ChatGPT came up with the usual three suspects.
“Middlesbrough FC dismissed Michael Carrick on June 4, 2025, and are close to appointing their next head coach. Internal discussions indicate Danny Rohl, Steve Cooper, and Rob Edwards are leading candidates. Despite betting support, Steven Gerrard is not on the club’s official shortlist.”
Quite. The problem being that if it gets only that one thing wrong, how can you have any confidence in any other response about anything, even if it iscright every other time.@powmillnaemore - As an advertisement for AI, its up-to-date relevance and/or accuracy, that answer would make me go back to counting on my fingers or reading the pages of the "legacy Press" rather than relying on information technology.
@martin-bellamy i think it depends on what question you ask. I typed " mfc foreign manager rumours " and that is what came back.
If Sheff wed , haven't payed staff, wouldn't that constitute breaking a contract .hence the manager would be free to leave
@gt That is what some of the press is speculating on. At least it could affect the release fee. But let's see if he is really on our list.
Up the Boro!
It probably isn't worth our time searching out the youth team coaching results of Wolf in Germany, nor the Championship promotion exploits of Jokanovic with Watford in 2014 and Fulham in a Play-Off final with Villa on 26th May 2018 (even if we had forgotten those last two). As I said before, there is a person who will make that decision without our input - whether we lay awake at night worrying about it, or fall asleep over our laptop keyboards after a night of frantic online searching. It's above our pay grade - though I am sure I speak for many in saying that we will reserve the right to moan about the choice if it turns out badly.
Well make of it what you will, today’s Teesside live speaks of two unnamed foreign managers in the running, despite days of the selection is down to three, Danny Rohl, Steve Cooper and Rob Edward’s. Not only that but today I looked at various odds for the next Boro manager and most have Steve Gerrard as the favourite 😱. Confused you will be until Scott reveals his buddy Rob Edwards as the new manager, will we find out tomorrow, Saturday (to let the reaction die down over Sunday) or will they drag it out until Monday.
Where did Craig Johns suddenly come up with the two unnamed foreign managers from, is this another leak from Scott to muddy the waters until Edward’s is named 🤔.
Come on BORO.
Crystal Palace are ahead of Leeds United and AFC Bournemouth in the queue to sign £20 million-rated Middlesbrough midfielder Finn Azaz (The Irish Examiner)
OFB
We’re down in Cornwall enjoying the novelty of a break and a somewhat iffy signal. It’s interesting watching from afar, well compared to Norfolk, but there does s to be some disinformation about, some of it from official sources. I reckon Azaz will be gone but isn’t he worth more than £20m in today’s overheated market. I reckon late Friday or Saturday for an announcement for Sunday to let things go off the boil a little. I hope they/he make a good choice.
Are you well OFB? Stay out of the damp cave!
ATB and UTB
John
That was my thought too - if Edwards gets given the job it would be odd if Boro haven't had permission to speak to Rohl and Cooper has still ruled himself out - they kind of need 3 people on a short list to actually make it a list even if 2 are unknown foreign coaches 😉
Alan Nixon (former sports editor of the Sun) is claiming barring any late hitches Rob Edwards is set to become the next Middlesbrough manager.
It almost appears to have been a process where he was really the only candidate who got interviewed!
If next season Boro are inconsistent similar to last, no real progress , how long before Scott's job is in question, it's OK having tons of data anylists working in the background, but you have to see with your own eyes, how the player reacts under game situations, we've already seen some of our own players in my opinion who hide when your in a real battle.
On the rumors, and it's only speculation, from what I understand Edward's prefers a 352 system ,I actually believe this squad is set up for it, we have enough centre backs, missing a right wing back though. With that system you can change to 433 within a game situation.
I'm gonna be controversial on players , it wouldn't bother me, and I expect Hackney to leave, he deserves his chance in the premiership, on Azazz the money talked I'd take it, if we could get our money back on Whittaker I'd do it, RVB is his head at Boro or itching for a move, I'd loan Sol out and sign Travis ,the other two keepers back up,
The team need players who are at it every game, a mixture of skill backed up with very fit 90 minute winners. Also two strikers who compliment the line not necessarily similar but can upset the opposition in a different way off the bench at times.
COB
I was quietly minding my own business when the algorithm (on the TV!!) pointed me in the direction of a podcast series "Second Tier - The Championship" and, in particular, a video put out on that channel 3 months ago, before the last season had finished, but when it was still looking like ending up being an "unfulfilled" season for Boro supporters. The title of this video was "Middlesbrough's EIGHT years of failure". I recommend you look it up on You Tube.
It seems to be a channel that covers all Championship football and I didn't have the impression the broadcaster was a Boro supporter or somone with a bee in his bonnet about Boro. It SEEMED critical but fair and reasonable to me, subject to what I say below.
In the hope you will look up the video I won't give a full running commentary but it talks about Boro having its great success almost 20 years ago and, apart from ONE promotion which resulted in an immediate return to The Championship in 2017, the club has been in The Championship and has endured EIGHT years of failure since then. He referred to Boro having gone down 12 points from safety despite spending money but, afterwards, the club has spent a LOT more money than most competitors and has ended up virtually giving away most of the acquired players by letting them go on free transfers at the end of their contracts (sometimes earler).
Monck was "very well backed with £50M on players ..which remains one of the highest amounts ever spent by a Championship club in the transfer window. And it would be very difficult to say that was £50M well spent. Marvin Johnson joined for £2.5M made just six starts before leaving on loan, and then eventually on a free transfer. Cyrus Christie also signed for £2.5M, leaving after 6 months. Ryan Shotton cost £3M but he never convinced in a Boro shirt and left on a free transfer after 3 years but would never play another game in the Football League. Striker Ashley Fletcher cost £6.5M, scoring just 18 league goals in 4 seaons before also leaving on a free transfer. BUT that is without even getting to the 2 marquee signings that window: Britt Assombalonga cost £15M ...which remains the third most ever spent by a Championship club to this day and despite scoring 29 goals in his first 2 seasons he never fully paid that £15M back, and he also left on a free. And then there was Martin Braithwait who cost £9M who made just 40 appearances for Boro, essentially £225,000 per appearance, scoring 6 goals in his first season before leaving on loan where (spoiler alert) he criticised Tony Pulis's football, and was then sold on to Leganes in Spain for less than half Boro paid for him, without taking into account his wages..." Being outside the top 6 most of the time led to Monck being sacked. Boro had spent nearly twice as much as any other Championsionship club but the season was extrememly underwhelming, finishing with Pulis in charge in the Play-offs where Boro lost to Villa.
He goes on to point out that Boro had, along with those purchases, a cadre of players like Stewart Downing, Grant Leadbetter, Adam Clayton, George Friend and Daniel Ayala who'd all played a big roles in Boro's promotion two seasons before, together with Ben Gibson, Adama Traore, Patrick Bamford and Fabio da Silva at the club. So the squad was good.
He went on to go through the following seasons, which I will not repeat here. And it's fair to say that one of the first responses to the video suggests he had been unbalanced in his criticism, and that there have been purchases that MADE money like Latte Lath, Rogers, Akpom and Traore, but the information about the finishing positions each season can't be argued with even though the video was posted before Boro finished TENTH this last season. He mentioned American Hoppe bought for £2.5M from Real Mallorca but played only 65 minutes of football at forty grand a minute but whose contract was mutually torn up with 18 months left on it. (Did he play a little towards the end of this recent season to "up" that figure???).
To be fair, the narrator describes Michael Carrick as probably the best managerial appointment in nearly a decade but we know that didn't end as planned. He comments on the purchases in the last season of Michael Johnson (£3.5M playing 300+ minutes before being sent out to Stockport though he's still only 21). He put out the video before it was possible properly to assess the January window and its loanees or no doubt his litany of failure would have continued.
But he points out the finishes of 5th in 2017/18 despite spending by far the most of any Championship club, followed by, 7th under Pulis, followed by17th, then 10th under Warnock, 7th under Wilder, 4th under Carrick who "did an unbelievable job turning things around at Boro" in 2022/23, 8th in 2023/24 and we now know 10th in 2024/25. The top six positions in the last 7 years, he says compares poorly with lowly Barnsley who spent less that one-tenth of Boro's spend and the same with Sunderland who spent about a fifth of Boro's spend and who resided in the division below for much of the period in question.
At the end he gave a list of purchases over the period:
1. Assombalonga (£15M)
2. Braithwait (£9M)
3. George Savile (£8M)
4. Aden Flint (£7M)
5. Morgan Whittaker (£7M)
6. Ashley Fletcher (£6.5M)
7. Martin Payero (£6M)
8 Jonny Howson (£6M)
9. Paddy McNair (£5M)
10. Darren Randolph (£5M).
He suggested that Howson and McNair ("maybe") were the only successes - I think they were DEFINITELY successes but might not say the same about the others - and that it would impossible to argue that was over £60M well spent and that Boro has had eight years of failure.
Obviously players have come and gone, as have the coaching staff and he argues the only constant in that time is Steve Gibson as this has all happened "on his watch", though he accepts Gibson has kept Boro financially safe over the years. A Geordie supporter was making much the same point about Gibson in the Squashed Stoat last night, where criticim of the Chairman, if voiced at all, is only done using hushed tones, though we did argue there isn't a long queue of potential buyers knocking down Gibson's door. In that case the content creator will need to wear a tin hat when next visiting Middlesbrough. But his assessment of whether the last 8 years have been successful and whether the money has been spent wisely is more difficult to argue with. You may not agree with all the chap says but I still think the video was worth the watch.
A short list of three. One who might well cost an arm and a leg, a second who was reported in the Gazette only a week ago as having no interest in the job, and your mate
Your call, Steve, your responsibility if things turn sour.
Sound familiar?
If rob Edwards is so highly thought of by hierarchy why didn't they employ him last they interviewed him
@paulinboro I guess because he was second best to Carrick in the original process.
If Mr Carrick has just “failed”, then what chance Edward’s.
I have said it more than once, that although Mr Gibson has been our saviour and has funded MFC for over thirty years, as a successful businessman, that has not been reflected in the choice of Coaches, money spent or success since McClaren.
Friend who is Luton fan said fans really liked Edwards, but when the going got hard he started to unravel
Make of that what you will, if he gets job I will be very meh
If it is to be Rob Edwards then he does have some good points - he's a good man manager who encourages a good dressing room spirit, relates well with supporters, plays high energy style out of possession with high press, known to make tactical changes depending on opposition. Reading about his time at Forest Green it was reported that he also prefers working with a small squad of around 18 players to keep it a tight group.
There are of course some reservations with him tending to only average a goal a game in both seasons in the Championship at Luton. In the promotion season it worked as they didn't concede many - however, following relegation his record was P26 W7 D4 L15 F27 A44 - including that 5-1 win by Boro.
Though to be fair, in the 20 games after he left there wasn't much difference in the team's performance (P20 W6 D6 L8 F16 A25) with Matt Bloomfield tightening up the defence but scoring fewer goals. It may indicate that the team simply wasn't good enough.
So it would be a different style under Edwards compare to Carrick with a back three and wing-backs and a high pressing game that tries to restrict the opposition from having shots - it may not be so easy on the eye and we would probably have to get used to 1-0 wins unless the club unearth some striking talent. I may well be a team where someone like Josh Coburn would be suited to lead the line - though hard to say if any of our recent light-weight attacking options like Whittaker would be suited to the high-pressing game.
I'm not expecting an announcement on Friday the 13th if Boro want their new manager to be a lucky one - unless of course Freddy Krueger is one of those unnamed foreign coaches...
Rob Edwards speaking about his "philosophy" at Luton:
"We actually enjoyed the defending side of the game: the blocks, the headers, clearing the box.
These are things that people might not talk about much, and I get that it’s not sexy, but they are really important in terms of winning football matches. We did them as well as anyone in the league."
Well up to a point, Rob. Luton finished last season losing most of their games, scoring fewer than any other team and shipping lots of goals. And being deadly dull and unadventurous in the process.
But the crucial point is how ill equipped the current lightweight Boro squad is to play the Edwards' way. Scott has gone out of his way to send the likes of Morsy, Mowatt, O'Brien etc packing over the years, with the result that a lack of backbone remains one of our most significant weaknesses.
It was a weakness that Carrick sought to address by signing Ayling and Edmunson against the grain of the club's preference for inexperienced prospects.
So on the face of it there is a significant mis-match between the qualities that Edwards most admires and the character of the squad that he will inherit
Given the close relationship that Carrick fostered with his players, and the respect he inspired in them as a coach it doesn't bode well for squad motivation if Edwards is finally appointed and our way of playing is turned upside down.
Let's hope Steve pulls a European rabbit out of the hat, otherwise i can find little hope for optimism next season
Yes it will require different types of players than we currently have - though if Azaz and Hackney are sold and you take away the loans then in truth it's going to be a rebuild anyway. I could see Conway and Forss fitting the high-pressing model and maybe Coburn too - but Whittaker, Burgzorg and McGree? Also do we have any wing-backs? Maybe Bangura?
Maybe the season 'review' came to the conclusion that a top six finish would need a different style of play - I guess we must wait to find out the thinking behind the new appointment and whether it all adds up to a carefully thought out plan to move forward or just a desire to have a head coach that fitted in with Scott and the model.
My mate tells me that he is ignoring football and concentrating on cricket (even, through gritted teeth, T20 for the next 6 weeks or so) until the football season returns. That is for the sake of his mental health as he realises he can stress as much as he wants over Boro's next manager or the coming and going of players, but he can have no influence on those matters. He will, holidays aside, be there for the next season as his season ticket has been renewed. That can wait until August. The "mate" is real but it could easily describe me as well.
And here is my annual comment that I wish the football season began later and ended earlier. August is the height of the summer holiday season and almost by definition, there will probably be two-thirds of the working and season-ticket holding population who will be going away for a week or two and who will therefore be unavailable to attend the games they have paid for. I'd be happy for the season to start at the start of September and end at the start of May (with the FA Cup Final and Champions League Final to finish off the season in the first week or two of May). Neither the FA Cup Final (these days) nor the Champions League Final (at any stage) are likely to concern Boro.
That would be at least 32 weeks between September and the following May to play 46 league games. Considerably less than two a week. A weekend and a midweek game should be within the capabilities of professional athletes. Since two games a week would have been 64 games in the season of 32 weeks, that gives scope to put in the Cup games that need to be played (you never know, Boro might be beaten in the first game they play in each cup). Then I could go away in my caravan or otherwise during the summer, watch other sports that interest me, or just do nothing but sunbathe in the garden (or maybe visit a beer garden).
I realise the "top clubs" complain of player burn-out, the strain on the bodies of their players, but those top clubs are happy, even desperate, to play European games in addition to their English workload and, when the season ends or before the next one begins, they are happy to take money to tour eastern Asia, the USA or Australia for extra games. Some of those complaints may sound like a whine from me. But Boro isn't in the English or European elite. The team doesn't often have games that I'd want to break a holiday for. May, June, July and August should be for camping, holidays, visitng friends, watching other sport: doing things. Sadly because of the current timetable the disappointment of the previous football season hasn't had time to dissipate before the next season is upon us. And, equally sadly, when you're full-to-bursting from just finishing your umpteenth bowl of gruel, even the (unlikely in Boro's case) prospect of lobster thermidor doesn't tempt much.
Maybe life is different if you support PSG, Liverpool, Barcelona...
I would hope they interview Darren Moore , he as done well at clubs under difficulty circumstances, got teams promoted
The September to May would work well for me too... if it wasn't for four of those damn two-week international breaks - one in September, October, November and March - that's 8 weeks lost!
... if it wasn't for four of those damn two-week international breaks ...
I couldn't agree more
On the subject of Whittaker; I suspect he was signed because of his successful partnership with Azaz at Plymouth. If FA goes, where does that leave MW?
@martin-bellamy On the other hand, Whittaker really came into his own at Plymouth after we has taken Azaz off their hands. So, perhaps we make a whopping profit on Azaz this summer and Whittaker will do a job for us next season. 🤞
@martin-bellamy Possibly surplus to requirements. A big fee paid, good wages and may be plenty of time off to play whatever his hobby is.
If you think about it, since most Championship clubs have international players there are no fixtures in the break. League One and Two don't have international breaks but the Championship also has a 46 game fixture list - the Premier League has 8 games fewer at 38. Therefore surely the Championship should be reduced in size to maximum 22 clubs if they start a week earlier and finish a week later than the PL - or 20 if they don't.
Simply put is that the Championship has to squeeze more games into less space and may well be the cause of more injuries to players.