DOING THE 92 – PIGBAG, PARMOS AND PHIL STAMP

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Not a great programme from the collection, but a significant one.

Before there was GBG ticking there was football ticking. I finished my pursuit of the 92 League Grounds on a crisp March Sunday afternoon at the Riverside.

Riverside
Don’t you love modern stadia ?

A first visit to Middlesbrough, which we immediately deduced was the Watford of the North, but a bit cheaper.

Middlesbrough

We parked just off the A66, gave a local urchin a fiver to mind clean the car, and I joined the hordes of Smoggies and Saints on their way to the dullest fixture of the weekend (and therefore the one on Sky).

Quite emotional finishing the 92, so goodness knows what I’ll be like when I finish the 4,500 (assuming there’s 4,500 pubs left when we re-open).

Back in ’99, ‘Boro took the field to Prokofiev Pigbag. It’s still 1981 on Teesside.

Well, it may be an odd fanfare but it worked.  The Riverside was the loudest ground of all 92 I went to, and no-one will ever believe that.

Perhaps it was the Carling.

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Pep uses bottles of Bud to teach tactics at City

Programmes lost their value to the spectator as squads increased from 12 to 100, and team sheets became pointless.

Sadly, I got to see Phil Stamp instead of Gazza.  Sorry, Phil.

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A quiet day for Le Tissier

Here’s the highlights of a dull match that 21 years on seemed poor value for £22.  What was the average weekly wage in Middlesbrough in 1999 ?

Since ’99 the team has wobbled, the town has acquired a Modern Art gallery and actual street art,

Cute

and the narrow streets between Uni and shops are home to 37 micropubs, the sort where folk of all ages drink gin on a Friday.

I love it.

Sherlocks

In the  Bottled Note the bants were Manchester class;

“Beans and sausage sandwiches are top”

“I prefer crabsticks”

“I won’t eat anything I’d lose to in a staring contest”

“That rules out prawns.  And snails”

If you’ve got those all-important CAMRA vouchers you’re spoilt for choice. The Resolution is very much the 3rd Spoons in Middlesbrough, the one that never makes the Beer Guide, the one the ladies singing “I Touch Myself” move onto at 11pm.

Saturday night

Post-match in ’99, I’m fairly sure Mrs RM spent most of her household budget in the “boutiques”, leaving just enough for a slap-up parmo from Smoggies.

Authentic
Actually from Stockton

 If you’re unsure of the nutritional value of the parmesan, there’s a good curry alternative.

Dosa Houze (with a z) gains bonus points for calling me “weird” for my unique application of complimentary pickles and chutneys to my keema chaat.  I always ask for “everything” when given a choice.

But honestly, who’s staying in Middlesbrough when there’s Stockton next door ?

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

15 thoughts on “DOING THE 92 – PIGBAG, PARMOS AND PHIL STAMP”

  2. I learn something new everyday on this blog. “Parmo is said to have been created by Nicos Harris, a chef with the United States Army in World War II. He was wounded in France, but was brought to the United Kingdom to be treated in a British hospital. Eventually, he moved to Middlesbrough and opened a restaurant, The American Grill, on Linthorpe Road, where he created parmo in 1958.” What a wild world we live in.

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    2. I did not know that, either. Or that “A large parmo with chips and salad they tested contained about 2,600 calories and 150g of fat.”

      It’s a cross between the Schnitzel beloved of Germans and the Chicken Kiev beloved of English schoolchildren.

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  3. I am starving & just cooking the tea (we watch the Chase whilst we eat -on trays i’m ashamed to say ) & my mouth is watering thinking about a Parmo -heard about them but never had the chance to indulge !

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    1. Did wonder if you’d ever seen one in Yorkshire, Pauline. Think it’s only relatively recently that I’ve seen them in North Yorkshire towns like Richmond, Thirsk and Whitby.

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      1. Never actually seen them being sold -I think I saw Steph McGovern talking about them & other “delights ” of Middlesborough. on the television . Its been too long since we visited Yorkshire -we had planned to go earlier this year …….

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