A friend of mine attended an event with Tony as one of the speakers, he told me afterwards that Tony looked really ill, so I don’t know if he would be interested knowing he couldn’t do the job justice.Tony Mowbray is available, local and has Middlesbrough written write through him. Could he take over on an interim basis. At least this time he would have a reasonable if not good squad to work with...
Come on BORO.
Is Jurgen Klopp still available 🤔.
Come on BORO.
@powmillnaemore - So sorry but I appear not to have commented before now about your Match Preview. I did read it (and gave it a thumb up) but for the last couple of days I have been a little less than 100% which I attribute to the after effects of the booster Shingles jab I had, together with a pneumonia jab in the same arm on Tuesday. The top of the arm is still red and warm. I also had other appointments to keep so I had set aside this afternoon to go through the Blog but today has rather been hijacked by news of the cancellation of the Boro manager's Press Conference for the Birmingham game following Boro's declining to give Wolves the opportunity to speak to Rob Edwards about the job vacancy at the Premier League's bottom-placed club.
I guess this all means that this thread of the Blog will be overtaken by an avalanche of comments about the managerial situation that has arisen out of nowhere. That would be sad as the opener you prepared was a really good read which deserved its own spotlight rather than having to fill in as a spoiler for whoever it might be said is likely to be the one who Dances with Wolves.
I will now go back to the earlier pages to see the posts I last read...
Seven days in the life of a Boro supporter
The agony of a 3-0 thumping
The agony of a correct/incorrect penalty
The ecstacy of a Ayling last second equaliser
The confusion of will he go, won't he go
The fury of feeling let down by what now appears a charlatan.
Agony, ecstacy, frustration, fury all in seven days
What will the eighth day bring, who knows, but we are due some ecstacy.
One thing for sure though is that we will all still be here for another seven days of who knows what !!
Bring back Mogga or Southgate 😄.
Or keep it as it is. Interesting to see who is taking care of the match vs. Birmingham. Up the Boro!
Off topic. Six Boro matches on Sky Sports in the New Year.
Three on a Monday night, one on a Friday night.
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2025/november/07/six-boro-games-selected-for-tv/
@jarkko Sorry Jarkko, a no to Mowbray. Southgate, we could not afford his side kicks, never mind him.
@forever-dormo no need to apologise FD, but thank you for the consideration. Actually, this might be the only ever time one of the threads I have opened attracts four or more pages of comments 😉
@exmil - Let's hope it wasn't anything serious (ie nothing related to Mogga's recovery from the cancer treatment has had recently). My wife has just told me that if I'd had to make a speech yesterday (or Wednesday), I'd have looked terrible, too, and I certainly felt grim. But it wasn't "serious". If needed as a holding measure, and if Mogga IS well, I'm sure he would do a great job. I think he DOES want to get back into management when he feels able and fit enough. Obviously he doesn't NEED a job after a life in high-level professional football, so he must really love the game and he certainly has "BORO" written all through his bones.
He's a decent bloke, trusted throughout football (judging by comments coming from supporters of the various clubs he has previously managed when he had to take a step back, when illness struck him) and he knows more about football at Championship level than virtually anybody else. He would come to Boro with so much love and respect, and so much credit in the bank...
Anyway we will have to wait and see. I don't suppose this is making the players feel very secure. Whoever is selected tomorrow, (and selected by whom?) we will need to get behind the team against Birmingham. Wouldn't it be interesting if, after the issues and comments about Whittaker, some person other than Edwards decides NOT to pick him to start in light of recent performances?
@presidentjump I think Tim Burgess would say calling RE a charlatan is a bit harsh. Maybe “a man needs to told” or he’s a “weirdo”.
So Rob Edwards is still in round-table discussions with the club hierarchy as he faces banishment from Rockcliffe after failing to convince anyone that he is and always has been faithful to the Boro - there's a word for it I think Len may have mentioned it yesterday...
Whatever the outcome of those discussions, I just can't see any merit in Edwards being in the dugout for tomorrow's game as he'll face the wrath and fury of supporters at the Riverside and it will be a massive distraction to the players if there are boos and whistles and general hostility directed towards him. Time to throw him to the wolves...
@presidentjump I think Tim Burgess would say calling RE a charlatan is a bit harsh. Maybe “a man needs to told” or he’s a “weirdo”.
It may well be Blackened Blue Eyes by the time he gets out of that meeting with Scott after the trouble he went to to get him into Boro...
Scott Wilson's take on matters published a few minutes ago probably reflects the mood of most people with regard to Edwards and his future...
What needs to happen next at Boro amid uncertainty over Rob Edwards
@werdermouth. Sorry I can’t read the article as it’s pay to read. 😎
- Breaking News Boro next manager revealed
Awful time at Boro for the owner, fans and players. Let’s hope the team go out tomorrow and give a performance in beating Birmingham.
One thing for sure is the fans will get behind the team.
philip of Huddersfield 👍🤔
BOB- your suggested new manager will make us all smile.
All this fist pumping and we are family together B sshhh shows that what really matters is
💰💰💰💰💰💰💰
Appointing Mogga is just wrong on all counts and especially for the man himself. He has been terribly ill and the self-imposed pressure to handle the club - even on an interim basis - would be wholly unfair on him.
He loves the club obviously but wasn't very good at all as boss here before, albeit in tough times. I hated that he found it impossible to leave last time and hung on, King Lear like, until the fans turned at Barnsley.
Have him as life-president etc but not otherwise. Sadly he is yesterday's man
There are at least six other ex Boro bosses about - Carrick (who we're paying anyway), Gareth, Wilder, Neil, Pulis and Steve Mac could do it for a few weeks when he's back from Jamaica...
Southgate would be my choice and while he might help out in the short term, I think that would be it.
Talking about looking unwell or looking well it was amusing today that I had to go to the doctors for a blood test.
Just making small talk as I was getting to leave she said you look well have you been sunbathing ?
She looked at me curiously when I started to laugh !😆
I shook my head and said no !
Unfortunately I’ve got a very white face and big black circles around my eyes and look like a zombie ! So to disguise the fact I’ve been using my wife’s face tanning lotion so that I appear to be a sun kissed Adonis !
She laughed and said that makes two of us !
Perhaps Rob Edwards uses face tan cream as well ? But doesn’t he have two faces ???
OFB
I agree. There’s no way now that he can play any further role in MFC. The club needs to let him go and very quickly. The wolves can have him and pay us compensation and we can find someone who really does want to be at Boro and will show some loyalty.
@werdermouth. Sorry I can’t read the article as it’s pay to read. 😎
The trick is to use the reader view in a browser such as Firefox (which in this case will then display just the text) but you have to click on the reader view icon the second the option appears (usually a page icon to the right of the URL address next to the favourites star and looks like a rectangle with 3-4 horizontal lines) as the full article disappears once the page has loaded in the browser and you then get the message box asking to subscribe.
@rich-llewelyn-evans - Firstly I doubt we could afford Sir Gareth. Secondly, and to be fair, he would be a MUCH better manager now than when he first took the reins at Boro.
I recall we had to seek dispensation from the rule that a manager at that level must have the relevant coaching badges, which he didn't, on the grounds that England had snaffled our manager (Schteeve) leaving us little time to replace him.
Not that the pieces of paper would mean anything in the real world. But that his age-group coaching in the England set-up and then his career managing England's national team (getting to two FINALS when the country had only ever qualified for ONE in all its previous history) suggests he has a lot more managerial ability than he was able to show in his early managerial career.
To be fair, I guess I was a better solicitor after 20 years than I was the day I qualified. Even though I DID have all the pieces of paper when I first acted as a solicitor.
I really don’t think we should dwell on the traitor angle here. Let’s look forward to who comes next. Everyone in football will do what’s best for them at any particular time and if RE believes this is a good move for him and his family he’s right to accept the job.
If this hadn’t happened and we’d continue to haemorrhage points between now and January, many, many fans (including some on here, I’m sure) would be calling on SG to make a change.
It’s just the nature of the football beast - onwards and upwards. Erimus! The Infant Hercules will continue.
Incidentally, one thing I read today in the local press was that apparently although the club hired Harry Watling, it was always Edwards plan to bring him in to his coaching team at his next appointment - so that could muddy the waters if Boro were aiming to let Watling and Viveash take up the reigns.
Though we don't know if Watling would be wanting to follow Edwards to Wolves should it materialise. It certainly would get messy if Watling also exited a week later.
Someone suggested getting Aaron Danks back as manager from his role as assistant at Bayern Munich - Carrick's team certainly got worse after he left the club.
@forever-dormo we could give Gareth the three mill coming our way from Wolves?
I don't see it either sadly but it would be a feel good appointment to allow us to forget about RE within minutes. I, for one, would be ecstatic. It's worth the punt certainly.
And yes, I think he's way better now than before and also comes with a happily settled family nearby,
I would disagree that it's in anyway ok for somebody to opt to leave the key post of leader after all the planning for the season that has gone into trying to achieve an objective because a better personal offer suddenly appears within a few months of signing up to a long-term project.
Surely you have a responsibility to the whole club and team to follow through on your agreement - especially given all the hard work and money spent in getting the club into having their best chance of making that goal in many years.
It's hard to judge this situation as anything other than a pure and simple selfish act not worthy of somebody who aspires to be the leader - it lets down everybody and risks leaving them in a demoralised mess where the rest have to pick up the pieces to allow you leave on a whim.
No I don't see any chance of persuading Gareth Southgate to return as Boro manager - plus I think he's had far bigger and better offers since he left England and turned them down. He actually spoke the other day on Radio 4 and said that he doesn't have any plans to return to football management for the foreseeable future and wants to work with youngsters and make a difference in other areas outside football.
@werdermouth In theory, I totally agree with everything you say but this is football. Maybe he’d argue he’s come in, produced a start to the season that no one could have predicted (apart from those of us who guessed 18 points from the first 10 games), so he’s left the club in a much better position.
I'm guessing that's not what he said he'd do in his interview with Steve Gibson in the summer but I'm sure he knew he'd likely be sacked if he failed to win many games. It's a low bar if you jump ship after a few months to a club adrift at the bottom of the PL that has openly been accused of being in managed decline - in fact I'm struggling to think of a recent comparison even in football...