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Karl Watson's Big Mouth 7/9
By Karl Watson
September 7 2007
After what was a good win against Birmingham last Saturday, it is very unfortunate that the gloss has been taken off this fine performance by our attentions being turned to the empty red plastic on Saturday rather than the magic display by those reds in Cotton and Polyester.
Everybody knows that statistically our attendances have hit a record low but I believe it is the media that have a great part to play in this and in this week's article I aim to explain why the media should be giving Middlesbrough the credit they actually deserve.

Our average attendance for this season is 25,617. This may sound low by Premiership standards and due to certain garbage that is written by journalists you’d be forgiven for thinking that it is. However Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Portsmouth, Reading, and Wigan all have a worse average than Boro and we are only a few hundred behind one of the media’s favourites in Blackburn Rovers.

As Boro fans, we do not need to be told our attendances are not good enough. We all know that but we do not need journalists commenting on this week in week out when they should be talking about how good the football has been in recent weeks and we have done well to get ourselves out of what was a sticky patch after the first couple of games.

The media seem to absolutely love Blackburn Rovers these days. Their squad is no better than ours, and they don’t fill their stadium either. Their away support is no greater than ours so why are they praised every week by the media?

When Rovers played Everton it was billed as two good clubs going for a UEFA cup spot, however we played them off the park on the opening day barring two shots, so why are we not deemed good enough for Europe as well. They would do well to remember that Middlesbrough were the last British Uefa Cup finalists.

In Sunday’s and some of Monday’s newspapers it was all about how bad Birmingham were on Saturday, however they failed to mention how we carved up the Blues from start to finish and how we should have won by a cricket score. We seem to get this every time we win.

We beat Manchester United basically every season but whenever we do defeat United, or another top four side, it is how bad they have been, not how good we were and we get this every single season.

Against Wigan, Wigan were brilliant, not Boro were woeful. And when Blackburn came to Boro and won thanks to two shots and two goals even though we dominated it was a masterpiece by Rovers. However when we do a similar smash and grab at Fulham, we simply don’t deserve it and we shouldn’t be allowed any luck. It makes me sick.

I always pay particular attention to ‘Teams of the Week’ just to see how we have been judged by journalists and to see how many of our players get the credit they deserve. Of course, on a weekly basis you can count the number of Boro players that are included on half of your left hand.

This week I saw Steve Harper and Michael Owen in one team of the week. For goodness sake, Steve Harper had nothing to do according to Match Of The Day yet he gets in team of the week? Mark Schwarzer also had little to do, so why wasn’t he included? Or is it just because Newcastle are a ‘big’ club?

Michael Owen scored a goal against Wigan – big deal. If Aliadiere had scored a similar goal he would have received no recognition and I can confidently say that Aliadiere was more of an influence for Boro on Saturday than Owen was for Newcastle.

Derby were woeful against Liverpool, absolutely woeful. However the press portrayed it as a world class, magnificent display by Liverpool that shows they are worthy title contenders. What a load of tripe. If Liverpool had beaten Birmingham like we had done on Saturday then Liverpool would have been outstanding.

It’s almost as if the press and the F.A. are content with ‘their top ten’, and they do not want any of the teams from the bottom half spoiling their party, so as a result they demoralise those outside of the top ten by not giving them any credit. They do not want to see the ‘smaller’ clubs (as labelled by them) do well and they are happy to write about how great and how poor the top ten sides were and how that influenced the result.

Last season during every single edition of Match of the Day, we had to endure Mark Lawrenson bang on about how if we lost Yakubu and Viduka we would be in massive trouble. However I do not here any credit being given to Gareth Southgate because he had the bottle to let both go and replaced them with players that no one really rates. I do not hear any credit for Aliadiere and Mido, who have shown more grit and determination than those two ever did.

However, when Manchester United lost Rooney and Ronaldo they are deemed unlucky and they are not playing to their ability. I wonder why that is Lawrenson? Maybe it is because without Rooney and Ronaldo Manchester United don’t look like title winners. But that will not be said. Instead, its Boro are lucky to have quality like Viduka and Yakubu and Manchester United just simply deserve it. It’s disgusting.

Players like Viduka and Yakubu are deemed too good for us and shouldn’t be at Boro. I truly believe Mido and Aliadiere will turn into two very good strikers courtesy of Gareth Southgate, not to mention Julio Arca.

Why do Sunderland receive so much credit? Why has Roy Keane been highlighted as a great manager when he’s done nothing? Or is it because he played for everyone’s favourite: Manchester United? Gareth Southgate has done better than Keane has, but why are the press so afraid to criticise his decision when he’s bought two championship strikers for £11m? Southgate has brought in Mido and Gary O’Neil for the same amount; I wonder who I would prefer? I also know who the press prefers.

Michael Chopra was given a tremendous amount of credit for his two goals in two games for Sunderland at the start of the season. But where is he now? Mido has done exactly the same, has been a brilliant team player but has been given NO credit whatsoever.

Do Sunderland get more credit because someone said they were a ‘big’ club? Yes, they fill up their stadium every week, but that should not make you a ‘big’ club, but the press believe it does.

Sunderland haven’t been in the Premier league for ten consecutive seasons, they haven’t won anything since the seventies, and they have never been in Europe. However because they fill up their stadium every week they are deemed bigger than Middlesbrough, and they simply are not. Sunderland are still getting more recognition and they are below us in the league. I am baffled.

The reason why I am so annoyed is because I believe the press is portraying us as a ‘nothing’ club and too many people are listening to them. I believe the reason why Alan Smith did not want to join was because of reasons listed above the perception the press has given us, however I believe he would have signed for Sunderland. Seemingly because of the press’ perception of them.

I am also very annoyed because I believe it is only a matter of time before the press will push out some of our finer players. Downing, Woodgate, and Mido are all players who I believe the press will start to come out and say we are lucky to have them and they can seek moves to bigger clubs. It will be the media that pushes them out, not the players the staff or the fans of MFC.

The reason why this has got me so boiled up, is because the players will not be gaining any confidence from variables outside of fellow players, staff and fans. This is why we need to get our backsides to the Riverside every week, so we can show our full appreciation for the players. We can show them that we believe heavily in them, and we are fully behind them.

There is no doubt that players have been deterred from joining Boro because of our attendances and if we start turning up again, we will be able to give the club our money which will see us in good stead for next season because we will be able to attract a better calibre of player, and a full stadium will also attract them.

We need everyone to get behind the team again and push us up that table and prove everyone wrong. No one likes being called a bandwagon jumper, but I’m afraid that is what you’ll be called if you suddenly decide to go when things are rosy.

MFC needs you now; this is the time to take action, not when everything is going well.

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Karl Watson's Big Mouth 7/9
Posted by: ComeOnBoro (IP Logged)
Date: 07/09/2007 10:08

Karl Watson's Big Mouth 7/9

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Re: Karl Watson's Big Mouth 7/9
Posted by: Dame (IP Logged)
Date: 09/09/2007 14:37

Glad you got that off your chest then.


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