ComeOnBoro.com Man of the Year 2004


By James Bassett
December 29 2004

Welcome to the inaugural ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year awards. It’s just not possible to pay tribute to a single individual, so the ten men who played huge roles in helping Boro towards their most rewarding year ever will be mentioned. Each man can be very proud of his achievements, but there can be only one ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year...

I think a quick word about the criteria for inclusion in this list of Boro luminaries is necessary. Before anybody asks, Steve McClaren and Steve Gibson are both ineligible. Gibson would win the award every year and McClaren wouldn’t be too far behind. Besides, both of those two God-like figures should always have the best interests of Boro at heart. And yes, I know the players should too, but we know that’s not always the case. However, where other members of the hierarchy have gone above and beyond the call of duty, they may be eligible, because frankly, those guys don’t get enough credit. Although it’s the ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year award, women are also eligible. But let’s face it; there probably won’t be any.

So enjoy the countdown from ten to six. Tune in next Thursday for the final five.
10 - Mike Riley
Boro’s Carling Cup Final saviour.

We all remember February 29th 2004. Boro had raced into a 2-0 lead through a Joseph Desire Job tap-in and a Bolo Zenden penalty before
being pegged back as Kevin Davies embarrassed Mark Schwarzer at his near post.

Meanwhile, those watching at home were being force-fed footage by ITV that appeared to suggest that Zenden had struck the penalty twice as he slipped.

Of course, it would’ve taken an eagle-eyed official to spot the infringement, but we have to be grateful to Riley for missing it like the rest of us. However, Riley’s work on that magical Sunday was not yet done.

While they had been the better side, Boro were clinging on in the final stages as Bolton searched an undeserved equalizer. In the 88th minute, following a set piece, the ball dropped to Stelios Giannakopoulos who smashed it against Ugo Ehiogu’s outstretched arm. If a Boro fan tells you it wasn’t a penalty, they’re lying. Everybody knew it and there was a collective gasp around the stadium as we anticipated Riley’s whistle. It never went. For that, Mike Riley, we are very, very grateful.
9 - Juninho
Former Boro legend, now Glaswegian benchwarmer.
The fact that several Boro fans were prepared to wave goodbye to our most successful manager because of Juninho’s departure speaks volumes about the regard that the little fella is held at The Riverside.The words, “great” and “legend” are used too often in football, but Juninho is both.

It was unquestionably a sad day when he left The Riverside for the last time, and it still sticks in the craw that he didn’t get a proper send-off, but the club’s form has proved that McClaren made the right decision.

Even the most devout supporters of TLF would have to admit that we didn’t get the best out of him this time round. Serious injuries had taken their toll, and while he still had vision, his feet weren’t always quick enough to act upon it.

Nonetheless, we were blessed with more moments of Brazilian brilliance during 2004. His goal against Arsenal in the Carling Cup Semi-Final at Highbury stands out, as does his opener against Southampton in April, but surely the most inconceivable brace of the year came at Old Trafford when Juninho twice scored with his head to secure Boro their most impressive three points of the year.

8 - Joseph Desire Job
Loves his hairband. Hates dancing.

He might seem more interested in his hairband than goal scoring, but Job was there for us last season in the pre-Viduka and Jimmy days.Not only has he frustrated -
couldn’t he have tucked that chance away against Arsenal in the Carling Cup to settle it finally? - and delighted, for example Old Trafford, 10th February, 2-2, Job picks up the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box and nutmegs Silvestre before striking it past Howard, in equal measure, but he scored Boro’s first goal of 2004.

But his moment of the year came (like most of our players did) on 29th February 2004.

Having already scored a second minute tap-in and won a penalty for us but five minutes later, Job left the field a jubilant figure. As Boro were presented with the trophy, George Boateng, like a demented cheerleader, had choreographed a daffy dance routine. Dutch pal Zenden was happy to join in and Job was asked to follow suit. Job simply gazed at them in a way that suggested, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” and the two dropped their offer.

In fact, watching Job completely demur at the idea of joining the Dutchmen in their crazy jig was my favourite footballing moment of the year.
7 - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
He sulks, he scores.
Everybody expected the Mark Viduka signing. The story had, after all, rumbled on for seven months before we finally signed the Aussie hitman. However, when Boro announced a 3pm press conference a day later, people were bemused. Who was going to join the giant Antipodean? Aiyegbeni
Yakubu seemed like the most likely candidate as Boro had been heavily linked with a move for the Portsmouth striker. But conspiracy theories ran rife. Had Boro signed Michael Ballack in an audacious coup? Or had Steve McClaren’s England connections been enough to tempt Owen Hargreaves to join the Riverside revolution? Was Geremi making a return after a muted season at Stamford Bridge? Nobody was sure. However, at 3pm on the 10th July, none other than Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink emerged alongside Keith Lamb.

Boro had signed a player who had won the golden boot in England and Spain previously; finally we had the goal scorer we’d lacked since Ravanelli left. Inspired by jealousy, the critics came, “he’s too old,” “he sulks too much,” “him and Viduka won’t get on,” came the cries. Then as Boro found themselves 2-1 down at home to the Toon on the first day of the season with seconds remaining, Jimmy knelt at the far post and whether it was his head or his shoulder matters not. A hero was born.

Hasselbaink followed this with a screamer against Arsenal and an assist for Viduka against Fulham. His goals have come thick and fast since. He scored Boro’s first ever European goal against Banik Ostrava, the first Boro league hat-trick for six years against Blackburn and has finally given Boro a set-piece specialist who hits the target more often than not. Two stunning free kicks, one against Palace and one against Man City have put Zenden, Mendieta, Downing and Queudrue well back in the queue.

As the for the prediction that he and Viduka won’t get along, well an inordinate amount of goals are coming from interplay between the two of them. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of a better strike partnership in the Premiership. He might be the wrong side of 30, he might sulk when things don’t go his way, but you know what? I don’t care, and I dare say Steve McClaren doesn’t either. He scores goals, and that’s all that matters.

6 - Gareth Southgate
He came to Boro to win things.
How the Villa fans scoffed as Boro failed to achieve much improvement in Southgate’s first three seasons. However, when McClaren’s team lifted the Carling Cup in 2004, no
player deserved it more than Southgate, who allegedly had warded off advances from Manchester United the previous January.

In previous seasons, when paired with his long-time friend Ugo Ehiogu, he has looked impenetrable. In 2004, he’s been denied a regular defensive partner, and has wasted no time in taking Chris Riggott and Andrew Davies under his wing. In fact, Riggott is one of the most improved players in the Premiership this season, something Southgate must take no small amount of credit for. Whether he has played alongside Ehiogu, Riggott, Colin Cooper or Andrew Davies, he never looks anything less than completely assured.

While Boro play with a more attacking bent these days, Southgate continues to play at the top of his game. In fact, just this week he delivered an absolutely flawless performance against Partizan Belgrade. When he comes to retire, he’ll take some replacing.
Welcome to the concluding part of the ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year Award. You’ve joined us at the halfway point of this momentous occasion, so if you haven’t already read who came in positions ten to six, you can do so here.

Listed below are the five men who did the most to further the cause of Middlesbrough Football Club over the past twelve months. It’s not about who scored the most goals or who said the right things in interviews, it’s about who played the largest part in hauling Boro from the mid-table also-rans that we were in January to the UEFA Cup heavyweights that we are in December.

So, in the words of Europe, it’s the final countdown.

5- Vladimir Janak
The friendly nerd

Middlesbrough had waited 128 years to sample the taste of European football. And I think it’s safe to say that upon drawing Banik Ostrava as our inaugural opponents, the immediate reaction of most fans was “Ostrava, where’s that?”
Well if like me your geography isn’t up to scratch, you didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Within minutes a mysterious chap named Miro was on the Fly Me To The Moon message board offering Boro fans a warm welcome. The Czech geek went out of his way to offer a warm welcome to hundreds of Ostrava-bound Teessiders.

He built an English language website that advised where the best hotels in town were and how much Boro fans should expect to pay for a room. He posted train timetables and ticket prices to Ostrava from Prague, Katowice and Krakow. He suggested restaurants to eat in and bars to drink at. He even went so far as to post a 3D virtual map of Ostrava town centre with reviews of all the bars and clubs. Frankly, he got a bit obsessed by the whole thing.

Yet there appeared to be no end to his benevolence. He patiently fielded fifty emails a day from Boro fans and took over an entire twenty-five room hotel and handled bookings himself. He even hired a coach to ferry Boro fans in from Katowice airport.

In return, Boro fans had a whip-round and raised enough for Janak and his 12-year-old son to have return flights, match tickets and two nights in a local hotel for the Riverside leg. It was a small price to pay for such unprecedented amity. Janak’s devotion to peaceful relations between the two sets of fans was even more astonishing considering the horrible scenes that marred our first ever European away game.
4 - Dave Parnaby
Middlesbrough’s Pied Piper.

It was 2004 when Boro’s impressive youth policy came into fruition. The youth side had been runners-up in the FA Youth Cup in 2003 and managed to go one better in 2004, beating Villa in the two-legged final. Despite this success, Boro’s younger players are continuing to impress and the club have set a new standard for excellence in the Premiership.


Due to injuries and suspensions, Stuart Parnaby was the first to cement himself in the first team before finally succumbing to injury himself. Andrew Davies got a good run in the first team last season as well, but is a trip to the barbers away from being a first-team regular. Of course, the broken leg doesn’t help either. Following a loan spell at Sunderland last season, Stewart Downing has played his way into the first team this term. The prodigious left-winger has been followed into the senior side by James Morrison, Tony McMahon, Danny Graham and Matthew Bates.

All of the above is thanks in large part to Dave Parnaby. Not since the Old Trafford production line churned out the Neville brothers, Butt, Beckham and Scholes has the country seen such a fine group of home grown talent spring into first team contention simultaneously. While Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are forced to buy their youth players in from abroad at princely sums, Middlesbrough - thanks to Dave Parnaby’s expert youth coaching set up - have a wealth of adolescent talent at their disposal.

McClaren wisely dipped into the transfer market to bring in established talents like Gaizka Mendieta, Mark Viduka and Ray Parlour in the summer, but Boro have proved in the past that a team of ageing talents doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. By forging a team with a seemingly perfect balance of venerable stars and youthful exuberance, Boro are becoming quite a force to be reckoned with. Gaining a point at Old Trafford is no mean feat; doing so with a team comprised mainly of youth players is even more impressive. The fact that, days earlier, Boro’s equally youthful team had played out a sterling draw in the hostile Ostrava stadium made it even more incredible.

It may be easy to lay the whole thing at luck’s door, but to do so would be to underplay Dave Parnaby’s wonderful achievement. You simply don’t get seven players coming through at once by luck alone. McClaren’s decision to allow Downing to go out on loan last season was made after close consultation with Parnaby. While Boro fans were screaming out for Downing to get a first team start last season rather than go and play for their rivals, the decision to wait has been wholly justified by spellbinding performance after spellbinding performance this term.

Parnaby has done so much for Middlesbrough during 2004 and has received very little recognition for his stellar work. While it is Steve Gibson’s money that has allowed the club to build such impressive training facilities, it would count for nothing without expert coaching. Dave Parnaby, at the very least, is an expert coach.
3 - Stewart Downing
The Best Player In The Universe.

There’s a campaign going on in the press at the moment to get a Boro player in the England team. Can you believe that? A Boro player! Then again, Stewart Downing is no ordinary player. Readers of my column will know that I gave him the moniker 'The Best Player In The Universe' a while ago. I was only half-joking. While it may seem excessively hyperbolic right now, in two or three years time I may well be proved right. The player appears to have every attribute that truly great players require.
Befitting of a top-notch winger, he has pace in abundance. However, unlike many other young players, he doesn’t rely solely upon his rapidity. This alone means his longevity at the top-level is all but assured. Combined with his pace, he has remarkable vision for one so young. His work-rate is sky high and he has a variety of tricks to beat his man. But perhaps most importantly, at least for now, he has confidence in spades. He takes on experienced players with such effrontery you do wonder if you are seeing one of the all-time Boro greats come into fruition.

Rooney may have cost the most money, Reyes may be more eye-catching and Ronaldo may have the tricks, but I’d argue that Downing has made a larger impact than any of them this season. First of all, he’s a Boro lad and you need only ask Steven Gerrard or Matt Le Tissier how important that is. When you play for the club you support, you play better. Simple as that. And while the other three youngsters du jour seem to want to show off their entire bag of tricks every single time they get the ball, Downing is happy to play the simple ball when he needs to. His selflessness is proven out by the amount of assists he is garnering this season. More than any of the aforementioned players, in fact.

To hear thirty thousand Teessiders gasp in anticipation when a 20-year-old receives the ball is quite amazing. When you see players as experienced as Hasselbaink, Viduka and Zenden immediately look for Downing when they get the ball you know you’re witnessing a kid with potential to be a true great. Who cares that it took a run of games for Sunderland for McClaren to realise what potential he has? Stewart Downing will be a Boro legend. I have no doubt about that.
2 - George Boateng
Dances better than he passes.

George Boateng is something of an enigma. He’s a central midfielder, yet he can’t pass. And yet, somehow it doesn’t matter. He’s the closest thing Boro have to a hardman, and yet what is probably the gayest chant in all of football belongs to him. In fact, such imperfections and non sequiturs make him all the more endearing. But Boateng’s status isn’t just one of Boro cult hero, he is one of the most important players in the Premiership.

In previous seasons Boateng has had the luxury of grafters like Jonathan Greening, Geremi and Doriva playing alongside him. It turns out that playing these guys next to Boateng was superfluous and in fact, detrimental to the Dutchman’s game. He simply didn’t need their help to anchor Boro’s midfield. This season, the plan to play him alongside Ray Parlour was scuppered by Mendieta’s injury. The reshuffle has not only allowed us to see the best of Zenden, we’ve seen George Boateng for what he really is. A brilliant box to box midfielder.

Zenden’s predilection to getting forward means that Boateng has to work twice as hard, but already we’ve seen extraordinary performances from him. Not least in Europe, where such a midfielder is a priceless commodity. Boateng appears to thrive on this increased responsibility and has got himself on the scoresheet twice in recent weeks.

His high-point of the year though, came not during one of his energetic performances but in the Millennium Stadium dressing room. Getting Zenden and Queudrue to join in with his stupid jig during the on-pitch celebrations was great, but the shot of him continuing the dance in the changing room afterwards was side-splittingly funny. If only he’d convinced Job to join in, he may have been Man Of The Year. As it is, he’ll have to suffice with second place.
The previous nine men have been quite extraordinary in furthering the Boro cause during 2004, but there can be only one ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year. So who wins this prestigious award?

[Drum roll……………………….]
THE ComeOnBoro.com MAN OF THE YEAR 2004 is.....












Boudewijn Zenden
Never shite. Better than alright.

“He used to be shite, but now he’s alright,” or so the song goes. Not for the first time the terraces mask the truth. Zenden was never anywhere near shite. His good form for Boro started in an excellent display at Everton at the tail end of 2003 and has continued right through this year.

Yet somehow it went down in Boro folklore that Bolo Zenden was crap when he came to Boro. The truth - which is perpetually ignored - is as follows: he arrived from Chelsea on loan four games into the season, with a foppy haircut and a zig-zag hairband. Granted, he looked like a poof. Add to his metrosexual appearance the fact that his presence in the team meant that Juninho didn’t start every match and you have a recipe for aggrievement amongst the Boro faithful.

To make matters worse, he said he’d like to return to Chelsea during an interview for ‘The Premiership’. A combination of the above led to him being blamed for Boro’s poor end of year form. History has forgotten that by joining Boro a couple of weeks into the season, the Dutchman had to forego any pre-season training with his new team mates. However, when does the truth get in the way of a not very good chant?

By 2004, Zenden was in full flow and not even his harshest critics could grumble about him. Goals against Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and Portsmouth came in the league, none of which would match his most important goal of the season. Boro are awarded penalties so rarely they have no use for a regular penalty taker. Nonetheless, it was slightly surprising that Zenden should step up to double Boro’s lead in the seventh minute of the Carling Cup Final. He may have kicked it twice, but it was a quite wonderful moment in Boro’s history. Not to mention Bolo’s, as he went on to deliver a performance that won him Man Of The Match on that glorious day.

However, it has been this season that Zenden has cemented his position as Boro’s most important figure of 2004. His performances in the league have been outstanding, but it’s been in Europe where his class has been most obvious. The goals have come thick and fast too - at one stage he had five in six games - and his brace against Lazio, where he was by far the best player on display, stands out.

Here is a player who was unfairly booed by the fans in his few months at the club and who has been constantly shifted around the field, but here is a player who has not moaned once. He’s never complained, and he has never given less than everything for Boro during the past twelve months. His contract expires in August and should he leave, Boro will be losing one of their best ever midfielders. He’s a worthy winner of our Man Of The Year award.

Congratulations to Boudewijn Zenden on becoming the first ever ComeOnBoro.com Man Of The Year.


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