Why have I been thrown down the drain 😂😂😂😂😂In my opinion, for what it is worth.
We have already thrown X mil down the drain in January. Add to that, probably 2mil getting rid of Carrick.
So we we need a new Coach. Knowing we will probably sell Hackney and VDB, possibly Azaz, why not think about a proper Coach will a decent CV.
Pay the extra money from out of the potential sales, and plan another two year attempt at the EPL.
There should be still sufficient cash for purchases to improve the squad and more importantly, get the fans behind this new step.
Mr Gibson really needs to come up trumps with this. We don't need another failure.
Come on BORO.
Kaine Kesler-Hayden (born 23 October 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as a full-back or right wing-backfor EFL Championship club Preston North End, on loan from Premier League club Aston Villa.[3][4]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kaine Kesler-Hayden[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 23 October 2002 | ||
| Place of birth | Solihull, England | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Full-back, right wing-back | ||
So we await Steve Gibson's decision from a short list- an exceedingly short list - of one. After weeks of background research, data analysis and due diligence by the Director of Football it turns out that his mate is the only person on the planet qualified to make a success of this post.
We await, with breath that is conspicuously unbated, the white smoke.
And may God have mercy on us all
Do you recognise this description of yourself from Eric Paylor's article in the Gazette today...
The Teesside faithful have a smile on their faces again. The change at the helm will restore the fans’ expectation that Boro can go on to enjoy a much better season this time around. A couple of Boro fans who I know quite well both told me last month that they were not going back to the Riverside while Michael Carrick remained in charge.
If Rob Edwards doesn't get the job will Scott storm off in a toy throwing tantrum? How would the Gazette smooth that one out? Very interesting but disturbing for a fan.
A review into last season's problems, discarding a manager, then researching a new manager and then appointing a new manager after all the data analysis, meeting and interviewing candidates, matching a possible candidate to the desired profile doesn't seem to be happening. Perhaps all the other candidates know an interview is a waste of time?
Oh, hang-on there is only one candidate. His profile has been matched. Why didn't you tell us, that's OK then, back to Summer it is.
UTB,
John
PS OFB great In2View by the way. Good work
@john-richardson. Of course, if Scott pushes too hard for his mate and it all goes wrong, where will the axe fall to cover that failure.
Mr Gibson may have to start looking in the mirror possibly.
Apparently the use of propaganda by organisations is now called 'public relations' or PR - interestingly I was watching a documentary on the BBC iPlayer this morning (The Century of the Self - by Adam Curtis) after searching for something worth watching.
It's the story of how governments and organistions began looking for ways to influence the population in peace time after the first world war and were interested in using Freud's theories. Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, saw how successful propaganda had been during the war but thought the term had bad connotations so he came up with phrase 'public relations' instead.
Anyway, very interesting stuff, it was made in 2002 as a four-part series and think I've watched it before but had forgotten most of it. Well worth a watch and actually quite pertinent in 2025 given how we now live in the age of the narrative where truth and facts are no longer what matter most.
Here's the link to episode 1 if anyone is interested...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0720m7r/the-century-of-the-self-1-happiness-machines
Adam Curtis's new series Shifty, taking us from the Thatcher era to now, is available on BBC i Player this week. It's the only thing worth watching at the moment
just done two episodes of Dept Q.. very good. Also Mrs Powmill has just started Black Doves, also on Netflix and that also looks very goodTry watching “The Gold “ BBC IPLAYER or Department Q On Netflix
OFB
If Rob Edward’s gets the job and it all goes pear shaped, will Scott and Jones accept responsibility and get the sack 🤔 or will they somehow find a reason to blame Micheal Carrick 😱.
Come on BORO.
Probably. There would be no one else to blame. Well not Mr Gibson or Bauser.
@powmillnaemore - Information about the programmes to watch on iPlayer, Netflix et al is clearly more riveting than endless speculation about the possibility Boro might, someday, appoint a new manager. Can I toss into the pot a recently discovered (I think on Disney+, and it was Dormo Jr who found it, and with whom we are speeding through past series as a treat) .... "Slow Horses".
Starring Gary Oldman as the independent-minded head of the eponymous group of "deadbeats and losers" in the UK intelligence services, cast out to a dump of a property in central London after previous failures in the field. Their opponents are as much the "main" intelligence services (whose second in command is Kristen Scott Thomas) as it is the foreign/criminal/terrorist groups they are pitted against, but the Slow Horses and particularly their leader have a lot of wily tricks and old knowledge up their sleeves. I think we are currently watching series 4 but there are quite a few to go.
It's as if a screenwriter set out to construct a series of characters all with major flaws. Let's have a scruffy, smelly leader who rarely washes or showers, who spends much of his time after drinking whisky and eating Jaffa Cakes in his very unkempt office. But he's very good at his job. And an ageing secretary who hadn't been out in the field though who knows a lot but is a recovering alcoholic. Let's have one bloke with a gambling problem that gets him into debt and a girl who has sniffed the odd line of coke. Let's have an up-and-coming younger man who was relegated to the outcast bunch after he caused (or WAS the blame dumped on him?) a major transport issue in central London when an "exercise" went wrong, and let's say his grandfather had previously been VERY high up in the intelligence services but now has increasing Alzheimers and therefore gets into dangerous scrapes. Add a weirdo computer nerd who can break into any CCTV or computer system. Most of them want to get "out", back to the main service. Now, throw them into a crisis (terrorist or whatever), add some tension with more-than-mild jeopardy, and some humour and repartee and we have a series... Some of the language would not have been part of "All Gas and Gaiters" but it's probably tame-ish for 2025 and for the context.
"Slow Horses".
Not good news. Bristol Live, saying Stuber is the favourite to be next City Coach.
Gazette are saying Boro are leaving no stone unturned in their search for a new manager, with clear promotion ambitions for whoever takes over at the club.
Now we know why it is taking so long. There are lots of stones even around Rockcliffe. Normally I thought it would be insects one would find.
You just could not make up this charade if you tried.
It is being reported that Bristol City have dropped their interest in Rob Edward’s for their vacant managers position, the plot thickens 😂, are we going to appoint a manager that Bristol City have discounted 🤔.
Come on BORO.
Walter Zenga gives verdict on Rob Edwards
Despite using this photo that perhaps gives mixed messages (which I've cropped for full 'PR' effect), the Gazette have now turned to quoting Walter Zenga (yes it's him) - the "Italian legend" gave a "glowing recommendation" of Rob Edwards, who he briefly worked with 9 years ago when they were at Wolves as he give him his first coaching role.
Though still no news on what the tea lady thinks of Rob Edwards...
It's always possible that Rob Edwards has turned Bristol City down on the expectation of joining Boro...
As the Gazette has published a flurry of Rob Edwards-related articles today, all signs do indeed seem to indicate that Keiron Scott has got his man at last. Whether the summer inquest or drawn out appointment process has been a sham all along is open to speculation but it does seem increasingly likely that the decision many of us saw coming on the day that Michael Carrick was sacked, has indeed been taken.
I didn’t take a great deal of notice of how Edwards went about his business at Luton last season but he did come across well in their promotion year and also in the Premier League. An adaptable coach who seemed to make a connection with the fans, he gave Luton a better crack at England’s top division than many envisaged, myself included. That he has a longstanding relationship with Scott also bodes well for us, as a club that has shifted to a new strategy in recent years but not yet been able to assemble all the key ingredients at once. If and when he is announced, he has my best wishes.
The next man, whoever he turns out be, will be our fourth manager in Scott’s time, the previous three all seemingly falling out with our Head of Football in the month’s preceding their departure. Can Edwards, if it is him, buck that trend? It is an alarming one.
Neil Warnock was not Keron Scott’s choice of course, and as an aging, old-school, call-a-spade-a-spade, blood-and-thunder sort of bloke, was never likely to last long. The decision to move on from him was the right one though I do recall it was handled very poorly and abruptly, without the kind of respect someone of Warnock’s experience merited. And let’s not forget that Warnock had saved us from almost certain relegation to League One as the Woodgate experiment failed. This was an early sign that Scott had Gibson’s ear, that there was a ruthlessness to his methods and that if he didn’t get along with you, your days were numbered.
The appointment of Wilder was a curious one. Here was another experienced Yorkshireman who didn’t appear to suffer fools gladly, another who would want maximum control. I was somewhat against his appointment at the time as I couldn’t see how he fitted in with the new operating model under Scott. However, Wilder completely won me over with the way he took Warnock’s pedestrian squad and seemingly transformed them overnight into a swashbuckling, pass-and-move outfit who appeared to be able to walk the ball into the opposition’s net at will. It struck that his appointment was not necessarily part of the longer term plan, but was an opportunistic one: a proven manager with a pleasing style of play was available and willing to come, so Gibson took the chance. I suspect that Wilder was not Scott’s choice but one he had to accept whilst he got his feet under the table. This, perhaps, explains the sudden dropping of Warnock – it wasn’t the coming together of a plan, but an opportunity that arose and the club acted quickly.
However, my belief is that, having propelled Boro into the promotion conversation, Wilder did not get the support he wanted in the transfer market. No doubt Wilder sensed, as we all did, that Boro had quickly become a serious Championship proposition, and most likely wanted some additions that could hit the ground running and force us over the line – more experienced players that did not sync with the club’s longer term strategy to buy younger players with potential and sell-on value. If so, it is likely that that is where relations broke down. A few months later, Wilder was linked with Burnley and did nothing to dispel the rumours. I suspect he was angry at Boro’s decision not to back him and open to the idea of moving on to somewhere where he could exert more control. He handled the situation badly and the club didn’t really recover from it.
My frustration with that situation is that if you’re going to be opportunistic in appointing Wilder, essentially pausing the longer term view for short term gain, then it’s no use backtracking on that and not providing the tools that the manager needs. Boro had inadvertently adopted a plan that was neither one thing nor the other, with Scott’s side of the argument ultimately prevailing.
Next comes Carrick. A younger, less experienced man who seemingly can work with Keiron Scott at last. I recall Scott saying words to the effect of “my job starts now”, indicating he couldn’t work with Warnock and Wilder but now we are on the right path. Of course, Rob Edwards had also been interviewed we understand, and it seems quite possible that Edwards was in fact Scott’s choice but Carrick was given the reigns and, much like Wilder, worked wonders in that first season, this time to push a very decent squad back to where it ought to have been and, for a period, beyond that as we threatened to overtake Sheffield United in the hunt for automatic promotion. Great days!
Carrick, it strikes me, was more open to Scott’s methods, more willing to accept the ups and downs of transfer dealings and the reality of being an ambitious Championship club but without parachute payments in era when the gap between the haves and have nots grows wider each season.
After two and half years however, that relationship appears to have turned sour too. Unsurprisingly, the fall out seems to emanate from a January transfer window in which either Carrick didn’t get what he wanted or he got exactly what he wanted, depending on who you believe. In my view, which I appreciate isn’t everyone’s, Carrick was dealt a weaker hand in each passing season and I can thoroughly understand why he might have felt frustrated or even undermined. If he did, then I presume he made those feelings known. Once again, Scott’s side of the argument ultimately prevailed.
So now here we are again, looking for our next manager and expecting that to be the man Keiron Scott perhaps wanted all along. If we can’t make it work this time, then what next?
@andy-r - A well argued post, Andy. Should it turn out to be Edwards then the club will have to back him. Give him the tools he says he needs. If, as is suggested, he gets on well with Keiron Scott and if it is correct Scott wanted Edwards all along, then at least you'd expect those two to be able to work co-operatively and if the appointment has Steve Gibson's approval (which it surely must as you can hardly appoint a manager without the Owner's say-so), then the 3 men who count at the top are presumably in lock-step.
If it goes wrong again, from there, I echo your final question: "What next?" Throw a dart at a wall of potential managers' mugshots? Get rid of Scott?
What about the supporters? Throw their lot in behind another manager, then another, ad infinitum? Decide to follow football passively via whatever digital/satellite company offers the best coverage - to be fair that would be cheaper than buying a Boro season ticket and travelling to games, sometimes in the cold and wet, and it would be something you wouldn't need to break a holiday for and it wouldn't involve several hours/all evening as going "live" does. Might even see some really good teams and good matches. Lose interest in football? Take up some other pastime?
I used to go to the Riverside with 4 or 5 mates.Now there is only me and my mate and we go to MOST of the games despite each of us having an ST (but he is unwilling to put aside the holidays he has had in Madeira or the USA for any matches that might clash). I am not always delighted to find a match has been switched in terms of date or a time which is incovenient to me, just to suit the TV bosses. Maybe if I had a TV contract, I wouldn't mind at all. I could moan from the comfort of my own home with a drink in hand, or from a seat in the pub, or somewhere else cosy.
If the short list has only one name? They could have announced him quickly or is it to give a pretext of actually going through a process.
My enthusiasm for the new season is diminishing rapidly
So, how does it work now, scout the players Scott and Jones have identified, then bring in a manager/ head coach, and tell him just get on with it, and when you lose too many games your gone ?
Maybe there wasn't even a review if everything was preordained...
Great post Andy - that would’ve made a good lead article if Edwards is announced!
Some very interesting posts today - I’m content to wait and see what happens next, not withstanding a suspicion that some of the theories about Scott/Edwards may well be true.
I’m sure SG will do what he feels is best for MFC - we’ll have to wait and see what his decision provides and then hope that the new manager succeeds.
@werdermouth I agree, Scott is going to get the man he has always wanted, his mate Edwards, as I have said earlier, if it doesn’t work out then it’s time to say goodbye to Scott.
Come on BORO.
@forever-dormo. Brilliant series for me. Also reading the books the series is based upon.
If you like fiction of course.