Episode 8 Late Kick Off North East and Cumbria

Tonight, we reflect on Newcastle's worst home result in 88 years.

Jason Steele is amongst our sizeable Boro contingent and tells

us if the club just has not been good enough this season. And Steve

Bruce talks about his challenging Good evening. We're in the company

of Middlesbrough players past and present tonight. Joining Danny

Mills and myself in the studio, current Boro defender George Friend.

And, about to end his 13 year association with the North East,

Julio Arca, who left the club by mutual consent this week.

How are you feeling? What are you going to do? Where are you going to

go? I can't believe it. I know, it has been such a long

time. I have enjoyed it here. But these things happen in football.

You finish in one place and you have to move on. So I am going back

home now to get this problem that has been affecting me sorted.

Hopefully, I will come back in the summer to look for another team.

Congratulations because you are the first farmer's boy we have had on

the programme. When you were at Wolves with Nicky Gray, he said you

used to come in with eggs. I was expecting the full-scale market

garden. It's a bit far for that. Devon is a long way away. Not the

award I thought I'd get, but the first farmer, I'll take it. It

could have been worse. There is a character called George's Friend in

Peppa Pig, the kid's cartoon. knowledge is fantastic.

Lest we forget, this is a serious football programme. We are going to

be talking very seriously in a wee while. We'll pick over the bones of

a fourth consecutive season without promotion for Boro after we've

considered the pressure mounting for Newcastle boss Alan Pardew

after another defeat. This time, a shocking 6-0 at home to Liverpool,

the Magpies' worst result at St James' Park since 1925.

It is a tough blow for us to take. Not just as a club, but as a squad

in itself. They need to absorb that and show now that they have got the

heart for this. We are now in the battle. More so than we have been

in it all year. Fifth last season. Manager of the

year. What is he thinking? He will be absolutely distraught with the

way it has gone. Fifth last season was beyond all expectations. Mid-

table would have been a much fairer reflection on the team, the squad

that they had. Once expectations go up, people think they should aim

for the Champions League. But Demba Ba leaving was a big blow. They did

bring players in. All the players that came in last year were an

instant success and fitted perfectly. This season, it hasn't

been as easy. Has it come too late as well, at the wrong time of the

season? Should they have brought them in earlier? They had a huge

influx in the January window. really difficult sometimes when you

have to change the whole system, the style of play overnight, fit

these players in. You sometimes get one or two good games out of them

and then they go off the boil a little bit. And I think that is

what has happened. They are going to be fine. You have to remember

that Sunderland are not out of it either. They have a massive game

against Aston Villa. If Villa were to win that, everybody is suddenly

on 37 points. To have suffered two horrific results at home, the

morale must be diabolical. Somehow, he has got to pick them up. In

these next three games. West Ham next week will not be easy. Ex-

players, ex-manager, they'll want to put one over on them. QPR, you

are hoping that they are down and buried, and that's a win. And

Arsenal, last game of the season at home, four four the last time. I

was at the game, fantastic. You do not want to play Arsenal when they

are looking to stay in the Champions League places.

Sorry to do this to you, boys. But the season can't end soon enough

for Middlesbrough. Yesterday, they scraped a 2-2 draw at home to

The stars were out for Middlesbrough's last home game of

the season. Club legend Gianinno gave the crowd a lift after a

Championship campaign to forget. Thoughts have already turned to the

Thoughts have already turned to the future. Indeed, Boro's minds

appeared elsewhere when just 32 seconds into the match, Charlton

took the lead. The visitors dominated and Boro were left

reeling again when Rhys Williams turned the ball into his own net.

Tony Mowbray was left with plenty to talk about at half-time and his

team responded with a well worked move to give Marvin Emnes an

opportunity in front of goal only for the Dutchman to shoot horribly

wide. But Emnes would soon make amends, latching onto this ball to

haul Boro back into the game with 13 minutes left. Just enough time

for Scott McDonald to mark his appearance from the bench with a

goal to rescue a point for Middlesborough and ease some of the

fans' frustration ahead of next We cannot fudge this. 10 wins from

your first 16 games, and then you have got three from 20 since the

turn of the year. Do you know what has gone wrong? It is a question

that has been coming up a lot as you can imagine. I think if it was

one factor, we would have resolved it, and that would not exist. But

we have been struggling and it may come down to a few different things.

People getting injured, and loss of form, maybe too many of us, and we

just have not been good enough in the game. Why would you lose form

collectively? Big players in the team, if they are all losing form

at the same time, it has an impact on the whole squad, the whole team.

There are a lot of fine margins in those games. If you lose another

one and another one, it has a snowball effect. So we are sitting

where we are and we cannot believe it because at Christmas, we were

flying high. We could not wait for the second half of the season and

here we are now. Simple law of averages, lost

another one, lost another one, you think it has to change. Form can't

keep repeating itself and yet it has. Does that losing mentality get

ingrained in the squad? Do you almost go out thinking you are

going to lose before you have even gone across the white line? I would

not see it that way. But when you lose and you lose, some games you

have seen that you should win and you get beaten or you get a point,

it is not good enough. That is what has happened this season. It is not

just one thing, it must be a few things going on that hopefully the

manager will sort for next year to make them back to the Premier

League. The environment must be horrible to

go into every day. To have that collective objective not being

achieved week after week, the whole environment, there must be abject

misery around the training ground. I think the hardest thing was that

we had it in our hand and it has slipped away. We could have changed

that and we have not been able to. We have got a really good core

group of lads and we try to stay as positive as we can under the

circumstances. This is the second season it has happened. We missed

out on the play-offs by finishing seventh. And again, it has happened

this year. The manager must be, not panicking, but thinking, if it

happens again next year, is he under any sort of pressure with

regards to his job? This year we had a chance because the squad was

bigger, we had plenty choices. you almost got too many? Can you

have too big a squad? You need a good 20 to 25 players. But don't

you need to know who your core seven or eight players are and they

are consistently out there all the time? Yes, of course. But you work

the other players around them. But it is difficult for those that

don't play to keep them happy. But in this league, you need a good 22,

25 players. There are about 46 games and you need players to be

fit. Then of course, compounding that from a personal perspective,

you have only been involved in three games. You were flying and

all of a sudden, you are out. It must be horrific not to be able to

wade in and help your mates. Yes, this is my first muscular injury, I

have never experienced anything like it. I didn't know what was

going on in terms of that. I thought I could play on. I was

probably playing the best football of my career and really enjoying

playing for Middlesbrough. It was great. And to be out and see

results not go so well, especially now towards the end we have really

dipped off, it is very frustrating. How will you look back on your 13

years in the north-east? As a player, you have your ups and

downs. But looking at the full picture, I did my best for the two

teams. You had some great highs here as well. I think so. I want to

take that with me. We have promotion with Sunderland. So many

good players, international players, a high level. I would like to take

the positives with me now. But it's been good. I have enjoyed my life

inside the pitch and outside the pitch in the north-east. I want to

come back. More Twitter questions for our two

Boro stars. Who is the best manager and worst manager you have worked

for at Boro and Sunderland? That's a good question. Straight answer. I

will say Gareth Southgate, he got me here and give me the chance to

move from Sunderland to Middlesborough and play in the high

level. Worst manager? Cheeky that. I would probably say Gordon because

I did not play as much as I wanted. But that's the only reason why.

Did we ask for Sunderland as well? That will do. I think they will

agree with that. One for George as well. Do you

think you can fill Julio's shoes? I'm not going to kid myself. Julio

has had a great career. You can tell the truth. I've seen him in

training. He's nutmegged me that many times that I think I can't

answer anything other than he's a great player and I would say that

we are very different players as well. Julio is technically one of

the best I have played with. I am more of a grafter, running up and

down. Nothing wrong with that.I like to think in terms of coming in

and being the Boro left back in this league, yes. But in terms of

Julio as a player, he is brilliant. There we are. You can go back to

Argentina now. We're wall to wall Middlesbrough this week because our

very own Craig Hignett has been to Over recent years, Middlesbrough's

academy has produced a stream of top young keepers. At present, I

think we have one who is going to Jason, thank you for speaking to

Late Kick-off. Do clean sheets and awards give you confidence? Yes,

definitely. Are you a confident player? Yes, 100 percent. I

probably shouldn't say that. But if I'm being honest, yeah. I think

everybody is. I think the first thing you do in a match generally

makes you know whether you are feeling good or not and whether you

think you can come and take every cross or whether you want to just

stay in goal and do not want to risk anything. It is weird. You can

go from one game and being a world beater to being the next game and

thinking you've got shovels on your hands. You just feel weird. Tony

Mowbray has given you the number 1 shirt. Give us an insight into your

relationship with the gaffer and how he gets the best out of you.

The less I speak to the manager is better for me 100 percent. It means

he does not need to speak to you about anything, does not need to

tell you what you should be doing. He shows me videos of different

goalkeepers and how they play at top levels, he shows me how to play

to get to the top level. I keep This season, obviously, the lads

started on fire, winning 10 of the first 16 games. Did the team get

overconfident? Maybe. In this league, it's hard to explain but

you could be absolutely brilliant on a Tuesday night at home against

Hull and play away on a Saturday I just think in general, we haven't

been good enough. It's not that our performance level has not been the

same. It is all through the team, 40 odd games in the season you

cannot keep the performance that high, but you have to find a

certain medium and I do not think we have done that enough in my

How low do you get when you go through such a bad spell? Are you

easy to live with? No. You wouldn't understand. After we lose on

Saturday, I can go for two, three, four days without speaking to my

missus, my mum and dad. I don't like losing. I hate what it does to

me. It shouldn't do that to you, because there is more to life than

football. I've got a bairn and we lose on a Saturday and I just want

to go to my bed. Football is my life and I don't want to get to 35

We just had such a great spirit and it's been hard to take over the

last couple of months. It's hard when you are losing that many games

to stay best mates. But that's what we were at the start of the season

The more games you lose, it's hard. You just want to keep yourself to

yourself, but you've got to stick How much of this club is in your

DNA? It's the only club I've ever played for bar Northampton.

Hopefully, I will stay here, but you never know in football. I would

like to think I would come out the end of some tough occasions and

stuck out for myself and I'm still in the team. That's all I can be

Said three or four days not talking to his missus, which means he has

not be can -- he has not spoken to her for all of 2013! It seems he

takes it to a heart? There is a lot of Youth Court on a sting, but that

will change because it has to. -- Youth Court honesty. You take it

away with you, but you have got to move on. If you don't, it will eat

you alive. You mentioned Tony Mowbray - can you see it and

manager trying to find a solution to all of this? Do you smell the

desperation of trying to break out of a bad run? He is probably trying

to use the star he used at West Bromwich. All this leave the money

spent before he arrived at the club was spent, so he has been fighting

with that. For some reason probably, he did not find the money he wanted,

so at the same time, he has to work with what he has got. He knows how

much it means to be people. - Write to the people.

It was the final round of fixtures in Leagues One and Two yesterday,

and at long last we have got good whimper. Gavin masse reacted

quickly. -- Gavin Massey. Tom Eastmond took full advantage.

Carlisle finish the season 17th in the table.

Hartlepool pars one final game in League One. Jamie Proctor at Tampa

in to score his first of the afternoon, but both teams were soon

on level terms. Monkhouse was able to get his 7th of the season. In

the final minutes though, Hartlepool were denied victory.

Nigel Worthington arrived in March with York City in freefall. Now he

has secured their place in the Football League for another season.

A draw would have been enough, but a win for Dagenham would have left

them vulnerable. Chris Smith scored again's only goal. Worthington now

finish 17 in the table. Berwick Rangers have maintained their place,

York have survived under Nigel Worthington. I suppose it justifies

making the change. It does and he has done well. The decision has

been proved right. It encourages teams that are struggling towards

the end of the season to sack managers and not give them time.

Chairman think we will have a honeymoon period, but longer term,

I don't think it works. -- chairman think. We have it every year.

Managers get sacked, some do well and it becomes the right thing to

do. Congratulations to Darlington who secured promotion yesterday.

Needing a win, Darlington came from behind to beat Northumbria 3-1.

Congratulations to their manager and his staff.

And good luck to Spennymoor Town in the final of the FA Vase at Wembley

on Saturday. Steve Bruce took Sunderland to

their third highest league finish since the mid-1950s two seasons ago

before he was subsequently sacked. He's now on the verge of a Premier

League return with Hull City. Here's how he reflects on his time

at the Stadium of Light. Nice to see you. You have brought

the sunshine with you! I have enjoyed it. I have stayed under the

raider until you came to town. -- under the radar. I needed to douse

myself down after what happened at Sunderland and then go again.

it take a lot to get the Sunderland experience, particularly the end,

out of your system? It hurts you, it disappoints you and you feel

angry. You think, surely I would have been given more time and just

because of the reaction of one game, although you have worked for just

evaporates. After one you say, what are you going to do? Will that be

the end or are you going to have another crack? You knew that black

and white lion was a tough one to cross? Absolutely, but I always

thought I could be the one to give them the success they crave. I had

taken over a club that had just survived. We finished 13th and then

10th. I had a bad run, 11 games or whatever it was, but I think he was

be a reaction. I don't blame the supporters, because it is nonsense

going around and that is not true. I don't know. Looking back on it,

was it the wrong thing to do? When the nitty-gritty came, there was a

certain elements who would never forget where I was from. Didier

shot cue, some of the abuse you got? Certainly be hatred. Unless

you have managed up their, it is a difficult place. It is its own

principality, if you like. They want their teens to be in the

Premier League because they don't want to be in the championship. It

is a difficult experience, but looking back on it, I have done it.

In a lot of ways I was pleased, but it always disappoints you when it

ends as horribly as it did. If only life felt in two days comfortable

boxes. I said to Birmingham at the time that I had just signed a new

deal and I did not think it was right at that particular time. When

the opportunity arose to replace Sir Bobby, I have already committed

elsewhere. -- I had already committed elsewhere. You know all

about the rivalry. A really tough line to cross over their, obviously.

A Geordie managing Sunder Land's, it is not easy. Absolutely. I am

sure it was hard for him. But it only takes going to St James's Park

and been part of that glorious team and the barriers are broken down.

If you give it your all, the fans will forgive you. I am pleased for

Steve Bruce. He has had tough times, but he has got this opportunity.

They are spluttering over the line go. Full board does become

emotional. He is doing great we've Hull. -- football does get

emotional. He is doing great with Hull. I think he has been a great

manager with an lot of experience. He was a fantastic player as well.

People can learn a lot for him. Thanks and good luck. It's our last

show of the series next week. Before then, we'll leave you