@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!
Whittaker has been at his best coming back onto his left foot so we really need a progressive winger/wingback who can create a threat down the wing. I’m also very much in favour of Boro switching at the back to create more defensive cover and more width in our attacking play. 3-4-1-2 would fit with our style.
UTB
It was like two relegation teams fighting to avoid the drop. I fell to sleep towards the end.
I was about to write the exact same opening sentence - I did fall asleep during last 15 minutes only to awake to Spurs celebrating - it was probably the worst cup final ever and very poor standard!
The one positive of spurs winning is that we may get some money from Spence transfer since they have qualified for champions league
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.
There seems to be a lot of click-bait rumours out there that are mainly based on opinion of what the club should do - I've stopped clicking on quite a few with Football League World one of the worst offenders, who require you to agree to your data being shared by seemingly thousands of their 'partners'. Likewise with many national newspapers who demand you agree to let your personal details be shared by a long list of third parties - most are just in it to make revenue and if you can't decline cookies and ads then I'm not bothering to read a spurious story that often amounts to be based on nothing.
The Gazette did an article on Scott's contract and it's as you describe - a permanent contract with no fixed duration...
According to reports, Djed Spence clicked at least two add ons last night, win a European trophy and qualify for the Champions League, it’s not known how many other “add ons” he has clicked during the last season, appearances etc. I think even Spurs didn’t expect him to click the two he did last night 😂. No matter how much the add on’s are worth, every little bit helps in our transfer kitty for next season.
Come on BORO.
Two young players I'd like to see Boro get are Toby Collyer Man U and Rubin Collwill from Cardiff, Collyer might be difficult to get , both excellent midfield players
Here is his interview on the Aussie training camp:Surprise surprise Riley Mcgree fit to join up with the Socceroos for their training camp in Abu Dhabi before their World Cup qualifier next month.
https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/mcgree-ive-been-working-hard-get-my-body-right
Up the Boro!
Carrying on with the Season Reveiw part of our Headliner, here is a link to the BoroBreakdown Podcast. Featuring Dana Malt and friends, so a varied take on the season gone.
Quite interesting and echo's a lot of what we have said on here. A bit of fence sitting with regards to Carrick, except one who would let him go.
Longish, (100 mnutes) but can be listened to in the agenda splits.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-season-review-show-2024-25/id1365160277?i=1000708823204
Middlesbrough Are Set To Reignite Their Interest For Plymouth Argyle Wing-Back Bali Mumba This Summer. (Graeme Bailey - EFL Analysis)
OFB
Looking from the outside ,I know nothing, it seems Carrick is staying , and I'm wondering if Gibson may be thinking of going in a different direction, in the sense bringing in serious funds in order to look toward strengthening for the long term plan,
What kind of revenue could be brought in on sales let's say
Hackney £18m + add-ons
RVB £10m + adds
Burlaser £2m
Fry £ 5m
Mcgree £5m
Lenehan £1m
Obviously these players would have to be replaced ,and I'm sure all won't leave, however every player as a price, and it's obvious a different type of player is required to create a balance of flare and solid toughness ,
Just some thoughts
@original-fat-bob If we sign any more Plymouth players, I read we were also looking at one of their CB’s, we will start looking like them possibly.
And we know what happened to them, don’t we. 🤣🤣
@gt Whilst I can agree with your suggestion, Hackney and VDB are the easy ones. Possibly some interest in Azaz from a relegated team.
However, I am not sure about getting decent money for the others.
Fry, last year of his contract plus injuries = 2/3 million
Barlaser, last year of his contract = 500K
Lenihan, ditto, injuries, I doubt we could give him away.
McGree, the enigma. Will he stay fit, will he regain his past standard. If he does, then we have a new player = more than we paid for him. But he has to prove that yet.
Unfortunately I cannot see us being able to move on many of the ones the fans would like to see go.
We will most likely sell Coburn.
We can all have thoughts on who will go (and for how much) who will come in, what management team we will have but all will not be revealed until the end of the next 3 months (September). When will the review end, when will the results be revealed (if ever) will we see white or black smoke coming out of Rockliffe in the near future.
I had to laugh at posters on Teesside live claiming “top 6 next season is the minimum they expect”, they don’t know who will be sold (for how much), who will come in, which management team we will have. Then they seem to forget about the competition in next season’s championship, Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton all coming down with a decent amount of premiership players and parachute payments, Sunderland/Shef Utd, Coventry, Bristol City, Blackburn, Millwall, WBA all who finished above us, then we have Birmingham, Wrexham coming up with new found wealth to spend in the transfer market, what arrogance to claim we should “at least” finish in the top 6, especially when most of the posters have just ripped apart our present squad and management team.
Come on BORO.
@exmil spot on.
This last season could be considered a missed opportunity. Leeds, Burnley and Sheffield Utd excepted, there really were no stand out teams in what was a decidedly average Championship. You highlight very well that next season there is the potential for so many clubs to be more than competitive. Any team eventually finishing top six, let alone which teams will finish 1st and 2nd, shall have had to work very hard and performed very well, consistently throughout the season.
I'm quite chilled here, not getting myself unduly agitated about who will come and who will go. It'll be interesting to see what will happen, but let'sjust wait and see what does happen before we get too carried away with what the next season will bring for us. Tha only real difficulty I see is that the transfer window stays open for far too long after the season has started, so my biggest worry is that it will be 10 games into the season before we are a settled team.
@exmil But, but, we’re a Big Club we DESERVE to be in the Premier League. Tbf, I recall lots of us on here expressing similar views before the start of this season - I’d say most Forum members thought a top 6 finish was a minimum expectation (and we ended just one win away from getting there).
Well isn't that the cherry on top of our excrement cake of a season
@exmil What you have said is of course correct. However we do need something to fill the void of the next couple of months. So a few rumours and gossip, taken with a pinch of salt will help the passage of time.
And as I watch the play off final, Sunderland come back scoring two outstanding goals, the second from young Tom Watson scoring from a great assist by Kiefer Moore.
Well if the posters on Teeside Live, as you said, are fed up now and have expectations of a top six place next season, then possibly the top four places could already be spoken for.
Boro, at this moment in time, nothing more than an inconsistent mid-table side.
However we may have a better idea on 8 August when we start again. Expectations are more likely to be low than high.
The Deckchairs’ promotion this afternoon puts the final seal on our miserable season. That very apt video gt shared earlier in which the guy talks of 8 years of Boro failures has just become 9. It’s going to be really galling next season seeing those two up the road both in the Prem while we languish in the Championship, and probably somewhere in the middle. I don’t think the fans will give Carrick very long next season to make his mark. Disaffection could very quickly set in if he doesn’t produce positive results that see us challenging consistently at the top end.
The Deckchairs’ promotion this afternoon puts the final seal on our miserable season. That very apt video gt shared earlier in which the guy talks of 8 years of Boro failures has just become 9. It’s going to be really galling next season seeing those two up the road both in the Prem while we languish in the Championship, and probably somewhere in the middle. I don’t think the fans will give Carrick very long next season to make his mark. Disaffection could very quickly set in if he doesn’t produce positive results that see us challenging consistently at the top end.
Not sure he will get any time
Congratulations to Sunderland.
Not really in the game in the first half and a little fortunate to be only 0-1 down. Came out second half and gave it a go. At 1-1 it was anybody’s game and Sunderland nicked it at the end.
Next season Sunderland will really struggle mainly I think because they are a very young team , average age only 23, with no real stars and no experience of premiership standards.
Sheffield will be interesting. Does the coach stay? I think some of the better players may be sought after by the lower premiership teams and some older players may be moved on. Who knows.
Meanwhile , it’s looking more likely that Carrick is staying.
Philip of Huddersfield
@clive-hurren Whilst I am pleased for Sunderland and the North East in particular, it was the worst result for MFC in more ways than one.
I believe that United will be a better bet for one of the top six places than if Sunderland had stayed in the Championship. Worse though is that Boro and Carrick will now get even less leeway from the fans in their challenge in improving on the season gone.
They always say, ten games played is the first fence to get over. If Boro fall or stumble at it, the Riverside could turn really toxic. Irrespective of what Mr Gibson thinks, the fans will have the final say. They have already somewhat spoken going by the number of season tickets sold.
No, I don’t know how many, but it will be less than last season.
I've never warmed to Sunderland and always found them to be an unrealistic club in terms of how they perceive and rate themselves. Their team, this season, is decent at best. The Boro of Lathe, Doak, McGree and the other better players is a considerably superior offering but we only have ourselves to blame for our failures this season.
The Mackems were lucky at Wembley undoubtedly but having sat through all of 'Sunderland til I Die', well if we aren't going up then I'd very much like it to be them. It's a boost for the north-east and while it doesn't help Middlesbrough really, it's a feel good story for fans who care. A proper club as Mick McCarthy once said. So good for them.
We should bear in mind that the Sunderland team cost very little, they have a manager as experienced only as Carrick and have got where they are through bonding and spirit. Short of being able to spend gazillions, it's this gel and 'all for one' outlook that carries clubs up. Harking back, the Bruce Rioch team is a perfect example of that.
I felt Boro might have had that earlier this season and on reflection now that three weeks has passed since the final day, am beginning to doubt that Carrick is the right man after all. Short of a serious new player input and retention of our better players, it's impossible to see anything other us going backwards still. In which case, a change of manager and the goodwill and time that buys makes sense now rather than six or 12 months time.
Carrick is a good man but perhaps not a good manager. He is committed to the club certainly but seems over committed elsewhere. I have no faith in Woodgate or Carrick junior as coaches and guess I'm in the majority here.
Of course, who could replace Carrick is key and there is an argument he will stay because we can't find a better alternative. And that is fatal for all sides.
Bryan Robson was probably the most important manager we've had but Terry Venables is the template here. When he came in, he signed for six or seven months, moved to Hurworth, went to the pub there and (as far as we could see) left his London life along for that period. He was fully committed, had a huge bonus incentive from memory, was brilliant tactically and brought a lift all round.
I don't think Carrick can do any of that sadly and it's what we need. I love my club as we all do but we're adrift right now and while I do believe it will get better, I can't quite see how just yet.
Really good post, Rich.
@rich-llewelyn-evans That’s a excellent post.
MFC are now way behind our two top flight clubs up the road. One with an outstanding Coach and the other with what looks like a very good one. Both far better than the one we have.
As you pointed out and is an important point for debate, just how good are Carrick’s two assistants in Woodgate and his brother. How much is actually on his shoulders?
However, according to Wiki, Regis le Bris has far more e experience than Carrick in managing players overall, especially younger ones. Besides having degrees in football related studies he coached successfully at Rennes and Lorient with their, youth and reserve teams and was also head on the latter youth development head.
He did only have two years as first team coach with Lorient, the second in they were relegated. But and the big but, his work with young players and their development looks outstanding. They also has a very good Academy and Head of Recruitment.
Arguably, their best signing was Le Fee in January, who will now cost them, I believe, 20 million because Sunderland were promoted. Who did we choose in January?
There has been some conversations saying that Sunderland have a worse squad than us, I don't think they have a lot of their players are/have been coveted by bigger clubs, Watson has signed for Brighton and if they hadn't gone up they would probably been asset stripped.
Our general despondency is probably made worse by the fact that both teams up the road have been successful and we have generally been crap.
I started watching the team late 1984, but I have seen the clubs nadir and zenith, but the club now has the feel of a "local club for local people" in a time when it's all about big clubs generally, it might have always been so but PL and sky magnify it all.
There is some truth in you probably need billionaires running your club these days, even Bournmouths owner is a billionaire, remember when they were promoted from the old 3rd div, who went up with them? But billionaire owners doesn't guarantee success look at the state of man utd, spurs ( may all change now they are in CL ), stoke.
Maybe the championship is our rightful place, we have had our day in the sun and it is now setting on us.
@paulinboro I’m inclined to agree that we’re a Championship club at heart, although I’m not downhearted by that. It’s one of the most competitive leagues in the world and we’re likely to be in the top half of that league - if we play attractive football and win more than we lose (preferably at the Riverside), I’d be happy.
Maybe I’m just easily pleased as I reach my dotage.
Craig John's article in Teesside Live just about sums MFC up right now
I don’t think it would make much difference having a billionaire owner if Steve Gibson is putting in the maximum allowed under P&S rules.
Though maybe we don’t always get value for money with some signings and also the timing of sales with key players needs to be better.
Of course Sunderland have a bigger stadium so more revenue but effective use of resources doesn’t always reflect having a bigger budget.
Boro will have money to spend in the summer but is a big squad of average players better than targeted spending on key players?
We saw the difference when Latte Lath and Doak were missing and none of the new signings came close to matching their influence.
It’s going to be an important summer on deciding the best way forward - look at how Man Utd fared under a manager who preferred his tactics over finding the best fit for the players he had at his disposal.
I hope Boro are realistic over what they can achieve and how if the club don’t end up getting the players best suited to the intended system.
Boro need new fullbacks and pace and leadership in defence if they are to mount a serious challenge - plus a centre-forward and likely a replacement for Hackney - that will take up all the budget!
Boro are travelling to Ibrox on 26 July for a pre season friendly against Rangers, KO 2 pm UTB