A lot has been made about the perceived lack of atmosphere in the Riverside on matchdays and it has to be said that it is not the loudest stadium opposing teams are ever going to encounter.
We turn up the volume for the booing and the accusations (usually some version of not trying and/or being a waste of money) but the songs usually only come from the North Stand, are short lived and have been somewhat muted of late.
I am not blaming the fans for recent performances - it is up to the players and the manager to give us something to shout about. However, no good comes of booing and we need to be more vocal in our support, not just when expressing our frustrations.
Besides, I made a promise and since my new year's resolutions have already been abandoned, I suppose I should try to stick to something I said in my festive fervour.
A couple of weeks ago I told Boro defender Andrew Taylor that I would make an effort to get the fans singing a better class of song.
We agreed that the current selection lacks originality and that the majority of players are just not musically catered for by the fans.
Like a lot of teams, we simply steal chants from the away supporters and adapt them to our own players. Much like zonal marking, it is something which might work for other teams but which we do not excel at.
We used to sing 'Boat-eng' to the tune of 'Gold' by Spandeau Ballet for our former captain and briefly 'Shawky and George' for his short lived partnership with our rarely spotted Egyptian midfielder.
Viduka and Queudrue both inspired personalised chants during their time at the Riverside, as have a host of Boro stars throughout the years.
Perhaps the abundance of home-grown lads in our current team is part of the problem. They lack the glamour, silly names and amusing accents of their foreign team mates and it is harder to create songs for them.
Then there is the ever present negativity of the average Boro fan. We still holler 'David Wheater, he's one of our own' on a fairly regular basis but the majority of Boro fan songs are sung at the opposition, not for the players who we are supposed to motivate.
Downing has 'Stewy Downing on the wing' which is of course just Derrick Downing's song recycled. How nice for our unoriginal supporters that we currently have another winger named Downing...
I actually don't mind that though, it's traditional and it links Boro players past and present.
Andrew Taylor just wants something catchy "like Jez's".
Jeremie Aliadiere actually has two songs, 'Na na na na na na Aliadiere-adiere-Aliadiere' to the tune of 'Baby Give It Up' by KC and the Sunshine Band, and an adapted version of 'Living on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi which the fans seem to have stopped singing.
Personally, I prefer the Bon Jovi song, partly because it fits better, partly because Bon Jovi are slightly cooler than KC and co but mostly because I enjoy encouraging random people in nightclubs to sing the Jeremie version, whether they are Boro supporters or not.
Due to my dedication to this cause, and my sister's Swiss boyfriend bringing his friends over to England, there is now a small contingent of boys just outside Zurich singing "Aliadiere!"
Last summer when I saw Bon Jovi at the City of Manchester Stadium, my sister and I confused a couple of thousand people by belting out "Woah we're half way there, woah Aliadiere!" at the top of our lungs and not even slightly in tune.
Incidently I also scratched 8-1 into one of the barriers with my shoe but we won't dwell on that.
The point is that as catchy as these songs are, the raw material still comes from the '70s and '80s and with a wealth of anthemic songs being released every year, there is just no excuse.
This is a young fresh team and we need some more contemporary 'Tunes' to inspire them.
Firstly, may I nominate 'Sex on Fire' by The Kings of Leon? Come on "Di-gard is on fiiiiii-rrrreee!" - can't you just hear it?
Then there's Kaiser Chiefs' 'Never Miss a Beat' which is begging to be adapted.
Adam Johnson, Tony McMahon, Josh Walker, Matthew Bates, Justin Hoyte, Chris Riggott, Ross Turnbull and of course Andrew Taylor are all lacking a personalised fan song.
'Super Ross Turnbull' doesn't count since Cattermole has claimed it forever in various Teesside nightspots.
Also it is a travesty of the highest order that the man, the captain, the legend that is Emanuel Pogatetz does not have an original song!
For those of you who don't know, Pogi's taste in music leans very definitely towards heavy metal. Well, you didn't expect me to say 'Westlife' now did you?!
In particular, Pogi is partial to Metallica...
And for Robert Huth - big, solid and known to his team mates simply as 'The German' - surely a bit of Rammstein (German industrial metal band) is in order?
After all which is more intimidating, a small selection of supporters signing KC And The Sunshine Band or a noisy barrage of fans belting out Metallica? Exactly.
We at ComeOnBoro.com already have a section for fans to try their hand at composing new anthems for the Boro, so in the immortal words of Neil Buchanan from Art Attack, "try it yourself, and I'll see you next time!"
First published on www.ComeOnBoro.com on 12/1/2009
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