Middlesbrough v Blackburn Match Programme || Boro v Blackburn Blast From The Past

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MIDDLESBROUGH v BLACKBURN ROVERS - BLAST FROM THE PAST

They beat us twice in a few days at The Riverside at Christmas time last year, as if you needed reminding, and put us out of the Carling Cup to boot.

Right now, we're both sitting in mid table with five points from five games and we need a win today. Here's a look back at some past clashes between Boro and Blackburn Rovers.

Andrew Morgan
Middlesbrough 2-1 Blackburn, 17/10/1998

The 1998-99 season. In the previous campaign we had secured promotion and were thus playing top-flight football once more. We had also just filled the corners in, which is why I managed to obtain a season ticket for the one and only time in my life earlier that year. Unfortunately most of the game I saw were too dull to remember, particularly the succession of exciting 0-0 home draws that heralded the start of 1999. However the Blackburn game is one that I can recall, although it has more to do with desperately wanting the game to finish than for any footballing reasons. But then I can't really be blamed for that- after all, we did have Hamilton Ricard playing for us at this point in our history.

It was a cold, grey October day. It had rained consistently over the previous few days and we all felt a little relieved that it had abated on the Saturday. The roads however were still flooded, particularly those around the railway line where the delightful HS 'look for the smiley house logo' Interiors is. McDonald's sits near there now but in 1998 it was a car park. I still think that they ruined it with that 'development' and I will write to the local planning authority to complain.

The banter on the way to the match was quite muted, as it tends to be on cold autumn days when the Boro fans gag themselves with their 'Coca Cola Cup 1997' scarves. I, meanwhile, was just minding my own business walking to the ground when a courteous white van driver decided to speed past me and flick ten gallons of standing water in my direction.

Standing water that hit the entire left side of my body, making my jeans and Boro shirt wet through. Or at least my jeans wet through, as the water skimmed down my Boro shirt (which had god knows what in its material make-up), thus adding to the saturation of my trousers. I shouted some obscenities at the driver who just ignored me, and I walked to the stadium soaked to the bone.

As anyone who has ever had the misfortune to wear soaked jeans knows, they don't exactly take well to water, or do they dry that easily. They cling to the skin like lycra on a Romanian gymnast's backside. Add to this that the temperature that afternoon was approaching freezing and you can imagine the discomfort I was in as I sat and watched the match. My left leg was involuntarily shivering all game, which must have perturbed the poor sod behind me who must have wondered how I had the youthful ability to sustain a two hour wank, never mind the audacity to do it in the middle of a populated football stadium. For that and to that fan, I sincerely apologise.

So what could make matters worse than this? That's right- Blackburn scoring first- and pretty early on. And I was sat right next to the Blackburn fans. Great- their celebrations only managed to piss me off more. I remember having the desire to peel my soaking trousers off my body and hit them across the face of the nearest opposition fan but I thought that would only disturb my friend behind me even more. Plus I doubt the stewards would have taken to it too well either so I decided against it.

As the half progressed, the football that was being played was no better than mediocre- indeed it was the same mediocre shite that characterised most of the football we played under Robson. Meanwhile I was still sitting there desperately wishing I could go home. Maybe I was a wuss, but then I was only fifteen. Half-time came and I dived in to the concourses to get some warmth, only for the crowds to push past me and make my jeans stick even more tightly to my poor suffering left leg. I'd almost had enough but I decided to return for the second half- after all I had paid for this mediocrity and I was determined to see it through, suffering or not.

The rest of the game was equally as pedestrian, although we did start to come into it more as it wore on. Yet by the 75th minute we still hadn't scored and things were starting to get desperate, so when Ricard broke through the Blackburn defence to score we were all more than relieved. We were back in business.

A genuine hope lifted the crowd and I started to forget about the water retention problem that was affecting the lower half of my body. I willed the team on to further success, along with the rest of the fans who had become rather more vocal under the restriction of their scarves.

Ball came in, Fleming, GOAL! 2-1 in the 87th minute or something. GET IN!!! Suddenly all the suffering was worth it as Fleming celebrated directly in front of us and I smiled for the first time that day. Finally I was buzzing. Uncomfortable still, but buzzing. As the final whistle blew and we applauded for an extended amount of time I felt that it was a result that both I and we deserved. Furthermore my feelings of bitterness towards that driver had finally abated under the warming glow of victory.

Still, I hope the bastard got clamped or something the next day. It would serve him right for the two hours of torture I had just endured. And no I wasn't talking about the Boro's display. For once.

Middlesbrough Red & White Sox
Middlesbrough 1-1 Blackburn, 26/12/1987

Ahh... to be 15 years old again! Spotty. Bad Hair. Bad Clothes. And raging hormones...

Standing on the Holgate, the sight of jumpers that had been given the previous day and the over-powering smell of Brut & Old Spice mixed with lager damaged me for life.

Five minutes before kick-off I bump into my Uncle Pete, the man who first took me to a Boro match. He started off this obsession I now have and the financial ruin it has caused!

'Alright Pete man, how are you?'...
'...elllllloooo trouble...whatsssh you doing here?'- (No he didn't have a speech problem- he was pissed. Very pissed.)
'...erm...watching the match.'
'Oh yesssshhh. See you at your nana's later.'
'Okayyyyyy.'

Luckily I found my mates at our usual spot... just to the right of the goal about twenty feet from the front...

The game kicked off and with my memory going I don't remember who scored or what the game was like. I even had to look up that it was a 1-1 draw. But I do remember the atmosphere, a very 'happy' crowd in the Holgate singing louder than normal, I'm sure of it. Or maybe it was just the fact it was the last Christmas game I'd get to go to?

I always look back on the (19) 87-88 season with a great fondness. It was the first season I got to go to all the home games and a few away. We had a great team, played some cracking football and finished up back in the first division.

And at the end of the season I moved away, down here to Hampshire, never again to be a Boro regular, making do with 'away' trips to Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and London, cursing Radio 5 Live for never covering the Boro games and wishing Teletext would update quicker.

So all you Boro fans who turn up at the Riverside every game, take a good look round the stadium at the fans, at the pitch and at the players and cheer them on. Some of us would love to be there every week singing our hearts out for the lads. Count yourselves lucky!

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 he went on to win the League, as well as going on to appear for the full England side.

BLACKBURN FANS WELCOME IN THE NEW HOLGATE MESSAGE BOARD

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