@k-p-in-spain I think you must be very mistaken and confused, Mejias is without doubt our best Keeper and we will all be very gutted indeed if he leaves to join Birmingham, very, very gutted in fact, what ever will we do without him?
A nice and very interesting read:
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/18628086.neil-warnock-looks-back-40-years-football-manager/
@redcarred. Yes sorry about that RR I totally agree that he is our best keeper and would be devasted if he was allowed to leave. I don't know how we would cope without him. I can only put my confusion down to too much sun! 😎
I have often said that a club should never buy more than four or five new players during a transfer window. Too many players take months to bed in and there is always a risk what it does to the team spirit.
Remember Boro's summer transfer window after promotion? Too many new players to bed in. You never know how they bed in and some takes a year to bed in. Or never settle to the area, or domestic problems etc.
The Fulham manager is remembering about the mistakes they did after their previous promotion.
Fulham won promotion from the second tier via the play-offs two years ago but, after an expensive recruitment drive, went down after only one season. They spent more than £100m on new players after beating Aston Villa in the 2018 play-off final, but they struggled throughout the following season and were relegated with five games left to play.
So I hope we won't bring in too many new players this summer. We might think we need up to ten new players but we must be realistic and bring in just five. That is the reason I hope both Friend and Johnson sign new contracts next.
But I am pretty sure NW knows all this. So it could yet become an exciting season. And not in the bottom end like last season. Up the Boro!
@jarkko I completely agree, Jarkko. There are other examples over-recruiting too, such as Tottenham after the sale of Bale - they brought in seven new players with the money, all of which were very good players, but bombed as they struggled to integrate.
Our situation is a bit “needs-must” at the moment so I’m pleased that Warnock seems to be targeting players he or his staff know well, which I think diminishes the risk a touch.
I would also agree re Friend and Johnson. I don’t see either as players of any real quality but they can bulk the squad with no risk at all and would be ready from the first game, which is a big plus.
Just your info, I tried to order the new shirt with Jack Charlton's name and number 5 in the back. But this is not yet possible to do. They aren’t shirt printing until the middle of September as they are awaiting delivery of the letters and numbers.
Up the Boro!
Just your info, I tried to order the new shirt with Jack Charlton's name and number 5 in the back. But this is not yet possible to do. They aren’t shirt printing until the middle of September as they are awaiting delivery of the letters and numbers.
Up the Boro!
This will likely be because of the new fonts being used for the 20/21 season.
I have no idea who designed them but they look terrible and worse still they are not very clear or distinguishable from a distance. Its unfortunate that a great and important charity like Mind are associated with it, my immediate and continuing thoughts when looking at those numbers are negative which is ironic but not in a good way at all. Why anyone would think they look good is beyond me, its like a cross between a low budget Sci-Fi movie and an eight year old with a stencil set.
https://www.efl.com/news/2020/july/efl-and-mind-reveal-new-names-and--numbers-design/
This will likely be because of the new fonts being used for the 20/21 season.
https://www.efl.com/news/2020/july/efl-and-mind-reveal-new-names-and--numbers-design/
Oops, I agree they do not look like letter at all. Something from the 1980's when I was playing with a pen.
I might not put Big Jack's name or numeber 5 in there now when I have seen the new design. *shudders*
Up the Boro!
This will likely be because of the new fonts being used for the 20/21 season.
https://www.efl.com/news/2020/july/efl-and-mind-reveal-new-names-and--numbers-design/
Oops, I agree they do not look like letter at all. Something from the 1980's when I was playing with a pen.
I might not put Big Jack's name or numeber 5 in there now when I have seen the new design. *shudders*
Up the Boro!
That what I thought Jarrko, the font and style would be a total clash for our greatest manager. Maybe best to try and buy a retro shirt and add a traditional number 5 to that?
https://www.mfcofficialdirect.co.uk/mens-fashion-c8/retro-c114
Nothing to stop you just buying the shirt and taking it to your local sports shop for personalising. I’m sure all letters and numbers are available there.
You could even use Finnish letters to make it more personal. 😉
@original-fat-bob normally my eyebrows would be raised at this speculation but I trust Warnock after seeing what he achieved with Cardiff. Hope I am not wrong
Thanks, mates. I do not usually buy the shirt with a player's name and number. I was going to make an exception now. But as RR said, those fonts does not look OK with Big Jack's name.
Now I do not need to wait until mid-September either. Up the Boro!
Lee Peltier’s best days were quite a while ago at Huddersfield. A reliable full back but at 33 his best days are behind him.
I’d be much happier if the central defender , Goode from Northampton, could be lured to Boro. He sounds like one for the future and also a leader which Boro lack all over the pitch. If the fee is around £1million or so, then surely worth getting him.
Philip of Huddersfield
@philip-of-huddersfield. Couldn't agree more and I was deflated when I saw the news on Peltier, particularly as he lacks game time added to his age.
I also agree on Goode but think that boat has sailed and that QPR are front runners.
We talk about not paying over the odds but given our locality, at times, you need to speculate to accumulate otherwise you will end up with a team of second raters with no re-sale value and who can't cut it at Championship level. Given NW has already indicated the difficulties of recruiting a CF, better than the existing pair, then surely we need to make sure we have quality recruitment in the other key positions. CoB 😎
Newsnow are reporting that Boro are interested in signing Armand Gnanduillet on a free transfer. Scored 32 times in the last two seasons for Blackpool.
@k-p-in-spain He would represent a cheap gamble that may or may not pay off. If we keep Fletcher and Assombalonga then he would be a useful back up with the potential to stake a claim if he does the business. He seems to be a big handful with a good right foot and useful to throw on in the last ten minutes of games that we are trailing in. He may even get his opportunity and become very difficult to shift and we could even get a fee for him at the end of it all.
"NW says Rangers and Celtic would be in the top six in the English Premier League" Totally agree Neil.
When speaking about shirts and MFC, there is rarely any thought or intellect used. How you are turned out when you take the field is worth a point. Just a couple of examples, we have many times had away strips which were in order! badly fitting, dreadful sponsors logo, weak colour (i.e. White), obviously a cheap deal to get rid of them, by the makers. In contrast, watch the successful clubs, all Black strips, well fitted(very) Great logo, they look powerful, and imparts sense of inevitability to the result before the kickoff.
@plato From memory at one point a few years back they were telling us Yvonne or Maureen from the Ticket Office was responsible for sorting the kit out and that it takes a full year to develop which was absolute tosh. It was even more embarrassing that the kit at the time was freely available in the Adidas Sunday League Team Catalogue for about £12 per shirt versus the £40 or so they were charging in the Club shop.
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2020 Playoff Final Result
Selwynoz (4-4) (4-5) = 17
Redcar Red (5+4) (4+4) = 17
Tiebreak winner Redcar Red
A very close fought match which did not need the second tiebreaker as Redcar Red was closest to the time of the first goal by 3 minutes.
Congratulations to Redcar Red on his victory in the Wembley showdown and commiserations to Selwynoz but well played both of you.
Come on BORO.
What chance do Boro have in the transfer market trying to compete with the likes of Bournemouth, loaded with parachute cash, and a 40M cheque in the back pocket for selling Ake.
A facinating story on recruitment at Boro. This is based on the interview with NW that can be heard on the Boro web site also.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/18631918.neil-warnock-theres-nobody-club-wouldnt-sell/
So it is not that easy. But a system helps and it is the most advanced NW have ever experienced. But still it is a matter of opinions, as ever. Brian Clough would still be succesful but now you have to look at the continent, too. So everyone is recruiting better so the competition is harder.
Up the Boro!
@redcarred Yvonne and Maureen are still at the Boro !
OFB, well from reading that article, one can see where we have gone wrong in the past. Looks like the recruitment is based on stats and not on ability.
You do not even have to have been in football to apply at MFC for one of those jobs.
Sounds like we've been trying to follow the Brentford model but haven't worked out quite how to apply it yet.
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2020 Playoff Final Result
Selwynoz (4-4) (4-5) = 17
Redcar Red (5+4) (4+4) = 17
Tiebreak winner Redcar Red
A very close fought match which did not need the second tiebreaker as Redcar Red was closest to the time of the first goal by 3 minutes.
Congratulations to our ace reporter on coming up trumps in the Exmil Challenge and commiserations to Selwynoz.
Just waiting for RR's revelations on how Boro will perform next season and on the fantastic work the recruitment team are doing to improve the squad! Sounds like the spreadsheet might be getting the NW heave ho! 😎
Warnock has discovered what we have been criticising on here for years under successive managers.
We have signed players without anyone at the club ever having seen them play live. Kenneth Omeruo was one such. Pointing out the folly of such a policy was to guarantee being labelled out-of-touch with modern recruiting techniques.
We have paid huge fees for players on the basis of their stats. De Roon was top of the lists in Europe for tackling and distances covered. So naturally we paid £9 million for him. In his first interview for the Gazette he was honest enough to say that he wasn't much of a player but was effective in stopping other people from playing. I wrote on here that for £9 million it would have been rather nice to have picked up someone who could actually play.
On seeing de Roon it was obvious after 5 minutes that he was a ball chaser who spent a lot of time running around without any sense of the team's shape or responsibility for staying with his man.
I am not being especially critical of either Kenneth or de Roon. Both tuned out to be better than many others who were signed using these methods. But the methods themselves always seemed to me to be deeply flawed.
It remains my view that you cannot reliably assess players from video evidence or from statistics. You have to do the hard yards and go to see players in action as many times as possible and operating in a variety of situations.
Stats are especially useless, particularly those concerning the number of kilometres covered. Stats can only ever be quantitative whereas the important things you need to know about any player are qualitative. Stats cannot stand in for mature and experienced judgment.
I think back to a great midfield player like Jan Molby. He would never have been on anyone's statistical radar, since he scarcely ever moved more that a few metres in any direction beyond the centre circle. And think of Bobby Murdoch who choreographed Charlton's promotion winning team without ever running or moving more than a few metres from his touchline. You had to see such players to recognise their quality And once you did they were unforgettable.
In football, as in life, the things that count cannot necessarily be counted. And what can be counted may not necessarily count.
I suspect that Warnock is old-fashioned enough to know this and to have been privately appalled by what he will have seen about how we have gone about our recruitment for far too long.
@billy I think Bournemouth have a few financial challenges and I had heard that they need something like £80M to bring them back in line before they start buying.