Reported on Boro Fan TV, Ajax have reached an agreement with Boro to pay a fee of €12m plus €2m add ons, for Akpom, who will travel to Holland tomorrow for a medical prior to signing a 5 year deal.
Come on BORO.
So be it, will he score 29 goals in a season again, who knows, but playing for Ajax must give him a chance.
I assume the money will be used on the left back and frothy milk drink
After a hectic weekend, not least of all trying to sort out sourcing a new car since some kind person decided to run into the back of me and caused a mere £8500 of damage (write off time), I have caught up with things Boro.
I did actually manage to see some of the game - sadly the bad bits with their goals and our misses - and concur with the view that all is not quite well. As the commentator said at one point “Middlesbrough have a problem at both ends of the pitch”
However as Corporal Jones used ti say “don’t panic Mr Mainwairing, don’t panic”. Well, not yet anyway!
Early days and we miss the loanees and need another new signing and time for them to bed in although I have some questions about MC tactical choices- let’s just hope last year wasn’t a one off and he will continue to develop.
Maybe he has been sold short with some of the transfers but I do keep coming back ti the financial model that SG appears to be working to and perhaps he is playing the long game with our projects with a view to next season!
Still too early to judge but we need 3 points on Saturday to give us some hope and stop the less pragmatic supporters getting into a strop! Us old timers have seen it all before and take it as it comes although still wanting to see wins and success.
I still reflect on our European adventures as being something that I never expected and I know my late Dad who sadly never saw that, who started watching Boro probably back in the 1940s (he lived in Costa Street), wouod have been amazed!
Anyway as D:Ream sang “Things can only get better”
UTB
I'm in a very similar state of mind to you. My heart says that we should be pushing for promotion this season but my head says that this is possibly the most competitive iteration of the Champnship in the last ten years. There are so many good clubs who have legitimate claims to be promotion challengers. Maybe this should be a transitional year but can the supporters and, equally importantly, our high profile manager live with that. Do people think in two or three year arcs any more.
Wth this in mind, I would also like to raise another question about the switch in transfer policy. Could it be possible that Steve Gibson is preparing the club for the next owner. He's now turned 65 and maybe he wants to step back. As part of that, there will have to be decisions made as to how much of the 'Bulkhaul' debt he will write off but this switch to a longer term transfer policy based on building up assets inside the club does fit in with a change of horizon from here and now to a bit further into the future.
UTB
When MC was cautioned on Saturday and didn’t know why, I wondered if it was due to a change in the Laws of the game.
The premiership from this season only allow one coach in the technical area during a game from as per the current laws within Europe.
I didn’t know if this applied to the championship and can’t find anything to confirm on the web.
Anybody know?
OFB
If you send a promising young player on loan, one who has thrilled our crowd in big matches. He then pleases, and is a subject of intense interest, to their fans. We must surely consider the benefit he would receive from our Managers coaching.
If you send a promising young player on loan, one who has thrilled our crowd in big matches. He then pleases, and is a subject of intense interest, to their fans. We must surely consider the benefit he would receive from our Managers coaching.
@Plato. Maybe he’s now receiving that coaching and will get his chance when he’s proved his worth to the Manager. I assume, of course, that you’re referring to young Mr Coburn and not another of our young squad players. Apologies if I’m wrong.
What you say is not in itself wrong, but the fans are not complaining about that. Up to the point when, last season we fielded a side containing Jones, with about four matches to play. At that point we were lethal, admitted by the national press, and admired by them, with plenty of printers ink spilled. That match was a bucket of cold water crashing down on the heads of the fans. Gone was the habit of coming from behind in a lethal battle way from home against a mean and powerfull team, back were all the awfull habits and the same old ,same old, excuses. As a strictly personal opinion I was dead against any of the old hands creeping back into our club, the plan was for our Manager to hire his back room staff, casting off the past completely. What happened in the last four matches at the end of our season, was, a complete reversion to the shambles we were when last under the control of these characters.
‘’Shambles’ is a very strong word for what happened, in my view. As you say, Boro had been brilliant for a long time. We were then very unlucky with injuries to key players at precisely the wrong time and suffered a very unlucky defeat (Never a penalty!) at Luton. From then on, we failed to build up sufficient momentum to take forward into the playoffs. Even then, we were the better side in the away leg at Coventry and were again unlucky. All in all, the manager and his coaching staff did a fantastic job last season. To get us anywhere near the playoffs from the position we were in when Carrick took over was simply astounding, and actually outstanding. We finished fourth, for goodness’ sake.
I really don’t recognise what you say were the same old awful habits and the same old excuses, and I can’t think there would be many Boro fans who would agree with you.
@plato. I agree that there will be benefits of working with MC and hopefully JC has done so during the summer.
If you trust MC as a coach, which from previous comments you do, then if he feels that JC would benefit from another loan spell then surely you have to support that.
If he remains with the squad then given our current forward situation and with at least another incoming then I do not see him getting a sustained run in the side, which he would more likely so do at another League 1 side.
If my reading of the situation is correct, he made a positive impression initially at BR but this was not sustained, in part not helped by injuries and he did not start regularly as the season progressed.
In my view he needs further development and another season on loan but I am only one voice and you and others may differ. 😎
Personally, I would rather keep Josh, at least this side of Christmas. Give him his head, let him see what he can do. He may not be played as the main striker, perhaps, but we won’t know how good he is until we try him. He scored 6 goals for us previously, I think, and got 10 for Bristol Rovers. So, I say keep him and use him as one of our options - let’s face it, we haven’t too many right now. If by Christmas Josh is not having much impact, then we might consider loaning him out again.
I believe they said on commentary, eventually, it was for dissent. 😎When MC was cautioned on Saturday and didn’t know why, I wondered if it was due to a change in the Laws of the game.
The premiership from this season only allow one coach in the technical area during a game from as per the current laws within Europe.
I didn’t know if this applied to the championship and can’t find anything to confirm on the web.
Anybody know?
OFB