Fly Me To The Moon column: Neil Warnock's levels of organisation have turned Middlesbrough into the team to be feared

What a Difference a 3-0 Win Makes

The fan love affair with Neil Warnock has just elevated a notch or three! Reaching back into the past of the heady days of Brian Moore ITV and national networking that 3-0 Boro win over Derby County was every inch a MidWeek Sports Special.

That was a programme that ended in the same year as Neil Warnock presided over a management achievement that has looked more and more like a miracle in the intervening time.

In 1991 Warnock's Notts County team brushed aside Middlesbrough in a play-off semi-final on route to taking the now non league side to the top flight of English football.

At the end of that campaign we swapped places, so it was we Teessiders and not the side by the Trent that played in the media glow of the inaugural Premier League. Maybe that is why that early miracle of management is all but forgotten these days.

Anyway, it is not every week that Boro score THREE goals so I am going to unashamedly wallow in nostalgia as well as celebrate the present and cheer for the future in this column.

We have so often been regarded as a dour team. And that was the state of play before Wednesday when a run of goalless affairs was brought to a triumphant end. I am old enough to remember how under Jack Charlton we would be delighted when opposition fans goaded us with “Boring Boring Boro.” It was a sign that we had crawled under their skin.

We have always loved being the underdog and taken delight in punching above our weight. Of course never was a triumph against adversity more keenly celebrated than when we rose from the ashes after having been taken to the locked gates of liquidation in 1986 and then straight-jacketed by being debarred from making transfer market signings.

Bruce Rioch laid down the law of a sergeant major's level of organisation straight off the Aldershot parade ground. A strict system included Cooper the right footed left back, Slaven the goalscorer playing off the right flank also. Yet two successive promotions saw Boro catapulted through the leagues. No other side enjoyed the trip to Middlesbrough.

Neil Warnock's levels of organisation have made Boro into the team to be feared by other teams or indeed fans. It is perhaps a nod backwards to Aitor Karanka, the last boss to boost us to promotion.

There are other comparisons, as in his early weeks the former Real Madrid assistant built from the back but unfortunately couldn't buy a win or indeed a goal. There was a goalless run of over eight hours in 2014.

When we lost against Norwich on Saturday there were murmurings about our goals failures. How quickly that is all forgiven and forgotten thanks to Britt, Marvin Johnson and Matt Clarke o.g.

Can we now continue the bounce back from defeat at Huddersfield on Saturday. The Terriers will be tested and will not be looking forward to toppling our defences.

Here's hoping Warnock's Boro are “on the ball” for a positive “final score” this Saturday.

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