Middlesbrough v Ipswich Town 
Saturday 23rd April 2016 – 15:00
Riverside Stadium
Opening thought – Jamma
Not for the first time this season (or second, or third), the East Anglian Daily Times chose the word ‘lacklustre’ to describe Ipswich Town’s most recent performance, against a similarly uninspiring Fulham. I’m sure I have used the same word more than once in these opening thoughts over the past weeks and months. Rather than hinting at any lexical shortcoming, I am sure Stuart Watson of the East Anglian will agree, the repeated use of ‘lacklustre’ would appear to sum up Town’s campaign quite accurately. Indeed, taken at its literal meaning, of ‘lacking lustre or brightness’, it could apply to any number of our games in 2015/16, particularly at home. Fulham on Tuesday night was the latest in a succession of matches in which the Blues struggled to break down a resilient opposition. There were times when we put together a string of passes in the midfield area, but without any penetration. As against Brentford in our previous outing at Portman Road, we were labouring to create anything but, as soon as we gave the ball away, we looked liable to concede. To their credit, the Cottagers came with the perfect game plan, of sitting back and waiting for us to give the ball away, knowing that, when we did, it would likely mean a goalscoring chance. Sure enough, this is exactly what happened, and it was only thanks to last-ditch blocks from Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra – and a couple more excellent Bartosz Bialkowski saves – that we kept our goal intact as long as we did. And, just like at QPR in February, Town only really looked like scoring once they had gone behind. The fact that Jonas Knudsen’s equaliser, in the 91st minute, came from our best attacking move of the night says it all.
Mick McCarthy says that he is at a loss to explain why things have changed so dramatically from the early part of the season. If you go back to Brentford on the opening day, we were attacking with pace and guile, and looking a threat every time we went forward. We now appear a shadow of that side, with players who are seemingly afraid to express themselves and resort to playing one-dimensional football. But it isn’t just on the pitch that the difference is noticeable, as the edginess has reached the stands as well. The supporters did their best to get behind the team against Fulham, continuing to urge the players on with little return. I was as disappointed as anyone by the lack of goalmouth action, but I’m not sure the ironic cheering when we finally managed a shot on goal helps anyone. If points were awarded for cynicism and sarcasm amongst football fans, I feel sure Ipswich would be towards the top of the league! Don’t get me wrong, I can understand that it was intended as a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun at our own expense, having endured a frustrating season. I’m just aware that light-hearted gallows humour can quickly become more toxic and start to have an adverse effect on the atmosphere. Just look at Aston Villa’s current situation. We have undoubtedly fallen short of our expectations this term but we shouldn’t forget the spirit and camaraderie that got us to that level in the first place. We now have three games left to end the campaign on the right note, and maybe influence the destination of the title…
The Opposition - Middlesbrough
The club turned professional in 1889, but reverted to amateur status in 1892. They turned professional permanently in 1899 and, after three seasons, they won promotion to the First Division, where they would remain for the next 22 years.
In 1903, the club moved to Ayresome Park, their home for the next 92 years.
Over the next few years, their form fluctuated greatly, rising to sixth in 1907–08 before dropping to seventeenth two seasons later. The club rose to their highest league finish to date, third, in 1913–14. The First World War soon intervened and football was suspended. Before league football resumed, Middlesbrough won the Northern Victory League, but the team were unable to maintain their previous form and finished the 1919–20 season in mid-table. They remained in the First Division for the next few seasons, but were relegated in 1923–24 after finishing bottom, ten points adrift of their nearest rivals.
Three seasons later, they won the Division Two title. Their tenure back in the top flight lasted only one season, and the club were relegated. They were promoted at the first attempt in 1928–29, winning another Second Division title. The club remained in the First Division until 1954.
Middlesbrough climbed to fourth in the last full season before the Second World War and were expected to challenge for the title the following season, but the war intervened. After the war, the club was unable to recover the form of the previous seasons and hovered around mid-table and exited in the early rounds of the FA Cup. Soon afterwards, the team began to falter, eventually suffering relegation in 1953–54. This was the start of a 20-year spell outside the top division.
Over that period, Middlesbrough maintained reasonable progress in the Second Division but were never serious contenders for promotion. After a fourth place finish in 1962–63, the club endured a steady decline and were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history in 1966.
New manager Stan Anderson returned the club to the second flight at the first attempt. Middlesbrough would not finish below ninth during the following eight seasons. By 1974, Jack Charlton had taken over as manager and guided the team back to the top flight.
The club experienced severe financial difficulties during the mid-1980s. 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, Middlesbrough were 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. Despite constant promotion and relegation, Middlesbrough were founding members of the FA Premier League for the 1992–93 season.
The 1996–97 season was compounded by a deduction of three points imposed just after Christmas, as punishment for the club's failure to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn, which ultimately resulted in relegation. At the same time, the club managed to reach both the League and FA Cup finals for the first time, but lost out in both. Despite being in the second tier, they were again runners up in the League Cup final the next year.
Middlesbrough were promoted back to the Premiership at the first attempt in 1998. They continued to stay secure in mid-table the following season.
Bryan Robson left the club before the start of the 2001–02 season, having served as manager for 7 years, and was replaced by Manchester United assistant coach Steve McClaren. The following seasons saw Premiership security maintained, as Middlesbrough slowly improved and were seen as a tough side to beat when playing at the Riverside Stadium. During McClaren's reign, Middlesbrough achieved their highest Premier league placing of 7th in the 2004–05 season.
The 2003–04 season was the most successful in the club's history, as they finally won a major trophy after beating Bolton in the League Cup final.
Middlesbrough reached the 2006 UEFA Cup Final in Eindhoven, following two comebacks in the rounds preceding it, but lost to Sevilla. Following the cup final, McClaren left to head up the England team, and captain Gareth Southgate took over. Despite not having the coaching qualifications, he was allowed to continue after receiving special dispensation. Southgate's first two seasons saw the club finish in 12th and 13th places. He oversaw the club reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for three seasons, but the club was relegated to the Football League Championship on the last day of the 2008–09 season.
Despite starting the 2010–11 campaign as promotion favourites, the club endured a disappointing start to the season, securing only 1 point in 5 away games. Having slipped to 20th in the Championship following a home defeat to rivals Leeds, Gordon Strachan resigned on 18 October. A week later, Tony Mowbray was confirmed as the new manager. Having staved off the threat of relegation, Mowbray successfully transformed Boro's fortunes, eventually guiding them to a top-half finish.
Following a poor run of form of 2 wins in 12 games in the 2013–14 campaign, on 21 October 2013, nearly 3 years after his arrival, Tony Mowbray left the club with immediate effect. Aitor Karanka, a former Spanish defender and assistant coach at Real Madrid, became the new Middlesbrough manager on 13 November 2013, signing a two-year contract. He became the first non-British manager at the club.
Boro had a good 2014/15 season, finishing in 4th place. After beating Brentford in the play-off semi-finals, they met Norwich in the Championship play-off final… Sadly, the budgies came out on top on the day.
One To Watch – Jordan Rhodes
I’m going for an unwanted hat-trick with my ‘One to watch’ this week, after my previous two picks, Fernando Forestieri and Moussa Dembélé, both opened the scoring for the opposition. This time, it’s a well-known former Town striker, who will need no invitation to follow suit…
This weekend, we come up against possibly the Championship’s most potent strikeforce in terms of the number of goals they have scored against us. David Nugent’s ridiculous record of 178 goals in 15 matches against Ipswich (source needed) speaks for itself, but Jordan Rhodes has enjoyed himself almost as much, having notched 6 times in 6 meetings with his old employers. What makes it all the more galling, of course, is the manner in which he left the club, having been offloaded by Roy Keane for a cut-price £750,000, twelve times less than the fee Middlesbrough paid to take him to the Riverside in January(!) Rhodes came to Suffolk when his father, Andy, joined the staff as goalkeeper coach, and was soon establishing a reputation as a prolific goalscorer, regularly claiming 30-40 strikes a season for the youth and reserve teams. Despite his prowess in front of goal, he only made 10 appearances for the First Team in his time at the club, all of them as a substitute. No sooner had Keane descended on Portman Road than he made the inspired decision to replace Rhodes with Tamas Priskin. The Scotland international dropped down a level to Huddersfield, and soon set about breaking all kinds of records, including becoming the club’s first player to score back-to-back hat-tricks since the 1920s and their first player to net five in a match since the 1930s. He capped a remarkable 40-goal campaign by winning the League 1 Player of the Year in 2011/12 as the Terriers won the play-offs. Blackburn then pounced to sign Rhodes, who went on to claim 28 strikes in his first full season in the Championship. Averaging almost a goal every two games for Rovers, the 26-year-old moved on to Middlesbrough, who saw him as the final piece in their promotion jigsaw. After previously scoring one goal in twelve matches, Rhodes is now back to ominously good form, having netted three in the last two. Some have questioned his all-round game, citing this as a reason why he hasn’t yet made the step up to the Premier League, but it looks like he may well finally get his chance at the highest level.
The Gaffer – Aitor Karanka
Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Karanka played as a youth with hometown club Deportivo Alavés and then switched to Basque neighbours Athletic Bilbao. He made his senior debut with the reserves of the latter in 1992, competing with the team in the Segunda División.
Karanka was promoted to the main squad by Jupp Heynckes in 1993, making his La Liga debut on 7 November and going on to feature in exactly 100 league matches in his three full seasons, before joining Real Madrid in 1997. With the capital team, he was used mostly as a back-up, but appeared in 33 UEFA Champions League games for the club, including the 1999–2000 final against Valencia CF. He also missed the vast majority of the 1998–99 campaign due to a heart condition.
For 2002–03, Karanka returned to Athletic Bilbao, helping the Lions qualify for the UEFA Cup in his second year after a fifth place finish in the league. He switched to Major League Soccer and the Colorado Rapids in 2006.
Karanka only played once for Spain at senior level, on 26 April 1995 against Armenia in the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifiers. He also represented the nation in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, playing in four matches in an eventual quarter-final exit.
In June 2010, Karanka was appointed assistant manager at former side Real Madrid, by newly appointed manager José Mourinho. Three years later, he left the club, following the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, who brought his own coaching staff.
On 13 November 2013, Karanka was appointed manager of Middlesbrough, replacing Tony Mowbray.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
A look back to December 2014, when a 2-0 home win made it a happy Christmas for the Blues:
Trev's Trivia
Players to play for both teams
John Wark ITFC 1975–1984, 1988–1990 and 1991–1997 Boro 1990–1991
Tony Mowbray ITFC 1995–2000 Boro 1982–1991
Mark Venus ITFC 1997–2003 Boro 2013 Manager
Kieron Dyer ITFC 1996–1999, 2011 loan Boro 2013
Jordan Rhodes ITFC 2007-2009 Boro 2016-present
Grant Leadbitter ITFC 2009-2012 Boro 2012-present
Media Watch - K L Blue
Season ticket response:
http://www.sudburymercury.co.uk/news/an ... _1_4503225
MM wondering 'where the team has gone':
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/foot ... g-11216424
Knudsen:
http://www.itfc.co.uk/news/article/jona ... 69377.aspx
Stat Time
Head To Head
Middlesbrough Wins..........18 (29.51%)
Ipswich Town Wins...........29 (47.54%)
Draws...........................14 (22.95%)
Middlesbrough Goals.........78 (Ave. 1.28 Per Match)
Ipswich Town Goals...........97 (Ave. 1.59 Per Match)
Head To Head at Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough Wins...........13 (43.33%)
Ipswich Town Wins............9 (30.00%)
Draws...........................8 (26.67%)
Middlesbrough Goals.........50 (Ave. 1.67 Per Match)
Ipswich Town Goals..........36 (Ave. 1.20 Per Match)
The Predicted Teams
Middlesbrough
It says something about Boro’s strength in depth when they can afford to keep a proven Championship goalscorer like David Nugent on the bench for their top-of-the-table clash against Burnley. Christian Stuani, who scored the opener in the return fixture, is available after a three-match ban but may have to bide his time with the recent form of Gaston Ramirez.
1 Dimi Konstantopoulos
24 Emilio Nsue
4 Daniel Ayala
6 Ben Gibson
3 George Friend
7 Grant Leadboots
8 Adam Clayton
27 Albert Adomah
21 Gaston Ramirez
19 Stewart Downing
9 Jordan Rhodes
Ipswich Town
David McGoldrick made a difference when he came on against Fulham and may have done enough for a start at the expense of Brett Pitman. His Republic of Ireland teammate Daryl Murphy remains out along with Luke Varney, while Ben Pringle could return having been ineligible to face his parent club in midweek.
33 Bartosz Bialkowski
4 Luke Chambers
5 Tommy Smith
6 Christophe Berra
3 Jonas Knudsen
8 Cole Skuse
22 Jonathan Douglas
12 Liam Feeney
41 Andre Dozzell
20 Freddie Sears
10 David McGoldrick
Marko’s Caption Competition
Nice amount of entries this week and all were great. Don't know about anyone else, but I, and a few others, sung that first verse penned by Ando with our best Ole Blue Eyes voice. Very well played indeed. Close on the other scores.
Scores
Ando 5pts
Nicscreamer (go compare) 4pts
James 3pts
Frosty, Barmy, Derick (fking floor) 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
Ando 81
DerickIpsw 80
Frosty 72
Blueblood 66
Nicscreamer 65
Barmy Billy 63
James Scharmann 49
Number 9 49
Herforder 37
Quasar 36
IpswichtownNO1 30
Shed on Tour 25
Ashfordblue 22
Watership Down 21
Bluemike 20
Floors 16
Kerry Blue 13
Hallamblue 13
Tangfastic 11
Charnwood 10
Longjohn 9
Foxy Lady 8
Loudnproud 6
Ohiotractorboy 3
Karlywoo 1
Have a go at this:
Match Referee – Darren Bond
Final Thought - Frosty
Results pretty well went our way on Tuesday night (as they have over recent rounds) and we still can’t make any bloody traction up the table.
It’s safe to say the side is not yet a consistent top 6 side and is a mile off a Premiership one.
Boro on Saturday could well put us out of our misery for another season, and as they currently sit top of the table the smart money goes on them at the Riverside Stadium.
They have the useful record of winning 6 and drawing one from their past 7 outings. The draw being a creditable one from their away trip to Turf Moor the other night.
The one thing that may give us a fair chance come Saturday is our useful record over Boro, the fact that it’s a fairly nervy old place to sit at the top of the Championship table this season and finally we can probably play this fixture without pressure and with a view to developing players for next season.
If anyone really cares at this stage, Cardiff face the daunting task of facing League 1 side Bolton Wanderers whilst the Terriers and Birmingham square off in the other riveting fixture of note.
Safe travels if you are off to the Teesside on Saturday.
MIDDLESBROUGH 2 IPSWICH TOWN 1
God Kay Murray's cute
Absolutely brilliant, Jamma. Ipswich Town may be rank bad, but your very own lexical genius has been a pleasure to read all season long. Yes I may talk bullshit as some have said recently, but I mean that. My own personal opinion on "lacklustre" would be; two syllables, more effort to say it....... "ITFC have been sh!te" may suffice! 
YOUR A MUG MIKE, a leopard doesn't change its spots ever
