Sentient Puddle

Well it’s happened, but not in a way I expected. Turned out that Steve Gibson had decided several weeks ago that Gareth Southgate was no longer the person to bring success (or at least, not failure) to Middlesbrough Football Club. Something most Boro supporters felt for a while. The nature of it was surprising, given that it was immediately after a win against Derby which kept us up there in the fight to go back up to the Premier League. Kind of proves the “football is a funny old game” cliche really, but it’s a welcome change. There’s enough decent soccer teams in the Championship to make this a difficult season to go straight back up, and nothing can be taken for granted. I think Gordon Strachan is a good choice, someone who has had experience with Manchester United and Celtic, and certainly isn’t going to look a football gifts horse in the mouth in a return to management, as he never really proved himself when he managed in England previously.
Should be interesting times ahead anyway. Up the Boro!

So, we finally got a decent result. 2 nil win away at Reading has got to be good news. It’s quite strange, as the mood around the Boro was so bad you’d think that we were in the relegation places, rather than than the top four. Is that because we’ve got unrealistic expectationsthat we should win every single game because we’re in an inferior league do you think? That’s what Gareth Southgate reckons, and is now claiming that the players would rather play away from home because of the pressure and the stick that they get at home. Nice move Gareth, blame the fans for our poor performances, instead of looking where the faults really lie, i.e. the manager and the team.

Alienating the fans further is just one of the things that Southgate seems to be getting better at. He needs to take a long look at himself and his team, because the reason that the fans are reacting how they are when things are not going well is because they have absolutely no faith in the manager, his team selection, tactics and transfer policy. So naturally we panic when we lose at home, or throw away a two goal lead, because we know that there is nothing the manager can do about it, because he has no tactical acumen, and never, ever blames the players. If we had a manager we felt could turn things around when the going got tough then it would be different, but we don’t. We saw that last season as we slipped to the inevitable relegation. Inevitable because it was clear that Southgate couldn’t do anything about it.

It’s times like that that you need to stand tall, and take the blame. Instead Southgate resolutely refuses to give his players the reprimand they deserve, so creating the impression with the fans that he is not the manager to turn things around if needs be. Signings like Caleb Folan don’t give any confidence either. Especially as he’s got injured and we don’t seem to have sent him back to Hull, which is what you normally do in that situation. What that suggests is that we’ve effectively already signed him permanently. Which further suggests that the club itself has no confidence that it will return to the Premier League anyday soon, because whatever he is, Caleb Folan is not a Premiership player. He may  have height, and we do need a taller player to play off our other strikers, but being tall is not enough in itself.

Still, we got the three points, and with West Brom and Newcastle dropping two points each, it keeps us in touch. Typical Boro though eh?

I have three brothers. All of them younger than me. The first one down from me is about 6 feet tall. The youngest is about 6 feet one inch tall. The one in between is, how shall I say, not as tall. Not sure why, these things just happen. Like the youngest brother is ginger, but none of the rest of us are. Randomness, that’s all it is. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with having ginger hair, just as I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with not having great height. Just because someone is taller than you, doesn’t make them any better as a person.

Now, just as my ginger brother has never said anything about changing the colour of his hair, my shorter brother has never expressed any desire for a height increase. Is this because he doesn’t want to get taller, or because he doesn’t think it’s possible? I assumed that it wouldn’t be possible myself, until I started coming across websites that give advice on how to increase height naturally which have tips and suggestions on the topic. Apparently it is possible, so there you go. Specific diets get mentioned, as do various exercises.

Now what do we think? I was contemplating running an experiment you see. I’m currently about 5 foot 10 inches (maybe five foot eleven).  How about I take some of the advice on how to gain height and follow the tips and advice, and see if I get any taller. I wonder how long it takes. Perhaps I could be over eight feet tall when I’m done. Not sure that I really want to be that tall. Before I get started I might look to see if there are any websites out there that tell you how to get shorter, so that I can reverse things if I get too big.