Over 1,500 supporters turned out to get their first glimpse of ‘Gordon Strachan’s Red and White army!’ as the Riverside hosted Boro’s Family Fun Day on Tuesday.
Noisy support almost filled the West Stand, while face painting, a band, concourse catering and fabulous giveaway prizes were also on offer.
The event was also open to Boro Season Card holders and Boro Pride members and was aimed at introducing the fans to Boro’s 2010-11 squad, particularly new Estonian signing Tarmo Kink, as the players trained and then were divided into two teams to play a match.
Head of Supporter Services Anthony Emmerson says: "It was a great family afternoon with entertainment for all ages. How many fans can say they've seen a Boro v Boro game at the Riverside?
"We decided to give our Season Card Holders and members of Boro Pride exclusive access as our way of saying thanks for the commitment they have shown the club."
Last season it poured down all the way the open training session, perhaps a bad omen which we as fans chose to ignore?
Let’s hope the clear skies this time around point to a smoother season ahead.
The team also posed for their annual official squad photograph, the first for a Boro side entirely of Strachan’s making. And while there may be a few changes still to take place before the transfer window closes, Boro’s new early bird approach to signings means that the squad picture should bare far more of a resemblance to the team we follow this season than in previous campaigns.
Following the match, media were invited to a press conference with new Boro striker Kris Boyd.
“It’s been difficult, a lot of chopping and changing, new faces, it takes time to settle but each game we’ve moved on.”
“Managers have got different ways of working with players, Walter Smith stood back and Strachan likes to get involved. It’s been good, and all the boys are buzzing.”
Boyd’s former Celtic rival, Aussie Scott McDonald, will now be the Boyd’s first choice strike partner, and Boyd believes the pair have started to develop an understanding.
“The last couple of games we’ve looked, a lot better, sharper, even in training. On Saturday we can get the ball rolling, get on the score sheet, and get a result.”
But Boyd will not panic if Saturday’s match against Ipswich doesn’t quite go according to plan.
“It’s a long season; it can take three or four games to get going. He explained.
“There are a lot of boys who’ve had a taste of winning medals as such and they want to get this club back in the Premier League to do that we need to win the league. We’re confident we can set up a good challenge and its one to look forward to.”
The large Scottish contingent at the club has made Boro the object of some good natured banter, but Boyd insists the team have all got to know each other know, regardless of their birthplace or former club.
“It’s always good to have people to help you settle in and get to know everybody else but we’ve been together three or four weeks now and come Saturday, I’m sure we’ll click.”
Boro are currently the bookies favourites to win the league but Boyd doesn’t believe the club’s popularity with the punters will increase the pressure on his new team.
“It’s a pressure if you let it me a pressure, we all know that if we just focus on the job ahead and get our heads down we’ve got a good chance but you can’t get carried away because a bookmaker says we are favourites to win the league or even be top goalscorer, there’s a lot of work to be done between now and the end of the season.”
“It is exciting for me anywhere, and we want to win games, get over the finishing line.
“[At Rangers] We could win ten matches, draw the eleventh and it’s a crisis. We can bring that experience across here.
“Team’s aren’t going to come in and lay down for us; they will make it hard for us to break them down.
“The most important thing is the team winning. As strikers, we want to score goals, but you can never get carried away. You want to win every game and score in every game but that’s not possible.”
And ‘Boydy’ is nobody’s fool. When asked a potentially contentious question from the Guardian’s Louise Taylor regarding whether it was “nice to get away from all the anti-Semitism which surrounds the Old Firm clubs”, Boyd was at pains to point out that “it is not as bad as people make it out to be”
“You can stick from Celtic if you’re Rangers and Rangers if you’re Celtic, but it’s not religious.” He added.
Boyd is also back in the fold for Scotland, with a slightly awkwardly timed (for Boro) friendly against Sweden next week.
“It’s a privilege to play for your country. Boyd said. “Obviously I’ve had my problems in the past but that’s behind me now. I’m here for Scotland and I look forward to working under Craig Leveine.”
Following the training match, Boyd and his teammates signed autographs – many on Boro’s new look strips – and in among all the new signings, it was pleasing to see long term injury absentees Matthew Bates, Tony McMahon and Seb Hines moving freely and getting involved.
This will be a make or break season for Boro as a club, but there is a sense or cohesion running through the camp which has not been present for quite sometime. Whether you agree with Strachan peopling his ‘army’ with Old Firm recruits or not, he understands that the Championship is a battle and only those with real fighting spirit have made it through his gruelling boot camp.
Today, the scrapping for supremacy begins, bring it on!
First published in FMTTM 7/8/10
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