Unless we come up with important signings in the next few weeks, I have no faith in Keiran Scott. He appeared in a press conference some time ago and I said at the time on Dias Boro that he didn't impress me at all. We know he was at loggerheads with Chris Wilder and also I believe with Warnock. I may be wrong of course of what is happening at this present stage. Speaking to a friend of mine today who is now aged 70 and has been a season ticket holder for many many years, said that she is really worried at the moment with the current situation. In reality I think we all are.
I'm afraid that I must fundamentally disagree with you.
Expecting the club to keep on pulling expensive rabbits out of hats is exactly why we are in such a poor financial situation. MFC has no divine right to have a bottomless source of funds that will pay for big punts in the transfer market. Instead, the club has to find a long term financial strategy that will deliver stability and that is exactly what the club is doing.
The list of young players that have been brought in this season is, frankly, quite astounding. They all appear to have tremendous potential and, when added to the new players coming out of the Academy, give me a confidence that MFC is moving towards a more stable future. Sure, some of them won't make it but equally three or four or even more could be future Premier League stars.
It's easy to spend money on established players in their late twenties and maybe, if Akpom decides to go, then that is what we will have to do to fund a new striker. Of course I want to see the club back in the top division but, equally, I would like to see the club move towards a stable pattern even if the fruits are a few years in the future. Other clubs have made it to the Premier League without ridiculous spending and that has to be the future of MFC.
UTB
@selwynoz Wise words. I suspect that last season was an exceptional opportunity to make it to the PL and we shouldn’t expect to be up there every year. I’ve got a few friends from my Lancashire days who are Wigan supporters- what’s happened to the Latics over the past few years is a disgrace and shows how ineffective the FA have been when allowing unsuitable people to own clubs.
We should be delighted if we can find stability and an agreed way forward for our club, particularly in recruitment strategy. I’d love to go back to the days of signing world class players but that’s not going to happen in today’s climate unless SG sells the club to some dubious foreign owner. I’ll take a competitive Championship side over a Premiership season under the ownership of a morally corrupt owner, every time.
just sitting, watching and reading about the comings, goings and non-movement of players has been quite interesting. I understand Malcom's point of view, it was always going to be hard after the departure of some excellent loanees and after last season too many people, including so-called pundits, seem to think that Boro will be promoted.
The departure of the loanees was always going to remove a large and creative portion of the team but at least the club aren't bemoaning that fact and wringing their hands. A large influx of loanees this season would create the same problems again but I suppose with promotion it would be easier to persuade them to stay, their own club being willing of course.
There does seem to be a consistent policy in place ,but maybe that's my imagination, as Selwynoz says there is a model at the club and at player level appearing and long may that continue. For me one of the players we need back to his best is Isiah Jones a return of his form would be like a new player so I pray that his family and emotional problems are sorted. I'm sure those that have been recruited will gradually ease themselves into the Carrick template and system too. Akpom is a concern but finally it will be what it is, I hope he stays and the support for him continues as does his form, another contract would be brilliant for him but I'm sure that it all depends on Agent pressure.
Meanwhile we watch and wait on all thefronts; injuries, incomings and outgoings. Interesting times. There's always a team that over performs with their own players so why not Boro?
best wishes to everyone and Ken.
UTB,
John
@malcolm, sorry but I am more in agreement with Selwynoz, I am quite happy with the signings so far and from what I have seen in the pre season friendlies, we may have at least a couple of gems. The age of the squad is reducing, yes some of these will be back up players but it will be good to have fresh, hungry young players to pull off the bench. I don’t think the recruitment team are doing a bad job, how long has Scott really been here, because to change the whole recruitment philosophy does not happen overnight, first changes to the recruitment team, then changes to scouts etc before a club will reap the benefits.
Sustainability is the key word, do we want to be like Blackburn who, this week, asked their players to pay for their own flights back from their training camp 🤔. I still think there will be 2-4 signings coming in, some permanent some loans but they may not happen until the end of August, don’t panic if we don’t win every match before then, remember where we were in October when Michael Carrick came in, yet ended up in the playoffs. We still have Chuba, Howson to come back from injury, two important players to add to Fry, Lenihan, McNair, Jones, McGree, Barlaser, Crooks, Hackney, Forss, to name but a few !
Come on BORO.
Doncaster Rovers have announced a pre season (behind closed doors) friendly against Boro today, I think it will involve all those not involved in tomorrows squad against Bradford, MC is certainly trying to get as many minutes into all the players legs as possible.
Come on BORO.
OK, here's a quick challenge for anyone with a few minutes to spare
I've been working out how to open Diasboro to registering new members without having to deal with hundreds of spam registrations I was getting every week.
So I've devised a method where the registration page is password protected and the actual web address of the registration page is not given as a direct link. This should avoid most if not all spam registrations.
Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to head to the link below and see if you an follow the instructions given to get to the registration page and successfully enter the correct password.
https://diasboro.club/forum-membership/
Note, I've not added the form yet - but I've had a test password-protected page with registration form live for 24 hours with no spam registrations yet. What I'd like to do is avoid having to send hidden page links and passwords to potential genuine registers - I'd like to show them how to work out both the password and web address instead.
Good Luck and let me know if you found it relatively straight-forward to get to the Registration Page and enter the password.
Werder, I managed it. Wow! So for a computerLuddite like me it's possible for anyone, well, except robots. . .
UTB,
John
@werdermouth Worked out the password but the registration address says Step 1 not 2 🤔
Come on BORO.
@werdermouth. Just tried it and the page that came up was Diasboro with the following message "
OOPS! THAT PAGE CAN’T BE FOUND.
It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search?"
Not sure if I have done something wrong but it certainly didn't ask for the password which I had worked out before loading the page. Hope this is of help! 😎
MFC website now has Boro Live subscription details for 2023/2024 season available with an early bird discount of £140 for annual video pass. 😎
No issues following that Werder - nice one.
Only query is whether that registration process is more complicated than usual for a forum/website and whether that might be off-putting?
Yes well spotted - I moved the web address from Step 1 after deciding it made more sense to do that last but forgot to edit the sub-heading to Step 2
Tried following all instructions but got message saying “all registration suspended due to spam applications” or words to that effect 🤔
Come on BORO.
Do you mean the link I posted here or the link you worked out?
If it's the link I posted here then it's working for me so try it again
Do I need to log out of diasboro first 🤔
Come on BORO.
Regarding the current state of the squad, our prospects for next season and longer term sustainability, it's a mixed bag for me.
The current squad is admittedly incomplete but has to be considered weaker than the one which finished last season. Giles and Archer were huge components of the team that ended last season and will be sorely missed if not appropriately replaced. Doing so with similar quality seems unlikely to me so I do suspect that we'll be a less dangerous opponent this season than last. That being said, I also expect that we'll start this season better than we did the previous and therefore may not be playing catch-up from October.
The other difficulty is that the division looks stronger this season. That may not play out but on paper it looks a tougher league.
A weaker squad in a tougher league doesn't sound like progress if I'm honest.
On the the other hand, whilst we're still a couple of important signings short, the transfers we have made look very sensible. We've thickened the squad with promising young players who haven't cost much, will view the club as a step up and clearly have a future sell on value. As with all transfers, some will work out and some will not but, from a sustainability point of view, the truth is that only one would need to work out really well to make the whole picture viable.
So I feel that the club has taken an important step - leap even - forward in terms of the thought process behind the transfers and how that process needs to fit with the club's position and strategy, but I'm not convinced at this stage that we'll see that bear fruit on the pitch this season.
A couple of quality first team-ready transfers can change all that.
I've tried numerous ways to reduce spam registrations but couldn't find a way to stop them - It could be down to the plugins I use on Diasboro or even the host security or other custom code.
While I agree this method is not as easy as some sites, they may either use better security that they pay extra for or simply manually remove the spam registrations every day. I drew a line when I was having to remove around a 100 spam registration per day.
It could be the password-protected page would be enough to stop spam but I was being extra cautious - I may remove Step 2 after I'm back from holiday and see what happens
No worries, Werder - it's an absolute minefield out there and I've no doubt that the method will work. I had no issues navigating through it.
I have tried a number of times and either I go straight in to the forum page or I get the “closed because of spam” message. I may be doing something wrong but I even copied your link and added the 3 bold words hyphenated with a forward / at the end.
Come on BORO.
@werdermouth. I have used the link you posted: https://diasboro.club/forum-membership/ example-page-register/ and tried again but still receiving the same message. I am using a chrome browser if that is of any help? Sorry if I have misunderstood - wouldn't be surprised. 😎
Tried following all instructions but got message saying “all registration suspended due to spam applications” or words to that effect 🤔
Come on BORO.
I think you may have pressed the 'Register' button on the Log-in page - that's what it says at the moment.
My link that I gave in my earlier post was just to test the process and instructions - I haven't made the switch yet until I got some feedback.
Existing members obviously don't need to register again and won't be able to with the same email or username.
Success I was missing the . between diasboro and club doh
Come on BORO.
@werdermouth. I have used the link you posted: https://diasboro.club/forum-membership/ example-page-register/ and tried again but still receiving the same message. I am using a chrome browser if that is of any help? Sorry if I have misunderstood - wouldn't be surprised. 😎
Yes you have misunderstood 🙂
That web address is not a real one but an example of how you join the words together to make the actual web address.
I suppose I could make it into a real web address and just say when you get there that you've misunderstood and should go back 😉
@werdermouth. Sorry about that Werder. Had another go and finally got there!
Password appeared to be case sensitive or if not then yet another mistake on my part on first input! 😎
Great little gateway Werder. Yes, you do have to stop and think a little bit to figure out the link, and not be a numpty like me and put the numbers on the previous badge in the password, it works a treat.
Good - yes the password is case sensitive - and I did mention in the instructions to use uppercase letters 😉
I actually did think about using the date on the old badge instead - but there are other older badges that look similar and have the year founded instead. 😬
Only two weeks left now to the start of the season and Boro will be facing their toughest test so far this pre-season later today.This is just a wee reminder about the COTS challenge I posted a couple of weeks ago. Are any of you ready to commit to your predictions for the season yet? For what it is worth I'm not quite ready to do that myself, although I am ready to start recording your entries.I've copied the link to full details below, but when you are ready to enter I've also copied the format for you to follow to save you having to read the details.https://diasboro.club/forum/members-lounge/the-diasboro-cots-challenge-2023-24/
- TOP 6 = Team1, Team2, Team3, Team4, Team5, Team6, Optional1, Optional2, Optional3
- BOTTOM 3 = Team1, Team2, Team3, Optional1, Optional2, Optional3
- AUTOMATIC PROMOTION = Team1, Team2, Optional1, Optional2
- CHAMPIONS = Team1, Optional1
- OVER ACHIEVER = Team1, Optional1
- UNDER ACHIEVER = Team1, Optional1
- BORO = 1st
So we have the first runners and riders bravely putting their predictions out with almost two weeks still to go until the kick off.
Good luck KP in Spain, Jarkko, MW in Darwin and Martin Bellamy. I have copied all your entries into the spreadsheet.
I have only just noticed that whenever I am not logged in, I can't see the COTS challenge post that I put up in the members lounge. Perhaps the clue is in the name "Members Lounge" !!!
So long as no one objects, i might repost the challenge details in a public forum to give any of the people who follow the blog but aren't yet members a chance to join in.
A little off topic ,but most of us on this site are of a generation of mud heap pitches and referees that would allow defenders to cut you in two and wave play on, I' did play the game, locally , my era 59 to 79 as my favorite as a Boro fan.
I've seen the best and worst of times
But ,we tried and were competitive, but I've got to say I only saw two players , who played against us and beat us on there own, no matter what we did kick foul , pull they torchered us on the day , one was Stan Bowles , twice actually for Carlisle and QPR , and Trevor Francis , as a kid played for Birmingham against us , he just ran us silly that day , going through our midfield and defence like it didn't exist.RIP Trevor