Well it’s November and we’re still in there. I’ll admit, I had us down for sixth to eighth so third, only a point behind West Ham and still only six behind surprise leaders Southampton.  We’re five points up on Leeds in seventh, which isn’t much but gaps will spring up soon enough and we need to make sure that we are on the right side of them when they do.
 
November sees us entertaining last years Premiership Novelty Act Blackpool before visiting other boro, Peter, and then ending the month with an already critical looking match against pre-season promotion favourites West Ham.

It was actually 25 years ago this week that we had another enthralling encounter with Blackpool. It was the famous class of 86 year, we were more than holding our own in the old 3rd division and had made a tremendous start before we were brought right back to earth with a 3-0 gubbing by Blackpool when a certain Paul Stewart gave us the runaround at Ayresome in October. The opportunity for revenge was swift when we drew them at home in the first round of the FA Cup. We outclassed them and won 3-1 with a Slaven hat-trick and Paul Stewart barely got out of Tony Mowbray’s back pocket all afternoon. This is a prescient summary of his management and philosophical approach to football. He learned a valuable lesson the first time against Stewart and while he may have been beaten by the same player or team again, he would not make the same mistakes and be beaten the same way again.  

Look back to the past three years. The biggest criticisms I had of the teams of GS1 and GS2 was not that they were weak-minded and willed and would roll over when another team would so much as say ‘BOO’ to them in the final third; but they were getting beat by the same methods week in, week out with no attempt to fix the obvious problems.  Mowbray and new Boro have lost matches since he took over but each defeat has been for different reasons and none have been repeated as of yet.  This served us well 25 years ago when we went to the Moon and it surely will again, beginning this weekend against professional irritant Ian Holloway and his fading tangerine dream.

The break has probably come at the right time for us. Not the team, which has been resiliant, dogged and determined as usual, if not the free-flowing musketeers of the first six weeks of the season; but the fans. Reading some of the forums and listening to some of the grumbling and griping pouring fourth from the spiritual sons of the Chicken Run, I had to do a double take.

I know we play in red shirts, but seriously folks, that’s where our similarity to Manchester United begins and ends. Ipswich Town are full of canny Championship level campaigners like Bullard and Bowyer and the 0-0 suddenly looked a lot better four days later when the Tractor Boys went to Upton Park and came away with all three points. Similarly, Reading gave us a good shoeing the last time we were there only six months previously. Jason Steele went off and Connor Ripley got a debut he would never forget as we got throughly pummeled 5-2. If it had been a boxing match it would have been stopped at half time but the only team clinging on for dear life this time were the rocking Royals. Another tangible step that we are a different team and club from the one that meekly surrendered as a matter of course over the past two years.

The other typical Boro reaction to our current run of form is the lack of recognition and praise coming forth from the national media to our rebirth but this was scotched too as we continued our 100% record in the player of the month competiiton with Marvin handing his prize across the dressing room to Matty Bates and Mogga receiving due for entering the witching season without tasting the nettle of defeat yet.

Great to see some more prodigal sons from the Class of 86 returning through the Ayresome gates this week too. Colin Cooper returns to work with Academy after his constitutional at Bradford and Gary Gill becomes our eyes and ears on the continent as Mogga rebuilds the scooped-out scouting team. This frees up another vacancy in the commentary booth next to Alistair whcih will be ably filled by Teesside’s favourite Scouser, Craig Hignett.

The other MFC return to the Riverside on Saturday, victorious last season but without top scorer Steve Morrison and facing a different Boro into the bargain too. Apart from the initials, we have a lot in common with the Lewisham Lions. Unglamorous, patronised and generally overlooked for our unfashionable surroundings and tough, industrial followers. Neither of us has needed the approval or acclaim of our needier local rivals – we are both products of our respective areas – functional and essential – we get the job done whether it be Millwall docks or Smiths dock.

Following the fraternal knees-up we then get a trip to the suddenly McClaren-less Nottingham Forest but still get to make acquintance with Jonno Greening and my personal favourite player from the McClaren years – George Boateng.  If every Christian was like him and church was a cross between the UFC and rollerball then there’d be a few more attendees.

Here’s hoping he’ll be needing to forgive us this time next week.

UTB from the ATL.

We always seem to have a thing with tricky wingers don’t we?  Last year it was Jimmy Kebe from Reading and this year it’s Zaha of Palace.  Mind you, if we were going to split the series as Baseball watchers over here say, I’m glad we’ve got three points in the bag rather than a chance to welcome Arsenal’s or Man Utd’s reserves.

Good to see a striker brought in on loan – Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely; hopefully Alex for short.  He looks quick and powerful, the type of player Mowbray fancies up front, mobile rather than static.  It would be nice to see a couple more come in because if one thing is going to derail our nascent promotion bid, it’s going to be injuries and suspensions.

Ipswich come to town on Saturday with some more of our old pals – Michael Chopra, Lee Bowyer and Jimmy “whiff of the scrapyard” Bullard.  It looks like they’ve just woken up at about the right time so it will be a tough undertaking for the breathtaking Boro. Quickly followed by big-spending Sven and Leicester City on Wednesday.  A couple of good performances and points to match will be a big statement of intent on our part and pessimistic/realistic as ever, if you offer me 4 points now I’d take them.

It might not be the champagne invincibles we’ve become used to but Man Utd week is over – it’s back to being the Boro.

Manchester City forward Alex Nimely has joined Boro on a three month loan deal.

Tony Mowbray has finally landed another striker after the departures of Leroy Lita and Lee Miller in the Summer transfer window. Boro had only two recognised senior strikers at the club in Scott McDonald and August Championship Player of the Month Marvin Emnes.

Mogga will be relieved to have strengthened the squad in the final third of the pitch after asking Barry Robson to fill in just behind Emnes in recent weeks whilst Scott McDonald recovered from an injury.

At 20 years old Nimely has only featured for the City first team on a couple of occasions, mainly due to the ridiculous strength in depth of the City frontline.

However the Man City hierarchy rewarded the talented forward with a 4 year contract back in April, due to his encouraging potential.

Boro will hope the Liberian born forward can hit the ground running as he will be expected to take some part in at least one of the two games away to Crystal Palace this week.

This was repaid in spades on Saturday as firstly Nicky Bailey, no relation but he does know my brother, and then Joe Bennett registered their first goals for the Boro in a tetchy but ultimately rewarding win.  Being a typical Boro fan I am always suspicious when things start to go too well so I was thoroughly expecting the wheels to come off the bandwagon. This week provides two such opportunities, both in South East London at a stadium which has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for us whether we were playing landlords Crystal Palace or lodgers Wimbledon or Charlton Athletic. The stadium itself is an anachronism in the modern age with one double-decker stand built when they and residents Wimbledon were regulars in the Premiership. Behind the other goal is a compressed row of seats that doubles as an extension to a local Sainsburys. In our age of identikit stands and players in identikit locations, its nice to visit somewhere a little rough around the edges and impenetrably hard to get to.

That’s not to say that Palace are all good and cuddly. They have always been one of the first teams to jump on any passing fad. Under Teesside Tel back in the late 70s, they ditched their distinctive red and blue stripes for a snazzy all white with red and blue sash with ultra thin goals and nets strung so tightly that a 25 yard screamer risked rebounding from one goal into the other if caught properly. Another of Tel’s brainwaves was to change the obscure but honest nickname of The Glaziers to The Eagles. This has not gone unnoticed with bitter rivals Brighton who are able to hijack the chants quite easily and make it sound like the whole ground is chanting SEAGULLS! whenever the two meet.

We might as well stay in a Travelodge round the corner because we are back on the Tuesday for the 3rd round of the League Cup, a match which should also see the return of Kevin Thomson into the midfield.  It’s funny – I think Thomson is one of the top midfielders in this whole league but right now, I couldn’t find a place for him in the firing on all cylinders Mogganaut.  If given the choice, I’d rather take three points on Saturday and let them have the cup but in sport as in life, so much is all about momentum, the big Mo, to paraphrase former Palace coach and similie-mangler Ian Dowie, and when you’ve got a hot horse – keep on ridin’.

UTB from the ATL.

So we’ve had our rest and while some might argue that it will impact on our momentum, I think it’s come at a perfect moment for us. With only two operating strikers, it is imperative to keep them happy until the loan rangers arrive and with McDonalds injury, Barry Robbo all bug-eyed intensity and strawberry-blond fury, stepped up to the mark with three in four but striker he is not and going against some of the bigger boys in this division this month – Burnley, Ipswich, Leicester and mebees Palace twice – we need all the help we can get. Jukiwicz may or may not arrive, as may Roman Bednar whose name keeps appearing in dispatches. We may probably see somebody whose name we haven’t seen mentioned yet – a surplus from the 25 man Premiership squads. No matter, in Mogga we trust and I am certain that as Proc is speaking to the media about this very issue, then it comes with the bosses approval.

The international break saw Joe Bennett playing 90 minutes against the Israeli Under-21s in midweek while Rhys and Robbo where unused subs in their countries midweek chores. Kinky Tarmo scored a freak long-range cracker for Estonia against Northern Ireland, Lee Camp dropping a huge clanger to keep the Estonians qualifying hopes alive. England, as I’m sure you know, trundled on toward Euro 2012 qualification with a fantastic performance in Bulgaria followed up by an anemic win against Wales, thanks to a missed sitter from Robert Earnshaw, which lets face it, we’ve all seen before.

One addition we didn’t see coming but I am delighted for is the return of another of the boys of 86 – Colin Cooper. Formerly Assistant Manager with Bradford City, he was doing quite a good job with new manager, Stockton-born Phil Parkinson, but the lure of the Riverside and the #Mogganaut is strong and like Pearsy before him, another prodigal son returns – this time to look after the U18’s initially and they couldn’t have a better role model. Two England caps, 400 appearances for us in two spells. Welcome Home Colin.

Burnley is going to be a tough test for the emerging young Boro. The only team to really give us what for under Mogga last season although they have been weakened since with the departure of Eagles amongst others. This is just the typical type of big, ugly, strong unit that we crumbled against last year so another test on how far we’ve come. I’m not going to go so far as to predict a continuation of our winning away record but if you offered me a point now, I’d be happy to take it and get out of Turf Moor with our unbeaten record intact.

My one and only trip to the land where Cotton was king was back in Robbo’s glorious promotion season in December 1994. I was at Manchester University at the time and my dad and brother swung by to pick me and my stuff up before an enjoyable detour via the dark satanic mill towns of darkest Lancashire to see a John Hendrie hat-trick in that distinctive jade and green striped Dickens shirt.

Andy Warhol said that everybody would be famous for 15 minutes. Well, the Boro achieved the footballing equivalent on Saturday when we hit the top of the Championship for that long until Juskiewitz grabbed a spawny equalizer for the Sky Blues.

Before reflecting more on Saturday and the suspiciously promising start to the season, let us consider how the mantle of Coventry has fallen so far, so fast. I’m 30-somehow, and Coventry were always a perennial mid-table First Division side, also starring in the best FA Cup Final of the past 30 years for my money. Then one day, or season, things don’t go so well and bang – your down amongst the dead men. Now, I guess for every football fan coming of age in the past decade, they are the perennial mid-table Championship side. See how easy it can happen? Further proof, if any were needed, that we need to get out of this league ASAP. It already has one Barnsley – it doesn’t need another.

Project Emnes, who has turned from Mission Impossible into the Manhattan Project in 2011, opened the scoring and although we had chances to bury the game, the lack of a recognized striker caught us out. Not to mention the team looking a little leggy in the second period – youthful enthusiasm can only take you so far before physical and mental fatigue catches up with you – so it was inevitable that we would get caught out sometime. We could have even snatched a win at the death when Wayne Harouney (copyright the author) hit the bar when ironically a smaller man might have got the angle necessary to stick it in. 1-1 then, although as any Boro history buff would tell you, a point at home to Coventry is as nailed on as a defeat at St James whenever the fixtures cross.

First international break of the season then and am amazed yet delighted to find that we, along with Brighton, hold the only unbeaten records in the Championship. Yes, we could have had a couple more points and goals but every football club from the Teesborough to the Champions League can say the same. We’ve now amassed as many points as it took until October to get last year so let’s look forward to a break, some rest and the return of Kevin Thomson when we travel across the pennines to face those cotton’ pickin’ Clarets in a fortnight.

UTB Y’all.

We are delighted to welcome Guy to our ranks, he is a target we have been looking at for a long time now and we feel he can help us take a step towards the next level.

Have a good look through our latest signing’s history and how he is still Boro through and through from a fair distance…

Born at an early age, indolent and indifferent to school rather than ignorant, an ego-shattering firing from the Teesside Times made him realize that there was a wider world outside Guisborough and Billingham. Guy went back to college, secured the necessary qualifications and after an entertaining three years at Manchester University, Guy went up to Oxford, the town not the University, with some of his alumni friends to begin his media career that took in Thames Valley Police, the attempted murder of Beatle George Harrison, six years in the Press Office of the BBC, The Hutton Report and the forced departure of Greg Dyke as Director General, Media Relations with The Open University, the departure of Betty Boothroyd as Chancellor of the OU, although he is keen to stress that although he didn’t precipitate any of the notable events above, he does have a knack of being there and being one of those people to whom things just seem to happen.

He is 38 years old, English and married to an Atlanta native who met through their shared love of Morrissey and The Smiths. Who’d have thought a Boro fan would identify with abject urban misery?

Despite trying to kill her with hypothermia by taking her to Whitby on her first visit to the North East in December 2004, they married and Vincent was born in Oxford on October 11, 2007, Stacey’s own birthday. They emigrated to the USA in February 2009 after Stacey woke up on day and decided that she would like to see the Sun again.

Follow our new signing on Twitter @guyrbailey.

By Guy Bailey

A lot of Boro fans will have been thumbing the record books this week or the modern equivilant, spinning the mouse wheel, to find when we recently enjoyed such a run of good form. One of the joys of writing for a Boro publication is that I don’t have to explain or go into unnecessary detail – you know the results – but I was wracking my brain as to when we were so dangerous away.

Project Emnes is finally coming to fruition, McDonald is proving that he is a cut above at this level, as I always suspected he would be, the defence looks fairly solid although Joe Bennett could do with being brought back to Earth after the superlative array of superlatives hurled in his general direction last season and the midfield. What more can we say?

Arca, Robson, Bailey, Williams and now Haroun and Martin knocking on the doors. It seems incredible to suggest that Kevin Thompson, for my money one of the top five midfielders in this league, is going to struggle to get back into the line-up on present form. As well as some free flowing passing on display, another trait of New Boro was the grittiness and desire shown when we went behind to Birmingham on Sunday. How many times in the past three seasons has this happened only for us to fold and go further into our shells? This Boro team are built in the managers image and we know that he was no push-over. In fact as a player I can only remember him getting a comprehensive runaround once – to Paul Stewart, who would later go on to Spurs and Sunderland, scoring a hat-trick for Blackpool in the resurrection season 25 years ago. We played them again a few weeks later in the FA Cup and the roles were roundly reversed, Mowbray learning from his mistakes, acknowledging Stewarts strengths and adapting a game plan to nullify and overcome them. He played as he manages, identify weakness and eliminate it.

To Peterborough United on Wednesday night, sight of a glorious League Cup Quarter Final appearance back in 1991/92 under Lennie. The ground was deep and crisp and even with frost, as was the air, so much so that the fog generated from the breath of the crowd made it hard to work out the action on the pitch. We weren’t accustomed to progressing so far in cup competitions, our hosts at London Road really weren’t so pulled out all the stops to make a momentous occasion. This involved a tall, reedy looking fellow dressed up as Lord Snooty walking around the pitch before making his way to the center circle to bang out an anemic version of ‘Blue Moon’. Quite the worst version I had heard until a couple of month’s ago when Liam Gallagher completed his journey from Shakermaker to Sell-Out with Beady Eye taking the Arab shilling at the launch of Man City’s new kit. Anyway, Mr Posh, as the entertainment had billed himself, was in a singing competition back when Simon Cowell was bankrupt and living in his parent’s back bedroom. Getting no support from the home crowd at all who recognised a once-a-season publicity stunt when they saw one. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t mask the full-throated Teesside roar enveloping the fenland night with a modified version of the de facto Boro theme tune – “Oh Deep In Our Hearts, I Do Believe, Mr Posh is a Wanker!”

The match itself was a tough 0-0 which saw us bringing Posh back to Ayresome Park a week later but my other main memory of the night was trying to find a place to relieve myself at half time along with the rest of Teesside. The solitary brick outhouse was inadequate for a family of three, let along the 5000 plus who had made the trip so the length of the back of the stand saw men poised, arms aloft for balance like a German trench that had just surrendered en masse. This wasn’t the only similarity to The Somme as a cursory glance at your feet revealed that you were standing on a fast disappearing island in a golden river that was threatening to swell around your Arrow trainers any second.

I am all for momentum in sports and would love to win tomorrow night to prolong the run but if we were to lose it wouldn’t be the worst result in the world. At least we have 24 hours to crow over Sunderland’s early season implosion and can look forward to the visit of Sky Blue Coventry City on Saturday – and boy, do they have a lot to be blue about.

Up The Boro.

Guy.

Follow Guy on Twitter  @guyrbailey

http://blessayfromamerica.blogspot.com/

Boro began with a repeat of last season, conceding a 90th minute equaliser. When will we ever learn? When? Someone please tell me! Tony Mowbray thinks we were a bit naive and I bloody well agree. The back four aren’t young and inexperienced. Stephen McManus is a born leader, Tony McMahon and Matthew Bates have been at the club since they were teens and have also played in the Premier League alongside Justin Hoyte who filled in at left back.

It was an unlucky goal to concede but the teams at the top rarely concede them. The defensive positioning was poor at best.

Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh on the lads, they played well as an attacking unit with some good movement up front from Marvin Emnes and Scott McDonald.

Rhys Williams is superhuman, he has the potential to be brilliant. The big Aussie probably could turn his hand to anything. He is strong, quick, can pick a pass and has a decent finish on him.

Nicky Bailey again impressed, he is a good holding midfielder. He can read the game well and is always strong in the tackle.

Pairing Williams and Bailey in the middle for the majority of the season could be a good plan for a physically fit Boro team.

Next up is the Carling Cup away to Walsall, which really with a small squad, wouldn’t be too much of a bad thing if we get knocked out early. Put a young team out and take the pressure off. Save any potential injuries and have a side raring to go for Leeds away.