Just catching up, and the most important new is from exmil and John. Best wishes to you both on your journey going forward.
As for Josh Coburn, I would have liked to see him given a chance at MFC. However, it depends what Mr Gibson and Scott have in mind under the new regime.
It has been mooted through the local media. that we were looking for a RB, CB, etc, etc. Of course those players previously to be sourced, may now have changed slightly, depending on Edwards chosen system, given the current playing squad.
it has always been envisaged, true or not, that we were to bring in a new forward, maybe a number 9. Hopefully an upgrade on what we have depending on what we can afford.
So I am with Martin, cash in on Josh, top up with more money and buy a ready made upgrade. Easier said than done, but what we do not know, is Mr Gibson’s plan and how much money he is willing to invest in squad changes, with the added uncertainty of losing Hackney and VDB, possibly Azaz.
As for Coburn, I read the article that Philip may have done. He has been having extra training with his own personal (athletic) coach. Not in football terms, but for his body. Apparently Josh has grown more quickly that his body, (muscles) and this has given him issues (injuries)
So the extra training is to try and counter act that whilst his body develops to his height and weight. Of course it may always be a issue?
Good luck Josh.
I heard on the grapevine that Josh himself wanted to go and not stay and be a bit part player. I expect Millwall were also talking money to him and let’s face it with such a short career life it’s the money which dominates the thinking.
OFB
I believe that 1 July is the start of the year as far as PSR is concerned, maybe that is why we haven’t seen any relevant transfer dealings yet 🤔.
Come on BORO.
I’ve been thinking about a to-do list for Edwards. These are his priorities , I think. The first 5 are what he needs to sort out first, in my view, and are all inevitably tightly interlinked. The others are nonetheless still very important.
- Stop the rot! He doesn’t necessarily need to reach the playoffs in his first season, but he must make us competitive at least.
- We need to find a captain and somebody who can offer strong leadership on the pitch. Where will the manager find a Nigel Pearson, a Graeme Souness or a Grant Leadbitter?
- He must stiffen up our midfield. We need a tough-tackling ball-winner. Somebody no-nonsense and get-stuck-in. I’m thinking someone like George Boateng or Lee Cattermole (though without the red cards in his case.)
- He absolutely must make us harder to beat. 18 defeats in a season is unacceptable. Edwards must ensure we cut out the silly goals and avoidable defensive errors.
- Equally, he must build a winning mentality, so we stop giving away points from winning positions. Currently, we have a very soft underbelly.
- He needs to cut out the infuriating windscreen-wiper passing across the back. Time to inject more pace and get us forward much quicker.
- We need goal scorers, not just another striker (two ideally), but also more goals from midfield and the defenders. Hackney got a couple last year. Edmondson got one, as did Borges. Morris, Ayling, VdB and Fry got none at all. And let’s not forget Whittaker, who also hasn’t scored yet.
- We’re useless at set pieces, corners, direct free kicks. Sort it out! This needs to become a real weapon.
- We need wingers who can beat a man on the outside and cross the ball accurately. Are Ben Doak or Isaiah Jones available?
- Edwards must transform Burgzorg, McGree, and especially Whittaker into consistently effective players.
- Somehow, he needs to work out why we have suffered so many long-term injuries, so these can be reduced.
Apart from that lot, there’s very little to put right. Ahem……..
Anything else, playmates?
@clive-hurren Dead easy then. What’s he going to do on the other 4 days of the week? 😉
Does anyone yone else have a problem trying to read the posts on page 11 of the previous thread? I am browsing in Chrome on my Samsung Android phone and I am unable to read past the last post on page 10 ofcthat thread. If I click on the "Next" button it takes me back to the top of page 1. So here I am intrigued about what OFB had to post about the Carrick decision, but unable to read it. Any suggestions welcome, or if it could be reposted in the current thread that would be great.
I’ve just read on FB that Andy McDonald MP is trying to get a plaque erected in Middlesbrough to commemorate Don Revie. I’m a bit conflicted - what are your thoughts?
My Dad always claimed that he’d hit DR on the forehead with a toy arrow from a bow when they were kids and that you could still see the scar on close ups. No idea if that is true or whether he was winding me up.
Here we go...
June 28, 2025 2:37 pmOne snippet I’ve picked up over the sacking of Carrick, Carrick and Woodgate. (Sounds like a firm of solicitors doesn’t it ?)
Apparently the Boro review concluded that when there was a change in the coaching staff at Boro it coincided with a decline in performances. (We’ve all said that !)
Yhe Boro management held a meeting with Michael Carrick and proposed sacking Woodgate and Carricks brother and hiring two new coaches to work under MC.
Apparently he refused so they all went !
OFB
MY THOUGHTS
LENIGHAN MAKE CAPTAIN AND GIVE HIM AUTHORITY TO DOMINATE AND CAJOLE THE PLAYERS
PUT VDB INTO CEMTRAL MIDFIELD AND TELL HIM TO BREAK UP PLAY AND SPOIL OPPORTUNITIES
APPOINT A SET PIECE COACH EG LEADBITTER FOR CORNERS FREEKICKS ETC
MAKE SURE PLAYERS LIKE AZAZ TRACK BACK AFTER THEYVE LOST THE BALL AND DONT AMBLE BACK
SIGN ANOTHER GOALKEEPER
GET JONESY BACK AND PLAY HIM AS A WING BACK
OFB
I've been getting the same problem.
I think if you click on this link directly, it will also take you back to page 1, but if you copy it into another browser address bar, it might get you to page 11.
https://diasboro.club/forum/2024-25/boro-sack-carrick-and-seek-replacement/paged/11/
Hackney gets a winners medal as England beat Germany 3-2 after extra time. England are U21 European Cup champions, defending their title.
Come on BORO.
@exmil Although he played no part in the final. It appears he is below one or two other players in the squad. Unless he was carrying a knock?
I was thinking exactly the same. Was Hackney carrying a knock as he was not used?@exmil Although he played no part in the final. It appears he is below one or two other players in the squad. Unless he was carrying a knock?
But as he was on the bench, he might be OK and not seriously injured. Now he needs a break before helping Boro to promotion next season. 😉
At least Iling-Junior did come on as a sub.
Up the Boro!
I can't repeat the problem using Chrome on my laptop but I'm running Windows 10 - I always get to Page 11 as normal so not sure what causes the problem.
btw, I edited OFB's reposting of his post as copy and pasting chunks of posts that include other bits of format and user's gravatar etc can lead to the whole page not working if the html coding has mismatched tags that are not closed - better just to use the 'quote' button and copy what it gives you instead.
To read the Gazette these days is like having the misfortune to catch Fox News. You have to read against the grain of the text because the truth of the real world continually contradicts and disrupts the PR fictions of the article.
So the headlines of the last three articles on the Boro read
“Rob Edwards' transfer vision and the profile of player he wants to sign”
“Josh Coburn’s quick sale could be the clearest indication yet of Rob Edwards’ Boro plan”
“Successful transfer window could be the key to Rob Edwards’ Boro fate’
All three articles put Edwards front and centre of the transfer and recruitment programme. Indeed the third article appears to be already lining him up to take responsibility for any possible failures (Sound familiar?) Whilst for most Boro fans Coburn’s quick sale was the clearest indication yet that Edwards had very little to do with it.
Meanwhile here are Edwards’ own words from last week:
Asked if Boro will be able to hold on to key players, and if he’d been offered any assurances upon agreeing to take the job, Edwards said:
“It would have to be a decision made by the people above, but if we deemed it the right decision for someone to go, then I don’t think that needs to be seen as a worry or a negative. We’ve got to then see that as an opportunity to improve.”
So there we have it.
The decisions about who gets bought and sold will be made by 'the people above' and it appears that Edwards was happy to accept the job without too many assurances on his own role over transfers.
Of course for public consumption Edwards will be seen as an important part of the decision making team and that will not be a complete fiction. But he owes his position and everything he has been given at the club to Scott. Whichever way you dice it, Scott’s position has been immeasurably strengthened and he can expect little opposition to whatever he wishes to do.
You might have supposed that this had moved us on from a situation where Scott was able to claim, however implausibly, that no one was bought or sold without Carrick's final approval, a claim which allowed the blame for the January debacle to be shifted to the coach.
But the recent Gazette pieces are the start of a process, you might almost call it a campaign, which already attributes to Edwards more power, and therefore more responsibility, than he actually wields. Scott appears to be already fireproofing himself, once again, against the next possible failure
What head coach with any self respect would absolve himself of responsibility and blame his assistants for making him make the wrong decisions? Sorry guys, the club thinks it's your fault and I agree with them!
Or to put it another way, your club thinks you need different coaches to ensure you make better decisions - either way it's never going to be received as a vote of confidence - sounds like constructive dismissal in all but name.
Successful transfer window could be the key to Rob Edwards’ Boro fate’
If that last headline is true then his fate really isn't in his own hands - I sincerely hope Edwards is given a decent amount of time to rebuild the team in a way that works for him otherwise Boro will be turning into Watford if they expect him to solve all the problems in a matter of weeks.
I don't think Boro can afford another head coach appointment this season - after all, wasn't it described as an extensive search and process? They have to back their man now and if the signings don't work out then I hope the next review goes beyond the head coach and his assistants!
@werdermouth thanks for looking into the issue I mentioned earlier. Same as you found, the problem doesn't manifest on my lap top, only on the current Samsung Android version that has installed on my phone. Unfortunately for me, I rely more on my phone to keep abreast of the Diasboro, but not the end of the world.
btw having just read the opening sentences of that article...
If Rob Edwards can repeat some of his impact at Luton Town with the Boro, then Boro fans are in for a treat next season.
Edwards completely transformed the Luton side upon his arrival at Kenilworth Road, both tactically and mentally, and went on to take them to promotion to the Premier League at the first attempt.
This is completely false as Edwards himself stated after he replaced Nathan Jones that he didn't want to change too much as they were doing really well. Edwards explained about his appointment...
I think the key thing for us was to go in and show a level of humility. It wasn’t about Luton becoming the Rob Edwards show. The lads had been doing great under Nathan, and we wanted to keep that going. It was a case of playing to our strengths, and making sure we were sticking to a few core principles: if we lose the ball, we want five-second regains; if it’s a recovery run, it’s a sprint; fast support whenever we have the ball. If I can see those three things, I know that we’re working hard.
We felt like we didn’t need to change too much in terms of shape. Carlton Morris and Eli Adebayo were in good form and I wanted to keep two strikers on the pitch. That’s what I had been used to at Forest Green, so it seemed to fit nicely.
Rather worryingly for Jarkko, the article seems to suggest Edwards task is to completely rebuild Boro from scratch...
Instead of taking over an existing squad, Edwards has the task of building one at Boro, virtually from scratch. If some of the best players are to move on, then there will be plenty of cash to spend and it must be spent wisely.
A brilliant spot that demonstrates that the Gazette is reporting whatever the club's PR line is at any particular moment even though it is in clear contravention of the facts. Again it is the direct quotation from Edwards himself that provides the killer evidence.
Again it appears that CJ is being fed by Scott so if it fails then it’s all Edwards fault, I may have missed it but has anyone seen a report where Scott has publicly hailed the appointment of Edwards and his staff or stated how hard he worked to get him in, in fact is there a picture with Scott and Edwards together.A brilliant spot that demonstrates that the Gazette is reporting whatever the club's PR line is at any particular moment even though it is in clear contravention of the facts. Again it is the direct quotation from Edwards himself that provides the killer evidence.
On transfers, if the new player comes in and is a success, it’s easy to say afterwards I have been watching him for a long while so I knew he was right for the job, on the other hand if he is a failure it’s easy for Scott to leak (through his “Sandy Shore” CJ) that the player was Edwards choice (sound familiar). I think we have a snake in the camp.
Come on BORO.
The next problem to be fixed, according to the Gazette's latest PR, Rob Edwards is hoping to solve Middlesbrough's injury crisis, which he will try to achieve by making training much more intense.
The theory goes that by making training much more intense it will be make games feel easier for players - two problems with that for me is that his playing style is going to have much more intensity than Carrick's so in theory more stress and strain - plus didn't most injuries suffered get picked up in training?
Good luck in that - though he did admit one or two might break early on but his Luton side showed a good injury record - anyway, let's see if that will sort out McGree at least...
Although, since we heard in a previous article that his preference was for younger more athletic players then ultimately this process may be naturally self selecting in that old Darwinian mould!
My tip would be to move on those players who have a poor injury record before pre-season training puts them out for the season...
Yes, I saw that, and it's hard to decide which is the most stupid, the idiocy of the idea or the judgment of the journalist in reporting something so worthless and trivial. I wouldn't rush to blame Edwards. His actual view is unlikely to be as daft as the report suggests. The motivation behind the story is to find literally anything that can be spun to portray the new man in the best possible light. The result is predictably risible. I'm afraid there will be a lot more where this came from before the season begins
I think at no point in the article did the Edwards quotes used try to claim he would fix Boro's injury crisis but that was the PR message they attempted to portray. It would be a hostage to fortune to try and claim that for any manager!
The Scum claiming palace want to pay 27M for Hackney and vdb any takers?
Maybe £27m each...
I have to say, it is good to have higher intensity in training than in a match. In my team (average age well over 60) we have youngsters in our training - we have 25 % of people below the age of 55. So it helps when we have a match, where everybody must be 55 years old or older in the rules. After training with younger and quicker players, the tempo in matches are more suited to us.
Also, I do not think you can say a player is injury prone. There are some exceptions like Rhys Williams, perhaps, but well over 90 % are not. So if Leninhan was injured last season, does it mean he will be again injured? No, we cannot say tha5 we must get rid of the players who were recently injured.
Most players are seldomly injured and the injuries are different. So every individual must be treated differently.
Finally, I am looking forward to see our best player, Riley McGree back next season. Up the Borol
Glad to hear you're still fit and training and good for matchdays - I managed to strain my foot cycling 30km at the weekend having not done much cycling this year but the car is in the garage and we wanted to visit somewhere - so maybe needed to train up 😉
Although studies have shown that players who have suffered a long-term injury are more susceptible to further injury. For example, achilles injuries increased risk of an injury on the other side of the body, ACL injuries are more likely to re-occur and ankle injuries were more likely to cause a reoccurance in either ankle - plus injuries usually cause changes in overall motor control functions of the body and strength that can lead to further problems.
Hopefully, those players who have suffered long-term injuries in the past will be able to get back to good fitness but they may never get back to their peak - not to mention the schedule of the Championship is not exactly designed to help keep players injury-free either!
I am just not sure what all these media articles from the Gazette are leading to?
It appeared very early, after Carrick's demise, that the real replacement favourite was always going to be Rob Edwards.
Now employing RE, just like any other coach, would mean either a continuation of playing style or as it may prove with our new man, a change in direction.
So given that our previous system used under Carrick was probably similar to the majority of Championship teams as against RE's 3 at the back and intensity play, why did MFC employ him given:
+ our current players don't do intensity.
+ we do not have an abundance of pace in the side.
+ we do not have three suitable CB's
+ we have no WB's
+ we do have an abundance of lightweight technically good football players.that don't meet the above.
Realistically, can Mr Gibson, et al, really expect RE to achieve a top six place this season?
Then when they sack him, because it will be his fault and nobody else's, what type of new Coach will they choose after another deep and far reaching review.
Back to the previous style of play and a complete change of players to suit the new system.
We all want Rob Edwards to succeed, and win more games than he loses.
What are his honest chances of really achieving that, certainly in the short term, and retaining reasonable support from the fans that are already slightly disillusioned. .