The importance of our final game in the top-flight literally cannot be overestimated – a win will see Boro finish above north-east rivals Sunderland, yet defeat will leave us end a disappointing season second-bottom below near-neighbours Hull – however it’s still possible a draw may be enough to finish in a tantalising nineteenth spot. Though surely the predominant reason our trip to Anfield has been selected for final-day live coverage is no doubt in anticipation of whether Boro can overcome their premiership pygmachophobia (fear of boxes) and net one more elusive goal to avoid becoming the lowest scorers in Premier League history – though it’s not clear if current holder George Graham will present the award after the match.
Nevertheless, I’m sure Steve Agnew will have been busy on the training pitch getting all the players up for this one to make sure they are in the right frame of mind and are ready to give everything (plus VAT) in a 120% performance – surely the newly-introduced innovative marathon badge-kissing sessions will pay off – apparently even Gaston had a Leicester badge sewn onto his kit so that he could join in too. Make no mistake, many of the squad are playing for their future in the 2018 Boro calendar – there’s no room for a flabby performance so the players need to shape up otherwise the best they can hope for is the June slot where nobody ever contemplates looking at a football calendar.
At least our opponents on Sunday have nothing really left to play for – just the consolation of qualifying for meaningless midweek trips to Moldova and beyond and the chance to pocket an extra £25m or so in compensation for wrecking their league aspirations – you’d barely be able to afford the transfer fee of a half-decent centre-half from a relegated club for that kind of money these days. In contrast, Boro have already sealed around £70m in parachute prize money for showing remarkable consistency this season.
In some ways, a badly assembled rather cheap deckchair adorned in this season’s distinctive Boro livery provides the perfect metaphor for this campaign – not really fit for purpose, less than easy on the eye and prone to collapse at any minute with little chance of recovery for those looking to pick themselves back up.
Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a way of putting a positive spin on what has essentially been a shambles of a season. Steve Gibson is currently in the process of overseeing a top to bottom clear-out of those who didn’t execute their duties with anything approaching the standard required. Though how they were all chosen for their crucial positions in the first place is unclear. It appears they were part of the greater Spanification project that came to an explosive end after Boro had carelessly returned to a smouldering Karanka when he failed to go off after the pyrotechnics of Charltongate – instead the former head coach was left with a short fuse and a box of premiership matches to play with as the campaign ultimately turned out to be a damp squib.
Interestingly, club captain Grant Leadbitter spoke to the Independent this week about Chaltongate and spoke of how Steve Agnew was one of the biggest reasons Boro got promoted – it was his calming influence together with few influential players (notably Downing, Woody, Ben, George and Damia Abella) that helped to restore team spirit and get them over the line. It certainly adds to the mystery of the episode and in light of further revelations that rifts were never healed, you wonder in hindsight if the club made the right call in starting a crucial campaign with division in the camp. No doubt promotion had strengthened Karanka’s hand given that it was Steve Gibson who facilitated his return.
He also seemed to suggest in his interview that the language barrier between the coaching staff and players was preventing them from fully understanding the instructions they were being given – which probably resulted in mainly a lot of misunderstood pointing in the direction of the goal. It doesn’t sound ideal and one wonders why this went unaddressed. In the end he thought the team got into the habit of believing they’d done well to lose narrowly in the PL and that ultimately prevented them from having a winning mentality. No doubt it will be something fed into the post-mortem on Boro’s season as the club undergoes change.
But the club need to move forward now and offer their supporters hope for the future – perhaps as we speak Boro’s PR department are busy raiding the party political election slogans to offer a conglomerated vision for next season’s smash and grab: A brighter future together for the common good with strong and stable leadership for the many and not the few (Lib/Ukip/Green/Con/Lab) – I believe David Bowie wrote most of his songs by cutting up party manifestos that came though his letterbox and reassembling them till they made some kind of sense.
However, the only real topic of conversation is about who will be the next man in charge. We’ve seen various names thrown around and Pavlovian alarm bells were being rung in the heads of supporters at the mere mention of some – Please no plans for Nigel, I beg your Pardew and Gis a job Giggsy, I can do that. In truth it could be anyone and it seems an announcement will be made on Sunday or possibly Monday – OK in the next two weeks at the latest, promise! In the meantime Aggers may be told to keep calm and carry on.
Anyway, there’s a little matter of another game to get out of the way – Boro haven’t won at Anfield for over 40 years but they will be professional in their approach – which is usually code for ‘Yes I know we have to look like we are trying but is anyone actually bothered anymore?’ – perhaps only Calum Chambers has anything riding on this one as he’ll want to return to an Arsenal side playing Champions League football next season. Though if The Gunners do finish fifth will that signal an announcement from Wenger that he’s stepping down? Indeed will he then be available to mastermind a Boro revival under his tutelage as a final challenge in his career?
I know what you’re thinking – Steve Gibson prefers to give people their first managerial job in football, not their last (though in some recent cases it may have been both). The worry is that with a chairman prone to not seeing something coming and a manager famous for rarely seeing what everyone else did, the club would be taking blind faith to the extreme. Though nothing would surprise me anymore.
So your final chance to make a Premier League prediction – as usual give your line-up, score and scorers – will Boro flip the form book and head to the beach on a high? or will we flop in front of the Kop as Liverpool kick sand in our faces?
I can’t wait for it !
The season to end that is……..
Annus season horribulus
Can we guess who is going to stay?
Who is going to leave?
Who do we want to get rid of?
Rumour on twitter this morning that Negredo has made noises that he would like to stay on a reduced salary as his family have really settled down in the area and he doesn’t want to uproot them again
OFB
I hope that is true because I agreed with an earlier post that retaining Negredo would be a good investment for some of the parachute payments.
We will, however, also need to purchase some speed and creativity to supply him if it is not to be a wasted investment.
Note to self, and anyone listening?
The Charlton carry on was over a year ago.
Karanka has not been around for four months or so.
Liverpool 5. Boro 0
Next week we really let off steam, and lay it on the line what we expect,
The players will blame the weather,the ball,the ref,the grass,the manager,anyone but themselves quote : Neil Warnock..
COB
OFB
If we kept Negredo that would be tremendous news, it would help encourage Ben and de Roon to stay.
(I do think de Roon will become a top player, considering he came as a mid field destroyer, he scored as many league goals as Leadbitter, Ramirez, Downing, Forshaw, Clayton, Fischer, Guedioura and Traore added together. No matter what we say about being too defensive there were opportunities to kick the round thing towards those sticks.)
All three staying seems unlikely.
I don’t think there will be a new manager announcement until the middle of next week at the earliest, for those wishing for David Wagner to be unveiled, the championship final is not until 1500 hrs on Monday. It could even be 2 to 3 weeks before we know.
Come on BORO.
What would Liverpool most like us to do? Come out and occasionally try to play on the front foot, by starting with Traore, and leaving plenty of gaps for them to exploit. Just as we did at Chelsea. An easy 3-0 win for them.
What would they least prefer? An all-out Karanka -style defensive display which, as this season has amply shown, they will find difficult to break down.
It’s a must-win game for them, so we should aim to frustrate them, get the crowd anxious, and play for a 0-0. It will anger the Scousers, bore the TV audience to tears, but demonstrate to supporters of every other team, and to the world in general, that there are no walkovers in this league, and that a relegated team can still show some fight, and not a little integrity.
The question is, can Steve Agnew emulate Karanka and mastermind this kind of performance.
I have my doubts. But we’ll see.
I think we owe it to the integrity of the Premier League to play the Karanka way against Liverpool and defend, defend, defend, to our last breath and hope to score a breakaway goal.
It may bore the TV audience to death, but will certainly frustrate Liverpool and their fans, but if we try to play any other way they will slaughter us.
It may also gain some small revenge for those who may recall that Liverpool, already relegated, beat us twice over Easter 1954 to take us down with them.
Is that being bitter? No, I don’t think so. Liverpool did what they had to do that Easter to maintain the fairness of the League and Boro should try to do the same today by playing to their strengths not weaknesses.
PS: A brilliant graphic at the head of your main article, Werder.
Negrado would be a plus, but in reality can we really afford his (reduced) wages and another loan fee. I doubt it very much.
His rumoured wages would account for about £5m of the Parachute payment, Valencia can’t afford him nor want him (allegedly) so if we were to come to an agreement for another season I think Valencia may be tempted. With service and support he would be a top striker at Championship level and still have something should we go back up. That is important as too many players from our successful Championship squad were dumped unceremoniously. That can’t have helped with morale at the Club, more so because their replacements in most cases were not an improvement, we don’t want to repeat the same mistake.
RR
We want players wiling to play for the club and he has been excellent this season playing in a lone striker role
Negredo and Bamford would make a great strike force with possibly Stuani and Traore as back up
We’re going to smash this league but still need a creative midfielder how about James Morrison?
Shame on me, I missed the graphic, well done werder. It looks better than on the shirt. They must be the deckchairs from the good ship Boro as it sailed towards the iceberg.
Not sure of the formation they playing.
exmil
Huddersfield v Reading is 29th May so Wagner would be a waiting game.
Pedro
I believe Negredo cost us £5m for last season, if we got him for £3m would it be value for money? I think a combination of him and Bamford would score a hatful of goals in the Championship.
It is all wishful thinking at the moment.
Yes Ian, I have just noticed the date and came on to correct myself but I had an idea someone would have already pointed my error out.
Come on BORO.
Looking forward to seeing Tony McMahon and Charlie Wyke playing for Bradford this afternoon. And hoping that they beat Milwall. Don’t fancy a trip down there next season.
I saw Charlie playing for Carlisle soon after he left us. He scored a couple and looked a real handful. I think he’ll do well, and may even give us a bit of trouble next season.
Werder,
I’m not sure how you’ve managed to create an entertaining pre-match piece for this dead-rubber (for Boro anyway) but you have. Again. The graphic is excellent and made me chuckle, whilst also wanting one of those for my garden (get them made, Boro!).
I’ve found Diasboro far more interesting, entertaining and certainly more amusing than anything I’ve seen of the football team this season. Top marks.
On the match itself, Len is right that it’s one of those dozen or so fixtures that suited Karankanaccio. We won’t see tat though and I think it will be 3 or 4 nil.
Interesting rumours re Valdes and Negredo. Both would suit us down to the ground I would have thought. Perhaps a 352 for next season:
New Keeper/Dimi/Ripley
Espinosa
Ayala
Gibson?
Fabio
Forshaw/de Roon
Clayton
Downing
Friend
Bamford
Negredo
That’s a very expensive but potentially Championship-smashing XI in my book, though a fair bit of cover would be needed in most positions.
Andy I would get rid of Downing and replace with Fischer also I think de Sart could be a good player for BORO.
Come on BORO.
Yes I’d like to see a lot more of Fischer. In pre-season and once or twice in his limited league appearances he did look like he had something but for whatever reason he haven’t seen enough.
Could be that Fischer was not a Karanka bid and didn’t fancy him as a player
Hopefully the championship can make him into a good player with the support of a good head coach
Don’t forget Baptistse, an experienced, proven, seasoned and fit again top notch Championship defender!
Yes, the defence has Baptiste, Fry and Husband as back-up (plus potentially the new lad from Luxembourg) whilst, if wages are not a major factor, I would consider keeping Barragan for one season as cover for both right wingback and right-side centre half (which may be his best position).
Leadbitter I would offer a one year extension for cover, experience and leadership. De Sart and Guedioura provide enough cover in central midfield.
So, if we hold onto the squad, it may only be up front and in goal where we are a body or two short. Could Traore be converted so that he, Stuani and Gestede make up the forward numbers?
I suspect, however, that their will be sales.
Thanks Werder. You gave us something to smile about there. I envy your talent.
I hope I’m wrong but I can only see another damp squib tomorrow. Thank God this miserable season will be finally over and I can start working on being optimistic ready for August but, then again, I can’t change the habit of a lifetime and pessimists are never disappointed.
Great stuff Werder.
So according to Leadbitter “the rifts were never healed” after Charltongate. I said at the time and repeated many times since that would be the case and I wish I had been wrong because the festering rifts were what cost us our EPL place.
As for tomorrow, I was about to forecast a miraculous 1-0 win because I suspect Liverpool may be a little nervous and the Boro have nothing at stake and so in theory can just go out and enjoy themselves. Then I thought about the last four months and reality kicked in. 4-0 to Liverpool and a fitting end to an awful season.
Thanks Werdermouth not only for this piece but all your hard work and input during the season. It’s brightened up what has been a dull and tedious time to watch the Boro.
Hope Dimi and Leadbiter gets a game tomorrow and that we start with Bamford, Fischer & Negredo.
I was at Anfield the last time we won but don’t see us replicating Jack’s teams achievement and think we will do well to keep the score respectable. Going for a 4-0 to them.
CoB
I remember going to Liverpool in the league cup and winning with a rare willie maddren goal in the late part of the game
We sang all the way home the only problem we had was my leg was in plaster football injury and we went in my mates car
Hed bought a pristine rover 110 amd it averaged 16 mpg!!!
It would have been cheaper to go by taxi
Happy days sadly willie and one of the lads we went with no longer with us but it’s blogs like this that jog the memory
COB
1 1
Werder you are just too clever by half and put most of us (well me) to shame.
You really have excelled at this, ably supported by RR, Simon, Exmil for his Challenge, and then all the regular posters, Ian, OFB, Len and all the others that contibute so much to this articulate and interesting blog.
A big thank you to all of you.
Great graphic on the masthead, excellent. Did Norman Wisdom put those horrible deckchairs up? That strip doesn’t work even on a deckchair and that says a lot.
I was intending to come up for the Southampton game, at least if there was going to be relapse I was I hospital. Never mind, the new manager will be who he is and what he is and Boro tomorrow?
Well I’m going Pool 4 – 1 Boro. I’m not really feeling that optimistic either.
UTB,
John
Hope you get better soon John
I was in hospital too but still limped into the Riverside didn’t want to miss what could be our last season of premier matches for a while
Jarsue
How are you are feeling better, the kit looks better on a deckchair than a footballer but it is relative.
My wife asking me what I thought about the match whilst out driving.
I ran through a few things like poaching players and poaching players and poaching players and the three points and Rick Parry (you can use another P if you want) and Macherano. At that point she suggested I concentrate on the road and decided maybe we deserved a good result.
The antibiotics have controlled the infection in the pelvis and are holding it at bay so next week another scan to find out ‘why’. I just don’t like the finger examination…
Now where would I put the extra P in Rick Parry.
UTB,
John
PS Still no alcohol allowed, Oh woe is me.
John know what you mean I’m still on abiotics but said sod it and tonight had half bottle of red
Best I’ve felt in 4 weeks and I can watch motd without feeling sad !
OFB
Rick ParrryP does that make sense John?
Excellent graphic Werder, top work as ever!
As tomorrow brings the curtain down on one of the worst ever Premiership support acts most of us will be glad to see the back of it. My everlasting question will always be if SG can see and act now in having a clear out why not see it 6 months ago when many (not all admittedly) of us could?
Anyway my view is that on paper Liverpool should romp home easily especially after their Hammering of the FA’s favourite sons last week. There again there is always “Typical Boro”. Head says 3-0 to the Kloppites but Typical Boro says a nail-biting 1-1.
Middlesbrough have started planning for the future by making an enquiry for Bury’s highly-rated teenage striker George Miller.
Miller, 18, scored eight goals in his debut season and is the type of young prospect that Boro chairman Steve Gibson wants to recruit following relegation from the Premier League.
http://www.sporundibi.com/ozel-haber/victor-valdes-bursaspor-yolunda-h33088.html
Once again thanks for all your comments and particularly on the header graphic, which is often where I start to get inspiration to write – it actually began yesterday as just a thought about somehow incorporating a red deckchair but as usually I got carried away by the process and once the idea of making it into a Boro shirt hit me I decided to go the extra 1.6km (as we say over here).
I very much appreciate all the generous feedback and glad that many of you enjoy reading the articles too as other than a few random thoughts, I had only a vague idea of what to write about when I sat down this morning.
The question is whether Diasboro will double it’s lifetime league wins tomorrow? I’ve not seen many pundits predicting a shock but I expect events will start to get interesting after the referee blows the final whistle.
Werder, you never know. It would be 100% typical Boro to snatch a 1-0 tomorrow when it is all too late. I can’t see it as I said above but in the event that the miracle happened it would give a bit of impetus going into the slog of the Championship.
It’s true that Liverpool have not exactly performed at home recently and if news came through that Arsenal were winning then they could get nervy – it would also make perfect symmetry if Boro only won their first and last away games – though probably not a job clincher for Agnew I suspect.
Let’s all be serious. We have no chance at Liverpool. A routine home win for them. My tip … 3-0.
I go a foamy 2-1 to Loverpool, Negredo scoring the Boro consolation.
1-1
A big thank you to Werder and all the Diasboro family for helping to make this miserable season bearable, take a well deserved bow….I salute you all.
A likeable bunch of rogues, scoundrels and scallywags who love life , good food ,drinking and the Boro !
Lets hope we get the right Manager to smash the championship . ( dressed in our inspiring new shirt )
Up the Boro and the Diasboro motley crew.
I’ll have you know we are a group of discerning professionals upright true and solid citizens
Not a acallywag amonst us!
Well maybe one or two!!
Well, I shall probably miss the game but you never know… a meeting off site at short notice.
So I think we will fizzle out and it will be 2-0 to Liverpool, The interesting thing is that does any one north of the M62 really give a hoot?
On to next season. Do we really want to come back – it would take two or three successful seasons to become acclimatized to the top league and it is not a pleasant league to be a part of.
Good English football seems to be the back bone of the EFL. OK ask me again at the end of the season if I want to go up – it didn’t seem that bad when we were winning most of our games but I was always nervous of the EPL. Not our kind of league.
This season has been a success though the blog is brilliant and now belongs to members – almost the elder senators of the Boro collective. Well done to the main contributors you are our lifeline.
Anyhow we wait with nervous anticipation for the new appointments and I am sure the blog will then glow red hot in the dark….. can’t wait’…. [or can I?]
I’ve heard there are communication difficulties on your site which necessitates doing your weekly report and site update data at another location
Dont get that one Bob. Maybe in wrong place or I am just getting a little old….
For you to go off site and watch communication from Anfield !
See Stockdale rejected Brighton contract, tweeted family first.
Anyone know if his misses is a local lass? He played at Darlo.
Stockdale is a Leeds lad
Sorry, but my football annuals state he was born in Redcar. Are they mistaken?
Just quoted from Wikipedia don’t forget Boro used to have a local player called Stockdale
I apologise. I’m thinking of Robbie Stockdale.
Chelsea were looking at him in January md he said he was really happy when he was at Hull
Papers report this week Leeds and Boro interested
Good shout
Meeting off site short notice ring any bells???
Got it – must be the excitement of the last game of the decade!!
…. but yes – computer issues seems like a good one.
Galatasaray have held talks with Alvaro Negredo according to the Turkish Super Lig club’s sporting director Cenk Ergun.Negredo has spent this season on loan at Middlesbrough from Valencia but the former Sevilla and Manchester City striker’s nine goals could not help them avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Chelsea favourites to sign Ben Gibson, Spurs are now second favourites.
It would be great to keep Gibson and Negredo, throw de Roon in that category as well, but the transfer market is as it name sounds, a market.
A club are going to offer a lot of money for Ben and he will have the chance to be a member of a champions league squad. Instant England squad regular. There will be the steady drip of stories linking him with a move. Difficult, if it was your son, grandson or brother what would you want for them?
Negredo is a different matter, he has moved clubs before and could be playing for a big club with European action a prospect. As OFB posted, his family are supposedly happy here so there may be family issues to consider. He wont be poor that is for certain.
Logic says we will lose some of our top players.
. . . and hopefully some of our bad ones too!!
I will be very pleasantly surprised if any of those three are Boro players come the end of the summer transfer window.
Guzan is already on his way and I expect Valdes and Ramirez to go too. There’s a good chance that someone will take a gamble on Traore as well I think.
A bigger blow would be to lose players like Clayton and Ayala I think – the proven Championship players who we definitely don’t need to sell and shouldn’t get bids we can’t refuse.
Andy…..I do not think we will lose Ayala, nor Clayton, but of course you can never tell.
Ayala, although a proven Championship players, has become a little injury prone. In fact he has always missed matches with previous clubs. If we as expected lose Ben, then I think we may need at least two new CH´s. Possibly three, if we went with three at the back so as to play two up front.
Of course we do have Fry, Bernardo, Barragan? and Baptiste as RR said…..he played 22 times for PNE. Squad player? But are they going to be good enough for the continual grind and is any one of them a leader like Ben?
I agree and that’s why I say it would be a bigger blow to lose players like that – they are the ones we expect to keep.
It’s a very good point you make about Ben’s leadership. It’s easy to think we’d we be losing one of our best players but it’s his leadership as much as anything else that makes him the player he is. Due to the affect on other players around him, losing that leadership may be a biggest factor.
I have to say that if I was Chelsea I’d pay whatever Boro are asking.
I think at this level Espinosa would be fine. The gulf between the two divisions is huge (as we now know all too well) and as worrying as he has been in the Premiership he won’t be facing any Costa’s or Kane’s at this level.
Bapitiste has always looked comfortable in the Championship and Fry is a year older so I’m not overly concerned about bringing someone in just yet. More worried about Ayala’s recurring injury theme which hampered his time at Liverpool. Just think how many outstanding Championship CB’s are there?
Bapiste in for Chambers and if Ben goes he will need replacing but if Ben stays (highly unlikely regardless of talk to the contrary) I think we are well covered. If (and when) Ben does depart it will be for a fee too good to turn down commercially, Chelsea, Spurs and others are sniffing around so I can’t see the fee being driven down any time soon.
How we spend the money is of greater concern. It appears that the Spanish inquisition is being held accountable rather than Gary Gill. This may well be true as there did seem to be language “issues” as well as cliques who were part of the “in crowd”. Perhaps Gill was as frustrated as the rest of us at who were being brought in behind his back or even over his head? If not then what will ensue will be nothing short of another car crash of wasted money and opportunity.
Question is. ! Is the cull over or more after todays game.
Come on BORO.
I was talking to another ex player yesterday and he seemed to think that there will be more comings and goings
I do think we needn’t worry about Ben going to West Brom or Burnley.
Any of the top six would benefit from him.
Yes argree there Ian. As RR said comercially, if any of the top six fancy him then the price we get should be quite high.
If that happens, nothing less than 30 mil.
What was the price Liverpool paid for Sahko, now at Palace. 25mil, was it?
Interesting ads on the radio today , “See klopp and the Liverpool 1st team play Sydney FC. in Sydney on Wednesday 24th May.
Must be flying out straight after the game today. Lets hope they are distracted.
LEts hope the Boro put up a barrier reef today and although down under jav a bit of pride and POMp at the end of the game and be like a kangaroo and hop back to the Premiership this time next year
Yes, some friends are going. I hate friendlies. They asked me to go along and I told them that I couldn’t imagine anything worse. Arsenal will be in Sydney playing games as well.
Last late night for now with the game actually on free to air TV here in Oz at midnight. I support what everyone else has said that this blog has made this depressing year a lot easier to stomach. It’s good to know that there are a whole load of other apparently sane people who are afflicted with the Boro disease just as badly as I me. Thanks to everyone.
Also a special shout to OFB for all the inside gossip and nice to see that we have a lot of the same ideas. I too was thinking about Morrison as a playmaker for the Championship. Better than Downing who doesn’t do much more than hit some good crosses.
Let’s hope for a good last performance.
UTB
Thanks for that
I was down at Rockliffe today the Boro are away today but it was finals day for all TJFA teams and happily my younger grandson playing for Leven beat Marske in the U 11 final so I’ve had some comfort from football today
Came home told my buddy ex Boro Player the news and of course he was delighted as am I and Mrs OFB who has taken this season to heart more than i possibly because I’ve been so more disappointed in the past when she was more involved in family matters
She has asked me to put her viewpoint which is
Arsene Wenger to come as manager
Ben Gibson to stay amd be the permanent captain
And the fans to demand success and not be grateful for the scraps and prevent the likes of Lineker sneering at us.
PS
My buddy still thinks the managers position will be sorted this week hope he’s right I’ve bitten my nails down to my knuckles!!
Well done South Shields.
Negredo and de Roon on the bench, Traore on the sofa – if he didn’t over run it.. Sign of things to come?
Well, was it a penalty. I suspect it could have been given at the other end.
I’d have given it but them that’s why I never refereed a club I supported !
I’ve turned it off after 3
Frightening to hear suggestions about signing Morrison, we did that with our great young centre back to united, 2.5 million, ten years and many many trophy’s and they sold him back to us for 2.5 million(plus bad back)
Please god we have learnt our lesson.
Nice to hear that we think we should have moved to get rid of AK earlier than we did, because various players tell us that the unrest was never settled after Charlton.
Like the suggestion that AK may never get a job again. Can I tell you that you are showing your talent as a knowledgeable person on soccer, and it is not good.
The players are the ones who should have been sacked at once, together with the hangers on.
The miracle is that he took us up, the players obviously liked it in the champ. And they sure didn’t like it in the Prem. Too much work involved I would think.
Love the constant mention of his poor English, and the tutt tutting,
Why wasn’t it addressed at the very beginning of his tenure.
Finally, todays epic at Liverpool. Study the situation, and think.
They must beat us to play in the champions league.
They must score plenty of goals, because Arsenal are extremely likely to hit a few,
They are on a huge bonus to qualify for the Champions league, with no second prize
All the rubbish were on big bonuses to stay in the Prem.
We were not.
As it was a no brainer to institute a very large bonus for survival, we should be asking why?
We were the only team at the bottom who were not fighting like tigers for every ball, and it showed.
Tomorrows score will probably be a chastening 5-0
Plato –
I’ve been noting over the last few weeks how the majority of your posts try to belittle anyone who puts forward a view that doesn’t fit in with your own personal view – to be honest I’m growing increasingly tired of that tone as it’s only going to create ill feeling and I suggest if you want to make point in future then please find a more agreeable way of making it.
I did notice your most recently barb presumably aimed at me: ‘Can I tell you that you are showing your talent as a knowledgeable person on soccer, and it is not good.’
Whilst I don’t claim to be anymore knowledgeable with respect to football than the next person, I can see that you wanted to employ your usual trick of trying to raise yourself by putting others down.
Basically, I started up Diasboro to help facilitate a friendly community where people can exchange opinions and ideas and not have to be wary of finding themselves inadvertently having to respond to personal insults or worry about having suggestions thrown back in their face.
So regretfully I’ve decide to place you into moderation as I don’t have the time to monitor comments 24/7
What a thump for Liverpool!
Well Boro giving a good go of it, until Friend loses his man and bingo one- nil
However we could have been leading ourselves by then. Even the pundits are saying it was a stonewall penalty. When you are down, you are down.
Liverpool may motor forward now the pressure is off a little, but if we continue playing like we did in the first half, who knows.
Saying that we need to pass the ball better, some very poor passing from Guzan at the back and SD with his crosses.
I was generous to Guzan about the first goal but the free kick was a shocker. It wasn’t a Ronaldo rocket.
There wont be a petition to re sign Brad.
I do think Gestede looks well suited to Liverpool. Do they still give rides to kids in Stanley Park.
Do not understand the logic of Gestede before Negrado and to cap it all he has been poor.
Not sure why Aggers has not played his strongest team?
Nearly 70 minutes no subs, I would take off Gestede, Downing (yes he is on the pitch) and Clayton bring on de Roon, Negrado and Fischer. Agnew has not got a clue, get rid of him, Woodgate and Downing.
Come on BORO.
Agreed with your post previously on downing, fischer, de saart. You are spot on again
Well at least we know that Agnew is not going to be our next manager!
If he is I want my season ticket refunded!!!!
12 points from safety says it all really.
OFB! After waiting over 35 years to get a season ticket I thought I would keep it until I went to my grave but if SG keeps Agnew, Woodgate and Downing I am going to ask about getting a refund, they are poisonous to our club.
Today was a disappointment purely because the officials didn’t have the bottle for the penalty. Now we could have been like Everton and lost to 10 men but possibly 1 – 0 up (after the penalty) and Liverpool down to 10 men, the result could have been very different, yes I know we were already relegated but imagine if we needed a draw to stay up, it’s the principle.
The team selection and use of subs today was worse than anything AK ever done IMHO, was SA final betrayal act to alienate players like de Roon, Fischer and Negrado to ensure they don’t remain at MFC. SG I am looking to you to restore some integrity into our football club.
Come on BORO.
Downing , must be first out the door , I will collect him personally !
Correct
You’ll have to join a queue!
Pedro
Watched the game. Firtst 25mins and ‘Pool’ should have had 2 yellow cards and we should have had a penalty. I’m afraid BIAS for a top six team evident.
Werder
Plato is unique. He adds colour and an alternative view. He’s never been overtly insulting (I know what that is like coz I’ve received one or two in the past). If his remarks/opinons are sometimes at variance to the main stream, please dont forget that he’s a Boro supporter just like us.
Aggers
The man who had his chance and failed.
AK
The man who’s time came too early..
Bit of a shambles really with the responsibility resting full square and proper right at the top.
Spartak
I agree with Werder, I think it is the tone that matters. You can disagree with somebody without telling them they know nothing.
We are all guilty at times of being overly rude or aggressive, we posted about the subject a few weeks ago. It is important we are civil to each other, it is easy to get carried away when typing, face to face is different because you can judge the impact of your words and temper it by saying ‘you know what I mean’.
Werder has taken responsibility by taking over the blog, I respect his right to make a judgement.
Ian
in all my time writing on the ‘twin’ blogs, I have always deferred to the authority of the blogmeister.
I am not questioning that authority now nor will I ever be (ask Werder-he knows). Still, it does not IMHO disallow me from having and stating an opinion of my own on matters that are made public.
Clashes of opinon are inevitable. Words can be emotive. Threats can be offered. It’s upto us to be adult and not be too thin skinned in the age of Aquarius (I kid you not).
Plato has done or said very little in comparison to others in the past – let us not be to quick to judge unless we too be judged too quickly.
🙂
Nothing wrong with opinions but you can’t tell people they know nothing.
Why???
If someone tells me I know nothing, no problem! I simply ask them to state their case. If I find that in fact they have a valid point I acknowledge it. If not, … well it’s their problem not mine!
We then move on.
As the wise old man once said ‘Everything passes!’
Only Manuel is allowed to say “I know nothing”.
Well I was one goal out – expected us to concede 4 but somehow kept it to 3!
If SG is serious about going up as Champions next season then he really has his work cut out in my view. He firstly needs to choose the right manager and then needs to persuade Gibson, De Roon and Negredo to stay. He should also seek to acquire the services of Chambers.
I am not convinced that Gested and Bamford supported by Stuani will be strong enough for the Championship alone and if Negredo goes then we need another striker(s).
We still need pace and creativity in midfield and that will be difficult slots to fill.
I would give Dimi and Leads another year each.
Look to dispose of Husband, Guedioura, Valdes, Ramirez, Downing, Traore and Meijas.
I am aware of the suggestion that James Morrison could do a job in midfield but am not a fan of recruiting “old boys” as in my view it very rarely works and there are more examples of failures than successes eg Downing, Woodgate, Pallister, Parnaby to name but a few.
By success I am talking about how much contribution they made after their return to cup/league achievements.
With the need also to address the backroom staff then its a lot to get through and get right in a short space of time.
So farewell PL and here’s to a busy few months prior to next season and hoping that SG doesn’t make any more misjudgements.
Looking forward to also seeing the final results of the Exmil Challenge.
I won’t win the Exmil challenge I put us down to win every game
But hey I was as delusional the same as Agnew when he chose his teams to play the opposition
Redcar Red has signed off his excellent season of match reports with the Anfield finale – he’s now awaiting the arrival of his gastric band deckchair in the post for a well-earned relaxing summer break on Redcar beach…
https://diasboro.club/2017/05/21/liverpool-v-boro-match-report/
I find that it is funny to hear a player saying that Agnew was the one who got us promotion. Would that be one of the players who ran the opposition to their manager, and staged a massive row days before a certain three points away to a doomed team.
The more that emerges about this affair the more awful it becomes, how any chairman could have tolerated such a situation is beyond me, l try to think “that’s football” but that expression does not even begin to cover it.
This is not over, this is not even near to being over, it seems to me that the guilty are left in charge of the lunatic asylum, and are busy justifying themselves, the lack of effort, the trashing of the clubs reputation, the daily comments about our team which lack any respect. Are down to the players who caused this situation.
I do not accept the no shows, I never have, any no show is an aberration which will happen to any club, once.
These players have raised the no show to an art form, and choose big games to display it.
Spartak and Ian –
Whilst the role of moderator is not a task I’m particularly fond of it does unfortunately fall upon me as blog administrator. I’m inclined to let the odd comment or so that cross the line go as most of the time I hope they will resolve themselves – and they often do.
However, I made a point of mentioning to Plato on Friday that I was not happy with the general tone of the majority of his comments and he chose to ignore that – putting someone into moderation only means I must first approve their comments before they go live to check they adhere to house rules – I just think it’s just unnecessary when making your point to indulge yourself in that manner and it detracts from what is being actually said.
I already decided to clarified the house rules a couple of weeks ago – whilst such comments aimed at me generally just irritate me for an hour or so – which was no doubt their intention so it worked – I’m aware that quite a few people have stopped posting so frequently or altogether because of similar responses. I can either choose to ignore the issue or I can address it directly. I can’t really set the benchmark as that of the person with the thickest skin who finds nothing off-limits as that is essentially zero moderation.
I don’t wish to prevent anyone from making their point of view public but with rights come responsibilities too – It’s just the simple task of observing a bit of self-moderation, that’s all.
Please don’t let any adverse comments put you off from doing a great job as Blogmeister
This has been a wonderful success and the only high point in a drab amd dismal season
Long may you and the others continue
I must admit I don’t like criticism and it does tend to make one think carefully before posting
I have been privy to quite a few stories and intrigue this season and have tried to keep my sources circumspect for reasons of security as some are still Boro employees and wish to remain so .
Other sources are from those who include sponsors and partners and sit in the Directors box and pick up the snippets as well as seeing who sits next to them in the box!
Of course some of these posts are rumours and will never become fact as in every organisation there is a sense of intrigue and mystique with what they think is going on
Of course now the season has come to a close my ear is not so close to the ground as I am unable to walk the corridors of the Boro until next season
I wait with bated breath with regard to our future and hope it’s one we want.
Thanks as always OFB – I’ve had more than enough generous comments from many posters to replace the energy I’ve put in – the negative stuff just eats up valuable time to deal with it – which could be better used on other things.
Werder
Fair play. Ball not man.