Very blunt and honest comment by CW when asked about the chances of the half a dozen young players playing next season. Doesn’t expect any of them to play and not in the squad for the first game.
So, hopefully the Club will get cracking in signing the players they need. Unfortunately it often requires a higher level player to move to trigger others moving.
Clearly the biggest need is for forwards ( and posssibly a first choice goalkeeper depending on how good the new goalkeeper is)
I prefer going for forwards with potential rather than players on the decline who haven’t played much in the last couple of seasons due to injury or whatever.
Surely there’s players in the lower divisions who are worth a punt who won’t cost a fortune in the fee and their wages. Obviously a lot of Clubs will be looking for these players but it needs a “Peter Taylor ability “ to recognise potential talent as he often did for Cloughie.
Philip of Huddersfield
This manager may be blunt, but he failed to do his job last season when Young josh could and should have had the last ten games as our striker, After his showing in the cup. We fielded no striker in those games, and faded away from a Good position, we did play a small, unwilling, unhappy, loanee, who was completely out of his depth, and showed it throughout his time here. As a club we have no idea in the market, we should spend our money on talent scouts. I recall one of our managers advising our dead ball hero on how to stop the ball bending in mid flight as it whistled into the net. You really could not invent this stuff.
Three heartwarming stories this weekend in the world of sport. First of all Hartlepool United helping out fellow Durham County side Billingham Synthonia by arranging a pre-season friendly match after the Synners had to vacate Central Avenue due to horrendous costs and almost went out of existence after last season’s relegation to the second division of the Northern League and have now found a temporary home at Stokesley Sports Club. It’s not the first time that Pools have come to the aid of neighbours of course as we all remember their allowing the Boro to play Port Vale at the Vic in 1986, but to help out a non-league club shows how compassionate the club is in helping neighbours also.
Of course Brian Clough had connections with both clubs, playing a few games as a youth for Synthonia and starting his managerial career at Pools. I don’t know why Synthonia can’t ground-share with Billingham Town, but perhaps local rivalry maybe one reason.
The second story is the debut of Lancashire’s Richard Gleeson who took the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kholi and Rishabh Pant in his spell of 3 for 15 runs in the T20 International against India. Like most of the crowd at Edgbaston I confess that I hadn’t heard of the 34 year old seam bowler before yesterday, but sad to say that another heavy defeat to India took the edge off his remarkable achievement.
However the most heartwarming moment was at St James’s Park, Newcastle as a crowd in excess of 36,000 applauded the appearance of former Leeds Rhinos player Bob Burrow and his family at Super League’s Magic Weekend. Castleford born Rob who is struggling with MND in his wheelchair, his lovely wife Lindsey and two young daughters who designed the Rhinos special shirts smiled throughout the walloping that the Rhinos gave Cas. I may be a Cas fan but club rivalry is forgotten in moments like this.
Now the brickbats of the week as three Castleford youths have been caught on CCTV not only breaking into the team’s ground and stealing crates of alcohol, but also causing thousands pounds worth of damage through vandalism to the stadium. Rugby League is the centre of Castleford and I’m surprised and disgusted at such wanton damage should be done by possible Cas fans.
I always love Super League’s Magic Weekend as do many Geordies, but sometimes the ‘friendly sport’ loses it’s discipline on the field of play as happened to Wakefield Trinity yesterday. From leading 20-4 at half time they twice had players sent to the sin bin which cost them dear as bottom of the table Toulouse Olympique scored five tries in a devastating 12 minutes. to win 38-26.
So all in all a busy day for yours truly yesterday and the Open Golf Championship from St Andrews to look forward to from Thursday onwards if I can keep awake.
Does anyone know if Spence went to Portugal with the Boro squad.
Malcolm
While Djed Spence wasn't visible in any of the MFC Twitter feed photos that featured around ten Boro players - perhaps this photo also released showing the players boots on a Portugal training pitch maybe indicates he may be there - My passing detective work on boots shows that Spence wore those light-blue Nike boots shown on the left - See photo of Spence playing for England U21...
Unless of course the boots of Spence were carefully planted to encourage Spurs to get the deal done...
Further Investigations show that Marcus Tavernier also wears those boots and since out of the 20 pairs of boots in the image there are only one pair of light-blue ones then i will deduce Spence is not in Portugal 🤔
MFC website shows 29 photos of day one in Portugal and DS and MP do not feature in any of them.
It could be that DS is still building his fitness levels having returned later than the rest of the squad and MP may still be injured or they both could be there but not yet joining in with the main group, who knows. 😎
On Sky Sports transfer Centre
Boro make approach for Henry
Middlesbrough have made a £7.6million (€9m) offer for Venezia striker Thomas Henry, reports Sky in Italy.
Serie A clubs including Verona are also interested in the 27-year-old Frenchman.
Come on BORO.
On Sky Sports transfer Centre
Boro make approach for Henry
Middlesbrough have made a £7.6million (€9m) offer for Venezia striker Thomas Henry, reports Sky in Italy.
Serie A clubs including Verona are also interested in the 27-year-old Frenchman.
Come on BORO.
If true, MFC must be confident of getting a good price for DS. Seems a lot of money on one player who I have never heard. 😎
Sad news it is being reported that Bernard Gent has passed away
Apparently according to Wikipedia Thomas Henry who stands at 6ft 4inches has already signed for Middlesbrough and will wear the number 14 shirt (although the statistics show that the number 14 shirt might mean the number allocated by his former club). Born in Argenteuil a suburb of Paris, the 27 year old striker scored 9 goals in 32 matches for Venezia who finished bottom of Italy’s Serie A last season. He was more prolific with his former club Oud - Heverlee Leuven who play in Belgium’s Juliper League where he scored 40 goals in 66 matches since their promotion to Belgium’s top division in 2018.
.
The move for Thomas Henry sounds as if the fee of €9m is an acceptable offer for his newly-relegated club Venezia but the player himself is apparently keen on pushing through a move to Verona, who finished 9th in Serie A last season. Might just be ploy by Venezia of getting the fee they want from Verona as not sure if Henry would swap Serie A for the Championship if he had the choice.
Thank goodness that the Wimbledon fortnight is over. I can’t really take a sport that allows second chances seriously. I’m writing about serves where if the first serve is a fault, never mind one gets a second serve to remedy the situation. Can you imagine that happening in golf or snooker, missed putts or missed pots being recorded by the commentators with the words “Oh never mind have another go without penalty” . Or in football where if a player misses a penalty kick being told by the referee to have another go, or in cricket when adjudged by the umpire saying “You’ve had one chance, but never mind, you’re only out if it happens a second time”.
However Dr WG Grace once refused to accept the umpire’s decision with the words “The crowd have come to see me bat, not the bowlers trying to get me out”. Mind that was in the 19th century and time has moved on. Perhaps the Warwickshire leg spinner Eric Hollies should have given the great Don Bradman a free hit so he could finish his Test career with a batting average of over 100. In fact Hollies bowled Bradman out second ball for a duck. But as the saying goes “That wasn’t really cricket, was it!”
Now to discard the myth of rugby. True that it took its name from William Webb Ellis who was a pupil at Rugby School in 1823 and decided to run with the round ball until he reached the goal whereupon he then punted through the goal posts, but in fact some form of Rugby has been played for over 2000 years with an oval shaped ball and originally called harpastum.
But where did the name ‘try’ come from? Well in fact matches were decided by goals like football, and there were 3 ways to score a goal - by a penalty goal, a drop goal or by converting a kick over the goal. So no points were given for a try, it was only useful in ‘trying’ to take a conversion kick at goal, so just like Football goals counted. I guess in some ways like corner kicks in football, a means to an end.
Sad news it is being reported that Bernard Gent has passed away
Indeed he was a Gent and professional unlike the guy who took over from him
It's been reported that Steve Gibson has blocked a move for Newcastle's Dwight Gale as the Boro chairman is apparently reluctant to sign any players over the age of 30. I'm glad someone is finally making sense of the risks of ending up with key players in the treatment room - especially forwards who since they are explosive in nature are more prone to pulling hamstrings or having niggles or dodgy knees!
It's been reported that Steve Gibson has blocked a move for Newcastle's Dwight Gale as the Boro chairman is apparently reluctant to sign any players over the age of 30. I'm glad someone is finally making sense of the risks of ending up with key players in the treatment room - especially forwards who since they are explosive in nature are more prone to pulling hamstrings or having niggles or dodgy knees!
I like Gayle as a loan option but not a permanent signing.
This is good news if true and shows some progression in the club's thinking.
A few noticeable absences including Payero, Hall, Bola, Akpom, Ikpeazu.
Come on BORO.
I notice that squad list also doesn't include Spence so my boot deductions ultimately proved correct 😏
Also good to see some youngsters like Swan and Finch have been given the opportunity to start their fledgling careers at Boro...
It's been reported that Steve Gibson has blocked a move for Newcastle's Dwight Gale as the Boro chairman is apparently reluctant to sign any players over the age of 30. I'm glad someone is finally making sense of the risks of ending up with key players in the treatment room - especially forwards who since they are explosive in nature are more prone to pulling hamstrings or having niggles or dodgy knees!
I like Gayle as a loan option but not a permanent signing.
This is good news if true and shows some progression in the club's thinking.
Andy, it is a bit concerning if SG has had to step in and put the block on. Doesn’t really say much for the recruitment team in my view. 😎
It's been reported that Steve Gibson has blocked a move for Newcastle's Dwight Gale as the Boro chairman is apparently reluctant to sign any players over the age of 30. I'm glad someone is finally making sense of the risks of ending up with key players in the treatment room - especially forwards who since they are explosive in nature are more prone to pulling hamstrings or having niggles or dodgy knees!
I like Gayle as a loan option but not a permanent signing.
This is good news if true and shows some progression in the club's thinking.
Andy, it is a bit concerning if SG has had to step in and put the block on. Doesn’t really say much for the recruitment team in my view. 😎
Yes and no I think. SG has to look after the business interests, the recruitment team are there to find the players that improve the squad.
I think it’s exactly why the chairman has to sign it off before it happens.
Reported in South American Blogs Tonight
Martín Payero, a un paso de ser refuerzo de Boca.
👉 Hay oferta de préstamo por un año sin cargo y con opción de compra.
Martín Payero, one step away from being Boca's reinforcement.
👉 There is a one-year loan offer at no charge and with a purchase option.
OFB
It's been reported that Steve Gibson has blocked a move for Newcastle's Dwight Gale as the Boro chairman is apparently reluctant to sign any players over the age of 30. I'm glad someone is finally making sense of the risks of ending up with key players in the treatment room - especially forwards who since they are explosive in nature are more prone to pulling hamstrings or having niggles or dodgy knees!
I like Gayle as a loan option but not a permanent signing.
This is good news if true and shows some progression in the club's thinking.
Andy, it is a bit concerning if SG has had to step in and put the block on. Doesn’t really say much for the recruitment team in my view. 😎
Yes and no I think. SG has to look after the business interests, the recruitment team are there to find the players that improve the squad.
I think it’s exactly why the chairman has to sign it off before it happens.
The report suggest that discussions had already taken place with the player. If that is the case, then the block was put on, it doesn’t reflect well on our professionalism or that they are all singing from the same hymn sheet. 😎
Reported in South American Blogs Tonight
Martín Payero, a un paso de ser refuerzo de Boca.
👉 Hay oferta de préstamo por un año sin cargo y con opción de compra.
Martín Payero, one step away from being Boca's reinforcement.
👉 There is a one-year loan offer at no charge and with a purchase option.
OFB
If true then very disappointing and raises serious questions over the new recruitment methodology.
From the outside it appears he was never given a fair crack of the whip. Adios MP. 😎
At the moment there is no sign of the recruitment team being any better than previous!
Doesn't really surprise me to see Payero heading out of the club on a try-before-you-buy deal. He's barely kicked a ball at Boro and in reality is probably 5th choice option for Chris Wilder with potentially the prospect of little pitch time in the coming months.
Injuries have probably prevented him for establishing a career at Boro and perhaps his lack of English have also hampered his integration too. In the end an expensive gamble at £5-6m that hasn't really paid off and Boro look to be cutting their losses on a player that hasn't really settled at the club. Given he'll be in the final year of a three-year contract at the end of this season, it wouldn't be worth having him further devaluing on the bench - especially if he's not committed and looking for a return home.
Interestingly, Boro are being linked again with that other South American that they were chasing along with Payero - i.e. Rodrigo Muniz. He ended up opting to go to Fulham instead of heading to Teesside but like Payero didn't get that much pitch time with under 500 minutes of football. OK, he did score 5 goals but his senior career goals total is currently just 11 - so something of another gamble and if I recall was quite expensive as Fulham paid more than we paid for Payero - though it's currenly being reported as a potential loan deal.
Werder
A bit more about Muniz
Middlesbrough are thought to be interested in signing Rodrigo Muniz from Fulham this summer, a year after he joined the Cottagers for £8m. The forward scored five goals in the Championship last season
OFB
Sad to hear the demise of Bernard Gent, the voice of Ayresome but also the instigator of using the signature tune of the 60’s ITV series ‘The Power Game’ which succeeded ‘The Plane Makers’ starring Patrick Wymark, Jack Watling, Rosemary Leach and the delightful Barbara Murray. Was it really 60 years ago?
Anyway this is a tribute to Bernard Gent, gentleman by name and gentleman by nature. His name will be remembered as a part of Boro history.
Rest in Peace, Bernard.
I very much doubt that the temperature in the Algarve can be called a heatwave when come next month the average will be 40 plus according to my Portuguese friends.