A week after his shift, Ray Parlour played his first game for his new team. Boro beat Division One side Nottingham Forest 4-1 in a pre-season friendly. The goals set in by Frank Quedrue, Joseph  Job and a double from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. According to the official Middlesbrough page, Ray played the entire 90 minutes, and ‘grew in strength as the game progressed, winning tackles and spraying the ball around at will’!

In other, older, news Arsene Wenger has named Ray Parlour ‘a hero’. The Professor pays tribute to Parlour by saying; 'Ray [leaving] is a big loss and we wish him good luck...He has been a hero for the football club and it is a sad day for us' - nice words from a man who manages the best team in England.

Parlour is also mentioned here, where Wenger talks about team spirit, after saying goodbye to last seasons two 400+ game players, Keown and Parlour. 'I want to say a big thank you to Ray because we all had a great respect for him. He has been a big servant of us with 15 years at the Club. I wish him well, he'll be a tough opponent when we face him next season'.

The respect is mutual as an interview with Parlour show. 'He [Wenger] told me he wanted to keep me at Highbury. He would have loved me to stay', but when it was obvious that his contract would not be extended Wenger respected Rays wish for Premiership football. 'I am grateful Arsene was so understanding'.

Parlour change to M'Boro has been a costly affair, and not just for Ray who has accepted a serious pay cut, alongside not receiving a signing-on fee. The former mrs. Parlour is set to loose £2M, as she was intitled to a third of Rays earnings for the next 4 years.  A shame for the greedy ex-mrs Parlour!

And a short message from across the pond.

The Parlour Watch blog  is born amidst a fanfare of pure silence and a rippling of no applause.  Parlour has now left for Middlesbrough on a three year contract. But eventhough Ray is no longer a Gunner, there's still plenty of reason to keep an eye out for the Romford Romario, hence this blog!

Parlour Watch will be updated roughly once a week, featuring all about the ginger haired midfielder, his performances for M'Boro and other raylated stories... if they're there! It they're not, I will just dwell on his former adventures for Arsenal, including his stunner against Chelsea in the 2002 FA Cup final or his hattrick against Newcastle in 2000.

Although it's sad that he's no longer playing for Arsenal, it could be a lot worse. He's going to play European football, as M'Boro won the Carling Cup last year, and alongside Parlour they've made som pretty decent signings. There's bound to be at least 30 goal in the combined forces of Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink!  It also appears that Parlour will get the shirt number '15', like he had when he played for Arsenal, which I think is nice.

So welcome to Parlour Watch, drop by regularly!