Bolassie and family at the Riverside watching England today
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What about Andy Carroll as our new striker? Ok I'll get my coat
His record for the skunks:
|
Season
|
Club | Apps (Subs) | Goals | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2020/2021 |
 Newcastle |
18 (14) | 1 |
|
|
2019/2020 |
Newcastle |
19 (15) | 0 |
More apearances than I thought but where were the goals?
Up the Boro!
I actually think Andy Carroll is a pretty good player (or at least WAS a very good player) and ideal for Warnock-ball but his injury record and no doubt salary demands make him a no go.
If, however, he had a Duncan Watmore type attitude I’d be tempted.
Reports suggest that Middlesbrough could be monitoring the potential availability of Luton Town midfielder Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzu.
The 27-year-old is out of contract in the summer and would be free to pursue options elsewhere.
Luton Town have offered fresh terms to Ruddock-Mpanzu and have said he will be 'currently considering those terms'.
However, there's been no word yet on Ruddock-Mpanzu putting pen-to-paper at the Hatters as interest grows from elsewhere.
Neil Warnock and his recruitment staff have already missed out on the chance to sign an out-of-contract Luton Town player after striker James Collins opted to join Cardiff City on a permanent deal.
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Middlesbrough are lining up a move for Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu. The midfielder will be available on a free once his Luton Town contract expires later this month. (Football Insider)
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Just a minute, a youth who has spent his time in London Football, pinging around from (lower league) club to club, you are assuming the powers that be in the capital have no idea. That may be, but I would doubt it. A certain London club had 12 players on loan from their mates all last season, and still managed to go down. So I would not think they would miss out on any London boy worth the name. We shall see.
Bolassie signs 2 year contract for Boro
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I take it this is a spoof as nowhere else can I find any mention of it even on Newsnow.
Come on BORO.
Interested to see your remark about what the manager wants at that particular time. I would have thought that buying anyone when you are a forced buyer would be a big mistake, better to borrow a player short term.
What is being reported that 3/4 Premiership clubs are preparing bids up to £15m for Dael Fry, any thoughts folks.
Come on BORO.
Irreplaceable.
The only offers we should therefore consider are unreasonable ones north of £30m plus substantial add-ons. That assumes Dael is happy to stay.
Another rumour. 31 goals in the League and netting 33 in all competitions in the 2020-21 season.
Up the Boro!
Lukas Nmecha is avalabe from Manchester City. Nmecha, according to some reports, is "rated at close to £15m" and is attracting interest from Sporting Lisbon aand the Bundesliga as he is a German Under-21 international.
Very difficult to believe this after his few matches for Boro but he has since then played very well for Vincent Kompany's Anderlecht in Belgium and starring at the European Under-21 Championships.
Too expensive for Boro I am afraid. Up the Boro!
Irreplaceable.
The success that Brentford have had is down to making no one irreplaceable. It won't be popular but if your plan is to build without investing money then you have to cash in on your top assets at the top of the market and replace them with someone as good cheaper. Sure we would prefer to sell under-performing players and keep the best but we're not in that position.
I don't want to sell Fry but if someone offers £20M+ and we have a replacement, then we should. Is Wood as good as Fry? Not yet but he never will be if we keep Fry and keep buying the likes of Grant Hall. It's a bit of a leap of faith but the whole point of the Academy is to get young players into the first team.
That’s true, but equally Brentford have got their price (£35m for Watkins for example).
Thats my point. There is not a player we can attract who will be as good straight away (therefore irreplaceable) so if he is to go it has to be at a price we can’t ignore.
Interestingly Brentford don't have an academy in the way that other teams do. They don't have an Under 18 or under 23 team just a B team which appears to be made up of players let go from other teams academies just like we got Djed Spence from Fulham. They had an academy up until 2016 but thought that the 2 million pounds it cost was not cost effective so ploughed the money into recruiting players from a variety of countries. It does appear to work.
Unfortunately, if Neil Warnock thinks he needs to sign 8-9 players that are capable of mounting a promotion challenge, then it's unlikely they'll arrive for buttons - funds will need to be raised somehow as even those available on a free are reportedly seeking tasty wages.
Whether Fry will be sacrificed is another matter - Warnock seemed pretty clear that both he and Tav would be key players next season and opted to ensure they recovered from their injuries rather than play them towards the end of the season. While every player has his price, £15m is probably on the low side even in the current climate - though if 3-4 clubs are interested then the price could climb.
If Boro are serious about a promotion challenge then keeping hold of a player who is good enough to play in the PL is probably a good idea. Nevertheless, if the numbers reach a certain amount then any players is sellable - plus the wages likely on offer to that player in the PL will mean they'll need to be very committed to staying on Teesside to personally turn down a move.
That's the problem of letting other players run down their contracts as they've all left without helping to fund their replacements - unless you count removing their inflated wages off the bill of course!
I think most of the new players will come on free transfers this summer. After the departures last summer and now also Assombalonga and Fletcher leving, there must be some room in the salary budget.
Secondly, I think Mr Warnock mentioned that we need cover, more depth in our squad. So a centre half and a left back can be filled with regular salaries for the Championship.
But the two strikers - three if Akpom leaves - will need some money for a fee and definately for wages. But there must be some room.
Of course, if Bolasie signs, his salary could be one of the highest in our squad. But let's hope we have budget for the salaries after two to three years of cost cutting already done. Don't forgot we let a lot of senior players leave in summer 2020 already.
Trying to stay positive. I see have a good starting eleven except at centre forward and possibly left wing.
Up the Boro!
Neil Warnock has moved to strengthen his backroom team with the addition of Oxford United's highly-rated Chris Short, who is set to join Boro this summer.
Short, who was head of sports science with the League One U's, is described by Oxford boss Karl Robinson as an "amazing man, brilliant at his job and someone who people warm to straight away".
Short - the brother of former Everton and Blackburn defender Craig, now first team coach at Oxford - played for Warnock at Scarborough and Notts County before going on to excel as a fitness coach after hanging up his boots. He was part of Warnock's backroom team at Leeds United.
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The local press in Norfolk are speculating that Kieran Scott, Norwich City's head of recruitment, is a Middlesbrough target to take on a sporting director role.
Scott has worked closely with City's own sporting director, Stuart Webber, since the duo moved to Norfolk in 2017, with the likes of Teemu Pukki and Emi Buendia proving major successes in the transfer market.
I am a bit surprised to hear this happening now when Warnock is still here. But long term that is what the club needs as we have lost a fortune or two with no continuity in our transfer policy going from one manager to another in recent years. And we all have seen the results on field.
I hope this happens but let's see. Up the Boro!
@jarkko Hopefully this is true as we have been crying out for this type of role at the Club for years, maybe SG has learned from the Orta experience. For those who want to read the full article:
Norwich City’s head of recruitment, Kieran Scott is attracting interest at the Riverside Stadium as they look to modernise the club’s hierarchy.
Scott has been instrumental to the Canaries’ recent success after playing a key role in the club’s recruitment of players such as Emi Buendia and Teemu Pukki.
I think Kieran Scott will be an excellent move and shows MFC are thinking ahead of NW’s time (probably NW recommendation). Bausor will be left to do other duties outside of recruitment of players, a new fitness coach, a new “Head of recruitment”, while we all complain of money wasted on “dud” players these are the appointments you have to get right first and hopefully the rest will fall into place.
Come on BORO.
When you have a player who is at the point of moving to one of the giants you should have a plan to manage the situation, most well run clubs do. I would suggest you get several clubs making bids, insert an add on, and help your player to make the right choice for his future success, and your add on's. Do not under any circumstances spend the money on two (expensive) players to do his job, that is the road to nowhere. You should be signing young players who are jumping out of their skin to play at a higher level. We allowed Gibson to go to a lower level hard scrabble club who were trying to make a turn on him. We all know the result, not Good.
Selling Clubs have little to no control where a Player goes to in much the same way as your employer has little to no control over your next job move. So long as the contract terms are acceptable to the Player and his Agent and the required fee has been met that's it. The responsibility for the Player's future rests with the Player himself and his Agent.
Most contracts have a trigger clause which is the fee that has to be offered before a Player and his agent can even consider talking to another Club while they are under contract. This "mystery" figure however is always leaked out to any prospective Club if the Player or his Agent wants to leave and it happens to all Clubs at all levels.
A Club could of course refuse to sell a Player and we all remember how well that worked out with Yakubu and a few others. Simply downing tools or mystery injuries that keep recurring are the usual consequences in such scenarios. Likewise a Player who is coming to the end of his contract and looking for a new club suddenly becomes fit and finds form, Viduka comes to mind.
Great news from Ashton Gate and for Pools and for young Boro Keeper Brad James. The Play off final ended one apiece after 90 minutes with some fingers being pointed at the young Boro keeper for failing to collect a cross into the box, beaten by a header in the fifth minute of time added on from the Torquay Brazilian Keeper Lucas Covolan taking the game to extra time. Nails bitten down it was still 1-1 after 120 minutes.
The Penalties then came or rather didn't with the first two Pools penalties saved and also the first two Torquay Penalties missed. Four penalties taken and all four missed. Nerves jangling clearly but both sides put away their next three to go to sudden death. From Zero to Hero for Brad then ensued as his save for the second of Torquay's sudden death penalties has put Pools back into the Football League!
What a great loan spell for the youngster and what experience for the young lad and something he will never forget wherever his future career takes him. A real footballing fairy tale!
Yes really pleased for young Brad James, who has played so well for Hartlepool since standing in for injured keeper that when their Number 1 keeper was fit again, the manager stuck with Brad and got his reward for keeping faith.
Come on BORO.
Well done Pools. They looked dead on their legs halfway through the second half yet held out until 5 minutes into added time. Nevertheless this game had everything, 2 Torquay goals disallowed one of which was controversial, a penalty appeal quite rightly disallowed against Torquay for diving, a goalkeeper scoring with a header in the 95th minute, a Torquay player having 10 minutes medical treatment on the field of play for an injury instead of on the sidelines and ignoring the paramedics and his own manager’s advice to be replaced, and 5 penalty misses in the shoot out. Torquay have a habit of scoring in the 95th minute and beyond as that was the 5th time it had happened in the last two months to either turn a draw into a win, or a loss into a draw, and with Pools sitting too deep, not only was an equaliser on the cards, but I had my doubts that they would recover hold out until extra time. So much credit to them for doing that especially having lost Rhys Oates to cramp. The more I see of National League football, the more I have been impressed; it’s certainly more entertaining than anything I’ve seen at the Riverside most of this past season, but I don’t want to be too harsh as fans make football. Nevertheless, if MFC had made more effort to create an atmosphere with canned crowd applause, etc Boro might have at least made the playoffs.
Also what a couple of days at Ashton Gate - yesterday in the Rugby Union Premiership Semifinal Harlequins were 0-28 behind just before half-time, but rallied to win 43-36 after extra time to earn a place into next week’s final against Exeter.