Boro fans

Carlos Marinelli, one of Middlesbrough FC's
many links to South American football.

Some of you may remember me posting on the Fly Me to the Moon forum a couple of months ago to publicise one of the first real articles I ever wrote on this website about South American football. The article was about Carlos Marinelli and despite a couple of errors and some cheeky digs at the Boro and Boro fans in the prose it got a good reception. Since then I've done a load more articles in the What ever happened to? series and had visitors from all over the world, 150 different countries so far. I have even set up a Fútbol Fútbol Fútbol Facebook page so that people can follow new South American football stories in their Facebook newsfeeds if they want to and a Twitter account to appeal to people who are too lazy to read more than 140 characters of text at a time.

It's not spam, honest guv.

I've been saying stuff like "Remember Hamilton Ricard? I wrote this article about him is it any good? Is it accurate?" in forums and on websites all over the world. It is often a very good conversation/debate/joke starter, depending on the player and the fans. The article always provides lots of info/video/related links/stats about the player in question too. Most fans seem genuinely interested in what their former players have been getting up to since they left the club.

I admit it is kind of like spamming but I justify it to myself by saying that all I am selling is my enthusiasm for South American football & for football in general, giving out lots of information for free with no adverts on my site at all.

A mass of empty red seats is a familiar site to Boro fans,
however this is the Darlington Arena, not the Riverside.

Varying numbers of people have commented on my threads and on the articles in question, the vast majority of people politely, some jokingly, a few very informatively, others helpfully, most soundly and disappointingly a few rudely.

It is very enjoyable to have conversations with random football supporters all over the world from Guayaquil to Ghana or from Bogotá to Boro.

Most websites have been sound, letting what are blatantly links to my own website stay on their forums without resorting to the deletion of my posts, however some over zealous site admins and moderators have deleted my account on their site and banned me completely before I've even posted anything at all. Coincidentally the club websites that have done this are generally the websites of the clubs with the most rude, angry and unreasonable fans too.

I often register on forums to ask advice about a particular goal or incident or just an overview of how fans of that particular club regard the player in question, so that I can add more information to my articles. Fans are usually more than happy to help and often provide loads more interesting and relevant information that I could possibly have anticipated. I am always willing to consider making informative additions or corrections to my articles upon request and attempt to read and reply to all my emails and comments on my website.

Boca Juniors,  like Middlesbrough has one of the best
online football communities I've come across yet.

I'm will admit that I'm a bit biased towards the Boro, I'm a North Yorkshireman and a Darlo fan with strong connections to the North East. I used to go out clubbing in Middlesbrough as a lad and I've even attended quite a few Boro games as a supporter (more than some of you so called real fans do these days, given the fall in attendances since I left the the country a few years ago).

Despite this admission of bias I still think it should count for something though, when I say that the fmttm forum is still easily one of the best I've come across so far, in several years as a football writer and several months of writing this blog. It ranks alongside the very best club communities like Boca Juniors, Millonarios, Celtic, Estudiantes de La Plata and Crystal Palace!

What ever happened to? Carlos Marinelli

Marinelli celebrates a goal with his Middlesbrough team mates.

Carlos Marinelli was touted as the "new Maradona" to anyone stupid enough to listen to over enthusiastic Middlesbrough FC fans when he joined their club in 2000 from Argentine giants Boca Juniors for a fee of £1.5m. It is not clear who lumbered the lad with the tag, in all probability it Marinelli's agent talking him up to get a good price and the British press trying to hype up the story. It was then repeated by many Middlesbrough fans (until they actually saw him play that is).

I don't want to be hard on the man, he was a teenager in a cold and smoggy city thousands of miles away from his home in Buenos Aires and he was never going to be as good as Maradona, so the "new Maradona" tag was an unfair burden. He did have a couple of good performances for the Boro, most notably netting two goals in a 5-1 win against Derby County in November 2001.

Boro fans will know that he failed to earn himself a regular place in the first team and made the majority of his appearances as a substitute. He was eventually farmed out on loan to Italian 2nd division side Torino FC, before joining the Italian club permanently in 2003 after making 53 appearances for the Teessiders in all competitions (29 as a substitute), netting only 4 goals.

Marinelli during his time in American "soccer"
with Kansas City Wizards.

In 2004 Marinelli returned to Argentina where he made a handful of appearances for his first club Boca Juniors and then a few more for Racing Club but he didn't settle at either club. He then had a stint with SC Braga of Portugal where he barely managed to get on the pitch.

The most regular run of first team football of Marinelli's career was probably his time at Kansas City Wizards between 2007 and 2008 where he held down a first team place making 41 appearances. he eventually left the club after a bust up with manager Curt Onalfo. He is remembered by Wizards fans as an unmotivated and infuriating player who wasted his potential.

Marinelli left the US to join one of the best names in world football, fallen Colombian giants Millonarios, (who were one of the best clubs in the world in the 1950s). He never settled there and was soon offloaded, he then showed up back in Argentina playing for 2nd division side Aldosivi in 2010, but was released by the club at the end of the 2009-10 season.



In September 2010 he joined Győri ETO of the Hungarian first division but again his stay there was a short one and in 2011 he turned up at Peruvian champions Universidad San Martín where he put in a brilliant substitute performance in a 2-0 win against San Luis in the 2011 Copa Libertadores.

It doesn't matter how many lies are added to Wikipedia to make him look a better player by his agent or greatest fan, he never lived up to the promise he showed as a teenager, he never scored enough goals, he has been criticised for ineffectual performances and lack of discipline on the field and for his poor attitude off it.

To give him some credit he has kept on playing and his career as an international journeyman footballer has given him a much wider experience in life than most of his armchair critics back in England. He has lived and played professional football in Argentina, England, Italy, Portugal, United States, Colombia and Hungary after all.

Part of the What ever happened to? series.