It’s been sixteen years since Middlesbrough Football Club last won a trophy but in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak they could be about to end their wait in one of the most unlikely ways possible.
Almost two weeks ago now the Football Association announced their decision to suspend all English professional football until April 3rd leaving fans and players with a huge gap to fill both in terms of entertainment and being able to support their beloved clubs.
Step forward Walsall Football Clubs media team who came up with the concept of an 128 team virtual Fifa competition which has attracted clubs from all around the globe to put themselves forward for the competition.
Initially, in Boro’s case they were going to be represented by Manchester City loanee Lukas Nmecha. This was until Boro fans took to social media to encourage the club to instead get in contact with fellow Boro supporter and professional Fifa gamer Danny Taylor.
Taylor has already represented one professional club on Fifa. Last year was contracted to West Ham United’s Esports team and competed against other professional players representing other clubs.
At one stage the twenty-seven-year-old was ranked amongst the top five players globally and due to his reputation on the game, the bookies have installed Middlesbrough as the new 2/1 favourites of the Ultimate QuaranTeam Cup.
Indeed, Danny has already taken Boro through two rounds of the competition.
On Monday he faced Huddersfield Town represented by their supporter Jordan Croft and came out unscathed with a 3-0 win.
He faced a more stern test on Wednesday night against Walsall striker Elijah Adebayo but progressed again thanks to a very late goal in a thrilling 5-4 win.
Next up for Danny and Middlesbrough is Australian side Central Coast Mariners on Saturday. In a fixture Taylor will be hoping to win in order to progress into the next round.
All of his games so far have been streamed live on his Twitch channel twitch.tv/dannytaylor and this will be the case for the game on Saturday and the remaining games of the tournament should he progress.
Winning the competition would be a dream for the ex-West Ham man but this is not all that matters. The cup was set up with charity in mind and so far more than £54,000 has been raised.
75% of money raised will go to the EFL to be given to clubs that have suffered financially due to the virus and the remaining 25% will be split between MIND, a chosen charity of the EFL and COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fundraiser by WHO.
For Middlesbrough fans, it may have not been the most successful season on the real pitch but it could prove to be a one to be remembered on the virtual pitch.
The Boro Way 