Boro in search of 2020 vision to end decade of decline

Championship 2019-20: Weeks 20-21

Fri 20 Dec – 19:45: Boro v Stoke
Tue 26 Dec – 15:00: Boro v Huddersfield
Sun 29 Dec – 15:00: West Brom v Boro
Wed  1 Jan – 15:00: Preston v Boro

Werdermouth looks at Boro as they prepare to enter a new decade…

As we get ready to start a new decade, it’s normally a time to both look back and wonder how it defined our lives, while also looking to the future with a vision of how to move forward. However, the problem of visions is that they come in many guises and we just can’t tell whether the latest one to emerge from Boro is going to be true, blurred, short-sighted or was even induced by some kind of delerium caused possibly by the shock of wasting large amounts of cash. It’s also been observed that some people’s visions were even triggered by taking mind-altering drugs, which can sometimes risk a condition known as hallucinogenic persisting perception disorder (HPPD) – though there’s no suggestion the chairman was on a trip when he had the idea to install Jonthan Woodgate to lead the club into the future. However, the acid test for Boro will be whether the new plan under the new regime can turn themselves into team that can compete at the other end of the table.

Boro have now spent almost a decade as primarily a Championship club having previously spent over a decade as an established Premier League club before exiting that grand stage left just over ten years ago in 2009. Since that bow from the big time it’s been a case of searching for an encore by changing the actors and trying to improvise our way through a mixture of low budget B-movies or throwing money at potential A-listers only to discover they had bad scripts without happy endings.

It was just over ten years ago that the club appointed Gordon Strachan to replace the dismissed Gareth Southgate – whatever happened to him? Looking back, it doesn’t seem like the temperamental Scot was the consequence of a carefully planned vision – especially if there’s any truth in the rumour that it was the result of a chance encounter with Keith Lamb at a service station toilet. OK, it doesn’t sound like it was a cunning plan to approach someone at a service station but Boro just got lucky it was Gordon – perhaps lucky is not the correct phrase. Anyway, it’s interesting to look at who was in that Boro team ten years ago for the last game of the previous decade under Strachan before he raided the Old Firm and blew the budget after Hogmanay. That game was away at Barnsley on 28 December 2009 and the starting XI was: Danny Coyne, Justin Hoyte, Chris Riggot, Rhys Williams, David Wheater, Tony McMahon, Gary O’Neil, Adam Johnson, Julio Arca, Marcus Bent, Jonathan Franks. Quite a lot of academy graduates in that team and almost similar to where we are now – though hopefully the club won’t be raiding the Scottish leagues in January!

Strachan, you no doubt recall turned out to be a disaster and Gibson turned to local legend Tony Mowbray, who was appointed to pick up the pieces but couldn’t find a way back to the big time once the money had run out. The question is how long do you need to be away before the notion of getting back is still makes sense? Of course, we shouldn’t overlook our brief return to rubbing shoulders with the stars, when the protégé of the Special One finally gained the prize of promotion despite his method acting and momentarily losing the plot with that meltdown mishap. It seemed Boro were back in the limelight but sadly there were too few best bits and too many dull performances and the show was cancelled after just one season.

At least Boro left with a big pay cheque in their pocket and the compensation of having Premier League royalties in the form of parachute payments. Luckily the club’s new vision had a need for plenty of cash but unfortunately they mistook the appearance of being wealthy with all the lavish spending to actually being wealthy. It was a gamble that never paid off – except for Garry Monk and his staff who were all handsomely paid off! Another cunning plan had failed and it now it’s once again time to start cutting back on the spending before the credit runs out. The latest plan is not so much a vision but a necessity that many on Teesside saw it coming before it became the new way forward.

Back in the busy Christmas present, Boro will hopefully encourage a bit of festive cheer from the terraces, where seasonal goodwill has so far been lacking. It’s felt like a long journey of discovery for the new management team and the consensus has been more than clear for some time that there will be no room at the Premier Inn for this weary-looking Boro. Perhaps the three far from wise men of Woodgate, Keane and Leo initially took a wrong turning along the way or were possibly gazing at the wrong stars when they followed the path to the less than stable birth of their infant coaching careers.

Nevertheless, with four games in twelve days there is no time to dwell on who was in charge of direction as Boro need points – the first two of which are both crucial six-pointer battles at the Riverside against relegation rivals. Stoke arrive for the Friday evening televised game and with the Potters just three points behind sitting third from bottom, a defeat would likely drag Woodgate’s team back into the drop zone before the partridge appears in a metaphorical pear-shaped Christmas trees on Teessside.

However, a win would put serious daylight between Boro and Michael O’Neil’s men and give us a head start before the traditional post-Christmas slump kicks in. Stoke’s new boss had got off to a good start when he was appointed in early November, winning his first two in charge against fellow strugglers Barnsley and Wigan. However, he lost his next three to cast doubts on the prospects of making a quick escape but have recently returned to winning ways after beating another relegation-troubled team in Luton and then drew 0-0 with the lowly Royals. Let’s hope they don’t continue the trend of taking points off the teams around them when they head to Teesside. Incidentally, the game against Stoke takes us to the halfway point of the season and only a win will take Boro above the one point per game average, which by anyone’s measure is still well below average.

Boro will be of course without Paddy McNair after his red-card appeal was, like the player himself, dismissed – though no signs of stamping or elbows from the adjudicating panel on that decision. Missing the Stoke game could be crucial as he’s looked a driving force in midfield, particularly at the Riverside. It’s made even worse by him also missing the equally crucial Boxing Day fixture against Huddersfield, who are currently just one point and one place above Boro. Woodgate will also be without Marcus Browne after he also received his marching orders at Swansea but given he’s hardly made much impact since his arrival (other than with some lunging tackles) it doesn’t seem like a major blow that he’s once again unavailable. At least Lewis Wing’s return from injury will help to fill the gap in the midfield and there’s hope Britt may be fit again to return up front – though Ashley Fletcher’s belief that “Gestede can still shine for Middlesbrough” may be not the brightest prediction he’s made given the gloomy evidence of the previous three years.

So the game against Huddersfield is the first reverse fixture of the season despite it only being late October when we played them at their place. While you could be forgiven if it didn’t stick in your memory, as it was a largely forgettable goal-less draw – however, it did see Aynsley Pears make his debut between the sticks. The Terriers had seemed on the up again after the arrival of the Cowley brothers but they’ve now only managed one win in their last seven games, which was against the poor Charlton side that even Boro achieved victory over. So both side could see Boxing Day as another chance to bank three points – though most wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat of the John Smith’s score and perhaps some will even be glad for a chance to doze off after over-indulging the day before.

We can only hope that Boro capitalise on those two home festive fixtures against their relegation rivals as the next two games look decidedly tricky. The last game of 2019 is at leaders West Brom and they haven’t lost for three months and that was a narrow 1-0 defeat at Leeds – in fact it’s their only defeat of the season. Indeed, in their last two home games the goals have been flying in after grabbing nine goals against the Swans and the Robins – so let’s pray that Boro’s visit is not a turkey shoot as we could be in for another stuffing away from home with all the trimmings to our goal difference that would entail.

Boro’s first-footing of 2020 takes them over the Deepdale threshold and Preston is a place where few return with any luck. Alex Neil’s side have won 9 of their 12 games on home soil with just one defeat against those aforementioned Baggies. Unsurprisingly, Preston top the home league table with 29 points and a nicely symmetrical 29 goals – incidentally, in case anyone was wondering Boro are third bottom of the away table with just five points, ten goals and no wins. Statistically it doesn’t look too promising that Jonathan Woodgate will be associating new year with happy – though if he’s into shopping at least the January sales start and the transfer window opens!

And so begins another decade for the club where it seems the emphasis will be on youth as the cash appears to be too tight to bring in the experienced or the tried and tested. It seems the responsibility will be placed on our young players to take us forward in the next decade. I’m reminded of the song entitled ‘Decades’ from the post-punk band Joy Division (not named after the Championship) that opened with the lyrics “Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders. Here are the young men, well where have they been?” Those lines perhaps sum up where we are in 2020 as we wait to see if the young men graduating from the Boro academy will surprise and deal with the pressure that will be inevitably placed on them. I suspect it probably won’t improve your optimism if I mentioned the person who wrote those lyrics, Ian Curtis, suffered from depression and killed himself before the album with that song on it was released. However, I should add that haunting tune from 1980 still remains one of my favourite songs – albeit a sombre reflective one.

Anyway, I will try to end the decade on a more positive note and as we wonder whether Boro as a club can find a new vision to move forward. Obviously, to have a vision it probably helps to have visionary thinking and this is what Steve Gibson had when he first became chairman as he embarked on a plan to put Boro on the footballing map. Bringing in Bryan Robson gave the club the pulling power to sign players we would have never dreamed would arrive on Teesside. It also gave us our first taste of getting to a major cup final and eventually it led to winning one and even getting to a European cup final. Perhaps it’s unlikely to be a vision that could work now in the age of billionaire owners but it was still a vision that came to fruition.

Some have started to think that maybe the chairman is getting too old to be looking forward with new visions for Boro and he’s now content to just think of his legacy as he keeps the club ticking over without taking risks. Interestingly, I listened to an interview this week with a scientist called James Lovelock, who I first knew about probably 30 years ago when reading a book of his. He’s most famous for developing the Gaia hypothesis, which argues that the Earth is essentially a self-regulating organism and was also recruited by Nasa in the early 1960s to work on projects that were searching for life on Mars and other planets. He also developed the sensor that detected the hole in the ozone layer and another bizarre claim to fame was that he held Stephen Hawking as a baby when working with his father at the National Institute of Medical Research. For his 90th Birthday he was flown into space by Richard Branson and in July of this year he celebrated his 100th year on Earth. Amazingly, he still sounds as sharp and enthusiastic as he did 30 years ago and continues to write books and work on ideas. As James Lovelock looked back on his career at 100 he said: “My life has been one mass of visions.” So perhaps he can be an inspiration to Steve Gibson and indeed to us all. You’re never too old to have a vision to move things forward, you just need to keep young at heart, keep an active mind and be capable of thinking things through – that is the challenge for those who run Boro for the next decade…