Middlesbrough v Swansea City, Saturday 9th August 2025, 3pm

August 28, 2025

The Boro’s first league game of the season took place on the same day as an Undertones gig at Stockton Arc. Jen and I were joined by a few mates for an enjoyable performance. Afterwards we called into the kebab shop opposite and bumped into the bassist. They didn’t have pizza on the rider and so he had to sort out his own post-gig scran. He seemed a decent bloke and he chatted away to Jen about all kinds of American and Irish stuff.

Earlier in the day I’d made my way to the Riverside with quite low expectations. I’d been to a few of the pre-season games and, whilst some of the performances were ok at times, we hadn’t managed a win or ever looked like a team that would create too many chances.

Harry and I have moved seats to the South Stand, next to Tom. He was working though and so Alistair came along instead. Harry must be pushing six foot now, but Alistair is younger and shorter and so he spent a lot of the game standing on his seat.

New signing Brittain was making his debut at right wing back, but we were still filling in with Silvera on the left. There was no sign of van den Berg with his move to Cologne appearing imminent, but Hackney started in midfield after knocking back an approach from fellow Championship side Ipswich.

It all went better than I’d expected. There wasn’t much between the teams in the first half, but I felt that we took control of the game after the break. A rare Dael Fry goal was enough to take the points and get the campaign off to a solid start.

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Emley v Silsden, Friday 8th August 2025, 7.45pm

August 27, 2025

I’ve been making reasonably progress at ticking off the grounds in the East Division of the Northern Premier League, mainly due to the efforts of Northern League clubs in gaining promotion to it. As I had a Friday night with nothing planned, I thought I’d head down to Emley for their opening game of the season against Silsden.

In an update of other stuff, Jen and I had been to the Old Courtroom at Middlesbrough Town Hall the night before to see local band Weathership. They were ok, but I preferred one of the livelier support bands.

The drive down to Emley was more complicated than it needed to be with multiple road closures. Nevertheless, I made it on time to the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground and handed over my tenner admission just as the teams were walking out. There was a decent programme for a couple of quid.

Emley were favourites for the win having just missed out on promotion last year whilst Silsden were playing their first ever fixture as high as the eighth tier. I watched for a while from behind the goal, then found myself a seat in the main stand where I ended up in conversation with a fellow groundhopper about some of the other grounds in the division.

Next to the main stand was a cabin with a rooftop viewing area. This was where the people who had opted for the thirty pounds hospitality package watched the game from. The stands behind the goal looked as if they had all been erected at different times with little regard to an overall design. I liked the look of it though, it was a sort of shanty town.

The game went as expected, with Emley two up inside twenty-five minutes and then adding a third midway through the second half. A fair few of the near five-hundred crowd were from Silsden and their team showed enough to suggest that, despite the result, they will do ok this season.

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Accrington Stanley v Oldham Athletic, Tuesday 5th August 2025, 7.45pm

August 18, 2025

One of the things that I thought I’d try and do this season is get around a few more of the ninety-two league stadiums. Whilst I’ve been to more than two hundred grounds in England, I’ve not completed any of the top four divisions and among them there are still thirty-five grounds I’ve yet to visit.

I made a start by driving across country to Accrington. It was a pleasant enough journey via Skipton, a route that I rarely seem to take when heading West.

The fixture was a preliminary tie in the Carabao Cup between Accrington Stanley and Oldham Athletic. I’d bought my ticket online in advance and parked up with at least half an hour to spare before kick-off.

I followed the crowd towards the Wham Stadium but found myself in the section of the ground reserved for the away fans. Oldham had been given the open terracing behind one goal and most of the covered seating along one side. My ticket was for the main stand opposite and when I pointed this out to a steward, she very kindly escorted me most of the way to my seat.

Once in position I was able to listen in to a Geordie bloke a couple of seats along from me. He was explaining that a visit to the Wham Stadium had been on his bucket list for years. However, he had been thwarted by fixtures being cancelled for reasons including a waterlogged pitch, snow and international call-ups.

His previous attempt at the weekend just gone had failed when his wife insisted upon them going shopping instead. With luck like that I fully expected a locust plague to rock up as the teams walked out.

It was an action packed first half, with Accrington taking a three-goal lead. The third goal resulted in an injury to the Oldham keeper when he punched the crossbar rather than the ball. The fella to my left thought that he was feigning injury out of embarrassment at being beaten three times in half an hour, but when the lad removed his glove, his pinky finger stuck out to the side at a forty-five-degree angle. Ouch.

At the break I tried to buy a butter pie, for no other reason than I’d never heard of them before, never mind had one, but they were sold out. Next time in Lancashire, perhaps.

In the second half I watched from behind the goal. Oldham pegged a goal back, but it turned out to be no more than a consolation. The cross-country drive was less enjoyable in the dark and it was knocking on for midnight by the time I arrived home, albeit with just thirty-four of the ninety-two remaining.

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Middlesbrough v Deportivo de La Coruna, Saturday 2nd August 2025, 3pm

August 8, 2025

There’s just a week to go until the proper season starts for the Boro. That means it’s time for the traditional ‘big name’ friendly at home. Good as that is though, the fixture against Deportivo de La Coruna wasn’t the highlight of my weekend. Not at all.

Twelve years after logging our first section of the Cleveland Way, Jen and I finally finished it off. We walked a total of eleven miles from Filey Brigg to Cayton Bay and back, which meant that we fully completed the trail in both directions on the same hike.

It’s nice to do these walks with a dog and as Henry is still recovering from his knee surgery, we borrowed Soph’s other dog, Millie. She’s an seven-month-old Labrador and whilst Jen and I covered just the minimum distance necessary, she ran back and forward for at least twice the mileage.

The second-best weekend activity was the match. Tom had mentioned that he and his mate Jones were going in hospitality for forty-eight quid. That seemed like a good deal to me and so Harry and I joined them.

We were in the Host and Stay Lounge, which is usually close to two hundred and fifty pounds a pop, although I think for regular games you get a lot more than the burger and chips that we were given.

It made for an interesting change though. There was table service, and we had one of the booth tables that allowed us to look out towards the fan zone and see other fans arriving.

Having a big table also made it easy to spread out the fold-out poster in the programme and identify ourselves in the photograph of the Boro end at Ibrox a week earlier.

Our padded seats were just to the right of the Director’s Box. The Boro were pretty much full strength from those available, with the exception of Rav van den Berg and Hayden Hackney. The dutchman was nowhere to be seen as he tries for a move back home, but Hackney was on the bench after deciding to gamble on securing a Premier League move by turning down Championship Ipswich.

I think he has made the right call, but if his transfer doesn’t happen until late on deadline day, we might find it too late to replace him in this window.

We did ok with Tommy Conway scoring twice, the second after a good run from wing-back Sammy Silvera. In between those efforts, Deportivo scored twice themselves and the resulting draw meant that we were still awaiting our first win under Rob Edwards. Hopefully we are saving that for Swansea on Saturday.

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Hartlepool United v Middlesbrough, Wednesday 30th July 2025, 7pm

August 2, 2025

It’s not often that I get to Hartlepool, but this was my second visit within a month. The previous time Jen and I had taken a walk along the England Coastal Path. We started at St Hilda’s church, quickly passing a pub with outdoor karaoke next to the Andy Capp statue. We continued northwards as far as Steetly Pier before retracing our steps.

We paused at the cemetery that has the graves of those killed in the World War One naval shelling, with the highlight of the six-mile walk being a seagull flying past us with a mouse firmly clasped in its beak.

This visit was to watch the Boro at the Victoria Ground, or as it is now known, the Suit Direct Stadium. It’s thirty-nine years since I last saw a game there, back in ’86 for the Boro’s first game after coming out of liquidation. Ayresome Park didn’t have the safety certificate and so Hartlepool very kindly lent us their ground.

My memories of that game are sketchy. I remember turning my ankle on the wasteland going in and I’m fairly sure I watched from the terracing along one side of the pitch. Probably the side facing the tunnel. We went two up and could have clinched the win when someone, possibly Archie Stephens, maybe Gary Hamilton, rattled the crossbar from distance. Port Vale hit back though, and we had to settle for a two all draw.

There was no wasteland to negotiate this time as we parked near to the stadium and followed the road around to the entrance for the Victoria Park Lounge. I’d opted for a hospitality ticket mainly so that I could watch the match sitting down. For thirty-eight quid a pop, Jen and I got padded seats behind the dugouts, curry and rice before the game and a welcome drink. Not bad at all.

There were around two thousand Boro fans attending. We had the standing section behind the goal to our left and the seated stand to my right. There was a small group of vocal Hartlepool fans in the corner of the stand opposite, but otherwise the home crowd were fairly quiet.

Boro had picked a young, inexperienced side, so much so that there were players I’d never heard of. Fringe players Forss, Barlaser, Hamilton and Gilbert were given a run out, but none of them made a pressing case for a first team starting spot.

It was goalless at half-time when we returned to the lounge for a coffee. Hartlepool scored first after the restart, but Boro equalized through Sonny Finch running at the Hartlepool defence and finishing well. A draw was a fair reflection of the evening’s action.

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Chapelhall v Ashfield, Sunday 27th July 2025, 3pm

August 1, 2025

This was a bonus game that I spotted as I returned to the car after the Rangers v Boro women’s game at Broadwood Stadium. It was on the 4G pitch next to the main ground. There were a couple of blokes watching and they very kindly filled me in on the teams. The game had just resumed after half-time and the visitors, Ashfield, were a goal up.

They told me that it was a pre-season friendly and that Ashfield, who were from Glasgow, were probably one step up from the local side, Chapelhall. From the appearance of the players, I’d say it was probably an under-twenty game.

The two fellas had been at the Boro game yesterday, so we chatted for a while about our respective line ups and Tommy Conway’s international prospects. I hung around for ten minutes or so to take some photos before clearing off and heading south.

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Glasgow Rangers Women v Middlesbrough Women, Sunday 27th July 2025, 2pm

July 31, 2025

As we were staying over in Scotland after the Rangers v Boro game, it gave me the opportunity to go along to the women’s fixture between the same teams the following day.

We had planned to walk some more of the West Highland Way beforehand, but the weather was a bit ropey and we didn’t see much point in heading out in the rain when we could always return at a later date with some more enjoyable conditions.

The game was at the Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld. It’s a ground that Rangers Women share with Lowland League side Cumbernauld Colts and League One’s Hamilton Academicals. Hamilton have only just taken residence at Broadwood after being booted out of their previous home at New Douglas Park.

We arrived about half an hour before kick-off, meaning that there was sufficient space in the car park. We could have bought scarves and bucket hats, but did nae bother as they say up there.

Only the main stand was open and there were quite a few spectators wearing Boro colours. The queue for food and drink was too long to join which meant that we missed out on a choice of scotch, macaroni or kebab pies. I sometimes wonder if Scotland is trolling the rest of the world with their culinary inventions, but if they are, a lot of their own population aren’t in on the joke.

Rangers are in the top division in Scotland with the Boro having just been promoted to the third tier in England. The gulf in talent was apparent from the off and Rangers were three up at the break, before extending their lead to six by home time.

It’s difficult in pre-season friendlies to gauge the respective merits of clubs as you don’t always know whether you are watching a weakened team or players who are at different stages of fitness. On this showing though, the Boro have a bit to do if they want back-to-back promotions.

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Glasgow Rangers v Middlesbrough, Saturday 26th July 2025, 2pm

July 30, 2025

The Boro’s pre-season friendly with Rangers certainly caught the attention of the Boro fanbase with around seven thousand tickets sold for the trip to Ibrox. I looked at accommodation in the city but it seemed so expensive that I initially assumed that it must have been a weekend when both Oasis and Taylor Swift were in town.

My Plan B was to stay north of Glasgow and combine the trip with walking a little further along the West Highland Way. The hotel that we booked in Drymen was having a Murder Mystery Night and so we joined in. I doubt I’d make a detective as I strongly suspected a couple who were there as punters, just like us. It’s lucky I didn’t rugby tackle them to the ground to make a citizen’s arrest. Jen identified the murderer easily enough, reasoning that ‘it’s usually the wife’.                                                                     

We only had time on the Saturday for a short pre-match walk, but we covered the section between Dumdoyne and Arlehaven in both directions. It was just six miles in total, but it’s enough to keep the progress of the trail ticking over and it’s good to spend a morning out in the countryside.

We passed a distillery that I may visit on a future trip but didn’t see much wildlife. I’d been hoping for deer but had to settle for a robin.

In the afternoon I drove to Ibrox. It’s a stadium that I’d last visited in the summer of ’85. On that occasion my friend Craig and I had travelled up to Edinburgh to see some lads that we had recently met on holiday in France. They were Hearts fans and we went with them to Glasgow to see their team get beat 3-1.

It looks as if there have been some renovations in the past forty years as the few memories that I have of the inside of the ground bear little semblance to what I could see from the lower section of the Broomloan Stand.

Tom and Harry had made the journey north too, but I missed them before the game. As they were in the upper tier I couldn’t meet up with them during the game either.

I was pleased to see Sol Brynn in goal for us. If he is going to be our first team keeper this season, he needs to establish himself as soon as possible. Possible departures Hayden Hackney and Rav van der Berg were missing, supposedly with minor injuries, or perhaps after a phone call from an agent.

The game was more physical than a lot of our players were used to and we struggled to ‘win’ free kicks by going to ground after minimal contact. I’m ok with that. Law McCabe adjusted quite quickly and seemed to relish the opportunity to get stuck in. I’m hoping that when Hackney does go, that he’ll get a decent run alongside Morris.

We went one up from a corner early on and added a second just after half-time. Rangers then made ten subs at once and with a much stronger team brought it back to two each. We were happy to take the draw by the end.

I finally caught up with Harry and Tom for a chat outside before heading back to Drymen with the intention of a further chunk of the West Highland Way the next day.

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Horse Racing at Catterick, Wednesday 23rd July 2025

July 29, 2025

It’s fair to say that Hickton’s career to date has been disappointing. After a promising two-year-old debut where he ran on to finish fourth of eight in a five-furlong race at Redcar, he has not challenged for a place since. Despite trying him over a variety of distances and going, he is generally one of the last two horses to finish. We’ve tried most things to change his fortunes including switching trainers and lopping off his nuts.

I could sense a growing feeling in the syndicate that there might not be any improvement to be had and that if we wanted to grace the winners enclosure, then it may have to be with a different horse.

I drove down to Catterick by myself as I was travelling on to Bradford afterwards to watch the Boro. It was heavy rain all of the way down, which whilst not the best conditions for driving are great for a horse with as little pace as Hickton.

I arrived just in time to see the race before ours and it was clear that the ground was as suitable for him as it was ever going to be.

The plan was that Zak would drop him out at the start and then try and pick horses off in the second half of the race. That’s exactly what happened. He stayed last until the half-way mark and then gradually improved his position. He was still going strongly into the final furlong when others were fading and by the time he reached the finish line he had overhauled all but two of the horses. If there had been another hundred yards he might very well have won.

Everyone was very pleased with third, particularly those of us who had got 66/1 just before the off. It was great that Declan’s faith in him was vindicated, and we now have a better idea how to get the best out of the horse. It’s likely that he’ll stay an extra couple of furlongs, but the key to it is holding him up on ground no better than soft. I’ll be hoping that we’ll get plenty more rain in the next few weeks.

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Horse Racing at Redcar, Sunday 20th July 2025

July 27, 2025

Hickton is a horse who needs soft ground and the lack of rain over the early part of the season has meant that he has only ran once this year. That was on the all-weather down at Southall, a month ago. It didn’t work out as he took a bump towards the end and faded from contention.

The heavy rain over the past few days made a return to the turf possible and he was entered in a nine-furlong handicap at Redcar. I thought I’d have a beer or two and so Jen and I took a taxi for the twenty-five-minute journey to the course.

We had an underwhelming buffet in the upstairs Owner’s Restaurant and just about broke even on the pre-Hickton races, courtesy of a single decent priced winner.

There was a fair bit of optimism among the syndicate due to the good to soft ground rating and trainer Declan’s positive assessment of his work on the gallops. Hickton had been backed in to as low as eighteens at one point but went off at twenty-eight to one, which is the price that I’d taken that morning.

The race didn’t go well. He ran strongly from the front again but faded inside the last couple of furlongs, slipping back to finish tenth of the twelve runners.

Zak, the jockey, reckoned that Hickton ran his race the wrong way around, expending far too much energy at the start and then leaving nothing in the tank for the finish. He has an entry for Catterick in three day’s time where the intention will be to drop him out in the back of the field and then let him come from behind to pick his rivals off late on. Let’s hope.

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