Lewis Wing permanent move to Wycombe.

Come on BORO.

MFC Statement on Lewis Wing

Lewis Wing has been recalled from loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday to enable him to make a permanent switch to Wycombe Wanderers.

The 26-year-old had joined the Owls on a season-long loan last summer, but after being a near ever present for the Hillsborough side at one stage, he has featured just once since the turn of the year.

Recalling Lewis has allowed him the opportunity to link up with Wycombe in a permanent move where the midfielder will be hoping to return to playing regular football with the promotion-chasing League One side.

Lewis, who joined Boro from Shildon in the summer of 2017, scored 14 goals in almost 100 games since making his debut for the club against Scunthorpe United in the EFL Cup later that year.

Lewis will be remembered by Boro fans for some cracking goals including a goal of the season winner against Crystal Palace in 2018 and an opening day strike at Luton the following year. 

His Boro contract was due to end this summer.

Everyone at MFC wishes Lewis all the best for the future.

Unquote

OFB

We cleared the desk before the visit of Derby. We showed how to follow the rules by transfering some players away and reducing the unnecessary costs. Well done.

I was hoping cover for McNair with a left-footed defender. That is a must in the summer. Now I hope Bola will be back in a month's time.

I see a decent player in Lea Siliki. He is still at the club and as he is a left-footed midfielder, he will offer cover.

For left wing-back we are still light now. Bola is still injured, but we can use Tavanier or McGree over there if needed. In those cases, Lea-Siliki can be handy until his loan ends in the summer.

Somehow, I see a player in there. Like Payero, we have not seen much of him yet. Let's utilize him while we have him. I think there is a place in the 25-man squad. But I haven't been calculating the numbers, though.

Finances are in order now. Let's concentrate on the football again. Up the Boro! 

I think it is accepted that Fisher and Ameobi will take no further part this season. So plenty of room if you can “de-register” those two. 

As I was worried about the possibility of yet more churn this window, I'm mostly ok with the window. We have brought in 3 first-teamers (Balo, Connolly and McGree) and let 1.5 first teamers go (Hernandez & Uche). We also brought in a couple for the U23s. Balo is potentially exciting and McGree feels like a strong signing though his natural position seems to be the same one as Tav.

I do feel that we made yet more bad decisions this summer by trying to operate a dual track Warnock and post-Warnock policy without knowing what the post-Warnock policy was going to be. Perhaps ironically, the post-Warnock signings have been the most troublesome for the post-Warnock manager. Sporar has done ok but Payero was too much of a project to spend so much on and Lea Siliki has been a complete waste of money.

Although the top 16 players feel like they're competitive with any team in the league the squad feels a little shallow. I would give us a good chance of making the play-offs unless we lose a couple of key players. 

looking back at the summer and winter windows I'll make a stab and say.

Excellent signings

• Crooks

good signings

• Lumley - I rate him more highly than most 
• Sporar - bit borderline

Probably good signings

• McGree, Balogun

Decent signings

• The gap pluggers: Bamba, Peltier, Taylor. They have all done what has been asked of them.

Jury's out

• Payero. It is a massive ask for him to get up to speed quickly but a massive outlay (relatively) to bring him in.
• Connolly. Not looking good though.
• Daniels .Ok as cover but I wouldn't want to rely on him long term.

Gone in 60 seconds

• Hernandez, Ikpeazu

What were they thinking

• Ameobi, Olusanya, Lea-Siliki. You can't legislate for the sort of bad luck that hit Ameobi but there's a reason why Lea-Siliki had hardly played in 2 years. Olusanya was probably not a bad option for the U23s but he wasn't bought for that and the U23s didn't really need him.

For The Future

• Boyd-Munce (good debut), Sivi, Bolongo. 

It's a lot of churn so maybe it's no bad thing for Wilder to have a few months to really put these players through the fire and see who comes through.

Jarkko

i think the Boro have also sorted financed by letting Ikpeazu go to Cardiff and they will pay his wages until the end of the season.

By letting Wing go to Wycombe from Sheff Wed any fee for him would probably cancel out any outstanding monies that we owed Wycombe for Ikpeazu so that’s a good bit of financial business for Boro

OFB

Posted by: @original-fat-bob

Jarkko

i think the Boro have also sorted financed by letting Ikpeazu go to Cardiff and they will pay his wages until the end of the season.

By letting Wing go to Wycombe from Sheff Wed any fee for him would probably cancel out any outstanding monies that we owed Wycombe for Ikpeazu so that’s a good bit of financial business for Boro

OFB

It is reported that MFC terminated Wing’s contract 6 months early in order for him to join Wycombe, so in essence he was a free transfer.

Come on BORO.

Middlesbrough exercised an option to extend Djed Spence's contract by a year before the defender joined Nottingham Forest on loan in the summer.

It means Spence's current deal runs to 2024, rather than 2023 as has been widely reported. Teesside Live understands that Neil Bausor exercised an option to extend Spence's contract 

So he is not going anywhere cheaply. If he even goes anywhere. Up the Boro!

Posted by: @jarkko

Middlesbrough exercised an option to extend Djed Spence's contract by a year before the defender joined Nottingham Forest on loan in the summer.

It means Spence's current deal runs to 2024, rather than 2023 as has been widely reported. Teesside Live understands that Neil Bausor exercised an option to extend Spence's contract 

So he is not going anywhere cheaply. If he even goes anywhere. Up the Boro!

Good to read that: smart business.

Was anyone concerned that Boro wouldn’t win the penalty shootout against Man Utd? I must say that I had no qualms because Boro had won 8 of the previous penalty shootouts, unlike the England national team. These are those matches in chronological order:- 

3rd Dec 2003 Home Everton Won 5-4 League Cup (0-0 aet)

17th Dec 2003 Away Spurs Won 5-4 League Cup (1-1 aet) 

13th Feb 2007 Home Bristol City Won 5-4 FA Cup (2-2 aet) * 

27th Feb 2007 Away West Brom Won 5-4 FA Cup (1-1 aet) *  

23rd Sep 2013 Away Liverpool Lost 13-14 League Cup (2-2 aet)

28th Oct 2015 Away Man.Utd Won 3-1 League Cup (0-0 aet)

14th Aug 2018 Home Notts Cty Won 4-3 League Cup (3-3 aet)

25th Sep 2018 Away Preston NE Won 4-3 League Cup (2-2 aet)

13th Aug 2019 Home Crewe Alex Lost 2-4 League Cup (2-2 aet)

4th Feb 2022 Away Man.Utd Won 8-7 FA Cup (1-1 aet)

* denotes one penalty missed 

That’s 54 penalties scored and 59 missed.

Since the Second World War Boro have scored 293 penalties in open play including this season by 65 different players with the leaders as follows:-

36 John Hickton     
30 Lindy Delapenha         
19 Grant Leadbitter    
14 David Armstrong          
14 Arthur Kaye      
11 Bill Harris               
 9 Wilf Mannion

I regret though that my records don’t show how many penalties were missed by the above players.

Good of Dael Fry to let Ronaldo out of his pocket tonight for a place on the bench against Burnley.

Presumably CR7 has been rested due to the trauma.

Posted by: @jarkko

Middlesbrough exercised an option to extend Djed Spence's contract by a year before the defender joined Nottingham Forest on loan in the summer.

It means Spence's current deal runs to 2024, rather than 2023 as has been widely reported. Teesside Live understands that Neil Bausor exercised an option to extend Spence's contract 

So he is not going anywhere cheaply. If he even goes anywhere. Up the Boro!

Hats off to Neil Bausor and the recruitment team for a very smart piece of business. That one year extension could be worth as much as Pds10 million extra for MFC.

UTB

Posted by: @ken

Was anyone concerned that Boro wouldn’t win the penalty shootout against Man Utd? I must say that I had no qualms because Boro had won 8 of the previous penalty shootouts, unlike the England national team. These are those matches in chronological order:- 

3rd Dec 2003 Home Everton Won 5-4 League Cup (0-0 aet)

17th Dec 2003 Away Spurs Won 5-4 League Cup (1-1 aet) 

13th Feb 2007 Home Bristol City Won 5-4 FA Cup (2-2 aet) * 

27th Feb 2007 Away West Brom Won 5-4 FA Cup (1-1 aet) *  

23rd Sep 2013 Away Liverpool Lost 13-14 League Cup (2-2 aet)

28th Oct 2015 Away Man.Utd Won 3-1 League Cup (0-0 aet)

14th Aug 2018 Home Notts Cty Won 4-3 League Cup (3-3 aet)

25th Sep 2018 Away Preston NE Won 4-3 League Cup (2-2 aet)

13th Aug 2019 Home Crewe Alex Lost 2-4 League Cup (2-2 aet)

4th Feb 2022 Away Man.Utd Won 8-7 FA Cup (1-1 aet)

* denotes one penalty missed 

That’s 54 penalties scored and 59 missed.

 

Since the Second World War Boro have scored 293 penalties in open play including this season by 65 different players with the leaders as follows:-

36 John Hickton     
30 Lindy Delapenha         
19 Grant Leadbitter    
14 David Armstrong          
14 Arthur Kaye      
11 Bill Harris               
 9 Wilf Mannion

I regret though that my records don’t show how many penalties were missed by the above players.

 

Just spotted an error on penalty shootouts. What I meant to write was ‘54 penalties scored from 59 ATTEMPTS’. Sorry about that, but I was trying to convey was how successful Boro have been on penalty shootouts. Of course it helps to win the toss and take the first penalty. The one match that Boro failed miserably was against Crewe Alexandra where Boro missed 3.

Incidentally can anyone remember if either Lindy Delapenha, John Hickton or Grant Leadbitter ever missed one, and if so on what occasion?

Leadbetter missed one at QPR in the promotion season but we scored from the resulting corner 

MW in Darwin  

Thanks for that information.

I heard a comment the other day that Wilder was having to manage a team that was the remnants of multiple managers so I thought I would take the team and bench for the Man Utd game and look at who bought them.

• Monk: Howson
• Pulis: McNair
• Woodgate (Recruitment team): Dijksteel
• Warnock: Lumley, Crooks, Peltier, Watmore, Bamba, Daniels
• The Not Warnock Recruitment team: Sporar, Payero
• Academy: Fry, Jones, Tav, Wood, Coburn
• Wilder: Taylor, Balogun, Connolly, Boyd-Munce

There's almost no one left who was bought during the Monk & Pulis era but Fry and Tav became regulars in the second half of Pulis's second season. They actually played more than McNair who only started 8 times in the Championship under Pulis. I suspect that Howson has played more games for us than any other two players combined.

OFB

Which English league is in comparison to the French second division?

Come on BORO.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=scP9I4OUQ3c

Spence or Jones

From Forever Dormo

OFB

Thanks for the link, OFB. And Dormo, too.

Up the Boro!

OFB

Here is a player that Boro should look at. Etienne Green is a young goalkeeper in France but an England U21 international. He is 6ft 4ins tall and we could even afford him.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60974945

Up the Boro! 

Here's another Boro could take a look at, though I expect his price would only be affordable if we got promoted...

Aaron Hickey - Wikipedia

I was looking back at our AK promotion season summer window. At the time, the consensus was that it was really strong and we would comfortably stay up. 

We bought 3 players as 1st choice in their position: Valdes, de Roon and Negredo. In theory this should have strengthened the team's spine without massively disrupting it. So our likely 1st 11 would be, in AK's favoured 4-2-3-1

Valdes

Nsue - Ayala - Gibson - Friend

Leadbitter - de Roon

Stuani - Ramirez - Downing

Negredo

The rest of the incoming transfers & loans were essentially cover and/or "projects": Barragan, Espinoza, Chambers, Fabio, Fischer, Guzan, Traore

Looking at it you can see the team is horribly lacking in pace and Premier league experience. Most of the players bought to provide strength in depth were a complete failure with only Chambers standing out. Traore was a wild card. 

This summer is going to be the first time since that 2016 window that we will be looking to invest to strengthen the team for a promotion push. Looking at our current squad.

Players definitely good enough for the 1st 11 of a top-6 team: Dijksteel, Fry, McNair, Jones, Tav, [McGree probably]

Players who may be good enough for a 1st 11: Bola, Crooks, Payero, Howson

Players good enough as cover: Watmore, [Coburn maybe], Daniels, Peltier, Taylor, Fisher?

U23s who might step up: Gibson, Boyd-Munce

Then we have a whole raft of players we're looking to move on.

This is potentially a huge rebuilding job both for the 1st 11 and for strength in depth but we've all seen that too much change is hard to deal with. Given Wilder's preferred formation, we need 3 new 1st choice strikers, probably a 1st choice central midfielder, a keeper and probably left-sided centre back. Even if we strike the jackpot through selling Spence, I just don't see that happening. When you look at recruitment from the last two windows, it's only really Crooks and McGree who stand out. Payero may still come good but there has been massive and largely unproductive churn.

No real conclusions here, I'm afraid.

I’m not sure that we need that much surgery, Deleriad.

I think Watmore and Coburn are good enough as subs, so two strikers needed rather than three.

I don’t think we NEED a left sided centre-back or a centre midfielder. We could be improved by both but I don’t they’re essential for a top six finish next season.

I also think we might have enough at left wingback, though a real quality operator there would make a big difference. Bola has had an injury interrupted season though and hasn’t been able to show his best. I still think Tav might be best there and haven’t completely given up on Coulson, at least as a back-up.

A reliable goalkeeper is essential.

So I think three players are essential and first priority is a striker, second priority another striker, third priority a keeper. Any more is down to how many leave in the summer but could largely be back-up players and therefore nice to have rather than absolutely essential for a promotion push.

We’re not far away as it is and effectively didn’t start until late November.

As the season comes to a close I thought I would rate our transfer dealings this year.

Lumley. D. Too many mistakes. I supported him for a long time but I think his flaws are irredeemable.

Daniels. B-. Bought in as cover and has done adequately without convincing that he can step up to be first choice.

Peltier. B+. A Warnock old boy bought in as cover and has done his job admirably. A reassuring option from the bench.

Bamba. A. Half-man, half-legend. 

Taylor. B. Bought in to do a job and did it. 

Crooks. A. The king in yellow. Would have been an A+ but his yellow cards and a loss of form meant he didn't pull his weight at a critical time.

Payero. C. Could come good but this season has been a write-off. Feels like a vanity signing.

Boyd-Munce. C. Odd one this. Too far on in his career for the U23s but not up to 1st team squad standard. Possibly bought in with the expectation that Lea Siliki would leave.

McGree. A-. Looks really good but injuries, absences and covid meant he missed most of his first 3 months.

Olusanya. D. A pawn in Warnock's war against the recruitment team. League 1 standard at best.

Ameobi. U. Arguably doesn't exist.

Hernandez. C. The regime change did for him. Started to improve but was then sacrificed to free up the wage bill. Mediocre half-season at Birmingham so it may be that sending him back was a reasonable call.

Lea Siliki. U. Abysmal during his few cameos. He has at least been professional and not rocked the boat.

Sporar. C+. Bought to be the main man but has never lived up to his song.

Connolly. D-. A for effort, E for attainment. B for balloons. Looks like an angry mushroom. Plays like one.

Balogun. C-. Not ready for the Championship. Seemed to be improving then disappeared. 

Sivi. U. Possibly one for the future. Some pre-season excitement but then disappeared. Still only 19.

Ikpeazu. C-. Victim of a regime change but given that he's hardly getting a game at Cardiff that's 3 managers in the Championship who clearly don't rate him. We may struggle to sell him on.

That's *18* incomings this year. Of them, just 2 look like 1st teamers next year: Crooks and McGree. The one thing you can say is that with the exception of Payero, these were largely low risk signings but the whole process was compromised by a civil war between Warnock and the recruitment team then a bad misjudgement about strikers in January. If we do reach the play-offs then it looks like it will be despite the recruitment rather than because of it. 

Posted by: @deleriad

Ameobi. U. Arguably doesn't exist.

Lol. That made me smile. 

Great post Deleriad and couldn’t disagree with any of it.

Let’s hope Kieran Scott and Chris Wilder are much more aligned in their thinking for this summer’s recruitment drive.

We need strikers and the relative success Karanka had in that area. The next gen Bamford and Tomlin are much needed.