THE man who told Gordon Strachan exactly what he thought of Middlesbrough’s dire secondhalf performance at QPR last week also tried to stop the players from eating their post-match pizzas.

The Insider can reveal that Glenn Armitstead, from Stockton, was the man who approached Strachan in the tunnel at Loftus Road, outlining the worries and concerns he has.

But before he told the Boro boss, and the majority of players who failed to impress him as they walked out of the dressing room, what he thought, he had a word in the ear of the delivery man.

“This little fella arrived at the reception area at Loftus Road with a handful of pizzas, I told him that the players didn’t deserve them, so take them back. The fella didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” said Glenn. “They didn’t, though, did they? They were awful and I told Gordon.

“I had managed to get hold of a VIP pass that got me into the tunnel. I just waited until they all came out. First it was Strachan.

“I asked him if I could have a word with him. To be fair to him he was as shocked as I was at the way his team played. I said that there were players in that side who just weren’t good enough and he agreed. He said he doesn’t want to cheat me, or any of the fans.

“I told him that I think he is the right man for the job, but I just can’t see what he is trying to do, by playing players out of position and playing players who just aren’t ready.”

Strachan, who then posed for a photograph, was fine, and so were the majority of Boro players when he had a word in their ear afterwards. “McManus, Robson, McDonald, even Kris Boyd, they were all fine,” he said. “I even got photographs with them all, except one, who I won’t name.”

DARLINGTON captain Ian Miller may be injured at the moment but he still managed to make an appearance, of sorts, at The Northern Echo Arena last Saturday.

During Quakers’ defeat of Forest Green, nine-year-old James Fry, whose favourite player is Miller, celebrated his birthday by watching the game with friends in an executive box where he also received a sneak preview of the club’s new mascot, a giant panda called Feethams.

Naturally, when Feethams appeared James and his friends were delighted – and then stunned when the panda removed his head and revealed himself to be none other than the Quakers skipper.

The surprise appearance went well and Ian Miller is now considering making himself available as Feethams for birthdays, Christmas parties etc.

TONY JEFFRIES, the Olympic sliver medalist, is planning on uprooting to the United States to further his boxing career.

Jeffries recently holidayed on the west coast of America and is planning on returning there soon.

The light-heavyweight still wants to fight in the North-East, where he has a strong following in his home city of Sunderland. But he intends to train Stateside, having witnessed the facilities and methods professional boxers out there enjoy.