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Thank You


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I’ve been thinking a lot today about the journey we have been on over the last 7 years and I just wanted to write a post to say thank you.

First of all, thank you to Steve Gibson, without you none of this would even be possible. Your ever-present, unwavering support for this club has meant that I have been able to enjoy some of the happiest moments of my life so far. You are an incredibly rich man who has no reason to share his wealth but you have chosen to share it with us, your fellow fans, and for that, me and every other Middlesbrough fan on the planet is eternally grateful. The memories that this club, your club, has provided me in my 21 years are some of the sweetest and most memorable I can think of, and for that I will forever be in your debt.

 

Thank you Sir Steve.

 

Thank you to Tony Mowbray, you will always be remembered by Middlesbrough fans as a legendary player who chose to stick with us through thick and thin, but now I will also remember you as the man who built the strong foundations that our current team is built upon. You worked on a ridiculously tight budget with players on huge wages, and yet you still provided some great memories and managed to keep this club competitive in one of the hardest leagues in the world. I wish you had been able to grow into the role and carry us from strength to strength after the cost cutting had been completed but sadly it wasn’t to be. I was at Moggas last match, away against Barnsley and it really was a sad sight to behold, a group of fans who desperately want to love the man but who couldn’t stand idly by and watch their team drop any further. Sir Steve knew it too and so Mogga was gone, but he will never be forgotten for what he has done for this club, as a player and manager. Thank you Mogga for helping save this club, and for stopping the rot after Strachan.

 

Thank you to the long serving players. George Friend, Grant Leadbitter and Dimi (off the top of my head) have been here in the good times and the bad. I’m sure after last season Friend and Leadbitter probably had some offers from the premier league, thanks for sticking around and helping us get the job done. Thank you also to all of the current players.

 

Huge thank you to Aitor Karanka. We took a chance on you, and equally so you took a chance on us. A young assistant manager, another one of Mourinho’s protégés, on his way to Boro? This can’t be happening? Well it was.  Right from the very beginning it seemed like something special could be brewing, AK brought with him a ‘big time mentality’ for want of a better phrase. He is meticulous, demanding and stubborn as a mule. For me personally AK has made me proud to be a Boro fan again, for years under Southgate, Strachan and even Mogga after we had collapsed we were a laughing stock to many people, a club who had got relegated from the premier league then sacked the manager when they were 1 point of top to replace him with a crazy scotsman who spunked the best part of 15 million up the wall. Well not any more, AK brought a professionalism, a sense of pride, a sense of purpose but most of all, he got everybody pulling in the same direction again. Anybody who didn’t want to be here, was no longer here. Anybody not pulling their weight was dropped. Of course this unity in the dressing room was picked up on by the fans and as a result there is now the best unity I have seen at Boro between the fans and the players.

 

So, thank you to Aitor Karanka, the man who has transformed a relegation threatened team into a premier league team in less than three years.

 

Thank you to everyone on this board, following Boro would be less enjoyable without being able to come home and contribute to a community like this.

 

I may still be drunk from the weekend, and given that I have been welling up at times thinking about our 7 year exile I probably am, but the sentiment still remains, a massive thank you to everyone involved with the club.

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I’ve been thinking a lot today about the journey we have been on over the last 7 years and I just wanted to write a post to say thank you.

First of all, thank you to Steve Gibson, without you none of this would even be possible. Your ever-present, unwavering support for this club has meant that I have been able to enjoy some of the happiest moments of my life so far. You are an incredibly rich man who has no reason to share his wealth but you have chosen to share it with us, your fellow fans, and for that, me and every other Middlesbrough fan on the planet is eternally grateful. The memories that this club, your club, has provided me in my 21 years are some of the sweetest and most memorable I can think of, and for that I will forever be in your debt.

 

Thank you Sir Steve.

 

Thank you to Tony Mowbray, you will always be remembered by Middlesbrough fans as a legendary player who chose to stick with us through thick and thin, but now I will also remember you as the man who built the strong foundations that our current team is built upon. You worked on a ridiculously tight budget with players on huge wages, and yet you still provided some great memories and managed to keep this club competitive in one of the hardest leagues in the world. I wish you had been able to grow into the role and carry us from strength to strength after the cost cutting had been completed but sadly it wasn’t to be. I was at Moggas last match, away against Barnsley and it really was a sad sight to behold, a group of fans who desperately want to love the man but who couldn’t stand idly by and watch their team drop any further. Sir Steve knew it too and so Mogga was gone, but he will never be forgotten for what he has done for this club, as a player and manager. Thank you Mogga for helping save this club, and for stopping the rot after Strachan.

 

Thank you to the long serving players. George Friend, Grant Leadbitter and Dimi (off the top of my head) have been here in the good times and the bad. I’m sure after last season Friend and Leadbitter probably had some offers from the premier league, thanks for sticking around and helping us get the job done. Thank you also to all of the current players.

 

Huge thank you to Aitor Karanka. We took a chance on you, and equally so you took a chance on us. A young assistant manager, another one of Mourinho’s protégés, on his way to Boro? This can’t be happening? Well it was.  Right from the very beginning it seemed like something special could be brewing, AK brought with him a ‘big time mentality’ for want of a better phrase. He is meticulous, demanding and stubborn as a mule. For me personally AK has made me proud to be a Boro fan again, for years under Southgate, Strachan and even Mogga after we had collapsed we were a laughing stock to many people, a club who had got relegated from the premier league then sacked the manager when they were 1 point of top to replace him with a crazy scotsman who spunked the best part of 15 million up the wall. Well not any more, AK brought a professionalism, a sense of pride, a sense of purpose but most of all, he got everybody pulling in the same direction again. Anybody who didn’t want to be here, was no longer here. Anybody not pulling their weight was dropped. Of course this unity in the dressing room was picked up on by the fans and as a result there is now the best unity I have seen at Boro between the fans and the players.

 

So, thank you to Aitor Karanka, the man who has transformed a relegation threatened team into a premier league team in less than three years.

 

Thank you to everyone on this board, following Boro would be less enjoyable without being able to come home and contribute to a community like this.

 

I may still be drunk from the weekend, and given that I have been welling up at times thinking about our 7 year exile I probably am, but the sentiment still remains, a massive thank you to everyone involved with the club.

 

One of the best posts I have read on here in 5 years of membership

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Thanks for the comments so far, like I said I've been thinking about it all day and have been a bit overcome with emotion so I had to put it down in writing.

 

One thing I meant to include but forgot to now I've read it back.

 

Steve Gibson has definitively proven that money CAN buy happiness, you just need to spend it on the right things. What a choice he made.

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Oh Will  :rolleyes:

 

<3

 

Don't mind me, I'm just gutted I didn't get a specific mention there, you know for all the work I do on the forum like  :(

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Oh Will  :rolleyes:

 

<3

 

Don't mind me, I'm just gutted I didn't get a specific mention there, you know for all the work I do on the forum like  :(

 

You fell into the honourable mentions with Strachan and Southgate.

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Thank you to everyone on this board, following Boro would be less enjoyable without being able to come home and contribute to a community like this.

 

Was going to post something similar on this myself but didn't know how to word it, completely agree. Been an absolute joy on this forum over the past few seasons, we've had our highs and lows, but wouldn't have it any other way!

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Great post. Glad you mentioned Mogga because it must have been a huge disappointment for him to fall short of the play-offs in 2012 and never quite get the team to play. It should be recognised by all fans that the work he did in those couple of years allowed Sir Steve to appoint a manager of Aitor's quality to get the job done.

 

What AK has done though is really something very, very special. Like OP said about the togetherness between the fans and the players, I've never seen a Boro team so at one with the supporters. It makes me think of the forgotten times when the players would get on the same bus as the supporters to a game. It's obviously not the same because they've probably all got Mazerratis and that, but it doesn't feel like a barrier.

 

There's something special happening at the Boro at the moment.

 

Oh, and on the plus side, we've got a new rival to hate on - Burnley. Can't beat a good rivalry.

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Great post Will, its been a fantastic season and you get the feeling this is only just the start, club is in a fantastic position with the best owner possible, a fantastic manager and a really good squad. The fans and the town are really starting to get behind the team too

 

We could have a few special years ahead! UTB

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