John Neal excellent manager left us 9 years yesterday

[erimus74]

For me, John Neal, was an excellent Boro manager who brought an exciting style of football to the Boro
I can't praise him high enough at his time at the Boro between 77 & 81

I started going late 71, Stan Anderson's reign, then along came big Jack, who took us to another level, after 4 years Jack decided he was standing down & in the summer of 77 John Neal was announced as Jacks successor, what an act to follow

JN moved the club in another direction with his philosophy on youth & attacking football

He was only weeks into his job as manager when he got his 1st major setback as our mannager, it was announced the late, great Willie Maddren's playing career was over through a persistent injury, then later in the year, Graeme Souness left the Boro when he was transferred to Liverpool, the best Bro defender & player in my time gone from the club

It was JN's style of buying the right type of players to mould into a style he wanted us to play
His 1st signing, John Mahoney from Stoke, a £90k record signing, big Billy Ashcroft soon followed, & again, broke our transfer record, a big battling CF who scored on his home debut & had a goal disallowed against Birmingham, in a 2-1 defeat, others followed, quality signings Mick Burns & record signing Terry Cochrane, both players were an instant success, record signing Irving Nattrass, though TBF he struggled badly with injuries & Bosco Jankovic, another good signing

Rene Houseman was on his radar, which at the time would have been a massive coup if it had come off, along with youth such as Mark Proctor, David Hodgson, Craig Johnston, David Shearer, who scored 2 goals on his home debut against Chelsea in a 2 nil win, Ian Bailey, Graham Hedley, Stan Cummins, although he 1st featured under big Jack, it was JN who played him regularly to become a new Boro terrace hero, the list of exciting youth coming through was fantastic, add to that the established players then, David Armstrong, Jim Platt, John Craggs & Stuey Boam, he was building one heck of a team, we would, & should, have ended our quest for our 1st ever trophy & a place in Europe.

John Neal is in my top 3 of all time Boro managers, along with Jack Charlton & Bruce Rioch, it was a sad day when it was announced he had resigned, due to the board wanting to sell the clubs crown jewels, instead of building a team around them

I loved that exciting era, we scored goals for fun, teams didn't enjoy coming to the Boro, but we struggled in away games, if he could have found the right formula on our travels, we could have been the new Ipswich, QPR, Aston Villa, but not to be

I'll always look back with very happy memories of his exciting reign as the manager of Middlesbrough Football Club

RIP John Neal

[Johnny Thunder]

A great manager.


RIP.

[erimus74]

John Neals 1st match was v Liverpool at Ayresome Park 20th August 1977, Kenny Dalglish made a scoring debut putting Liverpool ahead, after arriving from Celtic for a British record teannsfer £400k, we too had a record signing making his debut, John Mahoney £90k from Stoke City, the game ended 1-1 with David Armstrong scoring our dqualiser in front of a packed Ayresome Park, times were goid back then

[erimus74]

A great manager.


RIP.

Indeed

[Nosmo-King]

To me, a bit under rated by quite a few of our fan base and deserves greater respect for his qualities.

Was in no doubt a great manager.

[Bud Wiser]

Loved his reply on Shoot from around 45 years ago when asked after match by co-presenter/summariser David Burton re the 'Boring Boro' tag - we were wrongly labeled with at the time. "Well David (in that soft geordie twang of his) I'd sooner be an unpopular manager in the 1st Division than a popular manager in the 2nd Division."

Still to this day my favourite all time MFC manager.

[erimus74]

We had a very talented group of players, maybe 2 CB's, we just couldn't rely on Irving Nattrass to replace the late, great Willie Maddren
John Neal just couldn't get the right home & away formula, we were as good as any team at home, our away form was his achilles heel

[AtomicDog]

Didn't Billy Ashcroft marry his daughter Erimus?

[John Trebor]

We had a very talented group of players, maybe 2 CB's, we just couldn't rely on Irving Nattrass to replace the late, great Willie Maddren
John Neal just couldn't get the right home & away formula, we were as good as any team at home, our away form was his achilles heel

198/81 sums it up for me.

33 points at home: Top 6.
5 points away from home: Relegation

It was so frustrating.

[erimus74]

Didn't Billy Ashcroft marry his daughter Erimus?

That was the rumour at the time, as far as im aware, its a total rumour

[Ural Quntz]

Didn't Billy Ashcroft marry his daughter Erimus?

That was the rumour at the time, as far as im aware, its a total rumour

I dont even believe that his daughter was called Erimus!

 

[AtomicDog]

 

[erimus74]

Didn't Billy Ashcroft marry his daughter Erimus?

That was the rumour at the time, as far as im aware, its a total rumour

I dont even believe that his daughter was called Erimus!

 

😅

[John Trebor]

Didn't Billy Ashcroft marry his daughter Erimus?

That was the rumour at the time, as far as im aware, its a total rumour

I dont even believe that his daughter was called Erimus!

 

[AtomicDog]