Apparently the Boro are extending the early bird deadline for season ticket sales due to poor response and take up by the fans.
I know a lot of family and friends who have said they are not renewing who have been Boro supporters for many years.
I think there could be a poor attendance at the stadium next season !
I agree that if we were going to change our manager it would have been done by now !
OFB
That's what happens when you have a very poor season and the fans start lose faith
I have been away from the Blog for a few days and have not yet caught up with the recent posts, though I have read a couple of pages. However, and before I go off to do other things and then read the unread posts....
1. Sorry to read your post OFB. Maybe no magic bullet for you at present but that doesn't mean all hope is lost. You are still with us, and with your family, and hopefully for quite a few years yet. More opportunity to comment on Boro and maybe lots of the ups we always hope for, and the downs (which seem always to be present now or around the next corner).
2. Si - it's so good to read your comments again. Your continued contributions will enhance the quality of debate, whatever happens on the pitch.
It's the previously unheralded players in Boro's peak years that we miss so much. Ignore the Ravanellis and the Juninhos who we could no longer afford. Instead think of Mustoe and Hignett, players bought at minimal cost from lower-league clubs, and who were able to push their way back into, and maintain their places, in teams where other "names" had been bought in to replace them. Mustoe and Hignett would WALK into Boro's team now. And they are players Boro could still afford to buy. (Admittedly well into their 50s now, but....the old jokes are still good).
But apparently we did NOT WANT TO. When fit, Marcus Forss looks like having future at Boro. Naturally I have a soft spot for him having met him briefly. And later his god mother on the plane on the back to home. Up the Boro!@jarkko I would have sold him, if we could have got two million say.
@jarkko. I understand what you are saying Jarkko, however he has gone back over these last two seasons, especially with his injuries.
However if he can stay injury free and as important, get back to his original playing level, then it would be like having a new signing. A big ask though.
Last season according to the official MFC web site, we sold over seventeen thousand Early Bird ST's. I believe we then went on to sell another few thousand at full price.
I have not seen or heard anything on the ST sales for next season. I would not mind betting (although I am not a betting man) that we have probably only sold around 14000 at the most. If true abd they are extending the Early Bird ST's, then the number sold could be less.
In the small enclave where I have my ST, (NW Upper) there were a significant number that said they were not renewing.
Reason, not the money, but the football played at the Riverside and high number of losses. The majority sadly believe that nothing will change under Carrick.
As you said Bob, we could be seeing quite low attendances.
@pedro I completely understand people not renewing their STs on the basis of cost. Most fans are cash strapped with other potential priorities.
I do find it hard, though, to understand not renewing on the quality of football, before a ball has been kicked nor a squad announced. What else are regular Riverside attendees going to do when the Boro are at home? Are they the same supporters who moan when new fans appear because the team are being successful, the ones who point to the foam-handed as lesser supporters, calling them glory hunters?
Who would be needed to replace MC to bring the “faithful” ST-holders back into the fold? Do fans really think MC is worse than Strachan, Monk, Wilder or Warnock? How many renewed their STs when that quartet were in charge?
@OFB
Belatedly I’d just like to add my best wishes, Bob. I’m sorry there seems to be no easy solution to your heart issues, and hope that they find the best possible treatment for you asap. Meanwhile, it’s good to have you back with us, and I look forward to reading more of your great posts and the forthcoming In2View.
@martin-bellamy Martin, with the greatest respect, the football at the Riverside last season has been very questionable. OK fans can put forward reasons for some of the performances and that is all well and good.
However, whilst I did not see all 23 home games live due to my current lifestyle, I did see over half. (an expensive ST, but happy to pay and I have renewed for next season)
But generally the quality of the football was poor and not what paying fans expected after all the fanfare at the season start. Besides one has to take into account the stats that were served up by the Coach and Players. Lets start with 25 points dropped from a leading position.
Season 2025/2026, as you rightly say has not kicked off yet. But I would say that the majority by a big margin of ST holders last season, believe nothing will change under Carrick.
Let us see what comes in August and September. Maybe there will be a rush on ST purchases.
@pedro Fair points there. Do you think the majority of ST holders want MC to be replaced?
A BBC article about Djed Spence - remember him?
@pedro Fair points there. Do you think the majority of ST holders want MC to be replaced?
I didn't but in my heart can I see it getting any better, unlikely because I don't think we can afford the players that can play the way he he wants. As Pedro says our home home stank, and in all honesty i only enjoyed a handful of home games, I know if I want enjoyment I should do something else. Like Pedro I have renewed my season tickets more out of habit I suspect.
Back to your original point yes I think MC should be replaced but I don't think he will be given he is still in post and I expect him to be replaced in October after another indifferent start to the season.
@martin-bellamy I would say that probably more than 50%. And that is only the more rational thinking fans. Those that react more quickly, I would say probably as high as 75%.
Of course as we all know, sacking the Coach is the easy bit.
First there is the financial side. Paying him and most of his sidekicks off. Then the difficult bit, finding somebody better. Woodgate, Pulis, Warnock? Then there are the players scouted by the Director of Football and accepted to a great extent by the Coach to fit his system.
Will the new Coach play 4-2-3-1 or maybe 3-5-2. Will the players suit his different system.
Me, I like Carrick. I like his football when it works, which this season it has not. Not sufficiently anyway. But, with a possibly of a big turnover of players, including losing Hackney and possibly VDB / Azaz, can he really improve on the last two seasons.
I hope he can, but don’t really believe it will happen.
Then the biggest issue would be the fans. If we do not start well, irrespective of the squad he has, the Riverside would be toxic and nobody could survive that.
https://youtu.be/HCEBvvJpGwE?si=uwtGOjPt1B89jQDH
What do you think , about Boros failure
A BBC article about Djed Spence - remember him?
it seems likely that MFC will receive the maximum in top-up payments for Tavernier, Spence and Rogers and that, combined with good sales for Akpom and Lathe Lath, must certainly have helped with the finances.
utb
@selwynoz I think we are in a healthy position to sign a few new players this season. We do not NEED to sell, but of course some players might move. But I think there is a chance that Hackney will stay for a season. He is a Boro lad.
Up the Boro!
Here is a good interview with our new number one goalkeeper:
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25175221.sol-brynn-interview-ups-downs-middlesbrough-season/
I often wonder why there are not many interviews like this with the Boro players. In the past - say in the 1980's or 1990's there were regularly interviews with the players in the local press. Especially I would like to read these with the new players Boro sign.
Unfortunately the interviews are very few nowadays. Why?
Up the Boro!
@jarkko I think that the club want to manage and control as much information from and about the club as they can. Some might call it censorship others just managing the information, they'll never stop speculation though.
Interestingly there's a piece about the Head of Football in the Gazette today. More food for thought.
UTB,
John
@john-richardson But why they do it? Sounds very strange to me, but I agree that the club is controlling it more tightly than before. But the club exists for the fan only.
The club should be more transparent. And Mr. Gibson - for example - should give one long interview or two every year to the press, too.
Up the Boro!
@jarkko I think it it is simply control, perhaps there's a vain hope that everyone will believe everything they say but that would be ignoring the non-local media and individual speculation. Basically we'll never know, but someone is in charge of the dissemination of information.
Let's see what OFB comes up with in his promised article!
Reading between the lines, guesswork and interpretation. Wonderful stuff!
UTB,
John
From what I understand, the rules for Div 1 are different as far as PSR is concerned, an owner can invest as much as he wants, so if Boro went down Gibson could spend £ 100m if he wanted to, maybe that's the way to go for a reset
Earlier reports of Scott being given a new 4 year contract have been dispelled by the club, as Scott is on a permanent contract (just like the tea lady 😂). If he wanted to leave (join Palace etc) he has to give a months notice (just like when he left Norwich to come here). Maybe that will stop the unfounded rumours for now.
Come on BORO.
"Tea lady" ? That sounds very quaint to me .
Surely the days of Gladys,Edie, Marge and Lil were numbered when the move from Ayresome Park meant that they could no longer walk into the ground from the local area
I would have thought that modern day footballers at Rockcliffe would demand at least a barista, decorating the froth of their coffees with artistic designs that work in counterpoint to the patterns of their tattoos.
The tea ladies, of course, did a much better job at a fraction of the price
Steve Gibson came in for so much criticism when he opened up about his ambition to "smash the league" following our relegation under Karanka and the big spend under felonious Monk that it's perhaps understandable that he has no desire to hold himself hostage to fortune again.
It's a big mistake not to communicate directly with the fans but if what you communicate goes haywire then the consequences can come back to haunt you for years.
Once bitten...
One RUMOUR of a player Boro might be interested in is Blackburn Rovers ace Tyrhys Dolan.
No idea how reliable this is. The lad is a highly-talented winger and 23 year old. He is right footed and can play mainly on the right wing.
He is out of contract next month, but Blackburn have offered him a new one now. Keeping in mind the situation behind the scenes at Ewood Park, he might be tempted to move on.
But nothing about him on the local papers in the North East yet. So just a rumour. Up the Boro!
@jarkko. “ He is right footed and can play mainly on the right wing.”
Which means if he joins us then the current management will play him on the left! 😉😎
@k-p-in-spain Well he can play on the left, too.
But we have Whittaker on the right now, so you might be right.
Up the Boro!
Djed Spence gets a europa league winners medal.
Come on BORO.
@exmil Other than that, it was not a classic match. It was like two relagation teams fighting to avoid the drop. I fell to sleep towards the end.
And Woody lost his record. He was last scorer of a goal when Spurs won something the last time around.
Still one weekend to go and the season is finally over and the Echo can write something about Boro again.
Up the Boro!