fair comment about the need for some validation on the younger players. If we look at someone like Wing who came back from a medium stint at Yeovil and made the next step up, we need to look at the young players who have had that experience and we do have quite a few.
Leaving aside goalkeepers of which we have a handful, the first three of the younger players are Stubbs, Browne and Walker. They have had solid experience and should be part of the squad. I’m not sure about Bola but he deserves to be looked at again. Of the rest, I’m not sure about Liddle. Did he go out on loan. He and Malley have been talked about a lot but they may well need the first half of the season on loan. I don’t know enough to say. O’Neill is another who may be ready or not. Wood seems to be a loan candidate.
By way of acquisitions, we definitely need three big experienced defenders to play centre back with Fry and Stubbs and cover full back. Then a number 10 and a striker to replace Assombalonga. The number 10 could easily be Roberts on loan - and we always have Tav who is getting better - but the striker will be the hard one and goals still look to a problem.
Nobody should think that it will be easy.
I think Stubbs looks like he will make it at some decent level in the game. Of Walker, Liddle, Malley, and O'Neill I can't say that I've seen anything in them just yet that makes me believe they will not end up at a Pools or Darlo plying their trade. I would however loved to be proved wrong.
Woods seemingly has great potential but needs to go out on loan (Sunderland?). With Bola I seriously struggle to see a footballer in there. On loan at Blackpool he seemingly struggled to regain what form he presumably showed when he was last there. Browne has something but I fear his attitudinal issues will hold him back, a budget Ravel Morrison perhaps?
Considering all the above I think Warnock could be the best thing to happen to their careers. Britt, Tav, Saville and a few others such as Dijksteel all seemed to have benefited from his arrival. I can only think of literally half a dozen managers who young players would benefit from working with in terms of advice, direction, support and guidance. Years does have its benefits sometimes.
There’s no doubting we have some good players, but of course the task facing any manager is to get those players playing well, and more importantly, doing it consistently.
Its looking likely that the break before the new season starts is going to be unusually short, and as ever getting off to a good start is paramount. I don’t think it’s feasible for a new manager to come in and start from scratch.
Neil Warnock has already got a good start and the club have pretty much achieved their goal of getting high earners out and setting the club on a realistic even financial keel. It will take a wily old manager to make some astute signings and build up a solid base. Warnock has the credentials and his Championship experience could prove to be invaluable.
Time for the Chairman to make his appointment permanent and let him get on with the job in hand. I expect to see some hardened no nonsense pro’s brought in to augment the promising youth we have emerging at the moment. After an extraordinarily fragmented season( for obvious reasons) I hope Warnock gets the job.
@grovehillwallah I think in order to give those youngsters every chance it is imperative that we sign some experienced street smart Players. Without guidance through tough periods of games they will struggle and it would be unfair on them and a waste of their potential. We have seen how Fry has struggled with all the upheaval around him and looked a much poorer player than he really is.
For where we are right now I think Warnock makes the most sense and offers the best and quickest opportunity to getting the Club back onto an even keel.
Exactly, that’s why I suggested Warnock would make some astute signings of hard nosed professionals.
After Bamford outscored Assombalonga 16 goals to 11 my cheque is on its way to Zoe’s Place. I can’t help wondering though what the totals would have been if the roles had been reversed. 😉
I would just like to echo previous posts by members in giving justified credit, which has been earned with lots of effort and lots of time by Werder and Redcar Red. There is not a lot I can add there.
However many thanks at this season end to other major contributors. Ken for his Boro history, OFB for his interviews, Exmil for his challenge. (wonder who has won this last one?) and GHW for his different interesting posts. I also enjoyed all the others which make this blog so compulsive in its reading. Apologies and no disrespect to those not mentioned, you are all important to the make up.
Lets hope the club make some good decisions over the next few weeks and have some luck also in its recruitment.
I keep looking for an announcement with reference to NW but nothing so far. I believe after today he was going away for a break. So maybe press conference tomorrow perhaps ?
I have posted on the Exmil Challenge link the final league table and the playoff contestants with the rules.
Come on BORO.
I would just like to echo previous posts by members in giving justified credit, which has been earned with lots of effort and lots of time by Werder and Redcar Red. There is not a lot I can add there.
However many thanks at this season end to other major contributors. Ken for his Boro history, OFB for his interviews, Exmil for his challenge. (wonder who has won this last one?) and GHW for his different interesting posts. I also enjoyed all the others which make this blog so compulsive in its reading. Apologies and no disrespect to those not mentioned, you are all important to the make up.
Lets hope the club make some good decisions over the next few weeks and have some luck also in its recruitment.
Totally agree - all the efforts of RR and Werder are really appreciated especially when you consider the tools they have had to work with!
Time for a well deserved break I would say, whilst the rest of us cogitate and discuss on who we want to be the manager, which players to sign and then whether those players are actually any good and will prove their worth!
it certainly keeps us occupied!
Exactly, that’s why I suggested Warnock would make some astute signings of hard nosed professionals.
Or maybe keep some in the books? I still feel there is a role for George Friend for a year and I would maybe have been inclined to keep Clayton. Perhaps our offer wasn’t good enough for him.
The squad as it currently stands is a long way off being a competitive team but a few key signings would make a difference.
in my view, we need, at the very least, a couple of central defenders, a creative, attack minded midfielder, a general midfielder, a goal scorer and probably a left back.
Lets see what the recruitment team come up with although if NW is to be our manager, then I would hope he has a big say in who comes on.
UTB
I know this is a never ending subject, but really, in what universe would any fan who has suffered this season under the recent manager, with it's lack of goals, and it's home record, and it's crazy selections, be happy with things as they are.
Even now we we are seeing some rare thinking, such as, wanting a goal, so we bring on Wing (good) and remove Tave (bad), it cannot have been to save his legs, the season was over.
We have never had an explanation as to why Tav. Cannot, even now, be said to be a regular, and do not mention Wing, a forward player, playmaker, and goal scorer, has not been able to get near the pitch, as we have watched the very dregs of attacking play, no shots, no invention, no effort, and the record to go with that description.
And the above is where we are at right at this moment, if a team was selected at this very minute, I would shudder to see who was sitting on the bench, or worse.
Plato - In an ideal world, I would not want NW as our manager. I agree that there are an awful lot of question marks about what he has achieved. The only positive is that we stayed up which I think would not have been the case with JW in charge.
However, we are not in normal circumstances. There is very little time between now and the new season and any new manager is not going to have time to get to grips with the squad. NW has a small advantage in that he has at least worked with the players.
i think that SG is in a difficult position. He accepted JW was not good enough and brought in experience at short notice to do a job, which he has done. Does he stick with NW for a season, does he keep him as a DOF with JW as coach or bring in a completely new man? Answers in a postcard to The Riverside please because I am not sure I know what would be the right thing to do.
whatever does, he will not please all of us fans - that is the nature of football, we all have our different views.
we will continue discussing it until the cows come home which is why this forum is so good!
i agree and said the same thing about Friend above. He must be worth one year at a sensible salary. He is a great pro an$ seems to love the club and the area
I think it would be generally accepted among fans that NW is not the medium to long term answer to the team management position but he is the only sensible choice at this point for all the reasons set out above in Boro Beckys Dad’s post.
The other two options floated in his post just won’t work. Appointing NW as DOF with JW as coach complicates the team management structure, brings back as coach someone who clearly is not up to the job and has failed and potentially risks the return of conflict between “outsiders” and “family” interests. Besides, I doubt that NW would entertain such a structure.
As for bringing in a completely new man as manager there just isn’t time. It seems there might be a five week period before the new season starts and the task of identifying candidates, interviewing them, checking their credentials, selecting one of them and agreeing contractual terms is time consuming and relatively lengthy. Starting next season with a manager who has barely got his feet under the table or, worse, managerless would be a disaster and so the only sensible available option is NW. Anyway he has achieved what he was appointed to achieve and so he deserves a shot at it.
OFB
I’m appalled that someone on this forum should question your integrity, but the person concerned hardly ever praises the contributions of other bloggers or shows compassion to those who have health problems so not really one of the Band of Brothers that you quite rightly often refer to on this forum. You’re indispensable on this forum, so please don’t stop posting.
Ken Smith.
My name is exmil so if you are going to attack me have the courage to name me and as for the comment “I don’t praise or show compassion” I will treat that with the contempt it deserves.
I also ask you to quote where I questioned the integrity of OFB.
I’ve never in my life lacked courage as anyone who knows me will testify, so if you wish I’ll name you here and now. If you take that as an attack, well for an ex regular soldier you must be very thin skinned, but I do find the tone of some of your comments a little tactless as if you doubt what OFB has written and seem to want proof to collaborate them. Maybe I’m wrong, but to me that shows as if you disbelieved Bob’s story as mere tittle tattle which I can understand Bob taking umbrage about. As for using the word ‘contempt’ I’m not surprised you should use that word, but I stand by my remarks that you rarely praise the input of fellow bloggers for their input and hard work on this forum. It’s no skin off my nose as I’m fairly thick skinned, but I’m taking a break from contributing to this forum except for my continued input on the history of our great club, not a moment of pique, but I have bigger things to worry about and better things to do with my time than reply to such pathetic remarks as yours. And there I draw a line over this whole incident and hope that any future criticism is portrayed in a more diplomatic and tactful manner.
As much as I am grateful to NW for keeping us in the Championship I'm worried his appointment would only be for a short period. If he's not appointed how about Nigel Pearson? He's another with the type of experience we might need and won't put up with any of the nonsense thats been going on for the last few years.
Huddersfield Town have appointed Leeds United assistant Carlos Corberan as their new head coach.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53520013
So they went for a young manager (37 years old). Very much like Steve Gibson has done often in the past. Actually Gibson's senior appoitments haven't ofter worked like with Strachan and Pulis.
Up the Boro!
Just read this in the Daily Mail by Martin Samuel who is very well respected. Interesting that he says there is a contract dispute with the PFA.
Leeds can do better after Ayala overplays his hand
Daniel Ayala messed Middlesbrough around for much of last season. He picked up an injury on January 1 and did not kick a ball for them after that.
This spell of inactivity coincided with a change of agent, a wrangle over his new contract and the desire to leave in January. With his deal expiring on June 30, Ayala would not sign a temporary extension and was ultimately unwelcome at the club.
As Boro struggled, coach Jonathan Woodgate lost his job. It is fair to say his employers were unimpressed with the player's behaviour and a breach of contract dispute is with the PFA.
There were suggestions Ayala's head had been turned by Leeds but no move to Elland Road has arrived.
Now promoted, maybe Leeds are thinking bigger than a centre half who will be 30 in November and whose Premier League career comprises 26 matches and two relegations.
Ayala no doubt thinks he has shown himself better than Middlesbrough but he has shown something else, too, which could be why he is now among the ranks of the unemployed.
One last post from me before taking a break for the summer. A former local government colleague of mine has been in touch with me to inform me that following the death of his wife he has since remarried and living in Havant in Hampshire. He was unaware of this website until his new wife discovered it for him. Brian is a month younger than me and we started reminiscing about the good old days, and he was telling me that the first Boro match he saw was when his father took him to see Boro play Stoke City and Boro won 5-4. Well Brian that was a year before my first match, in fact it was Boro’s first home League match after the War on the 7th September 1946 and followed two 1-0 away wins against Aston Villa and Liverpool, the latter becoming Champions that season, yet despite winning those first first 3 matches goal average placed Boro in only 3rd position.
Nevertheless what a match to start your induction as a Boro fan. For the record Boro led 3-1 at halftime with a Mickey Fenton hat trick and Wilf Mannion and Fenton scored further goals after the interval. It wasn’t actually Boro’s first match after the War though as FA Cup matches took place in January as a prelude to the first League matches. These were played over two legs and Boro had already played Leeds, Blackpool and Bolton in the FA Cup in January and February, but it got me wondering if anyone else saw the Stoke match or indeed any of those Cup matches. If so, what a story they could tell.
@ken. Small world. My ex wife and her family lived in Havant and we spent many years visiting the area. She now lives just up the road in Denmead as do my two sons and our grandsons. 😎
I don't want Boro to sell Britt Assombalonga. We need to keep both Flecher and Britt. They are hard to replace.
Britt Assombalonga’s match-winner on Wednesday evening moved the marksman level with Mark Viduka for the most goals scored for Boro since the turn of the millennium.
See more at https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/britt-joins-duke-at-the-top
Up the Boro!
I expect Nathan Wood to step up to the mark in defence this season. Introduced gradually then becoming more involved
OFB
@brissyred I think Pearson would be too much a risk in destabilising the comfy culture at MFC. Its a case of when not if he will explode. I doubt SG would go anywhere near him. That said I wouldn't mind seeing him and his team arrive as the Club could do with a good shake up.
@brissyred I am also concerned NW would only be a short term fix, then we start all over again. Saying that, Mr Gibson has been doing that for some time now.
Nigel Pearson......not sure I could vote for him.
@jarkko I think Britt needs to play for a Manager who understands him and plays to his strengths, similar to a lot of other players. I don't know whether it is just a Boro thing but we do seem to have had a fair share of players played out wide, isolated or wherever whether it be Mogga or Karanka or in Pulis's case not play Bamford when it was his goals that were the reason we were in the Play Offs.
The problem with Britt is that he didn't deliver half of what we had hoped for. We at least temporarily have/had a Manager who knows how to get the best out of him but his wages are probably three or four times that any other player in the squad. In simple terms we can no longer afford those wages and especially now with no crowds allowed into grounds resulting in massively reduced income.
Then there is the fact that we can maybe raise some money from his sale to say a Norwich or Bournemouth. That we could bring in say three players (or maybe even four) without increasing the wage bill I suspect will be too much to ignore. He is also in his final year of a contract and we certainly cannot afford to extend it so I'm afraid it will be a case of "no reasonable offer refused" as next year we will get nothing for him and it will have cost us another £2m on wages alone. Selling him now for say £5m + £2m in saved wages permits £7m of much needed capital.
@redcarred Agree with that.
It's less a question of Britt per se and more a question of value for money and redistribution of his wages and potential fee to enhance the squad overall, which as we know is very short on numbers and with little funds to bring it up to a reasonable level.
@andy-r I think selling him and freeing up his wages could bring in two decent CB's at this level or a decent CB and a replacement Striker (such as the rumours about Kieffer Moore at £2.5m).
@redcarred. I agree with all of that but the problem will be finding a willing buyer at the figures you quote. I don't believe there are any club's in the PL who would be interested in him and probably only the relegated clubs from the PL could afford him/his wages but will they be interested. I fear that we will be stuck with him until his contract ends. 😎
@k-p-in-spain Bournemouth could well be looking for a striker like Britt. You can't see Wilson or King staying put for them as they've established themselves as Premier League strikers (hen fit) I think. I imagine a PL club will take a chance on them - a West Ham, Burnley, Newcastle, Sheff Utd or the promoted clubs. Britt could be an easy option for the Cherries and I suspect he'd do quite well there and fancy it.
I don't see Watford (if they go down) looking at him. Norwich probably not either but possible. Villa maybe if they come down. I don't think the promoted clubs would take a chance on Britt.
So yes, I think the selling options would be quite limited, and that does no favours for the fee either really. In that context, £5m would probably be a reasonable fee to take, even though it's so much lower than we paid. I'd say it's a certainty that he won't be with us in the season after next so any reasonable cash we can raise now is a plus, though if it's less than £4.5m I think we might keep him for the year.
Starting again September 12th.
Need to get on with the decision making.