BORO v WREXHAM (The Championship)
The Riverside, Saturday 25th October 2025 – ko 3pm
The resumption of Championship football after the recent International Break is at such intensity that the game against Wrexham is slated to be the third game played by BORO in eight days and the third by Wrexham in SEVEN. Such a rapid turnaround doesn’t give much time for reflection between games before moving on to the next one, and little opportunity for any injuries, bumps and tweaks to be worked upon - or even left alone to allow recovery in time for the next game.
From tomorrow onwards I have appointments to keep this week and little time to write a reflective Preview following the Sheffield Wednesday match, in time for the spotlight to return to The Riverside on Saturday. In the circumstances this Match Preview will be along the lines of a rapid costume-change in the theatre. For clarity, the current record is held by Des Coughlan-Forbes in the National Youth Theatre production of “Our House” at the Southwark Playhouse last year, and it stands at 37 full costume changes during one performance, to enable him to show his character living through two different timelines. One advantage Des had was that the lines had already been written for him well in advance. Here even the plot, let alone the action and speeches to develop that plot, is yet to be decided. Will BORO enter the pitch buoyed by the raucous enthusiasm of a crowd hoping for a third successive victory and a position that cannot be overtaken in the league by those chasing behind? Or not? Might Wrexham be looking up the table or anxiously looking over the shoulder after the games against Stoke City and Oxford United?
Prequel or Recent League Form:
BORO - 22nd Oct Sheff Wed (A) - 0-1 W
17th Oct Ipswich (H) - 2-1 W
4th Oct Portsmouth (A) - 1-0 L
30th Sep Stoke (H) - 0-0 D
27th Sep Southampton (A) - 1-1 D
19th Sep WBA (H) - 2-1 W
Wrexham - 22nd Oct Oxford (H) - 1-0 W
18th Oct Stoke (A) - 1-0 L
3rd Oct Birmingham (H) - 1-1 D
30th Sep Leicester (A) - 1-1 D
27th Sep Derby (H) - 1-1 D
20th Sep Norwich (A) - 2-3 W
The Backdrop:
BORO started this season like a house on fire. The players connected with each other (and the supporters), no lines were fluffed, all the high Cs were hit (or the soliloquies were all expertly delivered), and the ball tended to hit the back of the correct net. Plot inconsistencies were ironed out and very pleasing denouements were played out in front of the adoring masses. BORO stormed to the top of the Championship table with 4 successive league wins against Swansea, Millwall, Norwich and Sheffield United and most folk’s early suggestions in the COTY Challenge 2025-26 lay happily discarded in tatters. Standing ovations all round for the team! The 2-2 draw away to Preston came immediately before the fixtures/results in the table I have provided above and, as things stand on the early evening of Wednesday 22nd October (but before the Sheffield Wednesday game has kicked-off), BORO now stands proudly in second place in the table despite the early season imperious form having tempered somewhat in some of the subsequent games.
Admittedly BORO lies 4 points behind a currently rampant Coventry (although with the Wednesday game in hand) and respectively 1, 2 and 3 points ahead of Millwall, Bristol City and Charlton who are all on the charge and won their Tuesday games. Of course, a win in Sheffield would put Boro 3 points further ahead of that chasing pack and only one point (and a vastly inferior goal difference) behind the leaders. In light of a declining run of final positions in the league in recent seasons (4th, 7th and 10th), that seemed too ridiculous to be predicted in August. We all know, however, that The Championship season is not a one-act play but a fully blown five-act Shakespearian drama. We must hope this season it will not turn out to be a tragedy. BORO has been in The Championship since May 2017 after Karanka’s single Premier League season, which he didn’t complete, and supporters’ expectations in recent seasons have been gradually eroded like rocks in the Grand Canyon. That was until the arrival of Rob Edwards.
Wrexham, on the other hand, has been like a starlet living a drug-fuelled dream for the last four years. You may be familiar with the series “Welcome to Wrexham” which has been shown on the Disney+ Channel on TV in the UK every summer since August 2022. Each series shows what had happened in the football season just ended and we have been shown the town (raised to city status on 1st September 2022 in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II), some of its history and information about the history of Wrexham, its people and even information about Y Wladfa.
Y Wladfa is the area in southern Argentina to which Welsh settlers sailed, initially in 1865 on the ship “Mimosa”. As I have just returned from a week or so visiting Ullapool in the far North West Highlands of Scotland, I have some empathy with those settlers. Ullapool is very proud of its part in the early settlement of Canada, starting with the ship “Hector” which sailed from Loch Broom/Ullapool in July 1773, in response to poverty and the Highland Clearances. Eighteen of the 189 intended Scottish settlers died in the grim conditions onboard before the group reached Pictou in Nova Scotia. The area proved initially much less “favourable” than advertised by the agents. It was similar for the Welsh who sailed for to Y Wladfa. With the agreement of the government in far-off Buenos Aires, who were happy to have people settle in the far south and Patagonia because it then had only sparse coastal settlements in an area that Chile contested and over which Buenos Aires had little control, several groups emigrated there from Wales.
The hope was to set up a Welsh-speaking settlement, away from the pervading influence of the English language. In the Chubut province of Argentina a number of towns were established (Puerto Madryn, Gaiman, Dolavon, Trelew and Trevelin) and it will be no surprise to hear once again that information given to the emigrants about the quality of the land often proved “exaggerated”. Some of the groups from the original and later voyages moved inland to farm areas nearer to the Andes mountains. There are some 70,000 in the population there now, maybe 5,000 still with fluent Welsh language skills (Welsh study is again being promoted there), but more with casual Welsh and many following Welsh traditions with many tracing their background to their version of “The Mayflower”.
The links between Y Wladfa and Wales have been rekindled, including by Wrexham AFC, and a group of people was highlighted in one programme when they were brought to the town and attended at least one (?) Wrexham game. Y Wladfa is about the only place in the world where there is a population speaking Welsh which is not also fluent in English (but Spanish). The cultural exchange was a feature of the episode and would, no doubt, have been good PR both in Hollywood and Wrexham terms.
I’m sure you all came to “love” the cast of characters in “Welcome to Wrexham” from new owners Rob McIlhenney and Ryan Reynolds who completed the deal to buy the beleaguered National League club for a knock-down £2M in February 2021, to Humphrey Ker (the executive director of the club who stepped down in January this year in favour of Kaleen Allyn whose family became minority investors in the club), Wayne Jones (the landlord of the “Turf” pub which is adjacent to the football ground), Phil Parkinson the well-travelled club manager and various players who have appeared for the club in recent years. And WHAT an up-and-up-and-further-up ride it has subsequently been for Wrexham supporters under the ownership of the two Hollywood film and TV actors!
Finishing 2nd in the National League in its first season (2021-22) when owned by Reynolds & McIlhenney for at least the second half, Wrexham fell short in the Play-Offs (so there is an echo of Boro in that Play-Off desolation). But in the second season (2022-23) promotion was achieved out of the National League into League Two of the EFL and that was followed in 2023-24 by a further promotion into League One and, as if to prove that lightning can strike THREE times, the club was promoted again to The Championship in 2024-25. This is the first time there has been three successive (“back-to-back-to-back”) promotions like this and, of course, there has been talk of an unbelievable fourth promotion this season to the Holy Grail that the Premier League represents. You just could NOT write a British TV script about it without wincing in embarrassment! The TV series is expected to air again after this season has been completed and, so far, the television people must be delighted with progress.
Phil Parkinson remains manager at Wrexham, the 3rd oldest professional football club in the world and playing at football’s oldest existing International Stadium (in English: the Racecourse Ground), but perhaps unsurprisingly most of the players who were at the club when the saga began have now moved on. Few players in the National League might expect to play even a walk-on part at a team with Premier League ambitions. At least 15 players left the club after the end of the last season and one of those was the goal-scoring club legend that is Paul Mullin, one of the first signings of the new regime at Wrexham in 2021, who will be 31 years old next month but who is now on a season-long loan at Wigan Athletic. But some stars of the show are still there from the last couple of years, including the goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo who originally joined on loan from Arsenal but has now made the move permanent and many people’s bete-noir, the 36 year-old captain James McLean.
Twelve players plus at least one on loan have joined the narrative as it reaches the next act, including Josh Windass (a name from Boro’s past there, for those who remember his father Dean, and who joined Wrexham from the persistently non-paying and/or late paying employer that is the current Sheffield Wednesday) and VERY tall striker Keiffer Moore with whom BORO had been linked over the years although nothing ever materialised and he has now passed his 33rd birthday. He cost £2M from previously high-flying Sheffield United. Moore had already scored 5 goals by 21st October. Lewis O’Brien has scored 3 and assisted two goals since joining from Nottingham Forest, so it appears Forest could have done with his attacking midfield contribution this season. Issa Kabore is a 24 year old right wing-back from Burkino Faso on loan from Manchester City. Goalie Danny Ward was knocked unconscious and damaged elbow ligaments when falling against Millwall in August, subsequently requiring surgery for a dislocated elbow. Having played between the sticks in Wrexham’s first four games, Ward is expected to be missing at least until the New Year.
There are those who declaim that Wrexham will find the gap between League One and The Championship a chasm. Realistically, once promoted, a team has done its job if it manages to retain its place in the new division the following year, so it can then be in position to dream of greater glories in the season(s) to follow. I do not expect Wrexham, or Birmingham, to go back down to League One but a FOURTH promotion in consecutive years for Wrexham would perhaps be stretching fiction too far, surely? Having said which, Wrexham tends to come with a late charge. Whatever happens this season, Reynolds and McIlhenney have had lots of bang for their relatively modest bucks so far. It may be that much deeper pockets will be required to go to the very top and especially to stay there.
Predictions:
Which costume will Boro wear at home to Wrexham? Will there be the need, or indeed the time, to make a quick change after the match against Sheffield Wednesday? Hopefully the Boro’s well-dressed performance will deliver Olivier Awards rather than allowing Wrexham to take home a Hollywood Oscar. I will be at the stadium, sitting in the Gods. Let’s hope the show isn’t the pits and that our heroes will need no prompting to put on the show of the season so far. The reality is that there are several other clubs out there in the wings, waiting to profit if Boro were to fail to make the curtain call. We need an encore of the Ipswich result rather than a reprise of the show against Portsmouth.
So, as BORO takes centre stage, will the performance be polished? Have the lines been learned or will stage fright take its hold as play rolls out before the cameras in a not entirely Untypical fashion?
At the time of typing, on the part of Wednesday that precedes the Wednesday match, I have no idea whether events at Hillsborough later today will impact the players available to Rob Edwards for the Wrexham game. Will some of the leading characters be written out from future episodes of this particular series by reason of injury? Will there be a full cast or will there be notable absentees replaced by their understudies – in which case, will they have had a full rehearsal and be ready for the tumult?
Let’s assume that there will be no major calamities tonight and that a fully-functioning Boro will beat the club wading through its lines at the bottom of the table, even at Sheffield’s own rather old-fashioned theatre of nightmares. On that basis, Boro will come to the Wrexham game in fine fettle and, at home, should surely be too strong for the media’s favourite Welsh team. With the smell of the greasepaint in the nostrils and the clamour of the audience eager to enjoy the drama, I expect BORO 3-1 Wrexham on Saturday. And then, without sparing the horses, it will be a long-distance cavalry charge until the end of the season. We can wait for the reviews of the critics but I suspect plaudits will come in profusion on Saturday evening and beyond.
Forever Dormo 22.10.2025
Epilogue/Coda (whatever):
Added after the Sheffield Wednesday match which, as you will all know, ended with a victory for the boys in red and white. Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Middlesbrough. And Wrexham beat Oxford United 1-0. I have added the scores to the table near the head of this Match Preview. No dissection of the BORO game will be given here for time reasons and the fact it would be better set out in Jarkko’s thread immediately before this one, but it boils down to this: a win is 3 points and that is all that matters when chasing promotion.
The end result after the current (11th) round of games is that Coventry heads the division with 25 points, BORO remains in 2nd place with 24 points, and then there is a four point gap to Millwall (20) then Bristol City (19) and four teams headed by Charlton on 18 points. BORO will remain in second place whatever happens against Wrexham on 25th October but could go top should Coventry stumble at home to Watford (currently stuck in the middle of the table in 12th place with 15 points).
Hopefully the team will finish better against Wrexham (now 15th out of 24 teams, on 13 points) than against Wednesday. The prediction of 3-1 remains but I’d be perfectly content with a spawny 1-0.
FD (Tired but content).
Good work, FD - I assume you’ll end this winter’s tale with an exit, pursued by a bear.
Excellent, Dormo! I loved that. It’s very interesting and informative: I knew of the Welsh-speaking community in Argentina, for instance, but knew nothing of its history. I also admire how you have expertly woven so many theatrical references into your narrative. Let’s hope Boro don’t lose the plot on Saturday.
I think Wrexham are starting now to settle into life at the higher level, but I agree that this is likely to be a season of consolidation for them after their stellar successes of recent years. That said, your reminder of some of the names in their squad - James McLean, Kieffer Moore, Lewis O’Brien, Josh Windass - has sent a nervous shiver up my spine. This could be a tougher game than many were anticipating, just as last night’s win at Wednesday turned out to be. Boro should have enough to beat the Red Dragons, but if we need more than one goal to do so, then it might be a struggle. Any win will do, though, to keep up the pressure on Coventry and the rest of the chasing pack.
Absolutely brilliant, Dormo, with another classically executed extended metaphor following Clive's agricultural tour de force opener for the Ipswich game. Again, the comparisons are well made. Football is improvised unscripted drama. You couldn't write it, as the cliche goes.
I also loved the historical Welsh South American connection. Middlesbrough, too, was an important resting place for a significant Welsh, as well as Irish, diaspora. It played a significant part in my own childhood. I attended one of the many Methodist chapels in the town and took part in their arts Eisteddfods every year at the Avenue Chapel, with the winners performing at the Town Hall at the end of the two weeks.
Religious belief did not survive beyond my schooldays, but I will be eternally grateful for the contribution the Church and its youth club made to my early social and sporting development and my interest in the arts It's a tragedy that so few of these social outlets are available to young people today.
A lovely piece of writing Dormo. Thanks for all of your efforts under severe time pressure
With regard to Hayden Hackney, if a strong offer came in during the January window, I’d be open to letting him go. Every player has their price, and sometimes it’s the right move for both the club and the individual.
As for Conway, I’ve noticed he’s been getting some stick from certain quarters. Personally, I think that’s unfair—he’s a big asset to the team. His work rate, attitude, and contribution often go under the radar, but they’re vital to how we play.
@malcolm The trouble is, that as a striker, it’s imperative that he contributes a significant number of goals if he wants to keep his place in the team. Effort is great, skill is essential.
One of the questions asked by the Sky commentary team last night regarding HH was, is there anything he can’t do? Well I’d say he’s nearly a complete Championship midfielder - if he could add goals he might make a good Premier League player.
Great post Dormo a classic !
unfortumaotely I can’t attend on Saturday even though I have my ticket and car park. Dreaded winter lurgy taken hold !
BEN SHEAF and Ollie Rathbone have picked up minor injuries and are "touch and go" for Saturday's Championship game
OFB
A brilliantly crafted article FD, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading; the background to the welsh settlements in South America was most informative.
It was also interesting to learn who we might be up against on Saturday, like Clive I too began to feel uneasy when you mention the likes of Moore, Windass and Mclean; nevertheless if we want to be at the top come the end of the season, then challenges have to be faced and overcome.
I just hope we can find a way to ease to victory rather than via nail biting 1-0 score lines. I fear however that Saturday may well be another fine margins game. 😎
@martin-bellamy - Thanks for your kindness. And, yes, Bohemia can be very dangerous, bears or not.
@clive-hurren - Very kind of you, Clive. I think the fact Wrexham also won last night shows that the "Hollywood team" has found its feet in The Championship but BORO should still be capable of winning the game at home. Well, that is if the finishing improves on last night's, though it would be unfortunate to face two keepers having great games in successive matches!
@lenmasterman - Thank you, Len. Very much appreciated! My father (who was nicknamed "Taff") and his family were part of that Welsh diaspora, coming to Teesside in the 1920's. Goodness gracious! That's a century ago! My father, if he were still alive, would now be 106 years old.
@malcolm - I was wondering to myself last night what I would think if Boro received a bid of, say, £30M or £35M for HH next January, but BORO looked to be "in the mix" for automatic promotion. Of course the prize on offer, promotion to the Premier League would dwarf that transfer fee. So what if it was higher, say £40M or more...?
@original-fat-bob - Very kind of you, Bob! I see also that Elliot Lee is also being assessed by Wrexham and all three players are said to have suffered "minor injury setbacks". To be fair, Rathbone hasn't played yet this season following a pre-season ankle injury but he has obviously been in training as he is said by the BBC Sport website to have "felt a tightness in his thigh" during training on Monday. Lee has only played in League Cup games so far but is due to see a specialist over a knee complaint. None of those injuries are said to be serious but the website confirms that Wrexham remains without long-term absentees Jay Rodrigues, Danny Ward, Andy Cannon, Harry Ashfield and Aaron James. And we feel that BORO often has injury "issues"...!
@k-p-in-spain - Thanks, KP. Probably because of my family background (on both Mother and Father's side, and 3 of my 4 grandparents) I have long been aware of Y Wladfa. Wales played a Rugby Union Test Match against Argentina in Puerto Madryn in 2006 - notable not only for being the first time the Welsh national team had played in the region with such a strong historical and cultural connection with Wales but also because the match marked the international debut of the colossus that was Alun Wyn Jones (Wales and British & Irish Lions captain with 158 and 12 caps for those teams respectively) and the debut of Ian Evans.
interesting comments on Hackney. He’s a very good Championship player. He is always trying to score but unfortunately his accuracy is a bit adrift. He is capable of improving.
Regarding a possible sale price , I can’t see any Premiership team offering any where near £30 million. Whilst he would be a loss we have Browne who has been excellent these last 2 games albeit he plays a deeper position.
Let’s hope the forwards start to click a bit better as we are almost there with the best defence in the League.
philip of Huddersfield 👍🤔
Comments, : Conway and Hackney are the hardest workers on the team, maybe a rest might be in place,
January will a club try to sign Browne, seems he's available to anyone.
I'm thinking just keep picking up points any way any how.
Two of my favorite movies " Once upon a time in America " and " The Sting" two surprise endings, hopefully Boro are on that way, considering all the speculation going into the season.
COB
Dormo, my father would have celebrated 110 years in May!@lenmasterman - Thank you, Len. Very much appreciated! My father (who was nicknamed "Taff") and his family were part of that Welsh diaspora, coming to Teesside in the 1920's. Goodness gracious! That's a century ago! My father, if he were still alive, would now be 106 years old.
Thank you for the starter. Very good and most informative as always. I learned a lot but also needed to look for a dictionary a few times. My English is not that good especially if we go to field of theatre.
I knew about your Welsh roots. And your wife roots in Scotland. Are your son English, though? At least, unfortunately, a Magpie but still a Yorkshire man.
Anyway, a good read. Let's hope the performance of the reds are as good as the starter. And especially so the result, too. We have averaged about 2,2 points per match over the first eleven matches now. Hope we keep that up.
Up the Boro!
@forever-dormo I think Boro should have offered him a new contract in September after he turned down the move to Ipswich. According to some sources, he would have had a salary increase of six times more at Ipswich comparered to his current Boro deal.
So I genuinely believe he has earned a better deal at Boro. And the time is to act now. Up the Boro!
Forever Dormo
It was interesting that your preview also included mention of the Welsh speaking contingents in South America. I lived and worked in South America for over two years in the Oil Industry and for the second year lived in the South. My wife and I toured around Patagonia and felt at home among all the Welsh names of the small towns in the area. We travelled deep into the tundra which is a large petrified forest over unmade tracks and no other cars for miles. It was certainly off the tourist track !
Hopefully the Boro will make their opponents on Saturday Wrexham petrified when we make the score line Boro3 !
Lets be honest Steve Gibson has also been a star for Boro since he led the club out of liquidation and it looks like he’s decided that this year is the time to make an effort to try and get ( no I’m not going to say it !!)
But you know what I mean….
I was unsure about our new coaching structure when first appointed but on performances and the way they have gone about their task it’s been like a breath of fresh air from the structure we had before. Long may it continue.
OFB
Great opener Forever Dormo.
Goals in the game tomorrow I think, can we score more than Wrexham is the critical question.
A bit more on players who dive.
As a former referee I came across players who were known to dive to claim a penalty. When it was a clear penalty, like Conway against Sheffield, I wanted to say to the player diving, you don’t have to dive as we all saw it was a clear penalty.
One of the reasons for wanting to say this was I got hassle from his opponents, coaches and spectators when I gave the penalty. These people tend to see what they want to see. They all saw the dive but some were too far away to see the foul and so they gave me hassle claiming I’d been conned.
Interestingly, I got less hassle when in the split second in deciding if it was a penalty or not, I decided not to give it and then realising I’d got it wrong and had been influenced by the dive. I got less hassle because his opponents, coaches and spectators assumed I’d made the right decision because they assumed the player had dived and not been fouled. His teammates tended to make a token complaint but were probably fed up with the player constantly diving.
So sometimes referees don’t give a penalty when they should because of a players reputation as a diver. Whilst it was an obvious penalty on Wednesday night I feel if Conway continues to dive there will be occasions when he and the team don’t get the correct decision of a penalty. Hence my wish that Edwards tells him not to dive and, in effect, stop cheating.
And so to Saturday’s game. I’m expecting a win from the team with the best defence in the Championship and will settle for 2-0( but, as always ,will also take 1-0)
Philip of Huddersfield
👍😁👍
@jarkko - Thanks, Jarkko. As you say, my family is Welsh and my wife's family is Scottish. My son was born in Northallerton and has lived in North Yorkshire all his life apart from his time spent at Durham University and then a few years in Newcastle. He regards himself as English but he is the only one, in rugby matches or football who supports England.
I regard myself as Yorkshire and Welsh and, mostly, British. My son will say Yorkshire, England and Britain. My wife will say Scots and British. A funny lot, the Brits!
And believe me, the quality of your spoken and written English is excellent. I sometimes look words up in the dictionary, too!
@presidentjump - 1-0 would do me! But it would be nice to score a couple of early goals and then be able to enjoy the rest of the game without having to grip the seat!
Excellent post, Philip and an interesting take
Breaking news Sheffield Wednesday have gone into administration!
OFB
@original-fat-bob BBC on Wednesday's administration:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c1lqmmml533o
I have always had a soft spot for the Owls - ever since Big Jack went there as a manager. The Hillsborough was also the first ever away ground I visited in England. Mainly because of the distance from Boro. I have been there at least three times.
I hope they will continue. At least the fans' boycott is over now. Up the Boro!
Thanks again, everyone, for the comments. I had the time to read the recent replies to this thread whilst waiting at The Friarage in Northallerton. No urgent health crisis, thankfully, just screening tests for the eyes which will hopefully show that all is good (though at present the effects of the eye drops means the world looks a little blurred).
Anyway, @OFB, you have obviously lived an interesting and well-travelled life so far, certainly compared to me! The trip to Patagonia is one thing that I have often thought about. Your mention of the Welsh names of some of the towns in Patagonia made me smile because I have just read an article about a young teacher from Chubut. Retirement has some benefits! It was an article containing an interview carried out by Mara Altuna, who is a freelance journalist hailing from the Basque Country. She publishes online in a stack/website (whatever it's called) named Nationalia which has articles about cultural diversity and the revitalisation of languages, which is maybe why she ended up covering a story about Patagonia and the Welsh. Central to the article was an inspiring young lady who, after qualifiying as a teacher, had a scholarship to come to Wales and then returned to Chubut to teach in one of the Welsh-language medium schools there. And the thumping great clue as to her background, which goes right back to the 1865 voyage, is in her name: Noelia Sanchez Jenkins.
In Chubut they held 160th anniversary celebrations of the voyage of the Mimosa in July just gone!
Sorry to hear about Sheffield Wednesday but a football club cannot continue to be run as that club has been, for several years now. If players have not been paid, or have been paid late, for 5 months out of the last 7, and if money is owed to HMRC, that suggests things are going only in one direction and, no, that is not a musical reference.
I think it's unfair to call Conway a diver ,he puts so much energy into trying to nick a ball , I think his speed and momentum,allows even a little contact to cause a fall or trip.
@forever-dormo Dormo, I will retire in January next year (yes, my successor started this month and I need to travel a lot with him now). So I will soon have more free time than ever before. Perhaps we could go to Patagonia together one day. I have always dreamed to visit South America and Argentina in particular.
Other places of interest to me are Japan and Africa. I have been a couple of times to Gruger Park in the South Africa, but still would like to see the big five again. Japan would be totally new to me.
And still want to visit Teesside and Yorkshire a few times. I think I have been there close to 30 times now. Up the Boro!
As I’ve mentioned previously I was also a class I football referee for many years doing local leagues as an a ref and northern league line. I also worked overseas in Holland and Spain and took my whistle and kit with me and obtained clearance to referee in those countries.
It’s,always dificult making split second decisions especially with penalties and I’ve often made mistakes giving or not giving pens, let’s face it we’re all human and didn’t have the benefit of play back videos to,watch. Neither did the ref the other evening but his linesman should have made a call…..? I know some refs who before the game give instructions to Lino’s that they don’t want them to signal for a pen! I know it’s wrong of them but they want total control.
i was always grateful for any decision or person to help me make the final decision. Rob Edward’s has apparently spoken to th ref who admitted to him he mad a mistake and as far as RE is concerned the matter is closed.
All parties will be watching Conway in future games as he does take up some pretty fast goal scoring opportunities which need split second decisions. That is why we have VAR in the PREM because the game is even faster there.
Do I think Conway goes over easily ?.. mmm, perhaps he did but certainly not now as his coaches will have had a word and certainly the last 2 shouts from PEN were clear cut (in my opinion !)
OFB