25 Years at The Riverside

[Humpty 3,261]

What are your over riding memories?

 

Your first visit?

Favourite game?

Worst game?

The game you wish you could experience again?

Personal memories from a game not overly memorable. Perhaps your kids first game?

What improvements would you make to the ground or surrounding area?

[Uwe 3,545]

First game (I went to by myself) I’m sure it was against Reading they had Shaka Hislop in goal and we win 4-2 or 4-1

 Favourite game. Got to be against Steaua Still watch the highlights when I need cheering up

 worst game. V Swansea in their promotion year. 3-1 at half time only to lose 4-3. Either that or v Liverpool when we were 2-1 up with 5 mins to go and lost 3-2 

To be continued 

[Downsouth 6,327]

3 games stand out for me

Liverpool at home when Gareth Southgate scored the winner.

Our first midweek match (travelling always an issue) we attended against Newcastle when Geremi scored the winner

And a home game against Charlton when there was a public announcement that I should return to my car which had been broken into and the stereo removed. Added hours onto the journey home as I had to get the window sorted out.

We ended up winning but I missed the one of the goals whilst talking to the Police

[Duvel 2,446]

2 hours ago, Humpty said:

What are your over riding memories?

 

Your first visit?

Favourite game?

Worst game?

The game you wish you could experience again?

Personal memories from a game not overly memorable. Perhaps your kids first game?

What improvements would you make to the ground or surrounding area?

First visit: Chelsea in the opening game, I was absolutely blown away with how good the ground looked when I saw inside. It was a good game, great atmosphere and we played really well. 

Favourite game: Its a tough one because there's been so many, I loved beating Newcastle 3-1 in the league Cup in the 96/97 season. That was when they were a great side and we saw Juninho at his best in that game. 

Worst game: Again its a tough one because there's been a few bad ones! One that stands out is the Sunderland game where we lost 1-0 in 1997 and made survival look pretty bleak. 

The game you wish you could experience again? Brentford at home in the playoffs, it was so satisfying to hammer them after all the talk from their players and fans before the game. They called us negative and a set piece team and we played superbly on the night. The atmosphere was great and it felt like the start of something special. 

Personal memories from a game not overly memorable. Perhaps your kids first game? Took my wife to a game (she's not usually interested) and we beat Fulham 2-1 in the Premier league. It was a great game and Hasselbaink scored a late winner. 

What improvements would you make to the ground or surrounding area? Obvious really, spend some money on the surrounding area and make it look more attractive. If money was no object, extend the concourses outwards, put some outdoor seating there and lots of patio heaters. Get some good quality beers and food and improve the speed of service. 

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

First visit - While it was still being built! First visit when it was actually completed was the opening fixture v Chelsea in 1995.

Favourite game - Ravanelli's debut v Liverpool, cracking game and scoring a hat trick on your debut really sticks out in the memory!

Worst game - The 6-1 hammering by Arsenal, despite actually also being a big Arsenal fan 👀

Games you wish you could experience again - Battering Derby. Twice.

Personal memories - Losing 3-0 to Manchester United to hand them the title over Newcastle. Not because the game was anything special but to confirm the Geordies blowing it so spectacularly and seeing the United team parading the trophy around the Riverside was a pretty good experience.

How I would improve the Stadium/Surrounding area - Despite all the development over the past decade, the Middlehaven area is still very much a wasteland with a Stadium stuck in the middle of it. Despite the opening of KFC/Costa/Six Medals, it still looks unfinished. The abandoned Sainsbury's doesn't help matters either!

[Old Codger 3,064]

watchalong of first game at 3pm  .......

[Jamie-H 1,322]

First visit - 3 0 loss to Tottenham in October 1996

Favourite Game - SF vs Bucarest, went to every home game in Europe we ever had that game and the 1 0 win against Roma who at the time were considered one of the biggest clubs in Europe was immense

Worst Game - Every time Bolton came to town we always folded to them at home, the 5 0 drubbing by Chelsea in 07 or 08 was miserable as well

Experience I'd relive would be the Arsenal 2nd leg in the 04 League Cup SF the tension after Edu equalised on the night was ooooooof.

After a home game against Fulham in I want to say 2005 I met Paul Gascoigne in the car park he was just randomly walking around it he had a pretty long chat as a 13/14 year old was pretty amazing.

The ground honestly could do with a retail development right next to it and try to get more public transport access to the vicinity instead of having the ground kind of seem detached from the immediate everyday thoroughfare, have a football themed bar/restaurant right outside make the matchday experience a whole day thing instead of trekking through under developed industrial sites or just walking across some foot bridges give fans a reason to stay in the immediate area of the stadium it'll help build an atmosphere in my opinion.

5 hours ago, Humpty said:

 

 

[Changing Times 12,347]

3 hours ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

despite actually also being a big Arsenal fan 👀

Eh? 🤨

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

5 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Eh? 🤨

I've been an Arsenal fan since 1991, my first kit was actually an Arsenal kit, not a Boro one.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

My very first visit I can't remember entirely. I know for a fact it *** it down and we left early so it was almost certainly a loss and for some reason I'm pretty sure it was against Bolton. The only game in history that seems to match the memory is losing 4-1 at home to Bolton, February 17th, 1996. The highlights of it are on the Premier League site and the Gazette have some pictures of it but it doesn't seem to be raining very much. 😄

https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/333488

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gallery/picture-gallery-bolton-4-1-boro-8656467

After that, I went to a game against Charlton in the early 2000s with the school where we drew 0-0 but apparently we had a pretty good record of doing that so I've no idea which one it was. I know it was dull as anything so I was bored out of my mind.

The game I look at as my first proper match though was Boro 5-3 Birmingham just after we'd won the Carling Cup. That's the day I was really sold on football.

Favourite game has to be Steaua/Basel but the Brighton game is close behind. Steaua was special as considering I'd only started following football 2 years prior, it felt like we were just unstoppable, unbeatable in Europe having come twice from behind, like the UEFA Cup was just too easy and we were eventually going to be battling at the top of the PL for the Champions League. I was naive.

Brighton game was special, after 2006 nothing ever seemed to fit and after a couple of years in the Championship it just felt like we'd found our place. I never expected to be back in the Prem and after the Wembley heartbreak wondered if we could ever breach the gap. Going into the last game of the season in as packed a Riverside I've ever seen, then running on the pitch at the end, what a feeling.

Memorable for a strange reason, the only one I can think of beyond just being able to recite a fair bit of the early years of being a fan is a couple of years ago playing Palace in the cup. People who go to the games with me will know; I made a habit of not leaving until the whistle blows. Not half time for an early queue jump or at full time just in case something happened. So along come Palace, we're having a decent game but we'd been sat high up in the West Stand for this one and had been there about 45 minutes early without grabbing anything before the game, we were sodding freezing! So I broke my rule, headed down for a hot drink before everyone else. Then Wingy decided to bang in not just a screamer (which would have looked amazing from our angle) but the only sodding goal of the night! I was happy we won on my birthday but I proved myself right; never go early!

I can't argue about the surrounding areas too much, other than when they closed off the road going from behind the college past the Gazette building. They do it all the time but they kept doing it even when the other end was closed and my work's car park is just before where it was newly closed off for roadworks. Still, I'm guaranteed a space when I go to the Riverside in an otherwise empty car park, CCTV on the building means never been anything to worry about leaving it there, which is more than enough for me when I'm coming from Sunderland.

[Changing Times 12,347]

My first visit was the Chelsea game, 95/96.  Those bloody foam hands and how green the grass looked come to mind.  But then the grass seemed a little long or not wet enough and it seemed to slow the ball down. Higgy scoring that opening goal at the South Stand end, Ruud Gullit playing for Chelsea.  The break away for our second goal by Higgy, Barmby and then Super Jan.  Also the queues outside the ground where all the metal fencing was still up.  I suppose above all what you remember is the excitement and optimism.  Great times 😃

Too many 'favourite' games to talk about them all.  Most seasons have at least one worth remembering.  That first season we comfortably beat Blackburn, who were the Champions and Liverpool who were Liverpool.  The following season the cup games against the Geordies and Liverpool, the league games against Liverpool, West Ham, Coventry, where we played some of the best football I've seen from us and that Villa game at the end of the season.  League Cup semi final the following season, the games against the Mackems and the game against Oxford of course.  European games, beating the biggest clubs in the land, hammering them once or twice and of course the Brentford play off game and Brighton promotion decider have to figure.

Worst game unfortunately has plenty of options as well!  Some of the defeats in the 96/97 season were awful considering the talent we had - Southampton, Sunderland and Leicester immediately come to mind.  Some of the hammerings we took off Arsenal are up there.  The season that Robson was sacked, we were useless at home until Venables came in around December, lost a game 3-0 against Leicester where the atmosphere was ugly to say the least.  Losing 4-1 to the Geordies when Schwarzer got sent off when we were leading 1-0.  The 4-0 game against Villa when the season ticket got thrown at McClaren.  The relegation season under Southgate had a couple, not least the Chelsea 5-0 game, when it was clear we were in massive trouble.  Since then there have been plenty really but they all blend into each other - rubbish under Strachan and Pulis because it was soul destroying (to me).  The worst stuff under Mowbray wasn't great but it felt bad because it was Mowbray who was getting the stick.  The Burton quarter final was abject, I walked out of the ground that night and I'd had enough of Boro.  Sadly, it turns out that I'm an idiot.

The game I'd experience again would be between a few.  The first game at the ground against Chelsea, because everything seemed possible for Boro at that time.  The Liverpool semi final in 98 because it was the best 5 mins I've had as a Boro fan, save for Cardiff, and the Basle and Steau games because they were mental.

Personal memories umm, taking young uns for the first time is too obvious I suppose.  So I'll say just the stuff I've heard at games throughout the years that have had me in stitches for various reasons.  Even when things have been bad you tend to get some decent craic at a game from time to time.  Also, randomly bumping into people I haven't seen for years is another one.  I'd also add queuing overnight for cup tickets, I dunno how many people were there but it was a lot.  When you're a kid it's all an adventure 🙂

The surrounding area is actually a lot better than it used to be, which says a lot about how bad it was I suppose.  I'm not that fussed about that kind of thing really.  My match day routine has changed over time but I was never desperate to have stuff closer to the ground I suppose when I think about it.  I was quite happy in the town centre before games and then walking to the ground or having a few elsewhere and getting dropped off.  The efforts to make the Riverside more Boro related over the years have been good with the statues and gates and that.

 

[Changing Times 12,347]

1 hour ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

I've been an Arsenal fan since 1991, my first kit was actually an Arsenal kit, not a Boro one.

Eh? 🤨

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

54 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Eh? 🤨

[Changing Times 12,347]

Sorry, mate, I had it in my head that you were from Teesside 👍

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,884]

1 hour ago, Changing Times said:

Sorry, mate, I had it in my head that you were from Teesside 👍

He’s one of those London types, he drinks flirtinis and smokes a pipe.