Cheese On Toast

Im running England prem - leage 2, italy serie A and Spain first division on Large database


Shock appointment of new boss

There was shock on the whole of teeside this morning as Steve McClaren sensationally quit his post as middlesbrough boss. It must have been one of the major shocks of football as he had just lead his team to their first ever trophy in 128 years. Only he knew the reason for his sudden departure and he wanted it to remain a secret, until one day he could return.

It didnt take long for the press to start speculating who to take over the Boro as names such as Carlos Queiroz, Sir Bobby Robson, Martin O'Neil and a few others were rounded off as possible candidates. Steve Gibson, the chairman of this wonderful club, didnt want to be drawn into a media circus of who the new boss would be. He took a few hours off into his office surely deciding to who to make his new manager. It was then that it struck him. The man to take over as new Middlesbrough boss was none other than Mario Trulli. Yes thats right, Mr Trulli.

Mario Trulli speaks of his delight at being named New M'boro Boss

I cant beleive that i have been able to get this job. With such high profile names being thrown into the mix it was such a shock to see my name be the final one.

Im very grateful to Mr Gibson for giving me this chance to carry on from where Mr McClaren left off, and i just hope its not another 128 years that we have to wait for a trophy. I will do my utmost to make this club an even bigger club and i just hope that my chairman, backroom staff and players stick by me whatever happens.


Memo to Mr Trulli
We, Middlesbrough football club are wanting you to raise the profile of this club as soon as possible. We need to start playing with the big boys and we need you to do it.

I expect us to get at least a mid table finish although a European spot would be lovely. With it being our first journey in europe i just hope that you get us somewhere respectable in the competition. Winning it would be the best bonus you could give us.

Any silverware this season will be greatful and help make us an even bigger club.

Good luck.
Steve



And so my journey begins

Tyrone the Magazine

Smoggies :p

Cheese On Toast

What to do with this team
After looking at the team it seemed we were pretty strong nearly all over the field, just one major moan is that a few players are getting on and may only see this season out. With £9m to spend i was going to use this wisely. As a matter of fact il probably hardly spend alot.

My first in depth look at my squad was that the goalkeeping situation wasnt that good with Schwarzer and Nash not the best of 'keepers and both getting on, i had to find a decent young keeper to get me on my way. it would prove tricky to get a good keeper as not many clubs want to sell their prize possesions. I just wonder if i can use some charm and get some good deals.

My defence looked solid with Southgate being the motivator of the defence and the whole team. Oh how it would of been better if he was 10 years younger, just hope i could get something out of him still. Chris Riggot looked like a decent player for the future and also Quedrue impressed me. Two players who will most definately be in my starting XI each week if possible.

My midfield looked as good as any, well maybe not the elite clubs of Europe but surely they were pretty good anyway. I had good defensive midfielders on Boateng and Doriva, the left wing of England starlet Stewart Downing and Bolo Zenden would have most teams trembling at the knees if you saw them two gunning for you. The right hand side was alright but could be improved as Mendieta and Parlour were 30 and 32 respectively so wouldnt be in my long term plans, but youngster Morrision looked promising and would definately feature somewhere. One place that needed sorting out was my attacking midfielder. With only either Zenden or Job being able to play this position it left me with no choice but to find a decent attacking midfielder to fill this void.

My attack again was very strong with mark Viduka and Hasslebaink two outstanding performers who could definately bag me the goals i needed. My back ups werent that great though as Malcolm Christie is somewhat injury prone so could become a liabilty later on and nemeth not really being up to scratch. Danny graham was one to watch though and i was hoping he would become a fans favourite in years to come.

Youth Setup
Middlesbrough are reknowned for their great setup and i just hoping they could bring in some great youngsters for me.

Squad over with, its now time to get some transfers in. A few players may be leaving but they have all been great servants over the years. But its just time for some new blood to come through.

Cheese On Toast

Well I jumped in the transfer window feet first and started looking around for suitable players. The main Positions i was looking for was a Keeper,a central defender, A back up left back, a defensive and an attacking midfield.

My first search was for a gk. i came across Maarten Stekelenburg who looked a decent player. I smacked him on my shortlist and suddenly a few other teams were interested. I just hope i could tempt him here instead of either Inter milan or Barcalona. So i put in a bid of £1m up front and then £2m over 24 months. Ajax came back and said they wanted a 35% sell on clause put with the transfer. i was a little nervous at this as it meant if i did get him and sold him on i would lose a large chunk of a future fee. Just hopefully i will get him anyway.

With Southgate getting on and also ehiogu, i needed a youngish centre half to call upon. now centre backs normally cost alot of money but i came across an italian who wasnt wanted by his club. Nicola Legrottaglie who was on loan at Bologna was on the transfer list for £650k. I stuck in an offer and awaited a response.

Up next on my shopping list was a left back. i found a few that looked good but i didnt have the budget avaiable to attract players of their quality to here just yet. I then came along a lonely figure amongst the transfer listed players. Mirko Pieri. A talented left back who was only going to cost me £600k. Some small italian clubs were intersted and i hoped he would join me instead of staying in Italy.

With Doriva getting old and coming to the end of his contract i needed a replacement. I looked around to see suitable candidates but once again they were out of my price range. When i came across this talented 18 year old who went by the name of Freddy Guarin. A young columbian who seemed to have already gotten into the columbian national squad and had several caps already. With him being priced at only £700k i instantly put in an offer which was accepted. i negotiated a deal with the player himself and was just waiting on his work permit.

All was going well so far.

My next target was an attacking centre midfielder. I saw Mikael Arteta for £3.2m and he seemed like a great player to have here, unfortunately he was on loan at Everton and even if i did agree a fee then he wouldnt come till next season so i cooled my interest. Just by chance i look further down the page and saw this player called Zvonimir Vukic. A young Serb & Montenegro star who plyed his trade in the Ukrainian league p laying for Shakhtar. His value was £4.2m but i was hoping i could get him for a decent price as he lookeed great. We got to some agreement but when i tried finalise the bid the rejected my bids so we were back to square one. It was getting frustrating as i relly needed a centre midfield. My search continued.

Fans Favourite rejects contract
After taking time out of looking for new players i decided to see who needed a new contract. Bolo Zenden was one of these players. I started neegotiations and put an offer on the table. A few days later He came back and rejected my contract and stated his future lay else where. He would only stay if the contract was too good to turn down. i wasnt prepared to give him a huge contract so i told him straight that i cant have players here who dont want to be here and that id have to transfer list him. he seemed a little annoyed but its my policy. On the list he went.

So I now needed a cheap back up left winger for Stewart downing. Not a world beater but someone who could fill in for him if needed. i saw this littlep layer tucked up in Bayer Leverkusens squad where he seemeed to be having a ahrd time. he was listed and it was obvious he needed a new club. Daniel Bierofka was his name. I put a bid in of £350k and awaited a response.

Other players who fell victim to the transfer list:
Joseph Desire Job
Carlo Nash
No teams are yet to table a bid for these players

Cheese On Toast

Transfer news

Well a few transfers to record which brought delight to the Boro fans. I managed to grab myself a gk and fought off tough competition from Inter, Barcalona and Betis for the signature of young dutch starlet Maarten Stekelnburg. he cost the club around £3m in total which was a great coup and im sure he will be a great servant for many years to come.
He said he was keen to take the challenge to play at a level that befitted his ability.

I also brought in a younger keeper from Fredrikstad who goes by the name of Lasse Staw who cost me £190k and no doubt has the ptotential to succeed.

i got my Left back Mirko Pieri who was delighted to come to tis club for a fee of £675k which could turn out to be a great bargain.

My nextt and suprise signing was Derek Riordan. I wasnt really looking for a striker but at £425k i wasnt going to miss out. he was delighted to sign for me and couldnt wait for his debut.

I also offered contracts to 4 coaches but im not optimistic about signing them as i couldnt offer what they wanted. But hopefully they will join me.


News on Vukic
I couldnt agree a fee with Shakhtar for this player so have cooled my interest as i couldnt afford what they wanted. I know have to search for at least one attacking midfielder and its proving difficult as not many clubs are willing to sell.

Chase hots up for Zenden
After i put Zenden up for auction lets say, a host of clubs were intersted. I offered him out for £5m and Club Brugge and Newcastlre came back with bids of £4.1m. I asked for £5m from Newcastle but they withdrew. i offered him out again for mroe interest but none have come back yet. Just hope i can get a bit of money for him.

Still no interest in Job or Nash. Also Nicola Legrotagglie joined Parma.

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Riordan upsets the fans on his arrival
After the signing of new striker Derek Riordan, he talked to the press about his new move to Middlesbrough.

'I am really happy to have joined this great up and coming club. I feel that me moving here is a stepping stone to my future and I am hoping to attract the attention of the big clubs.'

After hearing this outburst, the faithful fans of the Boro weren’t best pleased with Riordans comments. A spokesman from the supporters group had this to say:

After hearing our new signing saying he wants to attract the attention of bigger clubs, we are very disappointed that our manger has signed a player with this mentality. We at Middlesbrough want players who are enthusiastic to pull on the shirt and wear it with pride each match. Mr Riordan will have to apologise to the fans for this as we feel it was totally unacceptable. .

I was a bit upset by these comment by both my striker and fans as I thought bringing in this youngster would show I have ambition to make this club great with young players. I hope that Riordan will re-pay my faith in bagging goals for this team.


Wolves snap up Nash
After little interset in Carlo Nash, I decided to drop his price by half and offer him out again. A few teams looked at him but said no. Two teams stayed interested though, Wolverhampton and Nottingham Forest. They both put bids in of £500,000 which was too good to refuse for this keeper. I accepted the bid and allowed Carlo to talk to both clubs. After a few days of negotiating, Carlo Signed for Wolverhampton on a 3 year deal.

Cheese On Toast

Southampton Sign Zenden
After fans favourite Bolo Zenden rejected a contract offer I offered him out to a host of clubs hoping to get a quick sale. Clubs were interested but weren’t making bids. Club Brugge and Newcastle bid but their offers weren’t what I wanted. It turned out that Southampton were looking for a left winger and didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to sign this player. They came in with a bid worth £4,1million. I told them I wanted £4.1million up front. This sometimes can go horribly wrong as teams might think I want too much but Southampton came back and offered me a straight sum of £4.1million. I accepted and negotiations started between the two clubs. He finally signed a few days later.

In other news Daniel Bierofka snubbed Middlesbrough and sign for Aston Villa for £350k. Another player missed out on. I now how to hunt for a new player. After more searching the transfer market I stumbled on this youngster who played in south Africa with Kaiser Chiefs. His name Junior Khanye. He looked a promising player and for £300k he looked like a great bargain. I stuck in an offer of £300k and awaited a response. In the meantime Ajax and Real Madrid put in offers which were accepted. It was going to be a struggle to sign him over these two great teams. I got my offer accepted and offered him a contract. To my surprise he accepted my offer and was joining me depending on if he got his work permit. I was really hoping he did.

Trulli looks for double midfielders
I thought I had blown my chance of signing Vukic after previous attempts but I finally landed him in a battle to get a fee accepted. I finally got a bid of £5.5m accepted for him and proceeded negotiations. These went well as he accepted my offer and signed a contract for 4 years.

After getting Vukic I still needed another centre midfielder so I stepped up the chase for Tecos midfielder Juan Pablo Rodriguez, who was only worth £800k. After several failed attempts to sign him I finally got an offer of £3.7m accepted and then offered him a contract. He signed after getting a work permit on a 4 year deal. Two great signings for this team.

Trulli signs Doriva replacement
I finally got my replacement for Doriva as Freddy Guarin signed on a another 4 year deal for a fee of £770k. At only 18 years of age, Guarin was sure to be one of the future stars of Middlesbrough Football Club.

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Pre-season
Pre- season went alright as I won 2 lost 1 and drew one. A good start to my managing career. Just hoped that my players would be ready for the season ahead.

First six Fixtures
Crystal Palace (A)
Liverpool (H)
Bolton (A)
Southampton (H)
West Brom (A)
Blackburn (H)

Not a bad first few games to find my feet and I was just hoping we could get off to a great start and I hoped to impress my fans with a few wins in there.

Cheese On Toast

Date: 14-8-04
Competition: English Premier Division
Result: Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Middlesbrough
Man of the Match: Chris Riggots for Boro


Match Incidents
Danny Granville sent off for Palace (40)
Mark Viduka scored for Boro (70)

Team
GK: Maarten Stekelenburg
RB: Michael Reiziger
LB: Franck Queudrue
CB: Gareth Southgate
CB: Chris Riggott
MR: Ray Parlour
ML: Stewart Downing
MC: Juan Pablo Rodriguez
MC: Freddy Guarin
SC: Derek Riordan
SC: Mark Viduka

Subs:
Mark Schwarzer
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Gaizka Mendieta
Ugo Ehiogu
George Boateng



First Half
The first match of my reign as Middlesbrough boss started off pretty slowly. Neither team seemed like they wanted to take chances at scoring and just passed the ball around. Near the end of the half the heat started to rise and We looked most likely to score as a few efforts went just wide of the goal but still not troubling their ‘keeper. On 40 minutes Crystal Palace were sent down to 10 men as their centre half Danny Granville tripped Riordan as he was through on goal. The ref had no choice but to send him off. Advantage was now in our favour as we went into the break 1 man up and 0-0 on the scoreline.


Second Half
After seeing Palace go down to 10 men late in the first half I wanted us to take advantage of this and get on the score sheet early on so that their heads went down even further. We pounded the Palace goal but nothing seemed to be going for us again as their keeper kept all the shots out. 64 minutes in and I decided to change it round abit. On came Hasselbaink and Mendieta for Riordan and Parlour. I was just hoping these 2 pairs of fresh legs would help me push for that vital first goal which was surely going to seal the fate of this match.
It took just 6 minutes for my changes to take effect as we scored on 70 minutes. Freddy Guarin picked up the ball on the edge of the area and struggled to find a way past their defence. He finally managed to get down the side and cross a lovely ball in from the left where Mark Viduka was waiting with to head the ball into the bottom corner of the net. A great goal and a great assist from the new boy, Guarin.
We then sat back for a while and let Palace come on to us which I didn’t like and they were getting closer to scoring. I had to take action and protect my goal lead so on 90 minutes I brought on Boateng for Viduka and then put Boateng in a 5 man midfield. This seemed to do the trick as palace found it hard to break this midfield wall and we went on to a 1-0 win.


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A great win for us as we need to get wins over the lower teams and my team delivered well this afternoon. Also a great start to my career. We had a tough match next against Liverpool which is a big test this early on in the season and I had every confidence in my team and was hoping we could get a good result.

Cheese On Toast

Date: 18-8-04
Competition: English Premier Division
Result: Middlesbrough 3 - 1 Liverpool
Man of the Match: Maarten Stekelenburg for Boro


Team
GK: Maarten Stekelenburg
RB: Michael Reiziger
LB: Franck Queudrue
CB: Gareth Southgate
CB: Chris Riggott
MR: Gaizka Mendieta
ML: Stewart Downing
MC: Zvonimir Vukic
MC: George Boateng
SC: Derek Riordan
SC: Mark Viduka

Subs:
Mark Schwarzer
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Ray Parlour
Ugo Ehiogu
Freddy Guarin

Match Incidents
Mark Viduka scored for Boro (27, 69)
Derek Riordan scored for Boro (31)
Steven Gerrard scored for Liverpool (90)


First Half
This was going to test my managerial skills to the fullest this early on in the season but I guess you have to get these teams over and done with. I changed the team round a little as I put Boateng in for the young Guarin and Mendieta in for Parlour. Rodriguez was on international duty so couldn’t be picked but I had a great replacement in Vukic for his debut.
I was hoping for a good start to shock Liverpool that we meant business and that’s pretty much what we did. We came out of the blocks on full cylinders and put lots of pressure on them. Unfortunately Liverpool had the first real chance of the half as they sliced open my defence but Stekelenburg kept them out with a great save.
We continued out assault on Liverpool and we finally got a breakthrough on 27 minutes. Vukic was having a great start to his Middlesbrough career and found himself on the edge of the area with the ball at his feet. He smashed a shot with struck the crossbar and bounced out. It fortunately fell to mark Viduka who passed the ball into the net before Liverpool could react quick enough. A great start to the match.
We doubled our lead on 31 minutes as Derek Riordan grabbed his first for the club when Viduka played him through and he just slid the ball past the Liverpool keeper and into the net. A great double salvo from us and this certainly shocked Liverpool. We held on to a 2-0 lead and went into the break 2-0 up. A great first half.


Second Half
After the great first half performance I just hoped we didn’t throw it all away early on as it would have made our great work useless. If we could hold out for the first 15 minutes then we had a great chance of keeping this lead. I made some changes on 64 minutes to keep my lead in tact so on came Hasselbaink and Parlour for Riordan and Mendieta. I was happy with at least a 2-0 win but obviously my players weren’t. They kept on pushing and finally grabbed their 3rd on 69 minutes. The fans went mad as we took a 3-0 lead over Liverpool. Liverpool took a goal kick which Queudrue got his head to and the ball slid in front of Viduka who ran towards the goal. Kirkland failed to close him down quick enough as Viduka slipped the ball past the near post to make it 3-0. A great goal and what was turning out as a great result for us.
We didn’t sit back this time and carried on with the same mentality and I was happy with that as ididnt want us losing concentration. Steven Gerrard took the shine off our victory as he grabbed a late consolation goal on 90 minutes to make the score 3-1. It was too late for a comeback though and we went on to win 3-1.


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Who’d have thought we could have beat Liverpool 3-1 tonight. This was a great result and showed the other teams that we meant business. I know its only early on but if we can play like this every match then we can achieve great things this season.