Maybe Martin is in the mood for dancing after last night....You'll be telling me there's more than one Nolan sister next 😉
@martin-bellamy Hi Martin, used to live not far there, my home of Duns.
- •https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25840246.kim-hellbergs-dressing-room-message-boro-win-sheff-utd /" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What was said in the dressing room after Middlesbrough's win at Sheffield United
- •https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25840242.impressed-kim-hellberg-boros-win-sheffield-united /" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What most impressed Kim Hellberg at Sheff Utd - and what he will be doing on bus home
- •https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25840235.player-ratings-sheff-utd-1-middlesbrough-2---riley-mcgree-star-man /" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boro's star man who has added 'new dimension' to attack and player who 'oozed class'
@martin-bellamy Hi Martin, used to live not far there, my home of Duns.
I’d not heard of Duns, so did a quick internet search. It seems that Pat Nevin was born there.
"Olly" apparently not happy that Villa sold Fin Munroe to us. 🙂
The Hartlepool Mail attempts to put a value on promotion to the Prem:
Eye-watering amounts...
@martin-bellamy hi Martin, he lives there and does football work from the local institute.
A bit of insight from the BBC
From 14 games with Hellberg running the show, Boro have amassed 31 points, an average of 2.21 per game. If they manage that over their final 15 games, a final total of 94 points would surely be good enough for an automatic promotion spot.
In this period of almost three months, Boro have collected the most points in the division, the most wins (10) and have conceded the fewest goals (12) while only Sheffield United have scored more than their 27.
@mw-in-darwin Those are amazing stats. A win on Monday would be a great marker for the remainder of the season.
@forever-dormo Hah, you and Martin both predicted the corred score of 1-2 win. Up the Boro!
@powmillnaemore I may have missed some other post, but you can get the ITV channels on the internet, maybe better than an aerial signal
@pedro If there’s a Smart TV it won’t be a problem but there isn’t one mentioned in the cottage details. I’ll take my iPad just in case. I can’t imagine a pub in the Borders having our game on in the bar!
@martin-bellamy - Talking of former Torquay players ... When I was at university, the lad who had a room two doors from mine had a car. There were 8 student sets on each floor of each staircase, in our Court, and we who lived there tended to hang out together. I think my friend's car was something like a Triumph Spitfire or similar but I never saw it as undergraduates were not permitted cars at college.
Anyway my mate, who lived in "Torbay" as he called it, told me he had bought it from a Torquay United player whose claim to fame was that he had been married or in a relationship with Anthea Redfern (of Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game fame). So he must have mentioned to us at least a hundred times that Anthea had sat in his passenger seat.
@stircrazy - What was the figure then? I guess £100M in the PL and, if relegated after just one season there, then two annual umbrella payments of £40M. But if relegated after two or more seasons in the PL maybe three years of parachute payments. Just my guess though...
@malcolm - Thanks again for the information about Agent Wilder's Press comments concerning Boro. It is good that he and I agree on the performance by Boro and on the quality of Hayden Hackney.
Just seen this from the Northern Echo
SENY Dieng, Micah Hamilton and Darragh Lenihan have all been left out of the squad Middlesbrough have registered with the EFL, meaning all three players will be unable to feature for Kim Hellberg's side between now and the end of the season.
The club website still has them listed with squad numbers.
You can download the lists from here. We are going with 23 in the squad not including U21's. Sad to see that Sheffield Wednesday can only name 18 and apparently one of them has just gone out on loan
https://www.efl.com/news/2026/february/10/efl-squad-list--season-2025-26/
I do not understand why Hamilton was left put if there was room for him. Same for Leninham. I know these guys have not and won't be used much, but why are they not included in the list? Just to be safe.Just seen this from the Northern Echo
SENY Dieng, Micah Hamilton and Darragh Lenihan have all been left out of the squad Middlesbrough have registered with the EFL, meaning all three players will be unable to feature for Kim Hellberg's side between now and the end of the season.
The club website still has them listed with squad numbers.
Perhaps there is a possibility to add them later if wanted? I mean, if we have a lot of injuries in the spring time, or if the last few matches have no effect on our league position (like promoted with two matches to go 😆). It would be nice to give a run for Leninhan, for example.
There is something that I do not understand. Why to name only 23 players?
Up the Boro,
@malcolm - I thought last season that Ayling's career was coming to its end. In annual terms he was at late November: still capable of providing a few sunny and even rather temperate days, but mostly useful in getting us used to the inevitabilty of the approaching year's end. This season, however, Ayling has rolled back time. He has played well. Suddenly its mid-October again - frequent blue skies and sunshine and perfect weather for playing football, hockey and rugby with a bit of give in the turf which is able to "take a stud" whilst not being a quagmire even should it rain occasionally. In The Championship he'd certainly be worth at least another season. I'll leave it up to Hellberg to decide what is needed next season if we are NOT in The Championship!
I like the way LA has perfected the ability to fall over at the slightest touch from a harrying attacker, inevitably winning us a free kick and relieving pressure. It’s a dark art, but as long as he’s doing it for the Boro, I’ll be happy to see it.
25 MAN SQUAD
Could it be that Boro are playing safe in leaving 2 vacancies in the squad of 25. As I understand it a Club can sign players from another country which has a later transfer date and sign free agents who are without a Club.
philip of Huddersfield
@philip-of-huddersfield - Maybe. But I can't see any point in keeping a shirt/squad number open for Lenihan if other active players are, or may become, available. Although a decent defender he has been long-term injured for the last two seasons (I think he came back for one game in the middle of that period, but was injured during the game and therefore has been unavailable since). I don't think it was anticipated he'd be available again this season so I don't see the point of keeping a place for him in case, promotion having been secured, he could have a couple of "comeback games" in the last few matches.
It's a great pity for him, of course. I don't know what his future holds. He will be 32 years old next month. He has played 51 games for Boro after joining from Blackburn in 2022 which, with time seeming to accelerate, is already 4 years ago. To say he has been unlucky with injuries would be an understatement.
According to the Gazette live, Boro have left two spots in their named squad incase (through injuries) they need to step into the “free agent” market, Hamilton is moving to the U21 squad and we don’t know if Lenihan’s injury has finished his career.
Come on BORO.
On the question of squad numbers here is part of an article from the EG:
“Lenihan and Hamilton’s absences come as more of a surprise, given Boro had the space to register both. However, club sources have indicated that they wanted to leave the spots open.
That’s just in case any injury crises arise later in the season that require Boro to dip into the free-agent market. Boro had tried to sign a striker in January and though they didn’t manage to get one, they aren’t believed to currently be active in trying to add to their squad.” 😎
15 games left to play including 8 at home. How many games do we need to win to get promoted? I’m pretty sure 10 will definitely do it, but the wins might need to include beating Coventry and Ipswich.
Anyone else got a view?
MARTIN -10 WINS EQUALS THE PROMISED LAND ?
Usually an average of 2 points per game over the season gets promotion. And I’d be confident that 10 wins from the last 15 games will be enough.
I wouldn’t necessarily accept that the wins must include Coventry and Ipswich. To achieve this is a tall order effectively continuing the tremendous run of results since Kim arrived.
It doesn’t take much to appear to have a blip - eg losing against Coventry followed by say winning 2 and drawing 2 could even change the landscape depending on the results of Coventry and Ipswich.
So we just don’t know what will happen and the traditional take one game at a time is so important with an attitude of going for a win.
What has recently emerged is that more and more it’s looking to be 2 from 3 - Boro, Coventry and Ipswich. But what do we know except the next game is the most important. A draw against Coventry could be good as it would mean that they are still wobbling whilst Boro would still be on a good run of results.
Philip of Huddersfield 🤔🤔🤔
He has been a great loan signing. Hopefully we can buy at end of season whichever division we are in.
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2026/february/11/alan-browne-wins-pfa-monthly-award/