I am seeing reports of 10 million, but not sure if that is Euros or Sterling. In the same breath I am also reading Brentford are apparently interested and the figure being bandied around for a Bees' bid is around £15million.@original-fat-bob No doubt they'll start low so I hope we go for full value, I would expect more bids from other clubs.
Hope you are keeping well OFB.
UTB and ATB,
John
Crystal Palace as well, who are apparently also interested in Hackney, where the talk is a combined offer in excess of £21million.
Its all talk and I have done well to keep out of the speculation about who is being looked at to come in, so I also want to add the caveat that all of this is speculation. I just hope it is at least accurate that there are multiple clubs interested in any of our assets so that we can maximise any selling price.
Just watching the space !
I cannot see a Dutch team - except Ajax, perhaps - affording to buy him from us. Or paying him similarly.
And why would he choose a smaller league than Champioship? The English second tier is the second most popular league in whole Europe. More spectators than in Germany, Spain or Italy.
Anyway, I saw Rav driving his Bentley - he even waved to me - after a match in April. He is earning enough of money for a 22-year-old already now.
Next he needs to be playing a full season after indifferent last season. If he left, I would say it is to EPL.
Up the Boro!
Today (well, the afternoon shift from 1pm to 6pm) has been spent siting caravans, camper vans and motorhomes across two fields in the sunshine, near the beach at Beadnell. The second field has an entrance and the first 20 yards roadway into the field that resembles a corrugated iron shed-roof. Not good on the buttocks from the bicycle seat but, if you'd walked the two fields it would be a marathon.
All of which means that I have not given Boro too much thought today. But I did see the highlights of the 3-3 friendly draw over the weekend and I guess I did not miss much.
Still no idea what is likely to happen this coming season. But I am not daft enough to put money on a top-six position. Time will tell. We need to see the playing staff first.
Tomorrow will see a trip to Carter's butchers at Bamburgh. I seem to navigate by butchers. Turn left at Radford's in Sleights, go straight past Carter's in Bamburgh, keep going as you pass Waind & Sons in Kirkbymoorside, not forgetting Cockburn's on the High Street in Bedale and then carry on until you get to the butchery section of Campbell's in Leyburn. Unless you go to Masham and TWO butchers there.
@forever-dormo I remember that their meat pies were an absolute treat. Our son preferred peach's in Great Ayton though.
UTB,
John
@john-richardson The last time I went to Great Ayton I promised my Lancastrian wife a pork pie from Petch’s, with tales of one of Yorkshire’s finest cuisines. Unfortunately, they’d sold out just before we got there!
@martin-bellamy - Some of the local "chippies" sell a "Petch's pie & chips" in addition to the obvious (fish & chips, scampi & chips etc).
Like everyone else, I am awaiting the news of the additions to the squad that will either replace our current stars or provide much-needed squad depth. Assuming that the recruitment team has done all of their usual work, there is a a very clear distinction between this year and last when deals were done early and I can come up with a number of possible reasons of which three swim to the top.
1. Steve Gibson has decided that it is time for MFC to move to a more sustainable financial model and he is no longer prepared to fund acquisitions without further sales.
2. The players scouted for Carrick have not been approved by the new coaching team and they have to look elsewhere.
3. Boro are being hard-nosed about price - in both directions - and incoming wages (Ings?) and the deals will be done but it will take some time to go through the process.
Number 3 seems most likely but I wonder if there is an element of numbers 1 and 2. It also makes me wonder how much of an impact the delay in signings will have on the new season. We have a reasonable first team and, say, half a dozen strong reserves but we do need a striker and one of two wide players plus some defensive cover. Then midfield is another question as so much depends on the future of Hackney.
UTB
I see that Howson has departed. Who’ll take over the captaincy? Morris maybe?
Jonny Howson has played his final game for MFC.I see that Howson has departed. Who’ll take over the captaincy? Morris maybe?
The long-serving former captain was out of contract at the end of last season and has not been offered a new deal by the club.
The 37-year-old spent eight years on Teesside and made 341 appearances, scoring 10 goals. He also clocked up his 750th career appearance against Plymouth Argyle at the Riverside last season.
I think Edwards wil rotate the captaincy in pre-season matches, before deciding who will take over from Howson.
Also, Howson was our highest earner, so more money is to be spent on new players, too.
Up the Boro!
Yet another in what is now a long line of terrible and badly handled decisions. Jonny would walk into that team on ability alone, let alone experience, captaincy, mentorship and dressing room influence. 90% of Boro fans will be scratching their heads over this one.
The timing of what the club must have been known was a controversial move is also worth pondering. Most people will have suspected that Jonny was not part of the club's future plans for some time now. He was a notable absentee from pre-season training, wasn't in the party which went abroad, and the silence over his fate since the end of last season has been deafening.
We know that a pre-emptive decision was made to sell Coburn before Edwards was appointed and had had a chance to assess him. The suspicion must be that the same may have applied to Howson. Delaying the release of Howson's departure until now gives the impression that Edwards was involved in a decision making process in which he may have played no part.
It's been conspicuous that there's been a lack of news on Howson in the last few months and given his influence and versatility on the pitch it sounds to me that the decision not to give him another contract is mainly about money - it certainly feels like the club are cutting back and some of the noises in the media seem to indicate that.
For example, I read the other day in the local media that Boro will 'probably' look to sign another striker to replace Josh Coburn with no mention of replacing Latte Lath or the club having money left from the sale. All sounding a bit like a downsizing process is in progress at the moment with Edwards being tasked with getting more out of less.
btw Go back to 21 May and this is what Eric Paylor wrote about giving Jonny Howson another contract...
Middlesbrough's Jonny Howson contract decision was an easy one for so many reasons
It is being reported that MFC have agreed a fee with Hull FC, to sign Alfie Jones a right footed CB, fee allegedly around £3m. Jones is leaving Hull’s training camp in Turkey to complete the move.
Come on BORO.
On the surface it sounds like he's coming as a cheaper Rav replacement - though reading some of the comments from Hull supporters many are quite happy to get £3m for him as he's out of contract next year and his form had dropped off and had a poor season in 24/25. He's supposed to be a ball-playing centre-back who used to be a midfielder but comments about his distribution were a mixture of "hit and hope" or "slow and suspect" - so not really a Rav-type player at all but perhaps a typical Championship central defender - maybe spending the money on keeping Howson would've been better as he read the game well as a defender.
Jonny Howson’s departure is not a surprise, but this is very unwelcome news, as Len says. Yet another yawning gap to fill. I just hope they told him a while back so he can at least get his future sorted. I’m sure he won’t be short of offers.
As we await the inevitable departure of RvdB and probable loss of Hackney, we are all no doubt eagerly anticipating the arrivals of such megastar luminaries as Alfie Jones, Callum Brittain and Danny Ings. If Boro can afford to pay for any of these giants of the game, that is.
Does anybody else get the feeling that our club is in serious decline?
Howson has returned to Leeds as U21 coach and still registered as a player so he can actually play as an over age player whilst coaching his team. A good servant after 8 years.
OFB
Just to turn this on its head a bit - how many of us would be celebrating if we were signing JH as a new player to the Boro?
I wish him well in his new role, but think it’s the right time for both parties to move on.
A fair point, Martin, but Howson wouldn't have been a new signing. He was a completely known quantity, a strong player, and already a positive presence and an established part of much that was best about the squad. So it's not a matter of questioning what we would be acquiring, but calculating the loss of what we already know that we have.
I'm not so sure that saving money lies at the heart of the decision either. There has been no mention of the possibility that Howson was offered a contract that we could have afforded but turned it down. He appears to have been simply discarded. The cursory note on the Boro website hardly does justice either to Howson's contribution to the club or to the place that he has in the affections of most Boro supporters
As a new player no but if Hackney does leave then I'd rather have Howson over Barlaser stepping in until any new midfield signings get up to speed - having a player who can simply play in a number of positions who reads the game so well don't usually become available.
OK, he's 37 and not going to be an automatic starter anymore but we don't yet know the scale of the transition this season will be and getting off to a good start could make or break Edwards as the new head coach. Plus signing a player for £3m with decent Championship wages will still cost 2-3 times what Howson would cost.
Just another example from the club of how not to handle your PR. I wish him well he was a good servant for the club and I suspect quite a few supporters will be gnashing their teeth. Like the Coburn transfer somebody is getting their way. I feel sure JH could have given some added value behind the scenes but then if they have seen through 'you' maybe he just didn't want to know.
Sad really but somewhat typical it would seem.
UTB,
John
Howson filled a gap in the team last season when injuries left Boro short in defence. When he did that, he was sometimes the best player in red. You wonder what Boro might have done without him. Our man from Brazil also filled in for a few games near the end of the season when we were short of a centre-back. This wouldn't worry me if Boro seemed likely to replace with better but that seems unlikely.
Did somebody say earlier that Boro is no longer shopping at Waitrose, Booth's or M&S, but instead can be found pushing a trolley up and down the aisles at Morrison's or carrying a basket at the local "Open All Hours" corner shop? It's so much Nisa there.
Man utd are taking something like, 32 players to America, that's not sustainable do they have players we could take a look at, and would raise our group, even a loan
Well, after nothing to report for what seems like eons, we now have something to post about.
I totally agree with John and the first few lines of his last post.
“Just another example from the club of how not to handle your PR. I wish him well he was a good servant for the club and I suspect quite a few supporters will be gnashing their teeth. Like the Coburn transfer somebody is getting their way”
Do MFC actually have a PR person, one that is qualified and has experience. It certainly looks not to be the case, if events and statements, even though there have not been many, are anything to go by over the last two years or so.
After the Carrick “drag out”, we now have a complete mishandling of the release, of arguably, our most respected and professional player for many years. A most disrespectful end to an illustrious career at MFC.
For the record, I have to say, I would not have given him another contract. Although some have said, he was at times when he returned from injury, our best player. One could also say, he did not have to be very good to be better than the dross that was served up in those run in games.
I also believe that a majority of fans would not have wanted to pay him anything like the wages he will be getting at Leeds. In the end, it may not have been all be down to MFC.
It is starting to appear possibly, that Mr Gibson and MFC are at a crossroads to where the club are heading. Maybe the owner has decided that he does not want to continue underpinning the club to the tune of a million pounds a month (or whatever the real figure is).
It will have nothing to do with Bulkhaul and his personal wealth if the Times Rich List is anything to go by.
Again one could argue that as the man making the final decision on our financial standing, regular changes over the years in the coaching staff, rubber stamping of purchases and sales, but most of all, agreeing to the wage structure that was one of the highest in the Championship, after the relegated clubs, the buck stops with him.
We are all grateful for what he has achieved, starting in 1986 as part of a consortium, then Robson and McClaren. But those days are long gone, never to return, even though they keep showing the videos of those latter years every home game on the concourse and “pitch big screen”.
As Bob Dylan wrote, the “The Times They Are a-Changin”
Northern Echo take on Jonny Howson leaving.
There have been a lot of assumptions on here that JH was disposed of by MFC - maybe he simply saw an opportunity to take a coaching job as the start of his move into a future managerial career, at a club that means a lot to him.
We know that MFC aren’t good at PR at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that everything we don’t agree with has been within their control. If you’re a 37 year old midfielder with a recent history of injury issues, you might just think that signing a new contract to play another season for a mid-table Championship team wasn’t your best option, particularly if you get an offer to build a new career at your favourite club.
...which puts an entirely different spin to that of many in here. We will never know and, quite frankly, have no right to know, what details there are in any conversation between an individual and his employer. Perhaps the silence has actually been out of respect to the individual. That the club are planning to welcome him back to the Riverside to say goodbye to us properly can be taken that this has all been handled amicably and in the best interests of Howson himself.Northern Echo take on Jonny Howson leaving.
For the record, I also feel it was time to draw a line under his first team playing career. So then, which of the coaching staff should have been released to accommodate him if he was to be offered something. If there wasn't an opportunity at Boro for him, then that is unfortunate, but if Leeds have been courting him as the Echo suggests, it really should not be a surprise he has moved "home" so to speak.
I want to be positive about the upcoming season, at least until there is sufficient evidence on the pitch to the contrary. Perhaps it is time to stop finding fault with everything the club does. For sure it is not perfect, but there are a lot more places, in football and in the workplace more generally, where things are a lot worse.
I think it was time for Howson to leave as a player. Aged 37 and not guaranteed to be available, fitness wise, for a full season.
Plus very importantly he was on a high salary - highest at the club? If so it would be illogical , from a financial viewpoint ,to keep him. Plus other players contributing week in week out may not be too happy with him being paid much more than them.
Releasing him allows the Club to sign a decent player capable of improving at a more realistic salary.
That raises the question of whether he should have been appointed as a coach. No experience and so a big risk.
On the other hand, Leeds have come up with something sensible- remain as a player in charge of the Under 21 team. A good move for Howson to get into coaching but no guarantee to Leeds. Perhaps this was a non runner at Boro based on existing staff in post.
So, overall I accept him leaving as the best solution for Boro and thank him for his service for which he was well rewarded.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍👍
@powmillnaemore A good post. Agree totally with you.
I know we need to sign a few players, but we still have a very good starting eleven. Our season is not over if we lost a 37-year old player.
Or Coburn who wanted to move on to Millwall and play regularly.
Up the Boro!
🚨 | BREAKING: Alfie Jones is set to travel to Teesside to wrap up his move to Middlesbrough.
OFB
Coventry City, Middlesbrough, Leicester City and West Brom have all been contacted by Leeds for a cut price deal to sign Patrick Bamford. All have expressed early interest. Deal estimated to be as low as £3m as Leeds want to sell.
OFB
Sometimes I do not understand the logic of some people on here, whinging about letting Howson go, a 37 yr old midfielder. What would the same peoples reaction be if we brought in on a free a 37 yr old midfielder on £10/20k a week, yet the same people are advocating bringing (on a free) a 32 yr old striker (Bamford) who last season managed 17 games, 0 goals 0 assists and the season before 33 games, 8 goals and 1 assist, the mind boggles. What about Danny Ings (33) striker, since 21/22 season, all games including FA Cup and EFL cup, Europa league, Conference League has made 121 appearances, scored 32, 19 assists and on alleged £130k per week 😱, I am sure he is going to give his all for £20/30k per week, another of Scott’s Iheanacho signings.
Come on BORO.