Saturday 15 February 2014

Back In Time: Middlesbrough 0, Aston Villa 4, 1999/2000 - "The Valentine's Day Massacre"


It was one of my darkest days as a Boro fan; a game that arguably signalled that the Robson Revolution could go no further.

Prior to the match, a faltering Boro had sunk to new depths, taking just one point from fifteen in a dreadful run that admittedly included a commendable draw at Anfield and a narrow defeat at Old Trafford more famous for the inexcusable behaviour of the Manchester United players than any penalty miss or goalkeeping error.

On the flip side, we'd tamely surrendered 4-1 at Derby in our last home game, allowing a then unknown future Boro striker named Malcolm Christie to steal the limelight.

Few, if any, exciting new stars had arrived or were coming through the ranks.

We had the absence of first choice goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, injuries to Brian Deane, Robbie Mustoe & Steve Vickers, and the suspension of key men, Hamilton Ricard and Christian Ziege, to deal with.

And now we were up against a good, professional side containing one past and *five* future Boro men - Paul Merson, Ugo Ehiogu, Gareth Southgate, George Boateng, Benito Carbone and Alan Wright. (Okay, the last one is clearly best forgotten about.)

Bryan Robson seemed at his wits end, and sent out what looked like a poorly-thought-through starting eleven.

Colin Cooper at left-back? Keith O'Neill, a winger, up front with Andy Campbell when a natural front man, Alun Armstrong, was wasting away on the bench? A volatile, enigmatic and clearly past-his-best Paul Gascoigne making his first start in two months?

It felt bad. It *was* bad. We just didn't anticipate how bad it was going to get.

Not surprisingly, we had no threat up front. Even more surprisingly, we carried virtually no threat in midfield, unless you count Gascoigne's elbow in Boateng's face. (How ironic that Gazza ended his Boro career by whacking a player who would be so much more of a Boro midfield totem than Gazza ever was.)


But, worse than that, Villa really did win a canter. They always looked like they had something extra in the tank, and even with a one-goal lead, never truly looked in danger.

Little wonder that Colin Cooper was almost in tears as he faced the Sky cameras. He surely wasn't the only one.

A side as uninspired and incohesive as Robson's that night were always going to be extremely vulnerable against a team like Aston Villa.

And although we went on to lose just twice more for the remainder of the season and finish comfortably in mid-table with 52 points (our second highest ever Premier League tally, just behind 2004-05) and six away wins (a Premier League record that Boro have repeatedly come close to matching, but never bettering), it was more from pluck than flair.

It was hardly the kind of football that would attract the right kind of big names to the club, or encourage key players to stay.

Recall the imminent arrival of the temperamental Christian Karembeu and the criminally overpaid, mostly disinterested Alen Boksic. And a very messy transfer saga involving our newly found German international hero was about to erupt...

(Originally published online at the Evening Gazette on February 14, 2014.)

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