Championship 2018-19: Week 40
Sun 5 May – 12:30: Rotherham v Boro
As Boro supporters once again steel themselves to postpone their return to the Utopian uplands of the Premier League, they still await news from their noble defender of the faith on whether he’s contemplating yet another divorce after what appears a fruitless union with his latest consort. More will not be welcomed on Teesside should the supreme governor decide to subject them to another season of what has gone before. However, Gibson it seems is keeping his own counsel as he strolls regally through the manicured grounds of Rockliffe Hall in deep conversation with his chief courtier and trusted Welsh confident. Despite the position of the Boro manager now appearing close to untenable for many, he’s still apparently of the mind that his business at the club remains unfinished – though after an underwhelming campaign, few now even regard him as the man for next season, let alone all seasons.
As matters of the state weigh heavy on the shoulders of the divine ruler, he must soon decide whether to stay loyal to his close aide as his subjects openly demand his head. While the pious Pulis may still retain the backing of his master, it’s not been echoed in the wider court of public opinion after he made the cardinal sin of failing to deliver a change in fortunes. After the dissolution of the previous regime and the banishment of the lavish Monk, the coffers are still much diminished and the promises of reaching new riches under the austere hand of his successor have once again failed to materialise.
Parallels between Henry VIII’s councillor, Sir Thomas More, and a Boro manager that has probably led to quite a few supporters seeking counselling this season, are hard to find. While More was the author of the highly influential book Utopia, Pulis is perhaps merely the author of his own downfall – although, if you said that the faithful on Teesside would regard the vision offered by the Boro manager as anything resembling Utopia, it would possibly be regarded as a bigger work of fiction than the original.
Incidentally, the name Utopia was actually a Greek pun that derived from the words ou-topos (no place) and eu-topos (good place) – which perhaps quite aptly describe the mythical land of the Premier League. Although, some Greek scholars who regularly attend Boro press conferences have argued that Pulis could possibly have been based on one of the book’s characters, Raphael Hythlodaeus, whose surname we are reliably informed translates as “peddler of nonsense”.
Of course, peddling nonsense is not necessarily a handicap in the footballing world – indeed it’s been the staple of many a manager over the years and it’s this cliché punctuated prose that is normally the favoured method of communication. However, for those who claim to say it as they see it, stepping into the world of spin and offering half-truths will ultimately only undermine their wider message. OK, not everything that Pulis espouses is completely wide of the mark but it’s often the desire to create a somewhat skewed narrative that has led to some questioning his overall sincerity.
We saw another example of this last week as Pulis once again overplayed the club’s spending before he arrived by quoting the headline figure of £55m spent rather than also mentioning the nearly £48m that was raised in sales. The Boro manager has tried to portray himself as almost a hard-up Tony Mowbray figure who has needed to manage on very tight budget and seems to indicate the club have needlessly overstretched – although he may well be right with that latter statement. Pulis declared: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat and this club has to understand and recognise there are different ways of doing stuff. But you have to be patient if you’re going to do it that way. We’re still on the back foot and still catering for a lot of players who came in.
While those who have watched Boro at the Riverside this season will no doubt agree about still being on the back foot, many will have observed that most of his pedestrian players have looked incapable of skinning a defender, let alone a cat. Although, the call for patience is unlikely to be received with much enthusiasm after most on the terraces believe theirs has been more than tested this season.
Indeed, if the season was in search of a metaphor to describe Tony Pulis’s tenure, it was duly delivered in the last home game against Reading when an over-inflated dinosaur drifted slowly across the Riverside pitch. Perhaps it was attempting to emulate much of the tumbleweed that had passed in eerie silence before it, which had often became the scourge of the groundsmen at half-time. Still, the ineffective and some might say overblown dinosaur was then duly stamped on and burst by an opposition player – providing two metaphors for the price of one as a dinosaur that had offered little threat was left permanently deflated. While one or two may have been upset to see the demise of the impromptu entertainment, there were few signs of an extinction rebellion emerging on Teesside.
Pulis resorted to his own favourite metaphor about his chairman last week as he sought to back him over over his latest “dog with a bone” moment following his stance against the EFL for not appearing to enforce their profitability and sustainability rules – you may recall Tony had previously taken on the role of the bone after the Boro top dog tried to persuade him to join the club. The Boro manager claimed in his press conference that Boro were forced to sell key players Adama Traore and Ben Gibson last summer in order keep them within those rules. However, there can’t be many who are by now not aware that the club were powerless to stop Adama being sold after the £18m release clause was met by Wolves – indeed Pulis even announced at the time that the club had offered the player an improved contract to try and persuade him to stay.
In addition, it was widely accepted that Ben Gibson would be allowed to leave last summer if Boro’s £15m valuation was met in order for him to further his career and play Premier League football – the transfer was never touted at the time as being required to balance the books. In fact, with MFC having made an £18m profit over the previous two seasons and with them theoretically being allowed to post a £61m three-year loss this season, there was never any chance the club were in danger of not complying with the rules.
OK, without promotion this term, the club will have needed to sell players this summer as the parachute payments ended but there is little evidence to suggest that there was an actual need to raise cash last summer – the truth is Adama had a release clause and Ben’s sale was good business as his value would probably have declined with another indifferent season in the Championship. The key to the transfer market for those with a limited budget is simply to maximise the profits and minimise the losses – although, you could be forgiven for thinking the reverse was true sometimes!
Indeed, the world of football has now become primarily about money and how to chase it while trying to avoid losing too much of it in the process. Perhaps the sentiments expressed in this quote from Robert Bolt’s play and film of A Man for All Seasons could quite easily also describe the game’s lost purpose and excesses:
If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we’d live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all… why then perhaps we must stand fast a little – even at the risk of being heroes.
Talking of risking becoming a hero, after Lewis Wing’s unexpected return to the Boro midfield saw him score a goal, hit the post and generally trouble the opposition defence, Tony Pulis declared “He’s been the find of the season” – by which he presumably meant that he’d misplaced the influential playmaker for nearly four months before suddenly reclaiming him at the Rockliffe lost property desk after he was handed in. The Boro manager could barely even find a place on the bench for “Wingy” when his mono-paced midfield was struggling to score goals and create chances for the last three months of 2018 – in fact Pulis was often dismissive of supporters who pressed for his inclusion as he insisted he still needed to learn the game.
Still, thanks to that Wing-inspired win over Reading, Tony Pulis’s team at least have an outside chance of finishing in sixth place – though all eyes on Teesside will be glancing nervously towards Swansea on Wednesday to see if they answer Boro’s Mayday call and come to our rescue. However, should Frank Lampard’s Derby County win in South Wales it will make the trip to newly relegated Rotherham on Sunday an even less happy place to be than a coulrophobia junior convention at a McDonald’s restaurant that’s run out of Happy Meals while hosting a Ronald McDonald lookalike contest. Fortunately, any Boro supporters previously suffering from a fear of clowns will have had their condition cured by many years of aversion therapy at the Riverside while being subjected to Pigbag at full volume on the PA.
With luck, the season will head to the final day with something to play for and the hope that a win at Rotherham will be enough. It will depend on how keen Tony’s old club West Brom are to do him a favour and try to edge Leeds out of third place – though surely even the faltering Mighty Whites can’t lose at home to Ipswich. Of course, Boro may be rueing the dropped points in that 0-0 draw against Rotherham in the Riverside reverse fixture – along with many others no doubt.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine that Boro have been looking like a promotion side since those heady days in August that blinded us with that bright unbeaten start. It doesn’t feel like Tony Pulis has progressed the team into a side that’s ready for the next level – it’s barely coping at the current Championship level. Indeed, few of the current team have developed into players that look in any way capable of being able to cut it in the Premier League. Contrast that with a Cardiff side, who competed well against Liverpool last week, when they fielded nine players that had played for the club in the Championship last season.
Pulis has stated this week that Boro as a club need to do things properly if they are to become an established top tier side again – his argument is: “Clubs are going to get promoted and struggle in the Premier League, unless it’s done properly. So you’re chasing to get there, you get there, you get relegated, you’ve got this massive bill, then you chase it again because you’ve got parachute money then you get deeper and deeper in trouble. You look at how many clubs have done that in the last ten years, it’s ridiculous.”
OK, that’s pretty much a logical commentary on the pitfalls of promotion but is there any real substance or plan to avoid making that happen? Pulis followed up that analysis with: “You’ve got to have strength of character and understanding to know where the club is going. And you’ve got to be honest and open and say this is how we’re doing it. But you’ll be stronger at the end of it and break the mould of ‘I want it, why can’t I have it? Why can’t it be done?”
Why indeed! But unfortunately it all sounds like typical management consultant talk that appears profound on the surface without actually saying anything other than there has to be a better way of doing things. The only solution Pulis is suggestion appears that Boro need to find a plan and stick to it, which essentially involves unearthing better cheaper players and having a method of playing that is more effective. Basically, it’s a promise to deliver alchemy to Steve Gibson if he’s given enough time and patience to make it work.
If you were being kind, you would say it’s almost the naïve optimism of a younger manager – if you weren’t, you would fear they were just the empty promises of an old Charlatan. No doubt Tony Pulis will point to what he built at Stoke but the football landscape is being altered every year by the arrival of richer owners and increased TV money. Plus the tactical side of football has developed to the point that the successful teams are not the ones that predominantly try to shut out the opposition but are those who are creative and score goals. Pulis is perhaps not the progressive manager with the new ideas that Boro need at this moment who can make his team play without fear. A fact bourne out by the touchline microphone used by the TV company that screened the Reading game – all that could be heard was Tony Pulis barking out basic micro-management instructions to every Boro player for the full 94 minutes from his technical area.
Ideally, in our own vision of footballing Utopia, the philosophy of being a supporter should pretty much mirror life itself – in that it should really be all about the journey and not necessarily the destination. If it is indeed about the football, then we should only try to enjoy the journey and not over focus on reaching an end – or at least be given an opportunity to enjoy that journey. Many Boro supporters have regarded this season as one of the worst they’ve endured, which given the club have been in the top six for nearly all of it must raise a fundamental issue of why that is the perception.
The problem it seems comes when those leading the way appear to care little for the pleasure they provide along that path. OK, successful football that is pleasing to the eye is not easy to achieve but to not want to aspire to that is often what makes supporters long for the journey to end. Sadly, ambition for most clubs in some ways ends when they make it to the inequitable Premier League as the aim thereafter is simply to avoid failure and relegation. Perhaps the prize on offer has just distracted everyone from what football was meant to be about.
Werder,
A fine closing of the season article but somehow I see Mr P as Thomas Cromwell in this saga and we all know what happened to him. He was, literally, axed.
Either way that’s a season just about out of the way and I for one do not want another season of Mr P improving things worse.
On another note many thanks to you, Redcar Red, Ken, Simon and OFB and everyone else who posts and makes this blog a pleasure to read.
UTB,
John
Thanks John, Pulis may well be more Cromwell than More, though it seems everyone lost their head eventually in those days!
Thanks Werder for another great article. Superb writing as always and a great pleasure to read. A Man for all Seasons won the Oscar for best film in…….1966. You should win a Dias Boro oscar for your writing along with RR for his fabulous honest and tell it like it is reports. This blog makes the Gazette more like the Beano.
Many thanks Braveheart – though the only statues I’ll be seeing this season are at Boro set pieces…
Thanks Werder for another enjoyable read. I wish I had some of your imagination rather than my dull mind.
I am assuming we will not make the playoffs so I have worked out my season’s spending. I travelled over to 16 league and 6 cup “home” matches. The cost was £391 (1/3 of 3 year season ticket) plus £1609.06 for rail, hotels and meals/drinks making a total of £2000.06. I knew I shouldn’t have spent that 6p. (It would have cost a lot more but I stayed at my sister’s home for 6 matches.) Was it worth it? No!
Unless there is a miraculous improvement in our play next season I will just pick and choose which games I go to next season. I can now enjoy the 3 months off for good behaviour though looking out for the fixture release on 20 June.
Thanks David and you can probably imagine what that two grand could have bought instead 🙂
David, 20 June ? is that when the Premiership fixtures are announced.
Come on BORO.
20th June at 9am! So it says on the EFL site. Exciting!
(It is just possible that we will instead have to look for the Premier League fixtures but I could cope with that.)
Here’s hoping that Frank Lampard sends his charges out at Swansea absolutely terrified. Desperately defending for their lives as underdogs, bereft of all belief and without a hope while doing his best not to win the game.
If he does manage to emulate TP down there then who knows what will happen on Sunday we may even beat Rotherham 10-0 with Gestede and Hugill both getting hat tricks and Play Offs here we come! There again we may draw 0-0 as we did at the Riverside in what was a pretty uninspiring game with little drive, intent or determination but hey, we kept a clean sheet!
Good job Bolton v Brentford is not involved in the Exmil Challenge, otherwise I might have had a word with the EFL to let them play on Wednesday lol.
Come on BORO.
You’ve got to feel sorry for Bolton fans as their future seems to hang on the Football League allowing former Watford owner Laurence Bassini to buy the club.
Bassini has a chequered past and changed his name from Bazini after being made bankrupt in 2007. He eventually sold Watford to the son of the owner of Udinese and Granada. However, it was later announced that he still owed Watford £1.5 million for ‘cash advances’ that was unlikely to be repaid.
Then in in March 2013 an independent disciplinary commission found Bassini guilty of misconduct and dishonesty over financial dealings on behalf of Watford and banned him from being involved in a position of authority with any Football League club for three years. The commission found he had been “dishonest in his dealings with the league and with his fellow directors” and “practised secrecy and deception.”
He’s now said he’ll pull out of the deal for Bolton if the EFL insist on further investigation of his bid – if I was a Bolton fan I’d say no thank you as what exactly are his motives for wanting to save the club?
RR
Great as usual many Thanks 🙏
I just hope it’s not the last one of the season
OFB
Of course not OFB there is still Rotherham on Sunday where I’m looking forward to an electrifying all out Boro goal fest performance 🙂
RR
Just hoping we get to the playoffs then Wembley then promotion then Premiership !
Come and join me in the sun in the EAst Stand Lower and we can have a moan together !
OFB
Maybe I can circumnavigate Sunday by saying that Rotherham will go down to ten men in the first half. Britt will score the resultant penalty to put us 1-0 up and we then defend the single goal lead camped in our own 18 yard box for the remaining 10 minutes of the first half.
We will then drop even deeper into our own 6 yard box for the remaining 45 minutes of the second half as we hear that Derby are getting beat by the Baggies (after losing to Swansea). Tav will come on with Stewy to provide an outlet to our own penalty spot easing the pressure on the 6 yard box defence with 5 minutes of normal time remaining. We then concede two late goals in the 87th and 91st minute to stay in 7th on GD. TP will say we were unlucky and blame:
a) Injuries
b) Missed opportunities
c) Ref
d) Ref’s assistant
e) Recruitment
f) Coach Driver
g) Britt
h) Timing with Rotherham having nothing to lose so having a go on the final day
Not necessarily in that order and I’m sure there are a lot more to add but happy (in fact delighted) to be proved wrong.
I think you can guarantee that if we are out of the equation after Swansea lose to Derby, that Boro will put in their most entertaining performance of the season and bag a whole barrowful of goals !!
Qui tacet consentire videtur
Sacre Bleu!
Mangetout 🙂
About the FLSCFC match tomorrow. It was written thst Swansea are also unbeaten at home in the league in 2019 so that’s a record they’ll be aiming to keep intact.
What can possibly go wrong for us? Up the Boro!
Just reading a few Baggies articles as I was looking to see if they had any injury concerns etc. or what type of side they would likely put out against Derby i.e. conserve energy or try and go for third spot (unlikely with Leeds playing Ipswich) etc. and came across this historical outburst:
“I am sick to death of watching Salomon Rondon completely isolated upfront, I’m sick of our wingers playing like wing-backs and I’m sick of the unambitious boring football that Baggies fans have had to sit through for two-and-a-half years.”
Sounds like ground-hog day but at least they had wing-backs to salivate over!
My point is that should SG have been silly enough to award TP even more time then the chances of me sitting in the East or North Stand next season are zero. I would rather buy a seat at the local Guild Hall to watch Marske Ladies in the North Yorkshire Macrame Championship semi finals. You can’t beat a bit of excitement and the controversy of a dropped stitch over watching a Tony Pulis footballing side.
RR,
When do the Macrame fixtures come out? There’ll be a clash of styles too. Pure Merino or a wool cotton mix.
I need a drink. As always.
UTB,
John
Those quotes highlight what has always been my problem with Pulis – he seems to claim the failure to score goals is somehow not his fault but is it just coincidence that he had the same problems at other clubs?
In truth, watching the Reading game and hearing the touchline microphone provide a running commentary of his constant barking of basic instructions of what each player should do or where they should be standing was embarrassing – he sounded more like an overpowering father screaming at his ten year-old at a school game than a serious manager. It’s the manic behaviour of a control freak who doesn’t even trust his players to kick a ball – I’m surprised it doesn’t drive them completely mad.
Plus, I read today that he thought Dael Fry had been one of the two standout players this season (along with Randolph) – which is fair enough but he qualified that praise with “I don’t want to give Dael too much credit because there’s still a lot more to come. But he’s come on. He’s has his games where he’s not been brilliant, of course, but for a kid he’s been smashing.” – well if that’s what a standout player gets in the way of faint praise then god help the rest of them.
I just hope Steve Gibson still doesn’t buy into him any more and thinks his penchant for stating the bleeding obvious are not remotely confused with those of a wise man. He just reminds me of what it would be like to get stuck in an empty pub sitting on bar stool next to a black cab driver on his day off.
At the risk of sounding like a ranting man who has been worn down by a season of underwhelming predictability, is this really the man to inspire the club, the players and supporters to greater things? To be honest I can barely listen to another word he says as I’m beginning to think he shares a distant relative with Donald Trump. He definitely will not make Boro great again!
WTH?
One up front and wing backs are commonly applied tactics at top clubs.
In the east stand next season
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9Vzb6R_58
Boro East Lower Block 40 Row 8 Seats 156 157
Glad to see you changed your mind and renewed your season tickets.
Come on BORO.
Werder that was one of your best to bring the season to a close with a well earned rest.
As a lover of history I appreciated the inclusion of the Tudor reign. At the moment a I am reading Con Iggulden’s, War of the Roses and can see the resemblance between Henry VI, Edward IV and Warwick the “Kingmaker” and Monk, Pulis and Mr Gibson.
Who will ascent the throne next season is the question?
Many thanks Pedro and perhaps football is still one of the last bastions of the quest for power and glory – the clash of egos and the sight of crest-fallen dreams ending in failure and the chance for glory for those who hold their nerve. As to who will be on the throne next season? I suspect it may be a game of musical chairs if Steve Gibson gets it wrong in the summer.
Pedro
Dont tempt fate, I have the Rams down to draw at Swansea and at home to the Baggies and us to win at Rotherham in the Exmil challenge.
It could may well happen.
Sorry, it could well happen.
Werdermouth
Another masterpiece to end??? the season. I’m also a lover of history (not only Boro history) but mainly the two World Wars having lived through one of them. But you never cease to amaze me about your knowledge of some history I’d forgotten, and some I’ve never even heard of. Maybe I should have been more attentive at school instead of gleaning so much information of the Boro.
One thing comes to mind though about the saying of ‘moving the goalposts’. Why hasn’t Tony Pulis considered that as we might have won some more matches at home and saved all this living on tenterhooks. I’ve lost count of the number of times our strikers have hit the post this season. Perhaps more realistically though we maybe should have adhered to another saying of ‘raising the bar’ as a fair percentage of our shots would have made good conversions in my other sporting passion of Rugby League.
I still think Boro will reach the playoffs, and Leeds would be my preferred opponents in the Semifinals. Another saying of course is that ‘it’s never over till the fat lady sings’, but despite my loving of opera I can’t recall that having a bearing of many Boro matches, but you never know!!!
Many thanks Ken and there’s always a lesson to learn from history and indeed we all can keep learning as we grow older. I think I was in my mid-twenties when I read a borrowed Penguin Classic of Utopia – it’s amazing that it was written over 500 years ago. Perhaps it’s the human desire to make sense of things that has made us question everything from existence to more mundane matters of football. We improve by wanting to do things better and that’s what possibly drives many a football manager to the edges of madness. I suspect even Tony Pulis may think he will find the answers to the problems one day – though we may not believe they were to the right questions…
Pulis has all the right answers but not necessarily in the right order !
OFB
Its all so easy, 92 clubs do it every year.
ofb, reference your post at 2:03pm, where in the East Lower have you got your season tickets block, row etc as I am in East Upper.
Come on BORO.
You will look down on him whilst he looks up to you to coin a well known sketch! 😎😂
My feet hurt !
I know my place.
Come on BORO.
Boro East Lower Block 40 Row 8 Seats 156 157
Thanks Werder for a right royal belter to finish with. I say finish with as I am still not convinced we will make the play offs.
I expect in typical Boro fashion that results will pan out that we are edged into 7th place on goal difference!
Currently in UK on south coast visiting relatives prior to Mrs P’s appointment with consultant in Spain in mid May to learn of treatment plan/timescales.
By some fluke we will be back in Spain in time to watch what I believe will be our final match of the 2018/19 season! A forgettable season if ever there was one. 😎
Thanks KP, as it stands 6th place is out of our hands and we are hoping Derby continue their tradition of messing up their promotion chances at the death – the season could be over by 10pm today. Finally, good luck to Mrs P with her op and treatment!
Werder
I know it seems harsh but my instinct is that we will be in the play offs. Nothing about foam fumes more about the frailties elsewhere.
My first default position is that we lose out on goal difference.
My other default is that Sunday is a waste of a day.
Luckily, I have fitted a comfy seat on the fence.
Currently I am watching Spurs getting a lesson from Ajax, Bristol drawing at the Den.
If it’s a high fence then at least you get a better view 🙂
Ian, I am watching the Ajax match, too. And Bristol City are 0-1 down at Millwall with now 68 min played. Good result for Boro
Up the Boro!
Just adding my praise to Werder for what I think is possibly the best written of all the leaders this season. A bit of the wine from Cana methinks.
The worry is that with his man for all seasons, maestro Gibson wasn’t listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to give him some inspiration.
Many thanks Powmill, although I’ve probably watered down some of my whining on what has been a missed opportunity this season in an essentially weak Championship.
Incidentally, you may be interested to know that you can actually buy Cana wine online and here is their marketing line that made my laugh for the sheer audacity…
We create Cana wines as the modern embodiment of the first miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John. You must take the opportunity to savor this drink and lose yourself in the spirit of Galilee. The curation process is completely run by Christian families in Cana as an effort to keep the entire process completely authentic.
“Unbelievable Jeff” to quote our very own Chris Kamara. Actually some questionable marketing in there to put to the advertising standards people. It was a Jewish wedding at Cana after all, and even the most celebrated guest who made the wine was himself Jewish. So, to claim authenticity on the grounds the current crop of vintners being Christians is a little dodgy.
City winning but Derby at the Swans more important. Going in tom the last day with a chance is important
In reality the Bristol result is irrelevant to us unless we are bothered about finishing 7th or 8th.
Watching Ajax tonight was a treat to behold, all that pace, movement and skill not to mention entertainment. If ever there was a reason not to renew under TP then tonight was the perfect prescription. Growing up I idolised George Best and Jimmy Johnstone and after 1970 Jairzinho. They collectively were primarily the reason I fell in love with football but more importantly tonight watching Ajax was the sanity check I needed after this miserable season of the footballing equivalent of Temperance!
There is a tenuous link between Celtic and Ajax from the early seventies and the European Cup hence my reminiscing about Jimmy Johnstone. I was fortunate enough to meet Jinky on several occasions long after his career had ended. I was trying to set up some business deals in Glasgow to help with his income at the time (which didn’t come off unfortunately), sadly Jinky was then struggling badly with MND. I will never forget the Cheese and Beetroot sandwiches his wife Agnes made for me one afternoon when she found out I was driving a fair distance to meet with him at home and she was worried that I wouldn’t have time for lunch (which I hadn’t and was absolutely starving to be fair).
At the time I hated and detested Beetroot but ate them with the dignity and respect the man deserved without wanting to cause offence. Now I have them regularly and enjoy them, I have to admit to being wrong about Beetroot but its unlikely I would ever have given it a chance were it not for the circumstances. When I do make them it always reminds me of one of the trickiest and most skilful players I ever had the pleasure to watch even though it was mostly on black and white newsreels.
Just checked and I still have his number in my phone (despite several upgrades since) never having the desire to delete it in a sentimental sense of honour and respect. I would buy ten Boro Season Cards today if there was even the remotest chance of watching players with 50% of his skill and with a Manager that wouldn’t have him back defending although at 5ft 4″ not much chance of that under TP. Besides Jinky would have had a contra opinion anyway and not be backwards in expressing it.
Like George Best, Jimmy had his off field demons and struggled to regain that Celtic swagger of old but to bring it back round to the present day he did have a very brief but decent stint at Sheffield United after leaving Parkhead. I’m sure he would have been delighted to see them promoted this weekend playing football the way it was intended.
Nice one, RR.
BTW, I was always Jairzinho when we played football at my parents’ house. Me and my two brothers in the 1970’s. Just his name brings a smile to me now.
Up the Boro!
Werder, in a season of interminable dross on the field of play your articles have been a ray of sunshine that have brightened the weeks for me and all the contributors to this outstanding forum. Every one of your pieces has been terrific and this week’s is the best yet.
So thanks for all your efforts in stimulating debate about everything Boro and keeping us royally entertained in the process. Please keep up the good work next season and let’s hope that changes are made at the club such that the atmosphere against which your articles are set is much more positive than it has been this season.
Thanks Boroexile that’s very much appreciated and thanks to everyone for taking the time to offer their support for the articles over the season.
It’s actually been hard to find time to write them in recent weeks as my to-do list never seems to get shorter – I’m currently in the middle of some major gardening projects and writing the latest article was thanks to it raining all day Monday – though I amused myself producing the header graphic on Sunday by parodying ‘A man for all seasons’ promotional photo and dropping in a background of Rockliffe Hall.
Let’s hope there is a still a twist in the season to rescue what has been a disappointing ending by Boro given the platform at the start.
Hear hear!
Paddy looks likely to be suspended with El Ghazi’s red card being rescinded and Paddy being charged by the FA.
He should be automatically given the three game ban the Villa player would have received.
Much though i enjoyed Bamford’s skill as a Boro player, I do feel that simulation is the single biggest problem facing football and so must applaud this action by the FA.
Thanks to Werdermouth for another splendid article. You are the cement that provides the foundation for this community and your constant raising of the tome sets the standard to which we can all aspire. In turn that gives us the ability to disagree without obvious rancour which is what sets this blog apart from so much else that one reads these days.
I can’t separate my ‘belief in Derby drawing twice from pure wishful thinking and so am just waiting for events to play themselves out. I can only say that, despite the disappointments of the season, I still hope for the best until it’s no longer possible and I’m sure that everyone’s else on here would say the same, despite their issues with much of what has happened this year.
It’s a fascinating time of year and pressure makes fools out of the best sides. If anyone is following League One, I defy them to have picked both Sunderland and Portsmouth losing last night and handing promotion to Luton and Barnsley.
Regarding TP, i have been a stalwart supporter of him for much of this year and rather than question his sincerity, I have now moved to a stance of questioning his ability to coach a team to play the attacking football that is both wanted by the supporters and the way that almost successful teams are playing. I’m not arguing against strong defending but modern coaching seems to have found the way to defeat defensive sides and so one must look to play in the modern idiom and that needs pace and adventure.
Fingers crossed for all of us for tonight. A draw seems quite feasible and that will remove all concerns about goal difference from the final day calculations.
UTB
Nice post selwynoz
Many thanks Selwynoz – and I shall endeavour to browse through my virtual library to decide on which weighty tome to raise 😉
Also the whole season seems to hang on today’s game between Swansea and Derby though in truth Boro have blown a great opportunity this season. I’d probably agree that Tony Pulis has shown that his limited approach to footballing tactics has meant the lack of goals will most likely prove decisive – though it was never a secret that this is what we’d get with him and it can be no surprise to Steve Gibson either. I find him an odd choice by the chairman given his desire to move towards a more progressive style of football just five months earlier when Monk was appointed.
My problem with Pulis’s press conference ramblings is that they just don’t stand up to close scrutiny – but perhaps he’s not alone in that respect as Karanka and even McClaren were just as bad in wanting to spin some narrative and it’s quite typical of managers. I’ll admit that having to explain yourself in front of the media before and after games can’t be particularly pleasant but anyone who’s self aware must realise that their words will be scrutinised and studied so it’s better to just keep it straight and perhaps a little boring.
Anyway, let’s hope Swansea display similar enthusiasm to win this evening as they did against us!
I’m not so sure that it was Swansea’s enthusiasm that done for us but rather our lack of any enthusiasm which raised its head again at Forest. For me its not the losing, its almost impossible to go through a season unbeaten but its the manner of our losing. Lets hope Derby fall apart again and that the Swans are still playing for pride.
Typo. Tone rather than tome although the image of you ‘raising the tome’ fits rather well. What tome would it be?
Great post Selwynoz I enjoyed that
OFB
Watched a few old videos about Jairzinho as my memories from the 1970’s are not that clear anymore other than he was my hero.
He reminded me of Traore. Both were great right wingers. Hope the latter will still once return to Boro if we ever get promoted.
Up the Boro!
Jairzinho had an end product, Adama unfortunately was like a comedian without a punch line at the end of the joke. Sat in anticipation, waiting for the side splitting laugh that never comes.
We had an £18M punchline, with the laugh being on Wolves.
I’ve been pretty clear(er than Teresa May, I hope!) on my feelings about this TP managed Boro, both here and in the pages of FMTTM, so I would just like to use this space to congratulate you once again on a magnificent effort of writing, and for all the comments. How you make this so consistently entertaining, with that sprinkling of absurdist Teesside humour (which I miss more often than I like to admit), is beyond me, but it’s always worth a read, and a sly chuckle.
PS. I hope in using the word ‘magnificent’ that I haven’t been outed as Steve McClaren in disguise.
Mike
Great post we’re lucky to have Werder Redcar Red and Si and other major contributors on this blog and we never play the man.
OFB
Thanks Mike, just like Schteve it’s in our Teesside blood to strive for total writing – plus there’s nothing wrong in trying to reclaim magnificent!
Is “quality” now in free circulation again after Robbo?
Here I go again being nostalgic about my youth, but it’s something we octogenarians tend to do. I remember collecting cigarette cards in my youth, mainly footballers, but there was great competition at the time especially between Will’s the manufacturer of Capstan cigarettes and Player’s the manufacturers of Player’s cigarettes from locomotives, cars and flags to sporting heroes such as cricketers, speedway stars to footballers. It was very rare for anyone to collect a full set of the 50 cards, and I never did, but eventually bought a set duly framed in an antique shop in Howarth some 20 years ago. It did include one ex-Boro player, namely Bobby Baxter who was before my time.
Anyway when I started collecting cards as a schoolboy, one of the supposed stars was Wally Ardron who played for Rotherham United before and after the war. He scored 98 goals for the Millers before being transferred to Nottingham Forest. This information was usually written on the reverse of the card. He was a centre forward in the Mickey Fenton mould, and like Fenton had his career interrupted by the War. At the time I had never heard of him and wondered why a Third Division player should be one of those selected for a cigarette card.
Now Rotherham were members of the Third Division North, and I felt sorry for them as they had finished runners-up in 3 successive seasons in the League up to 1949 and seemed to have lost their way in 1950 by only finishing 6th. However for the first time in their history they won the league in 1951 by which time Wally Ardron had been transferred to Forest. In those days only one club from each of the Third Divisions North and South were promoted to the Second Division. Mind, at the time I was unaware that before the War, Plymouth Argyle had finished runners-up 6 times in succession in the Third Division South up to 1927 before finally getting promoted in 1930. Had I been alive then I might have had sympathy for them as well.
Rotherham though had had such an unremarkable existence before their promotion, especially in the FA Cup where they had only ever reached the 4th Round once before in their 19 years existence. Their promotion to the Second Division had seen them establish themselves as a bonafide club and they finished 5th in 1954 the season that Boro and Liverpool both lost their 1st Division status. I have already reviewed Boro’s dreadful start to the 1954/55 season where Boro suffered 8 successive defeats following a draw in their first match. Boro finished 12th that season equal on points with Liverpool, but what stunned the football world was that towards the end of that season Rotherham looked like promotion candidates until that fateful run in. In April they won 7 matches in succession before a surprising 0-1 defeat at lowly Port Vale on the last day of the month. That same day Luton won at Doncaster to overtake Rotherham and complete their fixtures. Meanwhile both Rotherham and Birmingham had one match to play. The Millers needed to win at home to Liverpool which they did 6-1, but for near neighbours Doncaster to get at least a point at home to Birmingham. But Birmingham won 5-1 and were promoted as Champions equal on points with both Luton and Rotherham on 54 points with Leeds a further point behind on 53.
The Millers whole season had hinged on the away match at Port Vale where they only needed a draw. The fairy tale had ended. Rotherham went on to spend 17 seasons in the Section Division before being relegated in 1968. However they did hold the distinction of reaching the very first final of the League Cup in 1961 which in those days was played over 2 legs, beating Villa 2-0 at home, but losing the second leg 0-3. The previous season Rotherham along with Villa had been the early pace setters for promotion until Boro beat them twice over Christmas (one of 6 successive away wins for Boro at Millmoor) after which they fell away to finish 8th a point below Boro in 5th.
I’ve never been to Rotherham, so what was the fascination they had for me? It all started with collecting that cigarette card of Wally Ardron, a player I’d never heard of let alone seen play. It also started the fascination of seeing the likes of Port Vale and York City having amazing FA Cup runs, and later the likes of Northampton, Leyton Orient, Barnsley, Watford and Bournemouth reaching the top tier of the Football League. I guess it must be something to do with supporting the underdog, but that’s all in the past. Rotherham have no fascination for me nowadays, and I sure as hell hope that Boro stuff them on Sunday.
Couldn’t wait to update these from “pink”
http://thefootballattic.blogspot.com/2014/08/league-ladders.html?m=1
I had those, too. They were very, very rare in Finland but me mother used to buy the English versions from a book shop that did sell foreign magazines already back then. Happy days. Up the Boro!
Loved them but by September they were usually only updated every two months at best. Come March/April they were hardly updated at all but used to look forward to the new ones coming out again.
Of course these were ideal when you could use the Sunday papers to update them but that was in a time when everyone played on a Saturday afternoon – these days it would almost be a seven day a week job to keep them up to date given the modern fixture program. It’s probably why the internet was invented 🙂
That takes me back.
Derby 1-0 up at Swansea and appear to be in control. Looks like we will be put out of our agony tonight. 😎
ITs been agony every week KP
OFB
I wont book my London hotel just yet, oh, I would be staying at my son’s anyway. Ok, no train tickets yet.
Swansea equalise. In the meantime I had a thought.
Many would be happy for the pain to end but I would have the pain of us missing out on the play offs and having to listen to Derby fans. That is double misery for me.
Ian
I can understand that and there’s still hope !🙏🙏🙏
OFB
See that we are interested in a winger playing in the Scottish league.
Great things were expected of him, before he moved to Celtic.
He is reported as playing rubbish this season.
So once again we are buying a player who has been tried and failed at several places. Will we ever look for young players who are ready to step up to a higher level?, for God’s sake escort this manager off the premises.
When are we going to stop this madness, it is the road to nowhere.
We will be selling our own young players, Tavernier, when will this madness end.
I see the Pulis thinks Wing is worth Ten million, what a buffoon, junk players are going for Fifteen mill(no names please).
There is every sign that this fool Will sell him and crow about making a profit.
Plato
Dont just blame Pulis because it is easy and a default position, Gibson, Bausor and the bean counters will decide if he moves on.
The business model that many laud is buy cheap and sell on, We criticise Boro for doing poorly in this area so cant complain if they do better.
TP is not a buffoon but he may be a dinosaur, there are plenty of negatives on his charge sheet we must not add those that he is not liable for never mind things that haven’t happened.
Ian
Every other club hire a manager, and from then until he goes, he is responsible for awful buys, and tragic selling.
Dreadful defeats and tragic selections.
great development of young players, and disastrous mishandling of same.
You cannot have your cake and eat it.
he, and only he, removed Tav Wing, and Fry from the premises as we hit the top.
He and only he, dared to say that he was disappointed that Tav had not got many starts(or even minutes on the pitch)
Only he goes on about ‘Wingy’ and how good he is. He was told on this blog at great length from the first minute he was on the pitch. When would that be? Oh I don’t know, maybe sixty minutes into the first game of the season.
It is pointless hiring a manager and leaving Pulis hanging around the place, it will not work and, further more is yet another spectacular blunder by the people who are responsible for checking that the manager is doing his job and is fit for purpose,(that worked out well when we were saddled with this beauty ) who stood by as he sold good players cheap and bought trash dear.
The greatest damage is caused by a manager who has no talent for judging players, when that happens you are better off having no money, less damage is caused that way.
Unfortunately we had money and players who had value (Probably about 50-60 mil.) The cost to this club has been horrific, and must surely be ended after Saturday.
We desperately need a foreign coach, for they are trained to manage a team in a logical way, without fear or favour, (or friends) they also lack the talent for talking rubbish. Which would mean the end of talk like
“he’s a good lad”.
“his hearts in the right place”
“lots of strikers go on non scoring runs lasting three months”
” the lads all right, but he’s only twenty, we’ll see what he’s like when he’s twenty three”
” I rate Gestede, I cannot understand the criticism of the lad by the fans”
I can’t confirm this but …
Just heard a strong rumour that Mr Pulis is moving upstairs at the Boro and David Wagnar is getting the coaches job. A reliable source
OFB
Sorry OFB, David Wagner is I believe is off to Shalke. Better job than at MFC.
Schalke not a done deal yet
OFB
So. Derby draw. Sunday is simple… Them not to win and us to win….
West Brom will be up for it to avoid Villa, so it’s all still to play for.
West Brom are top of the Championship Home form stats for the last 6 games so Derby have to go there and get a result against an in form side. Meanwhile rumour going around Birmingham is that WBA want one Mr G. Monk in the Summer as their next Manager.
Regardless of what the Baggies do or don’t do we have to attack and win at Rotherham who now have nothing to lose. It’s not going to be easy for either Boro or Derby. Of course there is always the scenario that we both lose and the Robins win at Hull.
I doubt Wagner is coming to Boro as he was in advanced talks with Schalke yesterday plus I can’t see SG wanting to pay the salaries of both TP and Wagner. The style of the two of them would be complimentary in many ways but unbelievably numbing and unlikely to excite. The Wagner story sounds to me more like “this is who we wanted but its wasn’t our fault we missed out so luckily Woody stepped up” smokescreen.
RR
Derby are at home v West Brom
Beggar!
Powmill Naemore
For West Brom to avoid Villa they would also need Leeds to lose at Ipswich, but stranger things have happened.
Quite right Ken I was getting carried away with optimism…
Based on what he did here at Huddersfield I’d be delighted if he moved to Boro but the local paper who have kept tabs on him had a quote recently that he wished to move back to Germany and the paper has now given an update to his move to Schalke
Philip
Schalke has not been confirmed
OFB
I may be wrong but I think the team Wagner managed at Huddersfield had a negative goal difference in the normal season, never scored a goal in the play offs and went up via penalties.
I guess he will go back to Germany.
I’ll never understand people taking rumours and speculation as solid information.
I never said it was solid information!
OFB
Rumours and speculation are exactly that, nothing more, nothing less. It has filled columns in our newspapers for decades, gauges opinions and stimulates discussions. Some come to fruition and some wither on the vine however Donald Rumsfeld probably explained it better.
Chinese Whispers and rumours are the bane of any organisation. Usually put out there to fuel personal agendas. By discussing them you merely give them false credence.
ghw maybe it was the same source that told ofb one time our next manager was an Italian and most were speculating Ancelotti lol
Come on BORO.
Now now if I didn’t pass these rumours on it would be pretty Boring wouldn’t it !
I’ll just keep quiet then!
💤💤💤💤💤
OFB
No don’t keep quite please as it helps fuel the debate. And sometimes gives us hope or despair in equal measure. 😎
Don’t you pay any attention to them OFB, I’ll keep peeking through my lace curtains 😉
You might consider who is giving you this scuttlebutt, and why.
Why ?
So, Swansea have thrown us a lifeline though we still need to depend on Derby dropping points again while we do the job.
An aside: I would never demean the 2016 promotion for being a “scrape” or “limp”. In the exceptionally high pressure stakes of football’s grand finales, an accomplishment is an accomplishment and deserves to be lauded.
Deserve, on the other hand, also has nothing to do with it. We’ve a chance that maybe we shouldn’t have had. But I’ll still be delighted if we take it.
Football is littered with a history of late chokes or bottles by teams so close to “having the job done”. Where do you want me to start?
Bulgaria on 10 points, Ireland on 9 in the days when you only got two points for a win. Ireland beat Luxembourg and Bulgaria but a draw against already eliminated Scotland will send Bulgaria through on goal difference.
Bulgaria 0-1 Scotland.
Ireland are going to Euro ‘88.
France went one better (or worse?) in the USA 94 qualifiers. A win over a winless Israel at home would have qualified them. 2-1 up with seven minutes to go, they conceded an equaliser then another right at the death.
Still, a point at home to Bulgaria would do the trick. At 1-1 Ginola only needs to keep it in the corner. Instead he aims a cross at Cantona. It misses him. Bulgaria break, Kostadinov fires in from an impossible angle. France are out while the Stoichkov generation enthralls us in America. Fine margins.
Liverpool in 2014 and “This does not ****ing slip now”… (It did.)
Sunderland and Boro are on 87 points each going into the final two games of 1997-98. An Ipswich captained by Mogga have nothing to play for but play superbly in a 2-0 win that effectively hands promotion to Boro. 4 points from two games did the trick.
Liverpool 0, Arsenal 2, Michael Thomas and “it’s up for grabs now!”
Something’s got to give. Someone always chokes. You just have to hope it isn’t you.
At least we have something to play for in the last match of the season. I think we all are now WBA fans, too. And Mogga was there for a few years, too.
And if we and Derby won’t win, Bristol City can still finish in top six. So I love the championship – what an extraordinary division.
Up the Boro!
Juergen Klopp after Liverpool’s defeat last night……..
I don’t know if we can play much better,” said Klopp.
“I think it was the best away game in the Champions League – not only this year, last year included.
“I told the boys I’m proud of how we played. Against a side like this, playing this kind of football, I was completely happy.
“In the end, nobody is really interested – probably only football nerds will think about it – because it was about the result, and we lost 3-0.
“I can work really well with this game. I will use this game to show the boys what is possible. It was a brave performance that was very passionate, very lively and, in a lot of moments, creative and direct.”
Just normal managerspeak….
Haha. Imagine if Pulis came out with that!
Because of the anti Pulis rhetoric on here he would be castigated, it’s just normal deflection from managers.
I suspect Klopp’s words were aimed at keeping his players confidence up as while it may be an uphill battle now to get to the Champions League final, he doesn’t want their heads to drop with the Premier League title still in the balance.
As to whether Tony Pulis would have said similar – perhaps he would have instead blamed Milner and Salas for missing sitters and claimed the referee should have given three nailed-on penalties…
I really value and appreciate Bob’s inside information. He has enviable contacts and many of his hints frequently come to fruition. And even when they don’t, it’s generally both interesting and useful to know what people close to the club are saying.
It’s a service that Bob is giving us that is just one of a number of unique features of this blog. It’s something that the Gazette boys can’t do for fear of the reprisals from the club that would undoubtedly follow. And there is no comparison between what Bob is doing and the kind of rumours widely circulated in the national press and on other internet sources which seem designed almost entirely to sell papers or as click-bait.
This is scuttlebutt and I would agree with GHW’s condemnation of it.
But for me- and I can only speak for myself- Bob is doing something completely different. It’s something of genuine interest to many in an intelligent niche audience, almost all of whom live miles away from the club and who lack access to the kind of informed conversations, often immediately post-match, which Bob is privileged to be able to have.
It’s a great service. And, as ever, if you disagree, feel free to take it all with a pinch of salt.
But as far as I’m concerned, keep the comments coming, Bob. I always feel better informed as a result of them, particularly given the lack of transparency around the club. It would be sad were you to feel in any way inhibited in providing one of the staples of the blog and one of the main reasons why I regularly read it.
It all comes back to my point about secrecy being endemic in football clubs Len. Divulging titbits knowing they will appear elsewhere simply accentuates it.
If clubs were more open it would help stop the agents who are poisoning the game with their greed fuelled agendas. Fans are ravenous with their appetites for information regarding their clubs. If the press agents kept them informed it would eradicate this incessant stream of misinformation.
Len
Thanks for your support and others it’s appreciated.
Quite often what I report doesn’t come to fruition but it doesn’t mean that the club weren’t talking to the person involved
It is just that in many cases the talks or negotiations broke down.
As you say I have been right on many occasions and I reported a few things before it was broken in the Gazette and other media.
I know that Peter Kenyon ex chairman of Man Utd and Chelsea has been talking to Steve Gibson which usually means a signing. He was responsible for bringing Karanka to the club.
How do I know about Kenyon? I was sat near him at a recent home game.
I don’t wish to appear arrogant or promulgate rumours for the sake of it but bloggers should always take these with a pinch of salt !
Thanks again Len the voice of reason
OFB
Im not having a go at you personally Bob. I just find the cloak of secrecy around clubs highly irritating.
Why can’t the club be upfront about what is happening? I don’t for one minute buy into the excuse of confidentiality. Insides like agents and reporters are all well aware of everything going on and there are no secrets.
As usual the fans are the ones kept in the dark. Nods and Winks just confuse the issues.
Thank you for that
OFB
So Swansea decided to offer us hope and it’s now Boro must have faith that West Brom continue with the charity. I guess it’s going to be nervous Sunday lunchtime and now Boro know that all they can do now is win at Rotherham – it doesn’t bear thinking about if Derby failed to win, Boro would mess up!
As for the rumour of David Wagner as manager with Tony Pulis as Director of Football – sounds like the dream team for insomniacs. I must have missed the survey that decided Boro supporters weren’t too keen on seeing their team score goals. Hopefully, Schalke will get their man as I suspect having a manager and DoF who seemingly struggle to find a way to score goals is not going to enthuse too many on the terraces.
Having got Huddersfield promoted with a minus goal difference, Wagner somehow kept them up by scoring only 28 goals before this season his team’s inability to score left them stranded at the foot of the table. Surely there has to be a better way than finding a manager who just wants to keep it tight and play low risk no frills football.
What an enormous piece of work from the fan who collated all the past results of clubs featuring in the top tier of the Football League since its inception in 1888. Although the Gazette article doesn’t mention it, the points gathered by each club quite correctly awards each win 3 points for the sake of comparison. Prior to the 1981/82 season a win was only worth 2 points and that would create an imbalance in the final reckoning. Also quite rightly the 3 matches played in August 1939 before the outbreak of the Second World War were not included as the Football League declared them null and void.
My records show that Boro have played 2,438 matches in the top flight, winning 818, drawing 614 and losing 1,006, scoring 3,426 goals and conceding 3,766. It seems churlish of me to equate that to 3,068 as opposed to the 3,065 in the article as I accept that such a gigantic task would be bound to show the odd error. But in essence I would agree the final standings of the top 30 clubs and placing Boro in 19th position, so I take my hat off to the person who waded through all those years to compile those league positions probably with the help of Wikipedia which isn’t always the correct source of information.
Anyway, well done to whoever had the time and patience to produce the League table.
Is it the three points Ken as in Blackburn away?
Redcar Red
Well spotted, I hadn’t thought of that. Apologies all round.
I suppose the fixtures in the playoff semifinals where the higher team play the second leg at home are set in stone. But as away goals do not count double, shouldn’t the higher placed team have the option whether they wish to play the first leg at home if they prefer that? Just asking, like.
Some might say that Derby have just reached over the handrail of the Titanic and offered to pull us back onboard…..
Currently enjoying some Turkish sunshine, and on Saturday I’ll be sitting in a local bar with a Wimbledon supporting friend of mine.
Several weeks ago they were looking dead and buried and nailed on for relegation from League 1. After a magnificent fight they can survive on the final day of the season. He says although it’s hasn’t been a great season success wise it could culminate in a day of glory in the eyes of the fans.
If ever a low can be turned into a high this could be a prime example and one of the reasons that exemplifies all that it means to be a football supporter. After their recent history with the MK Dons affair they consider themselves lucky to be even in the Football League and he says survival on Saturday could rival their promotion from League 2 via the playoff final.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter which league you are in, just being able to experience the myriad emotions associated with being a fan is reward enough. Surely that’s in essence what being emotionally involved with a club is all about.
I think OFB could be onto something ,I thought something like that scenario could happen, but I couldn’t think of a coach.
Didn’t Wagner quit because he was burnt out ?
However with Tony upstairs doing the leg work regarding recruitment , and engaging with the otherside of the leagues goings on ,it might work.
GT
In the words of the comic in the Panto “oh no I won’t work”
Our problem from day one has been to get rid of him, he is useless(cruel word I know but fully justified in his case, started by taking a wrecking ball to the playoffs.
continued the story by taking a wrecking ball to the team just as we hit the top this season.)
Is now well and truly knee deep into a series of quotes in full soccer speak mode.
These quotes are a bit special and bear a closer look.
To even speak about how special ‘Wingy’ is, and how he spotted him, is to hold himself up to ridicule on the grand scale.
He set out to spoil and delay his deployment in our team in the most ignorant way possible, against the fans wishes, talking at length about him needing to learn the basics of defending (to be taught by him of course, and involving Wingy playing further back in the team ( hhhm! That worked out well, ) perhaps he should have taught him how to do a long throw. All this took three-four months, before he caved in and reintroduced him.
Next was Young Tav. Missing for three months then reintroduced, for three minutes, repeat add nauseum, for the same three minutes, then being brought on for the last desperate defending, followed by several great teams wanting him(on the cheap) you really could not invent this stuff.
Finally young Fry, with virtuoso incompetence he has managed to get the lad missing the complete young England summer programme.
This would be the result of having him charging up the wing crossing balls to none scoring strikers, instead of his true strengths at centre back where he is a future England captain.
So Fry’s injury is down to Pulis?
Too true, fans of Reading and Millwall will be ecstatic to have beaten the drop. I’m also pretty sure that the fans of pre-season favourites Notts County will also be ecstatic if their club, the oldest league club in existence, escape demotion to the National League. There’s always the hope that next season things can only get better for those supporters.
Does anyone know what is happening TV wise on Sunday?
Its Derby V. West Brom and that is it from a Championship perspective with no Red Button showing the other games. It’s a bit ironic when its the one round of fixtures when fans will be desperately keen to see other games, at least Norwich, Blades, Boro and Bristol fans as well as Derby as there is something at stake. Not to mention Baggie, Villa and Leeds fans to see where they finish. That’s 8 sides with something going on plus had the other end not been decided there could have been another two or three sides sweating. Seems a tragic waste of the Red Button logic to me.
Yes, it’s the conclusion of A Forward Line Off Duty, where we’ll hopefully find out if the mastermind behind an overly disorganised group of criminally wasted chances will finally be brought to justice. Will Inspector Curtis Fleming finally get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the identity of ‘H’? My money is on Harry Redknapp as the person who has been responsible for all the transfer tips that Boro have received in recent years.
No, Werder. It was always Harry’s dog that was responsible for the transfers.
What a mess these transfers are nowadays. Too much money involved and very, very complicated contracts as a result.
Up the Boro!
Brilliant Werder. Irrepressible. Mercuriol even. I suspect that Jed gave DI Fleming her name just so you could produce that gag?
Anyway Sunday should bring some kind of resolution to a series of tragic events, best viewed from behind a sofa.
We just have to hope that there isn’t another Pulis- directed sequel in the pipeline in which our young creative players are kept under deep cover.
I suspect if history is anything to go by they will have cameras at other grounds and show any action
They will have cameras at all the matches as they usually do and will probably show the goals “as they come in” on the regular Sky Sports News Channel. They will no doubt have updates and little screens popping up in the top corner during the Derby match to show what’s happening elsewhere.
From a West Brom perspective would they really want to do TP a huge favour?
Match is available on Beamback to the Riverside for those that can get there. It will also be available on live stream for Riverside Live overseas subscribers and on audio for UK subscribers. As others have already suggested, Sky will no doubt show any goals shortly after they have been scored at all games.
I agree with RR that it is ironic that when there are still issues to be decided Sky are not making use of the red button.
I hope that OFB continues his inside information, because I have always considered his hints pure gold.
If evidence is required consider the following.
The fans were relaxing, knowing that no manager performing as this one is could survive after finishing with six consecutive defeats, plus of course the utter disaster of the no show in the cup at Wrexham (Let’s not forget the shame involved)
Cue OFB and I quote. ” I’m still hearing that he is not going to be thrown overboard” that has not changed, and I for one am very afraid, because donkeys do not turn into Derby Winners.
They can run in the Donkey St Ledger, mind you Gate got a donkey called St Ledger on loan.
If, as rumoured, TP is moved upstairs where does that leave Neil Bausor, Gary Gill etc ?
Come on BORO.
Or more importantly Adrian Bevington, the head of recruitment.
Come on BORO.
Looks like Wagner has joined Schalke all bar the ink drying according to Sky, BBC and the Mirror. Considering his tactics are ever so slightly negative he would have been a compatible fit if TP had indeed been his overlord but personally I would rather have neither at the club.
If there is to be a Football Dictator, sorry Director I’d rather it was Mogga. He has his stubborn blind areas in Management but can pick out players for buttons. Tactically I wasn’t overly enthralled when he was here but he did have his hands tied and wasn’t afforded the luxury of Karanka or Monk. His time at Hibs and West Brom were more to savour from a footballing perspective. Question is who would then be on the Touchline?
Of course we may actually attack and results elsewhere may go our way on Sunday, stumble into the Play Offs and draw our way Huddersfield style to promotion. If so then I’m sure Pulis is going nowhere any time soon but having now seen his work up close I’m not so sure that those tactics will work any more in the fast slick Premiership survival stakes. Either way it will a nice financial problem for MFC and SG to have.
Redcar Red,
It would be food for DiasBoro but torment for the supporters. I have a feeling that Mr P. is going nowhere and even kicked upstairs the shadow would be everywhere.
I have to say that Tony Pulis as ‘Director of Football’ is an out and out oxymoron. Director of something perhaps but telling some aspiring coach what he should be doing. Perish the thought.
As KP says he’ll play for a draw and try to nick it in the 94th minute. Sums it up really. We’ll probably play Gestede in a blindfold to keep the opposition guessing.
But, as always,
UTB,
John
Gestede in a blindfold would be an improvement as it would remove the statistical uncertainty – just like the python sketch where they tied the rabbits down to avoid accidently hitting them ……
So the die is cast and come what may we need to win on Sunday to have a chance of making 6th place.
So that is 10 men in defence and one up front and hope we can score in the 94th minute.
Must be in with a chance as we had a trial run last season! 😎😂
You mean one man up front till we score, then eleven men, for the next 89 minutes , defending that lead 😉
Before I start reading ‘The Title – the Story of the First Division’ which GHW kindly sent me, here are a few snippets from my Pocket Annual which might interest some folk.
1. Arsenal are the longest serving members of the Old First Division/Premier League from 1919 having never relegated since.
2. Arsenal at first borrowed the shirts of Nottingham Forest, and eventually adopted them as their own colours albeit adding white sleeves.
3. Sunderland held the distinction of never having been relegated from 1890 until 1958.
4. Liverpool is the only City in England to have continuous Old First Division/Premier League membership. Everton were founder members of the inaugural First Division in 1880, and in the 4 seasons they spent in the Second Division 1930/31, 1951/1952, 1952/1953 and 1953/54, Liverpool FC were a First Division club.
5. Everton rented Anfield from 1884 to 1892. When Everton left Anfield in 1892 to move to Goodison Park, the former owner of Anfield established a new club called Liverpool FC.
6. Manchester United played its home matches at Maine Road from seasons 1945/46 to 1948/49 due to war damage.
7. Lancashire with 21 have included the highest number of Football League clubs than any other County in England. Yorkshire have had 12. As a City London have 13.
I heard or think I may have read even a story somewhere about the Arsenal shirts but it involved York City rather than Forest.
Redcar Red
I’ve since checked my source with Wikipedia which confirms that:-
‘In 1886 Forest donated a set of football kits to help Arsenal establish themselves’.
York City weren’t founded until 1908.
And finally
8. When Newcastle United lost at home to Sunderland 1-9 on the 5th December 1908 it was not only the Magpies biggest ever home league defeat, but the biggest defeat by any team who later became Champions in the same season. Newcastle finished the season with 53 points, Everton were second with 46, and Sunderland third with 44.
Forgetting the play off situation for a moment, in an ordinary situation Boro should beat Rotherham.
A draw or a loss will sum up the season in one word ‘ unacceptable’ and TP has to to take the full blame for that.
No way should SG even contemplate his presence at the club next season.
Also, question is did SG sack GM too early ?
With hindsight SG may have sacked GM to early but we also need to remember that GM was “Clotetless” at the time which I think is like Clough without Taylor.
Bolton end Laurence Bassini takeover which puts in doubt their outstanding two fixtures and I would imagine puts their future in jeopardy.
Come on BORO.
The league have confirmed their match in Sunday goes ahead
The one outstanding fixture could be cancelled as it might not have any impact on league standings.
I think the reaction I am seeing is that Bolton have dodged a bullet with Bassini. Good luck to them and their support that they will be OK to carry on next season.
I think Bolton would have been mad to risk selling their club to a man who has previously been banned from involvement with a football club for financial misconduct and dishonesty – though the reason given for not going ahead was simply he had failed to provide evidence to the EFL that he had the funds to buy Bolton.
Bolton have said they will still fulfil their remaining fixtures with Brentford game due to be played on Tuesday – though this has been down to the PFA paying unpaid wages. But they’ve added that these games may not go ahead if they are forced into administration.
It does highlight how lucky we’ve been as Boro supporters to have an owner who has continued to cover almost £100m of debt from his own pocket rather than service it with banks. Whilst we may sometimes question his decisions on choosing managers or dismissing them or even keeping them, we can’t question his integrity when it comes to running the club and keeping it on a sound financial footing.
OK, the spending that created the nearly £100m of debt was ultimately sanctioned by him but he has still taken personal responsibility for it – which is admirable in itself if you consider how many chairmen or owners of clubs don’t and just gamble then seem to just throw their hands in the air and watch their clubs nearly go out of business.
Perhaps that £100m liability could have been avoided if you consider over the years how much has seemingly been wasted on high wages and transfer losses of players who have made little impact at the club – I suspect many Boro supporters could possibly produce a list of players that would have added up to a £100m in savings if they hadn’t have been bought in the first place.
For example Braithwaite and Gestede could probably end up costing the club anything around £15-20m in transfer loss and wages paid out not to play unless the club find a buyer willing to pay decent money to offload them to. So we should remember while feeling sorry for the likes of Bolton, all this debt in football is self inflicted and completely avoidable – it’s a choice that owners and chairmen make in essentially an expensive gamble that often just doesn’t pay off.
The dealings during Gates tenure had poor returns, Braithwaite and Gestede seem better value than Mido and Alves.
Scottie and Barry Robson look masterstrokes in comparison.
Leeds striker Patrick Bamford has been banned for two matches by the Football Association after being found guilty of “successful deception of a match official” in the draw with Aston Villa.
Bamford will miss Sunday’s Championship trip to Ipswich and the first leg of Leeds’ play-off semi-final tie.
Up the Boro!
Quite right, I hate cheating.
Änd let’s hope the latter one of the suspended matches will be at Riverside.
Even though my collegue who supports Leeds said in March, that the play-off final at Wembley will be Boro vs. United.
Up the Boro!
He should have received the same punishment as El Ghazi which was going to be three games before the appeal as a minimum and then an additional two games for ungentlemanly/disrepute etc.
Watching Eintracht Frankfurt against Chelsea last night ( what a magnificent flag display) and it brought back a childhood memory.
Long before the Premier League invented football the only football on TV was the FA Cup Final. I remember my father taking me to ICI Club were a film projector had been set up for a screening of “ The Game of the Century”. It was a film of the European Cup Final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt played at Hampden Park. It truly was a memorable game of football and I loved it.
This film was a staple diet in pubs and clubs across the country for many years. A long way from the blanket coverage of Live football we get on the telly these days. I’m sure some of the more …ahem….mature readers will recall this.
https://scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/the-greatest-game-ever-played/
GHW
Yes, a fabulous game. It was actually shown live on BBC. I saw it at the time when I was at University and it’s certainly the best game I’ve seen, albeit on the box. Eintracht played brilliantly, and got hammered.
Next best for me was the Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3 game, which I saw live. Again the losers played fabulous attacking football but lost. To a last minute Collymore goal. I’ve never experienced anything like the atmosphere amongst the crowd going home after the match. 50,000 people on a collective high talking about the greatest game they had ever seen. The fact that I had no particular affiliation to either side made not a jot of difference to my enjoyment.
The Matthews Cup Final, Blackpool v Bolton, was always considered one of the best ever, and it remains so in the memory. But this verdict has been severely compromised by the old black and white re-runs which show up some appalling defending, and goalkeeping in particular.
In all of these examples one’s fallible memory might be a more reliable guide than the apparently objective facts of the case. What the old videos cannot re-create is the physical gut-wrenching thrill of what it was like to experience the event as it unfolded at the time. A once in a lifetime experience incapable of mechanical reproduction.
GHW
I certainly remember it well. Eintracht Frankfurt put up a good display but lost 3-7 to a Real Madrid team that was unstoppable that night having already won the first 4 European Cup Finals. As my ancestors (Kraus) came from Frankfurt I was obviously supporting them and I’m hoping that they can win the second leg of the Europa Cup at Stamford Bridge next week.
Although the translation of Eintracht is technically ‘concord’ I’ve always translated it as United as that was how the club was born with the merger of two teams from the City in 1911, Viktoria and Die Kickers who were both original members of the Nordkreis Liga. If they were an EngIish club they would probably be called Frankfurt United. I didn’t watch last night’s match as I was watching the rugby league, but hoped that they played in their traditional colours of red and black stripes with black shorts, as those are the colour of my favourite local team Redcar Athletic.
The Bolton saga goes on as Bassini now has told SSN he is in control of the club and he has a binding contract, those who want Gibson out be very very careful of what you wish for.
Come on BORO.
I just read an article in the Jewish Chronicle where Bassini actually said “I’ll make Bolton Wanderers great again” and claimed he had been poorly advised during his tenure as Watford owner, insisting that he was an “honest” businessman.
He said “I love football, and for me the challenge is to take something that is in a lot of trouble and turn it around. I want to take this club, which is in so much trouble, and make them great again. We’re going to give it our best shot and restructure everything. Let’s see how it’s going to turn out.”
The vice-chair of the Watford FC Supporters’ Trust, labelled Bassini “erratic”, saying he “liked being seen as an eccentric… and relished notoriety” – though added he could sometimes be “affable and charming”.
Can’t seeing it ending well personally but Bolton are apparently now £42m in debt and face administration and a 12 point deduction next season. Perhaps it could be another Ken Bates scenario with Leeds where someone is looking to clear the debts through putting the club into administration and then hopefully sell the club at a profit down the line. I guess Bolton fans are heading for uncertain times.
So the scene is set.
Fridge full of beer, boys coming over, Derby v WBA on first TV, Rotherham v Boro streamed on computer and beamed to second TV via HDMI cable.
Cant decide which one will have volume, probably not Boro as it wont have commentary.
A small part of me wants Boro to fluff there lines as I cannot see us making the play off final and fear we will give the dirties an easy passage.
But I shake my head, think of Jarrko and convince myself that everything will go to plan.
This has got to be Tony’s last chance before a well earned retirement to Jurassic Park.
Old Billy
I just can never want Boro to lose. If winning meant Toon or the Mackems stay up or get promoted so be it although through gritted teeth.
Neither do I Ian, as I said I shake my head and think of Jarrko.
The thought of Leeds promoted and the slim chance of Boro going all the way certainly gritts all my teeth.
Ore at least the teeth I have left.
Anyone who can should go on utube and watch Stuart Webbers interview on Norwich promotion ,he is there DOF ,he was with Huddersfield prior in the same role,
The one sat down in front of the press, very interesting on his philosophy , which has been successful twice.
Just thought, given Werder’s excellent leader, that lyrics from Al Stewart’s song “A Man For All Seasons” is appropriate for our upcoming fixture on Sunday:
… And I should know by now
I should know by now
I hear them call it out all around
Oh, they go
There’s nothing to believe in
Hear them
Just daydreams, deceiving
They’ll just let you down
So what if you reached the age of reason
Only to find there was no reprieve
Would you still be a man for all seasons?
Or would you just disbelieve?
We measure our gains out in luck and coincidence
Lanterns to turn back in the night
And put our defeats down to chance or experience
And try once again for the light
Some wait for the waters of fortune to cover them
Some just see the tides of ill chance rushing over them
Some call on Jehovah
Some cry out to Allah
Some wait for the boats that still row to Valhallah
Well, you try to accept what the fades are unfolding
While some say they’re sure where the shame should be falling
You look round for maybe a chance of forestalling
But too soon it’s over and done
And the man for all seasons
Is lost behind the sun
🔴 Thanks Powmill and here is the musical accompaniment – werdermouth…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuFmAom8l2Q?start=126
I suppose it sounds better with a glass 🥃 or wine 🍷 or 🍷 two
OFB
Well done Werder and thanks. For me, he is perhaps a little underestimated as a songsmith. I think he is in his 70s now, but saw him in concert last year and he sounds just the same …
Ken
Good luck to Tigers, would you back the big cats against wolves?
Ian
Difficult times for Cas with 10 first team players missing, at least 3 of whom won’t play again this year, yet Wakefield are in a similar position but grinding out results. Rugby League is a tough sport especially at Easter and the after effects hit most teams. Hull FC for instance have 17 players injured and meet Cas next week in the Challenge Cup, a match to be televised on BBC. At this stage it might well be billed as Hull reserves v Cas reserves. I must say though that St. Helens and Warrington are streets ahead of the rest although lucky with injuries.
No.
So Bolton look to be heading for administration after the EFL cancelled next Tuesday’s game and awarded Brentford a 1-0 win after Bolton’s safety advisory group blocked it from being played at their stadium.
Ken Anderson, called off the proposed takeover by Bassini and is now considering whether he has to declare the club insolvent, and put it into administration.
Its a huge mess. The Sale and Purchase agreement Bassini signed in mid-April was conditional on EFL approval but also prevented Ken Anderson from selling to a third party or placing the business into administration.
I’m not sure if there is any way they can avoid administration now, clearly Anderson isn’t prepared to pump more money into the club or simply hasn’t the cash. There are rumours of a 12 or even a 20 point deduction awaiting them next season which would leave them in another relegation fight. Unless they can find a responsible and cash rich benefactor very quickly it doesn’t look good for them.
From what I’ve read they will face a 12 point deduction next season if they go into administration. I suspect few buyers will be keen on taking over a League One club with debts of over £40m and will perhaps look at a post-administration club with substantially reduced liabilities instead. Although, I think £20m of those debts are owed to the previous owners so they may be prepared to do a deal as their investment looks unlikely to be returned.
I suspect Bolton supporters will be looking at a prolonged period outside the Championship and they will be paying the price for overspending of various owners – hopefully someone will at least save the club from going out of business.
I’m trying to recall through the annals of time if ever before a Football League match has been awarded to a team without the fixture being played. There are several instances of the score of abandoned matches not being replayed and the score recorded as a result, the Bradford City v Lincoln match following the fire disaster in 1985 being an example, but unless someone can help me here, I can’t find anything like this happening before. It is however usual in non league football for clubs unable to fulfill a fixture to have a 0-3 score recorded against them.
Who is the scorer of the only goal, Ken?
Not own goal but what? UTB!
Interesting read on Leeds. I imagine he’s currently poring over Bolton and a piece will be forthcoming.
http://priceoffootball.com/leeds-2018-heartland/
Indeed interesting stuff and although I’ve only managed a quick browse through some of the tables – I’m not 100% sure whether the figures on Boro match quite up with the published accounts – although it’s quite difficult to get the exact picture given the limited about of detail in accounts.
Perhaps Steve Gibson call for greater transparency in club’s accounts is a good idea as displaying the key indicators of transfer spending and wages on each players would be useful to see (it could be anonymous so no individual players names were shown) as all this undisclosed fees etc probably shouldn’t be allowed given there are rules on spending.
Although, if it’s true that Boro had more or less the same wage bill as Wolves in 2017-18 then I fear we were shorted changed. It only goes to highlight that Boro have been needlessly overspending on attracting players who shouldn’t demand the kind of renumeration they are being given. Also you can see that Norwich sold £48m worth of players before this season began so again Boro have not been able to use their resources as well as others have.
Jarkko
A,N, Other or S.O. Else.
And, is Mike Ashley really that bad….
http://priceoffootball.com/newcastle-united-2017-18-apply-some-pressure/
Having just read Pulis on reorganising the club. Oh God! Why is this man allowed to make statements to the press?
He rambled on about the state of the club (management wise) and it was so full of abject rubbish that one must have doubts about any chairman who would give this man house room.
Having said the above I suppose I had better talk about a couple of his gems.
The club has set out to please one part of it’s support, then changed and tried to please another part of it’s support. There is a prize for anyone who can make any sense of that brilliant insight.
He then talked about the club making rash signings, paying them too much, and making a loss when unloading them. Yes you did just read that, the man responsible for the worst burst of transfer business, both in and out of the club, for many years, actually criticised it.
There was more, much more, but my brain gave up the ghost at that point.
Plato
Gate, Lamb and Gibson bought Alves, Mido, Digard, Aliadiere, Folan, St Ledger, Euell, Marcus Bent, Marlon King and Emnes not forgetting Dong Gook amongst others.
Need I say more.
Until it is stated by the club that Pulis personally bought and sold players, you can’t hold him personally responsible.
If Monk, Karanka, Mogga, Strachan and Southgate etc. all get equally blamed/praised for signings and transfers then TP should fall into the same category.
He is an experienced and hopefully astute Manager hence his appointment. If the Club was about to sign a Donkey I would be very surprised if he had no option and just sucked it up without any input. If that was/is the case then his talk about and overseeing all aspects of the club remit was pure fabrication.
If Flint, Saville and McNair and Co. were not his signings and he didn’t want rid of Bamford etc. then considering how the season has panned out I would have thought he would have added that to his excuses list which grows by the week. Lets face it nobody is in any doubt about his thoughts on Britt or the spending of Forest and Derby as recent examples so I can’t see him missing another opportunity to deflect accountability.
In Strachan’s case he was responsible, Karanka was culpable for Valdes. How much input Monk had to the “ smash it” signings is unknown. With regard to TP. The outgoing of Traore was out of his hands, Gibson went as he had been promised a move. In Bamford’s case a high offer for a high earner was a deal the club decided to take.
Other than possibly McNair I don’t see much wrong with the players brought in. Were they players identified and recommended by Pulis? Or were they proposed as options prepared to come to the club?
By all means criticise recruitment, but until The intricacies are known specific individuals can’t be apportioned the blame.
I think player recruitment is more of a collective decision these days and the recruitment department as we know use databases, watch videos of players and no doubt analyse their stats and possibly decide if the biometrics fit the manager’s profile. It seems for Boro finding players who are prepared to come to the club is the difficulty and perhaps they’ve been guilty of throwing cash at that problem in some cases.
It’s hard to say if players were Pulis’s first choices or not but from last season he seemed to spend quite a bit of time chasing some of his former players like Puncheon and Bolasie – neither of whom wanted to come to Teesside.
What would be interesting is how much time (if any) Pulis spends watching games to check on players – I know that was something Mogga spent a lot of time doing as he travelled to watch all kinds of midweek matches to scout players. That’s perhaps why he had a good record on unearthing a few gems at relatively little cost.
Although, if the manager is not doing the scouting then someone trusted with an eye for a player needs to do that role – otherwise the club is relying on stats and the ‘best bits’ videos to make multi-million pound decisions.
But at the end of the day (as we say in football) the manager has to make the decision if a certain player is one that he really wants and not just accept the one that is self-selecting by default.
One trip to Rotherham, during March 2016, still haunts me.
I keep reading reports and watching highlights, and think, “how on earth did we lose that game?”
Simon, you must be a joy at parties lol.
Come on BORO.
I don’t think West Brom want to play us in the play offs, and next season Its farther to travel to Boro ,than Derby, it all adds up to a big Derby win ?
I’ve also read that Leeds don’t fancy playing Boro in the playoffs either, but everyone fears Villa.
Which is why a WBA victory could mean they avoid Villa until the final, if both make it.
Come on BORO.
True, but only if Leeds lose at Ipswich.
I find it quite amazing, the number of excuses offered on behalf of Pulis, for the awful players that he has inflicted on us, the supporters, since the first moment that he stood in front of the press and set out his ideas on the great game, the heart sank, ‘is this our fate? To be treated to this person’s personal philosophy of football, he was and is unwelcome to the members of the press, for reasons too obvious to need repeating on this post.
Every Manager is fully responsible for the players brought in on his watch, as an example think of the Haggis, no one even attempted to excuse him, because there was no excuse.
When one thinks of the moments which condemn him (a bad idea) you suddenly realise that there is no excuse in the world good enough to get him off the hook.
Bringing on Gestede to rescue a match we were losing (It hurts to recall it)
Banishing Wing, Tav and Fry to the practice ground, and keeping them there as we drifted down the league.
Forget our disgust, what do we matter, we are only fans.
What is more important is the fact that he, the fool, really thought that they were not good enough to be on the bench in front of Gestede.
At that point the discussion ceased, he was toast.
At this point could we perhaps talk about the damage he could do in a back room roll.
Would we want him making decisions about players, to sign or not to sign?
The blood runs cold at the very thought of such a situation.
Would we want him deciding when to introduce our young players from the academy?
Would we want him making decisions on which are let go and which are signed.
These are career changing moments, as well as bank balance changing moments for our club.
Plato
Nobody is defending TP but we do have a history of poor recruitment, I truly found the Gate era recruitment beyond belief.
I keep coming back to it lest fans forget how we ended up in the Championship, the string of mishaps since dont help the health and temper.
Ian
As a person who suffered the pains of the utterly, add your own adjective, stupid, dumb, incompetent, the list goes on, recruitment, by this our club, it becomes pretty apparent that the true fault lies with our chairman.
Consider the following, he interviews a person, and discovers that he has always signed rock solid players who have had 7-8seasons doing good work in the champ, or the prem, is he unable to work out that any money we spend will be contributing to these sellers rebuild of their team. As a special bonus, we will possess players who have no ambition (that happens when you are 29-30) and cannot be moved on (no one will take a pay cut and drop a league at the end of their career).
The practice of being guided by videos and stats is fine but you must remember that the giants of the game are only studying very young players who are already more than good enough to play at the top level, plus they will still watch them actually playing in a fiercely competitive match or several.
I still say, pay the money to trusted people with a good eye, work them hard, I mean watching many many matches, and listening to many shrewd characters in the game, once you get into the habit of signing young players, you should be able to turn a profit both when he is not quite good enough and when you hit the jackpot, but old timers are fatal.
As a final clincher, it is better for the fans (who see a lot of young players) and the club (you can try out a lot of young players without too much damage to your finances)
When Alan Durban said “If you want entertainment, go and watch a bunch of clowns”, I think the message he was sending out to the journos was this – who are you to tell me how to play football?
A Spurs fan once spoke up for managers like Pu and Big Sam, arguing that one reason football was called “the beautiful game” was the variety of different styles. This was a response to the football establishment and media continuously writing about how to play football “the right way” – essentially arguing that you didn’t “fit in” with the top teams if you didn’t play a passing or gegenpressing game, utilise wing backs, play one up front, have defenders who are comfortable on the ball, etc.
He raised the argument that all went wrong for Stoke in the post-Pu era when they changed managers and tried to play more football. Judge for yourselves how valid his point is.
I would put Valdes down as a sweeper keeper / big name experiment that didn’t pay off, especially for a defence well synergised with Dimi. It ultimately worked for City when they unceremoniously ditched Joe Hart for Bravo because, for one thing, they had the quality to compensate – when you’re at the bottom that’s not the case. More than that, clubs at the top are more likely to treat their players as commodities, components of a machine, whereas lower down clubs are more like communities that need to stick together. Incidentally, ditching Joe Hart and bringing back Tom Heaton coincided with an upsurge in Burnley’s results.
Trigger was also a sweeper….
Ask Dave.
I can think of a lot of naming words for Valdes but a Sweeper wasn’t one of them. He had a total disconnect with the defenders in front of him. It was chaos between him and them at the best of times with a lot of gesticulating and finger pointing in the early part of the season which just descended into mutual indifference as the months wore on. You could sense the defenders knew he was both limited and untouchable. Without synergy and understanding at the back our Premiership season was effectively over before it began.
With regards to him being a Keeper it was also claimed he was over 6ft tall. Reality was that I could have played behind that Barca team and looked world class. After Jones and Turnbull I honestly thought we couldn’t find worse but at least their attitudes were in the right place.
RR
Good look with the match report hope it’s enjoyable
This is a good read
https://www.football365.com/news/the-pulis-problem-why-promotion-is-last-thing-boro-want
OFB
Hardly a good read Bob. I can understand one of our fans having a go at Pulis but this is just another sly dig at MFC with the manager being the catalyst.
Other than the unnecessary random paragraphs about the third kit, the season ticket increase and the idea that it’s anything but a very few ‘fans’ would be happy to miss out on promotion, I thought the rest pretty much reflected the season.
It’s the sly digs that irritate me. The usual looking down the nose.
Start spreading the news……Boro make a brand new start to it.
Rotherham 1
Ol’ Boro Blue Eyes 3
Oh no GHW, that’s put the mockers on it.
Still not a problem as Derby beat WBA.
Got to agree with Werder, that the article pretty much sums up our season. I for one will be glad to see the back of it.
Even the miracle of results going our way today, will only prolong the agony.
As it is an absolute must win game today, maybe we will at last see an adventurous, positive, attacking formation from the dinosaur.
5-4-1?
Jarkko was asking who would be credited with Brentford’s goal in the 1-0 win awarded against Bolton. It may have been a flippant question, or indeed a serious one. I remarked rather casually that it might be A.N.Other or S.O.Else, but years ago those two expressions were often used to identify unknown players in reports, so maybe that might be the serious answer to the question.
Maybe own goal would be appropriate in such matters…
Werder
On reflection I have to agree.
Werdermouth
On reflection I have to agree.
So not long to go now and really all Boro can do is make sure they win the game as there will be nothing worse than missing out on the play-offs if Derby fail to win today.
I could see West Brom and Derby drawing today as whilst the Baggies need Leeds to lose against Ipswich to have a chance of third spot, they will probably not want to go into the play-offs on a losing note against what would then be a team they could play in the final.
I hope we get a couple of early goals so the news filters from the Derby crowd and onto the pitch to make them nervous. Although, if Derby score early then it may effect Boro in a similar way.
I’ll predict 2-0 to Boro (so good we scored twice at the New York Stadium) and try to put to the back of mind my fear of 0-0 – of course if the reverse fixture hadn’t have ended 0-0 at the Riverside then it would now be in our own hands!
What TP will be saying in his pre match talk
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I’ve traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way
I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all, all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh no, no, not me
I did it my way
For what is man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
And did it my way
Was that the Sid Vicious version…
So for today’s team for the must win game, Pulis has unsurprisingly gone with no surprises…
Starting XI: Randolph, Howson, Shotton, Flint, McNair, Saville, Mikel, Besic, Wing, Fletcher, Assombalonga
Subs: Dimi, Spence, Clayton, Downing, Tavernier, Hugill, Downing
Werder
I know TP wanted 11 Downings but I dont know where you got the second one from.
A clone perhaps!
He’s so good he named him twice (on the bench) 🙂 of course I meant Gestede but I must have had a mental block when trying to type his name…
More Big Spud than Big Apple.
Any streams?
Just to ask about that myself ofb !….
I’m only seeing Villa v Norwich and Derby v West Brom at the moment.
Nearly there, will I be relying on you lot to get us to the play off final whilst I am away or can I put a miserable season to bed>
Is ifollow working
Anxious… Hoping for the miracle
Here’s a link of the game that is currently working..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRgU6OTKEhw&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1OHrWrg-J1xKvOFb4ndVTsxOLa6PySER9xZu1yx4KWTbKt6npizvhIEFA
Thanks Werder…working fine
oops it’s gone…
The problem with live YouTube feeds is that they are usually designed to cut out once they get a certain number of viewers – I think they may be designed for official limited use
Another 1 on 1 and Britt misses again! 😎
And Derby now 1-0 up!
My MFC keeps cutting out for 10 secs every 3 or 4 minutes.. at least it has commentary
Must be a localised issue as mine has been picture perfect so far!
Get in 1-0 from Britt’s penalty!😎
Here’s another link just close ads and pop-ups
How many has Assombalonga missed.
Come on BORO.
Too many for a supposed top class Championship striker imo! 😎
1 0, Baggies have missed two sitters. Should be at least 1-1 at Derby.
Mikel (!!!_ makes it 2-0…
Well Boro look in control now after Mikel opened his account at Boro (I think Britt is probably still overdrawn) and it would be nice to get a third as we wait for that injury time West Brom equaliser 😉
Yes please but Derby don’t do typical Derby do they Ian?😎
1-1 at Derby, game on.
Phew Nugent one on one and Baggies keeper blocked it.
Double bugger now
Boro Becky’s Dad
Shame but if it stays as it is then good luck to Derby. After the equaliser Derby kicked on.
Agree, after our drop in form we have never really deserved to be in the playoffs to be fair. And TP said after the last match that we had been keeping the pressure on Derby – No Tony, you contrived to see us fall from an automatic promotion place to outside the play off places!
If he stays next year, then be afraid, very afraid!
Derby certainly the better team despite being awarded a penalty that never was. I fancy they’ll beat Leeds on this form. As for Boro in all truth they’ve not deserved to reach the playoffs.
Thank God the purgatory of this season is now over. I live in hope that next season will begin with a new regime in place at the club but I’m not holding my breath………
That makes two of us…………
Well. Glad that’s all over now. We finished exactly where we deserved over the course of the season.
It was a penalty at Derby, the Lac had his foot knocked out from under him. But I reckon Derby would still have won.
So now let’s just see what happens over the next couple of months to help rustle up some enthusiasm for next season. Not going to dwell on it now though.
I fancy Villa to win in the playoffs but good luck to all four teams.
Well Cricket season can start now.
Not with this weather! You would be nithered watching today!
This is cricket weather, it is May after all
Unfortunately, the fat lady that was bound and gagged in the boot of a car in a Derby car park was discovered midway through the second half. So that just leaves the EFL to return Steve Gibson’s calls and give Villa and Derby their “deserved” nine point penalty – otherwise it looks like another long slog in the Championship awaits.
If only one of those unlucky 13 draws could have been won or even one of our unlucky 13 defeats avoided. In the end, having the joint best defensive record in the league wasn’t good enough – a record we shared with Sheffield United and it was probably just those extra 29 goals they scored that helped them finish second.
So not sure I’d look forward to another season under Pulis and his style of football – though what more is there to say about that prospect that hasn’t already been viewed from every excruciating angle. Anyway, I suspect the situation will become clearer in the coming days as the clear out begins.
Definitely a missed opportunity this season given the relative weakness of the Championship and it will probably be harder next season without parachute payments – especially with Cardiff and Fulham, plus three from Leeds, West Brom, Villa and Derby – not to mention if Stoke, Swansea and Forest get their act together.
Of all the 13 draws, Leeds at home conceding in the 11th minute of stoppage time has got to be the one that got away. Especially as the game didn’t need stopping as it was nothing to do with a player on the pitch.
No point in reflecting, Boro didnt deserve to be in the play offs.
Just hope Leeds complete their annual choke.
Yes, that Leeds late late equaliser has to be a contender – I think Leeds can barely breath at the moment after being in choke mode for the last four games and having lost against Ipswich!
Put like that it is hard to see how we will smash the league next season but I am sure that SG and TP have a cunning plan……..
I will await the words of wisdom from TP as to why we didn’t make it with bated breath!
I think he’ll probably say many of the players didn’t man up…
I understand those who will not be renewing their season tickets.
I subscribed to the live streams at a cost of £150.
I will not be so stupid next season if Pulis is in charge.
I love the game of football because each game is different and you never know what to expect. Unless you are watching Pulis Boro.
OK, it’s not all down to Tony Pulis as the forwards and midfielders have been very average in front of goal this season – but some of the team selections and tactics have been hard to fathom. But only Stoke in the top 20 clubs have scored fewer than Boro this season – indeed we’ve scored three goals less than relegated Rotherham.
It can’t be a coincidence that Boro have missed out by being too unadventurous under Pulis – others may disagree but it’s hard to just put it down to the players themselves not performing well enough.
I dont think it is the players, an not necessarily the team selection.
It is the tactics and the way the manager sets them up.
When he says we dropped off second half, I cannot believe that the players are responsible and defying their boss game after game. Get a goal and defend for your life. All 11 players do this against the managers wishes for the full season?
I am not buying it.
I didn’t listen to the radio commentary of Boro’s match but chose to watch Derby v West Brom instead. Derby looked nervous at first, but settled down once Waghorn scored despite West Brom missing 2 sitters. The fact that Boro were 2-0 up didn’t seem to unnerve them at all, though it did the crowd once West Brom equalised. But fair play to the Derby players, they took the game by the scruff off the neck and despite the dubious penalty could have scored a couple more.
Interesting to note that in all 36 EFL matches only the 5 at Hull, Stoke, Wigan, Bradford and Grimsby were the attendances lower than last year’s average attendances with Villa, Derby and MK Dons at 20,718 especially well above last season’s averages.
Time to concentrate on what next at MFC.
If we dont hear early this week I expect there will be a break whilst everything is digested, maybe even. The longer the wait the more likely TP will be staying because if there was a change the sooner the better for the new man to settle in.
All I can say Ian is he must be doing some brilliant stuff behind the scenes
Because the stuff on the pitch is indefensible.
Entertainment is zero.
Our departure from the prem was bad enough, no fight.
This season has been worse.
Pulis keeps banging on about missed chances but the opposition have just as many.
How many games have we had more possession than our opponents?
It was certainly down to selection, surely the vilest example of picking the team by the age old method of putting the names in the hat and getting the youngest player to pick the names out. If every fan in the ground knows that player A is to put it no higher worthless, and the manager keeps picking him, even bringing him on for the last 20 to save the match (only for him to collapse on the ground and be carried off after 2 minutes) this sort of thing damages the fans, made worse by his habit of holding forth with a rich selection of utter rubbish to the press. This reflects badly on us, because all other fans think we should by now have drawn to an end his reign.
Any talk of the super six being just a blip (it could happen to anyone, yeah, right) is out the window, it cost us and he was personally responsible, Wing, Tav, Fry, pah! What do they know about football. (more than you mate) and don’t slam the door when you make your exit.
Old Billy
I think he should leave but should is not the same as will.
The positives on the charge sheet are difficult to list, it is likely most are from the remit given to him by Steve Gibson and we are not privy to that list.
This season is only the 5th time in Boro’s history that they have scored fewer goals at home than away, and all in this century – 2000/01, 2009/10, 2011/12 and the past 2 seasons.
Also it’s only the 3rd time that Boro have collected fewer points at home than away. However Boro’s total of 10 away wins this season and points accrued has only been bettered once, in 1973/74 the promotion year under Jack Charlton. Even in the famous George Camsell season of 122 goals Boro only won 9 times away from home with 6 draws and 6 defeats. Of course Boro won 18 and drew twice with only one defeat. It’s obvious that Boro’s home form this season, historically good in the Second tier, is the reason why Boro haven’t gained automatic promotion this season. I wonder who’s fault that is.
Obviously the crowd Ken! Especially as AK criticized them as well.
Nothing to do with negative tactics and zero excitement to get the home support going of course!!
I was stunned to find that even Mogga launched a barb at the crowd with only two weeks of his tenure left or so.
“I am only interested in the fans who are there, to be honest.”
(Sob)
I forgot to mention that today’s game was Boro’s 4,500th League match of which Boro have won 1,698, drawn 1,116 and lost 1,686, scored 6,594 and conceded 6,397 goals.
Quote TP after the game
“The Boro boss did indicate that he hoped Downing would sign a new deal in the summer and when asked about his appearance against Rotherham, he said: “I’m hoping it’s not the last one.”
What !!!! I dare not say anymore otherwise Werder will block me. Madness !!!
Words really do fail me when he says this
“This has been a bigger achievement that last year really, if you’re selling who we have done, with the players that we’ve got and the players that we’ve worked with,” Pulis told BBC Tees.
Clearly he is living in another universe and should return there!
Words fail me when he says things like this
“This has been a bigger achievement that last year really, if you’re selling who we have done, with the players that we’ve got and the players that we’ve worked with,” Pulis told BBC Tees.
He clearly is living in another universe and should return there
Talking Pu.
He lives in an alternate reality. I can live with eccentricity but not stupidity. To abuse a much paraphrased quote, ‘It’s football management fans, but not as you know it’.
Thank God it’s over.
Or is it?
UTB,
John
I hope so, I really do although if what OFB said is true, then we will be in for another torrid season.
TP must have some serious stuff on SG that SG doesn’t want getting out if Pulis stays on in charge.
However, if my theory is correct, then the cunning plan has worked to perfection, promotion avoided whilst looking like we tried!
Whilst I can’t really believe that SG would not want promotion for all the money, what other explanation can the panel come up with?
Answers on a postcard please
So that was the last match of the season.
After losing the famous six matches in a row, Boro have managed to win five out of the last six matches. If only we has scored a goal of two in the six match losing run. But if only is not good enough!
As you know, I do not want to change the manager too often. Especially so if the new guy plays a totally different style than before. It takes at least a season or two for the new players to bed in.
Like we saw when Aston Villa went down. They invested a lot under a new manager and were not near the top six in May. The following year Boro did the same under Monk – and no success.
And this year Stoke tried to do that. So the change of a manager nor a lot of money is not the key. The key is good camrade and team spirit.
I agree the football has not been good to watch this season. But usually Pulis are playing with a couple of quick wingers. But we never replaced Traorw.
As we know it is difficult to attract new players to the (beautiful!) North East without paying extra high salaries. Hence I think the team rather needs evolving than a total new start.
I think the finances will determine who will be the manager next season. I hope it will be Mogga but I guess I cannot deside.
Up the Boro!
PS. I would still keep Downing if his salary was low enough for Boro.
Jarkko
Talking of the beautiful North East I don’t suppose TV coverage of La Tour de Yorkshire is available in Finland, but yesterday’s 3rd stage in variable climatic changes from Bridlington, Filey, Harewood Dale, Robin Hood’s Bay, Whitby Abbey, Sandsend, Lythe Bank and Grosmont to Scarborough just shows how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful part of North Yorkshire in sunshine and in rain. Really spectacular shots from the helicopter too. Well done to all concerned at ITV4.
I wouldn’t have Downing if he played for free.
Any attempt by anyone at MFC to put a positive spin on this season is absurd. The season has been the culmination of three years of abject failure caused by poor management decisions from the top of the club downwards, the appointment of the wrong team manager twice, the dire performance of the recruitment department, the adoption of negative defensive tactics and dubious team selection by the manager and a lack of any meaningful communication from the club to the supporters.
The parachute money has gone now with nothing to show for it and no doubt the cost cutting will start shortly. Hopefully the first saving to be made will be the salary paid to Pulis. Cost cutting and otherwise carrying on as if everything else is fine will only result in further failure. The club needs a massive overhaul if it is to compete strongly in the Championship and have any chance of promotion.
The fans have heard nothing from the Chairman for a long, long time. As the team has failed to even get in the play-offs in a season when the teams in the Championship were mainly average I think it is high time the Chairman shared his plans for the club with the fans. After a season of interminable dross on the field the fans need something to hold onto that gives them hope for the future. The Chairman needs to deliver it now.
Well I suspect the news from the New York Stadium has already been spread that Boro are not leaving the Championship today – plus they don’t want to be a part of the play-offs. So we will have to wait a longer to be king of the hill or even top of the heap – though it may be a while before the little town (in Europe) blues melt away.
As for the quest for the Premier league, let’s hope they make a brand new start of it next season and try and make there – it’s up to you…
Anyway, talking of being frank, here’s a man who has delivered plenty of smooth lines with more than a bit of panache and presence this season – It’s old Redcar Red eyes himself with his own rendition of what happened at the New York Stadium with his match report of Boro’s swansong of the season…
https://diasboro.club/2019/05/05/rotherham-1-2-boro/
Anthony McCarthy nails 2018-19:
“A very odd season. It never felt remotely like a promotion campaign even when we were top two.”
So the season is over, the world didn’t end and nobody died. Come August, like fans of the other 92 clubs we will start again and hope that it’ll be a good one.
According to statistics provided for the global death rate, I’ve calculated that 41,538,400 people have died in the world since our opening day draw at Millwall and today’s win at Rotherham – though not sure how many of those could be attributed to the hope that football supporters had harboured for their clubs…
I imagine many on here would expect the manager to say “ well, maybe a few died”, in response to that Werder.
Though we shouldn’t really include the ones that only died inside…
Randolph, Fry, Wing, and Tav, with Britt and Fletcher up front.
Fletcher remains raw but he has pace and seems to be have the beginning of a rapport with Britt, and Britt must be pleased to have anyone up front with him.
Plus they won’t cost us a transfer fee, of course I can’t imagine another club on our division wanting to pay their inflated salarys, especially after the season they’ve had.
That’s a spine to build on next season, assuming we can hold onto them.
What’s also needed is giving the players the confidence to attack, and to be allowed to fail in the knowledge they won’t be naughty stepped as a consequence.
I think we would need a few pacy wingers, preferably young ones. But Tav and Downing (for back up) could be a starting point.
And we need three or four full backs. Perhaps Friend as the fourth one. Then Ayala, Fry, Flint and Shotton in the centre could do.
Also we need another Wing in the middle.
Blimey, we have a team nearly in there if we keep Britt and Fletcher!
OK we could sell (or give a free transfer) Gestede and Breithwaite. Of course the latter could stay if Pulis goes but I am pretty sure his salary is huge.
Up the Boro!
Without a doubt in my mind, a new manager has to be the first priority for SG.
Thanks RR for your once again down to earth report and for all your superb posts during this season. You always tell it like it is etc
.
Yes, a massive thanks to RR not only for his excellent match reports over the season but also for his thoughtful posts which always seem to hit the nail on the head. Not forgetting his dedication to the cause in attending so many matches despite the paucity of entertainment from the team during the season. He will be a very hard act to follow.
Thankyou RR and thank you Werder and thank you OFB for many hundreds of great and intelligent words this season. Commitment and quality that sadly the common passion of everyone in here didn’t come close to delivering even the bare minimum that most in here (though not all I hasten to add) probably expect.
So, let’s see what the next few weeks will bring and let’s hope above all else we have something in August that we can all feel part of and have that innocence of expectation that you can only get from your bond with the local football club.
Powmill
Thanks for the mention it’s apprecoated to be included with Werder and Redcar Red who have done such magnificent work for the blog this season and for which we are grateful
OFB
A thanks to Werder, RR OFB and Simon for their articles. It goes with out saying that contributions from Ken and Len were much appreciated along with everybody else who participates.
We await Captain Pugwash’s table, aka Exmil challenge, but the prime thing is we needn’t worry about the play offs.
What we all have to be careful of in our deliberations is that we are balanced in our appraisal. THIS IS NOT UNEQUIVACAL SUPPORT FOR TP and I am shouting deliberately in the faint hope we can have a sensible discussion.
I think it is time for him to leave but he is not responsible for global warming, the middle east crisis or Brexit. He is just a boring manager.
Sensible Diasboro discussion on the way forward is needed. Lets await the first rant.
“They come to see the front of the house, they come to see the show, they don’t realise that at times, the building is maybe falling down behind”
It now appears that SG has a Club in ruins which is bad enough but can someone direct me to wherever this “show” was because all I ever witnessed from the North stand this season was the footballing equivalent of the Test Card.
Since October from the North Stand I have seen Bogle’s own goal against Derby, Tav’s against Ipswich,
one against Blackburn and Ayala’s handball. Can anyone enlighten me if there were more because I’m struggling to think of them.
Ayala’s handball was back in August but I now remember the Blackburn one was Britt’s, then there was Hugill’s 90th minute penalty to draw with Millwall, so Wing’s strike against Leeds was the last Boro goal in front of the North stand.
So in seven and a half months that is five Championship goals, one of which was an own goal and one a penalty making a grand total of three from open play!
Ian
Thanks for the mention appreciated
OFB
Ian
It’s lovely of you to be so very reasonable in the face of a Manager who was manifestly out of his league and out of his depth.
He would have been treated in much the same way as our other beauties, except for one thing (well, o.k. Several things).
When ignoring young players who show real ability(extremely valuable commodities’ in the game) and on a losing trot, and how, and with the fans telling him just that. He simply had no right to stumble on with his home brewed rubbish, and I do not use those terms lightly, even if he was so dumb, then the chairman should have told him to bring back the young, fast, goal scoring, attacking players.(or, of course he could have dispatched him to where all failed managers go)
This was not some small error to be covered by an apology. This was a major failure of understanding of his place in the greater scheme of things.
He has been out of control for a very long time now, blind to reason, certainly blind to any distinguishing of players, or form, or talent, motivational skills nil, and do not even talk of the bricks and mortar of the game, dead balls, non out of ten.
Corners, we may have scored from a corner, but I cannot recall it. Defending corners, having everyone back in your own six yard box means you are not going to get any breakaway goals.
The development of a team who stand still for most of the match, is one of the great turn offs for the fans and that’s down to him, together with his long throw tactic, (by the way it’s just celebrated it’s 21 st birthday this month).
Now tell me, he is going, isn’t he?
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2019
Final Table
It is all over, bar the playoffs, no not the Championship, I am talking about the real table which is listed below:
.1 Suffolk’n’Boro. (151) 10,4,8,10,9,6,9,8,9,9 .. (82) = 233
.2 Deleriad....... (148) 7,3,10,10,9,9,9,9,10,7 . (83) = 231
------------------------------------------------------------
.3 Ian Gill....... (157) 9,3,7,7,7,10,9,5,5,8 ... (70) = 227
.4 Powmill-Naemore (152) 9,4,7,10,7,10,10,6,5,6 . (74) = 226
.5 LenMasterman... (155) 8,3,6,10,7,6,8,7,8,8 ... (71) = 226
.6 Redcar Red..... (149) 10,3,8,7,10,6,9,6,9,9 .. (77) = 226
------------------------------------------------------------
.7 Selwynoz....... (138) 9,3,10,10,9,8,10,10,10,6 (85) = 223
.8 Martin Bellamy. (146) 9,3,10,7,9,10,6,5,8,10 . (77) = 223
.9 KP in Spain.... (144) 9,3,10,7,9,10,6,6,8,10 . (78) = 222
10 Werdermouth.... (143) 10,4,8,9,9,10,9,5,6,8 .. (78) = 221
11 Boro Beckys Dad (146) 6,1,8,7,9,9,10,4,8,10 .. (72) = 218
12 Pedro de Espana (152) 8,3,6,9,7,8,6,5,5,8 .... (65) = 217
13 Andy R......... (145) 7,1,8,9,7,9,9,5,8,7 .... (70) = 215
14 OriginalFatBob. (134) 8,1,10,7,10,8,10,7,8,9 . (78) = 212
15 Jarsue......... (138) 8,1,8,7,10,8,9,4,8,10 .. (73) = 211
16 Grovehillwallah (130) 10,3,8,7,9,10,9,6,8,9 .. (79) = 209
17 Exmil.......... (143) 6,-1,7,5,9,9,9,4,8,9 ... (65) = 208
18 Jarkko......... (134) 8,3,6,9,9,10,9,5,6,9 ... (74) = 208
Congratulations to our champion Suffolk’n’Boro and runner up deleriad which leaves Ian Gill, Powmill-Naemore, lenmasterman and Redcar Red to fight it out in the playoffs for the last promotion place. I will post the rules (hopefully) tomorrow or is it later today !
Since, unfortunately, borobrie, Simon and vanteis did not enter after part 1 they automatically took up the relegation places and jarkko, myself and grovehillwallah live to fight another season.
I will point out that after being in 2nd place after Part 1, I (exmil) not only tumbledown down to finish second from bottom (bar 3 relegated) but also have (I think) the dubious honour to actually score the first minus score (-1 for Leeds).
Good luck to those in the playoffs.
Come on BORO.
I must admit that I did not see the six match losing run coming. I even had us finishing above Sheffield United in there.
So the club let me down – I can blame Pulis or the players. Or myself.
Up the Boro!
Thanks Exmil for this. I am surprised how poorly I predicted in the second part.
Well there is always next season.
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2019 – THE PLAYOFFS
This seasons playoffs will see the following semi finals:
Ian Gill v Redcar Red (repeat of last season)
Powmill-Naemore v lenmasterman
Each player will have to predict the correct score, at full time (including extra time) for each of the following matches:
Sat 11/5 1230 Villa v WBA
Sat 11/5 1715 Derby v Leeds
Tues 14/5 2000 WBA v Villa
Wed 15/5 1945 Leeds v Derby
Penalty shootouts do not count.
Each player will score 5 points for the correct amount of goals per team, per match but will lose a point for each goal +/-.
GOLDEN GOAL
Each player is to predict the time of the first goal in the opening match (Villa v WBA only) to be used as a tie breaker, in the event of a tied total at the end of the four matches. The nearest to the actual time will go through to the final.
Example: predicted score 3 – 2
Actual score 1 – 2
Points scored (3+5) = 8
Good luck to all our four semi finalists.
Come on BORO.
A cult manager, or cult foreign manager, may have split the club – fans, players, board or a combination of the three – down the middle, but when it works it works so well that it’s impossible not to think, “there may have been anger, hurt and disappointment but at least we cared.”
That’s the Mogga-AK period from 2010-16. And, if you’re talking Ireland, Big Jack from 1987 to 1995.
Pfft. Cult leadership, schmult leadership. If the leader makes the majority happy, why not?
Unfortunately it means the minority sticks out like the sorest of thumbs, and becomes a pariah. The one who dares to burst the bubble.
The thing with the cult of the football manager (c. Barney Ronay) is this: not only do fans and newspapers believe in it, but once players start winning, they believe in it too. It’s then common for managers to use the cult to protect themselves from criticism, and it works – if you dared speak out against Jack in Ireland you were alienated. The price is, perhaps, is that they don’t work as hard as they can on new tactics and bringing in new blood.
With Player Power now as common as it is, though, a long lasting cult manager seems past.
Si
I keep telling you that we have a cult manager…….
🤔 I think
OFB
When Bamford was sold I said if he out scored Boro’s top scorer I would donate £20 to Zoe’s Place. This hasn’t been the case, but I will make the donation anyway as it is such a good cause.
To those who took me up on the bet, here’s the link…..
https://www.zoes-place.org.uk/default.aspx
GHW,
I remember you saying that and I offered the same so there’s a match from me. I’ll organise that this week.
UTB,
John
GHW a very generous gesture and to a very worthwhile cause.
With regards to the goals scored etc and your “bet”……Britt scored 14 goals, no assists at 192 minutes per goal over 2693 minutes played.
Paddy scored 10 goals, 2 assists at 153 minutes per goal over 1531 minutes played.
If PB had not been out injured and had played 2653 minutes like Britt, he may have scored 17.5 goals. Stats eh. You just love them!!
PB also had 59 shots against Britt with 56, nearly twice as many. Playing upfront by yourself and isolated is hard. Very hard.
I wonder how the stats would have read if Leeds has taken Assombalonga instead of Bamford? Playing in an attacking team as opposed to dour defensive.
However only one stat counts and that’s in the goals scored column.
Had Paddy not got injured and played the same minutes as Britt his average would have likely had him nearer 17 goals but both were out of favour with their respective Managers for periods. They (and fans) both lost out albeit at least Roofe was actually scoring goals for Leeds. Poor Britt was bumped for non scoring donkeys.
No doubt however that had Britt been playing for Bielsa his goal return would have been much higher. Meanwhile just deposited the agreed funds to Zoe’s place which at least means that some good has come out of an underwhelming season.
I noticed that Danny Graham and Luca Jutkiewizc outscored both of them. I still maintain that footballing reasons are not the only factors behind Bamford’s chequered past.
Its a position that does seem to attract complex personalities. Suarez, Maradona and even or own Mido and Ravanelli’s etc. Personally I’d rather have the goals and trophies and manage the issues.
I will be away for the play offs but will be back in time for the Exmil final should I get past Redcar Red.
The flight from Manchester was to be on a 737 Max but as we all know they have been naughty stepped. Instead it looks like we will be flying on a 757 old enough to be selected by TP that was probably due to be retired, joy of joys but better safe than sorry.
Before then maybe TP will sit down with Steve Gibson to have that chat. I never blame one party because it is always a chain of events, unlike Boeing I dont like throwing pilots under the bus. In our case I think Mr Gibson should say thank you very much and move on.
Ian, would you rather have Super Lampard as a manager or dinosaur Pulis? At your favourite club.
Is Frankie Boy seen as a hero like we had in Bryan Robson all those years ago? Or do people talk about a more experienced manager to be installed instead.
Up the Boro!
Firstly a big thanks to RR for all his excellent and honest appraisals of an underwhelming season. You deserve an award for having to sit through so many poor games/performances and then having to re-live them again in word. You have certainly shown more commitment and dedication than some employees at MFC this season.
Thanks also to the rest of our accomplished editorial team of Werder, OFB, Simon, Ken and Exmil, who together with many contributors make this blog a major part of my daily life.
Well done to Suffolk n Boro for winning the Exmil Challenge and commiserations to the rest of us!
The eventual outcome of the season has not come as any great surprise as the writing has been on the wall for many a month.
I don’t believe that missing out on the play offs should be of concern, what should be of more concern is how far adrift we are from the teams in the automatic promotion places over the last two seasons.
Gaining promotion via the play offs is not a sustainable business model in my view and more likely leads to relegation the following season. Whilst it does produce a cash windfall this is soon dissipated (certainly in our case) and we are back to square one.
Whilst I respect SG for his dedication and commitment to MFC he has yet to show that he can put together a coherent and long term plan which stops us going from feast to famine and vice versa.
MFC/SG needs to build a platform which will enable us to produce a promotion winning side that has a core of players who will be able to initially survive in the PL and allow the club to build on promotion into a stable and permanent fixture in the PL. Not easy I know but others have done it so why not us.
TP appears to have been making noises for some time now that he wants longer at the club. I was in favour of his appointment but another year of the same performances as the last 18 months may see me giving up my arm chair season ticket.
To all enjoy the summer and the cricket, which will no doubt be more entertaining than watching MFC has this season!
KP
Good post and thanks for the mention
OFB
RR
Thank you so much for this match report and all the others you have written for us the past few years it really is much appreciated and has been at the core of a lot of our posts.
I like others hope that it will not be your last for us but appreciated how much you have had to endure the last two seasons
OFB
Paddy and his “feigned injury” were the primary targets of Rod Liddle’s ire in yesterday’s Sunday Times. Extracts as follows…
“Bamford is supposed to be a clever lad. He’s got A-levels and stuff. Did it not occur to him that the match was being televised and that his antics would be spotted very quickly indeed? Did he really think he could get away with it? The Football League have now given him a two-match ban… The good thing is that Bamford, a strange and vexing player at the best of times, got a good comeuppance, as well as earning for himself a reputation which will ensure he gets booed, immediately, by all opposition fans as soon as he steps on the pitch. Referees may in future also be less inclined to take his protestations of injury seriously. That’s all excellent news and it serves him right.
“There is nothing fans hate more than the simulation of injury; the snowflake players who go to ground to get a fellow professional sent off. It is a plague infesting football, at all levels, but especially towards the top of the game. We used to console ourselves that it was only foreigners who deployed this despicable trickery… Our memories probably take us all the way back to Jurgen Klinsmann, in fact, the point at which, in our psyches, simulation was introduced to the British game. Well, sure, but if the foreigners got there first, we’ve certainly learnt from them.”
Finally got round to catching up and thanks to RR for his usual excellent report. He has certainly taken several for the team this season having to endure the paucity of football and then manage to make it read better!
On the games I have been to, the report has been better than the game and I do feel for all those who have to endure TP football week in, week out without any hope of enjoyment or excitement.
On the basis that you saw every home game, then the cost per goal at about £16 is pretty poor indeed. 10 home victories also not good enough but the 7 home defeats is what really galls and cost us promotion.
Thanks also to Weder for alll the headline articles along with Ex Mil for the challenge. My form went down the pan, just like Boro.
OFB interviews were very much appreciated and hopefully will continue.
Also mentioned in dispatches to Ken and Simon for their efforts along with every other contributor without whom this blog would not be what it is, a must read!
Nothing to add in terms of what should happen now, maybe let the dust settle and see what transpires. SG will do what he feels is best although I do agree that some communication would be helpful as to long term plans.
I am still surprised that TP can say that this season was better than last given what has happened and how we have fallen down the table but if that is what he thinks, then I would hate to see a worse season. If I were SG, then I would not be renewing the contract and looking for a more positive thinking manager who has a grasp on reality!
BBD
Thanks for the mention it’s appreciated
Hopefully we will have some more In2Views lined up soon
OFB
Simon
Going back further was a certain Frannie Lee, he earned the nickname of Lee Wun Pen.
His best trick was to run straight at the defender, push the ball past and run in to him followed by a theatrical tumble. He did us in a cup tie at City where he got the equaliser from the spot. In the replay he tried the same trick but the defender, I think it was Willie Maddren, moved towards him then stepped back. Lee dived unmolested to the Ayresome Park turf much to many peoples amusement.
We won the replay 1-0.
I see Neil Warnock is considering his future at Cardiff. He certainly has a good track record at getting teams promoted. Of course, keeping them there hasn’t been one of his strongest points.
Perhaps a special “ promotion bonus” contract could be offered by the chairman. In the past Warnock has publicly stated his admiration for Steve Gibson. Another thing for him to ponder…..
Warnock has more than one eye on retirement and lives on the south coast so he is unlikely to fancy the commute to Teesside. I know that when he was at Leeds he only spent half the week there and that became an easy issue for their fans to point at when things didn’t go so well. Rumours are abound that a certain Tony Pulis is being lined up as Warnock’s replacement though…
Redcar Red,
I’ve just read your match report, thank you for your sterling efforts through the season, a form of martyrdom I’m sure. Then I watched the highlights on Sky. I know that the highlights don’t give a true picture but Boro did seem to be defending deep and kicking the ball anywhere towards the end. Oh, and does Assombalonga have the right boots on the right feet? The one-on-ones with keepers? I think they could safely turn their back on him…
Vassell’s shot that hit the post, what a cracker. However why do we always seem to ending up scrambling around at the end of a game where the opposition should have been done for at half-time?
It also seems that Mikel is going elsewhere, Besic will return and few others depart.
I met one of the local farmers when I was out with the two Jack Russells this morning, he’s a season ticket holder at Carrow Road and he thanked Boro for turning Norwich’s season around. He said that if they’d lost to Boro early in the season their manager would probably have been fired!
Now we’re all on what’s going to happen to Pulis watch and he wants Downing to sign a new contract according to one newspaper.
UTB,
John
From today’s Times:
The end of the season and, from a Middlesbrough perspective, perhaps also the end of the Tony Pulis era.
With his side having finished one point outside the play-off positions after a dramatic day in which their victory away to Rotherham United was rendered irrelevant when Derby County scrambled to beat West Bromwich Albion, Pulis confirmed his intention to discuss his future with Steve Gibson, the Middlesbrough chairman, in the next few days.
The 61-year-old’s contract is due to expire next month, and while there is a clause that would result in a one-year extension if all parties were to agree, a parting of the ways may be best for all involved.
Pulis would get to spend more time at his family home on the south coast, Middlesbrough’s supporters would be rid of a manager whose conservative approach has worn them down, and Gibson would be able to reflect on an 18-month period in which the club have enjoyed a successful off-field restructure, even if results on the pitch have not gone as planned.
“I’m hoping Steve is going to buy me a nice bottle of red wine, and then we can sit down and have a chat,” Pulis said. “I’m not saying anything until I’ve spoken to Steve. The most important thing, and he knows it, is that I’ve given it everything. That’s what I’ve always done in all my managerial career. I’m not really putting a timescale on things, I’ll wait for Steve to give me a ring.”
While Pulis’s future remains uncertain, yesterday’s game is likely to mark the end of the road for a number of Middlesbrough’s players. Stewart Downing’s second spell at his hometown club is drawing to an end, with his contract to expire next month. John Obi Mikel, who scored Middlesbrough’s second goal, is also due to become a free agent, having signed a short-term deal in January, and neither Mo Besic nor Jordan Hugill is expected to be offered a permanent contract once their loan spells from Everton and West Ham United, respectively, expire.
“We haven’t discussed players’ futures because we were hoping to be coming out of this ground today in the play-offs,” Pulis said.
Middlesbrough were in a play-off position for half an hour, but while their victory was never in doubt, with first-half goals from Britt Assombalonga and Mikel rendering Michael Smith’s late consolation for Rotherham irrelevant, their promotion hopes were scuppered by events at Derby.
Good news for KP? *prays:*
Was going to save this reasoning for a new piece when I had the time, but I’ll bring it up now.
A couple of years ago, Dion Fanning wrote a fine piece for sportsjoe.ie about what separates the likes of Pulis and Dyche from, for example, Pep and Jose.
It was written after Robbie Savage’s analysis claimed to have found Pep out as a manager who got lucky enough to inherit Messi and the tiki-taka generation, a term (tiki-taka) which Pep seems to have done everything in his power to distance himself from. (He’s on record as saying he hates tiki-taka.)
In short, another the-emperor-is-wearing-absolutely-no-clothes-and-why-does-no-one-see-it mentality.
Not long before that, as Fanning noted, Pulis had become the latest manager to imply that foreign coaches may benefit from the attraction of the new, and the desire to be part of something fashionable.
“That’s the way it is. They come into the country, they’re sexy, they’re new, they’re bright. That’s fine, brilliant, not a problem for me. I’ll listen to them, they say Klopp trains them three times a day in pre-season, absolutely amazing. I’d never have thought of that…they do stuff that is astonishing, that we’ve ‘never heard of’.”
Fanning:
“Presumably (Pulis’s) last comment was said with Pulis doing imaginary air quotes while rolling his eyes and speaking very slowly to underline the sarcasm… But there is no need for that anymore, not while Pulis’s West Brom are demolishing teams, scoring goals and pushing them backwards (incredibly, they were back then – Si), and Sean Dyche has won more home games than Mourinho and Guardiola combined.
“Pulis and Dyche are now part of the pushback from British managers. In fact, some wonder why these men have been ignored for so long and among those who wonder most about it are those who feel they have been ignored.”
Dyche (around that time):
“Antonio Conte came in at Chelsea and he got commended for bringing a hard, fast, new leadership to Chelsea, which involved doing 800m runs, 400m runs and 200m runs.
“Come to my training and see Sean Dyche doing that, and you’d say ‘dinosaur, a young English dinosaur manager, hasn’t got a clue’. So is it perception or is it fact? I have no problem with it. It’s the reality, I say.”
Fanning:
“…(Yet) as (Pulis and Dyche) wonder why their methods are overlooked, they can be grateful too.
“British managers tend to have a durability that ensures they always remain a viable alternative. It is also worth pointing out that two of the biggest clubs in England have employed highly regarded British managers in recent years with predictable results. The experiences of Hodgson at Liverpool and Moyes at Manchester United seem to be forgotten when people demand that British managers should get a break.
“Foreign managers may be a fad, but they tend not to work again in England if goes wrong. Felix Magath, who considered a triple training session about as energetic and purposeful a workout as lying on the sofa in your underpants eating a Chinese takeaway with your hands, came in to Fulham promising lots of running and wasn’t seen again. Nobody romanticised Felix Magath.”
Fanning’s point? That all managers, cultists or not, are united by the need to stay plausible. And credible. I personally feel that the immense disappointment and anger which blows up near the end of the cultist’s reign is part of the discovery that he’s not the saviour we once thought he might be. Just a human. Like us.
Simon
I’m amazed that you should use such a quote from such English Managers.
The very use of the Liverpool and Man city bosses turns it into farce, and not very enjoyable for us who have suffered this season from an un thinking buffoon, who incidentally is seriously floating the idea that he might be here next season.
I think Pu is merely channelling the resentment, that managers like him can’t go places because they’re not “young”, “hip” and “foreign”.
Well that’s it, end of the season, agony and continued (false) hope finally comes to an end.
Most importantly in a season of dire performances we can only take comfort from the excellent performances each week here on DiasBoro. The main writers never let their standards drop and it is a fact that the quality from them is that of a quality professional. So thank you Werder, Redcar Red, OFB, Simon, Ken, Simon and Exmil.. Not withstanding all those regular posters with their very readable contributions.
We have done the Mr Pulis thing to death and what will be, will be. I believe nothing will change as he is the easy option for Mr Gibson, irrespective of the comments from TP criticising how the club has been run in the past, which of course means SG. And his statement on how this seasons 7th is far better than last seasons 5th. Can SG really relate to all that?
I think the Philip Telantire’s piece in today’s Gazette sums it all up up quite well. Sad, so all very sad.
Pedro
Thanks for your kind words
OFB
Stuart Webber the DOF at Norwich speaking on recruitment and philosophy said something interesting he said Veteran players or older players find a way to negotiated around barriers , young players fight through them.
We have an old squad .
Maybe TP gets it and is getting more juice than we think?
GT
That’s why they had young players. It ain’t difficult.
Are we all really sad that Boro failed to reach the playoffs? Good luck to Derby and Frank Lampard, but all this jubilation to finish 6th in one of the poorest Championship Divisions for many a year just doesn’t sit right with me. In fact winning promotion by winning a one-off game at Wembley shouldn’t really be such a cause for celebration in my opinion. I doubt many would agree with me, but 24 clubs in the Championship is at least 4 too many, no wonder the standard of football throughout the Championship has deteriorated. When I hear Sky Sports reporters salivating over the excitement and competitiveness I despair. They’re bound to say that to justify their fees paid by Sky. Ask most Boro fans, and I dare say fans of other clubs, and they can’t wait to get out of this league.
I’ve never been in favour of playoffs. Maybe we ought to go back to the days when promotion was a reward for finishing in the top two. If we really want a third club to be promoted, let them play the 18th team in the Premier League over two legs, not a ‘winner take all’ at Wembley. The percentage of clubs winning the playoffs in any of the 3 EFL Divisions and surviving in a higher league for a sustainable future is so embarrassingly low that surely it needs a whole rethink. This season alone we have Fulham and Cardiff not even surviving one season in the Premier League, Huddersfield only one season. For every Sheffield United there is a Rotherham or Bolton. Plymouth have survived only one season in the 2nd Division before going back to whence they came, Northampton also after surviving two seasons. Even Macclesfield runaway winners in last season’s National League just avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth last Saturday.
I know most people will say that it keeps the season alive for many more clubs, but for what purpose if they can’t hack it in a higher league? There have been exceptions of course even in this season, Luton and Lincoln in their respective leagues. But are Barnsley, Bury or MK Dons relegated last season, promoted this one going to do a Sheffield Utd? I doubt it. To make the Championship stronger we need less teams. As for Boro we need recruitment of younger, faster and fitter players with potential who will develop over the next couple of seasons to build a team that can sustain a place in the Premier League for a number of years, and not become a yo-yo club.
I’m not particularly sad that Boro didn’t make the playoffs only either to fail again under this Manager. Let’s see if we can build a squad that will at least give the home fans especially something to look forward to whether that means promotion or not. This season has seen home league attendances drop 9% from 25,554 to 23,217 and that has only been boosted by the plus 30,000 gates for the Boxing Day attendance and the visit from Leeds in February, plus the obvious counting of non-attending season ticket holders towards the end of the season. Another drop of that magnitude next season will see average attendances dropping to the 21,000 mark. That shows the dissatisfaction of fans in home performances under Pulis, and a sad reflection of where we’re at when compared to also-rans such as Forest, Sheffield Wed and Stoke.
What I am sad about though is for those fans who’ve been short-changed especially Redcar Red, Werdermouth and OFB whose tireless contributions on this forum have far exceeded the performances of the majority of the Boro players, and especially the manager and recruitment staff. This forum has now become the lifeline for Boro fans and I shudder to contemplate where we’d be without their outstanding contributions. Thanks lads. At least they and other contributors on this forum have made Diasboro a success story.
Thanks for the mention Ken let’s not forget your own contributions also
OFB
Thanks OFB, but in racing parlance I’m probably an ‘also ran’.
Ken
As Bob has said above you absolutely need to be included in that list of contributors!
An aside: the amount of abuse I got from defending a methodology that given time and the right resources is proven to work, and for two seasons in the second tier absolutely did.
Still scars, especially people who won’t let me live it down.
What you feel in the heat of the moment isn’t always what you mean, because it is coloured by passion and emotion. Everyone deserves the opportunity to rationalise and reflect.
My mindset has a lot to do with where I am. In Northern Ireland and Ireland, success is success for our national teams and when it comes we embrace it. We go with it. We would like it, you know, if the grumblers would lighten up and enjoy the ride.
The successful manager may have weaknesses – but in a way, so what? They all do. Results are results. And when you enjoy the good when it’s actually there – especially when your club has only won one trophy, or your nation has never reached a World Cup finals – you’ll be a lot happier.
That’s the sentimental argument. The truth, sadly, is not that simple. And it took a lot of thinking, reading for me to understand this – something that I wish the people who wouldn’t let me live it down understood.
Fairness and decency goes a long way.
A popular argument against Big Jack was simply that he was a cultist. Some complained that while they enjoyed his Ireland tenure wholeheartedly, it also started “the muppet Irish fan”. Unconditional devotees to the cause who wouldn’t question a thing even if it might help Ireland.
One of the best insights I ever read from a Boro fan was – “He was a top player, and I’ve good memories. It’s not Juninho himself that I’ve a problem with. It’s the Cult Of Juninho.”
This is Rational Si talking. The kind who knows how easy and tempting it is to go along with a cult but finds the pain in the aftermath of the success or joy almost unbearable. Be it the final six months for Jack or the final three for AK.
I remember how often I strongly disagreed with our own Richard Evans. Over time I came to understand that he had a point after all – and as further time went by I began to agree more and more.
Time is supposed to heal and not breed resentment.
Thanks Simon,
We may be on a different page sometime but are very much on the same team, as are is everyone on this blog.
It is one of the reason Diasboro is a cut above.
Cheers
Just been thinking about all the self-justification sound-bites coming from Tony Pulis with him putting forward reasons why seventh place was better than fifth last season, how he’s had to work with a limited budget due to Boro overspending before he arrived after what he’s labelled “a bad summer transfer window in 2017.”
Of course, few on Teesside are being fooled by the notion that he’s done an admirable job in difficult circumstances but perhaps we are not his intended audience.
It’s beginning to sound to me more and more like somebody embellishing their CV as they prepare to apply for their next job. It’s the noises of a man who’s wants to give the impression of having enhanced his reputation by rescuing a season last year to make the play-offs and valiantly attempting to repeat the task in tough financial cost-cutting circumstances (he claimed amusingly last week that Forest’s squad had a £100m advantage over Boro on spending as we had sold nearly £50m worth of players and they had spent over £50m) and being the victim of bad luck both on the pitch and with injuries.
He wants prospective employers to think he’s personally made a £40m profit for his chairman (when none of the sales were really much to do with him) – plus he’s also claiming he has brought though several youngsters to the senior squad. He also seemingly fought the fans against their impatient desire to sign big names – though I don’t personally recall such calls being made.
Maybe he’s the younger manager Cardiff will be looking for to replace a 70-year old Neil Warnock as MrMisanthrope earlier reported some rumours suggest. Steve Gibson may have been quiet for a reason and Tony says he’ll wait for his call to invite him for a chat and a nice glass of wine. Although, Steve Gibson rarely hangs out with Peter Kenyon unless he’s on the search for a new manager and he must be more than aware of the general feeling by the majority of fans that Pulis is not who they want to see in the dugout next season.
If Tony Pulis was a player would he have his option for a contract extension taken up by the club – I suspect not as they would feel he could have done a lot better than what he did.
I think you are on the money there Weder.
Every comment he makes is the equivalent of “ it wasn’t me guv , honest !”
Werder,
I think it’s all Pulispropagandabollocks, he may be convincing himself but nobody else. Bringing young players through? He’s ‘avin a laugh. How can he say he’s loved to have played Tavernier more? Oh, hang on he picks the team. I must have missed something there.
Anyway it’s over. Hopefully he’s gone. Soon.
UTB,
John
Thanks for running the challenge again this year Exmil and congratulations to Suffolk’n’Boro for coming top of this year’s class. Quite tight in the playoff places I see, with me pitched against Len… I am not confident.
Exmil, do we have to predict all the scores before the first game, or do we predict the first game, then the second when we know how things are after the first leg and then the final when we know who had won through?
When are the playoffs anyway?
Powmill-Naemore, you have to post your predictions for the matches listed before the first kickoff, then I will post the rules for the two who make it to the final. The date and KO times are listed on the playoff rules.
Come on BORO.
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2019 – THE PLAYOFFS
This seasons playoffs will see the following semi finals:
Ian Gill v Redcar Red (repeat of last season)
Powmill-Naemore v lenmasterman
Each player will have to predict the correct score, at full time (including extra time) for each of the following matches:
Sat 11/5 1230 Villa v WBA
Sat 11/5 1715 Derby v Leeds
Tues 14/5 2000 WBA v Villa
Wed 15/5 1945 Leeds v Derby
Penalty shootouts do not count.
Each player will score 5 points for the correct amount of goals per team, per match but will lose a point for each goal +/-.
GOLDEN GOAL
Each player is to predict the time of the first goal in the opening match (Villa v WBA only) to be used as a tie breaker, in the event of a tied total at the end of the four matches. The nearest to the actual time will go through to the final.
Example: predicted score 3 – 2
Actual score 1 – 2
Points scored (3+5) = 8
Good luck to all our four semi finalists.
Come on BORO.
Well, we’re probably all relieved that season is over, its been a drudge to say the least.
For me Redcar summed it up at the end of his report ‘out of date tactics’. I cant imagine TP sticking around, so hopefully Gibbo will have his eyes on a new young manager with some experience and up to date ideas.
Also, a big thank you to Werder & Redcar for what has been a thankless task this season and to all the regular contributors who have plugged away.
Now i’m looking forward to the discussion on what happens next once Gibbo announces whether or not TP is staying. New manager, new players, new hope?
In the meantime plenty of summer sport to enjoy
I’ve just been catching up with my football recordings, what with La Tour de Yorkshire, Golf, etc. However on ‘EFL on Quest’ Dean Ashton is tipping Villa to win the playoffs, and Leeds and Boro to finish 1st and 2nd next season. Surprisingly though he also suggested that Sol Campbell might be a choice to fill the role as Boro’s next Manager. I wonder what Diasboro bloggers think of that suggestion.
I’d put him in the same category as Woody. We have no idea how Sol Campbell would do but considering his dalliances with Macclesfield since quitting playing my thoughts are thanks but no thanks.
To Sol’s benefit however he is married to Fiona Barratt the Granddaughter of the Home builder. Considering that we are told the back of SG’s house is now falling apart then that could be a very shrewd appointment after all.
I’ve heard Woody still hasn’t passed his badges yet and has to return next season
But then I’m only passing on a rumour…..
OFB
Oh, thanks to OFB as well, sorry, senior moment!!
GHW
I also remember the bet and think I said I would match your donation if a Boro Player scored more than Bamford. I know Bamford has not played many games but a bets a bet so this morning I have made the donation to Zoe’s place.
On entering the website I was amazed at the work they are doing and also disappointed to learn that some of their funding is being cut.
I didn’t even realise that there was a hospice for children.
It really puts everything into perspective, and as the season ends its worth remembering that there are more important things than football.
For those of you with a few spare quid considering donating (you wont be needing that play off cash now), here is a reminder of the link posted by GHW.
https://www.zoes-place.org.uk/default.aspx
That’s a great idea. I’m sure a lot of money would have been spent on playoff tickets/ tv broadcasts. A small percentage donated would be brilliant for the charity.
Perhaps we could even make it the official DiasBoro good cause.
Diasboro being aligned with such a worthy charity is a great idea and would be the icing o the cake. It would give us all the incentive to help whenever we can. I am sure the great minds that contribute to this blog would come up with ingenious ways of raising funds throughout the year. Werder, is this something you could consider?
Sadly, I’ve barely had enough free time to keep the blog ticking over so I wouldn’t be personally keen on adding anything else to my list.
Though if you and other bloggers want to get together and set up some kind of sister blog to organise charity related events then I can point people in your direction.
Sorry but my current schedule for the rest of the year is looking rather hectic and I’m probably looking at cutting back rather than increasing it. I wouldn’t want to add it up but a 40-week season with Diasboro probably equates to around two months of full-time work.
Werder,
I did not choose my words very carefully and did not mean for you to get involved as you go above and beyond for this blog.
I was after your endorsement for Zoe’s place to be the Diasboro charity of choice. Maybe just their logo somewhere on the header to remind us all there are some less fortunate than ourselves. it may then prompt bloggers to donate or to put a charitable idea into action.
I am more than happy to contact them for permission.
No problem I’m sure your intentions were nothing other than to do something to help a worthy cause.
However, in reality Diasboro is a bit of an illusion as it’s just a personal WordPress blog created in my real name that I set up to keep the Untypical Boro community going. It is not an organisation and it can’t really be used as a kind of umbrella for bloggers to give funds to a charity as ultimately I would have personal responsibility for endorsing something in the name of Diasboro – especially if for example somebody organised a fund-raising event in the name of Diasboro.
Sorry if that sounds a bit overly legal and complicated but it’s what Diasboro is and something only I have legal responsibility for.
Fully understand Werder.
The Northern Echo are reporting that TP and SG will sit down to discuss in the early part of this week.
So we should know the way forward later this week. Only if they are not too drunken to remember what was discussed if some red wine is consumed.
Up the Boro!
OFB, I think the dust has settled down now and it would be a perfect time to interview Anthony this summer. We owe a lot to AV in here and it would be nice to hear how he started to support Boro and what was his first Boro match and with whom?
Secondly, now or never would it be nice to have a chat with Sir Gibson, too. Not likely, but worth a try. How he become a fan and some thoughts about the future of the club wouldn’t go missing in here. Please try but we won’t be surprised if he declines or do not have time 🙂
Up the Boro. The Boro will be promoted in a year’s time.
I know AV and SG but would be surprised if either would like to talk!
However I will ask the question regarding asking the questions and see what response I get
OFB
Just read that Pulis is contemplating whether it would be better to send Tav out on loan next season…
“He needs to get out and play more games. Whether he comes back in pre-season and does well and we keep him or whether we feel he needs to go out and play, we’ll decide then. But he’s a wonderful talent.”
Though by far the most worrying aspect of that quote is the “we” bit, which seems to indicate Pulis himself will still be here come August 🙁
I reckon Plato just self combusted.
GHW,
He’s not the only one.
UTB,
John
Well I have a bucket of water to hand.
Pedro,
A bucket of Estrella for me please.
UTB,
John
GHW
You are only partly correct in your assumption that went ape.
Anyone who watches the media soon catches the tricks they get up to.
Pulis has richly earned his dismissal (ten times over)
The firing of a football manager is a simple task, you must never explain, never give warning, if it were done it were best done quickly.
I cannot remember a sacking where the hapless victim spoke of going to a meeting with his executioner, it is simply not done.
So in view of the above, this person is actually going to be around next season, and Tav. Is not, what next, sell Wing for some nominal sum, after all we got him for nothing, so five mill could be considered a good profit. And would be by this fool. Let’s not forget Fry, money could be raised from the sale of him, and he came free so no need to go asking a lot for him, and we could become the friends of the buying club.
He fulfills all the hallmarks of the average village idiot, with an added slice of lunacy with his line in football speak, self justification, blame shifting, plus his add on talent for choosing a good buy in the market.
What is his batting average in buying and selling players, under water I would think.
As much as I’d be happy for TP to leave, I don’t want new ideas.
I want a mixture of youthful energy and experience, a combination of silk and steel.
I want strength in the middle and at the back, with speed up front and down the sides.
I want to attack at home and defend away.
I want to see the ball on the deck as a default, yet given the big boot when necessary.
I want players filled with confidence and a settled team with round pegs in round holes.
I want honesty, commitment, a policy of shooting on sight and some decent set pieces, with corners delivered to the near post for preference.
None of this revolutionary as I’m sure our elder voices will attest.
Chris
You sound like the ideal candidate to replace TP and would get my vote based on your straightforward and sensible principles. 😎
I’d happily trade salaries at the drop of a baseball cap.
Rather common sense, when you think of it!!!
Mind you you would have to lose a fair number of players and promote or attract a fair number of replacements.
We certainly need to lower by some the overall average age and gain the pace and 95 minute stamina.
Chris
It is impossible to get the above if you recruit middle of the road players of a tried and tested pedigree.
The used player market is a jungle in which the weakest players get trampled on (that would be us)
There is fierce competition for any well known player who is available, and deals are done that we have no knowledge of, such as selling him to a friend (yes, clubs have friends) or selling him to a club in exchange for the first chance of buying their very good young player,
Players are sold because they have an injury that ain’t going to get any better (ever)
And guess who is the lucky buyer when that happens, us, that’s who.
the only way to make any progress in building a team to go to war with, is by concentrating on young and hungry players who are longing to play at a higher level and hungry for success or money, and that means scouting, and plenty of it.
I can’t disagree with any of your final paragraph. I would to this would also mean integrating young players such as Tav, rather than threatening to send them out on loan for experience.
Chris
Everything you said is revolutionary to this person.
I notice that you said defend away, we had no idea of defending away as we hit the top after the first month, the youngsters just played if they scored first they went on to win. If they conceded the first, they just scored a couple and still went on to win.
So why aren’t we going up? His name is Pulis, and no, he has no idea why we are in free fall (he has no idea period)
Oh, sorry, he has an idea, send Tav. Out on loan (my head hurts)
What on earth are they going to talk about, him and gibbo? The surf conditions at sandbanks. Because that is all he should be considering.
Sat reading the on-line Gazette articles this morning on Boro and TP in particular is either enlightening or alarming. As Werder has already alluded to above these sound bites sound like a CV for prospective employers, spinning things to create a picture that reality would perhaps take a different view of.
We have all read CV’s and know to take them with a pinch of salt:
“Successfully restructured the business to reduce operational costs by closing four under performing outlets” means I lost the two biggest accounts and had to make redundancies and ditch personnel to balance the books.
“Charismatic and motivational leader” means the staff can’t stick him because he is an arrogant door handle of the highest order.
And so on and I guess its the same with Football Management. Only those of us up close and personal really know what went on but from a distant prospective employers can only get a headline feel for things followed by an interview with a thoroughly pleasant, bubbly and enthusiastic bloke (or Woman) who seems very plausible.
To me all these “announcements” deluded as most are, are simply nothing other than a Marketing exercise. If Warnock goes then all the cost savings and bringing youth and academy players through who will one day go on to play Premiership Football would sound perfect to Cardiff’s owners plus TP is from South Wales. What could possibly go wrong? Lets face it the Baggie fans opinions were identical to ours now but many of us (myself included) wanted (and believed in) the Pulis that got Stoke promoted and kept them there against all the odds.
The comments on those Gazette articles and on other social media sites give SG a fairly good indicator of the general feeling. Of course that does have to be tempered with the likelihood that moaners do like to moan and tend to be more vociferous. Others who are quite content and accepting of things tend to protest or enthuse somewhat less or at least in a more refined manner. While it is damning it is still only a cross section of the Boro fan base but nonetheless a group with extremely strong and even extreme viewpoints. The worry is that SG dismisses it as just that.
Should SG retain TP’s services then that would be an extremely brave and defiant stance. Its hard for anyone to try and reasonably reconcile what was delivered at the Riverside this season even allowing for the largely decent away showings (Villa, Swansea, Newport and Forest etc. aside). If he stays next season has to start like a steam train to keep the doubters quiet. An indifferent start to the campaign (like Norwich ironically this season) will turn the Riverside into an ugly and unpleasant atmosphere very quickly with the backlash rippling upwards into the Directors box.
To really remember and appreciate what went on in 1986 the fan would now need to be circa mid forties and upwards today. Those forty years of age and under do not have the same affinity and loyalty and respect that older fans do. Testing the patience and resolve of a smart phone generation raised on instant (and largely heartless and thoughtless) response times isn’t likely to end with a positive outcome.
History has told us that holding your nerve sometimes works even if it means waiting until you can see the whites of their eyes. A summer of disgruntled fans, poor ticket sales and an atmosphere of Riverside Rottweilers straining at their leashes from the stands however isn’t in anyone’s interest. The truth is that had the Play Off’s not been mathematically still possible feelings would have been a lot more volatile than an inflatable Dinosaur.
As in life being a football supporter means experiencing a very broad learning curve.
Starting as I did in 1965, it means I have lived through the best and worst of times. This leads to me being much more philosophical when it comes to all things Boro. Unfortunately in these more social media driven times, patience is the first casualty.
I wouldn’t be overly worried if TP stayed, particularly if it means getting the club on a sound financial footing. I fear that such is the demand for Championship clubs to attain Premiership status that there is a ticking financial time bomb of which some may not survive. Bolton being a prime example and perhaps just the tip of the iceberg.
Running the club on a sound financial footing is absolutely the single most important goal, far greater than reaching the Premiership even though that could theoretically achieve the same objective immediately. Last time we did it MFC totally blew the opportunity with the last of the cash being wasted last Summer. Is TP the correct and proper person to achieve that? He is a Football Coach not an accountant.
The arrivals into the club at a time of supposed impending austerity would seriously question the credibility of his recent statements. He has spent big money by Championship standards or at least the Club have during his tenure and its not unreasonable to suggest that the three major summer signings along with the loan arrivals have not improved the squad much if at all but they all came at an incredible cost for the level we are at.
Now if it comes out after the SG/TP meeting that Bausor, Gill, Bevington and their entourages all depart with a stinging rebuke from TP fully backed by SG towards their ineptness and how they and they alone overpaid and recruited payers that were not wanted and deemed unsuitable then fair enough. That would then imply that TP is indeed going through the club like a dose of salts and he can then explain to fans how he shared their frustrations and largely agreed with them throughout the season but had to keep his powder dry until the end of the season to avoid the club going into meltdown. If that were the case I may even be tempted to consider renewing but I think we all know that isn’t going to happen.
Following on from my above ramble the club needs to realise the level of confidence and belief in the back-room staff both in Admin and on the Bench. Presenting TP’s head on a plate won’t solve the wider problems that have been ongoing for some time now but seemingly ignored, papered over or just hoped that they would somehow resolve themselves.
The sycophantic and incestuous Old Boys club mentality needs to be dismantled. From the outside looking in it seems to be all too cosy and comfortable with no targets, objectives or results. Maddo commenting on the radio or Bernie having a column in the local paper is one thing but to immerse the entire club in a gene pool of fairly limited or average abilities wasn’t healthy. The fear now that Woody could actually be handed the reigns is a repeat of the Southgate fiasco but its also indicative of how the fans feel the club is being managed.
Gareth has gone on and done very well but the example there for Woodgate and MFC is for him to get out of the club, learn elsewhere and test himself at a lower level, building credentials and with it credibility. As local as he may be he is subject to extremes of opinions around here which is not a foundation you want to build the base of your club upon.
Putting in place a DOF could make a lot of sense for continuity reasons ensuring stability and long term planning. Who that DOF is is absolutely crucial. Installing the wrong person whom in turn surrounds himself with even more sycophants will lead to ongoing dissent from the fans. Maybe now SG needs to test himself by having a people around him who will actually express opinions even if they disagree for the good of MFC.
GHW,
Just fired £25.00 at Zoes via PayPal.
UTB,
John
Exmil
I think the below is in line with the Play Off challenge hopefully!
Sat 11/5 1230 Villa v WBA 2-0 (first goal 34 minutes)
Sat 11/5 1715 Derby v Leeds 1-1
Tues 14/5 2000 WBA v Villa 2-2
Wed 15/5 1945 Leeds v Derby 2-1
Recorded
My predictions for the scores, I saw Redcar Red had posted his scores which prompted me to do the same. I deliberately didn’t read his post.
Sat 11/5 1230 Villa 2 v 1 WBA
Sat 11/5 1715 Derby 1 v 0 Leeds
Tues 14/5 2000 WBA 1 v 1 Villa
Wed 15/5 1945 Leeds 2 v 1 Derby
First goal 19 minutes, I away from 12th to 19th so fingers crossed.
I posted mine on the Exmil Challenge page earlier and looking at what RR and Ian just posted here I think I must have been hallucinating … I’ll stick by it though. Good luck to RR, Ian and Len.
Recorded but who do you think will win the penalty shootout between Leeds/Derby ?
Come on BORO.
Exmil
Thanks again for all of your work on this.
Don’t have a clue on the play-offs, so I’ll have to rely on ill-informed guesses.
Villa 3 West Brom 0 !st goal 17mins
Derby 2 Leeds 0
WBA 1 Villa !
Leeds 2 Derby 1
Good luck to Powmill, RR and Ian. And congratulations to Suffolk ‘n Boro and Deleriad.
Recorded
I’ve been a Boro fan now since watching my first match against Everton in October 1947, have never fallen out with the club except maybe for a couple of seasons when Boro meekly capitulated in the First Division in 1981/82 with a run of 19 matches without a win from October to March and rarely looked like escaping relegation and then started the next season in the Second Division losing their first 3 home games all by the same score 1-4 to Burnley, Fulham and Grimsby before sacking Bobby Murdoch the manager. Shep took over for a few matches before Malcolm Allison was appointed manager, and he was quite impressive with his outline for the future when I saw him at the Coatham Bowl soon after his appointment. Of course Boro were broke and in a far worse position than they are today and in a far worse position than Allison was led to believe then.
As those of us old enough to remember that period, it all ended in tears with the Chairman Mike McCullagh stating that Boro were on the verge of bankruptcy and needed to sell Darren Wood to Chelsea for £100,000, a move which Allison was determined to block and ended with the Chairman sacking Allison (quote) ‘’Mr. Allison can no longer be relied upon to co-operate in trying to save the club” and Allison replying to the press with the statement (quote) “It’s better for the club to die than to linger slowly on its deathbed”. Well if anything was going to rekindle my support, it was Allison’s outrageous statement. We all know what happened next, but my feelings were that I didn’t realise how much the Boro meant to me before I was about to lose it.
Although as I mentioned I’ve been a fan for over 70 years many Boro fans, some much younger than I, have probably seen many more matches than me. First of all I had a paper round job which included evening deliveries from 1951 until 1953, National Service abroad from January 1957 to August 1958 and then came marriage in September 1961 although that didn’t initially stopped me from watching the Boro, but a few years later Golf and Rugby League did, playing the former every Saturday and supporting my wife’s family in watch her cousin Ian Stenton playing for Castleford in the latter.
I watched my first Rugby League game on 4th September 1965. I remember the day well as my wife and I were staying that weekend at her aunty’s and it was the day that Geoff Boycott scored a century in Yorkshire’s first Gillette Cup Final win at Lord’s against Surrey being televised in black and white on the BBC. Boycott had made his usual slow start (shades of Boro this season) and I felt a little bored, even contemplating driving to Elland Road to watch Leeds United. ‘’Tha don’t want to watch them nancy boys, get thissen down t’lane and watch real sport. T’is ownly 5 minutes walk for thee”. So that’s where I went. It was only a 1st Round Yorkshire Cup tie against near neighbours Featherstone with perhaps less than 5,000 there but what a racket they made. Just like my first Boro game, I’d now become hooked on Cas.
In those days Cas had a great team with our kid (Ian Stenton) having by this time become a regular left side centre in the side I almost felt obliged to go down t’lane to support my new family. On Tuesday evenings BBC 2 screened what became known as the BBC Floodlit Competition which Cas won every year for the first 3 years, and later for another time in 1977 against Leigh at Headingley when I took two colleagues from work, one being a contributor to Diasboro, Philip who now resides in Huddersfield. Embarrassingly at the final whistle I jumped over the concrete barrier to congratulate our Ian as he left the field.
However in those days Cas usually played their home games on a Friday night, so once a month picking my matches carefully. I’d leave work at Middlesbrough and drive straight to Castleford, park my car down my wife’s aunty’s ginnel, have a cup of coffee, walk down t’lane to the match, return for supper and drive back home to Redcar by midnight. The A19/A168 wasn’t a dual carriageway in those days, but I swear I became accustomed to every bend between home and Topcliffe before meeting the A1. Now generally speaking this didn’t stop me from watching the Boro except when the RL Challenge Cup matches came along. Cas had never won the Cup since 1935, so to drive down to Wembley and back, and to win it in successive seasons in 1969 and 1970 was wonderful. Ian was injured for the first Final in 69 when Cas beat Salford 11-6, but I met him at Wembley, and he played at Wembley the following year giving the final pass to his winger to score the only try of the match which Cas won against Wigan 7-2. In fact Cas won 13 successive Challenge Cup matches until losing in the Semifinal against Leeds the following year. I rarely missed a Cas Cup match whether televised or not. Twice I drove in a snowstorm, once to Workington, and another time to Cas when I kept on getting stuck in drifts on the way home. I must have been insane.
However for many years I rarely saw Boro play because of playing golf on a Saturday at Cleveland GC. I started with only a 2wood, a 3iron and a putter, but eventually bought a set of second hand clubs from a colleague at work for £17 which included a 3iron but no 2iron. Now I was generally more accurate with irons than woods, so now having a couple of 3irons and my Dad being a welder I asked if he could tilt the head a little so I could get more distance on some of the narrow fairways. Unfortunately the first time I used it the head broke and travelled further than the ball. Eventually I had to give up playing golf after suffering with tennis elbow, quite ironic that as I had rarely played tennis and that was in my teens.
Watching golf wasn’t a problem as the 3 Open Championships I’ve attended, twice at Muirfield and once at Lytham St Anne’s, were obviously played in July, but my wife and I always loved to visit Fulford GC in York for the final day’s play of the Benson and Hedges Tournament which in those days used to be on a Saturday in September. Sometimes that coincided with a Boro home match, but occasionally didn’t. However the inaugural one certainly did as Tony Jacklin won with an eagle on the last hole, and a young Peter Oosterhuis was presented with a trophy for being rookie of the year. Boro fans probably won’t remember when that tournament took place, nor will they care that much, because they were probably watching Boro walloping QPR 6-2 and from 0-2 down as I recall. The date was 26th September 1970 and I had missed it.
Lately of course when I retired I used to drive down to the Algarve sometimes for 3 months, but twice for 5 months so watched Boro even less. But once a Boro fan always a Boro fan. Before the advent of satellite TV I could always keep up to speed on all the football via my short wave radio, and in the later years the apartment I rented actually installed English TV which made catching up with football easier. But to keep up to date with Rugby League I had to await the Monday newspapers for the scores. So generally when writing my historical blogs for this forum I’ve had to do a lot of research.
I had initially decided that the Jack Charlton era would be my last, but was encouraged by some to carry on as it was more meaningful to them as being nostalgic. The last few seasons I reported on was the Lennie Lawrence years, but something Simon mentioned recently was that he didn’t remember the Ayresome Park matches. Whether he was too young, or wasn’t even born I don’t know. I realise that delving into most of the historical years has limited appeal to many, but some fans like to be reminded about seasons they have enjoyed, so maybe I ought to carry on with a review of the last season at Ayresome Park and the Riverside Revolution. It’s called nostalgia, and most of us like to recall better times after such a dreadful season this year. So if I feel up to it, I’ll probably try to raise spirits of those by recalling those seasons in the next week or two as we all await with bated breath the outcome of Tony Pulis’s meeting with Steve Gibson.
I am looking forward to reading that already Ken.
Not family, but a friend from Bradford at college who talked me into giving a lift to watch Northern play at Swinton one dark and damp evening. Hooked in Rugby League ever since and very sad not to have my Northern to watch out for any more.
Yorkshire cricket is the other team I like to follow, but haven’t been to see them play for many many years. Happy memory of seeing them win the B&H cup at Lords in the 80s…
Powmill Naemore
I’ve visited Odsal Stadium, Bradford 4 times and Belle Vue, Wakefield 3 times and have yet to see Cas win at either venue
I too was at Lords to see Yorkshire win the B&H cup! I recall a spectacular catch by (I think Kevin Sharp) and again from memory Phil Carrick scoring the winning runs ina tight finish.
I also once visited Station Road, Swinton for a Cup Semifinal between Cas and St Helens in April 1970 which Cas won 6-3 without scoring a try but scored 3 drop goals. In those days a drop goal was worth 2 points instead of only 1 today, whilst a try was worth only 3 points instead of 4 today. So if that match were played today Cas would have lost 3-4.
Ken I enjoy your look back onto our history and your ability to get all the information is fantastic.
As you say, once a Boro fan always a Boro fan no matter how much we see live games.
I am am mere youngster with only just over 50 years of history watching games often from a distance pre internet.
I can remember being in Italy when the play off game was played against Chelsea and having to wait until the day after to sneak a look at an English paper to see that we had won!
How things have changed with the influx of too much money in my view , and look at Boro and Chelsea now.
Wouldnt have it any other way either to be fair!
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2019
Playoffs
All four entries have been recorded.
Come on BORO.
Strewth, Liverpool are leading Barcelona 3-0 (3-3 now on aggregate) with 30 minutes remaining. I hope they win as the Premier League title now looks to be Man City’s after their win against Leicester last night. Mustn’t concede though as away goals count double.
Liverpool won 4-0.
Amazing result for Liverpool – memories of that April night at the Riverside!
Can you imagine how TP would have played the game?
BBD I too was remembering that night in April ’86. I texted my Liverpool supporting colleague last night that I thought it was only Middlesbrough that could turn around a European semi final like that.
Just goes to show what you get for defending your 3-0 deficit…
All in all a disappointing end to the season though the play offs look very strong this year. Paid the price for negativity.
Without going too deep – as many can do far better on here – for TP to dredge out these spending excuses is an absolute disgrace.
He had the players that Monk spent money on and many established top Championship performers.
He then signs Saville, Flint, McNair and has The budget to bring in Besic, Hugill and John Obi. Not to mention VLP. Ridiculous!
Actions speak louder than words. He says the right things about the area etc but all I see are the parts greater than the sum, not one player improving under his tutelage and I’ve seen a few of the worst matches ever this season.
‘Destroy and exit ‘ complete TP.
Thanks for all the Match reports; they really are rather good. Very very much appreciated
What an outstanding match and a brilliant victory for Liverpool, I have watch the match twice and I still don’t believe they overturned a 3 – 0 deficit against Barcelona. I think it was the match of the season, even Klopp was lost for words. Thank you Liverpool for an excellent night of football and it is possible that both European finals could consist of 4 English teams.
Come on BORO.
Lots of people calling for the managers head, I agree, but it does need to go deeper than that. The recruitment team have not covered themselves in glory and I know much has been said about TP’s brief to audit the club from top to bottom.
I think its also time to look at the playing staff. The largely ineffective loanees have returned to their clubs, Hugill, Besic, VLP and Mikel looks like leaving.
Rather than sell Britt, Tav, Wing or Fry, I would off load six players that in my opinion have been here too long and become too “comfortable”.
I dont think they have the fight (or ability) anymore to mount a promotion challenge.
Dimi, Friend, Ayala, Clayton, Downing and Gestede.
That would still leave a lot of quality and experience at the club but there would be at least 10 places up for grabs for the new manager and new recruitment team to get their teeth into and the places could be filled by the improving academy players and some shrewd “”below the radar” signings (see Norwich).
I know that seems a bit extreme but it may be the only effective way to change the team dynamic from tippy tappy defensive dross to the football we all want to see with players prepared to roll up their sleeves, get stuck in and have a go (see Sheff Utd).
I would be prepared for next season to be one of transition as long as the club was going in the right direction on and off the field and the bank was happy.
We need a foreign coach with his own coaches,new ideas and good contacts (see Norwich)
Please SG, dont be tempted by the old boys union.
Old Billy, whilst I do not disagree with your player thoughts, I think you will find it rather difficult to move on four of those still with contracts.
Hi Pedro,
My opinion is that they have to be moved on even if it means taking a hit on the transfer fee and subsidising part of their wages.
Fag packet calcs as follows, no allowance for agents fees, bonuses, taxes ect.
Friend, 1 year left on say 20k per week, may get 1m for him, subsidise half his wage and pocket 500k.
Ayala, 1 year left on say 20k per week, may get 2m for him, subsidise half his wage and pocket 1.5m
Clayton, 2 years left on say 25k per week, may get 2m for him, subsidise half his wage, even for two years and pocket 750k.
Gestede, 1 year left on say 30k per week, may get 1.5m for him, subsidise half his wage and pocket 750k (on second thoughts we may have to cough up more than 50% of his wage).
So its not beyond reality that we could get net 3.5m for them, the original outlay was probably around 11m. Considering their years of service, good or bad, thats a decent wedge for players who may not get much game time anyway.
I pretty much agree with all that Old Billy but I’d actually retain Friend, Clayton and Ayala. Clayton is a solid dependable Midfielder that will scrap and battle and do the ugly stuff and we need one of them and that’s one of the problems, we only need one not four of them.
Friend isn’t a Wing Back and when asked to play that role gets exposed when caught upfield despite having defesive midfielders, they aren’t moving over and cvering for him yet he is the only outlet and attacking intent down our left despite having Downing and Tav (or even Johnson before he went on loan or VLP). I think it was more the system than just Friend. We do however need competition for him.
Ayala is one of the best in this dividion when fit and with hs head screwed on. His worst moments this season were borne out of frustation and anger rather than inability. Perhaps the players themselves were as fed up as the fans sitting deep with the ball coming staright back at us.
Everything else though I fully agree with, including Dimi due to age, Downing because we haven’t seen 20% of what we thought he would bring when he returned and is now too old and expensive. Gestede should never have been brought to the club for a few reasons but to make it worse nobody will touch him now as who wants a non scoring immobile Striker on ridiculous terms (allegedly).
That’s three to clear out along with Besic, Mikel and Hugill making six in total. What is left in a relatively small squad is enough to build on and tweak rather than rip apart entirely. A RB and a LB along with some pace and energy with a Ramirez type to work some magic and another striker after Gestede and Hugill depart would suit me. I actually believe that what is left is more than capable especially with the likes of Spence and Wood and other youngsters coming through. Six changes in a squad is plenty if we are to avoid a Monk type level of confusion and disruption.
If Boro continue with wing-backs then I thought Howson has looked pretty good in that role and he’s even got a decent long throw too. Left wing-back is more problematic but maybe as GHW has advocated Boro should perhaps try and get Tavernier up to speed in that role – he has played midfield before so can tackle and can cross too.
We should maybe start again with the strikers as although Britt has scored goals he does miss more than he reasonably should and has no assists this season. Fletcher also looks like he has potential but he seems to lack confidence, which is not ideal as a striker. Gestede and Hugill need to leave who ever is in charge next season. Of course the club will have to take a hit on Britt, Fletcher and Gestede as nobody will give us our money back or even match their wages – which may mean we can’t even move them on.
I did consider much of what you have said RR, but having watched 90% of the games this season it appears to me the 3 have lost their edge for whatever reason.
Ayala was the best in the league but I dont trust him anymore, opposition managers know how to play him and refs are getting wise, he always has a mistake in him.
Clayton seems to have one good game and one bad game and is tainted most of all with the backwards sidewards passing and has been since AK de-programmed him. It is so frustrating to watch, especially when running forwards with the ball at his feet, just over the half way line only to stop, look and then make the rugby pass.
George has never recovered from his encounters with speedy wingers in the prem and the niggling injuries he has had, he often gets caught in possession and seems incapable of getting passed defenders as regular as he used to. He is now the wrong side of 30 and I cannot see him driving us on to promotion down the left wing.
I had not considered frustration and you are probably right but that would spread through the whole squad, playing or not. I bet Tav is rather frustrated.
I just think they have just been here too long.
We need to consider the goal keeping department as I think we will have great difficulty in retaining Randolph.
Two years in the Championship, I am not sure he will be happy with a third and given his performances I am sure that some of the PL teams at the lower end of the table will come calling.
I agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding Ayala, Clayton and Friend. Friend’s performances have suffered due to being asked to perform as a Wing back which he is clearly not. When at his previous club it was as a centre half. We need to employ him as a traditional full back whose forays forward across the half way line are limited. 😎
Let’s face it George has been one of the main outlets to get Boro up the pitch in recent seasons but he seldom has an end product – it’s mainly just that dummy to cross and then knocking the ball past the defender which he can really only fool the defender with once a game. As for pretending he has a long throw – possibly he can throw it the highest in the team but it’s not a long throw by any measure.
Friend could be an option in a back three and cover full-back but if Boro are serious about providing an attack threat then whether it’s either wing-backs or full-backs, along with the midfield (and strikers!), they need to find players with a cutting edge.
I managed to find an unofficial live stream of the Liverpool v Barcelona game yesterday evening but didn’t really expect they could pull back a 3-0 deficit. After being up since 5am I was feeling pretty tired but with Liverpool winning 1-0 at half-time decided to keep with it.
Unfortunately, that was the last thing I remember as I fell asleep waiting for the second half to start and woke up at 11.30pm on the sofa with the live feed finished. I thought I’d check the final score before heading for bed as I presumed Barcelona had got through – couldn’t believe it when I saw 4-0 and I’d missed out on all the excitement 🙁
Took me ages this morning to find any kind of highlights on the internet – the Champions League has become this exclusive package with absolutely no terrestrial highlights any more. Obviously, money rules over any idea that the Champion League is a shared event that football fans can enjoy – it’s been a long time since the live games were available but to lose the highlights as well is I think a step too far.
If anybody also missed out here is a link to the highlights I found – note you have to turn the volume up on the bottom left of the video pane.
Usually YouTube has all the highlights
Yes it’s usually OK, but after checking out YouTube before going to bed and only finding endless ‘fake’ highlight videos I gave up – though I’ve just seen there’s a proper 3-minute video on there now.
It was quite an amazing match and as someone who doesn’t like Liverpool even I was cheering them on.
Jordan Henderson usually gets stick from England supporters and is no longer a first pick for Liverpool, but last night he was outstanding.
Keep.
Randolph
Ayala
Flint
Shotton
Saville
Howson
Assombalonga
Fletcher
Besic
Friend
Clayton
Fry
Get Shot of the rest
I would say that given Britt has got just two years left on his contract then Boro should sell him this summer, otherwise we’ll get next to nothing back from the £15m that we paid for him if the club wait until the last year of his contract. We may get £8-9m this summer given he’s been our top scorer again but he’s likely to becomes second choice next season if we sign someone
half decent and he’ll lose a lot more value. Although his averages are still good with 2 goals from every 5 games in the last 5 years.
Wing, Tavernier? I’d let Besic go. There has to be someone who does the same thing with more pace and more regularly.
I would keep all the home grown players.
Including Downing? I would. UTB!
I would have chased Downing with big bricks ages ago. In fact I thought it was stupid to buy him in the first place.
bournemouth wages
https://sillyseason.com/salary/afc-bournemouth-players-salaries-101261/
Scroll to bottom of page, quite revealing if true.
If you assume that Rico and Lerma are on the same as Defoe and Brooks is on the same as Ake that gives a weekly wage bill of 300,000. What surprises me is the number of players on 5,000 per week or less.
On the other hand, Bournemouth is a club with virtually no income outside of Premier League money and is paying £20m+ on transfers.
Relegation used to be an occasional setback, now it’s a financial catastrophe. I think Fulham will be joining the Bolton gang in a few years. I just looked at Huddersfield’s player salaries: nearly £700,000/week; that’s about £36,000,000 a year. Huddersfield’s annual income in the Championship, outside of parachute payments, is going to be under £10M. They will have to plan to knock £30,000,000 off their wage bill in case they don’t get promoted. to do that they need to sell their 20 top earners out of 26 listed players and replace them with 15 players earning 60,000 or less between them. I mean, how the hell do you do that?
I’d take those salaries with a pinch of salt. I don’t for one minute believe them. Particularly in the case of Ake and Surman.
GHW
I did say if true.
It just goes to show how desperate we have been in recruiting players on ridiculous wages, on that I do agree with TP.
Or is it the lure of the south coast.
As good as Mikel has been, we don’t need an aging player on a lucrative long term contract. I’d be enquiring about Pritchard and Durm at Huddersfield, and possibly Nakhi Wells.
GHW
Our problems have to a large extent been caused by spending money on known players smack in the middle of the skill range, it’s a bad habit we have, and generally ends in tears, all the Huddersfield players gave more than their all for two seasons under a manager who motivated them.
I think it would be very dangerous for us to buy any of them.
The astonishing thing about the Liverpool comeback was the extreme pace at which they did everything. Yes, you need the ability to operate at that pace but we have quality players and it would be so exhilarating to see MFC playing that game.
I admit to more or less hating Liverpool since the Ziege fiasco but found myself wishing them well due to the sheer exuberance of their performance. What a night for the fans.
With regard to players to ship out, I agree with RR. The three mentioned – Clayton, Ayala and Friend are quality squad players and they will help any new arrivals bed down. Personally, I’d like to know just how many of the younger players – particularly those who have been out on loan – are close to being ready. There are a few who have battled through tough seasons in Leagues One and Two. Are they now ready for the first team squad?
UTB
Ziege!!
My hatred goes back long before then.
Even Wing and Tavernier GHW?
I amended to say I’d keep the home grown players
Just to make it clear that my 9.13 post was in support of RR’s comments regarding the need to retain Ayala, Clayton and Friend.
We need the core of a team and not another complete rebuild.
I just wonder if we used Clayton, McNair, Saville and Howson in midfield with a manager who encourages them to play on the front foot and re-cycle the ball quicker if that might work.
I am not a fan of Britt, I know many say that he has not had the right service but when he does get the service he misses far to many and his 1:1 ratio is appalling.
I am not sure what the stats show, but he appears to me to have very little impact against the teams at the top of the league. I also believe that his goals per season ratio over his career is only averaging around the 10/11 mark which to my mind is not enough from your main striker and is well short of what promotion contending team’s strikers are achieving.
Fletcher should be persevered with but needs support and encouragement and game time.
We therefore need to re-engineer the front end and add some pace out wide so that if the midfield is not working we can go to a plan B. We need also cover at left back.
So there is a need to generate either cash via sales or we will have to look at the loan market.
If possible, off loading Braithwaite, Assombalonga and Gestede would help albeit no doubt we will take a hit and assumes that other clubs will match players demands. 😎
I’d almost forgot about Braithwaite – another over-priced and overpaid player we need to find buyer for. That’s nearly £40m ‘worth’ of strikers in Britt, Fletcher, Gestede and Braithwaite, who together are all probably on around £7-8m a year in wages.
Or indeed want them!
Ive already had enough about Liverpool’s win last night, typical overreaction, I mean, it’s not as if it was Steau, it was only Barcelona.
Very good GHW!
I sent a text to a Liverpool supporting friend along the same lines!
It was a good game to watch and shows what can be done with a few quid to spend on players who have skill, speed and the ability to think for themselves.
I don’t think that corner would have been in TPS playbook and Boro would have fluffed it anyway for fear of scoring.
BBD
That’s what happens when you let young lads into the team. Hastily taken corner instead of waiting until everyone was positioned in the box, the big lads up from the back then lob it into the middle of the six yard box at the perfect trajectory for the Keeper to collect. Now that’s how you should take a real proper corner, I’d send him out on loan to Yeovil next season for that.
Administration for Bolton….
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48199290
Very sad to see a great Club in that situation. All this talk of a “fit and proper person test” is just a box ticking exercise. The Soul of Football has been sold and money talks but it is unsustainable for the majority if they are stupid enough to live beyond their means. All the more reason why SG and MFC need to jettison silly salaries and put ceilings in place to walk away immediately from ridiculous demands.
Even in the Premiership, players and their agents knew don’t waste your time with Arsenal and Wenger, the silly salaries and contracts lay elsewhere. Unfortunately at this level MFC have a reputation for all the wrong reasons and is one thing that TP is correct on although its worrying that seemingly SG needed him up here to spot the bleeding obvious.
There is talent out there but we spot it too late or won’t commit until other clubs have. The Waghorn fees touted last summer were ridiculous as were the fees we actually paid out for decent but unspectacular Championship Footballers. Instead we should gamble on three Maupay’s or Pukki’s and if only one works out then its far cheaper than one donkey with a ridiculous salary on a four year deal but most importantly far better contribution on the pitch and in the investment.
There must be ten young Adama Traore’s out there, fast as lightening but poor technique that needs developing and honing. Who knows we may even be able to coach one into having a final product, what would his worth be then.
Totally agree. We would be better spending money on a proper scouting and recruitment set up. Oh, hang on what is the academy for then?
Something is clearly not working in the club and unless it is fixed, then further problems are likely in the short to medium term.
Whilst we should be thankful to SG for all that he has done for our club and the money he has invested, there needs some sort of change if he doesn’t want to expend any more.
Remind me, what’s a “final product” RR…. I’m not sure I can remember it has been so long….
Neil Bausor and Adrian Bevington on the Teesside to Schiphol Amsterdam plane this morning and that’s not a rumour !
OFB
What is rumour is that Pulis has signed a new contract!
Not verified but apparently Cardiff are interesting Pulis …another rumour ..
OFB
OFB, not to contradict but didn’t you report weeks ago that TP had signed a new contract and the club was just waiting for the right time to announce it. ?
Come on BORO.
To be fair Exmil, OFB reported a rumour that TP had signed a new contract, that is the hearsay, he did not in fact report that TP had signed a new contract.
Big difference 😉
Sorry Exmil, I take it back, OFB you did say a couple of weeks ago that it was true that TP had signed a new contract !!
Nothing to say what type of contract it was though….
Maybe they’re considering appointing the Ajax youth coach as manager? I think he’s called Heini Otto…
Otto may be a step in the right direction.
If Bausor and Bev are scouting for Players I’d ask them for two lists. Ones they recommend and the ones they don’t rate then shred their recommended list. Work on the ones they don’t rate and more than likely won’t cost a lot either.
A young up-coming coach. Just 64 year old.
But great memories. He played in 1980’s and was signed by Bobby Murdoch.
Up the Boro!
Or perhaps Jurgen Klopp rejected us and now they go for Erik Ten Hag? Or they want just to see the match …
Up the Boro,
Heini really integrated into the area talking to local football clubs presenting prizes and even organised a football tournament inHolland where my son played for Marton FC
A great person
OFB
Off on their holidays early then Bob
Holidays in Portugal?
On the supposedly ridiculously low Bournemouth weekly salaries published in that article that Old Billy posted – I’ve just checked their accounts for 2017-18 and it states their wage bill increased from £71.5m to just under £102m. So I think you’ll find they are not the real weekly wages!
Staff costs increased from £71.5 million in 2017 to £101.9 million in 2018. This reflects the club offering competitive remuneration packages to attract and maintain the calibre of playing and team management staff necessary to allow the club to compete in the league, with the aim of maintaining Premier League status.
https://www.afcb.co.uk/news/club-news/club-release-annual-accounts
I rest my case.
As I stated before
If true
It makes you wonder why sites put up these stories. I fail to see how it can benefit them.
I’ve no idea what research the website did but in one paragraph they state Nathan Ake was signed for £20.5m and then go on to claim he’s only on £10,000 a week. Surely anyone writing an article related to football finances would realise that no player (or rather his agent) being involved in such a large transfer fee would ever accept that kind of salary.
I’m not sure if it was just quickly put together without much thought but I noted salary was spelled as ‘salery’ in some cases – btw if you add up their weekly figures and multiply by 52 you get an annual wage bill of just over £8.5m so somewhere around £94m short.
On the subject of wages and Delriad’s comment on Huddersfield having a wage bill of £36m – if that is true (and given their wage bill in their promotion year was only £11m it may well be) I think that’s going to be absolutely no problem to handle if you consider they’ll be picking up around £100m in prize money this season – plus they’ll qualify for three years parachute payments with two of those covering that wage bill.
Most Premier League clubs run wage bills of at least two-thirds income and £36m would be less than a third and closer to a quarter of total income – Boro’s wage bill in last season’s Championship has been quoted at around the £50m mark, so Huddersfield can gradually get their’s back in line without risking debt.
Werder
It may be they are on low wages but big bonuses for staying in the league.
That would be a sensible way to square the circle, we can pay the wages if we keep our place in the prem. Presumably anyone can leave if they can’t handle that deal. Makes sense to me. I will say that the team are always at the races, and any team going there with less than 100 per cent are toast.
More likely they are on a boys jolly to the red light area!
They have been advised there are some young, fast and light on their feet individuals in the area. 😂
Not that I speak from experience I may add. Only been to Amsterdam once as a 10 year old schoolboy. 😎
You started early, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean!
We should work as much as possible with what we’ve got, if only because we have little cash and there will be few takers for our over earning deadweight.
I’d keep Ayala to partner and mentor Fry.
It’s a valid point about Britt’s contract running down, but I’d prefer to keep him another year, a goal very other time he starts is impressive, and as I doubt anyone will take Fletcher, we should play both.
Marvin Johnson will be returning and plays left wing, if he has any speed, then keep him as cover for Tav.
Choose a midfield duo from Saville, Howson, Clayton and Wing, as long as Wing starts. Keep the other two as cover.
Friend isn’t a wing back. Shotton is. Decide which system we’re going to play and choose the player to keep accordingly. And let’s pick a system and stick to it, lets spend our time worrying the opposition, no worrying about them.
Remember the expression ‘our first team’? If our team is settled then in the event of injury an academy should supply a replacement. It’s easier for a young player to step into an established side than to be one of half a dozen parachuted into a makeshift team in a cup game.
I’d prefer to keep Randolph, but if a lower Prem club come in for him then perhaps we could let him go for free, but on condition they buy Gestede for £20m.
Two for the price of one, I like it!
They could have Randolph for 20 million or Randolph & Gestede for 18 million.
My son use phoned me from Portsmouth and said he was listening to Radio 5 live and Alan Brazil in his programme stated he knows that TP will not be At MFC next season, he did not say it was a rumour!
Come on BORO.
I thought Alan Brazil was on TalkSport, sounds like unreliable sourcing there Exmil 😉
Maybe we could arrange to lend Randolph out to a lower prem club. They can pay us a substantial loan fee and cover his wages for the season and then we can have him back for the following season when we will be back in the Premier League.
Actually, piggybacking Chris H’s cunning plan, forgo a loan fee if they take Gestede on a permanent contract.
Powmill, maybe I got the radio channel wrong but that’s why my son rang me when he heard Brazil talking about Middlesbrough.
Come on BORO.
Hope he is correct…..Brazil that is.
Will not be able to keep fingers crossed hard enough and hope it’s true.
Maybe Bauser and Bevington have to meet a prospective Manger and not a possible player?
I hope they are over there watching Ajax versus Spurs.
All that flowing football, movement and running off the ball, creating angles, openings and opportunities, giving their team mates options, hitting the ball first time.
Just a shame they don’t stand around like statues, take three or four touches to control the ball, take the sting out of the game, pass it backwards or sideways recycling possession waiting to entice their opponents into their own half and hoping to pick them off with a long throw that never beats the first man.
A joy to behold, Ajax that is not Boro just to avoid any confusion.
You need to have the players with the ability to do all of those things.
Your opponents have the same level of ability GHW.
We stunk out the Riverside against Rotherham, we took Britt off for Friend at the Riverside. We weren’t playing Barca or Real Madrid but Brentford and Rotherham. In fact we consistently stunk out the Riverside for the entire season bar one game against Sheffield United.
Redcar Red
Oops!! Well done Spurs, done 3-0 away from home then coming back to win 3-2. Brilliant performance.
Is that better than Liverpool winning 4-0 our two 30 down gams in Europe?
It doesn’t matter, well done Liverpool , 9gritted teeth and bile) and Spurs (soft southerners).
An interesting final in prospect, I will support Spurs.
Brilliant attacking display from Spurs in the second half. I have witnessed more Footballing excitement and entertainment in the last 24 hours than Pulis has served up in almost 18 months.
Contrast how Ajax went out with their boots on, pride intact and respect earned versus our humiliating Play Off surrender where even the TV company didn’t want to cover our games for fear of falling asleep. I’d much rather lose 2-3 in an exciting and enthralling game than say 1-2 versus Brentford because we lacked any desire to compete. For Brentford you can insert a long list of Championship games this season.
Norwich and Sheffield United were promoted by playing exciting football, scoring goals and with teams that cost less than one Flint or Saville. Maybe not in the class as the Champions League quarter finalists but equally light years away from Prehistoric Pulis tactics.
Some might say that Ajax in the last 15 mins put in a typical Boro performance.
I reckon both this game and Liverpool’s tie proved the superior power and fitness of the Premiership at this late stage of the season.
Fabulous win for Tottenham, poetic justice that the winner came in time added on for the Ajax goalkeepers blatant time wasting .
As previously stated, with Besic, VLP, Hugill and Downing gone and Mikel and Braithwaite surely to follow, I suspect we can quite easily cut the wage bill to manageable levels for next season without significant impact to the quality of the first XI. Gestede can happily go but I don’t see any takers there so I think he will most likely stay for another season until his contract expires.
If that does indeed work financially with a little wriggle room then I’d keep the rest and add a couple of pacy wingbacks, with the priority being on the left side, though we’ll need a reserve keeper from somewhere too.
A squad of Randolph +1, Shotton, Ayala, Flint, Fry, Friend + 2 wingbacks, Clayton, Howson, Saville, Wing, McNair, Tavernier, Johnson(?), Fletcher, Assombalonga, Gestede. There’s enough there, supplemented by a few more Academy graduates to play an attacking 3-5-2.
Howson, Saville and McNair have all scored goals from midfield for other clubs and Wing and Tav have done so for us. I think Fletcher and Assombalonga both have plenty in the right set up.
We need that pace down the flanks though and, most importantly, a different mindset.
The worst scenario would be a repeat of last summer where we strip out the most saleable assets (Randolph, Fry, Wing?).
Amazing that both Semifinals should see two English clubs come back from a 3 goal deficit to reach the oddly named Champions League Final. I know my Spurs supporting chiropodist will be pleased especially as Spurs had lost their previous 4 matches and failed to score a goal in any of them. With Arsenal and Chelsea likely to contest the Europa League Final is this a fillip for English football? Hardly, but it is for the higher reaches of the Premier League. So isn’t it about time that a European League was formed to include the top European clubs to give the remaining Premier League clubs a chance to win the league, or would we still have two clubs taking all the honours in a revamped Premier League? However there would still be an imbalance in both the Premier League and the Championship so I’ll hold my breath on that happening in my lifetime.
A daft thought, if we want to save money how about brining David Wheater back and moving someone out as long as Fry stays.
Sounds daft but is he a better bet or similar to what we have?
Just a daft idea.
As he is not being paid he may be tempted by an offer of 500 quid a week!
That would help the wage bill
Good enough to fill the gap left by Batth in the squad and at a low cost plus also good enough to press for a start to keep everyone on their toes. Paired with Flint it may be a bit agricultural but other than that solid and strong enough not to get battered.
We should consider both Friend and Shotton to be centre-backs who can plug a gap at fullback from here on and therefore don’t need to sign anyone in that position, even if we lose one.
Bugger, didn’t even wait to fall asleep on the sofa this time when Spurs went 2-0 down and went to bed. Put the TV on to watch the news and saw that there’d been another amazing comeback – just watched a 15 minute highlights video and it looked a fantastic game with such a dramatic end. Well that’s two of the most unbelievable games missed – though at least I saw all of Boro’s more believable games instead…
Hard to know what to make of Spurs comeback. They dominated the second half by hitting long balls at Llorente and Ajax couldn’t cope and didn’t win the second balls. Spurs had players flooding forward in support and it worked. Pretty much what Pulis tried to do with one big target man.
Liverpool could cut them apart and their defence under Van Dijk won’t be as vulnerable.
Like ourselves against Steaua there was nothing to lose and Spurs just had to go for it. Ajax were pegged back as Spurs threw everyone up defending from the half way line. All Ajax had to do was hold on and catch them with pace on the break. Had the Ajax shot that hit the post when they broke out in the second half went in it would have been game over but that was the risk Pochettino took and in the dying seconds it worked. The timing of that goal was critical because there was no time left for Ajax to respond. Attacking intent won on all levels on both nights.
As did playing with the pressure off / no weight of expectation?
I suppose Spurs win was the greater achievement, because like Boro against Steau Bucharest and Basel, they were dead and buried going into the last minute and had nothing to lose. Liverpool always looked like winning once they equalised. Let’s not forget also that Boro did it twice within a month and for the only time in their history had almost the whole country, well certainly north of Watford, behind them.
We are now entering that period of slow news or certainly little of merit to comment on or discuss unless you are a Spurs or Liverpool fan of course!
I’m guessing that the SG/TP Summit conference will take place when legal eagles have gone through the small detail in contracts to ensure nothing is left to chance and the contract expiry period clear and unequivocal. There will then be the agreed terminology to thank TP for his sterling work in helping to restructure the Club or how on earth can we spin him remaining as a positive to the fans. If its the latter I would expect there to be some sort of positive statement of intent along with a trophy signing of some sort to deflect and bury the news. Personally I think everyone knows it has run its course and its best to shake hands and look to fresh horizons.
Newspapers are linking Britt to the Blades which sounds credible albeit probably no more than excited fans and journalists in South Yorkshire speculating on next season and who they would want or need. They could probably afford to reimburse Boro for the amount we originally paid or close to it and if so then to me it makes sense to do a deal on the basis that his wages are at the upper toppling over end of the Boro salary scale. Sadly I suspect the same may be true for Randolph and the sale of both could bring in some cash to start to rebuilding a more affordable model for next season with sensible purchases rather than irresponsibly overpaying.
Redcar Red,
You beat me to it.
From now on we’ll all be on full waffle alert and the sooner the better for me.
I’d be sad to lose Randolph and I don’t know what we have in-house as a possible replacement for him. As for the rest, well, if there’s a clear plan/strategy/policy that’s visible and not simply a weekly adjustment and it covers a new buying policy and blooding youth I’d be well pleased. As the saying goes I’m not holding my breath. Perhaps after that there’s some management areas that need a clean-out too.
Let the smoke and mirrors begin and I’ll go back to loose tea now so that I can check the tea leaves. After last season the geese and goose entrails have all gone so that’ll be an economy measure too.
UTB,
John
Northern Echo are reporting this morning that Sheffield United are set to make a bid for Britt Assombalonga – I think the club shouldn’t stand in his way of getting a Premier League move. Plus it would be a chance to get most of our money back!
But only if they take Gestede for free. BOGOF.
Seriously, I hope we keep Britt and Fletcher. Then build the team around them, Wing, Fry and Randoph.
We could be worse off, too. Up the Boro!
Just watched this 40-minute post-match reaction video of the Ajax v Spurs game with highlights and some emotional reactions from the manager and players who all went back onto the pitch to party with the Spurs fans in an almost empty stadium. Very uplifting to watch and proof that for top players, football is not just about the money!
I’d post the link but my antivirus quarantined a file this morning that it claims can modify a browser without consent so it may be related to that site – so I’ll err on the side of caution.
All the relevant videos are here….
https://sport.bt.com/
Those of us of a certain vintage remember the European Cup when the Champions of each Country would compete to become Champions of Europe. The Champions League which replaced it has become a commercial success and a money spinner for some but what struck me last night after thoroughly enjoying both Semi-Finals was that neither Liverpool or Spurs have actually won the English Premiership.
The last time Liverpool won the old Division One League title was in 1990 that is 29 years ago or put another way before a huge percentage of those viewing this week were even born. In terms of memory its probably getting close to anyone under their late thirties remembering that Liverpool were once a force in the domestic and European game. For Spurs its even worse as the last time they won the domestic title was in 1961 which means that even most of us on here will be struggling to remember it apart from Ken.
As great as this weeks achievements undeniably are to me its just not the same as the old European Cup in terms of being genuine Champions of Europe. That said I’d happily swap places with them both in a heartbeat, in fact I wouldn’t mind swapping places with either of the losing Semi Finalists either!
In some ways it’s a better competition now as you get to see the best teams from each of the major footballing countries. In years gone by the champions of say Sweden, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary etc were unlikely to win it.
It has become an institution with the TV companies, providing large sums of money, and in this day and age the clubs get a fair whack of it. This is why it is imperative for the top clubs to compete in it. Perhaps it is not as true to its original ideals anymore, but the repeated excellent matches and quality football is probably a price worth paying.
Grasshoppers of Zurich and Galatassary, or Athletico Madrid and Inter Milan?
The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. All the Celtic players were born within 30 miles from Glasgow ! That will never be the case with any team now or in the near future.
So RR spot on, the European Cup should have never changed to what it is now.
I was surprised to see that it started in 1992. Didn’t realise it had been going so long.
Do we need to recoup all he money if we sell players? Ideally yes but is it a case that the transfer fee is written down year by year?
If so that could create wriggle room especially if they were on high wages. Of course you would have to bring players in to the club but they will have to be lower cost options in any case.
I suppose the money lost on the fee could be recouped by not having to pay out wages.
I’d hazard a guess that Britt’s wages are close to £2M a year. The initial £15M is probably paid over four years or so which could for arguments sake be £3.75M a year (possibly around £4M with interest?) so if we received say £12M it would clear the remaining amount and leave a downpayment for a new model.
With Britt’s wages/running costs at £2M a year, with two years left of his contract another £4M could be saved in theory. Of course some of that would have to be paid out to the new incumbent but I would suspect that wages offered would be nearer a derisory £750,000K per annum unless we try smashing it again which I hope we don’t. I doubt that McGoldrick and Sharp were paid anything remotely close to that by the Blades or Pukki for that matter by Norwich.
GHW/RR or anybody else.
Do we write down players fees over their contract? If so the book value would be less than what we paid for them.
Ian, yes. I saw in the profit and loss statement that player transfer fees are written down over the length of their contract.
The value of players is shown as an asset in the balance sheet although I would always discount that value as an intangible asset when looking at the value of a business.
So, the book value would be less but we have still lost the money paid for them. In my previous day job, the bottom line profit figure after all non cash items such as depreciation, amortization of goodwill etc. (transfer fees written off would fall into this) was adjusted to see what actually happened to the cash!
The simple measure was retained cash flow, the more complex one was the source and application of funds to assess the ongoing viability of a business.
I always wonder if the “fees” are the actual fees or is it the total cost to the buying Club including interest payments over the term?
e.g. Britt maybe cost £13.5M but there was also a £1M interest charge added to the amount that Forest won’t see and a £500K agent commission but will be a cost to Boro hence £15M or is that the amount paid to the selling club and how the purchaser raises the finance and puts a smile on agents faces is up to them?
The reason I query is that there always seems to be various figures quoted over transfers which don’t always appear to be consistent. No wonder there are so many “undisclosed” transfers.
Interesting stuff and if by intangible asset you mean as in the dictionary definition: “An intangible asset is an asset that lacks physical substance”, then I’d agree Britt falls into that category 🙂
Though a quick serious question, does a player’s asset value depreciate over the length of his contract or is that again open to interpretation. In theory a player is worth what someone will pay for him so in reality you could assume he’s increased in value if you assume the market is on the up.
Interesting discussion. I’m also an accountant, or number-smudger. I prefer to think of myself as a Financial Artist.
It is indeed an interesting discussion as to whether the players are tangible or intangible assets. I would assume tangible, as intangible usually refers to items like the value of a brand. The reason the distinction is important is because you usually do not have to value your tangible assets, you retain them at their net book value, however intangibles are usually subject to annual revaluations.
If footballers fell into that category, and if accounts were fully disclosed, it could lead to some interesting conversations. “Mr Assombalonga was purchased at a value of £13M, and currently valued at a net book value of £5M, however independent valuation places his true value at £3M, resulting in an impairment of £2M. The valuation model took into account conversion ratio and his inability to hit the side of a barn from 12 yards in the calculation of value.”
An intangible is also amortised vs. a tangible asset which is depreciated. Usually you would depreciate the value of a tangible asset on a straight-line basis (i.e. equally) over the contract duration, so, yes, a player approaching the end of his contract would be worth less and therefore the “loss” in the accounts would be lower.
But, as per above, cash is king, and if you looked at cashflow you would presumably see that we are heavily dependent on financing from our generous benefactor, and as transfer fees are usually paid in installments the incoming cash from the Traore/Bamford/Gibson sales would not solve the cash issue in the short-term. That is where you end up with the likes of Bolton who have regular cash outgoings on salaries which would not necessarily be solved by selling players unless all cash is fronted up for those sales, usually meaning you will get less revenue than you otherwise would.
Now you don’t get this kind of discussion in the Gazette!
Great post and it just goes to show the in depth expertise available by the bloggers on this excellent and world class site.
Can I just mention how appreciative I am to Werder Redcar Red and Si and Ken and others for the support they have provided to me and the enjoyment of their posts.
Up Diasboro!
OFB
Amortisation is the buzz word for “ creative “ football accountants in the present Profitability/Sustainability climate.
Indeed! You can play about with amortisation as much as you like to distort the profit or loss figure.
Want to show a big profit don’t write off player contracts. Want to show a loss, write off contracts over a short period of time, easy!
It’s like the old joke
A mathematician, a philosopher and an accountant are applying for an important position within a prestigious company
During the interview the CEO askes each of them a simple question: how much is 2+2?
The matematician: Definitely 4, no doubt about it!
The philosopher: The answer in itself is not important, what matters is why did the question manifest itself.
The accountant, leaning forward and whispering into the CEO’s ear: How much do you need it to be?
RR – the accounts say transfer fees paid for players contracts and there is also an item for other interest paid in the P and L. Given that the figure was £1.5m then maybe shown there.
I was trying to see if I could see any reference to agent fees but can’t without seeing a detailed P&L. I would imagine that they would roll up all the fees into the one figure and then write that off but who knows!
The problem in establishing the precise details is that we are not privy to a detailed set of accounts and are only provided with an abridged version.
This is perfectly legal but does not assist with transparency or ensuring that club’s are operating within the supposed profitability/sustainability climate.
In my former life, as well as wishing to see detailed accounts we also required a minimum of three years figures in order to see what had changed from year to year. In so doing it helped to reveal if there were any incidents of creative accounting or window dressing.
From the Northern Echo , I am sure everyone on here will agree with Scott Wilson.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/17629010.pulis-cannot-continue-as-middlesbrough-manager/
Iam against a change again. Not nessary against Pulis retiring or leaving 🙂
Up the Boro!
A good read, Brave! Utb!
It is now the dead season for us fans, well, it would be, if we were not awaiting the dispatch of Pulis.
I know that the club are obviously holding serious talks, without the presence of Pulis (him being merely the victim, sorry! Subject of the talks.
These talks are fairly critical, well they would be, when your fan base has decided very firmly that he must be cast overboard, and your Chairman would rather like to hide him somewhere in the wreckage, hoping we will not notice him hanging around the building.
But so it is, fortunately we are not China, so there will be no fuss about a colossal loss of face by the Chairman, who is going to have to suck it up and like it. Looking on the bright side, the sailing is good at sandbanks.
Grovehillwallah –
We’re certainly unlikely to see a minnow such as the Tricky Trees win the Champions League anytime soon, a team who beat Sweden’s Malmo in a final.
And as for Hungarian teams not winning it, our friends from Steau Bucharest took home the trophy in 1986.
Agreed, but it always depended on the bigger clubs knocking each other out that allowed them to get to the final, but that is under the old format, bit like Wigan winning the FA Cup.
Under the current league system and knockout stages the best teams tend to get to the semifinals. Whether its the best team in Europe that wins in the final will always be open to debate.
I feel that the game has been sold out and the Fans are now irrelevant. A European Final in Baku! A World Cup in Qatar!
I can accept the argument albeit begrudgingly that it is spreading the love around the footballing world but Azerbaijan and Qatar are hardly indeed even remotely on the footballing map. Maybe in twenty or thirty years time but not now and I suspect not ever.
Accessibility to the matches is becoming increasingly difficult and prohibitively expensive. It was bad enough having to fork out a small ransom for a Sky package but now you need a BT subscription as well. The Champions League as discussed above is aimed at reducing the plebs and ensuring that a Malmo or a Forest will never again reach the Final and has become the sole possession of half a dozen top European Clubs whose very existence is now largely intertwined with it.
So my head scratcher is this. If the powers that be are genuinely trying to open it up to a wider Global audience (is there any Oil in Qatar or Baku? just asking out of curiosity) why are they allocating ridiculous paltry ticket allocations to the supporters of the finalists? I think Spurs and Liverpool are getting something like 16,000 tickets each and Arsenal and Chelsea 6,000 each.
What is the point in trying to attract more support and then dump on said supporters from a great height so that the “Corporates” can stuff their faces at events where the majority of them haven’t a clue which team is which whilst their “hired” arm decorations spend most of the evening sipping bubbly and worried about scuffing their Louboutin sling backs. Not getting a ticket for the final is bad enough for fans, holding it as remotely as possible away from the likely finalists at huge expense is disgraceful and then pricing the TV access out of reach of the many is sickening.
To add to the incompetence I read this morning that Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan is Armenian and therefore unlikely to get a visa to play in Baku due to no diplomatic relations after the Nagorno-Karabakh War, which ended in 1994. Even foreign nationals with Armenian names are banned from entering Azerbaijan. Lets kick racism out seems to only apply under certain conditions. Fantastic example to showing racism the red card.
I know Baku and the game will be well served by the number of ex pats who will be working their rota when the game is played out there.
As a lot of the Diasboro bloggers know whilst working on site football is one of the most avidly talked about and watched sports. The crowd in Baku will therefore be made up of a lot of ex pat contingent which will be a highlight of their work in that Country
I watched a lot of football whilst working in Holland Spain and Argentina and it did provide a welcome break during a working trip.
OFB
There won’t be many ex pats watching the game if they can’t get tickets Bob and that’s before the local “entrepreneurs” in their blacked out Mercedes get their grubby hands on things.
RR
I can assure you there will be tickets to be had !
OFB
That’s my point Bob there will indeed be tickets to be had but not at face value and not from those with whom you would want to negotiate with. Many will be conned into thinking they are buying tickets and like as not will have a concealed hand gun pulled on them. Not a place for the naive and gullible to be wandering around drunk.
Romania…
Well you’re not wrong, and I’m an idiot. On the other hand, my general point still stands up.
All quite on the news front, it is like waiting to go in to the dentist.
Well watching Boro this season was like pulling teeth!
To be fair at times, I think I would have preferred the dentist
Why not watch the Golf instead, Ian. Sometimes just listening to Radar can be entertaining. He’s just remarked that there’s no better sound than the strike of a ball from the tee. However I have to disagree with him there. My favourite sound is the uncorking of a bottle of wine followed by the gurgling sound as it’s poured into a proper wine glass, no screw tops for me. I wonder what sounds other bloggers love best.
The sound of the ball when it comes out of the middle of the bat. 😎
Just read the Echo Scott Wilson article. Very hard, very hard indeed.
I just wonder what the guy who matters in all this thinks?
He was doing alright until it came to this bit……
“Now, Boro fans can watch football from all over the world, any hour of the day. Instead of going to a Tuesday night game at the Riverside, they can stay at home and watch the Champions League. If they want to keep half-an-eye on how Boro are doing, they can flick over via Sky’s red button.“
What Boro fan would only “flick” across to keep half-an-eye on Boro? Not every CL game is a Liverpool, Tottenham thriller.
Plus no matter what he says I think this still applies to a large majority of Boro fans……..
“In the pre-social media world that Pulis loves to hark back to, you were born a Middlesbrough supporter and that identity trumped all other considerations.”
Agree, one can move locations, change your wife, trade in your car but never, ever change your football aligence if you are a true supporter.
I accept that you can lose a degree of interest for whatever reason but like a favourite (insert item of choice) you will always come back!
If I were more local or had Sky red button, then to watch Liverpool or any other CL match over Boro, no way.
In some ways it is very good to have 2 all English European finals but how many British players will be on the pitch? That is where it has gone wrong for me.
Not really an English final is it?
Absolutely right GHW
Most of us on here hark back to sending letters and waiting weeks sometimes for a reply. Shops being closed on Sundays and phoning someone meant walking a mile to a big red box on the corner of a street and sometimes even having to wait in the rain in a queue hoping you didn’t run out of change. Urinals at matches consisted of little more than a brick wall and “splashback” meant something entirely different to those seventies early plastic bathroom cabinets from Argos. In them days blokes would attend matches refined in their “Werks” donkey jacket and only pair of shoes instead of designer jumpers, jeans and trainers.
That level of escapism, joy, thrills, entertainment, highs and lows, euphoria and despair only came from watching the Boro at Ayresome Park. PS3’s, 4’s and Xbox’s weren’t even thought of. A Tablet was something Dad took for his Double Diamond enhanced hangover running out to catch the trolley bus to the game. I could never figure out how it “worked wonders” when they woke up looking like death.
We had Bovril and a very poor concoction of something dispensed from an urn euphemistically called Tea at the back of stands. Complaining about queuing for a half time pint or people smoking in cubicles or a cold Parmo in a bun wouldn’t have been an issue back then. An unshaven dubious greasy looking bloke with a coat that looked as though it may once have been white served hot dogs on your way to the match and the only seasoning condiment was the salmonella.
We had red rosettes not red buttons. Wooden rattles were the norm and obviously nowhere near as lethal as a plastic bottle cap is today. Standing for two hours under a roof was a bonus. Players played on with broken bones and even broken necks in one famous Cup Final. Time-wasting substitutions didn’t exist simply because there weren’t any subs on the bench which actually was a wooden one as the name suggests complete with splinters. Metatarsals hadn’t been invented and a squad consisted of little more than twelve or thirteen players who just got on with it over the season
The Goalie would ask for a puff of your Dads woodbine when the action was up the other end. The Club’s star striker could be interviewed personally by yourself at the corner newsagent where he went to pick up his Sunday Papers or at least provide an autograph for the more timid lads. Growing up and immersed in all of that meant that you were a supporter by birthright. If lucky your team might one day make it on to Match of the Day to watch a grainy, shadowy 10 inch black and white screen encased in Bakelite for 10 minutes if you were lucky. Tyne Tees radically changed that with highlights of North East teams on Sunday afternoons as rented Colour TV’s wer invented although not available to everyone for a long time, Redifussion was the future, you could watch either Tyne Tees or Yorkshire, how incredible was that, a choice of four stations!
The Seventies changed things as Players wore “girly” (perfectly PC to say that back in the 70’s) sock tabs or at least Leeds did so enough said. Admiral was “the” brand and Liverpool went on to dominate European Football with perms (not PC at that point to use “girly” but derogatory Scouse phrases beyond the Wirral were acceptable). Alan Ball and his white boots caused a shock and ripples through the footballing establishment. Subbuteo was now available in different kits (Real Madrid and Leeds were actually different supposedly) and kids could play out Cup Finals on the living room carpet before bedtime. Countdown was yer Mam telling you to get to bed because Channel 4 hadn’t been invented.
Tragedies sadly led to new all seater Stadia and sanitised health and safety had changed the face of the match-day experience forever. Sky TV and the Internet provides access to so much “entertainment” that competition is fierce and readily available even wandering about on mobile phones. Boredom thresholds that once were sorted by a stick and an old bicycle wheel or a plank of wood and four pram wheels now have to be sated by technology costing hundreds if not thousands of pounds in some cases just to keep the new generation of football fan occupied.
Going to a match back then was a privilege, an excitement, a passage of rite even marking you as no longer a child but a lad. Nowadays its just another choice from an ever growing list of options instantly available. If its dull and boring then they stop going as my eldest did a couple of years back. If they can’t sit with their mates any longer because an 18th birthday meant their ticket price in the North Stand has priced them out then they stop going as my youngest just has this season. Add TP’s brand of Football and even that hardened, dyed in the wool, rain soaked, bovril stained and woodbine scented black and white kid now finds it difficult to be interested and close to becoming that Boro fan who “flicks” channels to keep half an eye on Boro.
RR
A Great anecdotal post o enjoyed reading that this morning well done
OFB
Unfortunately RR I am old enough to remember almost all of that. Very nostalgic thank you.😎
Those were the days RR
But you try and tell the young people today that… and they won’t believe ya
Hey up, Redcar, ain’t you too young to get nostalgic? Shouldn’t you leave it to us octogenarians?
Just joking, a great post! One advert I remember from those days and before was “For your throat’s sake, smoke Craven A”. Always seemed to me as a remedy for catarrh.
Of course football hadn’t been invented then. That didn’t happen until 1992 with the introduction of the Premier League, or did I imagine seeing Wilf Mannion and George Best?
Well I’m sorry to say that I’ve been so fed up watching football at the Riverside all season that I’m heartily sick of it all. RR knows what I mean! So I didn’t watch the Liverpool or Spurs games and even now I don’t regret it.
There is only one team for me and although I’ve two season tickets for next year I’m not actually looking forward to it!
That is what the brand of football played by this Pulis team has done to me.
OFB
Whilst on the subject of “ football pundits” glad to see that the smugness may have been removed from Danny Baker’s face this morning.
This is the problem with social media, people think they are oh so clever with their tweets etc and in their haste to put something out there fail to consider the implications.
Or just don’t think!
Or maybe he did think in this case which is even worse!
Gary Lineker being one whose smugness on Brexit and other non football matters riles me and his attitude to clubs like Boro whom he’s never liked with a supercilious attitude!
Rant over
OFB
OFB,
You rant on, it helps keep my blood pressure down.
UTB,
John
I used to like Lineker but must admit to going off him gradually and now speeded up by recent events. A shame but I think things are going to his head and someone needs to have a word before he becomes totally obnoxious.
Interesting article in the Gazette by Dom Shaw were two Boro fans bumped into Viktor Fischer on holiday in Denmark and “interviewed” him. All polite and courteous things (which is more than can be said for some of the knuckle dragging comments sadly) about his time here and really appreciative of the fans. He did remark that “They should keep on loving their club and go on supporting it because the players, they really feel it.”
I wonder if the Britt/George substitution where boos and jeers rang out around the Riverside perhaps had a greater affect than just disagreeing with a Manager’s tactics? Did it sow a seed of doubt in the Players minds? Or did it maybe burst the frustration that perhaps many of them had deep down but kept hidden. Several were not the same again with Mikel as an example going off the boil, Besic round in circles and injuries mounting up.
Maybe Lineker should have been on Question Time with Nigel Farage yesterday to counteract the chief Brexit-monger’s own personal high smugness ratings as he plucked his alternative facts out of thin air to prove the point that the EU is the evil empire and feed the populist uprising of those who believe he’s the messiah.
Personally, I’m still struggling to understand what problem people think Brexit is supposed to solve as it appears to only creates more insoluble problems with every month it continues to suck all the attention away from the real issues affecting people’s lives. Strange that nobody was hardly bothered about the EU before the referendum and now everyone has worked themselves up into a frenzy that if the UK doesn’t leave life will be unbearable many.
Only goes to show that if something is blown up in the media then the people will give it far more importance than it actually really has. Being in the EU doesn’t seem to be such a big deal for nearly everyone else in Europe, except for the populists who are using it as a hook to further their own agendas. OK, the EU is by no means perfect but in the end tell me a system of government that is – It doesn’t seem to bother most people who are pro-Brexit that the UK is a constitutional monarchy with an unelected second chamber.
I can see the point of a Tony Benn style democratic principled argument but most of the leading Brexiteers are wealthy people on the non-libertarian right of politics and have somehow convinced half of the population that they are the people’s champions. All a bit frightening really and perhaps a demonstration of the uncontrollable power of making an abstract idea a focus of people’s anger about issues that are only marginally associated with the cause itself.
A world in chaos is the dream of the opportunist charlatans who will seek to offer the people a future that is only in their own interests and not those of the masses. So maybe someone needs to ask what the real problems are before smugness is impossible to wipe from the faces of those who have as yet offered very few credible answers.
I suspect Danny Baker surely wouldn’t have knowingly made a racist tweet given he would have expected to lose his job with the BBC in such an event – although I’d agree that those who feel the need to constantly feed their social media followers are asking for trouble if they don’t keep on top of basic everyday news.
I recall Baker as a trivia king on many TV programmes, so to miss all the media hype that Prince Harry had married a black American is somewhat bizarre – although given all the coverage over her white father not coming to the wedding it maybe confused him but since most of the coverage was focused on her black mother and the rather flamboyant black Episcopal priest’s sermon – it would seem to leave him as one of the few in the UK not to have heard about Harry marrying a black American.
Yep. Couldn’t agree more GHW.
While I’m here, can I join others in thanking Werder, RR, OFB, Si, Ken and all regulars for their contributions.
I may not post regularly but I’m an avid reader.keep up the good work.
Steely
Thanks for the mention in that illustrious company it’s appreciated
OFB
Looking at the post on the subject of transfer dealing(that would be the fiddling, cheating, lying, and outright fraud)
It brings home to fans the value of scouting your own players, without recourse to Agents.
If they are unknown then there will be no outsider sticking his nose into the talks between you and your target, there will be no talk of ‘I don’t want to go there’ because if he is not a hungry fighter you want nothing to do with him.
On the same subject, re. The series of loans and buys from West Ham, they all seem to be players they picked up from the Man Utd academy.
Are we unable to see that they are enjoying the first try of these players, then using us as a waste bin for those who fail.
They make a profit, we are landed with a player we cannot move on, and a big loss.
We are a lost cause when it comes to running a football club.
Just a revisit to an old sore.
We sign a young player because he just scores goals, nothing else, just scores lots of goals, and for a no account club.
He scores lots of goals in our reserves, we do not play him.
We finally play him, he is good, and very powerful and fearless.
He is shipped out to nowheresvill, to be forgotten.
He has enjoyed a long career in the prem and the champ, and of course still scoring plenty of goals for fun.
And gentlemen, there is your problem in a nutshell.
And it is a problem for the chairman, has been, and will continue to be, not for club servants.
Who is this mythical player?
I suspect it is Danny Graham.
Plato,
You make some good points in there.
UTB,
\John
I liked Danny Graham, we rightly let him leave to find a career when he was in the queue behind, JFH, Viduka, Yakubu, Nemeth, Maccarone and Christie. He’s done well as a second tier striker and I’d have had him on a free when he left Sun’lun over Kike (I or II).
His “long career” in the Premiership reads as follows
2011–2013, Swansea City, played 54, scored 15
2013–2016, Sunderland, played 37 scored 1.
16 in 91 over five years, not exactly Harry Kane then.
I wouldn’t imagine that mentioning charge sheets and alternate facts would make any difference here so won’t.
It wouldn’t fit the narrative.
I think that you will find that Graham has played for Blackburn in the prem for several seasons, and is still playing for them in the champ and scoring goals.
Just for good measure he had to escape from Carlisle by using his talent for scoring goals.
It may have escaped your notice that he cost us nothing, and we chased him from the club, for nothing. That would be as we were making our weary way to the champ, and we are still the masters of losing money on players, because we have sure wasted it on some beauties, Gestede, anyone?
Strangely, since that time we have avoided signing strikers who score goals, odd, I know, and pretty difficult to do, but hey, we have skills that other clubs just can’t match.
Graham hasn’t played for Blackburn in the Premiership.
https://www.premierleague.com/players/2531/Danny-Graham/overview
Following having the european finals occupied by Premier League teams brought to mind a discussion I had with a scouse colleague some years ago.
We were discussing upcoming matches His attitude was he never wanted ManU to win. I pointed out that Liverpool were only in Europe because the success of ManU had rebuilt the coefficient following the ban on teams from England.
Fingers in ears singing la la.
Our second sortie was because of league position, it may happen to us again some time in the future. It will happen to the likes of Wolves.
If fans wont support teams from our leagues in Europe they should ask their club to turn down the chance to play in Europe should it occur.
Just a thought, I know it is difficult to support rivals.
Ian, most football fans have always had parochial views. If it is not my team then I am not bothered.
The older generation generally want their own team to do well first, local teams second, English teams third and British team fourth. Unless you are Scottish and then they (generally) never want English teams to win anything.
“I’m not a violent man, Mr Fawlty” thump, but I hate Liverpool their arrogance is beyond contempt, I come across their fans on occasion and they don’t even acknowledge any other teams all, if in conversation you bring up your team or player, they jump back to immediately their lot without listening.
What’s more although already relegated they had the audacity to beat us twice over Easter in 1954 and take us down with them. They could have let us win those two matches and we’d have been saved, not very sporting of them in my opinion.
One tragedy that seems to get forgotten.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/16/bradford-fire-fifty-six-martin-fletcher-second-extract
There were some very uncomfortable set of coincidences in the back drop to that Bradford disaster.
Whilst on a sombre note Jon Gittens has passed away today to the Holgate in the sky only 55 years old. RIP
Just a quick aside that it wax good to see Bradford Bulla (ne Northern) back in the limelight and having the better of arch rivals Leeds in the Challenge Cup this afternoon.
Also thanks to GHW for posting the link to the Bradford fire extract. Never forgotten.
Powmill-Naemore
What an exciting match, and have to agree it’s great to see Bradford progress in the Challenge Cup. It was an error stricken match, but had all the ingredients of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. Probably too late to win promotion this season for Bradford with Toronto short odds favourites, but maybe next year the sleeping giants might do it. As much as Bradford need Super League, Super League need Bradford. Their supporters always travel in large numbers, especially to Headingley and to Cas.
I mentioned that I’ve visited Odsal Stadium 4 times and have yet to see Cas win there. In fact I’ve been there 5 times and never seen Cas win. I’m going back to 1969 when Cas had just won the Challenge Cup for the first time in 34 years by beating Salford at Wembley. A week later Cas met Leeds at Odsal in the Championship Final, the forerunner of the Grand Final nowadays. I watched a brutal match with Cas leading 14-11 with 3 minutes remaining, till Leeds scored the equalising try and Bev Risman kicked the conversion to win the match 16-14. Cas so near to completing the double before a crowd of 28,442 which I thought was nearer 50,000.
I do remember the match referred to when Warrington beat Halifax in the Challenge Cup Final in a replay. Some 81,841 folk had witnessed a 4-4 draw at Wembley, and a few days later the replay which Warrington won 8-4 was played in front of 102,575 spectators, the biggest crowd for any sporting event in England since the Second World War at the time. Odsal Stadium was also the home of Bradford Dukes Speedway Club for whom Boro’s own Gary Havelock raced for much later in 1992 when he became Speedway World Champion.
Two points about today’s game:-
1. The 56 second silence to respect those who lost their lives in the Valley Parade tragedy in 1985 was impeccably observed by the crowd. So much more poignant than a bout of applause. Thanks to GHW for directing us to the Guardian article about that tragedy.
2. Not many Rugby League fans like Ben Thaler, today’s referee. I have to say he stands no nonsense. Players know where they stand with him though, any lip and he awards a penalty 10 metres further up the field. I wish Football referees would adopt the same attitude. The referee is never going to change his decision after consulting his assistant, so why bother to surround him, it’s merely counterproductive.
The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final of 1954 between Warrington and Halifax including the replay thus recorded a combined attendance total of 184,416 to settle the result. However that same year of large crowds was surpassed by the FA Amateur Cup Final between Bishop Auckland and Crook Town. According to estimated records at the time 100,000 watched the Wembley Final between these two Durham towns a mere 5 miles apart provide a thrilling 2-2 draw after extra time. Two days later the replay was quoted to have attracted 60,000 to St James Park in any 2-2 draw after extra time. The second replay saw an estimated crowd of some 38,000 at Ayresome Park watch Crook Town surprisingly win 1-0 in a rather poor match. I was there but understandably accepted that both teams were knackered after 5 and a half hours of football in such a short space of time. However the estimated crowd of attendances at 198,000 was surely the highest to resolve a match in England. Scotland was a different matter as at least 4 Scottish FA Cup Finals have attracted over 200,000 to Hampden Park after replays. The highest was in 1948 when Rangers beat Morton 1-0 after a 1-1 draw, both matches going to extra time, the total aggregate attendance being 262,926.
I believe it is time that we discussed the training regime at Boro.
We hear about stats covering speed, miles covered during games, blocks made, shots on target, and lots more.
All the above refer to successful teams.
We hear nothing from Boro, but it seems to me that miles covered during the game are the most important stat of all.
If you are Quick, mobile, chock full of speed and stamina, with a bit of aggression then the majority of teams will cave in, see Liverpool, and Man City.
I regret to say that Boro do so much standing about ball watching that any analysis of their mileage would come up with a very poor figure.
Yes, I know that it is depressing, but I fear it is almost certainly true.
All packed for our week away, not watched much footie just seen the results and cant even remember my entry for the Bullseye this what you could have won challenge kindly run by Exmil though I think I got them wrong.
Back in a week or so.
Ian
Enjoy your week away. You never know, by the time you return we may be aware of what is happening at MFC re the managerial position…….. or not! 😎
Nice to see our local teams Sunderland and Leeds get advantage in the playoffs. Hope they get through to the next stage. Regards Middlesbrough the silence is deafening.
Braveheart,
I think that the silence will get louder too.
UTB,
John
Sshhh!
Whisper who dares…
UTB,
John
Or “ Who dares, whispers” lol.
Come on BORO.
Tony Pulis is saying his prayers.
UTB,
John
Maybe we should get Tavernier to tap his brother up.
I’ve often wondered that since he started banging them in at a rate of knots for Rangers, but I can’t see him being willing to swap the relative glamour of the Scottish Prem for the stultifying atmosphere of the Riverside & the dubious privilege & drudgery of playing in a Tony Pulis-managed team.
Depends how much he’s making at Ibrox.
I don’t rate him that highly. If he came down here I think he would struggle at this level and is better being a big fish in a small pond up there.
Not having seen him play, I can’t comment on how good he is, but a few have come from Celtic and taken to the Premiership like Duck’s to water.
Yes TP could buy him and then not play him! 😎
KP,
Don’t be silly, he’d be put out on loan to Division @ for two or three years to ‘man-up’.
UTB,
John
Been away for a couple of days. Any chance if we could know the thoughts of Sir Steve Gibson regarding TP now?
No, I did not expect so. Up the Boro!
Giant kudos to RR’s magnificent post. AV’s been posting a series of things recently reminiscing about *that* season again, 1996-97. The days when I would open a prospectus for Teesside University (at 16) to see a picture of the Cellnet Riverside Stadium all lit up and think, “I want to go there someday.” (I did, even though it only took another ten years.)
Even watching a live Sky game was a treat in those days. Back then, if you wanted to hear the score or learn about the game, you needed teletext or the radio. The joy of victory and the pain of defeat was so much stronger. Then there was my first edition of Riverside Roar, which they sold in Irish newsagents from November ’96 to April ’97.
Back then I don’t think we regarded managers, players and chairman as human and as fallible we do today. Gibson was God, I’d look at Robbo and be in awe (yes!), and Ravanelli and Juninho would dazzle. (Their skills still do.) Never mind how much money was going into the dream and that we’d be saddled with a massive debt at the end of the noughties. All that money made magic – to a point.
Magic’s no match for reality though, especially not in today’s exceptionally analytical landscape. These days I’m equally inclined to fondly remember the amazing foreign stars as imbalanced team building, tactics (or lack of them), no foundations whatsoever until it was too late, Emerson’s head going, Ravanelli’s condescension for his surroundings, and a team that couldn’t put out a starting XI one weekend despite lavishing millions on a squad.
Sentimental thoughts on Robbo’s Dream make me smile, but rational reflection reminds me of the (almost embarrassing) time I was naive enough to believe in magic.
On Mikkel Beck’s birthday (his 46th, I’m told), people are reminiscing about the floppy-haired Dane. Our own Ian Smith (Smithy The Boro Fan) calls him a “top player”, saying that he knew where the back of the net was, scored all sorts of goals, worked hard, hussled, harried, had class, and put up with a whiny and disrespectful Italian for a season.
Pretty well put. And he was part of our goal of the season in 1996-97, against Chelsea. It tends not the be the quantity of the misses that leave a bad mark, it’s the *quality*… in Beck’s case, either comic gems (hitting the bar in front of an empty net at Newcastle), especially crucial (hitting the post at 0-0 at home to Sunderland, a game we’d lose 1-0) or both (a free header at Blackburn, failing to control after a long Juninho run and pass at Elland Road) – and because of that, they remain etched in the memory.
I had a couple of beers with him one night in Esbjerg…..
https://www.offtheball.com/sport/mikkel-beck-recalls-his-90s-middlesbrough-days-with-team-33-151950
Thanks for that, GHW.
I believe we already had the deal wrapped up for him pre-Euro 96, as if he was meant to be a sort of replacement for Fjortoft (who, I think, wanted to stay). Later that summer a certain silver-haired Italian would steal his thunder. And worse.
“Jan, I want you play. For me, Mikkel Beck – Serie B.”
(Did Ravanelli know Beck was listening in?)
Saw this and had to post it……
“I can’t remember how to write 1, 1000, 51, 6, 500 in Roman numerals……”
IM LIVID
Well the season may be over for Boro and all we can do now is watch from sidelines as four other clubs battle it out in the play-offs. So while we await news from MFC on who will be in charge next season (Chris Houghton?) perhaps it’s maybe worth having a look back to see how the season unfolded.
I’ve been working in the background during the last week compiling a little spreadsheet of each game’s stats and have added Redcar Red’s match summary and Tony Pulis’s post-match quotes. I’ve now written a little program to export and format it all for WordPress to provide a handy glance at how the season progressed (or not).
It’s essentially the relevant stats plus the conclusions of two men as they saw it directly after the game – you may not be surprised to hear they didn’t always agree! – This is part 1 and covers August to December…
https://diasboro.club/2019/05/13/2018-19-season-review-part-1/