It is our destiny...

[vin_petrol]

As soon as Newcastle lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup I knew Boro's destiny. It is to meet Chelsea in the FA Cup final ... and lose. Boro always lose to Chelsea in cup finals. It's a depressing tradition that looks set to continue. I predicted that the semi-final draw would put Boro up against West Ham whilst Chelsea played Liverpool. 3-1 odds, but this is what happened. Boro will beat Charlton in the replay, beat West Ham in the semi, and then lose to Chelsea in the final. Drogba will take a theatrical dive in the penalty box, spotted by the cameras but not by the referee, and gain Chelsea a penalty goal, just to make it even more painful. Perhaps Chelsea will score a goal even faster than last time, to at least give us a different goal to have to endure replays of every year. All this shall come to pass. It is inevitable.

At least losing to Chelsea gets you into the Uefa Cup next year. Still, as Boro are going to win that, we won't need that route :-)

*and why not, all the teams left in it are pretty average, Boro included. We've already knocked out the favourites at that stage (Roma). Everyone left in is in with a shout.

Comments

[rich-r.livejournal.com]

As a (part-time) Chesterfield supporter, I'm duty bound to hope you lose in the FA Cup Final - after you cheated us out of reaching it back in 1997. You know as well as I do that the ball went over the goal line - as did the goalkeeper, commentators and video replays. But no, the referee on the pitch decided it hadn't, and your goalkeeper was happy enough to lie to the ref when asked if he saw it go over the line. Not bitter, oh no...

[vin_petrol]

Now look! This is a Popular Misconception. The referee (David Ellary) blew his whistle due to a foul just before the ball reached the Boro goal. The whole "was it over the line" argument is irrelevant as the referee had already signalled to stop play prior to that point. Yes, the linesman raised his flag to indicate "over the line" but he was slightly behind the run of play and hadn't realised the referee had already stopped play.

[rich-r.livejournal.com]

Not the way I saw the game (nor the commentators on Radio 5 either). Anyway it doesn't matter, as we held you to a semi-final replay, which isn't bad going for a bottom division club (as Chesterfield were then).

Still at the moment, we're 10 points off being relegated from League 1, or alternatively 10 points from being promoted to the Championship - depends how you look at it. League 1's just so ridiculously close this year!

[vin_petrol]

Looking at a few web sites, I see that this myth is perpetuated in all sorts of places. I shall have to locate a video of that semi and place video footage online!

[vin_petrol]

Not the way I saw the game (nor the commentators on Radio 5 either)

OK, now let me ask a simple question. What exactly did Mr Ellary blow his whistle for? He stopped play. Why? Referees do not stop play because they *think* the ball may have gone over the line, and they want chance to decide. Play restarted with a free kick from the edge of Middlesbrough's penalty area, not from the edge of the six yard box. Why?

I say that's because he had blown his whistle due to a perceived rule infringment by Chesterfield on the edge of the box (although he himself has admitted he can't actually remember _precisely_ why he stopped play to award the free kick). All this stuff about the ball and the goal line is actually irrelevant.

[sarah-mum.livejournal.com]

So, that's a night of you being drunk and random for the interweb world to look forward to then. Will there be advance warning for the footy-clueless?

[vin_petrol]

Ah yes. Current dates of doom are:

Thursday April 6: nail-biting home leg of Uefa Cup quarter final against Basel.
Wednesday April 12: stress inducing FA Cup quarter final replay at home to Charlton.
Sunday April 23: manic semi final against West Ham United at Villa Park.

Saturday May 13: serene Vin watches Boro get thrashed by Chelsea at The Millenium Stadium. No stress in this one at all.

[elizabeyta.livejournal.com]

Try dating a bloody Man City supporter :S...

In other news...seem to be spending a vast amount of time in York with my fella so if you need a babysitter ever let me know :)

[vin_petrol]

Heh. Boro are visiting Man City this very Sunday... :-) They're not doing too badly, but it looks like their season is over with just "mid table mediocrity" as its result.

I shall remember your offer for babysitting! Thanks.

[simon-a.livejournal.com]

It seems that Boro are attempting to inflict more misery on their fans, by consistently taking games to replays. It's plain that they're rubbish at home, not a good sign for a relegation threatened (on paper) side at all. Of course the exception, is Preston. Why can Boro beat a decent side but only draw with average/poor teams? or is McClaren just using it as an excuse to let more of those youngsters get games under their belt??

[vin_petrol]

It may be interesting if Boro win one more league match, and then on 40 points can consider themselves safe. The rest of the season may well consist of youngsters playing in the league, what with FA Cup and Uefa Cup matches to rest the 'real' players for!

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

but its only a game!!

*grin* and I'm ducking whilst I type as when my Grandad used to go off on one about Man United and I said that, he used to threaten to slap me and quote Brian Clough or Bill Shankly to the effect that few things in life are more important than football. I used to move out of his reach and then disagree.

[vin_petrol]

“Some people believe that football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude, it is much, much more important than that!” - Bill Shankly

Brian Clough said all manner of quotable things:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Clough

[menacing-dancer.livejournal.com]

2-1 odds. 1 in 3.

</spod>

[vin_petrol]

*laughs* you are correct. Given that I've been berating modern maths exam papers recently you think I could get some odds correct. I think it's 'cos I had the probability of 1/3 in my head and "flipped" that to 3-1, which is incorrect.