Welcome Back, Nige

SOMETIMES, when managers and players return to old haunts, they can be unsure what sort of reception they’ll receive.

At the Riverside Stadium tonight, there’s no doubt that one former Boro stalwart can be guaranteed a quite rapturous welcome.

Nigel Pearson captained the first Middlesbrough side I ever saw in the flesh. It was a side which sported ‘Dickens’ across its chest, launched long balls in to big Paul Wilkinson, and managed to scrape a 2-1 win against bottom-of the-table Notts County.

Pearson was made Boro captain after signing for £500k from Sheff Wed in 1994

Big Nige was its heartbeat, its rock, its lynchpin. He was a mountain of a defender who marshalled the likes of Steve Vickers and Derek Whyte on the way to 18 clean sheets in the 1994/95 promotion-winning season.

Pearson, an instant Ayresome cult hero, led us proudly into the Riverside era before bowing out on that sun-soaked afternoon in 1998 when Craig Hignett tore Oxford Utd to shreds to confirm promotion back to the Premier League.

As Gareth Southgate plots another return to the top tier, Pearson brings his stubborn Leicester City side to the North East hoping to add to Boro’s recent setbacks.

Having lost their 12-month unbeaten home run to Preston at the weekend, the Foxes will be looking to re-assert their play-off credentials.

They sit comfortably in mid-table and have been more than a match for the Championship’s big-hitters after winning promotion from League One at a canter last season.

And it’s good to see Pearson finally making his mark as a manger. He was desperately unlucky to be sacked by Southampton after keeping them in the Championship the season before last.

How the Saints must be wishing they held on to him now as they languish in the drop zone of English football’s third tier.

But Leicester’s title-winning campaign is not the only managerial masterstroke etched onto Pearson’s CV. On transfer deadline day of the 1998/99 season, Pearson secured the loan capture of goalkeeper Jimmy Glass. Apparently he went on to score a pretty important goal.

Away from the Pearson pleasantries, Boro must get back on track tonight.

The sickening last-kick-of-the-game equaliser on Saturday made the draw at Coventry feel more like a defeat, which was only made worse by the Geordies’ sweeping aside of Roy Keane’s increasingly rubbish Ipswich Town team.

Newcastle are beginning to look a cut above at this level and it is important Boro don’t lose touch with them early on in the campaign.

Magic Johnson

AS I watched Adam Johnson jinking and darting his way around Sheffield Wednesday’s defenders the other night, I could only pray there were no Premier League clubs looking on as well.

The wing wonder had an exceptional evening and was a constant thorn in The Owls’ side. He provided the cross for Darren Purse to nod into his own goal in the first half, before capping a fine night for Boro with a cool finish late on.

If any top division scouts were at Hillsborough on Tuesday, there can only have been one message to relay to their superiors: sign Adam Johnson.

The 22-year-old was a class apart and without doubt deserves to be strutting his stuff in the world’s best league come the start of next season whether it be in a Boro shirt or not.

Johnson representing England U-21s earlier this year

Let’s just hope his opportunity does not come as soon as January. Interested parties will hope the MFC hierarchy buckle under the pressure of a small bid bearing in mind Johnson’s contract runs out next summer.

But if we hold on to a player who is fast becoming our prize asset, the chances of a Premier League return are greater. And if promotion is realised, the club can then put Johnson’s future in his own hands.

He could easily take a big offer from a top seven club. But, by giving Johnson an option to stay, the club will avoid a fans’ backlash, which would be impossible if they accepted £3million bid from a Bolton or a Fulham in the next transfer window.

The last thing the club needs now, despite great back-to-back wins in the past week, is more disillusioned supporters.

Only 19,742 saw the 3-1 win at the Riverside against Ipswich. That figure will only grow if the club shows a willingness to hang on to academy stars such as Johnson. (And, of course, if the performances keep coming.)

Had it been David Wheater, for instance, who left for Stoke rather than Robert Huth, the outcry from fans a few of weeks ago would have been much worse than it was.

Wheater and Johnson offer the fans an identity on the pitch. These two will play crucial roles for the club this season: not only as footballers, but also as icons to what’s left of the Boro faithful.

If either were to leave before the promotion assault has run its course, MFC will have much more than just a first-team squad to re-build.

Ten Foreign Flops

HAS EVER the sale of a Brazilian international striker been met with such relief? The Afonso Alves transfer saga drew to a whimpered close over the weekend – a fitting end to his torrid stint on Teesside which yielded just 13 goals in 49 appearances.

Alves: Boro's worst foreign player of the last 15 years?

Boro smashed their transfer record to sign Alves from Heerenveen 18 months or so ago. But, like Mateja Kezman, he found the net a little harder to hit in the Premier League than in the Dutch Eredivisie.

It is believe the club lost £6.7m on the 28-year-old. Now, that might sound bad, but six million quid for a bloke who looks like Shrek and plays like Donkey is a cracking result. Thank God (and oil) for those bottomless Qatari pockets.

But where does Alves rank amongst MFC’s other overseas failures in recent years? Here’s my guide to Boro’s ten biggest foreign flops of the Riverside era...

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10. Jan-Aage Fjortoft (1995-1997): The Norwegian will be fondly remembered for some memorable strikes towards the end of the 1994/95 title-winning season after Bryan Robson shelled out a then club record of £1.3m to prise him from Swindon Town. However, the lanky centre-forward struggled to make an impact in the Premier League and was soon on his way to Sheff Utd after a certain Fabrizio Ravanelli arrived on Teesside.

9. Massimo Maccarone (2002-2007): Ex-Itailian U21 whiz kid who arrived at Boro with a reputation for hitting wonder goals for Empoli in Serie B. Unfortunately, the £8.15m man couldn’t re-create such form at the Riverside and was shipped out on loan to Italy after two mis-firing seasons in a red shirt. But Maccarone did return in the 2004/05 season to secure his place in MFC folklore with last-minute winners in the UEFA Cup semi- and quarter-finals.

8. Mido (2007-2009): Eight clubs in seven seasons tells you all you need to know about the Egyptian international. He scored seven goals in 32 appearances for Boro after Gareth Southgate paid £6m to Tottenham in the hope of plugging the void left by Mark Viduka and Yakubu. But Mido was injured too often and sulked when he wasn’t selected. The former Ajax and Roma player was loaned out to Wigan for the second half of last season where he fared little better, and is now back in his homeland playing for Zamalek.

7. Jaime Moreno (1994-1996 & 1997-1998): Originally a £250,000 signing for Robbo a couple of months after he represented Bolivia at the ‘94 World Cup aged 20. But the nippy forward couldn’t disrupt the successful little-and-large duo of Hendrie and Wilkinson, managing only three goals before moving to the MLS. And Moreno netted just once when he made a shock loan return to the Riverside two years later.

6. Christian Karembeu (2000-2001): The World Cup winner’s best days were undoubtedly behind him when he signed from Real Madrid in Robson’s final pre-season as boss. El Tel got a bit more out of him as Boro’s form picked up at the back of end the 2000/01 campaign, but Karembeu wasn’t missed when he moved to Olympiakos after we secured our Premier League survival. His presence wasn’t all bad, though – remember his missus modelling the away top?

5. Tony Vidmar (2002-2003): Clueless Aussie defender who made just nine league starts under Steve McClaren after joining on a free from Rangers. After five seasons dealing with the strike-forces of Dundee and St Mirren, the lanky left-footer perhaps wanted to test himself against the likes of Shearer and Henry. He must have wished – like most Boro fans – he didn’t. The team conceded a glut of goals when he was left to marshal the defence. So bad was Vidmar that he convinced many a Riverside regular that Andrew Davies was a promising centre-half. Nuff said, really.

4. Michael Reiziger (2004-05): Yet another seasoned international singed by Stevie Mac to last just one season on Teesside. As in Karembeu’s case, the 72-capped Dutchman had his best playing days behind him. By the end of his stint on Teesside, Reiziger was playing understudy to Stuart Parnaby for the right-back position. His woeful performances did have an upside, however – the Janet Street-Porter lookalike’s regular injury bouts paved the way for an 18-year-old Tony McMahon to get some useful first-team experience.

3. Branco (1996-1997): After snapping up the 48-year-old World Cup winner on a free transfer in 2006, Bryan Robson wrote in his programme notes: “I have rated Branco as one of the best left-backs for several years now.” I bet Robbo didn’t think the same six months later. The Brazilian – with about as much pace as Robbie Mustoe and the guile of Phil Whelan – looked as though he hadn’t played the game since lifting the Jules Rimet trophy a year-and-a-half earlier. At least his reputation as a free-kick specialist was true...

2. Carlos Marinelli (1999-2004): One in a long line of Argentines hailed as the “next Maradona” when Robson spent £1.5m to bring the two-footed “wonder kind” to the Boro. It didn’t take long for fans to realise the search for Diego’s successor wasn’t over. Marinelli started 18 Premier League games for the club before leaving on a free transfer. You always felt it was going to be difficult for Carlos to break into his national side when Allan Johnston was keeping out of MFC’s starting XI.

1. Afonso Alves (2008-2009): £12.8m. 49 games. 13 goals. No nouse. No physical presence. Just awful. So long.

*Notable omissions include Lee Dong-Gook, Paul Okon, Brad Jones and Szilard Nemeth

Gibbo Deserves Backing

WE'RE ENTERING an unprecedented phase in the Riverside chapter of Middlesbrough Football Club. One of the most popular men in the club's history may be feeling a tad uncomfortable as his previously untouchable veil loosens its grip.

I commented recently on the growingly strained love affair between Steve Gibson and the disgruntled Boro faithful. But the outcry of hostility towards the legendary chairman and Chief Exec Keith Lamb over the past week comes a little sooner than expected.

At the beginning of the summer, Gibson went on BBC Radio and hinted that the club was under no pressure to sell players to balance the books. He also suggested if big players left, reinforcements would be identified and brought in quickly.

So after the £11m double sale of Huth and Tuncay, much was expected of Boro’s bolstered transfer infantry. However, come 5pm Tuesday, only a last-ditch attempt to secure long-term target Rob Hulse had filtered into the public domain via busy journalists.

Steven Gibson celebrating the 2-1 win over Bolton in the 2004 League Cup final

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Lamb says other deals were on the cards but time ran out. Unfortunately for him, many fans’ patience also ran out. “Gibbo’s lies” and “Lamb’s ineptitude” have been common topics of debate in some fiery fans forums. It appears Gibson is now harshly uncovering the pitfalls of his own success. And the fans who have long lauded him for his limelight-shy stewardship are now calling for answers.

Despite it being Gibson who single-handedly bankrolled the dream in which our small town club lived for so long. He dared to dream of the all-seated stadium; to envisage the Juninho years; to pioneer the cup finals; to deliver a major trophy; and to keep us from watching The Bill on Thursday nights.

It was the anti-climactic 4-0 UEFA Cup final defeat to Sevilla which signalled a drastic alteration in the club’s financial structure. Rightly or wrongly, Gibbo moved to prevent the club from terminal decline at the end of the McClaren era.

Despite the memorable journey to Eindhoven, we had failed to qualify for the competition for the upcoming season. Boro struggled to a 14th place finish in the PL – one below Charlton Athletic but above Man City and Aston Villa. (Three years is a markedly long time in football.)

The foreign ownership fad was gathering momentum (Randy Lerner had completed his takeover of Villa) and making top seven finishes was becoming even more competitive.

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Chief Executive Keith Lamb has also come under criticism from fans

Meanwhile, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Ugo Ehiogu, Ray Parlour and Gaizka Mendieta were earning a packet while on the wrong side of 30. So the big names were progressively filtered out of the club in an overhaul of playing staff which was labelled by some as a “lack of ambition”.

But how much more ambitious could Steve Gibson have been? And at what cost? Declines like Leeds United and Southampton are testament to how rapid they can occur with the aid of financial mismanagement.

Of course, the idea wasn’t to get relegated during this period of transition. The gamble in flushing the first-team squad of experienced campaigners went too far. Allowing both Schwarzer and Boateng to leave without seeking replacements left two very important berths empty – both on the field and in the dressing room.

Though while there may have been some supporter angst at a club whose first-team squad boasted no player over the age of 30, the early signs were good. “Southgate’s Babes” were tipped as last season’s potential surprise packages after a promising start to the campaign.

Ultimately, the switch to youthful exuberance didn’t pay off. Inevitably, after large-scale criticism of Southgate failed to unseat him from the gaffer’s chair, the shift in vilification has reached board room level.

Success simply can’t be sustained at a club on our budget in modern top-flight football. The only way we could have pushed on from the platform of McClaren’s legacy was if the club was passed into the hands of foreign owners.

How many Teessiders can say they’d prefer that to a genuine fan who has left himself millions of pounds out of pocket through overseeing the most successful and exciting years Middlesbrough FC has ever witnessed?

After all, overseas investment isn’t always a fairy story, as West Ham and Portsmouth very nearly found to their cost.