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Middlesbrough FC - Middlesbrough FC
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Club Author Anthony Vickers has been hard at work on his first Boro book. Here, he writes to our fans with the exciting news that his debut publication is on the way.
The question I have been asked most often since I left the Gazette is: “Hey, Vickers. When are you going to write a book?” Well, now you mention it...
Since signing for MFC as club author over the summer I have been delving through record books, deep-mining memories and rattling away at the keyboard and the first of what I hope will be many entertaining and informative books has been pinged off to the publisher to be fine-tuned.
I’ve got big plans for a whole shelf full of statistical, historical and cultural books packed with anecdote and insight over the next year or two. Bear with me.
The first is an immersive look back over the emotional assault course that has been the first 25 Years On The Riverside Rollercoaster.
Obviously, what should have been a landmark year was played out in an empty stadium and with frustrated fans following remotely via a stream.
It is not the anniversary anyone had planned.
Yet it should be celebrated. From Ayresome Park to the Riverside is the most important, successful and culturally significant transfer in the long history of the club. It was a real reboot. It was a game-changer.
The move from the rusting hulk of Ayresome to the swanky state-of-the-art arena set the stage for an unprecedented era of success. It was a conscious break from the barren decades of mediocrity.
For fans of a certain age Ayresome will always be ‘home’ - but it had been a frustrating, empty century and in the final decaying decade the arthritic old ground had been a financial deadweight. Even after the padlocks came off it was holding the club back.
The Riverside was a Great Leap Forward. It was modern. Clean. Family friendly. It had fantastic sight-lines. It had kiosks, shops and silver service hospitality. It had toilets! It looked amazing. It had the facilities, sheen and sleek lines of a show home. It was the future.
And building the new ground wasn’t just about shaping concrete and steel. It was about shaping a new mentality. It was about unleashing unashamed ambition and unlocking long dormant potential. And Boro did just that.
The move was the catalyst for a golden age of achievement and success far beyond the dreams of even the wildest-eyed optimist on the Holgate.
It has been an amazing 25 year white-knuckle ride packed with twists and turns, drama and heightened emotions.
Yes, there have been bleak winters and relegations, campaigns that have fizzled out. That’s the nature of the beast. But the highs have been incredible. And often.
The Riverside era has produced vivid collective memories that have been burned with colour and passion into our psyche and have given Boro fans a new sense of identity and pride. A new mythology too.
Now our story revolves around a flurry of finals, a legion of legends, trophy triumph and cavalier campaigns in Europe. Around Juninho, Southgate, Viduka and Leadbitter. Pulsating nights and famous victories against Liverpool, Steaua and Brentford. Last day promotion shoot-outs and pitch invasions. Around success. The Riverside era has reshaped us.
Every season at the Riverside has had its own distinct narrative and nuance, its own story. This book drills down into them all, recalling pivotal moments on the pitch and the charged emotional landscapes off it, reliving the rhythm and intensity of the games and noting the footprints left on our folklore.
It starts with the decision to move, relives the sense of awe as the steel skeleton rose, remembers the whiff of paint and history on that first day, examines a new fan culture that has evolved and reconnects us with the names, games and moments that excited us.
It has been brilliant ride with a plenty to celebrate. I hope I have captured the mood. The perfect Christmas present. Start dropping hints. Pre-order details for 25 Years On The Riverside Rollercoaster will be available soon.
