It is being reported that Morgan Whittaker is attracting Premier League interest Fulham see him as a replacement for Harry Wilson, Bournemouth are also keen, Boro value him at £20m 🤔
Come on BORO.
Greetings everyone and apologies for my lack of posting through January but we have had a rather stressful time of late. Mrs Oz on I went on holiday in SEAsia which ended up with both of us getting chest infections. My wife had to search out a local hospital. We then made it back home and I went down with flu - thankfully I had been vaccinated a few months back - but I still needed some hospital time here in Sydney.
I’m happy to say that we’re both recovering well and I had the added fillip of watching Boro plough on so successfully.
The Norwich game feels like quite a key moment. Norwich are playing very well and may well attack us, which is a good thing, but it is a match that a team going for automatic promotion should be able to handle.
I suppose that we can’t expect a win every week and I’ve been wondering what would be a good return from the next three games. I’d suggest a minimum of 5 points and not losing to Coventry. Anything more would be great.
@jarkko enjoy your retirement. Fascinating to hear about the saunas and ice bathing. Here in Oz people are trying to cope with 35-40 degree heat - Centigrade that is
UTB
Delano Burgzorg has joined Bristol City on loan until the end of the season.
The 27-year-old has completed the formalities of a move that gives City the option to sign him permanently at the end of the campaign.Delano heads to the south west after spending 18 months on Teesside.
Up the Boro!
He's on the bench or the Robins' match at home to Derby County, for all the good it's doing the home team: it's losing 0-3. Neto Borges on for City at the start of the second half.
P.S. Late to the party, but congrats on your opener, Jarkko.
Delano Burgzorg has joined Bristol City on loan until the end of the season.
The 27-year-old has completed the formalities of a move that gives City the option to sign him permanently at the end of the campaign.Delano heads to the south west after spending 18 months on Teesside.
Up the Boro!
He's on the bench or the Robins' match at home to Derby County, for all the good it's doing the home team: it's losing 0-3. Neto Borges on for City at the start of the second half.
DB on as a sub in the 63rd minute. Off topic, I note that Sam Morsy is now at Bristol C!
Delano Burgzorg has joined Bristol City on loan until the end of the season.
He's on the bench or the Robins' match at home to Derby County, for all the good it's doing the home team: it's losing 0-3. Neto Borges on for City at the start of the second half.
DB on as a sub in the 63rd minute. Off topic, I note that Sam Morsy is now at Bristol C!
Finished 0-5. Interesting comment on the Beeb site:
Derby are so good away from home that, actually, no one is better in the Championship. They are on their way to an eighth win out of their past 15 games, while Middlesbrough, who are second-best on the road, have won seven.
Meanwhile, Robins new boy Delano Burgzorg tries an effort but, as has been the story all night for the hosts, it's lacking quality.
Also:
Matt Clarke's [remember him?] been man of the match for me. He's been dominant on the ball.
Watched Bristol City v Derby who are both top 6 challengers. Derby cruised to a 5-0 victory and moved into the top 6.They were very impressive all over the pitch but Bristol were poor, passing the ball awful and created virtually nothing. They look a similar standard to Preston.
Burgzorg played about 30 minutes and given little chance to shine. He had one shot - went for power and missed the target - nothing new there !!
And so tomorrow it’s back to business and hopefully Boro can put on a performance and do enough to win. Won’t be straightforward as Norwich are on a roll and will be full of confidence.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍👍
Fulham have just signed Bobb from Man City for 27 million pounds. Comments on BBc suggest he will replace Wilson whose contract is up at the end of the season, and may not resign. They also have sold Traore to West Ham. So not sure if there are any legs in the Whittaker rumour.
I think that Saturday's game will be tough and we may have to settle for a point, and end the weekend only three points ahead of Ipswich, who play their game in hand next Tuesday, Portsmouth away.
@Selwynoz - I am sorry to hear about the health travails of you and your wife. Hopefully you will have Boro's performances to soothe you back to full health.
@Jarkko - thanks for the detailed reply. I knew there was something like the Germans call an umlaut above the "o" in mokki, but didn't know how to insert one whilst typing my post.
The Finnish and their saunas - clearly an obsession, but in a good way. There is NO WAY you'd get me leaping into a freezing lake, whether I'd been in a sauna or not. I have been to a Turkish Baths when younger and they sound much like a sauna. But they were probably more like Roman Baths with warm rooms, medium and hot rooms and I remember the deep plunge baths which seemed very cold (but maybe the water just SEEMED so cold compared the boiling heat I had been in previously). I think I can remember hot/dry and hot/humid rooms but it was decades ago.
I have a friend who finds it difficult to explain why, since I have a house with all I need inside, in a pleasant North Yorkshire village with pubs, cricket club etc, I should want to go away most weekends from March/April to October, towing my caravan into a farmer's field and cook on a BBQ. Even when the weather forecast is "dodgy".
I hope we don't sell Whittaker. Where would we be without his contribution this season? Certainly not looking a decent bet for promotion to the Premier League.
All doesn't hinge on the game tomorrow against Norwich, of course. But whilst things remain tight at the top, every game assumes its own importance. I guess as the season progresses towards "crunch time" that feeling will be amplified because the stakes are so high and it seems so long ago that the club played in the top tier.
@Jarkko - thanks for the detailed reply. I knew there was something like the Germans call an umlaut above the "o" in mokki, but didn't know how to insert one whilst typing my post.
FD: make sure your num lock is on & then hold down the ALT key while you type in 148 on the number pad. So Boro's mooted interest in the German player would be in Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer. 😉
P.S. ALT+129 gives you "ü" & ALT+132 "ä".
@stircrazy - Isn't IT etc amazing?
Certainly is, FD, but as a linguist with a penchant for perfectionism, I made it my business early on to ensure that I could type names etc in the languages with which I am familiar (French, German, Spanish Italian &, to a lesser extent, Turkish, because it shares some accents with German) as they should appear & I seem to know instinctively when they're needed even when they don't appear in most printed media (so I check).
Yes, to us there is a big difference between ö and o. Hömötianen is a bird like talitiainen, sinitiainen, etc. But homo means "gay". So totally different.@Jarkko - thanks for the detailed reply. I knew there was something like the Germans call an umlaut above the "o" in mokki, but didn't know how to insert one whilst typing my post.
FD: make sure your num lock is on & then hold down the ALT key while you type in 148 on the number pad. So Boro's mooted interest in the German player would be in Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer. 😉
P.S. ALT+129 gives you "ü" & ALT+132 "ä".
Another example. Mika Häkkinen's (two time F-1 Champion from my home town) name was always spelled Hakkinen by the English speaking media. But in Finland we have two family names: Häkkinen is more common than Hakkinen, but both are different family names!
I had a customer whose last name was Känä. When I sent him an email, I had to spell his last name as kana in the IT address. Kana means chicken in our language - so it was a bit irritating. But that is how IT works - not correctly.
A second example is a county in Southern Finland called Häme - one of the most historic counties. If you spell it like hame, it would mean a women's "shirt". So again a bit unpolite to leave the "umlaut" away.
Up the Boro!
@forever-dormo Dormo, I have never dipped myself into the a frozen lake. And never will. But more and more people feel it refreshing.
I think the players at Rockcliffe use cold water (+ 4 degrees) to treat their muscles after a match. But for much longer times.
Mind, the water temperature is 4 degrees just below the covering ice for fysical reason. See its density.
Up the Boro!
My starter for the Norwich match was awful.
We have spent more time discussing retirement and languages than football. What a football blog.
Who did we play against on Saturday? Please remind me. Up the Boro!
Fair question. We are playing Norwich and they bring a lot of confidence.
Listening to other blogs it may come down to two battles. Firstly the confrontation between the young forward Jovon Makana (6'4"+) and Adilson Malanda (6'4"-) and secondly the battle for the control of midfield which will determine how well Norwich can counter-attack. Haydn 'n Aidan are key to how we attack but Morris is also key to killing the opposition's momentum.
One other big question is whether Brittain starts at right back. If so, that may mean that Browne is on the bench. Alternatively, Hellberg may find some tweak to his set-up which has them both supporting Whittaker down the right.
Lots to think about.
UTB
Glad you and your wife are recovering from the travails of your travels - though you don't have to go far at the moment to find people going down with various bugs!
Yes, to us there is a big difference between ö and o. Hömötianen is a bird like talitiainen, sinitiainen, etc. But homo means "gay". So totally different.
Funnily enough, One of our budgies is gay but that's probably nothing to do with him lacking an umlaut...
That was some away win by Derby last night and looks like Bristol City are falling off the pace just as Burgzorg joins them with just 1 win from their last 5 games.
@werdermouth Let’s hope that any of your budgies and the Boro don’t fall off their perches any time soon.
Three very hard games coming up, and I think that realistically we will not win them all and even a defeat is possible. I guess you cannot win them all, even though all the games are almost, “must win” at this moment.
I have just been looking at the Hamburg lads recent stats and they do not make very good reading. He has not played that many minutes in a poor side.
His goals all came last season in their second division, which I would guess is probably not as good as the Championship. Apparently he only has six months left on his contract, so the 6 million quoted looks very high for a non scoring forward.
@martin-bellamy Hope to see any Boro fans in Finland. The coutry has as many people as Scotland, but the size of the country is nearly as large as France. So plenty of Forests, lakes, the sea, and the sea is full of small islands.
I think we have over 100 000 lakes that are bigger than a pond. And nearly as many islands in them and especially in the sea.
Let me know if you plan a holiday here. Beware about Norway. It is very expensive country - a pint (or only 0,5 liter) can cost well over 15 euros! I had a beer nearly the same amount is a hotel in Helsinki on Wednesday - I think it was 13 eur - but that is said to be the most expensive pint in Finland. It was part of my farewell party at work.
Up the Boro!.
This article from today’s Guardian might be of interest: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/jan/31/what-makes-finland-the-happiest-country-in-the-world?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
It occurs to me that if we’re going to win promotion this year we should be expecting to win games like today’s.
As supporters we’re used to being disappointed, but look at the table. We’re second on merit and within striking distance of claiming the top spot. Norwich are 18th, a full 16 places below the Boro.
There’s a valid argument that form is as important as league positions, but surely we should be confident of a win today. I’m hoping that LH has instilled a positive mindset in his players and that they’ll go out expecting to win.
What a mad mad world we live in:
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/crystal-palace-macclesfield-gate-receipts-b1268832.html 😎
Just noticed that a certain A Armstrong is not in the Southampton squad today. 🤔😎
@martin-bellamy Maybe that is all part of the “fine lines” between success and failure.
The Coach, his staff and most importantly the Team have to be confident of their ability and their ability to win. Anything less will ultimately lead to defeat.
@k-p-in-spain Oh nooooooo. I hope it is Wrexham that is really interested.
I think we should stick and not twist on Armstrong especially. The finances would just not make sense, and if we got promoted he will not be good enough for the EPL.
Archer not in the squad either.
Although they beat Coventry on Monday which just shows how crazy the Championship is.
Agree that we should be winning although this is the type of fixture that makes me worry about “Typical Boro” turning up.
Lets hope that KH has managed to change that!
Hope you and your wife are recovering well.
We are heading to Sydney via 5 days in Singapore on Tuesday so do you have any tips for Sydney that might help us?
After that we are heading south to Jervis Bay for a few days before heading to the Blue Mountains for our return via Bali.
As far as I can tell, restaurants and bars appear to close very early and not at all on Mondays which as we have a late ish arrival on a Monday! Might be having a takeaway pizza as even the hotel restaurant is closed!
Anyway onto to football matters and another must win for Boro today.
What a mad mad world we live in:
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/crystal-palace-macclesfield-gate-receipts-b1268832.html 😎
indeed it is although perhaps Palace could just make a one off donation or set up a Go Fund Me page and deposit the money via that!
TOUGH AT THE TOP
The need for Boro to keep winning is evident by the League table as 6 out of the top 7 teams have all won 4 out of their last 6 games. The exception is Coventry who have only won 2 and are experiencing a bit of a sticky patch. The challenge is to keep winning but recognise that there will be the occasional blip.
Hope it’s not today.
As an aside, I usually listen to the pre match comments of Kim and are impressed with his honesty, giving straight answers, sharing what he’s trying to achieve, the level of analysis and detail he goes into to succeed, and eg acknowledging that the final decision on new players does not rest with him. His love of football and enjoying his job is also evident. I’m pleased we have him rather than his predecessor.
Yesterday, I caught the pre match comments of the Norwich coach and was immensely impressed. He joined Norwich at about the same time as Boro’s new coach and has a very similar success story.
His comments were clear, sharp and straight forward , very much to the point , he clearly knows what he’s doing and aiming to achieve. He appeared quite serious but demonstrated a wry sense of humour. If we didn’t have Kim, then based solely on his comments yesterday, I’d be pleased to have him as I’m sure Norwich have got an excellent coach.
I will be interested if , from their lowly position in the League, he can continue Norwich’s excellent run of form and whether he can make the top 6. A tall order as they are 12 points behind the 6 th placed team.
Just a few thoughts as I relax ahead of kick off.
Philip of Huddersfield 🤔👍🤔