Tavernier contract, hope this report helps:
Come on BORO.
Although this report in Oct 21 suggests that it is 2024:
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tavernier-backs-dael-fry-england-21805553
Come on BORO.
MFC website has only the 2020 contract until the summer of 2023 and no mention of an extra year.
Come on BORO.
Tonight’s friendly against Marseille:- At first the club opened the West stand only but it was sold out this week, so they opened 5 blocks in the East stand, which sold out quickly and this morning they opened another 5 blocks in the East stand. Prices are £10 adult and £5 concessions/children, available online or walk up.
Come on BORO.
If a premier league team really does put a proper bid in for Tav and offers him enough, it's hard to see why he should stay. If I were Tav I would be looking around at all the empty pegs in the changing rooms and wondering how serious the club really is about promotion. He's 23 and coming into what should be his prime years. He's already played over 150 matches so if he's not ready to step up to the premier league now, he probably never will be.
I hope he does stay. Although no one is irreplaceable, having to replace him this late in the day will be really disruptive and will almost certainly weaken us.
The Bournemouth Echo pouring cold water on the Tav negotiations at an advanced stage but just that they are apparently still ongoing. I suspect if the deal happens it will be late in the window as clubs miss out on other targets - though as I said before, if Tav has a decent start to the season and scores a couple the asking price may well be met. That's the worse case scenario for me, losing a key player with days to replace him.
I think Tav has more chance of playing in the Premier League in the season after next if he stays with us rather than going to Bournemouth.
In my mind they are an absolute 🔒 for relegation.
Yanic Wildschut joins Oxford, remember him 🤔
Come on BORO.
Whilst I accept that money talks, wider issues should also be considered such as Tav’s value to the team and CW’s needs.
I am surprised that MFC have not sent out a not for sale message; to me if they let him go it smacks of a lack of joined up thinking/strategy. 😎
Whilst I accept that money talks, wider issues should also be considered such as Tav’s value to the team and CW’s needs.
I am surprised that MFC have not sent out a not for sale message; to me if they let him go it smacks of a lack of joined up thinking/strategy. 😎
Alternatively, Boro may have taken a leaf out of clubs like Southampton's and Leicester's books and decided that they will allow players to leave as long as the money is absolutely right. Of course, to match that model, you have to get your own recruitment right and get the value replacements. That, of course, is Boro's main challenge.
If allowing players to leave for the right fees is Boro's model then I can sympathise with it. We are a Championship club with Championship finances and allowing the contracts of players like Tav's to run down doesn't make good business sense.
We should fight tooth and nail to keep a hugely important player by demanding a very high fee but if such a bid is made, particularly if it comes from a bigger club that the player wants to join, then often you're better taking the money - and especially if you've done your homework and have a cheaper replacement ready to come in.
I absolutely don't want Tav to leave but if he's keen on the move, AND we are offered say £15m, AND we have a £5m replacement lined up who wants to come, it makes sense.
Andy.
I agree with all that but the crucial point if he is let go is that MFC have a suitable replacement lined up; given CW is still presently looking to recruit a midfielder and still not recruited one, then I am not holding my breath on them having a suitable replacement lined up for Tav.
Hence my comment on joined up thinking/strategy, which to my mind there is still a big ? over. 😎
KP,
I guess in an ideal world you'd have a constantly updated longlist of 3/4/5/6 players for every position that fits your style of play, is the right age profile, attainable etc. I suspect that is what many of the best run clubs have and the reason why clubs like Southampton and Leicester seem to be able to regularly cash in on players without suffering too much.
That would be more difficult for us to have had given that we've completely changed playing style with every manager we've had over the past however many years. Any list we might have started would have been ripped up and we start again.
So I think the starting point is having some stability and consistency of thought. If Wilder is here for the long term, and I hope he is, we have a base to get started from now.
Andy,
It still begs the question what exactly is Kieran Scott and his team doing when we are still short of at least 6 players, without losing Tav, and the season starting next week end.
CW talked about a domino effect once the DS deal was sorted but it hasn’t happened yet. Tommy Smith was supposed to be on trial and yet nothing further has developed. 😎
Hopefully what they’re doing is making sure the deals work for us.
We can’t complain about paying over the odds or failing to do due diligence on signings and then complain when we don’t sign everyone immediately.
It’s frustrating, no doubt. However, if it’s a choice between rushing into the wrong signings or having to make do for a month to get the right signings at the right prices, the latter has to be preferable.
Fingers crossed they get the right ones.
I think we have to be realistic here with regards to our players. We are a Championship club with Championship resources aided by a very generous Owner.
I would however say that in my opinion the club has NOT been ran as good as it possibly should have been, say since the Aitor days. As KP and others have said, changing Managers every season or so has not been helped by not having a playing style that has been maintained to minimise any disruption.
Other clubs have have been more successful in following that path. MFC have yo-yo-ed now for some considerable time. Also the Recruitement of new players have not been as good as it probably should have.
If Tav leaves, good luck to him, I just hope he does not choose Bournemouth or Forrest. But then that may be his only choice.
Andy,
It still begs the question what exactly is Kieran Scott and his team doing when we are still short of at least 6 players, without losing Tav, and the season starting next week end.
CW talked about a domino effect once the DS deal was sorted but it hasn’t happened yet. Tommy Smith was supposed to be on trial and yet nothing further has developed. 😎
Kp, I was about to say the same thing! Totally agree.
Also if we look at the other Championship clubs, I don’t think any are further ahead than us?.
I recently wrote about the history of Sporting Braga, though didn’t mention that I visited the city in November 1999 but from my diary I noticed that it is a religious heritage city with a beautiful 17 flight staircase from the city centre to the Bom Jesus do Monte Complex. Of course I’ve visited Lagos many times and know where the stadium is situated.
I have also visited Marseille in July 1997 which is now the Capital of the French Riviera and surrounded by the limestone hills of the Gulf de Lion. It is of course mostly renowned for its Old Port and its extensive marina which is a natural harbour with a large tidal lake called the Berre Lagoon. High above the Old Port is the Notre-Dame-de-La-Garde which I remember reaching by a small wooden road train, and to the north is the Etoile range of mountains leading to Aix de Provence where my wife and I stayed. One other aspect of Marseille was like Middlesbrough it once had a transporter bridge but unfortunately destroyed by the Germans during the Second World War in 1944. I knew that eventually my holiday diaries would sometime be of use.
La Marseillaise was adopted as the National Anthem in 1795 by a march of revolutionary volunteers on the march to Paris. The football club who the Boro entertain tonight was founded in 1899 and have won Le Championet as it was called on 9 occasions, though is unfortunately more remembered for the bribery scandal of 1993. Briefly having won the league 4 years in succession and having reached the UEFA Champions League Final for the second time but having previously lost the 1991 final to Red Star Belgrade, the hierarchy were determined not to lose their second chance and tried to bribe three players of Valenciennes their last league opponents into losing the match. The Valenciennes players were approached to underperform and duly lost 0-1 to seemingly give Marseille the title. However once the match finished a few players whistle-blowed the situation, and 7 players were convicted with 3 receiving suspended sentences in this sorry affair.
The outcome was that although Marseille won the EUFA Final by beating AC Milan 1-0 with an Allen Boksic goal, Marseille were deprived of the league title which was initially awarded to the runners-up Paris St Germain, though the Parisians declined to accept the title so the league title was declared null and void.
Andy,
I am fully in agreement on the recruitment front in so far as the forwards are concerned where we are waiting on PL clubs.
My concern is why are we still waiting for a LCB, cover for RB/RWB and central midfield. I don’t believe we are looking at PL clubs to fill those spots so why is it taking so long; perhaps the club are unable to commit to deals until such time as the DS money was guaranteed even if it is only being used for wages. 😎
Just one final point on the future planning regards Tav: it’s possible that the club have already got ahead of that by signing McGree and Boyd-Munce last season.
You could argue that the CB-M signing was an odd one if it wasn’t done with losing Tav in mind.
Whether we’re quite ready for that right now is another matter but it could be that those signings were made with this scenario in mind in the next six to twelve months.
Chris Wilder: 'It's business as usual with Marcus Tavernier - but I can't guarantee that he'll stay'
Chris Wilder: 'It's business as usual with Marcus Tavernier - but I can't guarantee that he'll stay'
OFB
It certainly beginning to sound it's not if Tavernier leaves but when - Bournemouth have valued him at £12m so wouldn't be a big leap to get to £15m - especially if he keeps scoring. Though I'm not sure if this is the right move for him as they must be one of favourites to be relegated - pus their stadium capacity is just a little over 11,000 and may prove a bit of shock given Boro have almost had that many travelling to games!
Wilder's comparison of the situation was similar to Liverpool unexpected losing Sadio Mane was rather false as they'd just signed a new striker in Nunez for £67m. Boro won't find it easy to replace Tav and that fact that he's also in goal scoring form is an additional worry given the lack of strikers arriving.
Not the time to sell for me as it will weaken an already weakened team!
I think it is also significant that Chuba Akpom came on as substitute last night, having previously been told to find another club and that he would not be involved with the first team squad.
It looks like we may still be reliant on him and Uche when the season kicks off next Saturday! 😎
KP,
As it stands, it looks like Watmore with McGree behind him is the first choice forward line. I guess Coburn is next in the pecking order and then Akpom, with Uche still out of the picture.
My gut feeling is that we’ll get one striker in before the season kicks off and another before the end of the window, whilst Uche will leave.
I think it is also significant that Chuba Akpom came on as substitute last night, having previously been told to find another club and that he would not be involved with the first team squad.
It looks like we may still be reliant on him and Uche when the season kicks off next Saturday! 😎
I've not seen the game but by all accounts, Akpom did well when he came on. I do remember that the scored in his first two games for us and looked ok then just seemed to lose all form and confidence. He's clearly not good enough but I guess Wilder is being pragmatic here and if Akpom can put in the work he'll either earn a move or a place on the subs bench. Judging by his actions, Wilder seems to think Akpom's currently a better option than Coburn or any of the other U23s.
For whatever reason, Wilder appears to think that he would be better off with 10 players on the pitch than with 11 if one of them is Ikpeazu. Odd one that.
The re-integration of Akpom is probably an admission that it's less likely that a new striker arrives before next weekend or indeed with enough time to explain any tactics or train with the other players. It also seems Wilder is not ready to trust Coburn and on top of that it sounded like Watmore didn't have a good game and is probably not fully fit. As for Ikpeazu, well I guess Wilder doesn't want to risk another striker thinking he may not be sold - perhaps Akpom needed being put in the shop window...
All the signs are that Tavernier will leave but to go to Bournemouth , in my opinion, will be a big mistake as they will be one of the favourites to be relegated - much better to go to an established Premier division team.
From Boro’s viewpoint he’ll be a massive loss - no player works harder and he should improve year on year. Based on the reputed deal for Spence, Boro should be holding out for at least the same. However , some players are being sold cheaply - witness Huddersfield’s best 2 players, O’Brien and Toffollo being sold to Forest for £10m. As an aside , it’s rumoured that the potential sale was the reason for the coach and his assistant suddenly resigning just over a week ago.
Meanwhile It looks as though Boro are struggling to sign players particularly forwards and so we can’t expect an explosive start to the season- more like a damp squib.
Philip of Huddersfield
Reading Wilders statement on Tav, it seems to me he is on his way. If he is I don't give a toss where he goes as long as we get the money. There is no loyalty in football anymore. As for playing Akpom, are we really that desperate.
No Dael Fry last night is he injured?
Having now watched the highlights from the game last night I must admit that playing against a team with better finishing we could have gone two goals down in the first half.
It looks like we finally have a goalkeeper who is a good shot stopper and hopefully can keep some clean sheets for Boro this season.
Two good goals by players who could be on their way out of Boro namely Jones and Tav and if they do go then Boro will struggle this season.
OFB