Will first six-footer over the threshold bring Boro luck?

by Diasboro, posted in Uncategorized

Championship 2018-19: Week 23

Tue 1 Jan – 15:00: Derby v Boro
Sat 5 Jan – 15:00: Boro v Peterborough (FA Cup)

Werdermouth looks ahead to the start of the new year…

As Teesside gets ready to head into another new year, the sound of the Boro recruitment department singing merrily “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon” is probably more of a ponderous rhetorical question than an act of celebration. As the promotion Champagne remains firmly on ice in his hotel mini-bar, Tony Pulis will be looking to build on his impressive victory over the bottom-of-the-table stuck-in-third-gear Tractor Boys. Off the pitch, the manager is looking to enhance his promotion squad with the kind of quality signings some supporters can only dream about – by which I suspect for many will be of the recurring kind or indeed the deeply disturbing wake up in a cold sweat type.

Nevertheless, a return to winning ways has at least avoided the Boro chairman of the need to start communicating to the faithful in order to bestow the proverbial vote of confidence on his manger after a rather unconvincing three months. In fact Steve Gibson has been remarkably quiet of late and perhaps may be worried that anything he says will be taken out of context after the word “Smash” was misconstrued by some to mean that the team assembled was going to be the best in the league. The mood at the club is now one of caution and the austerity message from the manager to expectant supporters is that “reality must kick in” – which coincidentally is the same message that many unimpressed supporters were hoping would reach their chairman if the team continued to serve up such sterile performances.

The noises coming from the club with regard to finances seems to indicate they will not be throwing money at their number one objective of achieving promotion. It appears there will be no transfer window splurge as the object of the exercise in January will now be to balance the books instead – though not the kind of book balancing you’d normally find in a finishing school as Boro’s ungainly posture in the market is unlikely to be improved by walking upright with a weighty tome of potential targets on their head. As far as I’m aware, there is little evidence to suggest any of the recent debutants at Boro have ever set foot inside a finishing school of any description – in fact I suspect if they did they may possibly risk being expelled.

Incidentally, finishing schools are no longer the exclusive Swiss destination for social-climbing young ladies needing to brush up on their etiquette in order to impress potential well-to-do husbands. Not at all, modern finishing schools are now even aiming to attract men too – with one such institution at the 15th century Lickleyhead Castle in the Scottish highlands advertising that they aim to teach students how to stand, sit and walk with elegance and poise while honing their skills in public speaking, improving dress sense and making small talk.

It actually sounds like it may be something for our own rough-round-the-edges Tony given his reported problem with sitting elegantly in press conferences – plus I’m sure he could also improve his dress sense by being persuaded to ditch his trademark baseball cap. Though presumably that small talk class will hopefully include tips to young women on how to delicately explain to potential husbands that being a graduate of Lickleyhead is not in fact a euphemism. Nevertheless, the school claim to cover important tasks like ironing shirts, sewing on buttons, self defence and basic first aid. It all sounds very useful but it’s not immediately clear what kind of extreme ironing also requires self defence – not unless of course you ruin your wife’s best party dress by adding a few interesting melted triangular features while watching the footy.

In a final act of irony, perhaps Tony Pulis will one day set up a finishing school in his beloved Swiss Alps where students learn to walk tall and improve their poise while standing around waiting for one of those many famous crosses he so enjoys counting. At least the lone strikers should learn how to be experts in small talk as they pass the time chatting with opposition defenders: “Excuse me, you wouldn’t have happened to have seen any of my team-mates around here lately? They promised to join me in the box but that was half-an-hour ago”. No doubt getting an equally courteous reply from the opposition centre-half “Sorry mate, you’re the only one in a red shirt I’ve seen today – besides I think you have to leave now as your bench is holding your number up”.

Although, there is a sense that Boro have decided to live within their means in recent years and the chairman now in his sixties is not as keen on throwing around his money as he was in his exuberant youth. The total spend in our season in the Premier League was estimated in a post-season Gazette article to be around £100m, which was more or less the same as the prize money awarded – meaning most of our turnover of around £20-30m could be seen as profit. Last season we may have spent big but the net spend on transfers was (depending on exact figures) only £5-8m – plus we had £47m parachute payments and perhaps again around £20-30m in turnover. I suspect all quite a modest spending by current Championship standards.

The summer dealing in 2018, as listed by the website Transfermarkt, show the club received around £43m from sales (Adama £18m, Gibson £15.2m, Bamford £7.1m, Fabio £1.8m and Barragan £0.9m) with purchases coming in at just over £19m (Flint £7.2m, Saville £7m and McNair £5.1m) – which gives a profit on spending of around £24m. Boro also received a parachute payment of £35m and again will probably have a turnover in the £20-30m range – it means essentially the club had a headline income this season of around £100m and have so far spent £19m on transfers. It would be surprising if the loans, wage bill and operating costs were as much as £80m, so it’s a little surprising to hear Pulis say he must now balance spending in January – especially as he claimed just before Christmas: “We’re now £30m in profit… we had to take some tough decisions in respect of the finances off the pitch.”

It’s not immediately apparent why the belt had to be tightened, though it could just be that the club are simply planning on the basis of being in the Championship next season without parachute payments and it may mean only committing to only temporary loan signings. The question may be that selling players like Assombalonga in January might see a larger price realised than in the summer. The problem appears to be that other clubs will prefer to take our players like Gestede or Braithwaite on loan rather than buy them. Overall, it feels like Boro have squandered their parachute payment seasons by acquiring over-valued players who have neither performed to the price tag or retained that value – it may also be that these players and those who have been at the club since the previous promotion are on wages that can’t be sustained in the Championship next season.

Interestingly, if that were the case then it would seem sensible to start building a side around the promising youngsters rather than potentially sidelining them by bringing in loan players who may take quite a while to get up to speed – especially given the lack of pitch time some purported targets have. It appears the club have become cautious both on and off the pitch and are hoping this unadventurous low-risk approach will ultimately see them better the opposition. The bigger risk is that this will not galvanise the supporters and the club will lose momentum as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of creating a stable Championship club for the long term.

New Year’s day sees Boro make the trip to the Midlands to face Frank Lampard’s Derby, with a late double at Norwich seeing them edge the Canaries 4-3 and stay level on points with Tony Pulis’s team. Since the reverse fixture at the end of October, which finished 1-1 thanks to that late Jayden Bogle own-goal that cancelled out George Friend’s earlier one, the Rams have not fared particularly well on home soil. A 3-1 victory over Garry Monk’s Birmingham was followed up with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Villa and then a 2-1 win against Swansea has only seen two subsequent draws against Forest and Bristol. Boro have picked up quite a decent haul of 20 points on the road this season and have only lost at Norwich and QPR. Whether they can keep a clean sheet against Derby may determine if Boro can add to that impressive tally.

Saturday offers a break from the stresses of keeping up the promotion challenge as they enter the third round of the FA Cup with a home tie against Peterborough United. Although, following defeat to Burton in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup, Boro supporters will not be overly confident of progress to the next round – especially as Posh are similarly placed in 5th place in League One, three points behind Sunderland and seven from the automatic promotion spots. Just like Tuesday’s opponents Derby, Peterborough also scored four in their last game at Accrington but unlike the Rams they kept a clean sheet. We can perhaps console ourselves that they’ve only won three of their last ten games – though they’ve also only lost two of those.

Peterborough are managed by former Rotherham boss Steve Evans, who left the The Millers to become head coach at Leeds, where he lasted just over six months under trigger-happy chairman Massimo Cellino. He then spent 15 months in charge of League Two side Mansfield before taking up the job at Posh. We would normally expect Tony Pulis to utilise his squad for a game against lower-league opposition but much may depend on the outcome against Derby. The Boro manager will not want to lose another home game against League One opposition as his standing with the Riverside faithful is probably at its weakest since he arrived. Perhaps we’ll see both managers making many changes as the name of the game is promotion and the romance of the cup has become more of a swipe left in comparison to making the right moves in the league.

387 thoughts on “Will first six-footer over the threshold bring Boro luck?”

  2. Thanks Werdermouth for your thoughts. There’s certainly been some speculation from contributors to this forum, myself included, but none of us really know what’s in Steve Gibson’s mind. However I’ve enjoyed reading the different views on this forum, it’s been just like a natter with friends in the pub, a really healthy debate which is rare to find on a fans forum these days without name-calling and abuse, and you have to be commended for taking over the mantle from Anthony Vickers for that as we approach our second anniversary.

    Incidentally I remember Teesside having its own finishing school filmed at Eggleston Hall near Bowes in 2006 where ITV filmed a popular series called ‘Ladettes to Ladies’ which I’m told attracted between 4.5 and 5.5 viewers in its first few series, so maybe our region was the trendsetter, although I suspect some of the young ladies reverted to type once they received their appearance money.

    1. Thanks Ken, speculation is all part of the cathartic fun of being a football supporter and I appreciate that when AV moved on it was still possible to continue discussing all things Boro as a group. It’s thanks to all the contributors that continue to post their thoughts and observations that keeps it going – plus it proves that you can have – and is wanted – a forum that doesn’t just descending into point scoring and personal jibes against other posters.

  3. Thanks Werder for an end of the year superb scribe. I love Dias Boro for the fact that we tell it like it is. The Dias Boro is way ahead of the Gazette who have been a joke apart from our friend AV. Tallentire and Shaw speak nonsense and are
    obviously afraid of upsetting the club. I love the honest and no holds barred of our contributors on here. I may not make long comments like the rest of our brilliant writers on here but I love Dias Boro and look forward to fantastic reading in 2019. A happy and healthy New Year to you all.

    1. Thanks Braveheart, I guess the problem the Gazette has is that they have to keep on the right side of the club if they want to retain privileged access to players and manager. Though ironically their comments section is perhaps less measured and probably more scathing.

      1. The Gazette premium football Boro site for pay per view was quietly dropped as the Boro fans quite rightly turned their noses up at it and just used social media to get their information and use the blog for discussions

        OFB

  4. Thanks Werder for another great article. I chuckled at the “melted triangular shapes on the wife’s best dress whilst watching the footy”.

    As far as your assessment of the finances are concerned are your figures not skewed somewhat as you have failed to take into account the fact that transfer fees are paid over a number of seasons? This means that the cash inflows and outflows are lower than you suggest as will be the profit figure. Nevertheless, on the face of it we should be better off than TP appears to be alluding to.

    Watched the full 90 mins of the Ipswich game yesterday and yet again we struggled to put a poor team to the sword.

    As for the Derby game, I am inclined to go with one of RR’s outcomes of a possible thumping as Derby seem to be able to score at will so 3-0 to the Rams and another poor start to the year, unless of course the other “typical Boro” turn up!

    Happy new to all from down under – time for breakfast. 😎

    2. Thanks KP and of course you are right that beyond the headline financial figures it all becomes much more blurred in reality as transfer fees are normally structured and spread over contract length. Once the accountants have finished with the figures it’s probably much harder to speculate with any certainty what the current or future financial situation actually is. Although if Tony Pulis can claim to have helped make the club a £30m profit in his time in charge then I’m comfortable in bringing my back of the envelope figures to the party to compare notes 🙂

  7. Feliz Ano Nuevo to all on DiasBoro.

    Many thanks to Werder, Redcar Red, OFB, Simon and Ken and all the contributors on the best local football blog viewed around the world.

  9. Cloughy would have took the team out last night to the local Fiesta, and told them “not too many and keep away from the local lasses”
    Then come three o’clock demolish the opposition.
    Try that Tony, it might help?
    COB.

  10. Here’s wishing everyone a happy, prosperous, safe and healthy new year. I’m happy because the sun is shining brightly here in Perth (31C), I’m prosperous because I’m too hung over to go to the pub to spend money, I’m safe because I don’t have to stagger back from the said pub, and I’m healthy because I’ve just had a dip in my pool to try and shake the fogginess out of my brain. Only 364 days to the next one.

    Oh, and BTW, cheers Werder for your time and efforts at this the busiest time of the year, they’re greatly appreciated by all, and some.

      1. Werder

        Thank you for your first post of 2019 which shows you’ve done your homework and haven’t incurred the wrath of the form master to get detention.

        I think you’re ok the right lines will produce an essay of achievement today of not the players deserve detention and the strap !

        You’ll always get top marks from all of us at Diasboro and I suppose your end of term report says this boy will go far and is top of the class

        Happy 2019 to all at Diasboro let’s have another great year for a blog of Premiership quality

        OFB

  11. Werder,

    An early New Year’s Day smile. Lickleyhead, you couldn’t make it up. So the year starts with a smile but will still be there late afternoon?

    I’m with OFB, this will probably be a Leeds type of display.

    Derby 0 – 0 Boro

    A happy and healthy New Year to everyone out in the blogosphere.

    UTB,

    John

    1. GHW,

      A mind boggling link! I see there’s a Pulisic but he seems to be going to Chelsea.

      Imagine a team of Pulis players, Pulisova, Pulistein, Pulisinho, etc., all 6′ 3″ plus. No I’m OK it was a strange daydream or was it a daymare?

      UTB,

      John

    2. I like the sound of some of those players on that list – especially a forward called Prejuce who could deliver the goods and there is another Traore on the list too. Also having a Jesus in the squad may help Pulis perform miracles and a centre back simply called ‘Gum’ sounds like a no nonsense kind of guy – though I’m less convince by Walker Zimmerman, who doesn’t sound like he’s particularly mobile!

  13. As Ken told that Boro’s match at Pride Park will be shown live on Sky Sports red button, does that mean it is not on Riverside Live? I didn’t go to mfc.co.uk site as it has not told that beforehand.

    Anyway, thank you all and Werder, RR and OFB in particular for a great year 2018 and looking forward to reading the excellent blog again in 2019, too.

    Up the Boro!

    1. Thanks Jarkko, I think it should be on Boro Live but if it isn’t we should find an unofficial link – though I’m tempted to go for the unofficial one if it’s a decent stream as it will probably have replays and commentary.

  14. Finally, the 2018 wasn’t that bad year as we remember only the last couple of months as football fans.

    Yes, it has been bad to watch recently, but please remember that Boro collected more points in 2018 than any other Champioship team. In the year 2018 we collected points enough to be top six side in whole country. I think Liverpool and Man City were the top two teams.

    I will go for a surprice 0-0 draw today. I think OFB must be correct once in a life time.

    Up the Boro!

  15. Werder

    You started the year off with a belter.

    We fly away tomorrow and the travel agency sent us an Echo Dot to say than you. Decided to get it working yesterday and sure enough we now have Alexa at our beck and call.

    Started simply enough.

    ‘Alexa, what’s the weather in Derby?’ Sure enough the beautifully modulated tones gave us the weather.

    Next – ‘Alexa, what are winning numbers in tonight’s lottery?’ That didn’t go so well and the answer was that last Saturdays numbers were….

    Now the toughie, ‘Alexa, who will score for Boro against Derby?’ Nearly fell off the sofa when a broad Teesside accent said ‘yerjokinarnyer?’

    Modern technology is great

      1. I am waiting for when an amazon advert comes on TV, will we get our Alexa amsweting the question. We wouldnt buy one ourselves and didnt book the holiday to get it.

  17. I suspect a Boro will suffer a hangover at Derby.
    They’ll fly into us from the off as it must be common knowledge once a team gets ahead of us we’re incapable of fighting back.
    I’m fearful of a right good tupping from Lamps’ rampant Rams.

  18. Ken Smith, thanks for the information about the Boro match being live on the Sky red button this afternoon, I was about to purchase the match on the MFC website, so you have saved me a tenner, cheers.

    Happy New Year to everyone and hopefully it will be a successful 2019 for the mighty Boro.

    Come on BORO.

  19. So Today’s team sees Clayton return and Downing on the bench in what is probably a back three with Friend and Howson as wing-backs again and Hugill as probably a lone striker…

    Randolph
    Fry
    Ayala
    Flint
    Friend
    Clayton
    Wing
    Besic
    Howson
    Saville
    Hugill

    Subs:
    Lonergan
    Batth
    McNair
    Downing
    Tavernier
    Assombalonga
    Hugill

  21. Thanks for an amusing but inciteful read to introduce 2019 Werder.
    Happy New Year to you and to all the regulars and irregulars in here. Essential reading for so many of us.
    As for today, I’m fearing that Derby’s recent penchant for scoring goals will undo us before we get into gear today. 3 down with us grabbing a consolation to raise false hopes in the last 10 minutes…. 3-1 to FLDC.

  26. We’re lulling them into false sense of confidence, that’s all. Then when they’re completely relaxed we’ll score a couple and anyway we’ll have more crosses than them. Time to walk the dogs I think.

    UTB,

    John

  28. We certainly started slowly and didn’t even get into the game until after 20 minutes but looked better in the last 20 minutes without troubling the keeper. This looks like the kind of game that would be ideal to have the quick feet of Tavernier running at their defence. Would be a good game to win with Leeds and Norwich currently losing!

  29. The early goal knocked them back for a while but I think we have played ourselves back into the match and with a bit more quality with the final pass/shot we could easily be level.

    Come on BORO.

  33. I don’t bloody believe it, a chance to win the game and he brings on Downing instead of Tavernier, is this bloke on pills? Please, please, please, Downing prove me wrong, I just hope it doesn’t end in tears …… again!

    BTW, can we still get out of the Saville deal, because he at the price we have to pay is day light robbery.

  35. Boro were in control at start of second half.
    Derby bring on a young skillful lad called Holmes who changed the dynamic of the game.
    Boro have one of them tricky winger things Sat on the bench but bring on Downing when the game was there for the taking.
    Beggers belief
    The Whiskey will calm me down

  36. That’s the best that I’ve seen them play for a long time. They stood up after the shock of the early goal and from about twenty minutes in, they were definitely as good as Derby and often better.

    I’m sure that there is a negative view to be found by some writers but I was impressed. Ayala was immense but the team as a whole did well.

    UTB

    1. Selwyn, I’m in your camp in regards to the way we responded, but when the team gets themselves back in to a game, why are we hampered by an anchor chain of a manager that refuses to see a positive in regards to going for a win, can we please change his starting point stance of, at 0-0 we have a point in the bank. For crying out loud, blow a gasket mate and put them to the sword, they fell apart and we couldn’t do it due to the defensive shackles applied to the side. I mean, why take off Hugill who’d battered their back four all afternoon, the first thing Assombalonga did in a challenge was fall on his fat one and put his arm in the air claiming a wrong doing, get him gone.

      Very upset and now going to bed, maybe the cold light (or in Perth’s case the warm light) of day will change my perspective, I doubt it, though.

      2. I agree with you about Assombalonga. He seems to offer very little, not even predatory finishing. I hope that we sell him for whatever we can get. Hugill, on the contrary, looks better and better. He has wonderful balance and fights like crazy. I’d just like to see more people supporting him.

  37. So just a point in the end in game that looked there for the taking once Boro scored as Derby seemed to lose their way after the first quarter. They looked most vulnerable when we ran at their defence and couldn’t see why Tavernier wasn’t brought on at some point. Friend had a good game going forward and Ayala was solid at the back to keep them out. Besic could have done more with ball but often held on to it for too long. Saville didn’t look a £7m player to me. Still a useful point given the bad start.

    2. Maybe Tavernier had a polite word with TP enquiring why he wasn’t being selected to start matches and TP didn’t take kindly to being asked. Someone from the press should ask him why he brought on Downing and not Tavernier when the game was there to win but it won’t be an EG reporter!!.

      Good point but should have been three.

  38. I consider that a very good away point, especially after going one down in two minutes, yes we could have won it during a good period after we scored but late on Derby could have snatched it.

    I, too, wish that TP had brought Tavernier on instead of Downing but before the match nearly everyone would have taken a draw before kickoff and a few thought that we were going to get a heavy defeat, as it turned out I thought we were the better team overall.

    Come on BORO.

    2. Exmil, I’m with you 100% in regards to taking a point pre-kick off considering our recent appalling form but, when you view the game first hand, and after the first 15 minutes, we bossed it mostly. Hugill, for once, dragged their back line all over, mostly physically, but he had them worrying at to what the hell he was going to do next. With him pulling defenders towards him he was leaving space on the flanks, the right was okay, but with Saville on the left it was a plan left to be desired. Leave Downing where he was, talking to his best mate, Woody, who contributed no more than worried looks, and bring on a live wire who is a proven late introduction goal scorer, but no, we have point as we stand, let it stand.

      I honestly do despair.

  39. The Boro did play better today but still lacked a cutting edge in front of goal.
    Defence was impressive but we still looked sloppy in possession for large parts of the game

      1. We’re South of the river but it could be arranged.
        Just celebrating the birth of our grandchild on Christmas eve but would be good to catch up in a central pub.
        I will have a think

  42. If the shape is working, as it was, dont change it.

    At the time Saville was subbed Derby were gaining some control. If the Rams were rocking put on Tav but as they were on the up you would risk being over run. Huddleston would pass you to death given time and space.

    1. The reason the rams got the upper hand was their sub Holmes who had pace.
      We either sit back and hope for a draw or introduce our pacey sub and go for it.
      I would have gone for it at that stage of the game.
      If nothing else it may have encouraged the team to play attacking football that has been missing for most of the season

      1. I would have started with Tav but I am talking about the situation at the time the substitution was made.

        We were away against the team just below us, I guarantee you if TP brought Tav on and it had gone wrong abuse would have poured down along the lines he should have started with Tav. I will second that proposition but I wont hindsight a decision made in the situation at the time.

  43. Thought we fully deserved the point and if our finishing from 6 yards was better we could have taken all 3. Caught cold within 2 minutes and then I thought we controlled the majority of the game.

    Maybe because of conceding so early meant we had to play more on the front foot so maybe TP could adopt that tactic from now on? Apart from letting one in so early on obviously.

    I agree with other posters who wanted Tavernier on instead of Downing but considering most on here had us down for a defeat I’m not complaining and we should have been in front well before that substitution was made. A very good away point at one of the challengers for a top 6 finish after our poor run and you can only draw with the team in front of you.

    My motm was Ayala followed by Wing with an honourable mention for Baath and Hugill.

  44. I thought Pulis had lost the dressing room but after today that doesn’t seem so. Obviously I could be well wide of the mark but you rarely get a whole hearted team performance like that if the players are ignoring what the manager wants them to do. A corner turned or a sticking plaster on a GSW?

    Time will tell if TP is given it. Steve Gibson still has that big decision to make.

  45. Those who know say insanity is keeping on doing what you do, and getting the same result.
    As said here before, he is a dangerous man, Tav and Wing have never started together, it is an obsession which is costing us dear, when we got level, the introduction of Tav would have finished them, he would not have missed from 6 yards, never in this world.
    When is someone going to demand a reason why he is not a regular starter, because he could not give a sensible answer, there is no sensible answer.
    He has already cost us dear with his non selection of Wing, and his obsession with Downing.
    If this latest waster keeps Wing or Tav out of our team I fear for his job, he has no credits to shield him, the wolves are circling and I think his number is up.
    Noticed that the commentator was purring over Wings display, all features of his passing and general game management, speed of thought and action. Great, certainly, but can we believe that his manager rates him? After all he brought on Assaballonga to win the game late on, quite which of his many talents he was going to deploy to achieve it was not told us, just as well really because we had no chance of guessing, never having seen any.

      1. FAA
        Teams can go out of existence, and have, all it takes is someone who is out of control, the list is a long one with some famous names.
        I personally know of no manager, who, presented with that rarity, a player from the non league world, would subject his crowd to months of suffering rather than pick him. It is pointless making excuses for him, he is seeing the player on a daily basis, yet the crowd knew, at once, that he was the goods. He has made it into the team by Christmas, and he is a pleasure to watch, now we want Tav in the team. The fact that he offered no apologies for his blunder, and non for the absence of Tav.is no surprise to any regular supporter, he probably thinks Tav has been lucky, whilst the golden statue is being cruelly misjudged. Not good, and still going on. It’s very much like having the team picked by throwing a dart at the list of players, there is no knowing who will appear next, or if he will make it to kick off before crashing to the floor.

  47. George M-o-M for me.

    Great energy and enthusiasm to get forward as well as defend. Good to finally see him back to something like his best. And what a cross for the goal after the appalling free-kick from Saville, whose folly should have had us reduced to ten men, and probably losing the game. Surely he should have been subbed at half-time. Far too risky a strategy to leave him on.

    An improved performance, and Pulis will this time be perfectly justified in pointing to the missed headers by Barth – a sitter- and Ayala, as evidence that this was a game which we could and perhaps should have won.

    But, as ever, our inability to put more than a couple of passes together cost us what could well have turned out to be a comfortable win. All the emphasis seems to be on shape, defending, and being very well organised when we don’t have the ball.

    But this is one of the poorest Boro teams with the ball that I can ever remember. Even with the recent de-skilling we still have players capable of keeping the ball, moving the opposition around, running off the ball and delivering killer passes. But these kind of basic skills do not seem to figure very highly on the manager’s agenda. There’s precious little evidence that they are being worked on and honed in training. As a result, even one of our better performances, like today’s, consists of little more than 20 minutes or so when we manage to control the ball, and therefore the game. It’s not enough.

    Our defence was solid, but you have to feel for young Fry, a wonderful prospect being played put of position and the subject of head-shaking by the manager when he fluffed a cross. What on earth do we expect from a young centre-back? Touchline runs and pinpoint crosses?

    Besic is gifted and a real asset at this level, but he has to release the ball more quickly. He must feel that if he does release it then he may never get it back. Or simply that he has to wait to produce the killer pass because no one else will. He also has to keep a lid on his inner idiot.

    Clayton – excellent.

    Hugill- great goal and ran himself into the ground.

    Tavernier should surely have been given a run out in the later stages.

    Overall a performance that will certainly give Pulis some breathing space. But next up, yet another potential banana skin, Peterborough at home. A chance to get the ball down and play some football. But will the team, and above all the manager, take it ?

  48. I agree with everyone on here about not bringing on Tavernier instead of Downing. However the game should have been put to bed earlier. Batth’s miss was a sitter, a gaping hole to the goalkeeper’s left and he hits it straight at the keeper. 2-1 to the Boro at that time and we would have won. Lots of goals today in the Championship because of tired legs I guess, so Tavernier would have caused Derby as much trouble as Holmes seemed to do to us.

    An interesting statistic about the result though. It was the 136th league meeting between the two clubs, but only the second time that both fixtures home and away had ended in a draw. The last time that happened was as far back as the 1903/04 season. As Michael Caine might have said ‘not a lot of people know that’.

  49. Pulis’s verdict;

    “I thought George Saville was absolutely fabulous today… I brought him off because he was absolutely washed out”. This after just over an hour.

    My verdict:

    I thought George Saville was stupidly irresponsible today. He should have been given his marching orders for an over- the- top tackle, and this would have cost us the game. He should have been subbed immediately, and certainly by half-time to prevent any further damage.

    Given Pulis’s propensity to name and shame individual players this season, it was telling that he did not see fit to condemn Saville’s tackle.

    This is in line with his policy at Stoke.

    Far from condemning almost weekly career- threatening tackles by the likes of Shawcross, Wilkinson and co. ( I still shudder at Shawcross’s assault which put a young Aaron Ramsey out of the game for a year) Pulis would staunchly defend such tactics.

    “He’s not that kind of lad”, became a sick cliche that was widely and rightly derided at the time, and did more than anything else to sully Pulis’s reputation within the game.

    1. Len, we do see games differently. And for the time beeing it is very important what TP thinks, like it or not!

      I think Saville was better of the two Georges yesterday. They both made the goal for Hugill and Friend’s center was excellent.

      But over all I think we need two full backs this January. Fry is a central defender (I like him to bits) and it is nice to see him getting pitch time. But we need a spesialist in there.

      Friend has been an excelllnet servant for Boro. But somehow he seems to hasle with the ball and he is not defending as well as he used to. Somehow I am not so confident with him anymore.

      Finaly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Saville takes over as captain one day. It could even happen occasionally this year if George Friend was dropped or injured. Just saying, like.

      Different opinions, that is what is needed. A debate. Thanks, Len.

      Up the Boro!

    1. Werdermouth, to be fair it is the first day of 2019, so it hasn’t taken them long to “finally” score a goal “this year” 😂

      Come on BORO.

  52. Thanks for bringing me up to date via your match report RR. Will now look forward to watching the 90 min video.

    Pleased with a point as I thought we may get a thrashing but also sounds as if we missed an opportunity to make ground on Norwich.

    Let’s hope that we are now starting an unbeaten run till the end of the season which will see us into an automatic spot. Well we all enjoy the hope and anticipation whilst awaiting “typical Boro” to turn up! 😎🤞

    1. Boroexile
      It is frightening that a player of Wings class can be unrated by those who earn their living by football, but of course we have recently seen the ignoring, dropping, non use of Tav who is a perfect foil for Wing, plus of course, both are scorers of goals. Not a common thing at this club. Of course they cost us nothing, which must be a black mark against.

    1. Quest TV have just shown some interesting statistics. Bllly Sharp has scored the most league goals this century 220 in 496 appearances, an average of .4435. But what caught my eye was that in 6th place Jordan Rhodes has scored 185 in 408 appearances, an average of .4534. Of course a more accurate statistic would be goals per minutes on the field of play. Nevertheless, one wonders if Boro didn’t get the best out of him, and certainly Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich City since.

  55. Overall I thought that the draw was a fair result especially after the once more disasterous slow start.

    We probably could of sneaked a win if Mr Pulis had been bolder with his poor substitutions.

    Saville and Besic both booked so limited in their chasing and tackling and needed swapping out. However to bring on SD who slowed the game down for us and had no influence in stopping the faster Derby players when they were in the ascendency late on.

    That is a problem we have, in that none of our midfield have the pace to track the opposition when we are under pressure. McNair should of been brought on with his slightly more pace and possibly Tav when we were in the ascendency.

    Wing the best forward player by far. Some of his passes!!

    Yes Batth should scored, but so should of Nugent.

  56. “Keeping the ball, moving the opposition around, running off the ball and delivering killer passes.”

    That’s it, Len. That’s exactly it. Reminds me of what I liked most about the AK era – at its most commanding, the team could keep the ball, move the opposition around, get into the right off the ball positions and deliver just the right finish or final ball.

    Why do these things if they’re not as entertaining as the blockbuster “power football” we want to see? Simple. Before you do the extraordinary, you’ve got to do the ordinary – maintain shape, keep possession and ensure that the team senses or controls the flow of the ball.

    That’s not a discomforting fact, it’s the facts full stop. Why we were, and seemingly still are, incapable of fully embracing that – as the Italians and Spanish have done, with many, many trophies to concretely prove their success – I will never know.

    As far as international trophies go, it’s still Italy & Spain 9, England 1, Ireland 0. Not very pretty reading.

  57. Bringing on Stewart Downing was never going to win us the game nor help us shut up shop either. Yet as soon as he came on the Boro fans applauded and were singing that he’s one of our own. I must say though that Tony Pulis can’t rid himself of going all defensive even when we looked like the only winners, which as I say Downing was a strange choice as was Assombalonga for Hugill. I just can’t get my head around TP’s mindset. If he was satisfied with a point why bring on Assombalonga, if he wanted to win the game why didn’t he bring on Tavernier?

  58. I dont see how you thought derby were under pressure at any point. Keogh was playing like a centre mid at points.

    Other than the goal and another chance straight after it, it was more than comfortable for derby.

  59. Redcar Red,

    Thank you for the usual, and expected, quality report. No pressure then! It sounds like Boro were dozing in the metaphorical armchair to begin with. An unexpected point but it would appear that the chance to win it was missed, however that depends on your point of view.

    I agree with Ken’s comments above so no point in repeating them and next comes another potential banana skin game yet again. Will it be typical Boro who play?

    UTB,

    John

  60. The last couple of paragraphs resonate with me however I think we need to back TP as he has at least brought structure back and a Monk team would’ve buckled. Let’s see if Tav gets more time in a new system embracing wider players. Maybe TP is just waiting to release the best of attacking football in 2019! UTB

  61. RR

    Another year of match reports and a great one to start the year thank you.

    I thought Randolph should have stopped the goal and probably wasn’t warmed up properly. The rest of his game was excellent and how many times have we said that this Boro team is slow getting out of the blocks from the opening whistle?

    An early reshuffle to the defence by the injury during warm up to Flint May have also contributed to the ring rusty opening by Boro

    I thought Ayala was immense and although I have been one of GF friends critics he had a decent game

    I’ve watched Saville closely every time he has been on the pitch and quite frankly don’t see what he offers !

    Thank you for the report and a happy new year

    OFB

  62. The statement “We would have settled for a point before the game ” loses its impact when you feel that the game needed a bit of pace and flair and was there for the taking. Get yourself into a winning position then be positive and go for it !
    Saville has been a bad investment especially compared to Tavs talent which is not being utilised.

    A little bit left field but I reckon George Friend would make a good striker !

    1. Michael, I’m no doubt becoming extremely boring in banging on about the points that you raise in my previous posts, all night almost, “settled for a point, change as the game progresses live, going for it, Tav not being made the best of and Saville being a total waste of money, a lot of money, thing is I’m not alone here reading the blog.

      I read a post that indicated that “IF” we’d deployed Tav and we got beat that the repercussions might have been detrimental to him, the substitution decision making and maybe TP, so what, go for it and be hung by your decisions, but at least they were forward thinking, positive and for once trying to win a game against being satisfied with a point. “IF”, is the biggest word in the English language, but not challenging the biggest word in the greatest language on the planet, you’ll never know an alternative to the norm, will you, and I’m sick and tired of the norm.

      George, a striker, next thing you’ll be rewriting history and making Big John Hickton a Boro centre half, hang on, isn’t that challenging the norm you naughty person, you?

    2. Michael
      I am a fan of George, but he has one very irritating habit, and he has never succeeded in getting rid of it.
      Yes he will go on a run, yes he will carry the ball into the box, but then he will fail to score, nothing to do with the opposition, he will fail to fully connect with the ball and it will squirt anywhere but over the line.
      So you will understand that I do not think he might make a striker (still a very good player and well worth his place)

  63. I think that we are over-estimating the strength of Boro’s position with twenty minutes to go. Derby were coming back into the game and i think that TP wanted a solid alternative. However, i do feel that he was mistaken in sending on Downing for Tav as the extra speed and forward momentum may have opened up an opportunity without losing anything else.

    I’m interested to see people’s opinion of Wing. I can’t work out whether he is really good or playing right at the top of his capacity. Similarly with Savile. He gets into good positions and has the advantage of being left footed and so, ultimately, is a replacement for Downing but he does seem a little slow in his thinking at times. For me the jury is still out on his ultimate potential.

    I do sense that, when we play as a really solid team as we did yesterday, we are one or two players away from being a really good side. I assume than Van La Parra will play in the cup and we will see what we have bought. How does he fit in with Tavernier?

    UTB

    2. Selwynoz
      The one outstanding feature of Wings play is his great ability to instantly pass the ball forward to a runner, it is always under control, and a lot of his passes are serious goal chances. This is in complete contrast to our ingrained habit of slow sideways passing. The managers comments on Wings ability bring a smile to the lips of any fan. He has always played at this level, he scored 37 goals for his previous club in addition to being their playmaker, very good at free kicks and corners with a great shot on him. He and Tav cruised us to the top of the league after five matches, but unfortunately the excitement was too much for the manager, and they both disappeared for the next two months.
      There is a suspicion that he has been told to play nearer his own goal(defensive duties you know) which might cut his goals down a bit.
      The latest incomer might keep Tav out of the side, which would cost us.

  64. Beanish, when I see a team hoofing the ball away to anywhere other than their eighteen yard box as opposed to playing it out, then that to me is a team under pressure, maybe you were watching a different game to me mate.

    As for comfort levels, I suppose that your idea of a comfort is a bed of nails, please tell me you’re a Derby supporter.

  65. Steve Gibson shrinking
    Rumours that Steve Gibson’s influence may be diminishing at the club were further fuelled by this photo of him being introduced to new signing Rajiv van La Parra by Neil Bausor. Is the chairman shrinking? I think we should be told before he completely disappears…

  66. Just about to set off and checking my emails. I have BBC as my homepage and there was the message UK man wins £116m on lottery (thereabouts). Opened my email and there was a message ‘News about your lottery ticket’. I logged on with trembling hands and I had won but was £115,000,997.60p short of the big amount.

    Decided to teas Alexa again and asked who scored for Middlesbrough against Derby County – I didn’t use Frank Lampard’s Derby County in case the humour was lost on her.

    Alexa told me details of the match and that Jordan HuJill scored for Middlesbrough.

    I hate it when they pronounce Gill wrongly. First time in Florida someone at Disney hotel reception called me I an Jill. Grrr, so to speak or should that be Jrrr!.

      1. I have always used Gill and Gillingham as an example of the English pronouncing “logic”. Difficult especially for me – in my mother language we pronounce all the letters the same way except one exception (the word meaning heart in English). So we like to have it logical but then we are Scandinavians …

        Safe journey and happy holiday, Ian. Up the Boro!

      2. What I tried to say is that we practically never need business cards. If one pronounces his Finnish name on the phone, in 99 % of cases we are able to write it down correctly.

        Some similar first names where we can hear the difference are Jarkko, Jaakko, Jarko for example. Simple. Up the Boro!

  67. Braithwaite: Sources in Spain say our Danish forward was undergoing his medical with Leganes today ahead of completing his loan switch.

    I would swap Gestede for Jonas Knudsen of Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys today wrapped up the loan signing of left-back Callum Elder from Leicester City.

    Local reports say the signing “points towards a Portman Road exit” for Knudsen, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

    At least the club looks active now. Up the Boro!

  69. I don’t know if we are still interested in Connor Wickham but I would see him as no more than a replacement for Gestede and it could be seen as an improvement. That leaves us wanting a replacement for Assombalonga to play alongside Hugill.

    Knudsen or another is needed as left back cover and then, ifI Van La Parra is a replacement for Braithwaite, we’d be more or less done unless a speedy midfield player became available.

    UTB

    1. I would see Fletcher as a replacement for Gestede. Whilst there are question marks against the lad he has time on his side and he may yet come good. There is definitely something there but I think he is a confidence player and anxiety and nerves perhaps get to him. If its Wickham to replace Gestede and Fletcher goes out on loan then fair enough but the talk was about a Britt/Wickham swap which is where the anxiety lies. A fit Wickham from a few years back would be an asset but players who done it years ago elsewhere like Gestede often fail at Boro, Bolo Zenden apart.

      1. I agree that Wickham would not be a good swap for Britt. Fletcher doesn’t provide Plan B (or more accurately Plan C) which is what Gestede is supposed to be.

  70. It’s a bit late in the day, but many thanks to RR for his “warts & all” report on the match.

    And to the mian purpose of this post: I see that Mrs Doubtfire has finally been confirmed as the Wendies’ new manager.

  72. Bruce has managed both Villa and Birmingham (so too has Alex McLeish) and Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

    Anyone, apart from Jack Charlton and Steve McClaren, who has managed both Boro and Newcastle?

  73. Reference Wing, I believe given more game time and obviously experience he could become an integrated team member as a first choice starter.

    As I said previously IMO he is the nearest to a number 10 since Gaston. He can pass a good ball forward through defenders, he can shoot better than most we have, tackle better than most of the midfielders, Clayton apart, has a decent dead ball strike and if nurtured can only get better.

    1. In the recent In2Views I did with Ron Bone the recently retired Boro chief scout he rated Lewis Wing who was his last signing as one of his best.

      There were three Prem clubs who were trying to sign him but he and all his Boro family are all Boro daft so we had an edge

      Wing will go on to be a top top player

      OFB

  75. There are a number of players out there who either their contracts run out in the summer or are not getting games regular that we should look at , now I know its difficult but we do have the dish and it talks see agents.
    Players like
    Piazon Chelsea
    Fucchs Leicester
    Cleverly Watford
    Baines Everton
    Pereira Man u
    Even Carroll W.ham
    Okasaki Leicester
    I’m thinking teams in the bottom half of the prem won’t allow their players to go to a rival bellow them but may loan them out to championship sides?

  76. I also just wanted to say I’m not one for going overboard, but watching the YouTube highlights of Van Parra and I know it’s his agent’s pitch. Based on what I saw, if it is what I saw, and you can get it out of him most games, we have signed the Ronaldo of the championship. Please. I’m actually sober.

    1. He looks good , I hope he is given a 00, ie,licence to kill and not be constrained by tactics. Just go out and play down the wing – who knows he may turn out to be just what we need to kick start the run in. Hope he is available for the play offs too!!

  77. I hope van La Parra can prove to be a good signing but at the back of my mind I find it a bit odd that he hasn’t had a kick at Huddersfield since the beginning of October in a team that is 8 points adrift from safety and is struggling to create chances and score goals. Tony Pulis called him a ‘leg beater’ with the kind of pace Boro have been missing since Adama left – you would think Huddersfield would need somebody like that in their team at the moment.

    Maybe he just fell out with his manager or indeed is similar to Traore in that he’s a good Championship player but lacks something to play in the Premier League – though given he played 33 games last season and scored 4 goals perhaps it is the former.

  79. Werder
    Apparently according to the Huddersfield Examiner’s sports writer, David Wagner is now playing with wingbacks hence out-and-out wingers are no longer part of his system.

    Concerning Braithwaite’s loan move to Leganes I’ve not seen any reference to whether the move will be made permanent at the end of the season. I would hope the Spanish club will be paying 100% of his wages. In the long term we need to recover some of the transfer fee we paid for him and I would be surprised if Leganes can come up with anywhere near the reported £8M.

  80. Thanks Bob (and Werder).

    It’s great that you have been able to give some much deserved public recognition to Ron’s work, which is vitally important to any club, but too often taken- for- granted.

    A very nice addition to the blog and to your growing body of work.

  81. A great article as ever, OFB. Nice to get some meat over the bones of the people who give their all for the club. Ron Bone is a familiar name but never made headlines. A great servant and a fan, I suspect.

    Look at the transfer window: one gone and one arrived officially. Let’s hope we see a couple of full backs coming next. Then, hopefully another speedy winger – even though Tav and Wing are getting some play time already and could be the solution we are looking for.

    Up the Boro!

    1. Ron Bone, probably an unsung hero to most of us at the time. If so, thanks for putting us right on that score Bob.

      Whilst a point away to any of our rivals is a good point, there have been so many instances this season of teams taking all three points from teams in or near the playoff positions. For example, Leeds winning at Villa, Derby, Norwich and Sheffield United; Norwich winning at Forest and QPR; Sheffield United at QPR; West Brom at Norwich and Sheffield United; Derby at Norwich and West Brom. But Boro have yet to record an away win against any of the top ten and possibly missed a good chance against Derby of not being the only team not to have done so yet.

      Whilst I agree as Anthony Vickers says that away points are good points, I don’t go along with his statement that any away points are good points. Thankfully Boro have won 5 away matches against teams currently lower than 10th but I would expect us to win the majority of away matches against lower ranked teams. The problem of course is our home form in the Championship which doesn’t compare very favourably to Karanka’s two full seasons when we accumulated 103 points with 31 wins and only 5 defeats in total, and I don’t see Tony Pulis’s home tactics getting anywhere near the 50 point mark.

  83. Thanks for the In2Views piece with Ron Bone, OFB. Really enjoyed that.

    He’s a name that’s been associated with us for so long and yet I’ve heard so little about him, so it was great to hear from him, learn about his role and get a better idea of the man himself.

    Many thanks to you and Ron, as well as Werder – as ever – for posting it for us. Spoilt as usual on Diasboro.

  84. What’s happening to Ben Gibson at Burnley? I know he was out injured for a long while, but scored, yellow carded and substituted on Boxing Day, unused substitute on Saturday, but not even on the bench yesterday.

  86. OFB

    Thanks for that really interesting piece.

    I personally think Ron Bone has more talent in spotting a good footballer in his little finger than most managers and without him and others like him around the leagues young local lads from wherever they may be wouldn’t get a look in.

    He deserves all the plaudits he gets and will be a big miss in the Boro talent spotting team.

  87. Belated thanks to Redcar Red for his match report, at least a little better for him to write up.

    Nice article on Ron Bone OFB. Unsung heroes him and Dave Parnaby. Thank you both for all the years of service.

    As for MB, I do not think Leganes will be able to get anywhere near to affording his wages and a decent fee to us. Looks like we will have to take a big hit on him just to get rid. As an aside if he does sign for them, he will have an old Boro loanees as a team mate, one Kenneth Ormeruo, still a Chelsea player.

    1. I sent a copy to Ron who as the gentleman he is thanked me for posting it on the blog and he said he enjoyed it very much

      Says it all really doesn’t it?

      OFB

  90. Live on TV……

    Middlesbrough v Peterborough United
    ST: 15:00
    | Digi Sport 6 (svk)
    | ESPN+ USA [$] (geo/R)
    | SportKlub 10 (serbia) Cable
    | TSN Malta 8 HD
    | ViaPlay (denmark) / HD
    | ViaPlay (finland)
    | ViaPlay (norway) / HD

    Allegedly…..

  91. Braithwaite is, quite possibly, Boro’s Aliadiere of the 2010s. You know there’s something sublime in there but he’s frustrating and he hasn’t done enough to feel missed, or truly feel part of the Boro unit.

  92. OFB

    Sat in Brisbane airport awaiting our flight to Sydney for the next leg of our trip and just read your article on Ron Bone.

    Thank you for such an interesting article about someone who I did not know anything about but has clearly been a great servant of the club and had a major impact upon the lives of many young footballers.

    A lovely read about someone who appears to be a lovely individual and well deserving of an enjoyable retirement. Thanks to you, Ron and Werder.

  93. Paul Lambert admits Ipswich Town cannot afford to push through a proposed double deal for Middlesbrough duo Grant Leadbitter and Rudy Gestede. Ipswich officials have inquired about both players according to the Echo.

    As Leadbitter and Gestede joined Middlesbrough when they were playing in the Premier League, the duo’s wages are way beyond Ipswich’s financial capabilities.

    So I must assume that these two players are not moving anywhere soon. How long contracts have they?

    Up the Boro!

    2. Jarkko

      I believe Leadbitter’s contract runs out this summer but wouldn’t be surprised if he stays with the club in some form of coaching capacity

      Gestede has 18 months left

      OFB

  94. Leganes are now unbeaten in 7 league matches 2 of which they have won. Before that unbeaten run they had only accumulated 8 points from 10 matches and looked certainties for relegation. They are still only 3 points above a relegation place so there’s every chance they might still be relegated. The capacity of their stadium is 12,450 and if they are relegated gates might struggle to reach 6,000. So will Braithwaite still want to play for a club in the Segunda Liga? It won’t improve his international chances with Denmark. In any event there is no way that Leganes can afford his wages or transfer fee, so the whole circus will start again in the summer with a player who doesn’t want to play for Boro (or is that only for Pulis?) and I can’t see any of the top clubs in Europe wanting to sign him. I’m a bit sceptical how much of his wages Leganes are paying for him, so with the size of the transfer fee Boro paid for him we can expect to suffer one of our biggest financial disasters in the history of Middlesbrough FC in my opinion.

    1. It certainly is going to be up there in terms of the net financial loss, but in the context of the parachute payments and the year in the PL, it is maybe not going to be the biggest financial disaster. Still a terrible waste, though. Hopefully we’ll get a reasonable fee for him, maybe £4-5m?

      What has been, contextually, our biggest financial disaster? I’m always interested in reading the historical ruminations on here.

    2. Incredible that we paid serious money yet again for a Player that every other Club in Europe seem totally disinterested in. Now that could be like Leadbitter and Gestede in the case of Ipswich because they simply can’t (or won’t) afford his wages (clearly out of kilter with the norm) rather than his ability but either way the mind boggles at who and how we evaluate potential incoming players. No wonder we attract Players who don’t mind signing a contract but apparently or allegedly don’t want to stay here.

      Back to to tomorrow and hopefully we may get a chance to see Marcus Maddison a North East lad who I reckon would be worth a punt.

  95. Just been re-reading OFB’s In2views piece with Ron Bone over my coffee break and it was was very interesting article that offered a really good insight into those who work behind the scenes at Boro – they probably have ultimately been a huge influence on so many players and indeed the club itself. So many thanks to OFB and to Ron for sharing this story – plus good luck to Ron in his retirement and speaking as someone who regularly enjoys getting out their electric guitar to relax, I’m sure he’ll make good use of that extra free time – though unlike Ron, I’ve not had any offers to join bands 🙁

    1. Werder

      Thanks for that and your valued input

      I’m working through an In2View with Craig Liddle who now runs the Academy for Boro and was originally a schoolboy player for Ron at Chester le Street.

      It just shows how much support our club has in the background and they are all nice people

      OFB

  96. Talking of spending a lot of money on players who don’t fit into the team, it was interesting to hear the interview a couple of days ago with Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri, after the club signed Christian Pulisic for £58m from Borussia Dortmund. When asked after the game about his new signing, Sarri said that he had no idea that the club were going to sign him and the player himself was actually immediately loaned back to Dortmund. It seems a strange way to run a club if the manager is not involved closely with who the club signs – especially at the kind of crazy sums involved.

    Though the signing of Jordan Rhodes springs to mind under Karanka when he appeared to indicate that the player had been possibly sanctioned by his chairman more than him – though I guess we will never know for sure but it would be fair to say that Rhodes didn’t exactly get overly used by his manager.

    1. I big mistake by MFC that Christian Pulisic. Perhaps we’d have needed to pay well above the £58 m a London club needed.

      A pulisic player would have so nicely fitted in our style at Boro now. Even better than Max Power, the Sunderland midfielder. He must be have been good fit to our pedestrian midfield, though.

      Missed chances by Pulis. Up the Boro!

      1. Well back in my article on 24th November (Boro return to negotiating a successful Championship exit) I did flag him up as a potential signing for Boro…

        Though if you’re looking for a name that shouts buy, then Borussia Dortmund’s hot property Christian Pulisic must certainly tick the nomenclature boxes for a regular church-going Boro manager – however, he’s apparently keen on a Premier League switch with Chelsea being reported as favourites for his signature. Still, I’m sure the club will be keen to find another Pulisic striker who fits their manager’s profile.

        It remains to be seen whether Connor Wickham becomes the Pulisic striker instead…

  97. Werder

    I’m a keyboard man myself used to play in bands in the sixties sometimes we were support to big names

    Adam Faith and the Roulettes

    Lulu and the Luvvers

    Crispian St Peters remember him ? “Well I woke up this morning- you were on my mind “ oh well maybe not then.

    We earned a contract to go professional and play the US bases In Germany. It was only when we came to sign the contract that we saw that it included playing in Vietnam when the war was in full flow!

    So that was that I didn’t go and knuckled down at college and work and said goodbye to my musical career although I’ve still got a big organ !

    OFB

  99. Thanks, Pedro and OFB for the Leads’ and Gestede’s contact situation.

    About yesterday, Pulis revealed this morning that Nathan Wood and Dimi Konstantopoulos will feature against Steve Evans’s side, saying: “I think we’ll have the youngest player and the oldest player in the club’s history in the squad, which is an extraordinary coincidence and an amazing situation.”

    I hope both play and we will win. As we are lacking defenders now, it won’t be an easy match. But winnable like the matches in the league cup. Up the Boro!

  100. I need some help with my English. Pulis keeps on saying that Rajiv van La Parra is a leg beater.

    What is a “leg beater”? My dictionary says: “a beater is a person who hits someone or something, in particular.” I thought Leadbitter was more a leg beater than vLP would. In the negative meaning – hitting someones legs with a tacle, like.

    Up the Boro!

    1. Don’t worry Jarkko, it’s not a common English phrase. In fact, I’ve never heard it before!

      I think he just means someone who can dribble/run past players, Traore-style (perhaps).

  101. In fairness to Maurizio Sarri, he did say that he had been asked for his opinion on Christian Pulisic and that it has been a positive one.

      2. I’ve stopped being surprised by the bizarre financial decisions made by clubs at the top of the tree but if you spend almost £60m on a player then I personally find it odd that you have no place for him in your matchday squad. Surely you would think Chelsea, who currently sit in 4th just three points ahead of Arsenal and six above a rapidly improving Man Utd, would perhaps need a player in that price bracket in their bid to make a Champions League place.

        Why shell out that kind of money on what appears to be little more than a player who meets the generic profile of one that could potentially one day be in the team. You know the game has lost its way when this kind of deal can happen – has £60m for a Champions League team now become the equivalent of a punt price of a £6m deal that struggling PL clubs like Boro have paid for players like Gestede, Adama and Bamford?

        Money appears to have no meaning or value at the top end of the game with I recall Mourinho claiming shortly before his dismissal that he’d ONLY spent around £360m on 11 players and his team lacked quality players. It may be a sign that the bubble is about to burst when the market hype loses touch with reality of value and even pundits and observers stop blinking at deals that just don’t make logical sense.

      4. A lot of Chelsea shirts with Pulisic on the back, not to mention all the other merchandising and sponsorship deals that will be established. He will be the highest profile American in the highest profile league in the world.

        “Show Me The Money!”

  102. Callum Hudson- Odoi.

    “He’s a very good player, the potential is for becoming a great player, and now he has to improve,” Sarri said.

    “He has to improve, I think, in movement without the ball.

    “As a winger, he has to improve in the defensive phase, but he has the potential to become a very important player, not only for English football I think but for European football.”

    Sound familiar?

    1. It does.

      The differnce though is that Callum Hudson-Odoi has some very, very good players keeping him out of the Chelsea team. I’m not sure we can say the same for Marcus Tavernier for instance.

  104. Peterborough’s away form is quite impressive, 8 wins, 3 draws and only 2 defeats to Sunderland and Wycombe Wanderers. They’ll be a much tougher proposition than Burton Albion, so Boro will have to start on the front foot because a defeat although embarrassing will certainly not be a shock result in my opinion.

    1. That’s just put the mockers on it GHW. I am reasonably sure you are to blame for our poor run. Mr Pulis could add it to his list of excuses!!

  106. I used to be mocked for my relentless defending of possession-and-shape based tactics on top of a solid base, but stuck by it for so long because, given time and just the right kind of players, said methods were concretely proven to work.

    “Given time and just the right kind of players”. That’s the problem. John Meagher once argued that Trappatoni didn’t need to change his plan for Ireland – but could find no reason why, other than saying that his methods seemed to have worked for him so far. Results are results, etc. Doesn’t mean they were right for Ireland.

  107. Re: Werder.

    If indulged, every manager will lose sight of things, and then complain he’s not backed enough. I think Roy Keane carries the feeling of being screwed over by players and hierarchy at Sunderland*, yet the trouble was that until Ellis Short took over he was allowed a little too much of his own way by the Drumaville consortium. At the start, they needed him… by the end, they didn’t. Same goes with Mourinho at United.

    I suppose that’s the way for a cult manager – make him feel like he belongs there, that the club can’t do without him, and he’ll be mollycoddled and praised to the point where he can’t cope when the slightest thing goes awry.

    *I never forgot his words: “I still think I should be the manager of Sunderland. I really liked the club, and I liked the people.”

    But was it because he really loved the Mackems, or because no club has, albeit briefly, trusted him in the same manner?

    1. I guess what you’re basically saying is that in order to avoid having a monster running around the place, managers with big egos should be treated like small children and not indulged more than necessary and not given too many sweets.

  108. Roy Keane originally saved Sunderland by instilling discipline but ultimately he didn’t have good enough players to carry through his plans.

    It’s no coincidence that all successful managers find themselves in charge of a group of good players. Some inherit them and some assemble them, but without backing they can’t achieve their goals. Particularly if like Keane you have high standards.

    I would imagine Keane would make a lot better coach than manager.

    1. I read that a problem was that he wanted to remould the likes of Chimbonda as a professional in *his* eyes, the kind he had become himself under Clough and Ferguson. Two of the best in the business, as Keane would point out.

      But Chimbonda was quite happy the way he is. Keane couldn’t comprehend that. Excellence can be achieved in other ways – just because it worked for you doesn’t mean it will work for him, etc.

  109. You could actually make an argument for both sides. On the one hand you can point to the Keane “winning mentality”… on the other, every now and then you are likely to come across that player in the squad who needs a bit of freedom to perform, who can’t align himself to the same intensity Keane demands.

    Keane, with ghostwriter Mr Dunphy’s help, made his feelings quite clear about Big Jack’s regime for Ireland – yet, until the final six months, how many fans cared?

    It was refreshing, after Keane’s relentless Jack-bashing in his first book, to read a series of anecdotes to counter it both from other Irish journalists and in Colin Young’s biography.

    1. I think Keane’s is more preferable, admittedly he played in better teams but I would suggest his professionalism would enable him to achieve infinitely more than Chimbonda regardless of whichever level or team he performed in.

    2. Keane’s “Jack Bashing” helped to sell his book, all fans want to hear the gossip and less savoury things in football. They’re not writing a dissertation on their careers, they’re attempting to make as much money as they can from their book.

  110. I think that this, from Dave Hannigan, sums up Keane best.

    “(Keane) cannot cope with people ostensibly showing less commitment than he does. This is what makes him such an indefatigable force on the field and such a troubled figure off it.

    “The very stuff that makes him great has also proved his undoing on the many occasions he overstepped the mark, those cameos when the red mist descended and fervour gave way to foul play. It appears impossible to have one without the other.

    A less intense individual might have looked at the FAI’s slipshod attitude to preparation, decided it was hardly fair to compare their approach to that of Manchester United, one of the leading sports franchises in the world, and got on with the job in hand.

    “A less intense individual wouldn’t have been half the player he is.”

  111. Had some feedback on the Ron Bone In2View from Boro Academy coaches and analysts who say they’ve enjoyed reading it !

    Another good day for Diasboro with the excellent posts by the bloggers thenPreMatch views and literary masterpiece by Werder and match reports from Redcar Red

    I love this blog I do

    OFB

      1. No, but Ron Bone might get feedback from his electric guitar….
        Enjoyed the read OFB. I love that he (Ron) comes to love Boro and Boro teams coming on top against the two stripy ones from up the road given he was not brought up to be a Boro man…

      2. Not on the comments no

        But likes on the Werder and Redcar Red articles

        I’ve been building up a Boro contact list for over the past year and still developing it

        The quality Of the blog the articulate and well reasoned posts do a great selling job on what a great place Diasboro is

        OFB

  112. Is it Dimis swan song tomorrow ,if so I’d like to wish him well and say in my fifty odd years of watching Boro , he was consistent and never let the team down, he also never made waves or played the drama Queen.
    Talk of Roy Keane, I have time for Roy I think I get him, I think I could work with him ,for me he’s an individual with singular views, he has no time for people who try to tell him one thing when he knows that’s not the way things are, he expects professionalism , self motivation , improvement he expects players to understand criticism for their benefit, and I think he treats every player on an equal basis.
    In today’s world that is considered outlandish, and some might think bullying.
    Shame really, many famous generals had the same qualities .

  113. If anyone outside the BBC Tees area is interested the Boro v Boro match is available on line today as it’s outside the usual EFL contractual obligations malarkey.

    Or so the trailer I heard yesterday said. That’s my legal disclaimer😉.

    1. Games are often listed as being available by unofficial streaming sites even if they’re not as they ultimately want visitors to click on the links. You won’t really know until shortly before kick-off. Though it seems MFC are streaming the game live so I’ll get some more use out of my season pass.

  117. Werder
    Can you confirm MFC is streaming the game live for season pass holders outside UK.
    According to a Posh website it’s on bet365 but there is no tv logo against the fixture on their website.
    Somebody on our great diasboro must know!

  118. Sorry, I went to the normal MFC Matchday Live streaming page this morning and it was displaying the game as if there was a live video stream of the match but I’ve since looked into the matter and found the following at the bottom of a general MFC ‘Matchday’ page…

    Due to broadcast regulations, we can’t show FA Cup matches via our usual Riverside LIVE online stream, domestically or overseas.

    I’m not sure why the club can’t make it clear on their live streaming page that the game is not being shown as it shouldn’t be too difficult.

    There is Audio commentary but it doesn’t state if it’s only available to UK residents.

    1. Yes, the mfc.co.uk pages are very confusing before a match. So always need to ask it here, Borolive. Cannot really understand why they cannot say it a week before hand if the match is on Riverside Live or not. Strange service.

      Up the Boro!

  120. Prediction time I suppose, mind you if I did a prediction after the game I’d get that wrong. Anyway here goes, It won’t be an OFB and GHW’s optimism I like but as a seasoned Boro ironic I’m going for:

    Boro 2 – 1 Posh

    That’s it, having covered all the bases it’ll be a home defeat.

    UTB,

    John

  121. A bit of an odd-looking team selection but it looks like width from van La Parra and Tavernier to supply the three strikers of Fletcher, Britt and Gestede with a back-four of McNair, Fry, Ayala and Friend – but that would just leaves Leadbitter in central midfield. So I suspect it will be some new formation instead with a bit of square-pegging.

    Dimi, Fry, Ayala, Friend, McNair, Leadbitter, van La Parra, Tavernier, Fletcher, Assombalonga, Gestede.

  125. Looks like a throwback to the 60’s.

    Two Full Backs, Left Half, Centre Half, Right Half.

    Inside Right, Inside Left,

    Right Winger, Centre Forward, Left Winger.

    Smell the Oxo!!!!

  130. Good job they can’t finish.
    They are shooting on sight.
    We have no midfield.
    Dare I say this after the clamour for attacking football.
    I would sacrifice either Britt , Gestede or Fletcher and bring on Clayton

    1. It would seem sensible to have an extra midfielder for one of those three but I’d maybe go for Wing as Clayton may need to replace Leadbitter as he’s now on a yellow after unnecessarily taking one for the team with 10 seconds to go before HT.

      Interestingly, despite playing in the back three, Friend has been bombing on like he was still playing wing-back. McNair appears to be playing as an attacking midfielder too and has often been driving into the box despite having three forwards on the pitch.

      Tavernier has also looked a little rusty after missing out in the last few weeks and has lost the ball a few times. It needs a little more cohesion and much better passing but it at least has a positive feel to moving the ball forward – better execution and decision making needed.

  134. The team tonight can take a bow.
    Inspired sub at half time from Werder. Are you TP in disguise?
    No negative play.
    Almost like Leeds.
    I just hope that Downing , Besic and Howson were watching as this is what they need to produce week in week out.
    Posh are a top league one club an no pushovers

  135. Great stream but only mobile phone size. really enjoyed the game but who was the Boro payer that was continually booed in the 2nd half couldn’t make out his number?

    Surely with such a score the boo boys could have just enjoyed the show!!

    2. Allan

      Ha they weren’t booing it was directed at Lewis Wing and the somewhat harsh Teesside accent of “shoooot” every time he got within 25 yards of the goal sounded like they were booing !!

      OFB

  136. What a fantastic second half performance that was with some great goals and plenty of positive play. Lewis Wing showed what an important player he could be for Boro as a playmaker and was always looking for a killer pass – not to mention that killer goal. I thought Fletcher had a decent game too considering he’s hardly played and George Friend had another good game going forward – plus special mention for Rudy Gestede for a back-heeled pass to set up Britt who bagged a brace and nearly got his hat-trick. It proves we CAN play attacking football if we want to – over to Tony…

    1. Werder
      It worries me when people such as yourself who in my opinion know their football, can insert the word “could” when discussing Wing ( you can of course include Tav and Fry in this point)
      I know that he was a gift from non league, but the moment I saw him I clapped my hands at the thought of the Boro being so incredibly lucky as to be given a player such as him, the pleasure that he gives and the talent that he shows the moment that he comes onto the pitch(you could call that the stage).
      A well run club would long ago have called a halt to the antics of this manager. We should never take the field without the three I have mentioned above (and I do mean centre back for Fry).
      I know you meant nothing by using the word “could”, but one can only wonder where we would be in this league had we carried on regardless after hitting the top.
      just a point, but if we are serious about our team then they must surely rush him into the office for an improved contract, and a longer one.

  137. Werder
    I fear the handbrake will be firmly back on at st Andrews.
    But I congratulate TP for giving us 45 minutes of ” how we could play with the brakes off”

      1. Mrs OFB said “when was the last time we saw the Boro score five goals?”

        I turned to her and said

        1 In August

        1 in September

        2 In October

        1 in November

        She just shook her head at me ………..

        OFB

    2. Len,

      AS far as I am concerned GHW is the ‘new’ Boro Delphic Oracle. To coin phrase he has the ‘scores on the doors’.

      Now GHW, in your shed, any hints on the lottery numbers?

      UTB,

      John

  140. TP will no doubt tell us that wing should not be shooting from distance an Walker shout not be putting in crosses as it’s not his job.
    These youngsters have so much to learn bless um

  142. Some nice back handed compliments. We’ve been poor for a fair few months and it was nice to enjoy a 5-0 demolition of a team that were seen as a potential banana skin. First half may have been poor but a game lasts 90+ minutes and the second half totally annihilated the other Boro.

    Maddo said on Tees that there were possibly too many forwards on the pitch at once and were closing down the space up the pitch. What was obvious to me is that playing 2 up front is the way ahead although I don’t think TP would agree with me.

    It was also nice to hear Gestede get a good round of applause when he was subbed instead of the boos he has had this season. He must’ve had a decent game.

    1. John Hendrie was talking to VLP after the game and asked if he was setting in.

      VLP speaks good English and said that he knew a few of the boys and had spoken to his good friend Marten De Roon about the Boro before joining. He said he had also played here before with Other clubs

      JH said that VDP had made a significant contribution today because after he went off at half time we then went on to score 5 goals !

      Worried look on VDP face before he realised it was typical football humour and he joined in the laughter.

      Thought it was nice to share

      OFB

    1. I thought Fletcher was mom personally and he looks strong quick and he’s a big fella.

      It would be crazy to let him go on loan to Hull who are only a few places behind us In the league

      Michael O Neil was at the ground to see McNair and Saville. He can’t have been too impressed with Saville whoneas sat not far from me amd didn’t have any input in the game.

      I thought MCNAIR had a better second half when Wing came on and what a screamer from Lewis!!

      La Parra not fit amd comfessed to me after the game he prefers playing on the left wing.

      I though Tav could have had a lot more input in the game than he did and put a lot of passes astray

      Fry had a poor first half and was turned by his man a few times. Improved the second half no doubt after a roasting from TP

      I thought Harry Chapman might have done something but to be honest he looked lost and I was disappointed as I like him

      One thing we learned Wing has to start and play every game to get better and better. I’ve watched him from Northern League to now and if he is allowed to develop mark my words he will go on to be an international!

      OFB

      1. OFB
        Loved your remark re. Wing going on to be an international, absolutely true, as was the remark about him being a fixture in the team in future. It is frightening that he has been so underemployed as we have scattered points like a drunken sailor. We are still avoiding like the plague having Wing, Tavernier, Fry, start matches, no I do not understand either.
        Same subject, but worth saying, his contract as of October is obviously completely out of date, based on a mistaken evaluation of his talents, and must be corrected at once, he is too valuable to this club to risk in the jungle that is the market place.
        It is a long time since we have had the thrill of a goal such as he hammered in, for the second time in a couple of months, but let’s not forget his superb generalship of our attempts at attacking via his through balls which are startlingly destructive for the opposition.

  145. Great second half today that shows what is possible. However, Pulis was at pains to point out that we were playing a side from a lower division which is different from playing a Championship team. By that I infer that he has no intention of playing in a similar attacking way in the league and so we should expect normal service to be resumed at Birmingham.

    While I accept that Peterborough are in League One they are still a decent side currently sitting just outside the playoff positions. So how different a proposition can Birmingham be? Are they marginally better or miles better? I suspect that it is the former and I’m not sure therefore why we couldn’t play in a more attacking style. Maybe two strikers and Wing and Tavernier to start would be a good first step.

  146. RR

    Thank you for another great match report and very impressed with the speed in which you get these reports into print !

    It’s nice to report on an emphatic win isn’t it?

    OFB

  148. Excellent report RR. Didn’t feel anywhere near as comfortable as the scoreline suggested, but those who saw five home goals for the first time in more than a decade won’t care.

  149. Thanks again RR for keeping me up to date with your excellent match report.

    I am beginning to think that it is me that has a curse on the team! Since starting our journey down under before Christmas I have not been able to watch any games live and we have now only lost one and have now scored 5 in one half.

    Perhaps I should stick to watching the videos!

    Paying homage to the men of steel tomorrow by walking to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

    Mrs P not joining me as having managed in the past to get her onto the London Eye, the top of the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building she has decided this is a bridge to far/high for her fear of heights.

    1. KP, you’ll love it up there and it’s a beacon that the world can look at and see what men of steel can really do. Having worked offshore for donkeys I was expecting some movement, considering we were experiencing 100km an hour winds at the time I thought that it would be rocking like a good n’, it never moved a millimetre. What a structure and it’s all ours, we even left half the crew behind when we left to procreate (that’s not saying that they hadn’t started before hand), they didn’t want to go home.

      We found the place for them, we built their greatest icon and the oldest building in Oz is from the Boro, Captain Cook’s cottage from Marton. We get everywhere us like.

  150. A nice win. Credit must be given to TP as he made changes during the half time. So bringing in Wing and changing the formation was needed. And we got rewards.

    Wingsy is getting better in every match and he gets game time now. Well done, lad.

    Posh had scored in all their previous 14 FA Cup ties. But we kept a clean sheet. It was nice to see Dimi on the field again. And he played well.

    Pity there is no game before Saturday. Hopefully that is good for training. Up the Boro!

  151. Redcar Red,

    thanks for the ‘happy’ report, there were so many goals in there that I lost count. A proper game of two halves that deserves that description. After a short interval of fun football I’m sure that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

    UTB,

    John

    1. Thanks Jarsue, its a bit easier when there is something positive to report in terms of excitement!

      Lewis Wings goal was a cracker and very reminiscent of Steven Gerrard at his best.

  152. The Gazette report of yesterday’s match was so disjointed with bits of tittle-tattle in between the actual play in back-to-front reporting as disjointed one might say as Boro’s first half performance. Why do we need interjections from Anthony Vickers and Neil Maddison all the time as well? Why not put their thoughts on a separate report? Having said that the BBC live text is even worse. Scott Wilson does a reasonable chronological report of the match in the Northern Echo, but again one has to scroll down to the end of the report to make any sense of the order of play.

    Now my question is why can’t newspapers reassemble the days events starting with the team news and then the match report? As Eric Morecambe might have said they might be recording all the right highlights, but not necessarily in the right order. Which now brings me to Redcar Red which is always my first port of call to make any sense of the day’s happenings. If he can write such an excellent fluent report, why can’t newspaper reporters? Maybe something to do with editorial deadlines I suppose, but if a job’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing properly as Redcar Red always manages to do. So aren’t we all lucky to have him!

      1. RR: I second Ken’s comments & your match reports never read like “hastily assembled ramblings” to me, more like heartfelt observation! 😉

  153. RR,

    I’m sorry pal, but you honestly fail to appreciate just how important your reports on every game, (and also your retorts that aren’t) are as an independent gem my friend, and long may you be free (remember that fact) to be of service to those of us that eagerly await your reports, between both yourself and Werder we truly have two fonts of information that virtually every other blog would kill for.

    You don’t have any masters to satisfy my friend, and to be honest the only master is your good self, that’s why we get a warts and all report of what actually happened game by game and kick by kick, and not what the controllers require.

    I sincerely take my cap off to you pal in the efforts you bring to this blog, you are one of the irreplaceable founders of this here pub in the ether that I can honestly blow off to on a regular basis, quaff a beer and still be accepted as one of the crowd, what a bunch of misfits we all are.

    I love this blog me, but I couldn’t love it if it wasn’t kept alive by those that do, and those that do know exactly who you are, and I sincerely hope that those that do appreciate just how much we that don’t, appreciate that this wouldn’t be a blog without you.

      1. Bob, I would gladly foot the bill for a beer or two for anyone on this blog mate, I couldn’t buy entertainment cheaper on main stream downloads. Right, who wants what while I’m at the bar, and by the way it’s at the Park End for those that dare to there?

  155. Did I just score another goal with my Led Zepplin reference, that was quite unintentional, but I’ll claim it anyway – unless the ref tells us OFB arrived fractionally later in which case he can have it with pleasure.

    UTB

    1. I think it’s more a case of trying to keep Wing on a level keel and not getting above himself

      It’s when he can do it consistently and against Premiership opposition that you can say he’s made it as a player

      A long way to go and TP is just keeping his feet on the ground as anyone would do in any industry when a young whipper snapper thinks he knows it all

      I rate Wing but even I noticed a couple of things he could have done better with his positioning yesterday and I’m not a Manager!

      Wing if he progresses will go on to be an International!

      Just finished an Interview with Craig Liddle the Boro Academy Manager who is really impressed with the way that Tav Dael and Wingy have worked their way into the squad and the first team.

      Craig said there are a lot more to come through as well

      Up the Boro

      OFB

  156. On social media, there was a comment that TP in an interview on BBC said not very flattering things about Wing yesterday. Has anybody else heard this ?

  157. Anthony Vickers asked the question when did Boro last score 5 goals in a half, and he’s quite right in alluding to the 8–1 demolition of Manchester City in the final fixture of the 2007/08 season.

    However here is a compendium for your delectation and delight:-
    League matches in the same season
    6th Nov 1926 Portsmouth HT 2-1,FT 7-3
    18th Dec 1926 Swansea HT 2-0, FT 7-1
    30th April 1927 Reading HT 0-0, FT 5-0
    Plus
    18th Nov 1933 Sheff Utd HT 6-2, FT 10-3
    10th Dec 1938 Blackpool HT 5-0, FT 9-2
    29th Mar 1939 Portsmouth HT 5-1, FT 8-2
    Post War
    23rd Aug 1958 Brighton HT 5-0, FT 9-0
    29th Aug 1959 Derby (away) HT 2-1, FT 7-1
    FA Cup
    9th Jan 1915 Goole HT 5-1, FT 9-3
    9th Jan 1946 Leeds Utd HT 7-1, FT 7-2 (won 11-6)
    12th Feb 1947 Nottm Forest HT 1-2, FT 6-2 (won 8-4
    These last two Cup matches were not replays, just after the Second World War earlier rounds were played over two legs.
    Also this may not be a comprehensive list of 5 goals in a half, it’s just those I’ve been able to dig out at random.

  158. I have just found the comment that was made.
    ” The way he slated wing today on the radio was shocking. The best managers never call out the players in public, the best managers don’t criticise the players in public. They do it behind closed doors. Why did he have to go on the radio and be so negative “

  160. Teehee! The team from the London borough in which I’ve lived since the early 80s has just dumped The Blades out of the Cup at Bramall Lane! 🙂 Well done, The Bees! *hat*

  161. It’s always nice to progress in the FA Cup, but more importantly, I think the manager may well have “ stumbled” across his best formation.

    1. $64,000 question, though: will the scales have fallen from the dinosaur’s eyes sufficiently to encourage him to deploy it against Brum on Saturday afternoon? Somehow I doubt it.

  162. If it is this interview, I honestly don’t see what you are upset about, yes he did point out some of the things Wing did wrong and also credited Wing on his performance and goal. He also went on to say that if Wing continues his development he will be a top player, TP also went on to say that he, himself, got the team tactics wrong in the first half with 3 upfront and that is being very honest.

    Part of a players development is to be shown were he has gone wrong, in the interview he says he has already spoken to Wing about his mistakes and I don’t think TP was overly critical in the interview. At times people get over excited about players abilities and on the message boards, which the players (or their families) read, build the player above their standard putting pressure on the player and it affects them. Take yesterday, I thought Tavernier had a poor game and Peterborough no 15 had him in his pocket, it showed to me that he is still not ready, although one bad performance doesn’t mean he is not going to make it but at the same time 1/2 good performances doesn’t make a world beater.

    As I have said, I don’t think TP was overly critical and it was more aimed at the fans to say don’t go overboard, give the lad time to develop and learn. That is I have saw the interview but everyone is entitled to read into it as they think.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06vt9gs

    Come on BORO.

  163. At the risk of raising a certain amount of ire on here, I think young Tavernier was guilty of believing in his own hype yesterday, and underestimated the players he was up against, resulting in a poor performance. I agree with TP, he still has much to learn.

    1. Totally agree that they have plenty to learn. You’d expect that from players with so little first team experience at Championship level.

      Questions are:

      Even with mistakes, are they more effective than the players keeping them out?

      And

      Where are they more likely to learn, theU23s or the first team?

    4. GHW
      I think that his first half performance was caused by an attack consisting of three strikers, and a stranger who had not kicked a ball for three months, there is a prize for anyone who can name the players who were going to supply them with chances.
      The second half was amazing, instant football as it should be played, orchestrated by Wing, of course, the “lad who has a lot to learn” unquote.
      I find it hilarious that a manager who has never in his life handled a player of the top class (yes, yes, I know about the 6ft-7inch stoke city player) but he was just “the big lad, who’s head the ball had to be put”
      We are either a proper football club, or a vehicle for some old veteran to peddle his unwanted views on stifling talent, and a hatred of excitement (that could be it, maybe a doctor has told him to avoid excitement).
      By the way Tav was fine in the second half, once the football had started.

  165. No ire from me over Tav.

    Every fan of every team gets excited over “the next big exciting young star” – that’s how it seems to be. There’s a tendency to think he’s the real deal before he actually is, probably because he has the pace and vision to excite.

    TP, to his credit, will want to keep Tav grounded. Similarly, to a point, Fergie had the wisdom to keep the Class Of ’92 under wraps for a season before fully unleashing them.

    The unfortunate difference is, I sense, that we don’t have the quality to cover…

    …which is why extra thought is required before trying to unleash a big club methodology and mentality on a small town in Europe.

    1. So we keep on making excuses for this man. When are we going to learn that natural talent must be encouraged to develop by keeping it stretched against testing opponents. If he did say those words then he must have a massive question mark over his head. The truly unfortunate thing is, he had just started the match with Assombalonga and Gestede attempting to score goals, plus another striker for good measure, plus a stranger who had not kicked a ball for three months.
      The result? a very good young winger had a disappointing 45 minutes, surprise, surprise, who would have believed it?
      We need pay no attention his ramblings, they all point to one thing, he would not know a very good player if one came up to him with a notice board reading ” i am a very good player” round his neck, in fact he is probably dyslexic.
      His mental aberrations are becoming rather worrying, most football fans are foolish enough to think a player having a blinder for your side and winning the game for you easily, then scoring an absolute blinder is, I don’t know how to put this, the word good springs to mind, but is probably inadequate.
      I would place his experience of seriously good players at close to zero, this would give him difficulty rating Wing.
      So one would hope that the rulers of our club were on crisis watch, because the last very good player he had charge of is now plying his trade in the Premiership (about seventh I think) he was sorry to lose him, then decided he needed some speed in the team. Hhhm!
      He never has made sense.
      Could it be that he was on about defensive duties, and wanting him to play near our goal, that should be stamped on right away, we have had more than enough of his defensive rubbish, and he can forget about dropping him, that is not going to happen.
      When does he leave the building? I will buy a card.

      1. Just had a message back from John Hendrie to say how much he enjoyed the match report (well done RR) and the In2Views with Ron Bon (thanks to Werder input)

        Thought I’d share that with you all

        OFB

      2. So a below par performance by Tavernier is everyone else’s fault but his. By the same token other players who have a poor game can slope the blame onto his team mates and the manager. Or is that option only open to young lads who’ve come through the academy?

    2. I presume you’re still talking about Traore, if you think he is a major success at Wolves then I would suggest you’re suffering from the same fault you accuse TP of. The same could be said of Ben Gibson.

      1. GHW
        Traore is no longer our player, though he is playing for a much better managed club than ours, ask Liverpool.
        I doubt that he regrets leaving us.
        To return to our club, we should be working frantically to ensure that Wing is happy here and that his salary is equal to his talent and his value to us, it would be of help if our manager could be persuaded to resist from going on an ego trip every time the lad comes good, it’s distinctly ickie to hear him telling reporters just how experienced he is and how much work he has to do with Wing to improve him.
        What the reporters think of our manager, one can only imagine.

  166. A lot to do this evening.

    So I’ll throw this thought – call it a Bitesize Talking Point? – I had after yesterday’s game out there, for you all to mull over.

    Yesterday was a Jolly Holiday for fans as Mary Boro Stepped In Time and went Poppin in the goals. It was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. But, seriously…

    A 5-0 win at home, no matter who the opposition are and how well our team plays on the day, is significant beyond words. I think any Boro fan who paid for a ticket will feel like they’ve enjoyed one of the best matches at the Riverside in a long time, and for good reason – having endured a relative goal drought at home for so long, a wholly unexpected goal feast brings an equally unexpected level of excitement, colour and noise inside the ground, low attendance or not.

    Critical reflection of the game may tell you that “it was only Peterborough” and we were poor until Wing came on, and that we’ve probably played better and drawn, even lost. Nobody enjoying the moment will want to know that. Heck, even *I* didn’t want to know that Boro were “nowt special” when we beat Wolves 3-0 in the cup – all I saw were three well taken goals that could have been six, with three assists for… er… De Pena. Hmm.

    As Ian once said, goals and wins change everyone’s perception of a match. This is what managers needs to learn – players and fans need to be kept onside at all times. You need them more than they need you.

    It brings to mind a major weakness of AK that I really, really should have taken into account at the time – he tried to judge everything from his own perception of relativity, from the “improved” technical ability or pedigree of players alone, in isolation, in his little “manager’s bubble”.

    At first glance, having a La Masia graduate of a goalkeeper and a member of the Euro 2012 winning squad up front sounds like a great leap forward. But to praise their arrival too highly would be to ignore the benefit of synergy built up within the squad by their predecessors over time.

    Similarly, a 0-0 draw at home to, let’s pick Leeds in early 2014, may be satisfying to the manager because the team kept 55% of the ball and took a step forward in learning how to control games on the eventual way to winning them frequently. But “eventual” cuts no dice with those who paid for tickets.

    And… oh dear. The Swansea faux pas before Christmas 2016. Even if we didn’t control the game like the boss wanted us to, even if it was a terrible Swansea side, and even if, according to DiasBoro’s own match reporter, we weren’t great, consider how it feels to the fans to see the team take a 3-0 win home for Christmas when we’ve been starved of goals for so long. And for them to hear AK say that.

    It’s a trend. By nature, managers do not like high-scoring games*, because they recognise they’re the result of bad practice. I think they take more satisfaction from enriching and enlightening “tactical battles” against other big teams. Triumphs that they “mastermind”, or come close to “masterminding” with players that they believe in.

    Managers, and even captains (Roy Keane, 2000) have been known to demand more from home fans during the harder days and nights, when the team really needs a lift. The faux pas there is that while the outside observers may think, “they have a point”, while the paying customer will be more likely to think, “who are they to tell us what to do?”.

    The boss may not consider it fair. Especially if results, for the most part, back him up. (And that goes for Pulis, of course.) But life isn’t fair.

    1. The majority of managers can set up a team to avoid defeat but ultimately that means they will win relatively few unless they have good players to capitalise on a good defensive system and turn draws in to wins.

      Karanka is drawing too many games in the Championship, and it could only be a matter of time before Forest part company with him.

  168. True story.

    Carlo Ancelotti was summoned to Roman Abramovich’s house and given a dressing down after Chelsea gave a “poor performance” in their opening game of 2010-11 – a 6-0 home *win* against Di Matteo’s WBA.

    Odd is an understatement.

    And yet, despite Abramovich being unreasonable, the performance hadn’t been, according to football writer Michael Cox, particularly impressive. The BBC match report went further: “far from a complete performance by Chelsea… (they) seemed to be going through the motions before suddenly raising the tempo.”

    Goals, wins, or not, Abramovich was concerned about Chelsea’s style of play – they were “a predominantly physical side based around individual power rather than collective interplay” (Cox). It’s probable that Ancelotti’s failure to give Chelsea the identity that Abramovich wanted him to was the reason for his sacking, never mind the 1st and 2nd place finishes.

    This brings me onto Ancelotti’s No. 2, Paul Clement, and Derby’s reasons for sacking him after what many would deem no more than a little blip. Superficially, it did appear that Clement was hard done by, especially since Mel Morris had publicly promised not to dismiss him during the season full stop a matter of weeks before.

    But Morris’s intention had been to find a manager who would build a dynasty alongside him.

    And this means more than getting the right results, which I used to think would be more than good enough for anybody. It means guiding the playing side of the club from top to bottom based on principles outlined by the chairman or owner.

    Clement, like AK at Boro, didn’t have a track record when he came to Derby. Intelligent, but not experienced. And I would think he was similarly convinced that the possession-and-shape passing game in Spanish football would work with players more attuned to a more direct, pacy and physical style – and they would learn to accept it.

    Not so. As Mike Holdings said, re: AK, there’s only so many times you can strap English fans and players into a rigid Groundhog Day system before they go bonkers and start climbing the walls. Personally, I didn’t mind then – results are results are results, we’ve all got to lose sometime, and if we didn’t win we were usually one mistake at either end away from winning. (Although that ignored the bigger picture of the style of play leaving little margin for error, but that’s for another time.)

    But if the chairman feels he and the manager are no longer aligned – and that the manager is so insistent on doing things his way that he forgets about the needs of the club – then he may feel he has to act. So it was with Morris and Clement.

    So maybe it’s not just about wins, or even the size of the wins. Maybe it’s about a style of play that the chairman, fans and players can believe in. You know it works best when AKBoro from 2014 to January 2, 2016 and Ranieri’s Leicester from 2015-16 mostly, if not always, triumph through collective strength over individual ability.

    From 02/01/2016 to March 2017 in Boro’s case, and for most of 2016-17 in Leicester’s case, the teams were mainly relying on physicality and individual flair to get them out of trouble.

    The identity (which SmoggyInExile so beautifully illustrated once) was gone.

  169. Ken, if you have a spare minute, could you please check how much Steward Downing or Ben Gibson played during their first two season as first team players. In Downings case after he returned back from his loan at Sunderland and Ben back from Tranmere.

    I would like to hera how these minutes or matches compared to time given to Tav and Wing this season by TP.

    I don’t think they were played in every match in their youth. I think TP get’s much more critic than he deserves for playing the pair of Tav and Wing. I think the kids are usually introduced to the first team quite like TP in doing now.

    Up the Boro!

    1. Jarkko
      Stewart Downing made his debut for Boro aged 19 on the 24th April 2002 away to Ipswich Town. His home debut was as a substitute against Chelsea three days later, and then regained his place away to Leeds United on the 11th May in the final match of the season. The following season he made only three substitute appearances one of which was a League Cup match against Brentford.

      I’m afraid that’s where my appearance records finish, although I note that his first goal was in the opening match of the 2004/5 season at home to Newcastle United. That was the match when Jimmy Lloyd Hasselbaink scored a last minute equaliser with his hand that the referee obviously didn’t notice.

      Sorry I can’t help you about Ben Gibson suffice to say that his first goal for Boro was on the 1st October 2013 against Huddersfield Town.

      1. Nigel & OFB
        Yes, you’re both right. I did say though my list at 2.57pm yesterday wasn’t comprehensive. I bet there are a few more 5 goals in a half that I’ve missed, although I’d be surprised if there was another 7 in a half unless it was in Boro’s Northern League days.

  171. OFB, any idea or rumour of how much of Braithwaite reported £50,000 week, Leganes is actually paying. I read also that the Leganes manager has stated that in the loan contract there is no clause committing Leganes to buying him at the end of the loan, so we could still see Martin back at MFC in the summer.

    Come on BORO.

    1. Exmil

      I’d heard it was half his wages and yes you’re right he could be back in the summer but the club are working on that !

      Pity really
      I’ve met him a few times and he used to take his lad to Yarm on a Sunday to play football so I don’t know what went wrong really

      OFB

  173. Thanks for your “brighter” report Redcar, how much easier it must have been to write that up despite the poor-ish first half.

    Credit to TP for admitting he got the line up wrong, although I was pleased to see McNair starting in midfield, for the first time I believe?

    The line up was somewhat disjointed and I was surprised that VLP was hooked at HT, but in truth he looked slow and rather unfit. Hopefully he will be able to get game time to improve. Which will be the problem with any new players we bring in, even the fringe players cannot be as fit as the starting 11.

    Again without going overboard (it was only Posh as TP reminded us) but when Wing came on the dynamics of the game changed, although the two early goals obviously helped. Playing in the middle (10) he controlled the game with his forward passing and ball winning play.
    I was also pleased for Fletcher and thought he had a good game. With more game time and the confidence that comes with it, he could become an asset from the bench, or what about starting alongside Hugill?
    I also wish that Grant was 4 years younger, that would really push the team forward. It was nice to hear him on the radio being very complementary of Lewis.

    Exmil, it is difficult to find out what MB is earning, but the internet figure is around 30K, twice what he was on at Toulouse. That would seem probable. Britt of course is reported to be on 40K which would of increased to 60K on promotion.

    Whatever they are both on and with both on four year contacts, offloading them will not be easy. The initial fees paid and wages for two players not pulling up tree stumps are going to be impossible to recoup or even get anywhere near to. Both will be big write downs over the years? Neither are going to move anywhere for less wages, we would not?

    As we have discussed on here many, many times, one has to question the business acumen of these deals. All part of “wanting to smash the league” I just hope Mr Gibson has not put all his eggs in one basket?

    1. Pedro,

      It was only Peterborough but then it was only Burton a week or so before. You play what’s in front of you and sometimes in Boro’s case they don’t. I think at the next so-called ‘International Break’ Boro need to send the manager on a man management course.

      UTB,

      John

  174. To pick up on earlier comments Tav did have a poor game but then the same could be said for the entire team in that opening 45 minutes. The balance and understanding was alien to all of them and as a consequence they were as a unit and to a man totally dysfunctional. It was the footballing equivalent to going cold Turkey, from one isolated striker to three!

    TP recognised the same and changed it around and the difference between the two 45 minutes was night and day. What I have noticed in several games is that Wing and Tav seem to have a telepathic understanding of one another when playing together. Tav seems to know what runs to make and where and Wingy seems to be already playing the ball to him without a break or seconds delay in looking up. I would (probably incorrectly) use the term “Synchronicity” to describe the intuition between the pair.

    So while Tav didn’t have a great game, his one on one dribbles where undoubtedly poor by his own standards (and hopefully lessons learnt) I do feel there were several other mitigating circumstances. Footballers at whatever level can have the odd off day or half a game in Tav’s case. I seem to remember a certain Steven Gerrard against Chelsea having a bit of an aberration and overall his career overall didn’t go too bad albeit that was probably the costliest of costly errors.

    Tav up until now has had more consistently good games than poor or indeed even average (our points ratio when he is involved is testimony). Dael Fry has been hung out to dry by two successive Managers now in his fledgling career, it didn’t and doesn’t mean that we suddenly stopped believing in him.

    1. Good post RR and well put

      Whilst I agree he didn’t have the best of games o would still keep playing him as it is his position under threat from VDP who stated on Saturday that left wing is his favoured position

      OFB

      1. I don’t know if those that watched Saturday’s ‘Match of the Day’ where Connor Ripley made two outstanding saves for Accrington Stanley in their win over Ipswich Town heard Gabby Logan refer to him as ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’.

        Or indeed ‘Football Focus’ from Accrington where Dan Walker asked a young Stanley fan his forecast of the result, and the little lad without any hesitation said 1-0 to Stanley, Billy Kee to score. I must say he puts my Boro forecasts to shame.

    2. RR
      Not possible to put it better, and that is not an empty compliment.
      I find it disturbing that the views expressed by you so correctly, and I think held by the majority of our supporters should be effectively doubted by the very person who has already ushered out of the door one very good player.
      I have not had the pleasure of reading his current dissing of Wing, but it makes the blood run cold to have a person such as he in charge of the shop.
      The really great thing about Wing is his electric effect on those around him, I have watched a lot of football and to see from the first touch of the ball everybody was on song and in tune, the game flowed, the crowd relaxed, and everybody was having fun.
      Having said all that, why does it matter? I can only give my opinion, and it is that the development of at least three young players have been checked, delayed, and I think harmed by some of the worst examples of cod management that I have seen.
      There was no rational reason for anyone to field three (non scoring) strikers, together with a new boy who had not played for three months, who on earth was going to supply the service to them?
      He should not be allowed to skin out of it by blithely saying ” I made a mistake” .
      There was no mistake, he did it and it was not an isolated error, he is a serial offender.
      Witness the total failure to cash in on our incredible luck in having the services of Wing, Tav. and Fry, does he throw their names in the air before matches and pick the one that lands on its edge.
      Enjoyed the look at the young striker, could have been on from the off.
      The national media have not caught on to Wing yet, but they will, and when they see his special 25 yarder it will open a few eyes, what speed? Who knows?, no body was blaming the keeper, Wing hit it so well that he never moved.
      I hope that the management pay some attention to the situation, because we are an easy mark when it comes to the transfer market
      “”

  175. Redcar, I to have noticed the interplay between Wing and Tav. It just happens, no thought about it, just instinct.
    It seems to work between them two more than any of the other first teamers and their colleagues in red.

    1. I hope that Tony Pulis doesn’t send Ashley Fletcher out on loan. He’s just the type of striker we need. He did well at Barnsley and they would have had him back in a flash. I accepted that forwards and especially goalscorers need to be playing regularly, but whilst the lad is full of confidence at the moment he should at least be in the squad. Pulis has intimated that in the past he has been anonymous in training, but surely a good manager should be building up a player’s confidence. Maybe he’s a shy lad, but a good coach has to treat some players differently to encourage them. Not all respond to barking out orders from the touch line.

    1. GHW
      Please say it ain’t so, that is all we need, I must say it is enraging that we on this blog and the crowd spotted him at first glance, for the club to be asleep at the wheel, which we on here also warned them of, is not good enough.

  177. Just to add a bit of balance and so that this blog doesn’t appear to be a “bash the Boro Manager” site the first half of the Wolves/Liverpool FA Cup tie tonight was as bad if not worse than our first half against Peterborough!

    1. If Boro had been drawn away to Newport then a certainty, but the BBC usually go for matches where the lower league team are playing at home. Arsenal v Man Utd sure to be and I would think that A.F.C. Wimbledon v West Ham, Millwall v Everton, Barnet v Brighton, Accrington v Derby/Southampton might take preference.

  183. Boro have never met Newport County in a Cup match, but we did play them in season 1986/87 in the Third Division winning 2-0 at home with goals from Gary Gill and Archie Stephens, and 1-0 away with a late Tony Mowbray goal. Of course Boro were promoted that season whilst Newport County finished bottom and were relegated.

  184. Thanks for the report that put some meat on the bones I heard on the Tees commentary.

    So Newport at home which is as good a draw as you would want if we are to progress in the worlds oldest competition. Small matter of Brum away and Millwall at home before that so hopefully Pulis has their minds focused on the league for the next couple of weeks.

      1. Dominic Shaw is reporting today on Knudsen that “Teesside Live understands he’s not currently on Tony Pulis’s radar”.

        I guess that means he will be signing in the morning!

      3. OFB

        I always had a hunch that Marvelous Marvin may have been better used as a Left Full Back with some attacking ability rather than as an out and out Winger.

    3. Like many others of my age group I was aware of the Turin Air Disaster and the loss of a whole football team and the fact that they had an English coach, but that’s as far as it went, not knowing the full story when I glanced at the headlines in the Daily Mirror at that time. Fascinating though to read it in its full context. I was in Singapore at the time of the Munich Air Disaster so only got news of that in the Straits Times and newsreels at the Astra Cinema where only passing reference was made about the Turin disaster some nine years earlier.

      I heard reference a few days ago about how many Country and Western singers such as Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, Patsy Kline, etc lost their lives in internal flights in the USA and how much safer Air Travel had become since. Mmm! Think I’ll pass on that one though. Anyway thanks Pedro de Espana for filling me with the details.

  188. Ah! Tammy Abraham, now there’s a thought.
    As stated on here many times, the loan system is corrupt, is becoming more corrupt, and is, of course being gamed by the very corrupt elite clubs with their massive squads of young players, it was always going to happen, these clubs quite often owned by people who get very uncomfortable when near a policeman, really have got the game by the short and curlies.
    Being not content with loaning out their many young players to clubs from all round the world, for money (plenty of it) they have started to loan out the very best to clubs they would like to see promoted (for a lot of money).
    I see that they have developed a refinement on this scheme, and poor Tammy is the first to feel the weight of it. It goes like this, first half of season young gun merrily scores goals for fun in promotion chasing team.
    Then, his owners have a change of plan, they decide to withdraw him , with immediate effect, from hapless promotion chasers, and loan him out to premier team with delusions of grandeur( that would be a chance to maybe finish sixth) for the second half of the season.
    Quite why those who run this bedraggled version of a once great sport, are allowing this to go on, is very difficult to see.
    They surely know in their hearts that it is everything that sport is not, they surely know that to end it with brutal quickness would restore their control over these chancers (and worse) because these hundreds of young players would tumble down into the arms of all those teams below them in the pecking order, and it would be quick.

    1. I don’t go along with the theory that clubs lend players to clubs they would prefer to see promoted. In the late 1940s and early 1950s I used to hear rumours that certain clubs would prefer to give a hand and lose matches to local rivals who were threatened with relegation to save on travelling costs in the following season. I didn’t believe those rumours either at the time.

      However, Boro were involved in a bribery scandal in 1911 following a match with Sunderland where Boro’s manager Andy Walker and chairman Lt.Col.Thomas Gibson-Poole who happened to be the town’s mayor at the time and was determined to become elected as Conservative MP for the town in the forthcoming General Election. Apparently voting took place a couple of days after the match and a win for Boro over the Mackems was perceived to enhance his chances of being elected over the Liberal candidate. It was rumoured that he offered the Sunderland captain £10 and the other members of the team £2 each to ‘throw’ the match. The Sunderland captain reported the bribe to the trainer who then reported the bribe to Fred Taylor the Sunderland chairman who then reported it to the FA who accepted that the bribe had been made. The bribe was academic as Boro won 1-0 and Gibson-Poole was soundly beaten at the polls. The outcome of the FA enquiry was that both Boro’s chairman and manager received lifetime bans.

      There was also some shenanigans involving London clubs on the resumption of football following the end of the First World War. The Football League decided to increase the number of clubs from 20 to 22 so the two clubs finishing in the bottom two places in the final season before hostilities commenced were to be reprieved and two clubs from the Second Division would be promoted. The bottom two clubs were Chelsea and Spurs and the two promoted clubs were Derby and Preston. However, the FL in their wisdom decided to relegate Spurs and promote Arsenal who had finished 6th instead. Is it any wonder then that Spurs fans intensely hate the Gunners!

    1. Emil
      Yes, because he has realised that if there are any snags in the deal, he will be stranded, and unable to play in any form of football for the rest of this season.
      His owners and Wolves are frantically trying to talk their way out of the situation. Which means of course, that it is not dead yet( watch this space)
      These are grubby times we live in.

  191. Boro keeper Connor Ripley is poised to sign for Championship rivals Preston North End later today.
    The in-demand shot-stopper has spent several successful loan spells away from Teesside – latest at Accrington.

    I think this is a good move for the 25-year-old. At his age, he needs to be playing now. He still has two years left of his contract at Boro but I wish him all the luck at Deepdale.

    Up the Boro!

  192. So the January rumours have begun and Boro are preparing to shuffle their pack in preparation of getting match-fit for purpose in their bid for another promotion challenge. Will Tony Pulis get his men or has Steve Gibson confiscated his credit card?

    I’ve managed to take a little time out from database programming and studying for German citizenship to bring you my take on matters with this week’s discussion blog…

    https://diasboro.club/2019/01/09/2018-19-week-24-gibson-and-pulis-put-heads-together/

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