@exmil - Here we go then....
Burnley 83 points - WLWW - 92 points
Sheff U 70 - LWLW - 76
BORO 67 - WWWW - 79
Luton 64 - DDWW - 72
Blackburn 61 - WWWW - 73
Millwall 60 - DDWW - 68
Norwich 57 - WLWL - 63
Coventry 57 - WWDW - 67
WBA 55 - DWWD - 63
Watford 55 - DWDW - 63
Let's see how much of this is hope and how much turns out to be reality! And also whether there are any duplications/arithmetical errors there like having BOTH teams winning when they play each other!
This might be of interest:
Come on BORO.
I am well aware of the dangers of predicting the results of matches. Yet I cannot help but think that our relentless collecting of points must be driving the Sheffield people crazy, I cannot think that they will keep their nerve under such pressure, and think that they will come unstuck in the next couple of matches, Big time.!
This might be of interest:
Come on BORO.
Thanks for sharing that link Exmil.
It does make very interesting reading in that, at least a the present time, it appears clear that simply having an owner with the wherewithal is not necessarily the (a) key factor in how well your team performs over a season.
I am well aware of the dangers of predicting the results of matches. Yet I cannot help but think that our relentless collecting of points must be driving the Sheffield people crazy, I cannot think that they will keep their nerve under such pressure, and think that they will come unstuck in the next couple of matches, Big time.!
There are an awful lot of Boro fans hoping so Plato !
Here we go - please do not copy as I am not sure that I know anything and you might be dissappointed. I might lead now, but there are two more rounds to come!
| Burnley (83) | W | L | W | W | 92 |
| Shef Utd (70) | D | W | L | W | 77 |
| Boro (67) | W | W | D | W | 77 |
| Luton (64) | D | L | W | W | 71 |
| Blackburn (61) | D | L | D | W | 66 |
| Millwall (60) | D | W | D | W | 68 |
| Norwich (57) | D | W | W | L | 64 |
| Coventry (57) | L | D | W | D | 62 |
| WBA (55) | D | W | D | D | 61 |
| Watford (55) | D | W | L | W | 62 |
I hope Boro will win all four matches but I have put a draw in my line for Boro, though. I see that Dormo has a full house of wins for the mighty Boro.
Up the Boro!
This might be of interest:
Come on BORO.
Thanks for sharing that link Exmil.
It does make very interesting reading in that, at least a the present time, it appears clear that simply having an owner with the wherewithal is not necessarily the (a) key factor in how well your team performs over a season.
I didn't know that Luton Town is owned by supporters. I know they had their financial problems and were out of the EFL just a few years ago.
Darlo is also owned by supporters. They are in the play-off position now. Let's hope we will see them back in the EFL in a few years' time, too.
Up the Boro!
I’m afraid Darlington have lost again tonight at Farsley. They are still in a playoff position of 5th place, but from a position of strength the Quakers have won only one of their last 9 matches taking a mere 7 points from the last 27 available, and in an elongated playoff system are now unlikely to progress much further in the playoffs this season.
The Blades are not playing in the next week or two, but their neighbours the Owls have ended their 23 match unbeaten run in League One by losing at Barnsley 4-2 tonight, who themselves have now gone 12 league matches unbeaten before a crowd exceeding 18,000. In fact the Tykes who finished bottom of the Championship last season with a mere 30 points have so far accumulated 72 points this season and completed the double over the Owls and are almost assured of a playoff place this season, or even better.
Thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday morning watching the match which I had recorded. The commentator herte described the Boro as imperious, and that is hard to disagree with. Just seen this stat: in 2023 we have scored more goals- 31, picked up more points -31 than all of the other 91 clubs, and Chuba is the leading scorer with 13 goals and he has scored in 6 consecutive matches at the Riverside, joining Hamilton Ricard and Yakubu who also did.
Not really football related but my wife is into dressmaking etc. and told me that there is a Japanese stitching technique known as Boro, the unfortunate thing is that it translates as Tatters.
I am well aware of the dangers of predicting the results of matches. Yet I cannot help but think that our relentless collecting of points must be driving the Sheffield people crazy, I cannot think that they will keep their nerve under such pressure, and think that they will come unstuck in the next couple of matches, Big time.!
That's what we're all hoping for but too nervous to actually say it.
UTB
@ken Yes, Darlo has defended badly in recent times.
I think they had an excellent run before Christmas. Something like 8 wins in a row - and all away from home. They were top of the league before the bad run started.
I think they will make the play-offs but then there is several rounds before they will be promoted. So as you said, they might not be promoted this season, again. Pity.
Up the Boro!
If anyone here uses YouTube, there was a really interesting video posted by two PNE supporters who came to the last match at the Riverside (their club's Gentry Day). Their "channel" is called JSGC Football their thread/posting from 2 days ago is subtitled "Best Fans In the Championship As Boro smash Preston on Gentry Day", so it should be easy to find.
They took a drone with them to get some aerial footage around the ground and nearby area, they visited a few pubs before the match and had some complimentary things to say about MFC and its supporters, the drinks and food. The only issue was the price of an away tocket (£32 if memory serves me correctly) but they still rated it as their best ever awayday. Worth a look in, if you into that sort of thing....
@forever-dormo I enjoyed that. Not sure why they went that way - I always used to use the M65 and A59 going home from the rainy city.
@ Clive Hurren
Re our phone conversation this evening, the player who also scored in the 5-1 win at QPR was Dave Kitson who only scored once in that match but twice in the 2-2 draw earlier in the season at Peterborough. He played on loan from Stoke City and his sum total of 3 goals were made in 6 appearances for Boro.
@forever-dormo An enjoyable look into an away match and all that goes with it. Well done to them both and as you say they were very complimentary about the Boro, the fans, the town and the day. A good positive response.
UTB,
John
As a number of you will know that I pre booked a hotel in London for the playoff final on Monday 29th May (as did hundreds of fans in Boro) but there was a rumour today saying it had changed to Saturday 27th May, so I rang the EFL Supporters Department who said it was on Saturday 27th and has never been reported as being on Monday 29th, even though I told her that I personally had seen it on their website as Div 2 on the Saturday, Div 1 on the Sunday and Championship on Monday. The interesting thing she said was the kickoff time was still to be decided, which in my opinion, means that it has been changed for TV and that is why there is no kickoff time until they see who is in the playoffs. Letting everyone know in case people are/have made travel plans.
Come on BORO.
Just seen that games against Hull and Luton live on Sky. Luton is a Monday night. Once again little thought for the travelling fans. On the international front Riley McGree will not play for Australia tonight he has the flu.
@exmil. Please find below my attempt to try and get me out of the bottom three!
Burnley (83) WDWW (93)
Shef Utd (70) DWLW (77)
Boro (67) WDDW (75)
Luton (64) DLWW (71)
Blackburn (61) DDWW (69)
Millwall (60) LWDW (67)
Norwich (57) DDWL (62)
Coventry (57) DDWL (62)
WBA (55) WWWD (65)
Watford (55) DWLW (62) 😎
Good article about Darragh Lenihan in the Irish Times
Mentions that he is playing with painkilling injections. Also that he is taking a sport science degree. Strikes me as someone who may end up as a successful manager.
Thanks for sharing that Deleriad. Its an intelligent and quite inciteful piece.
Thanks for sharing that Deleriad. Its an intelligent and quite inciteful piece.
A really good peace of writing that. Thanks for sharing, deleriad. Up the Boro!
Today is Nonleague Day according to BBC’s Football Focus which was centred mainly around Scarborough Athletic now managed by exBoro player Jonathan Greening who like our near neighbours Darlington are hoping to qualify for the playoffs in the National League North. I wonder though if any Boro fans will be attending a match from Step 5 or 6 in the pyramid system? It’s a shame if the locals don’t rally round their local part-timers. No other country has a pyramid system like England, and in my youth I would have been seen at Ramshaw’s Field or Redcar’s Borough Park watching Redcar Crusaders or the new kid on the block Lingdale’s Bobby Smith when both Boro or ‘the stiffs’ weren’t playing at Ayresome Park.
I recently wrote what following Boro away from home was like in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, many dilapidated old grounds but unencumbered by crowd segregation and cheap to watch. It couldn’t last of course and at Ayresome Park I often made my way down to the old bob end either on my own or by older spectators passing me down overhead. Not really sensible because at pitch level I often couldn’t see what was happening at the Holgate end. But I was forever being urinated on, not very pleasant especially when wearing short trousers.
Now much things are better in brand new stadia, except that FA Cup Final Day hasn’t the same appeal nowadays with a later kickoff time, and the appeal of reaching Wembley has been dissipated by the Semifinals also being played there, though not often that Boro were likely to reach the Final. But the magical day for me was Wednesday 31st August when the famous Coldstream Guards marched along the touchlines before the match started and again at halftime when even all 22 players couldn’t resume the second half until the Guards had finished their manoeuvres. It was my introduction to military marches (more about that in the music section later) but it felt like Boro’s Cup Final, and Boro won 2-0 with a brace from Peter McKennan before a crowd of almost 48,000.
The only disappointment was that Stanley Matthews didn’t play, but the Coldstream Guards were synonymous to big occasions and it almost felt like Boro’s first FA Cup Final. Happy days on all counts!
.
And today, Sunday it is the McNair versus Forss day.
NI host Finland at Windsor Park on Sunday night in their second Euro 2024 qualifier, having won 2-0 away to San Marino in Thursday's opener. McNair played in midfield for full 90 min.
Finland were defeated on Tuesday by Danmark. Forss came on in the second half.
I am afraid that Marcus will be on the bench again, even though there could be changes after the heavy defeat away to the group favourites. Finland start with two away games as we still have some snow - and we got some more today. So we cannot play any home matches between December and March.
Finland is expected to win - especially after a defeat in Danmark. I don't think it will be easy in Belfast, though.
Up the Boro!
Like everyone else on this forum I’m pleased to allow Werdermouth’s superb expertise to do as he wishes to prolong this forum; it’s been a godsend for such as me alone but never lonely with the support of our colleagues on this forum. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to contribute as my health problems seem to be getting getting worse just as Boro are playing some of the best football in my lifetime.
However it’s not only the Championship that throws up strange results. In League One today Forest Green Rangers have today defeated Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 which must be the shock of the season so far.
Forss vs. McNair game is over now. Finland won 0-1 in Belfast. The boys chatted to each other after the final whistle for a while. McNair started both matches that NI played, Forss came on from the bench in both games for Finland. UTB!
This might be a bit old debate, but I am not a fan of too big changes in playing personel during one transfer window.
Here Lee Peltier discuss about the possible problems Chris wilder had after last season's end. "He just literally scrapped it all, started from scratch and identified the young players that he wanted and that he was going to build the team around them."
As you already know, I agree with that. Last summer was like the summer when Karanka got us promoted (14 new players?) or the summer when Gibbo promised to smash the league with transfer fees spent and Gary Monk appointed.
So I am so happy with the current system with Carrick and Kieran Scott in place. And also the way we give youth a chance now, too. Up the Boro!
I notice this morning that the Sky Sports Football Channel is being rebranded as Sky Sports Boro Channel in April.
Five of our games in April have been selected for live broadcast in April. While that is great news for someone like me in Scotland who lives a long way away from the Tees and is something that clearly reflects the quality of the football and the results we have been serving up, it is not so good for those like my kid brother living just outside of Leeds (thinking of you David in Cumbria as well as others), that depend on public transport to get to the Riverside. As it is now my brother won't be able to get to two highly attractive fixtures (Burnley and Norwich) that he had previously been looking forward to.
I was chatting with him about this on the phone yesterday while we were coordinating our ticket purchases for the Coventry game (so I will be able to give you that wave KP that I promised a few weeks ago 😉 !) that there is a part of him that hopes we don't get promoted to the Premier League as so many more of our games will get moved to awkward evening and early day kickoffs that he will miss out on getting to the Riverside more times than not.
@powmillnaemore Why cannot they create clear rules at the FA for the changes?
I think one problem is that the changes are made too late for the long distance travellers to react. So there should be a minimum of four weeks or more for a change.
But also the kick-off times could be discussed more. I mean there could be more TV matches starting the same time - not every showing must be after the previous one. Who is going to watch more than one or maximum two matches a day on TV? Perhaps this could hepl a bit.
But of course Monday and Friday nights are difficult. But if we would know the dates early enough?
Up the Boro!
While Riley McGree missed the first match of Australia on Friday because of flu, he will be back on fold for them on Tuesday.
In the Socceroos‘ second game against Ecuador, Riley McGree will be included in the starting line-up among “six or seven changes” to the team.
So this means he is fit at the moment, but we do not know when he will be back on Teesside. At best he will be able to train on Thursday but I bet he must be lucky to be in time for that.
And most propably Riley will be pretty tired after all the travelling after an International match and the change of time zones.
But at least McNair and Forss will be fine after their matches on Sunday. And they need to travel only from Belfast. Up the Boro!
Chuba for England, Gareth? After Nigeria snubbed Chuba, our England U21 international should wait and see if Southgate will come for him soon.
Chuba and Giles could do for England one day. Not now but see next winter. Up the Boro!
PS. I hope someone else than me and Powmill- Naemore would write during the boring international break, too 😉.