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Mike
Why are Boro so poorly supported? The Riverside doesn’t look very photogenic with all those empty seats.Don’t blame it all on Birmingham!
Z
Mike
Why are Boro so poorly supported? The Riverside doesn’t look very photogenic with all those empty seats.Don’t blame it all on Birmingham!
Z
Don’t get me started on this Z
First of all, I wouldn’t say Boro are poorly supported. The town itself only has a population of 140,000, so average attendances over 25,000 is not bad really. When you think the nearest City’s North are Sunderland and Newcastle, and South are places like Leeds etc then you can obviously see there that we are not going to get any fans from those big Cities. So first of all I would say that Boro’s support are genuine locals, unlike the type of people who support Man Utd
– who come from all over the country/world.The only reason that Boro’s support looks bad is because it has dropped 10,000 over the last 6 or 7 years, but to be honest, before we got our new stadium we were lucky to get 20,000 anyway. What happened, was Steve Gibson became in charge and instantly announced a new stadium, announced an ex England captain as our manager, promised players like Ravanelli, Juninho, Emerson etc. Boro have never had this sort of thing as a football club, we were classed as a Yo Yo team but suddenly we became very fashionable, and as you can imagine, the lemmings soon came out of the closet.
What you are seeing now is all those ‘new’ fans go back into their closets until we get to another Cup Final, or get back into Europe etc. The 23,000 that turned up on Saturday will be the ‘proper’ fans who turn up for every league game, regardless of who we are playing.
The question is, having attracted those extra 10,000 fans, then why have we lost them so quickly. A mixture of things can be given as the answer, none more so than Middlesbrough being a town of high unemployment and the cost of football matches these days. But to be honest, the team have been awful at times over recent years, and it hasn’t been pretty to watch. In this day and age, people want to be entertained and it just hasn’t been happening.
I have to say though that the attendances for Cup games have baffled me, especially in the early rounds of the UEFA Cup a few years ago – they were so low. But Middlesbrough as a football club very seldom do themselves any favours as they never seem to significantly reduce the ticket prices for these games – surely it is better to play in front of a packed crowd and be £100,000 down than play in front of a half empty stadium and be £100,000 up etc.
What amazes me is that securing a place in the Premiership is apparantly worth £60m a year – so surely the club as a whole can afford to reduce ticket prices because ensuring 30,000 fans should be a priority for me. As you know, playing in front of a packed home crowd is worth a goal start sometimes.
To be honest, I don’t really know the answers. But what I would say is all us ‘genuine’ fans are not too worried about the attendances because it was just the 20,000 of us before Gibson took over anyway. It’s just annoying that when we play Chelsea or Man Utd, those 4 empty seats in front of me will be taken by some rich mam and dad with their spoilt kids who would rather be watching Power Rangers
Mike
Wasn’t really asking for that treatise, Mike, but thanks anyway. I take your point that Boro don’t have much of a hinterland from where to garner support. I suppose a full house doesn’t always guarantee success either. Look at Newcastle!
Wasn’t really asking for that treatise, Mike, but thanks anyway. I take your point that Boro don’t have much of a hinterland from where to garner support. I suppose a full house doesn’t always guarantee success either. Look at Newcastle!
Lol Z,
I can talk me you know lol.
Yes, Newcastle, a very well supported team – just a shite chairman in the past who got a kick out of sacking managers 3 games into a season after handing them £20m to spend during the summer
– what’s all that about lol.Mike
Premier league selections more speculative than the Championship and Championnat ones to follow
Weekend – Sat 15 September
Premier League[/color:2ffa99cc]
Back Liverpool V at Portsmouth @ 1.83
Back Sunderland V Reading @ 2.46
Lay Wigan V Fulham @ 2.22
Lay Man U V at Everton @ 1.89
The Championship[/color:2ffa99cc]
Back DRAW Sheffield Utd V Wolves @ 3.55
Back West Brom V Ipswich @ 1.84
Back West Brom HT/FT V Ipswich @ 2.98Lay Plymouth V Cardiff @ 2.42
Back Stoke V at Hull @ 2.86
Back Southamptom V at Watford @ 4.1 (SUNDAY)
Le Championnat[/color:2ffa99cc]
Back Nice V at Auxerre @ 3.55
Back Draw Lens V Nancy @ 3.30
Lay Lille V Bordeaux @ 2.46
Lay Marseille V Toulouse @ 1.76
Back Lyon HT/FT V at Metz @ 2.30
Lay Sochaux V Strasbourg @ 2.26
Back St Etienne H/T/FT V Caen @ 2.70
Sunday
Back DRAW Lorient V Rennes @ 3.15
Back Monaco V Paris St G @ 2.28
TREBLE
West Brom 5/6
Lyon 8/15
Nice 14/5Saturday 15th September 2007
Previous £1.00 [/color:1w2uwjcz]
Balance £149.00 (£1.00[/color:1w2uwjcz])Away Birmingham v Bolton
Home Portsmouth v Liverpool
Home Wigan v Fulham
Draw West Ham v Middlesboro
Home Sheffield Utd v Wolves£158.94/£1.00 William Hills
Oh no,
Zilzal goes for Liverpool, Pompete goes for Portsmouth. For what’s it’s worth, I fancy Liverpool very very strongly;
http://betting.betfair.com/football/pre … at-po.html
I’d love to say I fancy Boro to win this weekend. They were very impressive against Birmingham last time, and by all account the training ground has been buzzing with confidence. The signing of Gary O’Neill was a big plus as Boro were looking very thin on the right side of midfield.
However, having said all that, I hate predicting a game in which Boro play because if I back them they lose, if I avoid them they win – and as I want them to win, then I will be avoiding them like the plague.
Good luck with all your bets guys.
Mike
MM I fear you and Zilzal may be right
but with Portsmouth at home and available at 4/1 the price was too big to ignore. The Portsmouth defence hasn’t looked quite right this season and with Liverpool in their current form they could be in for a long afternoon. However, Liverpool do have a habit of not turning up sometimes and Portsmouth are certainly capable of pinching the odd goal or two. Either way I think it should be a good game and I’m looking forward to it.Gary O’Neil should prove to be a good signing for Boro. He’s a good bloke and I hope he does well. (Btw the Riverside is the coldest ground I’ve ever been to, it was a 0-0 draw a couple of years ago. I remember phoning the ticket office to ask if they had any tickets left and the receptionist asked how many I wanted. I asked how many you got, Oh…about 15,000 pet, she replied
I think the Riverside is a great ground and wouldn’t mind going when it has a full house. I imagine it’s a great atmosphere.)Pompete,
I wish I knew that ‘Ridiculous’ Rafa, aka ‘Barmy’ Benitez was going to REST players like Gerrard, Hypia, Torres, Babel etc when I did my article.
I nearly fell off my chair when I saw his team selection, what is the guy thinking off. It’s 0-0 currently and Liverpool, despite having plenty of possession have hardly threatened, while Pomey have missed a penalty.
Surely Gerrard and Torres must come on soon.
Mike
The best value bet this week I fear is on France. Its a max for me ie. 10% of betting bankRugby World Cup
Back France (-12.5) V Ireland @ 1.66
I’m going to take a chance on Liverpool given their excellent form this season. The value on the Championship and UEFA games look quite skinny.
Midweek 17-19 September
Champions League[/color:3sq68qiq]
Back Liverpool V at Porto @ 2.28
Back Liverpool HT/FT V at Porto @ 4.20Lay Barcelona V Lyon @ 1.52
Back Man U HT/FT V at Sporting Lisbon @ 3.80
The Championship[/color:3sq68qiq]
Back Charlton V Norwich @ 1.85
Back Stoke V Barnsley @ 1.80
Back Cardiff V Watford @ 2.74
Back Southampton V Colchester @ 1.81
Uefa Cup[/color:3sq68qiq]
Back Lens V FC Kobenhavn @ 1.83 (19/9)
Back Toulouse V CSKA Sofia @ 1.84
Back Spurs H/T-F/T V Anothosis @ 1.38
Zilzal,
Are you making Man Utd your bet of the century this weekend
.Personally, if I had the finances I would go big on Man Utd – after all that has gone on this week at Chelsea I will be astonished if they can pick themselves up and beat United.
Lampard and Drogba are still expected to be absent, and so far Chelsea look a shadow of themselves without those two. Take into account the apparant rifts between the players after all what’s gone on and I can only see one winner. I think Man Utd will have Rooney and Ronaldo playing also just to add confidence.
Mike
Mike
I’ve gone with your logic on the Man U Chelsea match even if it is probably reflected in the price. The closest I see to an investment this weekend is the Arsenal Asian selection.(Derby beat nothing last Monday!)
I’m hoping for a steady weekend after that disastrous midweek losing sequence.BTW I was expecting a preview of you local derby this weekend
Weekend Saturday 22nd September
SHORTLIST
Premier League[/color:uwmy5j20]
Back Arsenal Asian -1.5 V Derby @ 1.64
Back Bolton V Spurs @ 3.05
Back Man U V Chelsea @ 2.10
Back Everton V at Villa @ 3.30
Back Fulham V Man City @ 2.64
Championship[/color:uwmy5j20]
Back Sheffield Utd V at Palace @ 2.76
Back West Brom V at Scunthorpe @ 2.42
Championnat[/color:uwmy5j20]
Back Strasbourg V Le Mans @ 2.26
Back Nice V St Etienne @ 2.52
Hi Zilzal,
Good luck with your selections.
I’ve been very busy last 48 hours and didn’t get chance to do the preview for the Boro game, though for what it’s worth I fancy us to win comfortably.
I did an article on who will be the Premiership top scorer and I think Arsenal’s Adebayor is a cracking each way bet so I’m hoping he bags a few today.
My next piece, which will be done by Tuesday is on Arsene Wenger and his ‘buying youth’ policy.
Speak soon,
Mike
Zilzal,
Well done on your English selections that have played today.
Boro are shocking, conceded a first minute goal and a last minute goal – they don’t half pee me off
As for Adebayor, well he bagged an hat-trick today, much to my delight
If you can’t find my article, here it is;
http://betting.betfair.com/football/pre … -drog.html
Mike
That’s an excellent piece, Mike. You obviously (unlike me) eat and drink the game. Have you considered doing a Soccer "Pricewise" each Saturday?
I bet that away strip we saw last week doesn’t half pee you off as well
– who come from all over the country/world.
– what’s all that about lol.
but with Portsmouth at home and available at 4/1 the price was too big to ignore. The Portsmouth defence hasn’t looked quite right this season and with Liverpool in their current form they could be in for a long afternoon. However, Liverpool do have a habit of not turning up sometimes and Portsmouth are certainly capable of pinching the odd goal or two. Either way I think it should be a good game and I’m looking forward to it.
I think the Riverside is a great ground and wouldn’t mind going when it has a full house. I imagine it’s a great atmosphere.)
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