have to say jam, even though you are a fellow Boro fan and Ill back you on most football arguments, you are bang out of order to say that if you dont go to every game you are less of a fan.....

I was brought up in Stockton, from the age of about 7 months old until I was a teenager when I joined the Navy. My family are all from the area, and my Mam, Dad, Brother and Sister, both sets of Grandparents and all Uncles Aunts and Cousins all live in Teeside. I go home when I can.....

and thats where I disagree with you.

I live in Plymouth, 392 miles away from Stockton. Getting to EVERY game, impossible. Well, probably not impossible, but certainly inpractical. For the last couple of years I have worked Saturdays (call centre jobs have a tendancy to muck up your weekend plans) but since I got promoted I have all weekend off, and will try to get to Portsmouth Away this year, a couple of London games maybe, and whenever I can get ooop north to see me mam, will plan it for a home game weekend.

Does that make me less of a fan than you???? Does the British Bulldog Tattoo with Middlesbrough FC written underneath it suggest this, or the wardrobe full of old shirts from when I was old enough to earn my own money suggest it, or when I stood on the Holgate as a wide-eyed 7 year old on a freezing february night with the fog and wind and rain blowing off the tees trying to see what was happening beyond the spikey fences of Ayresome park suggest it????

You see, everyone has different circumstances, but I am pretty sure that there are no degrees of fan, either you are a fan, or you arent!!!