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2004 MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD PART TWO
Written by James Bassett
Welcome to the concluding part of the ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The
Year Award. You've joined us at the halfway point of this momentous
occasion, so if you haven't already read who came in positions ten
to six, you can do so here.
Listed below are the five men who did the most to further the cause
of Middlesbrough Football Club over the past twelve months. It's
not about who scored the most goals or who said the right things
in interviews, it's about who played the largest part in hauling
Boro from the mid-table also-rans that we were in January to the
UEFA Cup heavyweights that we are in December.
So, in the words of Europe, it's the final countdown.
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5-
Vladimir Janak
The friendly nerd
Middlesbrough had waited 128 years to sample the taste of
European football. And I think it's safe to say that upon
drawing Banik Ostrava as our inaugural opponents, the immediate
reaction of most fans was "Ostrava, where's that?"
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Well
if like me your geography isn't up to scratch, you didn't
have to wait long for an answer. Within minutes a mysterious
chap named Miro was on the Fly Me To The Moon message board
offering Boro fans a warm welcome. The Czech geek went out
of his way to offer a warm welcome to hundreds of Ostrava-bound
Teessiders.
He built an English language website that advised where
the best hotels in town were and how much Boro fans should
expect to pay for a room. He posted train timetables and
ticket prices to Ostrava from Prague, Katowice and Krakow.
He suggested restaurants to eat in and bars to drink at.
He even went so far as to post a 3D virtual map of Ostrava
town centre with reviews of all the bars and clubs. Frankly,
he got a bit obsessed by the whole thing.
Yet there appeared to be no end to his benevolence. He patiently
fielded fifty emails a day from Boro fans and took over
an entire twenty-five room hotel and handled bookings himself.
He even hired a coach to ferry Boro fans in from Katowice
airport.
In return, Boro fans had a whip-round and raised enough
for Janak and his 12-year-old son to have return flights,
match tickets and two nights in a local hotel for the Riverside
leg. It was a small price to pay for such unprecedented
amity. Janak's devotion to peaceful relations between the
two sets of fans was even more astonishing considering the
horrible scenes that marred our first ever European away
game.
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4
- Dave Parnaby
Middlesbrough's Pied Piper.
It was 2004 when Boro's impressive youth policy came into
fruition. The youth side had been runners-up in the FA Youth
Cup in 2003 and managed to go one better in 2004, beating
Villa in the two-legged final. Despite this success, Boro's
younger players are continuing to impress and the club have
set a new standard for excellence in the Premiership.
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Due to injuries and suspensions, Stuart Parnaby was the
first to cement himself in the first team before finally
succumbing to injury himself. Andrew Davies got a good run
in the first team last season as well, but is a trip to
the barbers away from being a first-team regular. Of course,
the broken leg doesn't help either. Following a loan spell
at Sunderland last season, Stewart Downing has played his
way into the first team this term. The prodigious left-winger
has been followed into the senior side by James Morrison,
Tony McMahon, Danny Graham and Matthew Bates.
All of the above is thanks in large part to Dave Parnaby.
Not since the Old Trafford production line churned out the
Neville brothers, Butt, Beckham and Scholes has the country
seen such a fine group of home grown talent spring into
first team contention simultaneously. While Arsenal, Chelsea
and Manchester United are forced to buy their youth players
in from abroad at princely sums, Middlesbrough - thanks
to Dave Parnaby's expert youth coaching set up - have a
wealth of adolescent talent at their disposal.
McClaren wisely dipped into the transfer market to bring
in established talents like Gaizka Mendieta, Mark Viduka
and Ray Parlour in the summer, but Boro have proved in the
past that a team of ageing talents doesn't necessarily get
you anywhere. By forging a team with a seemingly perfect
balance of venerable stars and youthful exuberance, Boro
are becoming quite a force to be reckoned with. Gaining
a point at Old Trafford is no mean feat; doing so with a
team comprised mainly of youth players is even more impressive.
The fact that, days earlier, Boro's equally youthful team
had played out a sterling draw in the hostile Ostrava stadium
made it even more incredible.
It may be easy to lay the whole thing at luck's door, but
to do so would be to underplay Dave Parnaby's wonderful
achievement. You simply don't get seven players coming through
at once by luck alone. McClaren's decision to allow Downing
to go out on loan last season was made after close consultation
with Parnaby. While Boro fans were screaming out for Downing
to get a first team start last season rather than go and
play for their rivals, the decision to wait has been wholly
justified by spellbinding performance after spellbinding
performance this term.
Parnaby has done so much for Middlesbrough during 2004 and
has received very little recognition for his stellar work.
While it is Steve Gibson's money that has allowed the club
to build such impressive training facilities, it would count
for nothing without expert coaching. Dave Parnaby, at the
very least, is an expert coach.
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3
- Stewart Downing
The Best Player In The Universe.
There's a campaign going on in the press at the moment to
get a Boro player in the England team. Can you believe that?
A Boro player! Then again, Stewart Downing is no ordinary
player. Readers of my column will know that I gave him the
moniker 'The Best Player In The Universe' a while ago. I
was only half-joking. While it may seem excessively hyperbolic
right now, in two or three years time I may well be proved
right. The player appears to have every attribute that truly
great players require.
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Befitting
of a top-notch winger, he has pace in abundance. However,
unlike many other young players, he doesn't rely solely
upon his rapidity. This alone means his longevity at the
top-level is all but assured. Combined with his pace, he
has remarkable vision for one so young. His work-rate is
sky high and he has a variety of tricks to beat his man.
But perhaps most importantly, at least for now, he has confidence
in spades. He takes on experienced players with such effrontery
you do wonder if you are seeing one of the all-time Boro
greats come into fruition.
Rooney may have cost the most money, Reyes may be more eye-catching
and Ronaldo may have the tricks, but I'd argue that Downing
has made a larger impact than any of them this season. First
of all, he's a Boro lad and you need only ask Steven Gerrard
or Matt Le Tissier how important that is. When you play
for the club you support, you play better. Simple as that.
And while the other three youngsters du jour seem to want
to show off their entire bag of tricks every single time
they get the ball, Downing is happy to play the simple ball
when he needs to. His selflessness is proven out by the
amount of assists he is garnering this season. More than
any of the aforementioned players, in fact.
To hear thirty thousand Teessiders gasp in anticipation
when a 20-year-old receives the ball is quite amazing. When
you see players as experienced as Hasselbaink, Viduka and
Zenden immediately look for Downing when they get the ball
you know you're witnessing a kid with potential to be a
true great. Who cares that it took a run of games for Sunderland
for McClaren to realise what potential he has? Stewart Downing
will be a Boro legend. I have no doubt about that.
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2
- George Boateng
Dances better than he passes.
George Boateng is something of an enigma. He's a central
midfielder, yet he can't pass. And yet, somehow it doesn't
matter. He's the closest thing Boro have to a hardman, and
yet what is probably the gayest chant in all of football
belongs to him. In fact, such imperfections and non sequiturs
make him all the more endearing. But Boateng's status isn't
just one of Boro cult hero, he is one of the most important
players in the Premiership.
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In previous seasons Boateng has had the luxury of grafters
like Jonathan Greening, Geremi and Doriva playing alongside
him. It turns out that playing these guys next to Boateng
was superfluous and in fact, detrimental to the Dutchman's
game. He simply didn't need their help to anchor Boro's
midfield. This season, the plan to play him alongside Ray
Parlour was scuppered by Mendieta's injury. The reshuffle
has not only allowed us to see the best of Zenden, we've
seen George Boateng for what he really is. A brilliant box
to box midfielder.
Zenden's predilection to getting forward means that Boateng
has to work twice as hard, but already we've seen extraordinary
performances from him. Not least in Europe, where such a
midfielder is a priceless commodity. Boateng appears to
thrive on this increased responsibility and has got himself
on the scoresheet twice in recent weeks.
His high-point of the year though, came not during one of
his energetic performances but in the Millennium Stadium
dressing room. Getting Zenden and Queudrue to join in with
his stupid jig during the on-pitch celebrations was great,
but the shot of him continuing the dance in the changing
room afterwards was side-splittingly funny. If only he'd
convinced Job to join in, he may have been Man Of The Year.
As it is, he'll have to suffice with second place.
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The
previous nine men have been quite extraordinary in furthering
the Boro cause during 2004, but there can be only one ComeOnBoro.com
Man Of The Year. So who wins this prestigious award?
[Drum roll..........]
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THE
ComeOnBoro.com MAN OF THE YEAR 2004 is.....
Boudewijn Zenden
Never shite. Better than alright.
"He used to be shite, but now he's alright," or so the song
goes. Not for the first time the terraces mask the truth.
Zenden was never anywhere near shite. His good form for
Boro started in an excellent display at Everton at the tail
end of 2003 and has continued right through this year.
Yet somehow it went down in Boro folklore that Bolo Zenden
was crap when he came to Boro. The truth - which is perpetually
ignored - is as follows: he arrived from Chelsea on loan
four games into the season, with a foppy haircut and a zig-zag
hairband. Granted, he looked like a poof. Add to his metrosexual
appearance the fact that his presence in the team meant
that Juninho didn't start every match and you have a recipe
for aggrievement amongst the Boro faithful.
To make matters worse, he said he'd like to return to Chelsea
during an interview for 'The Premiership'. A combination
of the above led to him being blamed for Boro's poor end
of year form. History has forgotten that by joining Boro
a couple of weeks into the season, the Dutchman had to forego
any pre-season training with his new team mates. However,
when does the truth get in the way of a not very good chant?
By 2004, Zenden was in full flow and not even his harshest
critics could grumble about him. Goals against Leeds, Newcastle,
Birmingham and Portsmouth came in the league, none of which
would match his most important goal of the season. Boro
are awarded penalties so rarely they have no use for a regular
penalty taker. Nonetheless, it was slightly surprising that
Zenden should step up to double Boro's lead in the seventh
minute of the Carling Cup Final. He may have kicked it twice,
but it was a quite wonderful moment in Boro's history. Not
to mention Bolo's, as he went on to deliver a performance
that won him Man Of The Match on that glorious day.
However, it has been this season that Zenden has cemented
his position as Boro's most important figure of 2004. His
performances in the league have been outstanding, but it's
been in Europe where his class has been most obvious. The
goals have come thick and fast too - at one stage he had
five in six games - and his brace against Lazio, where he
was by far the best player on display, stands out.
Here is a player who was unfairly booed by the fans in his
few months at the club and who has been constantly shifted
around the field, but here is a player who has not moaned
once. He's never complained, and he has never given less
than everything for Boro during the past twelve months.
His contract expires in August and should he leave, Boro
will be losing one of their best ever midfielders. He's
a worthy winner of our Man Of The Year award.
Congratulations to Boudewijn Zenden on becoming the first
ever ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year.
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2004 MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD PART ONE
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