By Chris Kirwan
August 10 2002

This match was to prove a pivotal point in the Everton careers of both Walter Smith and Paul Gascoigne. Everton and Middlesbrough were both hoping for an end to their years without a trophy, so understandably the BBC were interested in showing the game. Much to the delight of Evertonians they decided to schedule the game for 1.00 on a Sunday afternoon, obviously baring in mind the ease of travelling coast to coast on Sunday morning’s public transport. As a result of this early start I had to opt out of Time Tunnel at the Student’s Union and stay in on my own, mentally preparing for a time of morning I couldn’t recall ever seeing before.

My journey consisted of travelling by bus to Manchester Piccadilly, where I got the train to Middlesbrough, all at a ridiculous time. So after being awake for hours, and seeing the joys of Huddersfield and Darlington through my window seat, while reading the News of the World that broke the incredible shock new that Will Young was gay (what? Graham Norton will be next!), imagine my joy when i arrived in Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough makes Wolverhampton look like Paris. You can almost taste the radiation.

Anyway, I wasn’t there to see the sights, so I set off for the Riverside. When I got there I got a sense of de ja vu, the ground is identical to Derby’s Pride Park. It makes you hope that King’s dock won’t be the replicated elsewhere, for your club to have character I believe that you can’t have a ground made from the same parts as another. The travelling support was, as usual, fantastic with a packed away end and Blues jotted all around the stadium. It was just a shame that ‘boro can’t fill their own ground.

Kick-off arrived and Everton lacked any shape. Smith had decided to go with wingbacks, but we had no width and the midfield was over-run. Gazza was trying hard but it was becoming increasingly clear that his legs weren’t up to the job, and with the hope of Gazza doing something gone so it seemed had all of Smith’s ideas.

Middlesbrough found it all too easy; goals from Whelan, Nemeth and Ince late in the first half finished the tie. The Blues were abysmal; even with Radzinski and Moore up front the long ball was still being played. Only when Chadwick came on did somebody display anything like guts. The team weren’t just booed off they had been booed on for the second half. Middlesbrough fans left the ground believing that they had put in a great display when in fact they had been made to look good by an awful Everton side.

Looking back it was a truly horrible day, up there with 5-0 to Manchester City and 3-0 to Tranmere. But at least some good came out of it, the terrible display brought the sacking of Walter Smith who was unable to hide behind his inadequacies due to BBC’s coverage of the game, and that in turn brought David Moyes to the club. It also ended Gazza’s spell for the club, unlike some I loved seeing Gazza in an Everton shirt, and will always remember being there to see his goal at the Reebok Stadium, but the Middlesbrough game proved to be a turning point in which a lot of dead wood was thrown out of Goodison.

(After leaving at 6.00 in the morning I finally got back at 9.00pm at night thanks to the fantastic railways in Britain, but at least we got further than the Kopites in the cup).


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