Boro (3 Viewers)

[Brighton Sky Blue]

That seems like a fair description of my late Dad, bless him. Every so often he allowed himself the chance to get carried away by a particularly spirited performance, but usually he'd fear the absolute worst.

I asked him once why he supported them if they made him so miserable (I was about 5 at the time and whilst I was a fan because my Dad was, hadn't quite caught the whole hometown group consciousness thing, yet at that stage that I feel glory supporters are actually missing out on) He told me that the Boro will always let you down, but he loved them regardless and one day, probably not in his lifetime, maybe not in mine, but perhaps in my kids' or indeed theirs, they may actually win something big as we were the oldest and highest historically average league placed club remaining to have never won a major honour in over a century. (it was the early 80s)

Ironically enough amongst others (as it was a May tradition around my birthday) I can also remember watching the 87 FA Cup final with him when I was 10. He said normally if it were Spurs against a side like Everton or Liverpool, he'd root for them as both Merseyside clubs had already won LOTS, but as it was Coventry he wanted them to win as they were a club a lot like us so they deserved it more and if they could win it then there might just be hope that we could win something, someday. I remember him beaming from ear to ear when your second went in and telling me excitedly "He's a Boro lad an all, think your Auntie Katie used to babysit him!"

He was delighted for you winning in the end and for once took something as a positive kind of omen for us too, which was unique by itself as almost everything was a harbinger of doom I thought. Perhaps he was extra buoyed by the fact that we'd actually ceased to exist a year earlier which was scary, only to brought back to life by a twenty-something Steve Gibson and a consortium assembled.

We of course went on to finally win something of note nearly 17 years later which I was over the moon that he was around to witness. The strange thing was when we did, his mood more than anything was just speechless incredulity, he was absolutely dumbfounded that such a thing had happened, as deep down I think he still thought that it couldn't be possible.

Such is the mindset of a lot of Boro fans. It's why a fair few of us, though rational adults that otherwise know that witchcraft, horoscopes etc are to be taken extremely sceptically, consider football Hoodoos and omens to have a degree of realism to them that makes them stand out amongst it all. History has taught many generations of Boro fans before our own that there's substance to them, borne out and proven through lifetimes of overall failure from our club, and that deep-seated fear naturally gets passed down from each Generation to the next.

And when you're a kid, the word of your parents is gospel, you know? Even when you grow up some of that remains.

My grandad grew up in Co. Durham, so he just rotated between the big NE clubs every Saturday. Still remember him telling me about going to watch Jackie Milburn live, the difference between 'Ha'way' and 'Ho'way' etc, he just loved football but looked out for both Newcastle and Sunderland. I've had a soft spot for both clubs for a good while for that reason, Newcastle not so much now they're a Saudi sports washing vehicle.

Every time I've been up to the NE I've never found the people there to be anything but sound. Which is why it's a pity to me that these silly 'rivalries' spring up online.

 

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[Ipad Boro]

My grandad grew up in Co. Durham, so he just rotated between the big NE clubs every Saturday. Still remember him telling me about going to watch Jackie Milburn live, the difference between 'Ha'way' and 'Ho'way' etc, he just loved football but looked out for both Newcastle and Sunderland. I've had a soft spot for both clubs for a good while for that reason, Newcastle not so much now they're a Saudi sports washing vehicle.

Every time I've been up to the NE I've never found the people there to be anything but sound. Which is why it's a pity to me that these silly 'rivalries' spring up online.

See Boro folk tend to often pronounce it more like "Owee" just to confuse matters more.

Aye, County Durham is a weird one, the northwestern section of it around Beamish say is more Newcastle than anything, Eastern (Seaham etc) tends to be solid Sunderland and the southern strip of it (Sedgefield ish) usually Boro with supporters. Whereas my Dad was born and raised in Boro itself, my Mam was South County Durham.

Except Darlo of course who often follow their own club, non-league now or not.
But there's a chunk in the middle of it all where it's pot luck who will support who.

The thing is online rivalries are BS in my experience, a load of "he said/she said" nonsense based around who posted what, usually caused by at best 3 or 4% of dickheads following a particular club that aren't in any way the views of the majority.

A rivalry to me is somewhere where you will actually get fans of different clubs fairly close by, so that often workplaces will contain a smattering of fans from different clubs that usually provokes the usual banter, though on match days its more serious.

With the northeast, Newcastle and Sunderland hate each other more than they do us, which is quite understandable. We're about 25 miles from Sunderland and they're about 9 miles from each other, even linked by the Tyne & Wear metro underground system. It's in the no man's land of County Durham where you most often get Boro fans overspilling with them.

Like I'd imagine a workplace in Hinkley or Lutterworth may do for yourselves and Leicester.

I think we're more straightforward up there and will just generally say what's on our minds, like a lot of northerners. The Midlands in general I find has it's own identity that they're fiercely proud of, but if forced to identify themselves as having more in common with northerners or southerners, the majority would choose northerners.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

See Boro folk tend to often pronounce it more like "Owee" just to confuse matters more.

Aye, County Durham is a weird one, the northwestern section of it around Beamish say is more Newcastle than anything, Eastern (Seaham etc) tends to be solid Sunderland and the southern strip of it (Sedgefield ish) usually Boro with supporters. Whereas my Dad was born and raised in Boro itself, my Mam was South County Durham.

Except Darlo of course who often follow their own club, non-league now or not.
But there's a chunk in the middle of it all where it's pot luck who will support who.

The thing is online rivalries are BS in my experience, a load of "he said/she said" nonsense based around who posted what, usually caused by at best 3 or 4% of dickheads following a particular club that aren't in any way the views of the majority.

A rivalry to me is somewhere where you will actually get fans of different clubs fairly close by, so that often workplaces will contain a smattering of fans from different clubs that usually provokes the usual banter, though on match days its more serious.

With the northeast, Newcastle and Sunderland hate each other more than they do us, which is quite understandable. We're about 25 miles from Sunderland and they're about 9 miles from each other, even linked by the Tyne & Wear metro underground system. It's in the no man's land of County Durham where you most often get Boro fans overspilling with them.

Like I'd imagine a workplace in Hinkley or Lutterworth may do for yourselves and Leicester.

I think we're more straightforward up there and will just generally say what's on our minds, like a lot of northerners. The Midlands in general I find has it's own identity that they're fiercely proud of, but if forced to identify themselves as having more in common with northerners or southerners, the majority would choose northerners.

He lived near Esh Winning, so Newcastle and Sunderland were basically equally close to him. When he moved to Coventry in the 60s though, he was hooked. The issue for us is Birmingham is nearby and effectively home to three equally sized or bigger clubs with Lesta in the other direction so there's quite a bit of 'competition'.

Think the Midlands is clearly distinct from North and South but agree it 'feels' a bit more north than south.

 

[ovduk78]

See Boro folk tend to often pronounce it more like "Owee" just to confuse matters more.

Aye, County Durham is a weird one, the northwestern section of it around Beamish say is more Newcastle than anything, Eastern (Seaham etc) tends to be solid Sunderland and the southern strip of it (Sedgefield ish) usually Boro with supporters. Whereas my Dad was born and raised in Boro itself, my Mam was South County Durham.

Except Darlo of course who often follow their own club, non-league now or not.
But there's a chunk in the middle of it all where it's pot luck who will support who.

The thing is online rivalries are BS in my experience, a load of "he said/she said" nonsense based around who posted what, usually caused by at best 3 or 4% of dickheads following a particular club that aren't in any way the views of the majority.

A rivalry to me is somewhere where you will actually get fans of different clubs fairly close by, so that often workplaces will contain a smattering of fans from different clubs that usually provokes the usual banter, though on match days its more serious.

With the northeast, Newcastle and Sunderland hate each other more than they do us, which is quite understandable. We're about 25 miles from Sunderland and they're about 9 miles from each other, even linked by the Tyne & Wear metro underground system. It's in the no man's land of County Durham where you most often get Boro fans overspilling with them.

Like I'd imagine a workplace in Hinkley or Lutterworth may do for yourselves and Leicester.

I think we're more straightforward up there and will just generally say what's on our minds, like a lot of northerners. The Midlands in general I find has it's own identity that they're fiercely proud of, but if forced to identify themselves as having more in common with northerners or southerners, the majority would choose northerners.

My friend's family are from Newton Aycliffe and are Sunderland fans. Isn't the Sunderland & Newcastle rivalry a recent thing? Like @Brighton Sky Blue has said about his grandad cheering on all NE sides I have met similar like minded fans of both Sunderland & Newcastle where their support was 1st for their team and then for other NE teams. I don't know when the hatred between them started

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Bit surprised by that, I've generally been very impressed in recent years by the standard in penalty taking in various shootouts. Just goes to show how skilled Mr Wright is at taking them, must be on 90%+ for them here.

Almost certain it was 0.8 two seasons ago
0.78 this year I think

 

[Ipad Boro]

My friend's family are from Newton Aycliffe and are Sunderland fans. Isn't the Sunderland & Newcastle rivalry a recent thing? Like @Brighton Sky Blue has said about his grandad cheering on all NE sides I have met similar like minded fans of both Sunderland & Newcastle where their support was 1st for their team and then for other NE teams. I don't know when the hatred between them started

There was always pi$s-taking between the two, though that was more intense from the cities themselves, not the surrounding area in Durham so much.

It pre-dated any established football league to the 17th century with them as a rule picking sides in the English Civil war, with Sunderland being more Cromwell's lads. King Charles also granted coal-trade rights to Newcastle, but not Sunderland's which shafted their industry a little and stirred up resentment I'm led to believe.

When both the football clubs emerged there in the 1880s a football rivalry emerged, with Newcastle as the plucky challenger to Sunderland dominating the English football league.
Boro existed too, but had it's own rivalry that was far closer with Middlesbrough and Middlesbrough Ironopolis being two clubs from the same town. When the Nops ceased to exist though, most of their fans switched over to the club that became Boro today and the whole triad of NE clubs was properly there.

Durham people in the middle didn't feel quite the sting of the rivalry as much, but that was to be expected.

 

[ovduk78]

There was always pi$s-taking between the two, though that was more intense from the cities themselves, not the surrounding area in Durham so much.

It pre-dated any established football league to the 17th century with them as a rule picking sides in the English Civil war, with Sunderland being more Cromwell's lads. King Charles also granted coal-trade rights to Newcastle, but not Sunderland's which shafted their industry a little and stirred up resentment I'm led to believe.

When both the football clubs emerged there in the 1880s a football rivalry emerged, with Newcastle as the plucky challenger to Sunderland dominating the English football league.
Boro existed too, but had it's own rivalry that was far closer with Middlesbrough and Middlesbrough Ironopolis being two clubs from the same town. When the Nops ceased to exist though, most of their fans switched over to the club that became Boro today and the whole triad of NE clubs was properly there.

Durham people in the middle didn't feel quite the sting of the rivalry as much, but that was to be expected.

Until the 1970s & possibly 1980s it was just piss taking and a friendly rivalry & I was only aware of the hatred in the 90s as my best friend was a Geordie & I worked with a great lad who was a Sunderland fan who really hated Newcastle and "Keeeeeeeegan". I don't know what turned it to what we see today. Do Boro fans have a friendly rivalry with both of them? Your a bit like us with no obvious local rival, maybe you hate Leeds for no reason other than because they are Leeds.

 

[Kris_Boro]

Until the 1970s & possibly 1980s it was just piss taking and a friendly rivalry & I was only aware of the hatred in the 90s as my best friend was a Geordie & I worked with a great lad who was a Sunderland fan who really hated Newcastle and "Keeeeeeeegan". I don't know what turned it to what we see today. Do Boro fans have a friendly rivalry with both of them? Your a bit like us with no obvious local rival, maybe you hate Leeds for no reason other than because they are Leeds.

I personally feel more of a rivalry with Sunderland.

Further Ipads post, when Newcastle basically killed the trade in Sunderland a lot them headed south to Teesside and ICI for work. We have a place calling Billingham where ICI was located and there is a very percentage of Sunderland fans based there amongst Boro fans.

Its much more one sided as they have Newcastle and in recent years they tried to brush it off because we kept beating them. Funnily when they did the double over us last year it was a thing again.

I wont use hatred as i think its utterly madness that you can hate opposition fans and have the urge them physically. The reality is you probably have more in common with an opposition fan than you do most people in your life. But its a tribal thing i suppose.

The Boro/Leeds thing is an older supporter thing i find. I have always classed us as North East but once up on a time, south of the Tees (Boro) was Yorkshire and north of the Tees (Stockton) was Durham. Some older fans classed Leeds as our rival. I dont think younger fans do.

Newcastle have always been more of an annoyance but we haven't played for so long and they no longer feel like the Newcastle of old its lost some of its appeal.

 

[Covkid1968#]

They're clearly a good team, but we got in their heads and they lost them.

Seriously, stop this fucking nonsense. It means everything else you may say can't be taken seriously.

You said it yourself, we got the tactics spot on, we also wanted it more, got in the Middlesbrough players' faces and heads (which they quickly lost), have much better forwards than you, and exploited your creaky defense.

We won because we were better than you, same as at the Riverside.

Perhaps when Middlesbrough play better than us in a game they may beat us, but stop going on about fucking hoodoos; it's lazy, boring, and they're no more real than the purple fucking people eater.

RIP Purple Acky… I don’t believe he ever ate anyone in fairness

 

[Otis]

Leicester if they actually try can quite easily beat them

Exactly.

Don't know why everyone thinks Boro will win easily.

Always tricky facing those fighting for survival at the bottom and Leicester do have some good players and will have a new manager.

Not going to be as easy as some think

 

[Sick Boy]

Please re read your last post. To summarise you implied we beat you because of hoodoo. You have the best defence and midfield in the league and no strikers….Fair play for being complementary about our goal keeper though

For the so called best championship team there’s ever been you looked bang average last night. You move the ball around nice though, I’ll give you that.

Considering the play-off victory was the first time we'd won there, the talk of a hoodoo is nonsense. We've done the double over them because we were the better team in both games.

 

[Sick Boy]

and could/should easily have scored a couple more goals.

As we could have done as well.

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

Leicester if they actually try can quite easily beat them

We know they'll try, but 'quite easily' is a bit of a stretch for me. Take a draw

 

[alexccfc99]

Promised I would give my Uni pals a bit of a plug, a fair assessment albeit from a Boro perspective

 

[Covkid1968#]

Promised I would give my Uni pals a bit of a plug, a fair assessment albeit from a Boro perspective

Decent summary by the Boro lads

 

[Ipad Boro]

I personally feel more of a rivalry with Sunderland.

Further Ipads post, when Newcastle basically killed the trade in Sunderland a lot them headed south to Teesside and ICI for work. We have a place calling Billingham where ICI was located and there is a very percentage of Sunderland fans based there amongst Boro fans.

Its much more one sided as they have Newcastle and in recent years they tried to brush it off because we kept beating them. Funnily when they did the double over us last year it was a thing again.

I wont use hatred as i think its utterly madness that you can hate opposition fans and have the urge them physically. The reality is you probably have more in common with an opposition fan than you do most people in your life. But its a tribal thing i suppose.

The Boro/Leeds thing is an older supporter thing i find. I have always classed us as North East but once up on a time, south of the Tees (Boro) was Yorkshire and north of the Tees (Stockton) was Durham. Some older fans classed Leeds as our rival. I dont think younger fans do.

Newcastle have always been more of an annoyance but we haven't played for so long and they no longer feel like the Newcastle of old its lost some of its appeal.

My Dad always said he saw Sunderland as a bigger rival, them being that bit closer probably helped. Then of course in the 90s we didn't play them for a while, so the Newcastle thing became more pronounced.

More recently though it's been Sunderland because we've had more seasons in the same league as them.

I think the whole physical alterations boom came in the 70s and 80s, with numerous stories about fans chasing opposition fans around town when I was a child, there being trouble on local train lines, around Seaham etc.

Leeds is a good 70 odd miles south by road from Boro, so the NE pair are much closer. The old folk attach more significance to it with the whole technical Yorkshire thing, although whilst acknowledging that I class myself as a Teessider as I feel I have more in common with people from Stockton, Billingham and Hartlepool than I do people from York or Helmsley.

With Coventry, I think the Leicester rivalry would be much more logical to me. Whilst the Brum clubs dislike each other and the WB/Wolves pair dislike each other too, Leicester are disliked by Forest and Derby, but not as much as they dislike each other. Throw in the M69 of course and it just seems more natural to me somehow, even if one is technically East Midlands and the other West.

 

[Skyblue Bangkok]

Decent summary by the Boro lads

Boro's last two games are against Ipswich & Wrexham. Ipswich still have to play Norwich away.

 

[Calista]

Apropos of nothing, I think Hayden Hackney facially resembles Chris Waddle ‍

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Apropos of nothing, I think Hayden Hackney facially resembles Chris Waddle ‍

Certainly looked like him on Monday night when waddle missed his pen in the World Cup pen shoot out

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

Apropos of nothing, I think Hayden Hackney facially resembles Chris Waddle ‍

eth eth eth eth, eth eth eth eth, Hayden Hackney.