On a slightly related topic I see Darlington have signed Junior Mondal. He is now 24 years old and has had a bit of a spluttering career since leaving the Boro Academy. I thought back then that by now we would be cheering him on at the Riverside along with Tav and Fry as "one of our own".
Well no surprise that our transfer dealings are suffering similar results as in past windows and yet again we are missing out on our supposed No 1 targets.
I agree with Werder that it is unlikely NW will be able to build a promotion winning side in one season without having millions at his disposal, which clearly he does not have.
If we want to be promoted then it has to start with short, medium and long term planning which needs to be followed through and delivered on. What we seem to have is knee jerk reactions from one season to the next! 😎
Given that Warnock will be here for only one more season (we think), is it not better to miss out on these signings in any case? The next manager, whoever it is, would potentially benefit more from taking whatever is left of the current squad plus a handful of youngsters who have had 10-20+ games experience.
It makes no sense to me at all if we settle for third or fourth choice players. That would just leave the next man with an average squad and little money to play with. If we cannot get the ones we want for next season, go with the kids and build a platform for future seasons. The squad is already good enough for mid-table next year bar a keeper.
@andy-r. Your comments effectively confirm my view, which is what exactly is the plan! 😎
Totally agree, if we are good enough for mid-table why not keep the youngsters and play them rather than loaning them to a Division below to gather experience. As for mid-table, well, most of us know where we are going to be, in the mid-table zone.
Would all of the supporters buy into the strategy? I don't think so but at least it does seem to be a long-term strategy. maybe it's a Norwich strategy? Go up, pocket the money, take on a lot of loan players and buy a few at the end of their loans and if it works go you go again again but building all the time.
Please Boro whatever you do don't buy any Akpoms or anyone unseen, better to use what we have, you know all those younger players that everyone else covets. OFB said Boro were combing the North East for talent so there must be a hint of a long term strategy developing on one level so let's hope it develops on more than one level. Oh, and don't sell anyone that is part of the plan.
UTB,
John
If we want to be promoted then it has to start with short, medium and long term planning
We have a Manager who will be 73 in December so I doubt medium term planning will be a feature and as for long term......... 🤣 🤣 🤣
I am pleased we didn't get Collins. Another 30 year old player I believe, that had he signed we would have dumped him at the end of the season. We don't want 30 year old forwards NW, we want hungry young players who haven't yet been subjected to all the pitfalls and likes and dislikes of certain managers. Remember Patrick Bamford.
@redcarred. Do you think it has dawned on anyone that NW is only a short term option! 🤣🤣
Short term plan is to see the departure of NW at some point.
Then appoint a manager capable of delivering on a medium to longer term plan which encompasses the building of a team that can gain and sustain promotion within the confines of a budget limited by income and SG's ability to support financially.
There again, I have seen little in the way of organised planning/operating to a strategy other than one dictated to by cash, so I am probably asking too much and the club will continue down the knee jerk re-action route for the foreseeable future. 😎
The "plan" will be to see where we are after NW.
If it's in a good place then bring in a young, fresh thinking, attack minded Manager to undoubtedly fail with Warnock's Players. Then when he is sacked bring in another old hand to steady the ship.
If we are in a bad place when Warnock departs then bring in another old hand to steady the ship and if none of the above work then give it to a current Player with little to no experience and wait for the next bus to throw him under!
This strategic management malarkey is a doddle.
@malcolm if we must sign a lower Championship lump then Wycombe's Ikpeazu is 26 which is better than the 30 year olds we have been linked with.
Not saying that is my preference but if a Maserati isn't an option and its a choice between a John Deere and a Massey Ferguson then I'd go for the one that will have a resale value.
It looks like the plan seems to be let's see if Neil Warnock still has another promotion in him and let's just ignore the performances since January as it wasn't his fault. The worry at the back of my mind is that Kevin Blackwell will end up as the default successor to Warnock if Boro drift along for another season just above mid-table after being recommended by his boss to carry on the good work. Only obvious failure and a bad start to next season will see any radical change and the usual rip it up and start again.
My optimism is that the club may be on the verge of seeing a crop of academy players arrive on the scene that could be as good as when McClaren was able to field a whole home-grown team. My Pessimism is that Warnock's brand of football is not designed for their arrival and it could be an opportunity wasted that Boro could regret for many years to come.
If I was Steve Gibson I'd be looking for the right manager for the right circumstances that the club is about to enter and forget about the nostalgia and trying to mount an unlikely promotion challenge on the back of an increasingly lame old war horse riding into his final battle.
Still dreaming Boro to sign Charlie Wyke.
Sunderland top scorer Charlie Wyke has won the Supporters Player of the Year award.
28-year-old Wyke scored 30 goals this season to help the club to a 4th placed finish in League One.
He's the first striker to reach that tally for Sunderland since Kevin Phillips in their 1999/2000 season in the Premier League.
Just saying, like. Up the Boro!
The club has agreed a deal to sign goalkeeper Joe Lumley after his contract with Queens Park Rangers comes to an end this summer.
The 26-year-old agreed terms to join Boro after undergoing a medical at Rockliffe on Wednesday morning.
The goalkeeper is Neil Warnock's first signing of the summer and the Boro boss said: "I'm delighted to have signed Joe. I've always rated him highly and I look forward to him joining us.
"I know he's excited about coming here and he can't wait to play in front of the Riverside crowd."
A former Tottenham Hotspur schoolboy, the young goalkeeper joined QPR as a 16-year-old and has spent his entire professional career with the Loftus Road club.
During the past eight seasons he has had eight loan spells, most recently at Doncaster Rovers last term where he made nine appearances.
Lumley, who was a virtual ever-present for QPR between 2018 and 2020, came on as a substitute at the Riverside in April when he made a string of vital saves to prevent Neil Warnock’s side from victory.
The Harlow-born goalkeeper joins on a two-year contract with the option of a further year.
OFB
I just hope he doesn't play like Joanna Lumley! 😂😎
Still dreaming Boro to sign Charlie Wyke.
Sunderland top scorer Charlie Wyke has won the Supporters Player of the Year award.
28-year-old Wyke scored 30 goals this season to help the club to a 4th placed finish in League One.
He's the first striker to reach that tally for Sunderland since Kevin Phillips in their 1999/2000 season in the Premier League.
Just saying, like. Up the Boro!
It’s certainly on the cards now that Boro might sign Charlie Wyke, only 28 year old, out of contract I believe, and Sunderland now unlikely to be promoted after last night’s defeat at Lincoln
Ashley Fletcher is to sign a 5 year contract with newly promoted Watford.
Come on BORO.
I guess Watford are in the position where Fletcher's wages are almost a no-risk situation. If they stay up he has a couple of years in the reserves to prove himself or get sold on. If they come back down, he is a possible squad player for the Championship. Either way his wages as a percentage of a Premier league wage bill will be pretty minimal.
Ashley Fletcher was one of those players who never really fulfilled their potential in a stop-start career at Boro, which saw him play in only half of the club's league games in his four years on Teesside.
So it's interesting that newly promoted Watford are prepared to offer him a five-year deal as they must see that he has the right attributes for their style of play - i.e. a mobile athletic forward with good movement.
Perhaps, the fact that they've signed him early may indicate Fletcher's agent may have already done the ground work in the last few months - players over 23 are of course allowed to negotiate with clubs in the last six months of their existing contracts.
All of which may explain why Fletcher had already made it clear he wasn't going to remain at Boro - let's face it, with the wet ink of a five year deal with a all but promoted club waiting to dry it won't have been a difficult decision to make.
I shall watch with interest to see if he shines and becomes another striker who joins that list where his best form wasn't seen at Boro!
While on the subject of strikers, if the club are still pondering whether to sign players on video clips, here's a rather grainy one that a Spanish friend of mine sent to me that shows he has all the attributes to be a striker for Boro...
Middlesbrough are targeting Michael Smith from Rotherham this summer - and are likely to step up their approach after missing out on James Collins.
OFB
Absolutely nailed on. That's our kind of finishing. Priceless. Didn't know Brit had gone to Spain.
UTB,
John
Middlesbrough are targeting Michael Smith from Rotherham this summer - and are likely to step up their approach after missing out on James Collins.
OFB
I wonder if we'll see some kind of swap deal offered with Wing. I can't see Wing wanting to down to League One but if Warnock doesn't rate him then I could see it happening. It would be a shame because Wing is the kind of player who excites; then again I thought the same of Coulson and Spence and they have both gone backwards under Warnock.
Middlesbrough are targeting Michael Smith from Rotherham this summer - and are likely to step up their approach after missing out on James Collins.
OFB
I wonder if we'll see some kind of swap deal offered with Wing. I can't see Wing wanting to down to League One but if Warnock doesn't rate him then I could see it happening. It would be a shame because Wing is the kind of player who excites; then again I thought the same of Coulson and Spence and they have both gone backwards under Warnock.
In my honest opinion I think Wing, Coulson and Spence flattered to deceive in spells in one season, they believed the hype people posted about them, thinking they were better than they are. In no way do I believe they have gone backwards under Warnock, it would not have mattered who the manager was, the opposition sussed them out after bursting on the scene and unlike Fry and Tavernier they had no more to offer and did not improve. Maybe in pre season (if still here) they can show the improvements that Dijksteel and Bola showed (after being written off by many on here) to warrant a place in the squad.
Come on BORO.
Nuno to leave Wolves by mutual agreement despite signing a new 3 year deal in September.
Come on BORO.
@exmil Off to White Hart Lane by all accounts. I admire his achievements but that lack of respect for his opponents leaves me with a really bad taste about him.
Just to recap on the 9 players who need replacing in the summer, who are either returning loanees, expired contracts or have been told they can look for a new club.
Strikers
Britt Assombalonga
Ashley Fletcher
Chuba Akpom
Attacking Midfielders
Yannick Bolasie
Neeskens Kebano
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
Marvin Johnson
Goalkeepers
Marcus Bettenelli
Jordan Archer
Could be Leaving?
Lewis Wing
Hayden Coulson
Djed Spence
Johnson was also cover for left-back/wing-back too with possibly Coulson filling in but he may also be another regarded as surplus by Warnock - plus there's some doubt on whether Djed Spence will be staying if media rumours turn out to be based on hard cash.
The pedestrian midfield may also need some freshening up with perhaps Saville likely to be most at risk behind Howson, McNair and Morsy - all of whom don't shout goals from midfield even if McNair has a good delivery.
It remains to be seen if Lewis Wing gets another chance to impress but it's possible Marcus Browne could return as one of the attacking midfielders.
Therefore looking at the numbers, nine may be a conservative estimate on the incoming front - though maybe some of the youngsters will make up the squad next season but it's hard to see them being regarded as Starters. You would think that one or two sales could be required to fund those 6-7 more expensive attacking players needed.