First game home v Lincoln City, newly promoted, with a new management duo and first meeting at home since 1960. 1-1 draw.
Not a bad start with 3 away games in first 5
- Middlesbrough v Lincoln City, 3pm
- Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough, 3pm
- Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion, 3pm
- Burnley v Middlesbrough, 7.45pm
- Queens Park Rangers v Middlesbrough, 3pm
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2026/june/25/kim-hellberg-on-pre-season-and-fixture-release-day/
Nice to see Kim back.
Come on BORO.
Carabao Cup First Round
Boro v Wrexham
First match drawn
Come on BORO.
Has anyone heard anything on our injury front 🤔.
Come on BORO.
Alfie Jones not on bench for Canada on Wednesday. Apparently he is undergoing individual recovery and training away from the rest of the squad. He has a muscle injury, so different to the ankle problem from last season.
A glance at the fixture list brings home how difficult the league will be next season. Hope the recruitment is good enough to make us real contenders but it is going to be tough,
A possible transfer picking up pace in the media, is MFC in talks with Villa for a permanent deal for Lewis Dobbin, here is what Teesside Live has to say:
Come on BORO.
Interesting to hear more about McGree and Conway next Thursday, when the players will report back for pre-season.Has anyone heard anything on our injury front 🤔.
Come on BORO.
Also, will Fry join Hackney for the training? Dael has not signed a new contract yet.
Up the Boro!
@exmil DOBBIN
Sounds a good player for Boro as he’s a goal scoring forward proved at Championship level. I’d be pleased if Boro signed him.
Philip of Huddersfield
ps watched England the other night. Bit like watching many of Boro’s games.- loads of possession, too much playing sideways and backwards, not enough taking on the opposition in 1 v 1 and my biggest criticism of forwards not getting past the defender on the outside and crossing the ball into the penalty area. Play like this and England will not progress far in the World Cup. 👎☹️👎
@philip-of-huddersfield i watched that as well and said exactly the same things to mrs powmill.just like Boro, it was only in the last 10 minutes or so that any sense of urgency made them try anything more direct
I’ve just spotted the addition of the videos from last season on the home page. Having this superb record at our fingertips is absolutely fantastic. Well done with your technical wizardry, and thank you so much for everything you do for us all on here.
@philip-of-huddersfield Agree with that.
We had too many players wanting to come inside into the defensive traffic. On the left we even had a right-footed left back in Spence.
Lesson for Boro there if one was needed. If we’re going to beat these “low blocks” we need wingers who can go on the outside and deliver a decent cross. Then, of course, we’d need some height and physicality in the middle to convert.
The other option is what Wilder did and get round the back for a low pull back. That still requires some pace and trickery as Isaiah Jones had from wingback.
Re Dobbin, Preston certainly thought a lot of him and he’s a good prospect with a bit of experience now. Seems exactly the sort that we usually look at. The issue is injury - I believe he was well managed last season, often coming off around 60mins.
Hi Diasborians
juat a quick update
Not been well these past few months in out of Hospital
altjoguh not written much have been a lurker !
looks like another hear op to remove existing pacemaker and install a dual lead very modern piece of kit
up the Boro and best wishes to all
OFB
@original-fat-bob Keep well Bob. Looks like you’ll be our own bionic man. Hope everything goes well.
@original-fat-bob. Good to hear from you but sorry to learn your heart problems are still to be sorted.
🤞that the new kit does the job and you are soon firing on all cylinders and ready for the new season.
Best wishes. 😎
Good to hear from you, OFB.
Hope the op goes well.
OFB, Look after yourself, get well and keep us posted. otherwise no pressure!
UTB,
John
OFB, sorry to hear your continued ill health, hope this new pacemaker sorts out the problems and you are back with us at the Riverside.
Come on BORO and OFB.
You are in our heats and minds, Robin.HEART !
Take care and get back stronger. It will be a great season again.
Up the Boro!
@original-fat-bob good to hear from you and sorry your heart problems are on-going. State of the art pace maker sounds like it should be the very thing. Fingers crossed this will do the trick. Will you be re-wired in time for the start of the season?
Re the fixture list. I am a little disappointed wec open the league against the Imps. They are just promoted and will be on a high in their opening game. Potential banana skin there. To win that will be good,. To win looking like we deserve to win will be a statement for me.
Sadly I won't be there as I would have liked to see Lincoln live. However I will be shortly out of hospital myself and in revovery, so a long trip south will not be possible. I will have to study the fixture list a bit to work out which games I can get to before the end of the year.
I don’t know the time.schedule,but they’ve,been plating around with my meds for past Five months.
my bp)has been alarming especially,with the heat rising to a figure of 212 /105 !
amy wat didn’t come on to bleat about it just to apologise for non attendance matron !
powmill,get,well soon !
cheers
OFB
Get my eyes fixed Monday so I can see what I write 👀
Pre season with Hellberg, will be interesting,and how it effects the team over a season
Apparently he's a big fan of Bielsa ,and from all accounts Bielsa burns squads out,
Was that an issue the last ten games, on reflection one might say many times we were a 45 min team ,
The big thing in American team sports is they put a premium on the make up of the body, obviously size ,strength, endurance etc, yes soccer is different mobility and ball skills are required, however,I'm wondering why all these injuries are happening, should a more emphasis be taken on the person's actual anatomy, especially the legs, ankles,calves, thighs ,feet, etc any obvious weakness detected, just a thought,
Nice to see you back posting OFB, but sorry to hear of your issues. Hopefully this next round will sort everything out before the season starts.
Likewise Powmill, anything covered by “hospital” gives concerns, again hopefully not serious.
I stayed up last night to watch a woeful England finally beat, a quite well organised Panama. One thing we have learnt, is that National Teams now employ Good Coaches that at the very least get the best out of what they have. Ghana were superb defensively.
However, and I hope I am wrong, Tuchel appears to have picked players that are injury prone, that was well known.
James, decent going forward, but not very good as a defending RB, did not play more than FOUR consecutive games last season. Same with the Newcastle lad. Like Bangura, always injured.
As Andy posted, the area around the “D” is like Euston Station, crowded. If Bellingham had not been on form we may have struggled to score. And the defence, the better teams will not miss the chances Panama created.
And Boro, will Hellberg finally get the players he needs and sort out our flaws. GT is correct, our players run out of steam after 60/70 minutes, an issue that importantly requires solving. Otherwise our season ending “relegation form” will continue, along with the injury problems.
Besides a good scoring forward, we really do require a “Leadbitter” type player that can lead the team. Let’s see who arrives, whilst hoping Hackney leaves soon, along with the failures, which won’t unfortunately be until the end of the window if at all.
