Gordon Strachan has been in management for
sixteen years now and is one of the most successful managers in
the Championship. He began his career as a manager in 1996 and
had a real fight on to keep them in the Premiership. It went to
the last game and a win at Spurs kept them in the division by the
skin of their teeth. Coventry remained in the top flight for another
three years before being relegated under Strachan and he was sacked
just five games into the following season. He returned to management within weeks, taking
the manager's job at Premier League strugglers Southampton. Most
pundits had already written them off come Strachan's appointment
in October 2001, but he turned round their fortunes and they finished
11th in the Premier League. The Saints progressed further in 2002-03
when they finished eighth and reached the FA Cup final, where they
lost 1-0 to Arsenal and qualified for the UEFA cup. He left the club in 2004 to spend more time
with his family and took two years out of the game working for the
BBC as a pundit. He returned to management at Celtic and despite
not being the most popular manager they ever had he was very successful. He won the SPL three times and was voted Manager
of the Year three times as well. It was in the Champions league
where he impressed the most guiding Celtic to the knockout stages
and producing famous nice at Celtic Parks with wins over Manchester
United and AC Milan. He left the club in 2009 and became manager
of Middleborough in October 2009. His side were in the playoffs
when he joined but after losing Adam Johnson they slipped down to
mid table and Strachan began a huge rebuilding job which has seen
his side installed as firm favorites to win the league this season.
Much was expected of Boro last season, they looked the best equipped of the relegated teams to make a swift return but whilst Newcastle and West Brom ended up back in the Premiership, Boro were left in mid table. They started the season quite well but were prone to shock defeats against the smaller clubs and struggled to put a long run together. Still by October they were in the automatic promotion places before Gareth Southgate was sacked. The change was supposed to bring about a march to the title but Gordon Strachan's side went on a poor run and by February were nowhere next the top six. They finished the season in pretty average form and were fortunate to finish in the top half.
Nicky Bailey Nicky Bailey is not the first name that springs to mind when you look at the Middleborough squad but he has the ability to be a star player for them this season. Bailey, born in Hammersmith, began his career
with Fulham but was released and moved to non-league Sutton United
where he played as a teenager. He made his name at Southend where
he won the club's Player of the year award for the 2007-08 season. He signed for Charlton Athletic on a three-year contract in 2008 and won the clubs player of the season award and finished as the top scorer despite the club being relegated. Last season he was a star in league one and was names in the PFA team of the year. He missed the vital penalty in the playoff
semi final to deny them a place at Wembley but he was cheered off
by the Charlton fans who adored the talented midfielder. He works hard, puts in strong tackles to win
the ball and is a good passer of the ball. He can also time his
runs into the box well and score goals, he's a Championship version
of Paul Scholes and should go on to play at the highest level within
the next two years.
Gordon Strachan seems to be on a mission to sign every Scottish player going. He has signed half of the SPL this summer and that could prove to be a shrewd move. He's brought in hard working players with something to prove and most importantly added a real goal threat. The arrival of Kirs Boyd is a real coup and if he scores as did in Scotland he will take some stopping in this division. He is the all time leading scorer in the SPL. Nicky Bailey is another excellent signing whilst they still have some promising young players and Strachan will have money to spend. In a tight division that could be crucial. They have an experienced manager and appear
to be well set up for success. It's a big season for them with the
Premiership money running out next summer so they will be desperate
to get promotion and I think they have enough about them to achieve
that.
The club experienced severe financial difficulties during the mid-1980s. Middlesbrough were dropping down the table, and finished nineteenth in the 1984-85 season. In April 1986 the club had to borrow £30,000 from the PFA to pay wages. The final game of the season saw Middlesbrough relegated to the Third Division once more That summer, the club called in the Provisional Liquidator and shortly afterwards, the club was wound up and the gates to Ayresome Park were padlocked. Without the £350,000 capital required for Football League registration, a new rule, it seemed inevitable that the club would fold permanently. However, Steve Gibson, a member of the board at the
time, brought together a consortium and with ten minutes to spare
before the deadline, they completed their registration with the
Football League for the 1986-87 season[ Following the registration
came both a change of club crest and a change of the official company
name to Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Club (1986) Ltd. Over the next two seasons, Middlesbrough gained successive
promotions into Division Two and then into Division One. The next
season though, they came straight back down to Division Two, and
with it came the then British transfer record move of Gary Pallister
to Manchester United for £2.3 million. Despite constant promotion
and relegation, Middlesbrough were founder members of the FA Premier
League for the 1992-93 season.
Rangers and Middlesbrough have not shared too many players over the years. Mikkel Beck was a Danish International who scored goals for Middlesbrough when he joined in 1997 and helped them to win promotion back to the Premiership that season. He had a decent spell at Boro in the Premiership before being loaned out to QPR in 2000. He made his QPR debut against Fulham and scored some key goals for us as we pushed for the playoffs. He got his first at Sheffield United before scoring a penalty at Manchester City as we won 3-1. More goals followed in wins over Grimsby and Swindon before he returned to the North East. A permanent move to QPR fell through after Rangers failed to agree a fee. Terry Venables played for and managed QPR with great success in the 70's and 80's. He had a spell as manager of Middlesbrough taking over from Bryan Robson as he helped them stay in the Premiership.
Rangers faced Middlesbrough back in
the 1997/98 season when we met them four times. I was a student living in Middlesbrough
at the time so it was a tough time to try and cope with us struggling
as they won promotion that year. The first meeting that season was
an easy 3-0 win for Boro with Paul Merson and Emerson among the
goal scorers. We met them in the FA Cup in January
and managed a 2-2 draw with Kevin Gallen scoring a late equaliser
for Rangers. We lost the replay though on a cold January evening
2-0. I had my moment in the sun in March
though. I travelled down on the train on a Wednesday for the midweek
game at Loftus Road reading the local Middlesbrough press claiming
they would get all three points in the evening. Rangers stormed into the lead though
as Mark Kennedy ran rot. Kevin Gallen, Paul Bruce and Mike Sheron
were among the scorers as we won 5-0 at Loftus Road and Andy Townsend
was sent off. A great night for me and for Ray Harford's
side, it was the last game we won all season but gave me plenty
of ammunition against my Boro supporting housemate. Last season was a better one for Boro.
They had never won at Loftus Road until last season but they did
so in emphatic style. Leroy Lita scored twice as they hammered us
5-1 in what proved to be Jim Magilton's last home game as manager. The return game was Mick Harford's last
as manager and a dire game ended 2-0 after two first half penalties
from Barry Robson.
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