Good to see Scott Wilson in this morning's Northern Echo has returned to adding some objectivity to the theme of progress...
Middlesbrough's progress next season will be judged on goals - and the time for excuses will be over
Have you seen the Lewis Wing volley from Saturday?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCCwrF311ZU
I will welcome him back. Up the Boro!
Wow - fantastic strike and if it had kept Rotherham up it probably would have become one of those goals that got even better by the telling!
Safe to say that I can't think of any other midfielder at Boro who could have scored such a goal!
When considering how a team is doing/progressing I prefer to look at the longer term trend rather than comparing just one season as against another, particularly when one produces a low base point eg last season.
We have gone from being a side who were capable of finishing in the top two and gaining outright promotion and then following relegation we were sixth and seventh in consecutive seasons. The last two seasons have seen us just avoiding relegation and then finishing in tenth position.
Based on that, I do not see us as a club that is making progress, more like one that is slipping toward mid table Championship mediocrity.
Yes we have suffered injuries to key players, and yes we have suffered from some poor decisions but so have other teams and these incidents cannot be used as an exccuse to cover up the true reason for our slippage which is that the team/individuals/management have not been good enough.
NW has been supported in bringing players into the club but they have failed to make a sufficiently strong impact and thereby improve overall performances/outcomes.
NW/Boro have struggled to acquire key targets in the past and I see little evidence that this is likely to change during the summer. I fear it will be an old boys reunion with NW going back for players he has worked with at other clubs; the news that Junior Hoilett may be on his way to us is not setting my pulse racing!
The last four seasons under TP/JW/NW has seen the quality of football on display as being some of the worst in the club's history in my view and I don't see that changing anytime soon without a complete re-set incorporating short/medium/longer term visions/objectives for the club/team.
Werder's suggestion of purchasing a blackboard and OFB's suggestion of selling off some of the player assets and investing the funds and using some of the youngsters may well have some mileage as clearly the policies employed since PL relegation can only be described as failures. 😎
A promotion and relegation summary of the North East football scene:
Hartlepool United's hopes of automatic promotion are effectively over after a second successive defeat in the National League at the weekend. But they are sure of play-offs even they still have three matches to play. https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/19292494.hartlepool-gearing-national-league-play-offs/
Newcastle's annual relegation struggle was won yesterday when Fulham lost their game at Burnley. So Boro will meet West Brom, Sheffield Utd and West Brom next season.
Sunderland will line up against Lincoln for a place in the play-off final at Wembley and the next two semi-final matches against the Imps will be tricky with some injury problems for the Mackems. Hull and Peterborough are promoted to the Championship for next season.
So it still looks unlikely to see a derby match next season but possible if Sunderland won their play-offs. Most probably we have to do with Rooney's Derby if they won't get points reductions this season (matter open with the EFL). The win for Wycombe was that way very important.
Up the Boro!
We have gone from being a side who were capable of finishing in the top two and gaining outright promotion and then following relegation we were sixth and seventh in consecutive seasons. The last two seasons have seen us just avoiding relegation and then finishing in tenth position.
Based on that, I do not see us as a club that is making progress, more like one that is slipping toward mid table Championship mediocrity.
Completely agree with this. You could say that Warnock's appointment at least stopped the rot and we have a foundation to build on but his first attempt to build in the January window went spectacularly wrong.
In theory, we should at this point have nothing that stops us from mounting a top-6 challenge. The last of the Monksplurge has gone. Financially we're pretty much on an even level with everyone except the parachute payment teams.
Personally I think Warnock has earned the right to make that promotion challenge. I have my doubts about what would happen after that but right now we do need some sort of stability while trying to build something for the next few years.
@deleriad. For all my criticism I do admit that I do not have an answer to what happens next and agree that NW is probably the only option but my concern is what is going to happen 1, 2, 3 seasons down the line.
Whatever happens next season he is unlikely to stay on and without some clear thinking, planning and preparation then we will stagger from one manager to the next and the probability of mid table mediocrity at best! 😎
AV wrote: "#OnThisBoroDay - May 11, 2008 - Boro went brackets and battered meek Man City 8 [EIGHT] -1 in a final day Riverside romp. Can't wait for next season!
"As far as ‘papering over the cracks’ goes, you can’t do much better than that. An 8-1 hammering certainly sent supporters home smiling."
I was just wondering if the home defeat vs. Wycombe on Saturday was that bad after all. We cannot have too high hopes for next season as in 2008.
Up the Boro!