The Away End - John Powls - Home Thoughts From 'Abroad' || Middlesbrough F.C. news, reviews and comment

HOME THOUGHTS FROM 'ABROAD' 1-8-07
John Powls

Welcome to this new column for a new season. As the title suggests I'm going to be reflecting the perspective of the 'diasporas' - the hinterland of Boro fans, old (like me!) and new (Hello, Turkey) who are 'Boro 'till we die' but can't get to The Riverside as often as we'd love to.

Like many, I get to home games four or five times a year but also tour the (always full and passionate) away ends of Premiership grounds around the south, south-east and midlands, when the Boro boys are in town.'

In between, we live on a diet of national newspapers that give Boro scant regard. Websites, blogs and the internet too. Sky TV - we may also need to get to know Setanta - and radio. We consume it all voraciously, though it's often thin, common and not all that tasty - no Parmo!

We buy or get given the merchandise - I plead guilty to several charges of replica kit, mugs, ties and even 'dog-tags' that leave a nasty stain on your chest. And I ask for a charge of a brick in the Boro Brick Road, just by the Ayresome Park Gates to be taken into consideration too!

Sites like this, the message boards, forums and blogs are where we get our banter. Where we can experience the not always comfortable but usually wry and witty camaraderie of being amongst, if not friends, then fellow fans.

We share the same obsessions, mood swings and rantings caused by the hereditary, 'mild manic depression' that is being a Boro fan. I got it from my Dad and him from his and I've passed on the gene to my lad, and he still talks to me!

When the season kicks off - soon, thank goodness! - I'm going to concentrate on the football and you can expect this column every couple of weeks following the pattern of Boro away games - the next after Fulham away on 18 August. Given the fixtures in the first quarter of the season, how we start is going to be even more key than usual to where we finish.

But for this first occasion I'm going to talk about important matters 'behind the scenes'. About trust - earning it, losing it, abusing it, getting it back again and Trust with a capital T.

Where are we as we 'come of age' - our 21st after 1986? After Villa Park, Eindhoven and the end of the McClaren era? Through 'a top drawer manager' that never materialised to the, as yet, unfulfilled promise of something better under Gareth Southgate.

I am a long time Gate admirer. I wish him well and we all want him to succeed but he is having to cut his teeth in difficult circumstances and we had to endure a poor season last season as he struggled - often without support from those in a position to give it - to haul us to a last minute survival that was, for months, far too close for comfort.

Another columnist on this site posed the question 'Did ambition die at Eindhoven' as 'Small Town in Europe' began to look like a description of the MFC mind-set rather than a chant of pride.

I'm going to quote from a mate and fellow 'Away-Ender' - Ian Gill - with his permission. Not just because it's a terrific piece of writing but because it nails the problem precisely.

"You sense a groundswell of grumpiness amongst the fans. Something is not right at MFC. It is not a new theme I have followed; it has been of concern for some time."

From afar you are not privy to local gossip that takes places in the pubs and clubs so I don't know things that may be happening that the press cannot reveal. It just doesn't seem right.

It could just be a recent history of mismanagement, drivel and a lack of regard that has caught up with MFC.

I deliberately use MFC for the club and Boro for the team, to differentiate the two entities. We love the Boro but are disenchanted with MFC.

Somehow, Gibbo's dream which we all bought into has gone stale. The similarities between our ex-Prime Minister and his Government and the current incumbents at MFC are quite spooky.

Started as a breath of fresh air, as new Boro. Then over the years the gloss starts fading. Fans have realised that our leaders have somehow lost touch. Mistakes are repeated, communication does not match delivery, fans are almost ignored, told they need to be educated, the club re-branded and re-launched - but putting a spoiler on a Morris Marina doesn't stop it being a Morris Marina.

What is happening now is that the club can't do right for wrong, every action and word is picked over; every time something is not right or doesn't suit another cross is added to the grump list.

The new shirt, club badge and the new sponsorship announcement are just recent examples. 'Spectacular signings' and 'cutting cloth to suit' do not sit well together. Century FM is another niggle.

I am sure the people are trying but has familiarity caused loss of focus? Does Gibbo need a reshuffle and to bring in new blood MFC? Is he being too loyal?

Gate is trying but is suffering because he is the tip of the iceberg that is visible. The dreadful performances under Mac have not disappeared but we hope he is moving in the right direction. He appears to be an honest guy.

Let us hope he has the people above and around him to help rather than weigh him down with yet more baggage. Empty seats and grumbling on the terrace reflect not just on the team but the club.

So there we are - I could have quoted many, many more fans. I could have added ticketing and season tickets and many other things to the 'grump list'. What's undeniable is that it's felt strongly and has an impact - most recently in the 'Won't get fooled again/Wait and see' approach to season ticket renewal and the very few Boro games that the satellite broadcasters have chosen to cover in the first three months of the season.

Both have an impact on the balance sheet and thus the ability to sign players of the right calibre. 'The team that Teesside can afford' could become almost a self-fulfilling prophecy and a gateway to The Championship.

So what can be done about it? What's for certain is it has to start with MFC; it's not up to the fans. But what's equally certain is that if we're offered something worth buying into then we're desperate to buy in. It's not just about price but it is about value.

Should there be a call for heads to roll? I have to say no - or at least not for now. It's the easy knee-jerk that lazy hacks and politicians always reach for. It's rarely fair, warranted or guaranteed to improve matters and we don't know enough other than to tar everyone at MFC with the same brush - totally counter-productive.

What I'm going to ask for is much, much harder - that those at MFC take a long hard look at what has being going on, that they listen to what the fans and the customers are telling them, admit that things need to change and then change what they do going forward. It's never too soon to start. It should only be if the people won't change that you should change the people.

It's not that MFC can't do much of what is needed - they have shown they can in the past and, goodness knows, great credit is due for what has been achieved since 1986.

There are some new tricks that have to be learned and, for sure, a good few long running opportunities never taken. There is no shortage of good examples to learn from but they have to open themselves to learning, not keep on the defensive and 'drawing the wagons into a circle', ignoring things (and us) and hoping they'll go away.

A change would be refreshing for all of us - MFC, Boro and the fans. It can't be pleasant for folks at MFC to feel the butt of so much of this and, if the rumours are to be believed, even Gibbo has begun to be disenchanted sometimes, which none of us should want. It wouldn't be a surprise if, from within MFC, we appear to be ungrateful, unfair, churlish whingers. That can and must change - without season ticket launching or car park diplomacy.

Like all change it must be lead from the very top. Gibbo has shown himself deserving of the admiration and loyal support he has from the vast majority of fans and of the regard he is held in the game.

The business model that he set for the club has been proved right over the last twenty years. Not being a plc was and remains a wise decision. Not selling out now to a foreign bidder and insisting that the club stands on its own financial feet are absolutely correct. These days that should still mean a healthy balance sheet.

There are ways of keeping the best of what we've got, building on those right decisions and fine tuning the MFC business model to be even more fit for today's purpose, without significantly disturbing the controlling interest of the Chairman or the necessary grip and direction of the Chief Executive.

And, if MFC and the fans are to connect again and trust is to be re-built to mutual benefit around the shared interest in Boro then what better way than to build the fans into the business model of the club by facilitating a properly independent and constituted Boro Supporters Trust. Government funding and expertise from a variety of sources is available to do this (check out www.supporters-direct.org/englandwales/about.htm).

Many other clubs, large and small, have already taken this route - Arsenal amongst them - and in smaller clubs the Trust has sometimes bought players, saved the club from going out of business and, occasionally, is now the club owner.

A Trust would allow new buy in, in both senses, from fans all around the world and a new sense of belonging even if you couldn't always get to games. It could draw in investment from local firms not big enough for the major sponsorships and tie-ins.

If MFC and Gibbo were truly bold and if we take our Chief Executive at his word in what he said about the town and the fans being the true owners of the club of which he and Gibbo are only temporary stewards then they could amend the business model of the club to allow the Trust to invest in MFC and take a place on the Board.

That would feel like a new beginning, the start of a new community of trust (in more senses than one) and a 1986 experience all over again.

So, for now - it's hope for the new season and that it triumphs over our expectation. But as ever, with our Boro obsession, it's not the despair that gets you -we're used to that - it's the hope!

See you in an Away End!

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