Before I put finger to keyboard for this month’s edition, I felt I had to look back at last time out, when Wrexham rolled into town. Now, four weeks may have passed since, but a quick scan of my thoughts from October almost feels like it was written a lifetime ago. I’m not sure what’s been the most shocking – Boro's fanbase pretty much united, or the fact we’re now entering today’s game with a new Head Coach? Of course, as we all know, the two aforementioned occurrences are absolutely linked given Rob Edwards accidentally managed to foster the sort of siege mentality only he could’ve dreamt of consciously achieving had he bothered to stick around long enough for the ink in his contract to dry.
I don’t want to dwell on his departure too much, but I’m not going to lie – it’s majorly disappointing. There’s been so many soundbites blurted out these last few weeks about there being ‘no loyalty in football’ etc, but such sentiment is jarring for those like me who choose to take people at face value. Speaking to people who interviewed him, along with my own limited chats with him at the beginning of the season, it really felt like he saw himself here for the long haul. I suppose we shouldn’t feel too bad; he even hoodwinked a wily old operator in Steve Gibson.
But even through all the anger and frustration I’ve tried to understand the personal reasons behind his decision,all very admirable – family locality, strength of feeling for Wolves given his previous connections, the chance to manage in the Premier League again. Chances are though, none of that will matter in a few months' time – he'll be back on the managerial scrapheap, right where we found him as he was smarting from a tough end to his Luton spell. Only this time, I’m not so sure what club owner will be willing to take a punt on him. Sympathy will be in about as short a supply as his loyalty.
Anyway, I said I wasn’t going to dwell. The positive to come from all this mess is the unity shown on the terraces. Might sound dramatic given all that’s happened in the time since, but not since the “We Want Our Three Points Back” stuff in 96/97 have I seen our fanbase so together. We’ve won a trophy, competed in Europe, reached cup finals and been promoted, but in typical Boro fashion there’s always been supporters at odds with each other. It goes back to that siege mentality I mentioned earlier. We should allow ourselves to be wronged more often, maybe - the sort of spirit fostered from the Edwards stuff has been pretty stirring to say the least.
And all this only serves to give the new Boro Head Coach the best start to life on Teesside. It’s so very rare for someone to come in to a club, not just flying high in the league with a squad more than capable of achieving promotion, but to have the backing of a support in fervent mood. Kim Hellberg is a name none of us thought we’d be doing deep-dives into when this season started, or even when Edwards slithered off to the Midlands. The usual candidates made up a lengthy, and laughable list (see Carrick, Ange, Big Sam), and despite my vain hope for Gareth Southgate to allow himself another shot at footballing redemption after his England heroics, I’d resigned myself to Steven Gerrard, or another uninspiring British offering.
But here we are entering unusual territory with a foreign appointment, but given the recruitment processes these days, other than his Swedish passport there’ll be little foreign about Hellberg to Kieran Scott and the decision makers at Middlesbrough. I’m not about to eulogize over Hammarby’s style of football, or how they play with proper wingers (a fact not lost on me as I yearn for a modern-day Stuart Ripley tearing up the byline at The Riverside), after all, I’ll leave that to the excellence of the likes of fellow FMTTM contributor Dana Malt, author Rob Fletcher or the insightful Ben Strickland over on Twitter. They do the hard yards, so we don’t have to. But the signs are positive. And whilst I remembered him from his playing days, let’s not forget that Aitor Karanka was largely an unknown quantity on these shores, and he didn’t turn out too badly.
Hellberg then, after AK, becomes Boro’s second non-British appointment, and though these kinds of appointments are commonplace in English football today, the novelty factor will be felt more so than usual when he takes his place in the Boro dugout today. Hopefully alongside him on the home bench is Adi Viveash. Never has an Assistant Coach been lauded in the way Viveash has during this ever so slightly turbulent period, and rightly so. It’s become apparent just why he was so popular at Coventry, a club’s fanbase that have been very vocal in their admiration for a man who spent many a year with Mark Robins during a hugely successful spell at the The Ricoh (and wherever else they called home). Aside from his coaching abilities, he’s shown himself to be quite the calming influence at a time when level heads are needed. Throw in his obvious likeability, then he’s quickly endeared himself to the club and it’s a supporters, not that he would allude to that himself given how bashful he’s been about it all.
This is a man that doesn’t sit well with centrestage but is very much worthy of the adulation it’s brought him. Whether he stays or not remains to be seen, but the noises are hopeful, after all he was a club appointment rather than an Edwards one. If Hellberg is as smart as some have said, then he’ll be wanting to hang on to the expertise of a man whose knowledge of English football is as good as any out there. But hopefully Hellberg’s reign gets off to a good start today against Derby, a fixture that always has that extra edge due to the Gibson factor. Ally that with the siege mentality feel around the place then you sense the Swede might just be the winner that takes it all come full-time.
I’m so sorry. That’s the last Abba reference I’ll ever make in this fanzine.
That still leaves Ikea, Volvo and Ulrika-ka-ka-ka Jonsson, though.
UTB!
Ian Smith
I don’t want to dwell on his departure too much, but I’m not going to lie – it’s majorly disappointing. There’s been so many soundbites blurted out these last few weeks about there being ‘no loyalty in football’ etc, but such sentiment is jarring for those like me who choose to take people at face value. Speaking to people who interviewed him, along with my own limited chats with him at the beginning of the season, it really felt like he saw himself here for the long haul. I suppose we shouldn’t feel too bad; he even hoodwinked a wily old operator in Steve Gibson.
But even through all the anger and frustration I’ve tried to understand the personal reasons behind his decision,all very admirable – family locality, strength of feeling for Wolves given his previous connections, the chance to manage in the Premier League again. Chances are though, none of that will matter in a few months' time – he'll be back on the managerial scrapheap, right where we found him as he was smarting from a tough end to his Luton spell. Only this time, I’m not so sure what club owner will be willing to take a punt on him. Sympathy will be in about as short a supply as his loyalty.
Anyway, I said I wasn’t going to dwell. The positive to come from all this mess is the unity shown on the terraces. Might sound dramatic given all that’s happened in the time since, but not since the “We Want Our Three Points Back” stuff in 96/97 have I seen our fanbase so together. We’ve won a trophy, competed in Europe, reached cup finals and been promoted, but in typical Boro fashion there’s always been supporters at odds with each other. It goes back to that siege mentality I mentioned earlier. We should allow ourselves to be wronged more often, maybe - the sort of spirit fostered from the Edwards stuff has been pretty stirring to say the least.
And all this only serves to give the new Boro Head Coach the best start to life on Teesside. It’s so very rare for someone to come in to a club, not just flying high in the league with a squad more than capable of achieving promotion, but to have the backing of a support in fervent mood. Kim Hellberg is a name none of us thought we’d be doing deep-dives into when this season started, or even when Edwards slithered off to the Midlands. The usual candidates made up a lengthy, and laughable list (see Carrick, Ange, Big Sam), and despite my vain hope for Gareth Southgate to allow himself another shot at footballing redemption after his England heroics, I’d resigned myself to Steven Gerrard, or another uninspiring British offering.
But here we are entering unusual territory with a foreign appointment, but given the recruitment processes these days, other than his Swedish passport there’ll be little foreign about Hellberg to Kieran Scott and the decision makers at Middlesbrough. I’m not about to eulogize over Hammarby’s style of football, or how they play with proper wingers (a fact not lost on me as I yearn for a modern-day Stuart Ripley tearing up the byline at The Riverside), after all, I’ll leave that to the excellence of the likes of fellow FMTTM contributor Dana Malt, author Rob Fletcher or the insightful Ben Strickland over on Twitter. They do the hard yards, so we don’t have to. But the signs are positive. And whilst I remembered him from his playing days, let’s not forget that Aitor Karanka was largely an unknown quantity on these shores, and he didn’t turn out too badly.
Hellberg then, after AK, becomes Boro’s second non-British appointment, and though these kinds of appointments are commonplace in English football today, the novelty factor will be felt more so than usual when he takes his place in the Boro dugout today. Hopefully alongside him on the home bench is Adi Viveash. Never has an Assistant Coach been lauded in the way Viveash has during this ever so slightly turbulent period, and rightly so. It’s become apparent just why he was so popular at Coventry, a club’s fanbase that have been very vocal in their admiration for a man who spent many a year with Mark Robins during a hugely successful spell at the The Ricoh (and wherever else they called home). Aside from his coaching abilities, he’s shown himself to be quite the calming influence at a time when level heads are needed. Throw in his obvious likeability, then he’s quickly endeared himself to the club and it’s a supporters, not that he would allude to that himself given how bashful he’s been about it all.
This is a man that doesn’t sit well with centrestage but is very much worthy of the adulation it’s brought him. Whether he stays or not remains to be seen, but the noises are hopeful, after all he was a club appointment rather than an Edwards one. If Hellberg is as smart as some have said, then he’ll be wanting to hang on to the expertise of a man whose knowledge of English football is as good as any out there. But hopefully Hellberg’s reign gets off to a good start today against Derby, a fixture that always has that extra edge due to the Gibson factor. Ally that with the siege mentality feel around the place then you sense the Swede might just be the winner that takes it all come full-time.
I’m so sorry. That’s the last Abba reference I’ll ever make in this fanzine.
That still leaves Ikea, Volvo and Ulrika-ka-ka-ka Jonsson, though.
UTB!
Ian Smith
