Just seen that Australia have WC Qualifiers next week as have Argentina so it is likely that Riley McGree will be selected. The squad will be named today. The game next Thursday is in Oz so I don't think we will see him until after Old Trafford as they play in Oman on the Tuesday night before the game on Friday.
@OFB You did gave up refereeing a bit too early. Perhaps you could start it up again.
This chap from County Durham is retiring on Sunday. After refereeing 70 years in total. Perhaps you know him? https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19864281.county-durham-referee-hangs-whistle-70-years/
Up the Boro!
Of course, as I always used to mildly tease my late father, if it says it in the Daily Mail it must be true then 😉
jarkko
Yes I know Terry Farley a great guy and a great referee who loves football.
I only stopped refereeing when I went overseas to work although I did refereeing Holland and then Spain. It was interesting that in Spain they use the English words for off side and corner. Falta was foul and some of the blue words were quite interesting.
OFB
McGree has been picked by the Socceroos so probably not playing this week, although as it not an official international break we don’t have to release him. Also Blackburn are trying to get the Chilean FA to allow Bremerton Diaz to play on Monday
Re Martin Samuel article.
I don’t read newspapers any more, but as a newspaper delivery boy some 70 years ago I was an avid reader naive enough to believe everything that I read. During the school holidays I still used to collect the newspapers from the newsagents at the same time about 7.15 am as in the winter but it took me twice as long in the summer for two reasons. In the winter it was often so cold I suffered with chilblains even on my ears and of course school started at 8.45am so I whizzed round on my bike often in short trousers. In the summer holidays I’d be reading some of the sports stories as I went along not finishing my round sometimes until after 10.am. I got a few complaints from customers and thinking back quite rightly so, but my life was based on Richmal Crompton’s fictional character Just William. National Service sorted me out, not that I would have volunteered, but was the making of me regarding discipline. Growing from adolescence to manhood in two years, even though I hated it for much of the time.
There's little merit to Samuel's argument.
The Boro are not arguing that they would have been promoted (otherwise they would be suing for £140 million) but that they were denied a play-off place through Derby's cheating, and a value can be placed on that.
Samuel has a hidden agenda. It relates to a grudge he obviously still bears, as a West Ham fan, against the legal judgment against his team and in favour of Sheffield United over the consequences of the Tevez deal. As a result he seems to be against any form of litigation even against clubs who have manifestly been cheating.
Little of merit then, but a great deal of hot air.
Perhaps he gets paid by the word.
It seems to me that all business rules go out of the window when it comes to football clubs and their dodgy owners. Many businesses fail because of inept or dishonest owners, but when football is concerned, it seems that due to their unique position in communities that the full implications are rarely realised.
Football clubs are hardly ever driven out of business, in circumstances where other firms would go into liquidation and never be heard of again.
I understand why this happens - as fans we’re all emotionally attached and invested in our clubs - but the governing bodies of football should be policing ownership in a much stronger way. It’s worth taking a look at what happened at Wigan Athletic to see how it can all go wrong (although their fans are all delighted with their new owner).
I’d feel very sorry for Derby fans if they lost their club, but as long as these businesses are allowed to rise Phoenix like from the ashes of deceit and dishonesty, there seems little incentive to make sure all the rules are followed.
Len
i thought it was a biased article by someone who had an axe to grind !
OFB
Fag packet maths time:
- Promotion = £140m. Boro could argue that they had a 1 in 4 chance had they finished 6th (25%)
- Losing playoff finalists gets the gate receipts (avg. £90 x 85k?). Boro could argue they had a 50% of receiving that
- Playoff semi-final home leg gate receipts (avg. £40 x 32.5k?). Boro would have generated this
- £140m x 25% = £35m
- + £7.65m x 50% = 3.825m
- + £1.3m
- = £40.125m
Is this something like how the £40m claim is arrived at?
However, I think the £40m was more like an opening offer to be negotiated, if only Derby would entertain such a thing.
Good bit of maths Andy, and a fair assessment. As you said the figure being bandied about (is it really 40mil) is a starting point and I would guess a lot lower IF successful.
However the EFL let Derby get away with cheating as MFC have called it. Just like they did with Villa and Bournemouth previously, only they got promoted.
The one part of the article that is true of course is that Pulis had lost the plot and could not get a win or even a draw for love nor money. In many ways of our own making, that we did not make the playoffs.
Andy,
Your 'fag packet' maths ring true for me.
In his Mail article he goes on about form while ignoring the fact that Derby's Chairman did, in simple 'financial terms' cheat, or massage, or manipulate figures to achieve the ends he wanted. Choose your own cliche.
The Football league simply did nothing, what a surprise, and have continued on that road although they have had the odd convulsion and lashed out but nothing constructive whatsoever. The don't even have the courtesy to reply to letters it would seem, not a fax or email but I presume a written, sealed and signed for letter.
If there is a will to sort this out, and I hope that there is, the real target after the sorting out is the Football League in their hull-down defensive position with their hands over their mouths, eyes and ears, the entire system needs to be looked at.
Are they just like FIFA and UEFA? Answers on a postcard please.
UTB,
John
...
Are they just like FIFA and UEFA? Answers on a postcard please.
UTB,
John
Never mind a postcard, you would only need a postage stamp to fit the answer "Yes" John.
Marcus Browne off to Charlton on loan:
Come on BORO.
Is it really a good idea for a young player to sign for a big club like Manchester City or Chelsea. Do they get to playing if they are on loan in one club for six months, then to the next loan club, etc. Especially so if they did not come trough their own academy.
Sunderland have completed the signing of attacking midfielder Patrick Roberts on a permanent deal.
The 24-year-old midfielder joins the Black Cats from Manchester City, having signed an initial six-month contract at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland have the option of extending the contract at the end of the current campaign.
Up the Boro!
Patrick Roberts has joined Sunderland on a permanent deal.
Here is the story and his times at other clubs including Middlesbrough. I liked him.
Haydn Hackney on loan to Scunthorpe has been banned for 6 matches.
He was guilty apparently of spitting at an opponent which under the laws of the game is classed as violent conduct.
OFB
Haydn Hackney on loan to Scunthorpe has been banned for 6 matches.
He was guilty apparently of spitting at an opponent which under the laws of the game is classed as violent conduct.
OFB
Considering there is a global pandemic I would have banned him for a season and let him reflect on his behavioural issues. It's disgusting at the best of times but unforgiveable in the current climate.
El Hadji Diouf never lived it down, as talented as he undoubtedly was, it followed him throughout his career. I have no idea what on earth made the lad think that this is/was acceptable but I wouldn't lose sleep if he never appeared in a Boro shirt again.
Well said RR. I couldn’t agree more.
Perhaps HH will reflect on his despicable act whilst banned and consider just what sort of an impact his action might have on others as well as himself. 😎
Agree wholeheartedly with that, RR.
Scunny can keep him.
I once sent two players off, one each from either side who were standing and spitting at each other! Disgusting and didn’t know that the laws of the game classed it as violent conduct.
Both of them came and apologised to me after the game but I still set in the sending off details as this sort of behaviour needs to be eradicated from the game.
To spit at another player in these days of a world pandemic makes one think how brain dead the player must be to indulge in such activity. I agree with you Len his contract should be terminated immediately. I don’t want my club to be associated with players like that.
OFB
I hope the Boro boss is not ill or something as there was no press conference yesterday or today. It is usually on the Friday morning but nothing this time before the Blackburn match. It would be a surprise if on Sunday, but possible.
Wilder was one of the few that did not had COVID-19 around after the Blackpool match on 29th December.
I hope I am wrong and we will see a press conference tomorrow morning. Up the Boro!
Jarkko
it’s normal not to have a presser on a Friday if it’s a Monday game
If wilder was sick then Alan Knill would have taken it
OFB
Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has stated that Dilan Markanday is set to be out of action for a considerable period of time due to a hamstring injury that he sustained against Hull City.He therefore won’t be available for the Monday game against the Boro
OFB
In my view a fair assessment of the MFC case against Derby as set out below and produced by Simon Bird in the Sunday Mirror:
“RAMS’ RIGHT BATTERING
BORO owner Steve Gibson is strongly defending his corner in a legal battle with Derby County – and rightly so.
Back in May 2019, Boro were squeezed out of the Championship play-off places by one point, by overspending Derby County.
The Teessiders were denied a crack at promotion, worth £160million, in part because County had broken EFL profitability and sustainability rules.
That saw the controversial £81m sale of Pride Park to Derby owner Mel Morris, creating a false profit and allowing more to be spent on players.
Fuming Gibson (below) launched a legal battle long before Derby fell into administration and it is only right that he fights to have it settled now that the club is in the hands of official administrators.
There have been spectacularly blunt releases sanctioned by Gibson this week.
“In simple terms, MFC allege Derby County and its directors systematically cheated and that such cheating affects the integrity of the competition,” a statement read.
“Had Derby County not cheated, MFC would have been in the play-offs. However, Derby County did cheat and, as a result, MFC lost the opportunities.”
Gibson said in an open letter: “You (the administrators) continue to represent that the claim that we and Wycombe have against Derby County… is preventing the sale of Derby County. This is not true.”
Derby are now bust and any new owners – potentially Mike Ashley – won’t take on the risk of fighting that battle and possible compensation.
Gibson has no wish to see Derby liquidated, but no appetite to let a club get away with cheating, when he sticks to financial constraints.
If Derby do go bust, it won’t be because of Boro’s stance, it will be because of the mismanagement and dithering elsewhere.
Gibson is right to play hard ball – to uphold some semblance of financial stability and fair play.”😎
Jarkko
The press conference is on the Boro website now
OFB
Gary Gill reckons we’ll win away at Blackburn tomorrow evening. He also said that we are a good bet to get promoted automatically!
OFB