackburn game, after ex-Spurs balding, cancer-patient-look-a-like Steve Archibald gave Rovers a 1-0 lead, that I first realised that you couldn't be offside during a throw-in. Hey I was just a young whippersnapper in those days- merrily snapping whippers with wanton abandon- gleefully unaware of what a whipper was and what the snapping process of these involved- and why it felt so good!.
Given the space and time Archibald (snigger) was given I think it was the first time some of the Boro players realised you couldn't be offside during a throw-in too.
Chief offside lycanthrope Bernie Slaven and winner of the world's worst haircut of the year in the late 80s three years running, sneaked an equalizer, I think off one of his fluorescent tentacles. This is where my memories go a bit fuzzy. Anyone know our line-up? It must have been Pears, Parkinson, Cooper, Pallister, Mowbray, Slaven, Ripley, and some others, possibly Gary Hamilton and Paul Kerr. Please help me out you anoraks, as I remember it, there was a mass of fluorescent tentacled players passing about a translucent dodecahedron.
That's when the aliens that landed in the middle of the ground after the match started talking to me.
Andrew Morgan
Blackburn 0-4 Middlesbrough, 16/10/2004
A typical October afternoon saw me skip my new Uni's Freshers' Fair and take an amble over to the north-west to sample the delights of this ex-cotton town. Unfortunately I was already behind with my studies and so I had to take my copy of Diamaid McCulloch's excellent 'Reformation' book to read on the train.
Fat bloody chance of getting any work done as once the lads had boarded and alcohol imbibed we were ready for a right bloody sing-song. Which is what we did until the guard told us he would chuck us off the train at the next stop should we continue. So we ignored him and continued. And then he got nasty. So we stopped until the penultimate stop then started once more. That would show him we thought.
He was an arrogant spotty student type anyway who probably knew bog all about football so it was hardly as if his opinion counted for too much- bloody jobsworth. Still we got to Blackburn and I ambled in the direction of Ewood, which is so far from the station that it's practically in Blackpool. A great place to end up as a stranger, alone then.
Having not found my way I jumped into a taxi with Mark's lot and new friends were made (Mark is one of the more vociferous fans at the ground- you'll know him when you see him- good lad). We made our way to the specially designated away pub to imbibe some more and it was at this point I bumped into some Boro fans dressed as a bear, a chicken, Elvis and a miscellaneous. I immediately felt jealous of their fur and started to make (futile) plans to dress up at a future game. Still there was nothing funnier than watching them be searched by the bouncer people on the way in to the ground- anything to hide? Well my dignity for one. Well, Suppress more like. Still I was jealous. I guess that says something about me I suppose.
During the first half I was on my own in an area where there was an empty seat on all four sides of me (back, front, left and right). Great. The first half was largely uneventful and pretty even. We had a few good shots at goal and Schwarzer made a few good saves to keep Blackburn at bay but generally it was a timid game. That is until Tugay got sent off. It was a sliding tackle and deserved the red. And that was the breakthrough we needed- although the real breakthrough wasn't going to come until the second half- by which time I had gone to sit (I mean stand) next to Mark, who I had glimpsed at in the first half and who had beckoned me to come over. I still think it was this that provided the team with the luck they needed to break through the stubborn Blackburn defence.
Five minutes into the second half, and Jimmy scored a goal from a beautifully flowing move- a real team effort. And the flowing moves just kept on coming, and often a goal wasn't far behind. Jimmy grabbed his hat-trick and by this time the Boro crowd were mental. Blackburn simply weren't in it- their confidence had dropped since being reduced to ten men whilst the Boro had a new-found belief that had transcended the determined yet futile tapping at the door we had done earlier in the game.
The hope in the crowd was escalating, and was palpable by the time Jimmy had peeled away from his marker and buried the ball in the bottom right corner for his second. We expected a cricket score and we duly got one. And by the time Boateng (an unlikely scorer but we were grateful nonetheless) had notched up a fourth- making it our biggest away win in ages- I was bounding over rows of seating with Mark and hugging any random stranger I could find.
In fact I was positively rabid- and the rest of the first ten rows of the away support weren't far behind either. Still it was a dominating performance and a real result, one that we could reflect on noisily and happily back in the pub, when me and all my new friends sang Boro songs to the amusement of all others. Even the bear made an appearance, which for me capped the end to a perfect day. Sometimes following the Boro is not all that.
For a more immediate and in-depth account of this day, see the ComeOnBoro.com match reports from last season.
And finally Harry Haverton looks at the career of one talented player who was an integral part to both the Boro and Blackburn teams in which he played.
Between the two clubs there has been little transfer activity over the years, but one name that is associated with both clubs is that of Stuart Ripley.
Ripley was twice ignored by Boro and had trials with other clubs, including Chelsea, before eventually joining the Boro youth set up in the mid-Eighties. But after a poor first team debut in early 1985, he found himself on loan to Bolton for the remainder of the season.
It was there that Boro realised the quality of Ripley's play, but that didn't result in many further team opportunities upon his return. This was largely because of the relegation battle that Boro were embroiled in, in the 1985-1986 season. Indeed he was away with the England Youth squad in China when he learnt of Boro's failure to maintain their second division status, which may suggest that Ripley was unappreciated as a player by the management that season.
It was during the 1986-1987 season that Ripley became the regular number 11 as Boro returned to the top flight that next season. England under-21 caps followed and he played in the same national side as Colin Cooper in Toulon.
When Boro were relegated (again), Ripley stayed loyal to the club but he was clearly unsatisfied acting as a substitute over the next two seasons and it was this that led him to search for pastures new. His talent shone through and in 1992 he left Boro's promotion winning team to join Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn. Here we went on to win the League, as well as going on to appear for the full England side.
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