What a grim afternoon. There was significant booing at the final whistle. I fully understand that. I can only assume the volume would have been louder if it were not for the fact that several thousand (presumably those most upset about the performance) had already left the stadium well before the whistle.
I didn't too disappointed and disillusioned, although I was on my way out
I don’t boo our players and never will. I stuck with it till the final whistle. To be fair, there was a lot of applause, too, as Boro had certainly put a shift in second half, though without ever having the quality to break down a surprisingly resolute Norwich defence. In the end, we haven’t been good enough, quite simply.
That said, if Blackburn (away to Sheffield United) and Millwall (away to Burnley) both drop points and we win at Coventry, then we’d go into the playoffs on goal difference. Stranger things have happened. But given our current form, shortage of quality and lack of momentum, I think it will be a miracle if we do win at Coventry.
Meanwhile, Sheffield United must be quaking in their boots at the (distant) prospect of meeting us over two legs…………. 🫣😱
A sad indictment of the current situation is that our best player is probably a 37 year old midfielder playing in the centre of defence. As an aside isn't Rockcliffe meant to be state of the art best of the best, so how do we get so many injuries during training RVB been the latest.
@clive-hurren - It seems probable that, when we eventually get to the end of this regular Championship season, many of the teams that qualify for the Play-Offs will all enter the end-of-season competition on the crest of a slump. It's almost as if none of the teams want to qualify for the Play-Offs. From Sheffield United in 3rd place to Boro in 9th place, the form table shows (with the most recent results last):
Sheff U - LLLWLW
Sunderland - WDLLLL
Bristol City - LWWDWL
Coventry C - LWWDWL
Millwall - WWWLWW
Blackburn - LDWWWW
Boro - WLLWLD.
Normally the view is expressed that the team to look out for in the Play-Offs is the team that comes through late, crashing into the Play-Offs with a burst of late form. On that basis the teams with the best recent form are Millwall and Blackburn. Sunderland and even Sheffield United may well have been "taking it easy" in recent weeks as it has become clear they would fail to be promoted automatically but also it was clear those teams had already wrapped-up their Play-Off qualification early.
The problem is that if the team has been coasting for a few weeks rather as Boro did in Michael Carrick's first season, it isn't always easy to move from 1st gear to top gear when the Play-Offs arrive. Certainly the teams will need to be "on it" in the Play-Offs in a way that Boro has noticeably NOT been in recent weeks.
@paulinboro - You'd expect that, with only one game of the regular season left to play, Boro's players should be fit. Maybe they'd be better advised not to go to training sessions at this stage of the season. After all, they keep getting "knocks" in training which then rule them out of contention for the matchday squad. Surely a fit player isn't going to lose fitness in a few days?
Some really good points but does anybody expect this team to step upto the plate and do what is needed, sheff we'd, milwall and yesterday would suggest otherwise
Amidst our doom and gloom, spare a thought for our irregular contributor from the far side, Dave “PNE” Allen. Fingers crossed that results on the last day don’t conspire to send them down.
Boro Ladies win 3-0 at Barnsley while Cheadle Town only managed a 2-1 win today. So, Boro will get promoted as champions.
🥳
Congratulations due to all involved.
I don't think it's gonna get any easier next season , the three that come down ,the ambition of Birmingham and Wrexham , Portsmouth , Norwich, the losing play off contenders will strengthen,
We have problems, is there friction , in the boardroom, as Carrick lost the plot, I guess we'll find out after Coventry, but something smells funny to me.
A report that just about sums up our season under Carrick. Not a very nice photo of an empty stadium. I wonder if any of the players were upset?
It will also be interesting to see the ST sales, if they ever release them.
A report that just about sums up our season under Carrick. Not a very nice photo of an empty stadium. I wonder if any of the players were upset?
It will also be interesting to see the ST sales, if they ever release them.
Players upset, doubt it given lack of effort on the pitch, why was Ineffecthio on the pitch disinterested and added square root of F all.
As @gt says in all probability the division will be a lot more competitive next season. Wrexham will give it a go, Birmingham have pots of cash they have a 15M pound striker in league 1 add in 3 relegated PL teams ( who were class above the year they went up ) so it's going to be tough and we will lose our best players, sold on.
Arghhh I shouldn't care this much...........
As you say the league will almost certainly be more competitive next season and we will lose players. As a result I fear that without some radical changes Boro will fare worse than this season. It seems to me that the club has gone backwards over the last three seasons with results and performances getting worse and many supporters becoming seriously disillusioned with what they see. Moreover, GT’s observation that something is not right in the club could well be correct which makes the situation worse.
So why would we believe that next season will be better if the club management remains the same? Logic would dictate that not only would the situation not improve but based on the trend of the last three seasons would in all probability get worse. If so then instead of competing at the top end of the league we could be scrapping at the other end.
How well a football club performs is down to the quality and effectiveness of the management. MFC is no different. I hope the Chairman can see clearly where the problems are both on the playing side (team management) and on the support services side (player recruitment) and takes the necessary steps to fix the problems and start next season with a stronger, cohesive management team that is high quality and, most importantly, has all its members pulling in the same direction.
Having said all this it would be typical Boro to win at Coventry, have the other results go in our favour and end up in the playoffs. Would that prompt me to change anything I have said above? No, not at all.
@pedro - The issue is that a high percentage of the ST sales will have been of the "Early Bird" variety where supporters are encouraged to renew early in order to have a slice chopped off the price of the ticket. Those tickets are now already sold for next season. I can see why the club offers Early Bird tickets BUT it means people buy tickets without knowing the division in which the team will play, or how many games that will mean. Let's assume Boro misses out on the Play-Offs (not exactly a massive assumption). If ticket sales opened in a couple of weeks the level of sales would, I'm sure be massively below the levels for this current season.
If you think about it and can't always attend every game (for reasons of holidays, health etc) you might not always lose money by purchasing a ticket from match to match as opposed to having a ST. You could see the games you want to see (maybe missing out those midweek evening games in the depths of December or January, trudging in the darkness, cold and rain to the match) and you can always get a ticket for the home games you want to see. It's not as if the games are a "sell out". Probably the only match you might be at risk of not getting a ticket would be for the Sunderland game if they are still in the Championship next season and you might not be able to guarantee a seat next to your mates, but you'll almost certainly get to see virtually any other Championship game next season if you decided to pick and choose your games rather than buy a ST.
We have been complaining for some time about Michael Carrick's inability to find a Plan B. In fact, his answer for the last ten minutes was to push Dael Fry up top and, sure enough, he won a couple of important headed challenges that could have led to more than they did.
Am I the only one thinking that it would be nice to have in our squad a tall young centre forward prospect who has good feet. But wait a minute.....we do but he happens to be starting games for Millwall and his manager there is really keen to get him full time this summer.
If we want to be charitable, we can say that the recruitment/management team reckoned that the best way for Coburn to break through was to send him to a tough school and see what happens. Well, he seems to have done well and, frankly, he would have been pretty useful right now as a way of shaking up some of the low-block defences who have proved so difficult for Boro to overcome.
It would certainly be ironic if the outcome of us sending Coburn out on trial is that he helps keep us out of the playoffs.
Anyway, can we hope that he gets his chance over the summer to show what he can do for MFC because he could well be part of the Plan B that everyone wants to see.
UTB
I agree 100%!
I suspect Michael Carrick "doesn't fancy" Coburn as a player. He hasn't consistently chosen him to play at any stage. Iheanacho gets a game for MFC though, having joined on loan in February. I guess the vast majority of Boro fans would pick Coburn (currently on loan from Boro to Millwall) to play rather than Iheanacho (currently on loan from Sevilla to Boro). I read on the internet that Coburn is estimated to be paid £7.5K per week but Iheanacho's pay is 10 times that (though only half is believed to contributed to his pay by Boro). There is no way that anyone watching their play would think Iheanacho the better player. He must have declined massively in the last couple of years.
It is interesting that Iheanacho started his career well but appears to have tailed off fairly quickly. He is only 28 years old so should be in his prime now. I was going to give you the stats of what he has won as a youth player with Manchester City and with Nigeria and Leicester City, and then how he has progressed subsequently but, having watched some of his recent performances for Boro, frankly it isn't worth my time doing the research. He must have talent but if he isn't injured he hasn't done much to demonstrate that talent or use it to the benefit of his team. I heard that former Boro employee Victor Orta, who as Sevilla's Director of Football oversaw the signing of Iheanacho at Sevilla last year after Iheanacho let his contract at Leicester City run down, regards the signing of Iheanacho by Sevilla as a mistake. And that was "on a free-agent basis"!
Dormo's description of Saturday does, in a way, encapsulate the whole season, the visual it reminds me of is the sad sight of a snowman melting away when all the other snow has gone. I did read that apparently we'll be up for it on Saturday. Really? I suppose there's always a chance.
I have only one real comment to make and that is please do not sign 'ineffective' I'm not blaming him for the season end but simply asking the management to not repeat the same mistake again. Please get the recruitment sorted too. Hopefully we'll be looking at some lower league players with potential for greater things and I thought that was the model Boro were using now or has that strategy changed?
Coventry, I don't know about everyone else but I don't care. Yes, I'd love us to win but play-offs? Mind you as my better half said on Sunday 'it is Boro you are talking about so it could happen if teams lose and Boro wake up and turn up on the day'. Not asking a lot there then. As someone posted previously it's the hope that kills you.
Well, on to the excitement of the close season. Then pre-season. Then it all starts again.
All the best everyone.
UTB,
John
@forever-dormo I do not think Carrick fancies any of the younger Acadamy players. He has put a few on the bench, when we have had so many injured, just to fill the available slots.
He even put Lenahin on the bench, when he admitted, he had no chance of playing. Why?
I have said in the past, that the progression from Acadamy to First Team has been very poor, given the money it costs to run. OK, may be that is not Carrick's fault, may be the fault lays with the recruitment of the youngsters at the beginning of their journey.
In fact, one could,say that we have been more successful at bringing in low cost, non league players or bigger club resrerves. However, if McCabe is not better than Barlaser, then we may aswell release him now.
Talking of non league players we have signed. I see Lewis Wing, now 29, their Captain at Reading, has played 100% of their 45 games this season. 4050minutes, as well as scoring 8 goals and 7 assists.
I always had a soft spot for him, when he broke through with Tavernier. It is a pity that some of our own soft players could not match his game time.
Imagine if Iheanacho had worked though. If he’d scored the goals that secured our place in the playoffs. If he’d been the final piece in the forward line jigsaw.
On paper he could well have been the right man, in the right place, at the right time. He wasn’t, of course, but we can all dream. 😉
Who’d be a Championship manager? Achieve promotion and find a sword of Damocles above your head.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/apr/28/leeds-chairman-flying-for-talks-with-daniel-farke-over-managers-future-paraag-marathe?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Coventry v Boro chosen for Sky main event streaming.
I am probably being excessively over simplistic so apologies but as far as I can see, Carrick can attract players that less well known managers can’t but from the body of evidence since his tenure, he has limited tactical acumen and the ability to mould a game and change the flow of a match with an all encompassing plan A. I appreciate that the club has often had to sell some of their best assets in the last few seasons (or return loan players of better quality than incumbent players), but how do we fix this conundrum? The original strategy of gaining an attractive figurehead vs a manager who seems to preside over significant losing streaks and a limited ability to change tact and formations. Or are we simply overestimating the quality of our squad and 9th is about our level? Surely with the relative high cost of ST prices and significant recruitment as a Championship club, we should expect more?
@eboroacum Well, I certainly expected more from this season. I know it is not quite over yet, but believing that it is, then we have been short changed.
Whilst we do not know the exact figures or positions in the different leagues regarding Season Tickets prices and Player Salaries, what we do know is that MFC are at the very least, at the top end for both.
Given that, then one can argue easily that the return has not been value for money, especially if the wages paid to players are only close to being correct.
So, Bristol City got hammered 4-0 at Leeds. That puts a serious dent in their goal difference. That’s the first part of the jigsaw complete!
All we need now is for Blackburn and Millwall both to drop points. And if Bristol City lose at home to PNE, then we can finish fifth!
Oh, I forgot. Silly me. We also have to win at Coventry. Dammit!
@clive-hurren Please note that PNE do need a win at Bristol - with a draw or defeat THEY might be relagated!
So there won't be any easy matches in the Championship. And it will be tough in Coventry, too. Crazy league, this is. Up the Boro!
@jarkko Dave Allen doesn’t need reminding of PNE’s position - he’s really worried about the final day’s results.
There's always that elephant in the room, sat in the corner that we forget about