England v Austria, The Riverside, Middlesborough

Friendly  (Euro 20 Warm up)

England V Austria

Riverside, Middlesborough

2 Jun 21

It's been a long time since I was at an England match. Due to the pandemic the last game that fans could get tickets for was Kosovo away on 20 Nov 19; tickets for this match were capped at 8000.

Not one of my favourite grounds as there is a lack of decent pubs, and as a Derby fan I have no time for Steve Gibson the Boro chairman

England 1 Austria 0

Attendance: 6,606

Day 1    Arriving into Middlesborough on the 1435 from Grantham via York

There is something grand about old train stations

I'd booked into the Highfield Hotel, a place that I had stayed at previously, but sadly it was now showing signs of ware

A typical Middlesborough street quite close to the area where the former Ayresome Park was.

The Southfield next to Teeside University

I stopped off for a scoop in the Dickens  just along the road from the Southfield. Atmosphere was good and the sun was out.

Cheers

Poetry on the walls of Bedford and Baker Street adds a bit of interest 

Bedford Street has a few decent boozers but the one that stood out was 'The Chairman' because of the link to my best mate Steve Gibson. Nevertheless beer and food were spot on.

The walk from the town to the stadium is uninspiring

The Riverside Stadium - like the town it looks very tired.

The old gates from Ayresome Park are a nice touch

George Hardwick was Captain of Middlesborough and England. He played for Boro between 1937-50 and was the first post war Captain of England, captaining the side in all of his 13 caps. He also captained a Great Britain side in 1947 against the Rest of the World.

Wilf Mannion was a local lad who joined Boro in 1936 and also served in the war in France and Italy. He went onto to grab 341 appearances for the Teesiders. He was capped on 26 occasions between 1946 and 51 and was a member of the 1950 World Cup that went to Brazil. He also played with his team mate George Hardwick as part of the GB team that beat the Rest of the World 6:1 in 1947

After two years of COVID bollocks it felt odd queuing at a turnstile

Some of the usual suspects were in attendance. I sat with this Bristol City fan (bloke with St George's flag on head and shoulders). I had first met him in a Spartak Moscow bar in Russia just before the Colombia game in 2018. The guy taking the photo is QPR Steve 

The wind had picked up and was blowing in from the North Sea. Bloody freezing!

The players line up for the anthems but most of the talk was about England continuing to take the knee. The kneeling prompted loud booing all around the stadium.

The Austrians looked a decent outfit and created a fair few chances. England were quite fortunate to get the win through a very good  Bukayo Saka goal on 56 minutes. 

With Southgate due to name his 26 man squad for Euro 20 on Tues he picked a side with an unfamiliar look as he left out players who were involved in the Champions league and Europa league finals (Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea). The one piece of bad news was the injury to Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold. This is England'd seventeenths friendly win in a row, equalling a record set by Bobby Robson's England between Jun 85 and May 86.

Day 2    Middlesborough is so depressing so I got up early and got to the train station to try and gib an early train. No luck there, so I did some sightseeing and a bit of culture. First stop was the Tees Transporter bridge, supposedly the longest one in the world

Walking down towards Middlesborough College, looks like the council have wasted some money trying to make Middlesborough seem interesting

The last time that I was here this was a pub, but apparently the Lord Byron lost its licence in 2019 because of concerns of serious crime, drugs etc..being carried out on the premises

Struggling to find interesting places. This is Gibson House, once the National Provincial Bank and then Cleveland House but started out as the home of a ship builder, John Gilbert Holmes. 

Found this sign on a wall in central Middlesborough. It was probably a former pub or hotel.

The foundation stone of the Royal Exchange was laid in 1866. It was once the main site of commerce in the centre but made way for the A66 in the early 1980's

Middlesborough Town Hall also has a theatre. Iron Maiden played here in 1980 and 81

The best view of Middlesborough. Sadly I will be returning in 3 days time for the final Euro 20 warm up match against Romania