Reports that Boro are open to offers for Hansen despite him signing a deal until 2029 - not sure if that his recent social media post of 'Free Sonja Hansen' due to his lack of game time has not gone down well?
Nypan back to Man City loan terminated.
So we can't afford £7m for Armstrong, a proven Championship striker, but can fritter away three times more than that on Sene, Kante, Hansen, Strelec, Hamilton, Nypan etc, none of whom had Championship experience and none of whom has contributed anything of note to our promotion push.
Armstrong would have. He wanted to come here, and any add ons, were we to achieve promotion, would have been money well spent. I suspected that we had little interest in pursuing the Saints top scorer when Craig Johns ran a story a few weeks ago saying that the Boro were right not to rush into any striker deal. Given the fact that he does not express a definite opinion unless he has been pre-briefed (local journos know the price of offering a view that the club doesn't approve of), this looked like a piece of expectation management to meet this disappointing development.
As I said in an earlier post if we miss promotion because we possess no mainline strikers capable of getting double figure goals, we will be regretting it for a very long time.
Reported that Notts Forest have made a bid for Hackney. Boro response is that he is not for sale.
So, assuming it’s true, that’s good news.
philip of Huddersfield 👍😁
@philip-of-huddersfield HH has also said that he will not be going anywhere this window and that he hopes to achieve promotion with his home town team.
Of course, until the fat lady sings. Maybe Liverpool could offer big money. Now that would be a difficult decision for both parties.
MFC also more hopeful that Targett will see out the remainder of the season at MFC.
Nypan back to Man City loan terminated.
I'm happy with that. I don't think he is quite oven-ready yet, flattering to deceive on the odd occasion.
I am not a huge fan of this scenario,where we take on someone else's player to develop, but then have to give him back at the end of the season (or on their whim). I would rather we invested and developed players ourselves where that is possible. Good luck to him.
For one of those rare times I think I disagree with you Len. I see that as a bullet dodged (i.e. Armstrong going to Wolves). I was never convinced he could be the answer to any question we might have had - certainly not at the £10m that was being talked about. I do not think he is, or ever has been, a prolific goal scorer and I certainly don't think he would have added very much more to our forward capability. It will be interesting to see if he performs well at Wolves for the rest of this season against premier league opposition and then next year against Championship opposition (again).
Now, if there is any chance of prising Cameron Archer away form the Saints, i would be all for that.
mouth about Nypan it was a step up too far for him at this point of his career. I think he will eventually make a player but looked at times like a rabbit caught in the glare of a car’s headlights !
At least It frees up a space in the squad
I’m pleased Targett is staying and hope we sign him permanently
OFB
MIDDLESBROUGH have rejected a bid from Nottingham Forest for Hayden Hackney - and made clear their captain is not for sale.
It's not known how much Forest offered for the midfielder but the bid was swiftly rejected by Boro.
It's understood the approach was made on Sunday night, just a day after Hackney categorically ruled out leaving Boro ahead of tonight's 7pm deadline, telling of his dream to captain his boyhood club to promotion this season.
Hackney has 18 months left to run on his current deal at the Riverside.
The midfielder had the opportunity to leave for Ipswich Town early in the summer window but turned down the Tractor Boys. Premier League interest then emerged late in the summer window but Boro's stance was that the 23-year-old was not for sale.
And that remains the case now.
Hackney has starred this season for Boro and scored the only goal in Saturday's 1-0 victory over Norwich, a fifth successive win for Kim Hellberg's side that took them joint top of the Championship.
After the game, Hackney said: “This is what I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a kid - play for Middlesbrough.
"And where we are in the league at the minute, as long as we just keep going, we feel confident.
“Winning promotion with Middlesbrough would mean everything to me. I don’t know how I’d be, but I know I’d be over the moon.
“That is the dream. We just take it game by game, but at the minute, the squad’s looking very good. We’ve got competition all over the place. We’ll keep working hard and see where it takes us.”
Asked directly if that meant there was no chance of him leaving Middlesbrough ahead of tonight's 7pm deadline, he said: “No. I’m really happy. The manager’s got me playing the way I enjoy playing, getting the best out of me. So yeah, I’m really enjoying it.”
Maybe why Forest came in for Hackney.
Celtic have rejected a bid of about £17m from Nottingham Forest for Belgium midfielder Arne Engels.
Hayden Hackney is the most important person on the pitch for Boro. I can't imagine any player, at least out of the players the club might reasonably expect to sign,* to be able to contribute so much as he does.
Hackney, at their respective levels in the football pyramid, is the player who drives the team on in the same way that Steven Gerrard did for Liverpool. But I hope HH will get the opportunity to demonstrate his ability in the Premier League next season. Bearing in mind Nottingham Forest's current position in the league table, I would expect to find a team rather higher up in the food chain to be sniffing around him should Boro fail to be promoted by the end of this season. And if the team IS promoted, and after he has had the opportunity to prove his ability to adapt to the demands of the Premier League next season, I would expect the sort of teams who begin the season with a realistic ambition of finishing in the Top Six to be looking at Hackney.
* I am not expecting a late Boro bid for Harry Kane.
Here is Craig Johns' listing of Boro's 25-man squad, as it stands.
They'll have to confirm their squad list to the EFL tomorrow, with Nypan's exit making Boro up to date with no unregistered players, as things stand.
Luke Ayling, Alex Bangura, Callum Brittain, Alan Browne, Sol Brynn, Tommy Conway, Seny Dieng, George Edmundson, Dael Fry, Alex Gilbert, Hayden Hackney, Micah Hamilton, Sontje Hansen, Alfie Jones, Darragh Lenihan, Adilson Malanda, Riley McGree, Jon McLaughlin, Aidan Morris, Jeremy Sarmiento, Kaly Sene, Sammy Silvera, David Strelec, Matt Targett, Morgan Whittaker.
U21 players like Castledine, Munroe and McCabe don't need to be registered. We could see yet more change yet though, with moves in the pipeline for Dieng and Hamilton.
If Dieng goes, The Echo are (or is?) expecting Boro to bring in a cheaper option.
Up the Boro!
If Dieng goes, The Echo are (or is?) expecting Boro to bring in a cheaper option.
It's "is", Jarkko. 😉
Apparently, Boro are going to sign West Brom third-choice keeper Joe Wildsmith if Dieng leaves
Wildsmith done deal. Loan till the end of the season. This frees up Dieng to move to Feyenoord.
If Dieng goes, The Echo are (or is?) expecting Boro to bring in a cheaper option.
It's "is", Jarkko. 😉
Unfortunately, I didn't come back in time to edit my original post, so this is by way of being a separate P.S. In all the other languages with which I'm familiar (far more logical than English), the verb would be in the singular, not the plural. I'm guessing that Finnish is no different, so whenever you're in two minds about something similar, my advice would be to be guided by what you would do in your mother tongue.
🚨 | BREAKING: Seny Dieng’s move to Feyenoord has broken down.
There’s still a possibility that the goalkeeper could exit the club before tonight’s deadline.
[BBC Tees Sport]
🚨 | BREAKING: Seny Dieng’s move to Feyenoord has broken down.
There’s still a possibility that the goalkeeper could exit the club before tonight’s deadline.
[BBC Tees Sport]
On a related matter of 'is' versus 'are' - I remember a discussion a while back about why we normally say 'Arsenal are top of the league' rather than 'Arsenal is top of the league' - I've forgotten the actual reason but something about collective nouns rings a bell?
Either way he won't be part of the 25-man squad now we've signed a third keeper - maybe he'll have his contract terminated by mutual consent as was the plan a few months ago and then he could join Hull...
@werdermouth - You are right, there was such a discussion. I might struggle to do this as dinner will shortly be ready but, here it goes...
The "Bible" in such matters is "Fowler's Dictionary of English Usage" (my version being subtitled "Fowler for the 21st Century"). The rule relates to collective nouns: a noun that is normally singular in form but where a collection or number of individuals is denoted. the "bible" tells us that apart from names of some birds or animals where the singular and plural are the same (deer, grouse, sheep etc) ... and the names of institutions, firms and teams (BBC, Marks & Spencer, Tottenhalm Hotspur etc), there are some 200 collective nouns in common use in English (choir, committee, flock, multitude etc). There are several main considerations and they include, in British English):
1. It is in order to use either a singular OR a plural verb form providing attendant pronouns follow suit - "When the jury RETIRES to consider ITS verdict" or "When the jury retires to consider THEIR verdict".
but dinner is being served and if I'm late, I'll be in trouble... More later.
Thanks, that sounds familiar and enjoy your dinner - though thankfully Jarkko didn't quote the BBC instead of The Echo...
Oh dear what I have done again ..
Finnish is difficult language but at least the rules are without exceptions. The problem is that we have too many rules in our grammar. Many foreiners say it is one of the most difficult languages to learn. I admit that but at least there is no "exceptions" ....
Sorry, I am afraid we are back to Arsenal is or are debate or similar. Up the Boro!
Well, that’s it. The window is closed, at last. Our best bit of business by far was keeping Hackney, followed by keeping Targett. I won’t lose any sleep over the departures of Burgzorg, Kanté and Nypan.
But I guess we’re all a bit disappointed and even a bit anxious that we didn’t bring in a striker?
In principle, if Whittaker and Conway keep scoring, and Castledine, Strelec, McGree and maybe Hackney, Silvera and Browne can all add a few more, then we should be ok. We’ll definitely create the chances. Can we put enough of them away to push us to promotion?
...right! As I was saying before I was interrupted:
The thing to avoid is mixing the singular and plural as in "A family displaced by the fighting PREPARES (singular) to return to THEIR (plural) village...". The same principle applies to all the main collectives like army, audience, clan, committee, company, court, crew, folk, government, group, herd. The rule is much more restrictive in American English, in which the verb and any attendant pronouns are usually in the singular. "The army was defeated in ITS advance towards enemy lines...".
2. The principle at work in British English is that the collective noun is thought of as a singular unit.
3. Collectives for inanimate objects (luggage, cutlery, linen, stoneware) are always treated as singular.
4. (Ignore for this purpose - too much detail!).
5. There are particular cases (eg (a) the USA, The Vatican, the UN, the House of Commons) which are always treated as singular: "The United States HAS demanded X, Y, Z..." (b) institutional names usually require a singular verb: "The Central Electricity Generating Board FINDS it cheaper to buy-in French electricity..." (c) animal names which are in singular but are being used in the plural naturally require plural verbs and pronouns ("Five bison WERE grazing..." and "Several silver fish WERE scuttling across the sea-floor to THEIR hiding place...").
I almost always follow British usage and rarely follow the use of our American cousins (assuming that recent events haven't caused a rupture in that family relationship). However on the plural/singular issue for collective nouns, I have my toe dipped into the Gulf of America - (SORRY! That slipped in!). I would always say "Middlesbrough FC is my football team....Boro/Newcastle United/Fulham was victorious in the league game played yesterday..." etc. But that means I have to go on to use singular forms afterwards in the same sentence: "Boro is the club I support, and its form in recent months has been exceptionally good..." Others may say "Boro are the best team the world has ever seen" but I would rarely be heard saying such a thing!
The reality is, Jarkko, that the vast majority of the English speakers, whether in the UK or the USA would find it very easy to understand any of these sentences and uses, whichever use is followed. The real crime would be to mix up the singular and the plural in the same sentence. So: use the singular throughout or the plural throughout.
My next post will be about the use of accents in European languages (or NOT...!).
I see that I have the honour to write the Match Preview for the away fixture against Sheffiled United - to be played a week into the future on the evening Monday 9th February and, I think, to be shown live on TV. Since Sheffield United has a game tomorrow (Tuesday 3rd February) as one of 4 Championship games listed, I will turn my attention to that game either later tomorrow or Wednesday. That should still allow several days before the game is due to kick off, and will also allow the conversation/repartee on Jarkko's thread for the Norwich game to continue. No ideas yet, but we will see how things turn out...
Not only is this forum the font of all knowledge Boro, it is also an education to those of us who despite it being our native language, our English(well mine certainly) is not up to scratch!
It really is a pleasure to be part of it all, even though my contributions are limited and not up to the standard of the rest of you.
On paper, we shouldn’t have any issues………… as Brian Clough once said “unfortunately the game is played on grass”!
We can create the chances, we just need a striker that can convert ……was it ever any different?
I depart on my travels tomorrow so contributions will be less than normal(if possible) but I am hoping that by the time I return, we will be top!!
Its the hope that kills you in the end.
Don’t worry, BBD! Your contributions on here are perfectly fine and always welcome!