What can be said about 2001? Everyone I know remembers where they were when the shocking events of that bright September morning in New York unfolded. The whole world watched as the whole world changed. I was at work in an office in York when the news came through and spent the rest of the day vainly searching the internet for news about the attacks and listening to increasingly wild and wacky rumours and theories.

 These history-defining moments overshadow everything else, especially frivolous games involving chasing a ball around a field. Life perspective is brought quickly and painfully into focus. Eventually, the shock and horror fade and recede in the minds of the public, and the paralysis of fear gives way to stoic acceptance that life has to go on…trite as that sounds. We soon go back to worrying about our own worlds and lives; wondering what is for tea tonight; wondering how that ball-kicking game at the weekend will go…

 The other news events of the year seem irrelevant in comparison to 9/11, but the notable events included the UK Foot and Mouth outbreak, the re-election of Blair’s Labour party into power, the execution of Timothy McVeigh (2 months before 9/11) and the bankruptcy of Enron.

 In popular culture, the world of film was dominated by fantasy and animation. The first Harry Potter and The Lord of The Rings films lead the way, with Monsters, Inc. and Shrek in tow. In the music world, US-based “Nu Metal” and the likes of Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit featured heavily, and the Beatles “1” album showed that the appetite for Liverpudlian boy bands wasn’t diminishing. Oh, and Steps split up. Tragedy.

 The inevitable departure of Bryan Robson was not seen as a tragedy. He had overseen six seasons of mixed success and rollercoaster emotions. Early promise had been unfulfilled. He had come so close to, yet so far from, making history with the club. The consensus was that he had been found wanting in terms of his coaching ability.

 It’s possible that Gibson agreed with this assessment. When it became clear that Terry Venables wasn’t going to stick around, the chairman went looking for a new man to take the helm. Steve McClaren, who had earned a reputation as a good coach and assistant manager with Derby County and Manchester United, was approached and turned down offers to join Southampton and West Ham to take up the challenge of managing Boro.

In terms of playing staff, McClaren brought in a couple of Man United second-string players in the form of Jonathan Greening and Mark Wilson. Szilard Nemeth, the Slovakian forward, joined from Inter Bratislava, and the French full-back Frank Queudrue also signed. The biggest signing was that of Gareth Southgate, with Boro paying a record fee for the centre back. He was persuaded to resume his partnership with former Villa player Ugo Ehiogu, and the signing was seen as something of a coup. The Boro public weren’t sure what to expect, but were hopeful that someone of McClaren’s obvious calibre would bring success. The more instant the better, naturally.

 It didn’t start very well. McClaren’s first game in charge at the Riverside saw the visit of Arsenal, who promptly condemned Boro to a humiliating 4-0 defeat. There followed two away games at Bolton and Everton, both of which were lost, before we entertained the black and white beer bellies from up the road.

 We started that game quite well, but a couple of key refereeing decisions with penalties at both ends and a sending off turned the tide in Newcastle’s favour. They romped to a 4-1 win, leaving Boro fans worried about how this season was going to pan out. So much for a good coach. Goals were flying in to the Boro net with alarming ease, and only one had been scored at the right end…by a defender.

 The recovery started with a 2-0 win over West Ham at home (the weekend after the terrorist atrocities in the USA), followed by a hard-fought comeback in the televised Monday night match against Leicester. We came from a goal down at half-time to win 2-1, with goals from Ince and new boy Greening.

 Next up was Chelsea away – always a tricky prospect – but Boksic and Robbie Stockdale scored the goals that earned a creditable 2-2 draw. The early-season shiteness was fast becoming a distant memory…or so we thought. That perennial not-so-much-bogey-as-constant-stream-of-snot team called Southampton mugged us 3-1 at home. The revival was over.

 After the international break in early October, Boro resumed with a 0-0 draw away to Charlton Athletic and an always-pleasant home win against Sunderland on a Monday night, French Frank showing us his ability with free kicks. We then lost 2-1 away to Tottenham, settling into a familiar, arrhythmic pattern of inconsistency. The prevalent feeling was that the team couldn’t get into top gear. Maybe they were struggling with the new manager’s almost scientific approach, but they seemed unable to play free-flowing football for any more than the odd patch.

 Something clicked on the 3^rd November, however, and Boro gave Derby their traditional hammering at our place…5-1 on this occasion. Nemeth, Boksic and Mustoe got a goal each, but the star of the show was the young man called Carlos Marinelli, who scored twice and ran the Rams ragged. As seems to happen with many players hailing from Argentina, this young fellow was immediately saddled with the expectation that he would be the next Maradonna. Other than in this Derby game, I don’t recall him ever looking like he would get close to fulfilling such a destiny.

 The team obviously exhausted their good form in that game, because other than a 1-0 win away at Blackburn, there were no more victories in 2001. Since the last four games in December were against Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and a resurgent Newcastle, one can’t be too surprised about this. Disappointed, yes; surprised, no. A 4^th round exit from the League Cup at the hands of Blackburn Rovers did little to lift the mood.