A lot of different avenues have been tried with Britt. He's played up front on his own, with a no.10 type behind him or with a partner. With wingers and without. He's been publicly criticised (Pulis) presumably to try and gee him up, he's been publicly backed (Woodgate - "he's my no. 9") and Warnock initially went one step further as he made him the captain.
Nothing we've tried has made Britt look anything like a £15m / £30-35k per week striker.
Britt is not talentless in my view. His record pre-Boro shows a player who knows how to score goals, even if they are against the "lesser" sides (and by the way, we could do with someone who scores regularly against those sides). But he is a bit of one-trick pony who needs a team built around him and built for him, or he becomes a passenger.
Throughout Britt's time at Boro we've only been two types of attacking force: non-existent or one predominantly trying to score via crosses. No good for Britt I'm afraid and a total waste of good money because of it.
Ultimately the undoubted failure that has been Briit's Boro career comes down to a lack of thought and planning coupled with childish need for a marquee signing post-relegation.
A well run club knows how it's planning to play for the next few years and identifies player skillsets and personalities that fit into that strategy, then prioritises the ones for the positions which the current squad is most deficient, and brings in the ones that fit the budget. Absolutely none of that happened with Britt.
Bringing this back to previous comments on Steve Gibson and the Boro accounts then: Thank you for your unwavering support and dedication to our club but please, Steve, no more decisions like this.
If the penny hasn't dropped after £15m plus another £6-7m in wages, it never will.
@redcarred No way Celtic or Rangers would have him. As for the others they couldn't afford his boots
And on to Yorkshire Post journalist Stuart Rayner’s rather amusing article this morning headed “Middlesbrough fail to display passion of manager Neil Warnock”
Quote:- Hell hath no fury like Neil Warnock in a strop, and he was certainly in a strop last Saturday. Say what you will about about Boro’s Marmite manager (and most people do), but you cannot knock his passion for the game.
At an age when he should know better, there he is at every matchday, an old man in a tracksuit seemingly in training for a heart attack. You wonder if the only reason he has not had one is because God doesn’t want a puce-faced Yorkshireman outside the Pearly Gates demanding to know why not more years were added on to his life for the time-wasting of others.
The only thing close to his sharpness of his tongue is the sharpness of his mind. He had already used all five substitutes allowed when he sent on another - Sam Morsy - to warm up to scamper after the ball when it went out of play. Morsy now known as the ball-boy wearing a bib. Fourth Official Declan Bourne probably though that was getting the brunt of Warnock’s fury when the 72 year old chased after him demanding to know why he signalled just 3 minutes stoppage time.
At full time the spoilsport on the tannoy turned the volume Status Quo up to full volume, just when we had waited for ages to hear what Warnock might say as he stomped over to Referee James Linnington. To the soundtrack of “Rocking all over the World” we watched a Basil Fawlty-esque whirl of arms only imagining how many times another word ending in cking was leaving Warnock’s lips.
Warnock never mentioned either incident at his Press Conference because the people firmly in sight were his own strikers. “Unacceptable” and “non-existent” were the two verbal rockets he launched. “l’ve never been as disappointed in the strikers as I’ve been today” he said, never knowingly understating of “one of the most frustrating afternoons this season”. “You can’t play without strikers. I can’t remember anything sticking; crikey I’m 72 and I could have put more effort in”.
They were just two of Warnock’s greatest hits. “I have to bite my tongue a bit” he said, hence his pussyfooting around so diplomatically. Then came the truth. “Some of them might not have wanted to compete against a tough physical Millwall side”.
Finally my thoughts. They certainly wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes playing Rugby League.
All this analysis in depth of Britt and his goals (or lack of them) is whistling in the wind. He will have been using whatever talents he has when he was scouted by us, and we signed him. No team should ever sign a key player without doing several checks on said player. In no particular order. Is he any good? This is public knowledge and can be collected on any weekend by sending your most trusted scout, who will of course miss all the match as he watches only his target, I have never watched a poor player who could bluff anyone into thinking he was any good, when one thinks of the players who are useless in the air, one knows that it is impossible to hide that fact. If your target for the day is a sucker for the near post, and thinks of nothing else when in a scoring position, then it is a deal breaker. If he will shove any team mate out of his path if he an score a goal, and miss! And never change his modus operandi, if he forever grabs the ball for every penalty or free kick in range of the goal, and is a danger to anyone walking past the ground, then your club is little better than a rabble, as both the management and his team mates should long ago have warned him as to his future conduct. We, the fans know that this organisation has no machine in place to look for any Young player with talent who might be worth serious money at some future point in time. Curious that the giants are obsessed with grabbing them, are we missing something here?
We should not be worried about him, it is over, and should have been after one season, but it still matters because it is a disabled recruitment department who will undoubtedly carry on in the same fashion, because the man with the cheque book is not nasty enough. The ultimate man in charge has got to be a man to be feared, then you raise your game.
We should not be worried about him, it is over, and should have been after one season, but it still matters because it is a disabled recruitment department who will undoubtedly carry on in the same fashion, because the man with the cheque book is not nasty enough. The ultimate man in charge has got to be a man to be feared, then you raise your game.
I think that the problem may be that the man who isn't nasty enough is the biggest culprit. Apparently Pulis wanted rid of Britt and reckoned he was a waste of a shirt but SG blocked it. Why he blocked it I have no idea but being kind it may have been for financial reasons and the impact on the company accounts and FFP but I then go back to who signed the cheque in the first place and that would be the same man. In fact that would be the same man known for his "gifts" that lets say have been largely unappreciated in many instances.
Interesting win percentage stats in the Gazette for those who like that sort thing.
The headlines being that we appear to be a much better side without Spence, Britt and, surprisingly, Howson and Johnson, whilst Tav, Fry, Kebano, Morsy and Fisher make the biggest differences for us.
Also, Saville has been a very good impact sub but Watmore and Akpom are terrible from the bench!
All just stats of course and pretty flawed when scratching more than the surface but some truths in there as well I suspect.
Interesting win percentage stats in the Gazette for those who like that sort thing.
The headlines being that we appear to be a much better side without Spence, Britt and, surprisingly, Howson and Johnson, whilst Tav, Fry, Kebano, Morsy and Fisher make the biggest differences for us.
Also, Saville has been a very good impact sub but Watmore and Akpom are terrible from the bench!
All just stats of course and pretty flawed when scratching more than the surface but some truths in there as well I suspect.
Some strange stats there and as some of them add up to over 100% I'm even more confused about what they are telling us. It seems that we are better without Watmore and Johnson which based on their goals and assists is a bit bizarre to say the least. Jonny Howson's stats left me scratching my head!
Lies, damned lies and statistics? It must be the silly season really.
Stay safe,
UTB,
John
I wasn’t sure where to post this, but Middlesbrough FC have to be congratulated on their work in the community, not only in opening the Riverside for Covid injections but also the distribution of meals to the aged. I’ve been signed up with the Redcar branch of Aged UK since the current lockdown started, and in conversation with the local organiser just happened to mention that I’m used to be living on my own now for 11 years, but I do miss not driving in the country and eating out. Well my situation had been passed to Middlesbrough FC a week ago and the club put me on the list for their next ‘meals on wheels’ visit in Redcar. Sure enough as promised a courier arrived with a hot meal of chicken, a sausage, Yorkshire pudding and 4 vegetables, a separate container of gravy, and another one of apple pie with custard. All I had to do was put them in the microwave for a couple of minutes. I opened a bottle of wine, and hey presto the best meal I’ve had this year.
I’d just like to say a big thank you to Middlesbrough FC, their catering staff and courier volunteers for looking after the most vulnerable members of our region. Also to Aged UK for putting my name forward and have been wonderful in organising grab rails in my house at strategic points and many other tasks they have performed. One doesn’t always expect a football club to help the local community in these difficult times, so I’d just like to redress any of the criticism directed at Boro and Steve Gibson. They’re all doing their best.
The EG must be using the club's statistician and that perhaps explains why the team have been so inconsistent! 🤣😎
The EG must be using the club's statistician and that perhaps explains why the team have been so inconsistent! 🤣😎
🤣
@ken. That is excellent to hear first hand just what a good job the club do in looking after and serving the wider community.
I hope the meal was as good as it sounded. Having been fortunate enough to dine at the Riverside I can confirm that their catering and service is first class. 😎
Slightly off track, just listened to price of football podcast, it said in last financial year for every £100 brought in we spent £160 on wages!!! Oh my word and people slag the chairman off
@redcarred they were talking specifically about boro, said we lost £36M last financial year (latest results)
@ken: Your post of 24th March at 11.43am. This at least shows that Boro is a club with the Community at its heart. Not so good at football, but good on the Community stuff. Glad you enjoyed a good meal and well done the the club for that!
I see the EG have an article on six forwards who are free agents this summer who Boro might wish to consider signing.
I have to say that none of them set my pulse racing. I do like Jordan Rhodes but the club wasted his talents previously and I am not a fan of signing old boys as it rarely works in my view. 😎
@k-p-in-spain Same feeling for me, too.
Even Famara Diedhiou, the big Bristol City striker does not sound exciting. His goal scoring record is not as good as that of Britt Assombalonga. Half of that. But he could fit Warnock's style better.
Somethimes I wonder why we sign a striker if they all stop finding the goal at Boro. Jordan Rhodes was an good example. Britt was another.
Up the Boro!
@jarkko. Yes I don't know what it is about our team and strikers, we seem to have the ability to ruin the best of them. It has been said before that even Messi would fail to score if he played for us! 😎😀
Of the six and knowing what we think Warnock wants, only Diedhou seems to fit the mould, maybe Wyke at a push.
I think NW is looking for a tall, powerful striker to play off. Finding one who also scores goals, is affordable and wants to come will be difficult, especially when we’re likely to be in a bidding war for such a player (be that fee and/or wages).
All we need to do is to find the next Romelu Lukaku who is thus far under the radar from a lower league club, around a million quid at the most but preferably out of contract.
I think Tammy Abraham might be touch out of our price range!
It’s just been announced on Football Focus that Derek Ufton has passed away aged 92 and straight away the name rang a chord with me and without checking Wikipedia I remembered the name because he played centre half along with goalkeeper Sam Bartram for Charlton Athletic in the highest aggregate score I’ve ever seen at Ayresome Park. Boro won 7-3 in the season when Boro were 2nd in the First Division at the time in December 1950. I also recall that he was wicket keeper with Kent at the same time. I can’t say I remember his performance or anything else about him, but I remember the name from over 70 years ago, yet many Boro matches in recent years I’ve forgotten about. I also remember Frank Worthington who has also died this week but can’t recall his playing against Boro as we were a Second Division club during much of his career.
However sad to hear of their passings, also that of Peter Lorimer and hope that all three of them may now rest in peace, and I send heartfelt condolences to their respective families.
Ken, did Frank Worthington play for Bolton against the Boro at Ayresome Park in the eighties. I think Boro drew with them but my memory is somewhat blurred. Too many matches and too many years...
Stay safe,
UTB,
John
You may well be right because he did indeed play for Bolton at some time, but I can’t remember seeing him against Boro.