Source: Northern_Echo
Strachan never wins at St James’
GORDON Strachan will attempt to end a career-long hoodoo tomorrow afternoon, after revealing that his wretched St James' Park record even includes a defeat in a testimonial that had already been fixed to end in a draw.[LNB] Strachan has made 15 previous visits to Tyneside as either a manager or player, and none has resulted in a victory.[LNB] The Middlesbrough manager was unsuccessful five times as player with Manchester United, Leeds and Coventry, five times as a boss of the Sky Blues, three times as manager of Southampton and twice in his most recent role as leader of Celtic.[LNB] The first of those games involving Celtic was Alan Shearer's testimonial in May 2006, and with the Magpies' all-time record goalscorer unable to play because of the knee injury that brought his career to a premature end, Strachan agreed to set up an emotional stoppage-time penalty that would leave the score tied at 2-2.[LNB] However, Celtic substitute Paul Lawson scored a 91stminute own goal, meaning that instead of resulting in a draw, Shearer's subsequent spot-kick condemned Strachan to yet another St James' Park defeat.[LNB] I don't think I've ever won there, said the Boro boss, who will be without the injured Adam Johnson and the ineligible Sean St Ledger tomorrow.[LNB] It's a puzzling one.[LNB] Liverpool seemed to be easy right the way through my career. For some reason, I could always win there.[LNB] Chelsea was another one, they never caused me any problems.[LNB] Arsenal wasn't too bad, but Newcastle was a different story.[LNB] I went there with some good players and some fairly decent teams, but I just never seemed to be able to get to the winning post.[LNB] Even in testimonials, I got beat.[LNB] We actually fixed one of them so it would be a draw, and somehow we still managed to lose. We were meant to allow Alan Shearer to get a penalty to draw in the last minute, but we even cocked that up.[LNB] We were in the lead, so we agreed to give him a penalty.[LNB] But we gave a goal away before he got chance to come on, and we still ended up giving away the penalty anyway.[LNB] Having been a player at Manchester United and a manager at Celtic, Strachan has been involved in two of the biggest footballing derbies in the world.[LNB] The Tyne-Tees rivalry might not boast the same intensity as the Old Firm divide, but having lived in the North- East for almost two months now, the Scotsman is well aware of the importance of tomorrow's game to the Middlesbrough fans.[LNB] A victory over the Championship leaders would be the perfect response to a run of one win in eight matches, and Strachan is happy to build up the importance of a match that is one of just two North-East derbies scheduled for any professional league this season.[LNB] It's a big game, he said.[LNB] It doesn't matter whether it's Real Madrid v Barcelona, Glasgow Rangers v Glasgow Celtic, Man Utd v Man City or Liverpool v Everton it's how the people in the stadium feel about the game.[LNB] In the North-East, and in this area in particular, they think this is the most important game in the world. And they're the ones that matter because they support the two sides involved. The fans think it's the most important game in the world, so we must think it's exactly the same thing.[LNB] As a born-and-bred North- Easterner, Boro full-back Tony McMahon knows all about the significance of tomorrow's result.[LNB] McMahon was raised in Evenwood, a County Durham village located to the south-west of Bishop Auckland, and like many North-East communities of a similar size, footballing loyalties are split.[LNB] There are Boro and Sunderland supporters living close to the 23-yearold, but the majority of his friends are Newcastle fans, and he was forced to lie low for a lengthy period in the wake of May's 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Magpies.[LNB] Evenwood's a bit of a split town in terms of football support, but to be fair, it's mostly Newcastle[LNB] said McMahon.[LNB] I have mates who are Newcastle fans, so I'm desperate to get one over on them after last season. For a while after that, I had to keep my head down.[LNB] People have been coming up to me and talking about football in the last few weeks. I've had a few people saying things some positive, some not so good.[LNB] They're entitled to their opinion, and everyone's a bit frustrated at the minute because we're not winning games.[LNB] But this is a great opportunity to start turning things around.[LNB] With St Ledger ineligible following the end of his loan deal, Strachan is expected to move Emanuel Pogatetz to centre-half and play Jonathan Grounds at leftback.[LNB] Gary O'Neil is available again after missing last weekend's defeat to Cardiff through concussion.[LNB]
