Norman_Conquest
Well-known member
I've had similar experiences to you and it goes back to my original post, 'Anyone who played for the Boro is a legend.'
Rav's gonna be watching
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alanmoodysdog
Well-known member
during that period of rav, emerson and TLF I had a perm smile on my face
Norman_Conquest
Well-known member
Even when we got beat you saw them doing things with the ball that was worth the entrance fee.
We were blessed to have the players we had at the time. Rav got a lot of stick that was well undeserved...for me he just wanted the team to be the best it could be....he was trying to push us on to the professionalism he already had...the fact he still cares and looks out for the boro results talks loads of how much he appreciated his time here
Was a 2-1 home loss I think. And we had been 1-0 up. Merson debut too. Believe Rav had gone before the next midweek game. If we had won he might have stayed, who knows.
it was a 2-1 boro win
Transitarmy
Well-known member
We won and I remember saying, I bet that's an important goal, it probably was in the long run.
WilliamMunny
Well-known member
Haha everything in this post is wrong! We were 1-0 down for a long time and scored 2 late goals to win, with Rav scoring at the death. Even though it was the first game of the season, Rav’s goal was crucial as without it we would have finished behind our opponents Charlton and in the playoffs.
festa5
Well-known member
I don't think it was just relegation. He had a habit of moaning to the Italian press on international duty and did a lot of moaning to his team mates. He wasn't a particularly likeable personality.
However, more so now in hindsight, a lot of moaning was justified. He maybe didn't go about it the best way, but he was moaning because he cared, because he had high standards and we were falling short of those.
I think a lot of the other players at the time weren't as professional as they could have been and didn't like an Italian telling them some home truths in blunt fashion.
Higgy has some funny stories about Rav. Higgy liked him, so wasn't the case all the English lads hated him.
DonTheKing
Well-known member
As been mentioned, think he was just ahead of he's time here, in terms of professionalism and striving to be the best. Middlesbrough were only 11 years on from the brink of liquidating when we signed him, which is absolutely mental when you compare to now we've had 1 season in the top flight in 15 years.
1finny
Well-known member
Fjørtoft has some funny stories about him too. Apparently used to kick off when Robbo made him play with Beck. Calling Beck a Serie C player
He wasn’t alone with his comments about Beck.
On one drunken evening in the players lounge, Emerson told me I was probably
better than Beck
Cat’s Lives
Well-known member
Good player but when you look at why we were relegated, disjointed team, he contributed a great deal.
He caused a lot of issues within the squad that season and though was personally professional in his personal preparation, was hugely unprofessional in almost every other way.
He caused a lot of issues within the squad that season and though was personally professional in his personal preparation, was hugely unprofessional in almost every other way.
Nero
Well-known member
Exactly. In hindsight Ravenelli was correct about the club at that point. Boro were striving for a better set-up, but weren’t there. Italian football was streets ahead of England at that point.
I compare Ravenelli of 96/97 to Boksic a few years later. Boro had the facilities by the time Boksic arrived, but his behaviour worse than Ravenelli in my opinion. Southgate mentions some bizarre Boksic behaviour in his autobiography.
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
The stuff with the Italian press isn’t really that simple, or even true. There’s a Gazetta Football Italia podcast about Rav’s career with James Richardson and Gab Marcotti, and they talk about his move to Boro and his relationship with the media. Whatever he was saying in Italy wasn’t translated properly by the UK press - surprise surprise - and he eventually stopped talking to the press completely.
And some of the stuff he moaned about; the facilities, the nutrition, the work ethic, the drinking culture, he was absolutely spot on. Let’s be fair. He may have been difficult to manage at times or speak his mind but if you sign a top-class Italian striker for mega money don’t be surprised if they behave like a top-class Italian striker signed for mega money.
He must’ve been absolutely astounded at having to train on fields full of dogsh*t after what he’d had with Juventus. People do seem to prefer to moan about Rav being unprofessional at times but to me it’s more unprofessional to be out on the p*ss, as a lot of English and British still were at the time.
We had Rav in the same dressing room as Stampy, Alan Moore and Clayton Blackmore. It’s absolutely mad when you think about it.
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festa5
Well-known member
Yeah I agree. If you're a professional you suck it up because you understand he's a net benefit. Seems like some of our players couldn't do that. Obviously no secret there was a drinking culture at the club under Robson. Rav was one of our most professional players in terms of taking being a pro athlete seriously.
Cole and Sheringham despised each other, didn't stop them playing well together though did it?
The_Lizards_Jumpers
Well-known member
He wasn’t alone with his comments about Beck.
On one drunken evening in the players lounge, Emerson told me I was probably
better than Beck
Beck was a Danish international, and showed how good he could be when he wasn't getting shouted at by Ravanelli.
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
Beck was a very good player for us imo. He was instrumental in us getting promoted in 1997/98.
Nero
Well-known member
Imagine the London based media picking and choosing to suit their agenda! Surely that never happens!