More on what OFB has posted, let the rumours begin:
Come on BORO.
I will be at Annandale Distilery on Friday a week. And then the following Saturday in Edinburgh. Just in case some of the bloggers are around the area. This in a business trip so just three nights in Scotland.
Just saying, like. Up the Boro!
One of my all time favourite players was David Hodgson. I had his picture on the bedroom wall - published by the Shoot! magazine.
He is a review of his career: https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/24313098.lucky-break-set-david-hodgson-path-european-glory/
Boy, I would like to meet him one day. Like I dream of meeting Terry Cochrane again, too. I met the latter in 1980.
Up the Boro!
@original-fat-bob. Saw that one OFB.
However as much as he has scored lots of goals for Tottenham's under 23's and I appreciate he is only 19/20, he has no experience (I believe) at any EFL level.
I would think that to have him as your standby striker to LL could be a big gamble
@pedro. Agree. Why take him on board when we have Josh Coburn; it would seem illogical, especially if we then send Coburn out on loan as had initially been planned at the beginning of last season.
We do need a striker to compete with ELL but it needs to be someone with a degree of experience/ability and not a project in my view. 😎
How about Tyrese Campbell. His contract has ended at Stoke. He seems to have had a major falling out with them but he was clearly a good player when playing for England at all junior levels and he's still only 24.
UTB
Rumors about Mattis Abline, French 21 year old left wing/forward currently playing for Nantes on loan from Stade Rennais. We were supposedly interested in loaning him last summer before he joined Nantes.
There's now some sort of convoluted option to buy/option to buy out the buy out clause thing going on.
Looks to have found his mojo playing on the left.
Who is responsible for the rumours that "BORO may be interested in young startlet X" etc? Is it the player or the player's agent? Is it some hack who, when there are few/no games on which to report, sits down in front of his laptop to bash out tday's required 500 words on "Five players who might move to BORO"? Is it that group of rowdies sitting at the back of the Shepherds' Bar at the" Tortured Tamworth", already on their 6th round of drinks at 8pm?
In others words, can we believe ANY rumours of Player X or Player Y until we see a photograph of the player and his agent being shown into Hurworth? The days of players being spotted at The Tontine, if ever they were true, have long since passed into history. Maybe the participants now have an Uber Eats meal delivered to their homes whilst they discuss proposed terms via Zoom?
@forever-dormo I can add two names to the list of players Boro MIGHT be interested in, too. There are two young players in Finland and I know definately Boro is looking at them:
● Matias Siltanen at KuPS in Finland, a central midfielder
● Topi Keskinen at HJK, Helsinki, a left winger
But if they look at these and thousands of others this summer, it does NOT mean they will buy them. Naturally Boro are looking hundreds of players every month and monitoring them regularly. They have several persons to do this full time under Kieran Scott.
But there is a long, long road from beeing interested in to the day when the player travels to Rockcliffe Park for negatations. So they are just partly true and often just rumours. But we as fans need something to read before the Euro Championships begin.
Up the Boro!
@jarkko - I am DEFINITELY in favour of K Scott & his team looking at and monitoring the progress made by BORO's prospective transfer targets, not just buying the ones who pop up in the media. As the old age goes, "buy in haste, repent at leisure..."
@forever-dormo I never quote transfer rumours from sources like X (formerly twitter) or other known gossip sites, where anyone can start a rumour at will, I usually wait until it’s on a more reliable platform before posting on here and even then with a caveat.
Come on BORO.
@original-fat-bob - IF he's from Elfsborg, he'll have big ears, may have a very long life, and (according to Wikipedia) will speak a langauge derived from Quenya (High-elven) which was the first primitive form of Elvish (the phonology and grammar being influenced by Finnish) and Sindarin (influenced by Welsh)*. If you see him near Helsinki, Jarkko, re-direct him to Teesside.
*Wikipedia also confirms that Tolkien was the Rawlinson & Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and then the Merton Professor of English Language & Literature - both at Oxford University - who loved language and philology and who graduated with Old Norse as his special subject. He gave courses in the history of English, various Old English & Middle English texts, German philology, Gothic, Old Icelandic and Medieval Welsh. It is said that he had a certain, if imperfect, knowledge of Finnish. If Michael Baldoo were to sign for BORO, Tolkien would have been a useful translator though, in reality, the player probably speaks excellent English so may not need to resort to Elvish.
He is a 25 year old Ghanaian midfielder who scored 13 goals in 49 appearances in the past two seasons in the Swedish First Division. Has played all of his professional games in Scandinavia. Work permit may be an issue as he is not full international.
@mw-in-darwin - Ah! My Elvish language theory goes out of the window quicker than a recently-sacked Russian military official, no-longer-in- favour oligarch or regional governor...
@mw-in-darwin - Ah! My Elvish language theory goes out of the window quicker than a recently-sacked Russian military official, no-longer-in- favour oligarch or regional governor...
Or a pork market obsessed, former PM?
Rumours today
could get a second chance to sign Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall.
The 27-year-old joined Turkish giants Besiktas on loan in February after struggling to nail down a place in the Forest lineup - but has made just eight appearances for the Super Lig club over the last three months. Turkish outlet Sporxhave now claimed Besiktas have made a decision against signing Worrall on a permanent deal and that could allow Boro to reignite their interest in the defender.
OFB
Along with OFB’s rumour reports, I am surprised this hasn’t been mentioned:
Come on BORO.
Some good and bad news to report, first the bad news: yesterday my consultant told me he is 99.9% sure I have lung cancer, he was due to do a biopsy yesterday but pictures from my PET scan revealed it is right next to an artery in my lung, so he has rescheduled the scan to be done guided by CT scan (31 May), which he considers much safer. If as he suspects the biopsy confirms cancer in the upper part of my left lung, he intends to remove the infected part during major surgery.
The good news is my 25 yr old son, who is back living with me, is a physiotherapist and he has told me that he has treated people who have had the same (or worse) and have been fine going on to live for years. As Tony Mowbray would say “it is what it is” and in my mind nobody is getting my seat at the Riverside UTB.
Come on BORO.
@exmil My thoughts and best wishes are with you.
@exmil That is as always an earth-shattering piece of news to have delivered to you as I know. As one of the nurses told me, and this was also said by a friend of my son; 'you'll have to learn to be a stubborn and bloody-minded sod to fight this disease.' Two years on to the day of your scan, a twelve and a half hour operation, a week of ICU,six weeks of radio therapy and physio I'm still here being bloody minded and stubborn.
You have my total support and any time you want to talk just get in touch, we can all help one another.
Best wishes,
UTB,
John
@exmil. So sorry to hear of your dreadful news. Just wanted to pass on my thoughts and my best wishes. 😎
@exmil That isn't what you want to hear but the prognosis following surgery is a lot better than it used to be. My old boss is still going strong 10 years after having most of the upper lobe of one lung removed for exactly the same reason.
I mean, it could be worse. Tony Pulis could still be in charge of the Boro.
@john-richardson Thanks John, it’s always nice to hear from someone who has undergone the same and are going strong.
Come on BORO.
@exmil So sorry to hear the bad news for you. Really hope you will soon be OK and I hope you can visit the Riverside regularly.
My 77-year-old brother went through many operations with his colon cancer during the Covid lockdown and after. I didn't see him for a few years and still he has some corrective surgery to his stomach. But he survived. But it was bad as he was only able to see his wife and later his children. And beeing alone most of the time.
Take care, Exmil.
@deleriad Yes, luckily we have Carrick. Up the Boro!
Best wishes exmil.
We all hope that you get that little bit of luck needed sometimes in life and in the end the result is good.