Middlesbrough - Riverside Stadium

8^th September 2001

Middlesbrough 1-4 Newcastle United

My Mum came from Teeside – Thornaby-on-Tees to be exact; but close enough to the town of Middlesbrough (or The Boro) for that to be her extensive family’s local club.  So this particular trip was a chance to catch up with various Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, some of whom I had not seen for some time.  

I ended up going along to the Riverside with one Cousin and his Son.  I always, and still do, found it quite funny to hear these two in conversation.  Cousin has lived in and around London for most of his adult life, but never lost a jot of his Teeside accent.  His Son, by contrast, has been brought up in the leafy Bucks town of Chesham, and sports an almost perfect BBC Home Counties accent.  A not-untypical exchange would run along the lines of:

Son:  Daddy, we are getting tennis at school tomorrow.

Cousin:  Haddaway and shite, Man!

Well, I paraphrase somewhat, but hopefully you get the message.

And the message being sent out by a clutch of Newcastle United supporters who turned up in, what looked like, white scene-of-crime overalls or decontamination suits, was that Middlesbrough was a dangerously infective place to visit without appropriate protection.  Which, as terracing humour goes I thought, was quite sophisticated.  In contrast to the Boro fan behind me whose idea of sartorial wit was to scream at the top of his voice, enquiring of Newcastle’s Craig Bellamy “Oy Bellamy. Where’s yor neck?”

Enlarge the pic and you may just make out the white-suited
Geordies in two groups halfway up the stand behind the goal.

 

Same view in 2023

Newcastle on the attack in the dying moments of the 2001 match.


A number of the less primitive home fans were seemingly quite excited at the prospect of viewing their new signing from Glasgow Rangers, winger Allan Johnson.  I could have told them, but decided not to, that they should maybe temper their optimism somewhat, as in my opinion their club had just procured one of Scottish Football’s Great Underachievers.  

Johnson spent much of his career dining out on an, admittedly praiseworthy, hat-trick he scored for Hearts in a match against Rangers in 1996.  He then spent the next dozen or so years shuffling from club to club making little impact at any, before in 2010 coming to rest at Queen of the South.

His spell at Boro was particularly forlorn, making his debut as a sub to minimal effect in this particular tussle versus Newcastle.  He did score in his next match - a sclaffed fluke against West Ham - but that was it, I am afraid, as far as Johnson’s contribution to the Boro goal statistics was concerned.

And yet, things began so brightly for Boro against Newcastle when Colin COOPER scored after only 4 minutes.  But once ‘keeper Mark Schwarzer was ordered off for a professional foul on 34 minutes, the home lot seemed to fall apart.  Alan SHEARER despatched the penalty with his usual vicious efficiency, to which Niko DABIZAS (59) and Laurent ROBERT (62) added in quick succession.  

SHEARER’s second, 8 minutes from the end, was as sweet a finish as I had seen in some time, and a stark reminder that football even at the top level in Scotland does not even come close to that on offer south of the border.


The Riverside Stadium, Middlesborough.



Same view in 2023
The road by which I approached The Riverside back in 2001 has perhaps been built over,
for I could not seem to find the same view

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Middlesbrough 1-1 Huddersfield Town

19th August 2023

Way too early for this to be considered any sort of relegation tussle - it was still August, after all.  But I was nevertheless just a little startled, when glancing at the Championship table before this match, to note Middlesbrough and Huddersfield occupying the bottom two positions - each with nul point.  Indeed, Boro had singularly failed to find the net in either of their two defeats.

Huddersfield's poor start, I could sorta understand.  For after being woeful for much of last season, they had only managed to avoid relegation by playing the New-Manager-Bounce card, winning six of their final nine league matches.  Boro, by contrast, had made the play-offs last season, and must surely have commenced this season's campaign with repeating that achievement being the absolute minimum required of Michael Carrick.

The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough

The river which The Riverside is beside is, of course, The Tees.

I assume this mural refers to Boro's UEFA Cup semi-final win over Steaua Bucharest in 2006.

As it transpired, an extremely entertaining 1-1 draw this afternoon rewarded both clubs with their first point of the season - even allowing the visitors to squeak out of the bottom three.

The first to take the eye was Boro debutant Manny Latte Lath, who looked a real nippy livewire.  He effortlessly carved out two opportunities in the opening minutes, but mis-hit both.  And that really summed up the Ivorian's match, as he flattered to deceive.  He often looked as if at any point soon he was going to run the visitors' defence (particularly Matty Pearson) ragged, but a series of poor touches, silly offsides and plain old bad decisions blunted his contribution to this match.

Rather more effective was the tireless Hayden Hackney, who was behind much of the home side's attacks with his direct running from midfield.  A Scotland Under-21 Internationalist, although born just down the road from The Riverside at Redcar.

Best for Huddersfield, I felt, was wing back/defender/whatever Josh Ruffels, who looked supremely comfortable on the ball as he rattled up and down the Terriers right.

Boro had enjoyed the better of a goalless first-half, but found themselves one down moments into the second half following a corner kick.  I should like to be able to suggest this was a well-planned set piece from the training ground, but I cannot, given it was home defender Dael FRY who deflected the ball into his own net.

The home lot equalised in the 61th minute through Hayden HACKNEY - a fine finish, but quite why the Huddersfield defence helpfully invited the scorer onto his favoured right foot, I cannot fathom.

Boro enjoyed sufficient opportunities to win the match thereafter, but scorned each and every one; the daddy of them all being Samuel Silvera ballooning the ball high into the Riverside North Stand, with much of the goal gaping

I could have done that.

Great pic of long gone Ayresome Park.

Riverside Stadium - 2023

Huddersfield fans celebrate their side's goal.

Huddersfield's Thomas Edwards and Boro's Samuel Silvera do something.

Middlesbrough v Huddersfield (August 2023)

Time up.

The Riverside Stadium was opened in 1995, as a replacement for Boro's Ayresome Park which had proved unsuitable for redevelopment to meet the requirements of the Taylor Report.  Houses now stand on the site, although a few nods to the club' heritage have been retained with some of of the street names:  The Turnstile, The Midfield and The Holgate.