FRY AS CAPTAIN???
OFB
I did consider him as an option but he’d have to prove his long term fitness, I guess. I’m not sure how much of a communicator or organiser he is though.
Maybe we need a snarling, tough tackling midfielder in the Souness mould.
I'm tempted to say that we need a little break now, to gather breath for the rest of the season. And then I look at the diary to see Hull City v Boro on Wednesday 1st January (ko at 5.30pm). It's already noon on Monday 30th January so there's not much time for a break!
This time of the season, and at Easter, it must have been grim for those who prepared the Match Previews for this Blog as the games follow on, one straight after another. My hat is well and truly doffed to you for that! At least we now have several people contributing the Previews.
Imagine, too, what it must be like to be a player. Any injury and there really is no time to recover before the next game. I suppose it means they hardly do any training - maybe some stretching, warming up, kick a few balls but no tackling and then a little look at some videos of the next opponents and a chat about tactics for the next game. If you are playing a game on Thursday followed by another one (late) on Sunday evening and another one on Wednesday (so three games in a week, as Boro will have had over this Christmas), the last thing you'd think necessary would be a full-on training session!
For the players, of course, football is their job. Not just something they follow for "fun". Most people in the general population have other things to take up their time: jobs and careers which might take up most of their time during the week, relegating other things like following a football club, following other hobbies and pastimes and even (Heaven forbid!) the interests of other members of their family. For most of us football is part of our lives but for footballers or want-to-be footballers, it is probably MOST of their lives. I listened to part of an interview with Neil Warnock played on BBC Tees as I drove to the ground last night. Even at HIS age its clear he is the football equivalent of a drug addict. He just can't say "no" to it.
Sol Brynn unlikely to be back before the end of March at the earliest:
🙁
@stircrazy - For me it (MoM) was Dale Fry but Dijksteel had a very decent game and Burgzorg showed some pace going forward.
DAEL Fry (!!!)
@forever-dormo You’ve travelled forward in time again, haven’t you? I’ve checked all my calendars and it’s definitely 30th December.
You’re right about the plethora of games though - I’ve already started work on the starter for the Cardiff match!
I think we need three goalkeepers to get through the season. So I wouldn't be surprised to see a veteran loanee for three months beginning from the 1st week of January.Sol Brynn unlikely to be back before the end of March at the earliest:
🙁
I like Brynn, so when he is back, we will have three decent choises there. So just a temporary inforcement, perhaps. But there will be problems with registrations to the Champioship. Someone need to go, too.
Up the Boro!
@martin-bellamy - Between Christmas and New Year, and maybe a few days after New Year, by tradition I seem to forget which day it is. Normal activities are suspended (or take place on a different day - like emptying the waste bins) for the duration.
An interesting article from the Guardian about the gulf between the Championship and the Premier League: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/dec/30/jonathan-wilson-newsletter-relegation-zone-clubs-premier-league?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
@forever-dormo You also missed the year, mate! 🤣🤣
You were in January 2025. Up the Boro!
@jarkko - The last week or so has all been a bit of a Pantomime, really. And for the cynics out there, I can confirm no alcohol passed my lips yesterday nor, so far, today. It's into the evening now so the last drink will be almost 2 full days ago (and this is the Christmas period!). So my temporal "issues" can't be blamed on that. I am debating whether to go to the pub to see the Man U v Newcastle game this evening. But maybe by coincidence my watch has stopped on a couple of days over the last two weeks - it's a self-winding watch so this surprised me. Unless I have been in a coma for some time without anyone pointing that out to me, which could explain not moving my arms to keep the watch powered up....
"I can't understand why you're rushing, it's only 3pm!"
"Oh, NO it isn't!"
Maybe a new watch is required. One with a date that would be easier to see might be a good idea, too. I'll get the hang of the days of the week, and maybe the correct month and year, eventually. On the point of which I can remember being at school as a five year old and getting into trouble for writing 1959 at the head of the page when, in fact, the year had just turned into (January) 1960. Now, the 1960s: THAT was a decade...
@forever-dormo I agree with you about the sixties but I blame the other issues on anaesthetics. Well I have to blame something. Sorry it could be 'side effects' too.
When I watched the highlights it was good to see moggy in the Directors Box watching the match.
UTB,
John
@forever-dormo I was just joking. I make the same mistakes all the time. My theory is that the brains are working so much faster than the lips (talking) or the hand (writing). And not "remembering" what happened a split second ago! A theory there to think about.
Up the Boro!
PS. Man Utd 0 Newcastle Utd 2 at HT.
I decided eventually to stay at home to listen to the Monday night football on the radio. No alcohol has passed my lips (again) and therefore my kidneys and liver will be sending a donation to charity in grateful thanks.
Elsewhere, Former England and Boro manager Gareth Southgate has been awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.
He is our only captain ever to lift a trophy, too. I hope that was also remembered.
Southgate, 54, stepped down from the England role in July after leading England to the final of Euro 2024. He has managed only Boro and England (several levels).
https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/cg4zpngy2k7o
Up the Boro!
Giving nighthoods is a joke.
Haveyou seen who’s getting them eg the mayor of London where crime is getting worse, trains are cancelled all the time, roads are gridlocked most of the time etc. It seems people plus dubious politicians get them just for doing their job - many of them handsomely paid such as Southgate who failed to win a trophy.
Give them to people who eg spend a lifetime doing unpaid work for eg charities and for helping others etc.
philip of Huddersfield
@philip-of-huddersfield Soutgate did win a trophy - at Boro 😅.
As an England manager he took the team to TWO FINALS. By far the best England manager since 1966. Is he not respected enough in his home land? He is highly respected outside England, though.
And he handled the press well, too. Up the Boro!