Distance from Coventry Building Society Arena to The Riverside Stadium - 176 miles (283km). Travel time 3hr 20 mins Happy New Year to you all. And what better way to start the New Year off than a very early start for the long trip up to Middlesbrough. 

Now fortunately, I gave up the booze, 7 years ago today in fact, so I’m annoyingly chipper and excited. In the last week, City have beaten Sheffield Wednesday and drawn with Swansea, so our unbeaten run continues. We arrive at the coach park. The line is like a scene from a zombie movie. Everyone looks half dead. There’s a lot of moaning and groaning. And the smell…… Even young Scarpa, who is 16…..errrr……18… is feeling the effects of a pretty late night. Don’t worry, he’ll sleep it off. 

The journey is quiet. Whispered, hungover tones. The coach toilet earns its money today. Blogit is cheery, but no-one wants to engage with him today. Miserable gits. Oh, and it’s New Year, so the selective diet has started. No fizzy drinks and no chocolate. Suddenly, Blogit is miserable too. Maybe a bottle of water will cheer him up. Said no-one. Ever. Is KFC off limits?? Blogit remembers telling Scarpa that, no, the selective diet allows a KFC or chippy on an away day. 

Mood lightened, we settle in for the journey. Like Sunderland last week, we head north and retrace our tyreprints up the M1 and A1. Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds all fly by as we approach the gritty town of Middlesbrough, a town built up around shipyards and steel works, and the transport of coal on the Stockton - Darlington railway. 

This was the first public railway to use steam locomotives, so it’s a pretty big deal in the grand scheme of the Modern World. Which, ironically, Middlesbrough hasn’t quite joined.. The people from Middlesbrough are referred to as Smoggies, as there was always a great smog in the air due to the industrialization. 

Kids in Boro smoke from the age of 5. It’s healthier than breathing in the surrounding air. Middlesbrough was the first major British town and industrial target to be bombed during the Second World War. The steel making capacity and railways for carrying steel products were obvious targets. 

The Luftwaffe first bombed the town on 25 May 1940, when a lone bomber dropped 13 bombs between South Bank Road and the South Steel plant. Apparently it caused $15 million dollars worth of improvements. 

We arrive in Middlesbrough. There’s not a smog in sight. In fact, it’s a beautiful, sunny, cold, clear day, and you can see as far as the eye can see a KFC just over the bridge. Well Happy New Year. We hurriedly (as hurriedly as an out-of-shape 53 year old can hurry) make our way to KFC. To be fair, I haven’t had a KFC all year, so feel this one is deserved. Oh, the crispy secret coating. The succulent chicken. I’ve missed you, my dear friend. Haven’t missed the chips. They were crap. I mean, how hard is it to make chips hot and crispy?? Really hard in Middlesbrough, apparently. Kids were probably out back fagging it rather than focusing on crispy chips. . 

Cut to the football. Nice ground, The Riverside. The last time we were here we beat Boro 1- 0 in the play off semi finals. It holds good memories for us, and those memories can continue, because City smash the Boro 3-1. Boro take the lead, but City stroke back. Tats Sakamoto, our Superstar from Tokyo scores 2, and then the American scores. At last. It’s party time in the stands. It doesn’t get much better than this. New Years Day, 3-1 up against our play off rivals, and a belly full of KFC. Take me now Lord. Actually, don’t take me now Lord, we’re unbeaten in 7.