Middlesbrough sell-out | IMGpapers 1980

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 2-5 of 7; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 13 of the scan

TRYING to write a football column for a socialist reminds me of watching Middlesbrough struggling to an FA Cup Semi-Final for the first time in history. The willingness is there, but somehow the whole idea seems highly improbable.

Now that Boro' chances in the Molyneaux mud for yet Season. Lucre Teesside over Craig Johnston's delayed action transfer to Liverpool.

Two years ago, newspaper Cassert reach Middlesbrough.

Boro' have blown their itself. uproar The Liverpool pinched our best player, Graeme Souness, whom Middlesbrough had taken out of Spurs and transformed into midfield maestro in Division One. Souness is now hailed as a superstar while playing no better than he did at Having taken Craig Johnston from the Australian outback and developed him into a worthy successor to Souness, lars are trifle aggrieved that history is about to repeat villain of the piece restauranteur and former dance band leader Charles Amer, chairperson of the Middlesbrough board of directors. To Amer and his colleagues football means becoming a civic dignatory — and a good season is one where the books balance.

Annel masterminded Johnston's move to Liverpool over the head of Boro' manager John Neal, and has even admitted that he tried to sell the • to Leeds at Christmas for £1m. This fell through because didn't want to go.

Indeed throughout the whole saga Johnston has seemed reluctant to leave Middlesbrough and has insisted on staying. until his contract expires in May.

Boro' fans are now asking about the futures of David Hodgson and Mark La profit?

mid-table team directors Craig without his agreement.

directors is monev Newcastle Johnston recently resigned impartiality? the England Under-21 team. Will they also be sacrificed so that Amer can show The next departure from Ayresome Park may be manager John Neal who is unlikely to want to manage a mediocre indefinitely while his sell off Boro's young stars The main concern of all football witness the three United directors (including League President Lord Westwood) who because they were reluctant to stump up f16,000 apiece to stop Newcastle's slide to Division Three I'm sorry if Socialist Challenge's first football column has been dominated by events at Ayresome Park, but what did you expect in a left-wing newspaper Interna-