Source: Eurosport
McMahon shocked by Boro plight
Middlesbrough defender Tony McMahon never envisaged having to play his part in a desperate fight for Premier League survival.
When the Bishop Auckland-born full-back broke into the first team as an 18-year-old in 2004, his future and that of his club looked to be on an upward curve.
Just a few months earlier, he had lifted the FA Youth Cup for the Teessiders during the same season that Gareth Southgate had hoisted the Carling Cup above his head at the Millennium Stadium as Boro finally landed their first major trophy.
Less than five years on, the two men find themselves engaged in a battle which could hardly have been further from their thoughts as Teesside celebrated what they hoped would be the start of a period of sustained success.
Now 23, McMahon has emerged from his injury problems to be thrust into the heat of a relegation fight, which continues with Saturday's visit of Fulham to the Riverside Stadium, and with Southgate now in the manager's hot seat.
It is a situation McMahon admits was not on the horizon when he made his senior debut in a 1-1 draw at Manchester United in October 2004.
He said: "When I got into the team, in my first season, we finished seventh in the league. Now we are at the bottom fighting to stay in the league.
"But it's going to make us stronger as players and as a club as well when we eventually get out of this."Boro, perhaps belatedly, gave themselves hope last weekend when they defeated fellow strugglers Hull 3-1 for just their second league win in 20 attempts, although their position remains grave.
Only bottom-of-the-table West Brom are any worse off, although derby rivals Newcastle and Sunderland were reined in by last weekend's success.Those three points have rekindled hope, although the spectre of a return to the Football League - where McMahon made 15 appearances on loan for Sheffield Wednesday earlier this season - for the first time since 1998 continues to haunt them.
McMahon was an 11-year-old schoolboy back in 1997 when a Boro side complete with overseas superstars Juninho, Emerson and Fabrizio Ravanelli slipped out of the top flight after losing in both domestic cup finals and mercifully, like his fellow academy graduates, remembers little of the trauma which surrounded it.
However, he is well aware of the impact a repeat would have on the club and the town.
He said: "Obviously, no-one wants a repeat of what happened. That would be the last thing the club wants and the last thing we want as players."It would be just disastrous.
"The manager has said we have got nothing to lose now. We are down there and all we can do is go out and perform and pick up the points."Other teams are getting dragged in now. We have been down there, we know it's not a nice place, but we know we can get out of it because of the quality we have in the squad."
With Hull travelling to Sunderland on Saturday, significant moves could be made this weekend, and while Southgate has worked tirelessly in recent weeks to bolster fragile confidence and keep hope alive, he is realistic enough to know his club remains deep in trouble.
The former England defender said: "You never give up hope. Whatever situation you are in in life, if you give up hope, then you are beaten.
"You can't ever afford to think that way. We realise how difficult the task ahead of us is and we are very realistic about it.
"Some people would say you have to be optimistic - I think you have still got to be realistic.
"It's one win, nothing more. It gave people hope."
