Deadline Day Drama... Live!

Why are we faffing about on deadline day?

If the club were serious about promotion all their targets would have been signed on January 1st.

**AV writes: The buzz today was that they are still hopeful on McDonald but have a plan B; are still keen on Charlie Adam but have a Plan B.

What letter plan is Miller?

Grove Hill Wallah

I guess it is very difficult to get players and clubs to commit early on unless they are wanted by the big boys. Selling clubs are holding out for the best price and the hope of a bidding war.

Take Jinky as an example. Clubs have been sniffing for months and no doubt everyone has been sounding each other out. We now have a bid and then an improved bit from Citeh to try and get the deal done. Other clubs are now sniffing around, the best case scenario is a bidding war and hope we can get a loan back. ManU may come in as a long term Giggs replacement, Chelsea are in the frame.

Buying clubs are hopeful that teams are forced to sell for financial or football reasons. Moses from Palace should have gone for more but the administrators are under pressure.

The top clubs dont really get involved unless their is a top player or prospect available so most of us are scrabbling about looking for people available whilst selling clubs are holding out for the best deal.

I may have all of the above totally wrong and no doubt AV will put me right including a sniff at a possible Johnno loan back. ManU have done it with Smalling.

Is it really that simple GHW?

McDonald, Naughton, and Nakamura, keep hold of Johnson... play offs here we come, up the boro.

Why do we always have all this activity for the Boro on deadline day, when the majority of our rivals have all sorted deals out over the last couple of weeks or so??

You have to question the management of this club at a high level. Had a striker problem for the last two years at least, but it has never been properly addressed - constantly buying second rate strikers at inflated prices!! The vast majority of points we have lost this and last season have been down to the inability to put the ball in the net. The last two home games being a prime example of this.

Celtic seem to be doing a lot of business this morning, is that a sign that McDonald is definitely on his way out...hopefully to Boro!

Why do none of my posts get published? Maybe Mosso Cloudfiles is a disrupting influence!

**AV writes: Mosso Cloudfiles is as good as gold and has settled nicely. Are you sure you are filling all required dialogue boxes?

leon best at newcastle training ground.

You are answering your own question AV. Do we really want to be saddled with last minute duds? Our track record of deadline day signings is abysmal. It is like several slappers fighting over the last spangly top in Primark!

The knock on effect is that come the next window we will be restricted because we have some no hopers warming our bench and draining our resources.

AV

One way to avoid the second best parmo or the pot noodle is to secure the best parmo before the last one is flying off the shelf to someone with more money and better prospects.

Leon Best to The Skunks - bummer, but serves Boro right.

**AV writes: In an ideal world you would be booked in well in advance to the best sit-down parmo house in town and go the whole hog with a starter, a bottle of wine and jam roly poly for afters. But it is not an ideal world. So what do you do, starve on a point of principle? Or get a takeaway?

Bargain Bucket Boro!

I'm going for a lay down in a darkened room until 5 01.

NURSE!! My little green pills please.

If i remember right Bernie Slaven was a take away and went on to become a staple diet of boro fans for many years!

Strikers cant always score no matter where they are. They need to be happy, confident and fit into the club and the style of play! Boro only have Killen as a lead the line striker with Lita and injury prone Ali as support to pick up the goals. Niether have done it for the last few years so why not try miller?

If we get McDonald then for me its either killen and McDonald up front with Miller as replacement for Killen and Lita and Ali as replacements for McDonald.

latest from glasgow evening times

Much could still depend on raising cash from sales, and Scott McDonald has held talks with Middlesbrough about a £3.5m move to the Riverside.

McDonald’s agent, Ken Anderson, confirmed today: "Negotiations have taken place, but it’s my opinion it will all depend on whether Middlesbrough can get the money from selling Adam Johnson to Manchester City."

According to the Jocks of my acquaint, Boro are now fiddle faddling with Celtic over the fee for McDonald (how long have they had?) and it looks like falling through.

never mind missing on the parmo, don't we usually get the guy who ate all the pies?
is the celtic move off because of money?

If all the parmos have gone, then let them eat cake

Why haven’t we signed Best? Probably for the same reasons that we didn’t get Routledge. We have a transfer kitty of say £5m. From that GS2 probably wants 4/5 more players, and he’ll want some more than others.

From his budget he will allocate a proportion to each of his targets. Negotiations will take place between the clubs but in the case of Best and Routledge we were not able to meet the selling clubs valuation. The selling clubs just aren’t going to through their hands up into the air on January the first and let their players leave just because the mighty Middlesbrough have made an offer.

The selling clubs will wait to the last minute to get more games out of their players and the highest fee. Newcastle will blow us out of the water with Tranny fees and wages. Once they make their interest know to a player, game over.

So GS2’s main target is Scott MacDonald, he also take up the biggest proportion of the available spend. Once this deal is completed one way or another we will be able to move on. If it does go belly up then Lee Miller is primed and ready to go.

Sounds like good business to me by the Boro. One problem is that reports in Scotland state Celtic and Boro are miles apart on valuation of Scott MacDonald. In these cases of Brinkmanship Keith Lamb comes into his own……………..

Marcus Bent to QPR on Loan for the rest of the season.

Celtic sign third player of the day, but a defender

Anyone get the feeling that GS2 is working undercover and still on the Celtic payroll as head of a secret project to see how a scottish team would perform ahead of the propose journey south of the Old Firm?

From BBC

1155: News just in from our Scottish cousins: "On the final day of the transfer window, Scott McDonald's proposed move to Middlesbrough appears in doubt. Boro manager Gordon Strachan would like to sign the Australian striker, who is keen to join his former boss, but the clubs are unable to agree on a fee."

Nakamura sounds good value for 400 euros, AV! Get up, Chris, and take the stress like a Smoggy man!

AV - Gold is gobbing off on Skysports text saying Mido would play for them for £1000 a week and money is not important. Is that relying on us paying the other 39k a week???? Or just them being stupid and broke enough to do it?

Could there be a nominal fee for him to go there? If he did leave would he pick up loyalty, image or other payments or we would have to share his wages if he took a wage cut when he moved?

**AV writes: If they were going to sign our hefty trouble in an empty house merchant permanently then Boro would gladly take a big hit.

I agree with Dave Connor. Mido would be our leading scorer out of the strikers we have.

The most disturbing thing so far today is that Coventry players earn enough to drive a Bentley.

City's move for McDonald Mariga falls through as he couldn't get a work permit. With 3.1/2 hrs left does this mean they will now move for Johnno.

i cant get any work done!

currently on 4 sites st once, talksport through the speakers.

any updates A.V?

I suppose Celtic would rather keep their top scorer McDonald than sell him on the cheap - much in the same way that Boro would rather keep Johnson unless their valuation was met. Playing hard ball doesn't really work unless the seller needs to sell.

However, Boro need a striker and may as well sell any others we have to raise an extra cash required - perhaps Fulham would still be interested in Ali?

I think Celtic have the stronger position and Boro will blink first as their need is greater - plus receiving cash at 4.55 still gives them seven hours to spend it given that their deadline is at midnight.

**AV writes: yes, I agree with that analysis

looking increasingly likely that its naughton and miller!

On the "outs" front - if we want to ship out Arca and Jones (please!) we should release a statement saying that we're going to try and sign them (onto new deals).

Wigan will steal in with a bid in no time!

Word is that the Johnno domino has fallen - in the direction of Citeh.

That now has to mean McDonald AND Adam to Boro or I think (and I'd agree with) there'll be trouble at t'mill!!

Forget Miller.

Oh dear, SkySports are reporting we've accepted City's fee for Johnson....

:(

boro accept citeh bid apparently....sky online.

Simon in Manc:

You're absolutely right there! But it's our money they're getting their hands on to subsidise their lifestyle. If we don't like it - well there's only one thing any of us supporters can do about it!! Organise ourselves collectively and change our status to non- supporters.

And to get collective agreement on that would be an uphill struggle with many club casualties on the way. Which would be a deterent for most and there's mo incentive for supporters of "big" successful clubs to join in.

It'll take life-threatening conditions before anything changes substantially. There's insufficient political will to make it happen.

So, what do we do? If you can't beat 'em, join em? Or make our own personal protest and be very selective in how we spend our own much-harder come-by incomes? I'm in the latter camp!

Who have you got on spy duty at Hurworth today AV?

Is poor Uncle Eric hiding in the bushes freezing his bits off?

**AV writes: No we just sit and wait for the phone calls. We are about 20 minutes ahead of Sky etc but they can break it first. Very frustrating

Now Best has signed for The Skunks you can raise the ask in my previous post re McDonald and Adam to an even greater level of necessity - if there is such a thing beyond absolute.

Get it done.

Any news on the price of Johnson and if he will be loaned back?

Mido? He's the reason there were no parmos!

We probably decided to cash in on Johnson over the weekend, but held it back in the hope that Celtic would crack re McDonald. Now they know we've got the cash they'll drive a tougher bargain. The fact that the scottish window closes later helps them too. Tough luck Lamb - bite the bullet and for out the reddies.

I'm with John Powls all the way on this one. Good call John!

One hopes the imperatives are felt as urgently by Lamb and Gibson as they are by JP, GS2, me and others. I suspect they must feel they've got the deals they want in the bag, otherwise, they must recognise how untenable their position would be in a supporter relations sense - as well as jeopardising any residual chance we have of making the play-offs?

If we bring in McDonald AND Adams, it'll have been a very decent day's work by all concerned. I'm not desperately disappointed to see AJ leave. He wasn't the full article for me - a bit too selfish. And at this time, Boro need players committed to the shirt and their colleagues, more than to themselves.

AJ going and the other two coming in has a better feel to it and, who knows, the bank balance may look a shade healthier as well.

Like John, I just hope it happens now!

sorry Adams i meant!!!

Man City bid accepted by Boro for Johnson - Sky Sports News.

Now maybe we can afford the players we have been talking about.

I feel this is a brand new start for Boro and we could yet get into the playoff's.

COME ON BORO.

West Ham have landed Bennie McCarthy. Are they likely to want Mido as well?
Maybe at zero transfer cost and a miserable £1000 a week (spit) they'd still take him? Oh, I do so hope so, if that means we can tear up his contract! I'd be really interested to know the facts of the contract residuals concerning Mido!

Can anyone throw light on what Boro's liabilities are in having to honour whatever contract terms were negiotiated and those which remain in force?

He's dead right when he says he has something to prove in the English Premier League. He has to prove he's not a spoiled temperamental, big-headed, selfish, arrogant, lazy sod who spits his dummy at the first sign of asking and who's focus is on loyalty and service to his club, rather than on him, himself, and his massive ego. He's a spoilt Mummy's boy! Which is quite apt in a way, coming from Egypt!

His true value to a club is negative because of the disruptive influence of his character. He should be paying West Ham for even considering taking him on!

**AV writes: He is on loan but Boro are paying a hefty chunk of his wages. If any club were daft enough to sign him, even on a free, Boro are quids in and don't have to worry about him rolling back into town next pre-season.

The deathly silence and the late disappearance of Johnno to pastures new as he came off the training pitch this morning begins to have all the hallmarks of an MFC 'Luke Young' about it.

Anything to re-assure, AV.

Its gone all quiet AV, any news?

I'm nervously refereshing every few minutes hoping to see McDonald, Nakamura and Adam sign and getting frustrated at seeing nothing!

It would be typical Boro to lose Johnson and not make a signing...

Also Sky reckon an improved bid for Charlie Adam and for Hoolahan !

**AV Writes: Yes, a second bid for Adam went in a few hours ago and Boro are awaiting a response (better get a move on). Wes Hollahan was mentioned last week and we put the question and were told 'not interested' but things can change quickly on Deadline day so who knows. No suggestion from that end.

Word on the Blackpool site on Sky Sport News is that they have 'resisted Middlesbrough's overtures and Holloway is hopeful he can keep the player until the end of the season at least.'

I'm presuming the silence is because until Johnson actually signs then there's no extra cash to meet the payment needs of McDonald/Adam/Nakamura deals plus any other last minute shopping - Let's hope Keith Lamb has put some paper in the Fax machine too!

**AV writes: I think just the nod from City will be enough. Certainly Boro have spent the last few hours acting as if they suddenly found £6m in the penny jar.

I've got 5 websites goin trying to find any info regarding our incomee's but no news. Please AV whats happening. I can't take this anymore gotta find Valium and a dark room to hide in. Only 35mins left. This is no good.

**AV writes: This is early for Boro. Huth got done an hour after the deadline

Just see this post on the live transfer window at 16:24hrs:

"[Comment From boro boy] just seen Charlie Adams at boro training hq"

I can't speak for it's efficacy, however! Wishful thinking on my part, in view of the (now) expected departure of AJ and earlier comments by John Powls & me vis a vis Adam & MacDonald.

Agree with earlier posters about Nakamura. Having him around to hammer in a few free kicks from around the 18 yard box would be a positive. He can strike a mean dead ball! And with Killen the sort of hold-up forward likely to attract shirt pulling and desperation dives from defenders, it could prove a useful and lucrative game ploy.

I just hope Boro execs don't let us all down!

I feel there's jusy so much riding on this window!

Everton supporters on the live blog are lamenting missing out on the Kyle Naughton loan deal. Have we bagged ourselves a nugget here?

UPDATE

4.30pm

MIDO HAS SIGNED FOR WEST HAM ..... omg.... lol .... roflmao.

The slimline striker has joined "on loan from Zamalek" which suggests they have picked up the option from the Egyptian team. That could get them relegated. I bet £1,000 a week looked such good value too.

How does this affect what Boro pay him? Is he off the books or it's the same deal that the walk likes got?

**AV writes: I don't know.

I dont think we can sign anyone from anywhere after 5pm. We can only sell players out side of england. Am I right in this? - Anyone know?

**AV writes: We can't sign but there is still an option to sign players on loan until the third Thursday in March.

From Andrew Jackson on Live feed at 4:28pm:

Andrew Jackson: Mido to West Ham - he's on SSN now. Andrew Jackson is posting, it seesm to me, as a Journo within Mirror Group, I think, and although I've had a look and can't yet see the SSN report as he's posted, I remain hopeful this is just a web page update scheduling glitsch and that the comment is true.

**AV writes: Yes, that is our group wide live blog which is being fed by our staff at the various papers. Phil Tallentire has been doing it from us.

To clarify, we are told Mido has joined West ham on loan from Boro, not Zamalek. The existing deal with Zamalek has been scrapped. I don't know how much of the wages West Ham have picked up. Let's hope it is bulk of them.

Come on Boro. AV any nore snippets. PLease!!

GROVE HILL WALLAH pops up at the back post to nod in the winner(100th post)........ever thought about putting some boots on mate?

Johnno done deal BBC.

In the cafeteria at work, biting my nails, gotta a meeting in 5 mins, this is crap.

Feeling good about this transfer window

Oh, its a grand old team to play for, oh its a grand old team to see, and if you love your history........

Do you get injury time with the transfer window?

Fotgot to add for Craigs benefit that news will keep filtering through for some time after 5.00pm.

AV's blog wont be at the top of the list at Rockcliffe, pride of place will be the fax.

Doesnt mean we will sign anyone but if Citeh are last minute we could be stuck with what we have but have a happier bank.

Danger is that once the money is in it will be used to ease debt. They are running a business as well as a football club. Palace and Pompey should be in the back of our minds.

Tell you what guys -

Final whistle's gone and this has been far more exciting than a Boro home match! And a whole lot better value for money!

We just have to wait for the final results to be posted!

I'd like to post that my fingers are crossed, but the ends have had to be bandaged and I've got an emergency appointment at the dentist!

Scott McDonald IS at Rockliffe right now so we will see.

**AV writes: Scott McDonald has been at Rockliffe all day, everything has been agreed days ago and it has just been about how and when Boro pay. I reckon two clicks of a mouse should have done it. Just waiting see if Man City and Boro got the syncr-clicks in before the bongs.

Robbie Keane on way to Celtic - good news for us?

Keane to Celtic. Does that mean McDonald has signed?

Robbie Keane to Celtic....this could allow Mcdonald to come to Boro

that is it for me not going any more

all con men at boro lamb/gibson good bye

MY BORO RIP

Robbie Keane to Celtic so surely we will get our man?

If Johnno deal goes through can we see these Boro signings being completed?

You've made Miller and McDonald sound like dead certs and nothing has happened.

Will Nakamura still come?

SSN saying Robbie Keane to Celtic for the rest of the season......could bode well for the MacDonald deal!!!

Grove Hill Wallah

Looks like tomato sauce sandwiches again. Hope Mam brings something in from the chippy to warm us up

No strikers signing, means no goals and no promotion.

Well Done Boro!

jp

A bag of scraps and some broken biscuits. If we are good boy's maybe some of yesterdays cakes.

Can someone tell us what is happening at the Boro ?!?!

The finances must be worse that we thought if we can not complete deals without stripping more talent from the club (I am amazed GON is still here to be honest), very little investment into the club since relegation = frustrated fans.

The shocking thing is we all KNEW this would happen, Jonno deal last thing in the transfer window and us scrambling to sign players....what is it with boro dragging their feet and the fact that GS2 has been saying for days that Jonno was going nowhere........BRING IN THE CLOWNS!!!

i appologise to the so called moaners who have been saying for weeks that at the death johnson will go and we wont sign anybody because it looks to be the case, if selling johnson meant we would have signed mcdonald adam and nakamura then so be it, but selling him and signing only mcdonald isnt good enough for me, nothing ever happens does it? we are linked to all these players but never get them, just heard jonno has signed for man city, what a bad day its turned out to be.

i think we will get big mac and/or miller in...

what worries me now is midfield, Five out, Two in:

shawky - who cares

digard - in my opinion very good player.. But injury prone, and prob on quite high wages. Also his english didnt seem great. maybe he wasnt strachans cup a tea so probably sensible he has gone

However, with the other 3...

osbourne - not very exciting but i think he does his job well at this level at least. runs, tackles, short passes.

yeates - another one who in my opinion is good at this level, to have in your squad at least, as sheff utd agree! good worker, decent player.

Johnson - top scorer, top creator. only player we had who set us apart and who was likely to win us close games.

If adams had come off i think him plus flood and robson would have done overall to balance out the 5 departures, but now i feel a massive void of a creative midfielder in our team!

Mcdonald deal done according to BBC !

we got em mc and miller. fair play boro. come on!!!!

miller and mcdonald signed.100%

AV, nothing's been updated for a while...I'm getting nervous.

I eat my words McDonald and Miller have signed.

I think you have to hand it to WGS: he has worked nimbly and well in the transfer window, and appears to have managed to get our squad numbers back up to where we were at the start of the season. The only question mark would be concerning our left wing: Joe Bennett? Jonathan Franks? Willo Flood? Marvin Emnes, perhaps? (whom I was expecting to see the back of this month!)

Miller will hopefully do the kind of bustling that Mido was meant to; McDonald will hopefully score the goals that Alves was meant to; Robson will do the work that Digard was meant to; McManus may bring on our young defenders the way that Huth was beginning to; Killen is a useful target man, easier to play off than Tuncay, although not as inventive, of course; Naughton and Flood are just good extras, and Willo has already done more for us than Yeates did.

And, by my reckoning, he's done it for next to no capital outlay.

Take a bow, Wee Gordon!

Pretty happy with that, would have liked to have kept Adam and signed Adam as well, but we desperately needed that striker. McDonald looks like he could be what we have been missing.

Naughton is a good signing too, he can play left and right back, so could well be here to play on the left.

I guess Miller will be here to compete with Killen for the target man role, nice to have some options up front for a change.

Credit to Keith Lamb for managing to juggle all those balls and come up with something decent.

I was hoping that Johnno would have stayed until Summer. But not to be so. Do we have any wingers after Yeates was sold, too? Will we play 4-3-3 now or what? Please explain...

But then I am glad that GON and Robson are here. And absolutely delighted that Scott McDonald joined us. Now we have strikers enough (as Miller signs, too). Hope our midfielders can supply them some ball to put in to the bag. As GS2 said, you cannot win if you don't win.

But still sad to see Johnno leave. So mixed feeling even I know that McDonald could be our much needed SuperMac. Up the Boro!

Must be running out of Scottish rejects to sign by now! Given any thought to Andy Murray?

Hey, chaps, by the number of posts on here either everyone bar me is on holiday today or is out of work! I've not long been home, and find that our playing staff has massively changed.

I understand HR people like to measure the (un)happiness/boredness and other "nesses" of a company's staff by looking at absenteeism and by the turnover rate of employees. On that basis things at our club must have been very grim indeed.

On one hand just about our only creative player has been sold (Adam Johnson). On the other, his sale has helped us to sign up (and pay the wages for) Scott McDonald who obviously has a good strike rate and Lee Miller whose record isn't quite so bright, and our young Spurs fullback sounds a good loanee.

Best news of all, just confirmed by SSN is getting West Ham to loan Egypt's champion Parmo eater. Prediction: he will be very good and score in his first game or two, and then gradually fall out with team mates and management (who might be less tolerant than up here) before completely falling out of favour.

Incidentally I have just heard a good SSN interview with Adam J outside Eastlands, in which he said all the right things and thanked the people at the Boro for all they've done for him since he started with us at the age of about 12, but that this was a "once in a lifetime opportunity".

Take a bow, Ron Bone, David Parnaby etc, and all at our Academy. Aftet two very valuable left wingers sold in close succession (is any other club producing left wingers) would it be presumptious to ask for a young Rooney, a young Ronaldo and a young Torres next from Hurtworth?

According to this BBC list of transfers Mcdonald and Miller both signed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8490404.stm

AV - I notice on the Boro website, in the article where they discuss the Miller and McDonald signings, that there is a little footnote...

"Boro have cancelled the contract of Nathan Porritt"

This is Porritt, he of Panorama fame, the next best thing, the top left wing prospect possibly ever to come out of Boro, who recently signed professional terms, and now he's out? On a free?

Any information as to why?

**AV writes: Because while the group behind him - Bennett, Franks, Williams - are pushing on, he is going backwards. He's blown it.

Well all the posts suggest that there was not much work done on Teesside today!

However some decent business done by the club since Strach arrived through Lamby and Gibbo.

Now lets knuckle down and start doing the biz on the pitch.

My only regret is that our "Fame Academy" has failed the club in the selling off of it's prize assets who ideally should all be turning out in a Boro shirt in the top flight a this moment in time!

**AV writes: Or it has raised £20m for a cash-strapped club in six months.

The last post currently showing on my laptop is timed at 5.29pm and some recent comments seem very depressed and pessimistic. I opened up the blog and posted a shortie (well - maybe shortISH) before reading the 137 replies presently showing, on the basis of the info I was getting from Radio Brownlee and SSN.

I can only guess that the blog closed down for refuelling shortly after the 5pm Transfer Deadline, after signatures had been put onto the contracts and the paperwork had been faxed to the authorities but before news of our incoming transfers had been confirmed. I think people would be a little more optimistic now, despite Adam Johnson going on his inevitable way.

Incidentally, if Jinky is worth £8M - £10M and the Number 11 shirt at the richest club in the world, doesn't it strike you that he might have played a lot more games for the Boro a lot earlier? He didn't suddenly become a footballer 5/6 months ago last August.

Last season with Downing on one wing and Jinky on the other (and switching) how many of our Premier League competitors could prove their two wide midfielders were a better combination? Does ANYONE believe that Aliadiere or Emnes or even O'Neill if foolishly wasted away from his best central midfield role, were better so recently on the wing than Jinky? So why did they get starts in that position that could have been given to Johnson? Maybe one of the reasons we find ourselves in the Championship?

And finally, Big Respect (as they used to say in the Staines Massive) to Grove Hill wallah. Not only hitting another century whilst the rest of us were hard at work, but also posting a gem at 5.14pm. Time waits for no man (except Fergie).

Anyway - onwards and upwards!

Overall it feels a bit on the depressing side but I suppose it's the new reality -
or back to normality. Anyway, to us a more upbeat cliche, Mcdonald might score us sackful of goals and get us on the rollercoaster again!!

AV:

Was there a website glitsch around 5:30pm until about 6:30pm?

OR

Did so many of us get away on the wrong bus that you thought better of publishing posts that were subsequently shown to be a misrepresentation of the facts? Did you spare some blushes?

What a nice man you are!

What trigger-happy pillocks some people can be!

Really chuffed to get Macdonald and Miller. Now, who's going to create the chances for them?

AV- are they both loanees, or have we got either or both on a long-term contract?

**AV writes: Both real signings. Not sure about length yet.

Judging by the signings we made today, it looks like we have just become a long ball team.

This could well be a way to getting a playoff place. Hopefully it is just a means to an end.

Neil in Canada said:

Just need that hernia op of McDonald's to heal ASAP. Did I miss something here? I think you are getting mixed up with Kris Boyd from Rangers.

I hope I am correct in this, and we do not have to wait to see our new super striker knocking the goals in.

Come on you Reds!!! I for one cannot wait for the rest of the season. Lets all get behind the team now.

All I can say is,weve brought in players that come from a winning culture,and this Naughton signing tells you Gordon will play an attacking formation,this kid only knows going forward,its now a chance for everyone who calls themselves fans to get behind Gibbo again and shout,Were Back

AV - By my calculation, Boro have sold three more midfielders than they have obtained (since the relegation).

By staying throughout 13 months where he was the player-most-likely-to-leave, O'Neil has made himself a necessary starter. Robson is clearly another. It seems that Flood will likely to start until he performs poorly. So that leaves one midfield place.

Although I have seen excellent performances by Arca, they are all 18 months or longer ago, and more recently he has sometimes been worse than no player at all (I'm sorry to say). Who will be there to keep Arca on the bench?

And, along those lines, do you have any information on why the Adam deal fell through?

**AV writes: Blackpool wouldn't sell and Boro wouldn't go past their price sealing. The other midfielder will probably be Osbourne/Williams for now but don't rule out another loan signing after next week.

Grove Hill wallah said:

Judging by the signings we made today, it looks like we have just become a long ball team. This could well be a way to getting a playoff place. Hopefully it is just a means to an end.

An example being Jack Charlton school of football...but i'd settle for that if it brough the success it did to the Irish national team, not pretty but damned effective.

Big push for the playoffs now...come on Boro!

I have just seen up above that someone said Mcdonald is recovering from an operation is that correct Anthony. How did he pass his medical if that is correct. Mind at CROCKSVILLE anything can happen

For what it's worth, I liked Mido, he's skillful and scored useful goals. So what motivation was he given? Benched in favour of the worst signing we have ever made. No wonder he sodded off.

A wasted opportunity

John Aus

Untypical Boro? Untypical fans - we have nearly reached 200 posts here. And we haven't lost a match for two games!!!

I mean no negatives here (mostly) and I even so Lambie praised here - can you believe. Lambie praised and nearly 200 posts. Certainly untypical. Make you think...

About Scott the SuperMac: is he really injured or was it the Rangers striker? I am confused. Seconldy, if we have 18 games left it should mean 10 goals for our SuperMac!

Up the Boro!

**AV writes: McDonald had a routine hernia operation (similar to Gary O'Neil's earlier this term) a month ago but is fully fit and will start on Saturday.

ERIMUS!!!

Hats off to lamb and Gibson and GS2 for what I believe has been a very good transfer window!!!

WALLAH: you can only play what is in front of you, if that means we play a long ball game at times then so be it! WINNING is all that counts! I remember other managers in the old second division saying that boro were boring including Alan Mullery at Fulham! We beat them twice including a 4-0 drubbing! we can play it on the floor and we can play it in the air, thats options that we havent had for a while!

I would like to see jonathan Franks on the left of midfield, he did very well when he came on against citeh and he shows a calmness in front of goal.

AV i agree with you, £20 million of talent through the academy in six months. You can't keep all your players, there will always be those who want to move and we all know that Jonno's plans were never with the boro long term, whether we were in the premiership or not!

It will take a few games to settle so lets hope the doom merchants dont start jumping on our backs after one match when McDonald/Miller/Killen fail to score! For some reason we at boro always have short memories! sorry what did i say!

Will GHW get a double in the window special?

erimus said:

"Johnson is a talented lad but he will never have the skill or the consistency to lace Downing's boots."

Gutted!! said:

"Totally disagree I would have had both in the team years ago or Downing on the bench. Let's count their England caps and medals when they both retire. You also use the word 'skill' surely it's undoubted that Johnson has bags more skill and tricks than Downing? Downing is more of a Beckham - will whip the ball in without beating the man."

These two lads are totally different types of player so can only really be compared on their contribution to the team.

'Skill' is knowing what to do and when to do it. So for me Downing is the far more skillful player. He consistently hits the top of the charts for crosses into the box, which is after all his purpose in the team. Johnson is far from a finished article, he goes missing in games, makes the wrong decisions quite often and is quite one dimensional. Saying that he can drift past players and gets more goals than Downing.

However the team often suffers when you have this kind of player. For me whoever signed him was taking a gamble. He hasnt done it in the Prem yet and didnt even feature regularly for the U21 in the summer in Sweden.

We have got good money for Johnson, we are lucky City have bundles of cash and dont mind taking the gamble on him. I wish him the best of luck and congratulate him on his conduct whilst playing second fiddle to Downing.

This new Boro team will be a better unit for Johnsons departure. We finally have experience and the pressure will be removed from the young lads shoulders.

We should all feel optimistic about the coming months. If we miss the play offs then so be it. It just means we will be much better placed to push for promotion next season, far more than we were at the start of this one.

Its weird but i havent enjoyed following the Boro as much as i have this season for probably three years. Im actually enjoying not treading water in the prem and having something to talk about.

As Ian Gill says who is paying Mido’s wages? Is he completely of the Boro books now? Does his boro contract expire in the summer?

Also yesterday’s blogging was great, Cheers AV good stuff as usual and plenty of good input from other posters.

Good Luck Johnno, well Done Boro (inc the count). And as mentioned earlier this is now Strachan’s team. We are starting to see how it will play. But the most exciting thing is there is now a feeling of unity again from the fans. We have something to get behind and support. So let’s make sure we do that.

Come on Boro.

**AV writes: Reading between the lines West Ham have picked up Zamalek's loan deal. Hence the talk of £1,000 a week. It wouldn't surprise me if that is what they were paying. That would imply Boro are paying the balance, which would be the norm. What is anyone's guess. Maybe £20-25k basic. Obviously if he was here there would be appearance money and win bonuses on top to take it closer to £30k... maybe (shudder) even more.

Zamalek paid a £400,000 loan fee too. They wanted shot (which is a bit of a pattern in the wreckage the big lad leaves strewn in his wake) and the Hammers must believe they have got a too-good-to-be true bargain.

Boro could possibly block the deal but why would they? AT Zamalek he was rotting and with every week the chance of finding another club to take him next year - yes, he still has a year - faded. At West Ham he will be playing (sporadically) at a high level. The best case scenario is he scores a few goals and does well enough before his injury to persuade some other sucker to take a chance next year.

The whole episode has been a disaster.

AV

We may never know the full details of the Mido loan deal to The Hammers but the implication of the 'he's taken a massive pay cut to play for West Ham' stories is that MFC aren't making up the difference between what the East London club are paying and what Mido is getting.

If that's so, that's a very good bit of business too.

Is that how you understand it?

**AV writes: No. Mido would not be be insulted like that! The details are very hazy but I think West Ham have just picked up Zamalek's deal and they were only paying £1,000 a week. I think Boro are still paying the rest.

Anthony

One of my important comments which is is response to your response above has not been shown yet, is there any reason for this. was it bacause I made comments regarding Keith Lamb. Also you did not say what were the payments for the parachute and television following relegation. I await your response

**AV writes: It was all a bit busy yesterday so I don't remember - but if you implied in any way that he was grossly incompetant, a liar, a cheat, had his hands in the till, was deliberately running down the club or spent his spare time torturing young children or boiling kittens for fun then yes, I probably did take it out. Remind me.

I have mixed feelings about the window to be honest.

Admittedly, we've strengthened up front. Even two non-scoring big lads are better than no non-scoring big lads, which was our previous permanent tally. I'm completely ignoring Mido - because he was never going to be the answer to our problems.

McDonald? Don't know too much about him, but I hope he can do the business. The good thing about all of the new signings is that they're used to a league with a similarly, ahem, industrial style of football to it. If you've played in the Old Firm derbies, and away at Falkirk or St Mirren on a wet and windy February - you aren't going to be surprised about a weeknight trip to Peterborough.

The midfield is a gamble though. We've lost two central midfielders (Digard & Shawky) and two wingers (Yeates & Johnson), and replaced them with, on a permanent basis, Robson and Flood. Any way you spin it, even if Digard barely left the treatment table, that's two less in an already short midfield. We're looking at midfield personnel numbering:

1) Robson
2) O'Neill
3) Flood
4) Walker?
5) Arca
6) Williams (R)
7) Franks?

Those are our permanent midfield players. This is of course including Walker, who appears to be persona-non-gratis under Strachan, and Williams, who is technically a RB. So unless we get some loanees in - we're really short, and also, really narrow. Might just do the trick, but you only need a suspension and an injury or two and we can't put a midfield four out.

Unless of course, Strachan plans to play 2 LBs and 2 RBs, because let's face it - he's got plenty of those!

**AV writes: YOu can'y count Shawky as a functioning squad member and Digard has been injured for two years. Neither were going to feature under Strachan so whichever way you look at it HE has more to pick from.

One of the most unusual deals on deadline day was Mido's move to West Ham - where he will be on the lowest wages for a player in the Premier League. The Egypt striker signed on a six-month loan from Middlesbrough for £1,000 a week and Hammers owner David Sullivan called the deal "one of the most amazing of all time".

AV, that is from the BBC's website. What is going on? Are we still paying part of his wages? How much is he getting a week? Surely more than 1,000 a week. The cockney's are mugging us off again.

**AV writes: I believe that West Ham are only paying him £1,000 a week but I would be staggered if Boro are not paying stupid amounts as the balance.

Not to worry smoggy in exile....midfield numbers aren't that bad. We've got this superstar in the making in our reserve team just waiting to break through.....

Nathan Porritt! ;-)

Actually I'd be interested in figuring out how we can get the likes of Emnes into a winger role. I still don't believe he is that useless that he can't at least be a sub for us. I seem to recall match reports early on in the season saying that Emnes was giving the opposition defenders a hard time. He may not be effective in front of goal but he did set up a couple.

AV, is Emnes really worth so little that he is going to be frozen out? I mean he seemed like a decent lad, not a trouble causer or anything. Surely the right kind of motivation could see him provide us with an option?

Personally, I think yesterday's business can only be good for the club. Can't wait to get to a match!

**AV writes: Emnes is very, very laid back and doesn't really do high-tempo, snarling and closing down and neither does he playing to a rigid shape. That puts him well behind Flood, Franks and even Aliadiare in the pecking order. On £8-10k a week that is an expensive unused sub.

If we are still paying Mido £20K a week then that is disappointing. I remember that Zamalek paid a fee for this loan £400k? Do we owe them a refund or are the happy hammers picking this up?

If he has 18mths left on his deal then I see the benefit of putting him in the shop window but will anyone buy him? And if they did how much would they pay for a troublemaker with only one year on his contract, £1m?

Unless Mido has done the honourable thing and stopped taking Gibbo’s shilling (!?) he should have been left to rot at Zamalek as he didn’t want to be there. Or my prefered option brought back to Hurworth and beasted round the training ground by a retired Srgt Major 6 days a week.

Hell not play for the club, he’ll not return for pre season training on time, so in effect does not honour his contract but we still have to shell out the readies for him to play/get injured/become more un sellable for another club.

Bring him back ATTENTION!! QUICK MARCH!!

My expectation was that we were paying towards Mido's wages.

He is under contract to us. I suppose it is like gardening leave where you still get paid your salary. Or someone on secondment to another company, basic package may well stay the same as far as the individual is concerned but more than one party pays it. Unless we buy him out or agree a mutually satisfactory arrangement he will continue gettin paid.

Best scenario is that he does decently at West Ham and we can sell him.

Did anyone watch Sunderland vs Stoke last night? Admittedly a scoreless draw, but the midfield "tussle" between Cattermole and Whitehead was well worth the admittance\Sky money.

The best of three falls,two submissions,or a knockout. Great stuff!

Just wanted to say, great blog A.V Can you write one every day?

Also totally disgusted with Mido. i cant believe ( well, i can really) the way the London mafia/media are portraying his move to the hammers. To say we are still paying the other £29k of his salary really shows what has gone wrong with our club.

Can some one tell me a good Southgate buy?

Up the McBoro

**AV writes: One like that every day? Are you mad? Do you want me chained to the machine for 18 hours a day like a shoddy sportwear slave worker?

OK, I have no idea who is paying what to Mido - but the noises coming from both Mido and West Ham seem to indicate that he's made sacrifices to return to the PL and is only getting £1,000 a week.

Mido told Sky Sports News of his move to West Ham: "I had to sacrifice some things but I am here to play football. I am here to prove a point, definitely."

Hammers co-owner David Sullivan has previously stated that Mido had offered to play for just £1,000 a week.

If it subsequently comes out that Boro are paying him many more thousands on top then he will appear both as a hypocrite and a liar - though maybe he's long since given up on his personal image.

**AV writes: Nothing with Mido is ever clear cut andit may well suit him to portray himself as a great martyr suffering for his muse ... but there has never been anything to indicate anywhere that his existing deal with Boro has been dissolved, modified or paid up. And there is 18 months to go on it.

We seem to have a good manager for a while now? I think I posted a while ago that GS2 has a plan to built a winning team. He kept on saying that all the time. And we did not believe. We did have faith in the chap!

I think a lot have changed now. GS2, SG and Lambie are all praised here. Cannot wait for Saturday now. Even the live blog is working.

Nice to be a Boro supporter for a change. Up the Boro!

Grove Hill Wallah

Saw bits of the tag wrestling last night along with some basketball from Huth. That must have been the slick Prem passing style that we were used to playing against in the Premiership.

We went down because were were not good enough to be Arsenal Lite nor strong enough against the likes of Stoke, Bolton, Mackems etc.

I dont think we are going to be long ball, people like Robson can pass and play, Flood will run at players, O'Neill will run and pass and generally be the Duracell Bunny.

Hoopefully we will have brought in a bit of grit and experience, a few more goals and a little bit of fire in the belly.

That might be a better framework for more of the Academy players to come into the team and perform. It might be a better environment for the likes of M&S and Aliadiere.

Maybe we can start climbing the table and worry about later when it comes. Cross the bridges as we get to them.

Maybe it will not go well but at least we will have tried.

**AV writes: "Hoopfully?" *scribbles note*

I must be getting very sad, or very bored at the office.

However, after my last post about Strachan's Celtic not being Martin O'Neill's Celtic (ie Strachan had the success of his own making, not on the back of MON) I thought I'd see if I could find anything about the amount of change he did actually introduce during his time in Glasgow.

Season Players In Players Out
------- ---------- -----------
2005/06 9 11
2006/07 12 14
2007/08 13 15
2008/09 12 9

I've excluded loan outs and I haven't tried to see if any of the people he moved on were also people he had brought in. All the same, when you look at the raw stats, that Celtic team was his, so he did know what he was about up here.

I'm suspecting this augurs well for Boro, now he has shipped out what he doesn't feel is up to it and got in people he quite fancies, it could be good run in for the rest of the season. More than that, it suggests he is also going to be on the ball when it comes to restructuring what he has now got, to meet the demands of the next season, whichever league we will be in (hopefully having gone up).

I'm warming even more to the new project.

As I understand it, we had absolutely nothing to do with Mido's deal yesterday, West Ham simply took over Zamalek's deal. Now, if Zam were paying him 10k/week (as an example), Mido could have taken a 'massive pay cut' to 1k/week (from West Ham/Zamalek)

But - his deal with Boro will be unchanged, so we will still be paying him the difference (say 30k/week), like when he was at Zamalek.

**AV writes: That is how I read it... but I think "the boy is a diamond geezer who is ready to pay to play for this club" is a PR stunt.

I got this comment from a college of mine at work (he is Scottish and I am Finnish) when we emailed about yesterday and Boro in particular:

"It’s becoming another little part of Scotland. It will take some time for all the players to gel but McDonald will score goals anywhere as he tends to get ignored because of his size and pops up when defenders least expect it !! Strachan will do well but it might be next year before he gets it right. I played against him a few times when he played with Dundee FC and Aberdeen."

My mate has scored against Celtic, too.

Up the Boro!

Johnson is a disloyal little twerp. He should have signed a new deal and seen if we went up. If not, we'd have it in writing he'd be allowed to leave but not for just £7m. Downing did this and will be remembered fondly as a result.

Enjoying warming bench, judas.

Just got home from work via a quick detour (Dracula is back in town and has been systematically draining the populace - Blood Transfusion Service! It's a front for the blood guzzling activities of Keith Lamb's fanged friend!) and of course the first thing to do - whilst son and heir is cooking the evening meal (!!!) - is to switch on the Boro Blog.

Imagine my surprise, as they used to say in all the Sunday Newspapers, when I find some 237 posts. It must be a record, surely? I will have to come back after eating, and then clearing up a few work jobs, in order to catch up. Perhaps all the Mirror e-mails have been diverted onto our site by AV's amateur IT repairs.

The good news is that Captcha doesn't seem to feature on my screen yet. Let's see what happens when I press the button.

And finally, if you hear nothing from me, the leaves I saw son and heir scatter into the saucepan may not have been herbs after all. Little does he know that he will inherit a lot of debt if this culinary experiment goes belly up.

**AV writes: I think we have been over 200 before (after West Brom last year and when Southgate got the bullet) but yes, this is a new high and 212 posts in one day (3,000+ unique IP addresses and 15,000 page impressions) is I think a national record of some sort. For a provincial paper. On a Monday. Or something.

Barry Silkman was interviewed yesterday regarding the Mido deal as he was acting on behalf of West Ham United on the transfer.

He confirmed that the transfer was agreed with MFC and the previous loan agreement with Zamalek had effectively been torn up.

My take on it is Boro are paying nothing or a very small amount towards Mido's wages.The player himself knows that he needs to change his image/reputation especially when his contract expires in 18 months time.

Going to West Ham gives him a platform to show what he can do and another sucker club will sign him on a 4 year deal paying us £1m or so in the process.He has had more clubs than a golf bag.

I can't believe how much my spirits have been lifted by our seven signings! Sure, the last three games have seen us play with more steel and we remain unbeaten which has helped put me in a more positive frame of mind but I have to say, yesterday was great fun and very uplifting!

Well done to the Boro hierarchy for pushing through some very shrewd purchases/sales/loans etc albeit with the caveat that we didn't get all our targets. The loan window should help there.

Sod Mido and sod Keane and those mad Hoops fans' who think they've just signed the Messiah! They're bonkers, really they are! I do understand their excitement though as they have lost their most prolific striker, some great leaders and men of 'mettle' to be replaced with lightweight Johnny foreigners!

Yesterday may not have been spectacular for footy fans generally, given the low amounts paid etc but it was certainly a very busy and fruitful transfer window for us.

Missing out on Adam and Nakamura was a real shame although one can only hope that when the emergency loan window opens, we'll be doing some more shopping. Oh no, it's pretty safe to say that Strachan has not completed his vision. And boy have I bought into it!

I am particularly excited by the arrival of McDonald! Finally, a real striker to behold! When was the last time the Northeast had one of them? He doesn't have Malcolm's strange looking pegs and he's titchy but he's got a real knack for scoring goals, at club level at least.

And as for Naughton? Finally, a real attacking defender! Woohoo! Boy am I excited! He was Sheffield Utd's Young Player of the Year and was Runner-Up for the more manly accolade, so he knows how to do it at the very highest level in this league.

I don't like Miller. The drink I mean! Silly! With him and Killen, two players who hold the ball up and bring others into play means that we may just play a higher percentage of the game in the opposition's final third. That's good, right?

As for Wallah's worries, I wouldn't like to see Coyne hoofing it up to these lads too many times but if it gets us goals in key moments, there is nothing wrong with that. It gives us another great way of scoring goals and that is a very good thing.

Up the Boro!

More on midoughs wages:

However, the Hammers co-owner was delighted Mido had agreed to come to Upton Park on a cut-price deal.

Sullivan said on ESPNsoccernet: "Mido has come to us for a token salary because he wants to prove himself, he wants to prove he can be a force in the English game.

"He can earn £50,000-a-week staying where he is or going back to Boro, but he has come to us because he wants to prove himself in the Premier League and he wants to play for West Ham."

Sullivan added: "We simply can't afford Robbie Keane. Of course, we'd have liked him, who wouldn't? But it would have worked out at £105,000 a week for the rest of this season, as well as a transfer fee. We simply cannot afford it.

"Then we have Mido. It would be one of the most amazing deals of all time.

"He doesn't want to be known as a 'has been' of English football, so he willing to come here to play for a nominal fee, just £1,000 a week."

Any chance someone from the club will give us a definitive answer?

Further utterances by West Ham on the Mido deal seem to indicate that Boro aren't paying any of his wages - Perhaps someone from MFC could comment on the matter to clarify things.

Sullivan said on ESPNsoccernet: "Mido has come to us for a token salary because he wants to prove himself, he wants to prove he can be a force in the English game.

"He doesn't want to be known as a 'has been' of English football, so he willing to come here to play for a nominal fee, just £1,000 a week."

"He can earn £50,000-a-week staying where he is or going back to Boro, but he has come to us because he wants to prove himself in the Premier League and he wants to play for West Ham."

**AV writes: I think someone somewhere is dealing in dis/misinformation. If he is still registered Boro then his existing contract and wage stands. FIFA rules protect the wages of players who go on loan. There has been no indictication that his deal with Boro has been altered, bought out or terminated. It may well be true that West Ham are only paying him £1,000, I have no way of knowing, but the rest of the line they are trotting out doesn't stack up.

There is a god!

Gary Cauldwell own goal puts Notts County 2-0 up at a deserted DW Stadium.

We can't just leave it at 248 !! So I'll offer one of the failed postings from yesterday's excitement and hope that Brisbane Phil or any of the Antipodean cohort haven't pumped one into the box while the Nightwatchman wasn't looking!

Two great results for the BORO last night. pity about the two points dropped on Saturday.

Is this the 250th post? And we are not talking after a Cup exit or home defeat in the league. Untypical happy people.

This could be a new start to something. Long may it continue. Up the Boro!

Hi there Anthony

I apologise if I said anything wrong in my request for information. Maybe it was knowing him from a time gone by. Thank you for your response which is honest as usual keep up the good work.

Maybe a pint when I return. All the best

DAVE C

A few thoughts about overseas players in the Premiership.

One of the reason for being English players is the concern over quotas being introduced. When ManU were busy in Europe post the Heysel ban they struggled early on with the limits on overseas players. If I remember rightly that included the Celtic nations as well.

Citeh bringing in Jinky wont harm their cause and I believe the proposed new rules would help those who bring foreign players through their academies. What intrigued me watching the Arsenal v Manu game was the comment as Walcott came on that he was the only English player to score for Arsenal this season. What is more you have to go back to 1998 to find the last time an English player, Tony Adams, scored for Arsenal against ManU.

That is truly appalling and whilst it is hardly surprising giving their emphasis on bringing in overseas players a look through over prem and championship sides scorers would be illuminating. Maybe if Vic gets a break from Viagra sourcing he could let us know the stats? Maybe not.

One thing I noticed about Johnno's parting words for the Boro was his praise for people at MFC - 'they know who they are', praise for Parnably and the academy plus special mention for Strachan.

No mention of Gate in there. Maybe it was an oversight. Mmmmm.

david connor

Not sure I follow how last night's results were great for Boro - though, clearly, dropping two points last Saturday was a problem.

The group below the top three is now beginning to bunch a little but now the game in hand that all but The Blades have on Boro make us as vulnerable to the three or four sides below us as to some above. And we still have the same gap to close.

The ask for even a play off place is pretty steep and equates to two points a game, average, starting last Saturday. And that's just to sneak it. As we recall from the start of the season, two points per game was the ask - correctly - for an automatic promotion slot.

So, Boro have to shift from what was - until recently - virtually relegation form to automatic promotion form and then sustain it right to the end of the season. And do that while Strachan continues his Red Rebuild Revolution.

The last three games have established the D-W-D pattern but, unusually, the draws are coming at home - albeit, that's an improvement of course.

But last Saturday's draw means that to stay on schedule Boro have to win at Ipswich - otherwise it's catch up time again. That's the scale of the demand.

I think that, after the business done in the window - and if we could get a couple more of the right loans with the likes of Rhys Williams fit - we are much better placed than we were. A run of wins shouldn't be beyond us at some point either.

But the disastrous run that, hopefully, we've now seen the back of has left a seriously big challenge to overcome.

No hard feelings Mr Caldwell. Nice finish by the way! :o)

Hi there John Powls

Sheff Utd got beat if they had won they would have gone a further 3 points ahead in the "Play-Off Place." Preston got beat if they had won they would have jumped ahead of us in the league.

So the results where great for the BORO. I hope this answers your question my friend.

You have to admire how Gordon can put a team together - can you imagine what he could do with real money?

I can hardly believe it's the Boro. We seem to be identifying targets and actually securing their signature. Even Johnsons departure was a graceful affair done in a really professional manner.

There is a tangible sense of hope and belief in the air. Before the end of this season we will be seen as the 'form' team of the championship - it might be too late for this year but we will see a dramatic change.

I can see Downing and Johnson both going to South Africa and between them taking that left midfield place. I'd enjoy the world cup so much if Downing, Johnson and Like Young 'got on the plane'.

Things will be made a lot easier for Downing now that Terry, Lampard and Ashley have other things on their mind and will have to stop 'hard selling' their buddy Joe Cole as our answer to England's left side. Up until recently Joey boy has been injured, he has ONE good game and Lampard starts campaign to have him reinstated. Time for Capello to give him some advice he can't refuse.

Scoredraw.

I too am looking forward to the World Cup, but can't see Jinky being there. Downing I hope does make it. He is the best option in England on the left for me, by a mile.

As for current Boro interest, if MacDonald hits the net regularly for us, we may have at least one Boro player to follow in South Africa.....oh, and Killen too !

How about a quick poll AV? Can this squad make the play offs?

I think...

Yes we can! (it worked for Obama)

An Antipode forward line. I don't suppose there are many clubs that can boast that fact (apart from Celtic a month ago).

As already noted on the blog, it will give us a bit more interest in the up coming world cup.

I'm seriously struggling to think what our midfield will be on Saturday. GON, Flood and probably Arca are guaranteed, but who will be the 4th? Is Osbourne still here and fit? If not, I can only think of Franks, Emnes or even Bennett to play on the left?

Josh Walker maybe, with Arca on the left, but he doesn't seem to be in GS2's thoughts.

Why are we aiming for 300? Let’s go for 500. Why are we aiming for the play offs lets go for Automatic.

I think 500 posts are more likely than automatic. So we could have 3 players at the world cup, Killen, McDonald and Jones. Can any Chimpship teams match that? How many Prem teams will beat it? Time do some research and produce the FIFA world cup 2010, English teams represented League Table.

PS Do we think WGS will be a pundit again? And if he is would he work along side GS1. I wonder if they would see the same game differently.

I think Strachen et al deserve praise for this last transfer window. A deal for Adam from Blackpool would have been the cherry on top, but I hope we can bring in someone creative on loan.

My dad's a Scot, and he is the toughest, most hard-working man I know -- he's definitely someone you want on your side. Add to to that some Antipodean steel and I'm excited about our new look.

I wish Johnno all the luck in the world at Man City, and I hope he succeeds there in the same way that Downing seems to be at Villa. This season, I think we tended to rely a little too much on Johnson. When he was on fire, we looked great, but when he wasn't, we didn't.

Onwards and upwards! By the way, I'd just like to thank everyone for their insights. Reading this blog, the banter, the opinions etc. is one of the highlights of my day.

I can't seem to access the live match-day blog thingy, AV. But one can't have everything.

**AV writes: The replay facility should be working but to be honest I don't really know anything about the technology. I'll ask.

BoroPhil

My understanding is that Osbourne goes back on Friday - if he hasn't already, given that O'Neil's not for extending his loan.

If it's a four in midfield then I agree that - by process of them being the only warm bodies (But Land Crabs can't be warm bodied, surely?!) available - the three you mention will be there.

Josh Walker is a possibility in an 'Osbourne/Rhys Williams' role but he played the full ninety in the Ressies the other evening and I've noticed that Strachs doesn't tend to do that with players he's thinking of starting the following Saturday - so he's likely to be on the bench.

That leaves, I think, two possibilities for the wide role.

Naughton could play wide right - he's done it before for The Blades. Or Bennett could play wide left - as he's done very successfully for Eng-er-lund U20's.

That role suits his current physique much better than left back anyway, but he could also give some track back support to Hoyte if he continues at left back.

The other alternative is to go 4-3-3.

Play Naughton and Hoyte as wing backs for width and crosses, have the three you mention as a narrow midfield three (a much better prospect for The Land Crab anyway, tucked in on the left alongside GON) and McDonald and a choice of Franks/Lita/Emnes (probably in that order) either side of Killen/Miller.

Strachan has experimented with 4-3-3 a bit recently - including in part of the Donny away win when Jon Franks played wide left of the front three.

The first two goals came in that formation and the last two when they'd gone back to 4-4-2.

Lets keep our feet on the ground everbody.

Victory against ipswich or any other team not guaranteed. There's a long way to go yet. We can hope we make the play offs but not a disaster if we cant

Something had to be done at the club and Strachan has to be complimented taking on such a massive task . Things will improve no doubt with the new players.
but it will take time.

I think some of the players under Southgate believed they were in the comfort zone
no more they aint !

Nice to see Jonno complementing strachan

I'm with Ian Gill on the issue of work rate and quality, work rate is vital and a big part of being a succesful footballer, it can easily be combined with quality, the two are not mutually exclusive.

As for this current team struggling in the premiership if we were promoted, there's nothing new there. all Championship sides struggle when they are promoted, if we are that lucky we'll have to hope that we can buy enough 'additional quality to go with what we have to keep us up.

I'll be a very happy man if come the end of May I'm worrying about the forthcoming premiership season.

Adam Newton asks why anyone wants the club in its current state to get promoted .....

Well, firstly because most contributors on this blog are Boro fans, so it goes with the territory that you want your team to succeed and getting promoted would be quite a good measure of success for the season.

Then I happen to think (as do a lot of others from reading the comments in this thread) that the club (GS2 plus all the guys in the background) have put together a team that looks like it can perform well in the Championship.

If you see my earlier post about Strachan's team building and rebuilding when at Celtic, then I also have the confidence that the appropriate changes will be made to make sure that we will retain that place in the Premier league.

I also believe that with the improved work ethic of the team now, irrespective of any changes that will be made in the Summer and which is certain to be carried forward into the coming seasons, we will have a team that is going to be capable of mixing it well with all of the bottom half of the Premier League and to put in some above level performances against the big guns.

That [mixing it well with the teams in the lower half of the division], I suggest, is going to be the key to our survival in the top league when we get there, be that this year or next.

I hope this particular blog is not ongoing simply to reach 300. After all size isnt everything, is it AV!

**AV writes: How cynical. As I'd been writing pretty much continuously between Saturday afternoon and late Monday night either on here or for the paper I thought I'd earned a bit of a breather. Obviously not. Do you want blood?

Mr Gibson speaks and says absolutely nothing, hopefully it's the first part of six exclusives and he will become more open, honest, and frank about the season so far, outlining his vision, ambition and the relationship or lack of it with supporters. I also don't want to be told how hard Keith Lamb is working (PR stunt) especially when the bulk of the signings have come from Celtic.

I reckon it's now time to get the old gang back together for a video chat AV? Always insightful and entertaining!

Nigel Reeve at 1.24 p.m.

'I'll be a very happy man if come the end of May I'm worrying about the forthcoming premiership season.' I'm absolutely with you on that.

Equally, and on top of having to suffer another season of the 'quality/entertainment free zone' that is The Championship, the scramble up the slippery slope isn't going to get any easier next season.

Likely, the three who go down being replaced by Leeds, Norwich and Charlton and the three promoted being replaced, probably, by teams who have yo-yoed before and - like The Baggies - probably aren't going to ship out many of their players.

And it would be the last year of Boro's parachute payment to give us some edge on budget - though GON and a few others will go anyway - and with the cardre of Celtic players available getting fewer!

That may be our fate anyway, of course - but I'd rather be concerned about the other problem having come off the back of a very nice day out at Wem-bur-lee.

**AV writes: Coming down it could be Pompey, Hull and West Ham, all who could disintegrate under the weight of their debts.

Lurks at the back post hoping for the easy knock in!!!!

**AV writes: I can hear the Dubious Posts Panel assembling in the next room.

And it's there already! The Jedward. Fantastic pic AV!

"Owld on...it's gone. I refreshed and it's gone. But it was there. I saw it!

Who else caught it?

**AV writes: It should still be there unless it has been filtered out by your firewall for bad taste

Like the hair AV!!

Let's hope we can get just as many into the box against Ipswich.

Love the new pic AV.

After a very nervy time on Monday afternoon i'm now feeling optimistic for the rest of the season after the new signings.

Up the Boro.

No, it is there. Wedermouth confirms it and it is clearly on my screen. I thought I was seeing things.

All I can say is that it shows commitment to duty above and beyond.

Well done Sir.

It seems Steve Gibson has moved away from the idea of building a team based on young local talent. Which I think is a pity.

Unless things change dramatically, as far as finance is football is concerned, we will never get back to the top half of the Premiership. The best we can hope for is bottom half Premiership/top half Championship. I would have thought that was possible with a backbone players from our academy.

**AV writes: I think they have high hopes of the next bactch but one (those who are 16 now) and are still keen for the Academy to supply talent but have recognised that the steel sometimes has to be imported (like when they built the ground.)

I think the whistle has gone!!

Notes the lurkers were all Live Blog Crew.

Congratulations to The Braveheart.

Fitting that a Scot got the 300.

Aaarrggghhh! With 299 comments on the board and a gaping net, I couldn't finish (my entry was returned because I had not provided my name or e-mail). Gutted. Makes Ronny Rosenthal look tame: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiVq5-u7MH0

Being the selfish "Fox in the Box" and Slavenistic goal hanger I am, I'm afraid that I must call for an emergency meeting of the dubious goals panel.

I noticed previously in the thread that AV admitted to pulling a comment. Therefore that would make 299 actually 300. Over to you Dormo.

Jedward says: "Thanks to Chris Hunneysett for the hair-raising image. If anyone fancies doing one in ginger feel free."

No can do AV, but see what Strachan was doing circa 69.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_iLZXjhI-g&feature=related

I would have suggested the Intro as a replacement for Pigbag but the sentiment is wrong. So, in the Strachanovite Spirit of the Declaration of the Year Zero (a well known concept on the South East Virtual Terrace), I offer The Vision of Gibbo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfdHNWJ1Xhk&feature=related

Hair, Ginger Hair and the Boro away day experience.

Bling Faith old chap!

Well done Braveheart1.

Missed all the late action as I had to go and do the school run. Did someone mention aiming for 500 ?

I have noticed that there is definitely a quality control problem as word spreads that AV's Blog is due to reach the "magic number".

Now if I was AV, I would squash all the short "Is it me, is it me?" posts and deposit them in the cyberspace bin along with all the Viagra and libellous jabberwalky that dilutes what is otherwise the best Footy Blog out there.

I would rather read an insightful 300th post than one that has been posted simply for the glory of it all. I think it's poor sport and does AV's Blog an injustice.

It's all spam unless it's got true meaning...get my drift?

Boooooooooooo!

Following this blog is taking more and more time. But fun.

Someone asked why I started supporting Boro in Finland. I saw the match when Boro beat Arsenal in the FA Cup (was it 3-1?) on a sunny afternoon in the 1970's.

At that time we had just 2 channels on TV but we saw an English league match nearly every Saturday. As our own season was from May to September (we currently have 60 cm or 2 feet snow!) we had the English league on the pools coupons for most of the year, too.

So everybody of my friends and brothers had a favorite team in England. But as I studied English at school I wanted to learn more of the language. So I and my brother persuaded our mother to buy 'Shoot' every week to us. And that was not easy then!

I continued to contact MFC to get some pen pals in Middlesbrough. So I knew more and more about the team. I have always liked the small teams (read unsuccessful in this case) so in the end I was 'proud' to be a fan if the unsuccessful Boro.

When I was 20 I made my first ever trip abroad - to Middlesbrough of all places (who else can say that?). Before you call the doctor, it was a great trip. I met my favorite player Terry Cochrane, other palyers, David Amstrong's mom and sister etc after a match. I was over the moon and visited my three pen pals also.

I was famous for the only time in my life (a Boro supporter from abroad and non-English). Now after 30 years I still follow Boro and I am happy with all the silverware (1!!!) we have. And my son is a Boro supporter, too. We were glad to see Juninho live and meeting Schwartzer twice, etc. So that's my story about Boro.

But anyway I am looking forward to Boro being back in the PL - as I cannot see them on TV if we don't get promoted.

Up the Boro!

PS. I was at Hartlepool in the old Third Division in 1986, too. Our first match under the Gibson reign. The best match emotionally I have seen live so far. Erimus.

The midfield four (or is it three?) is interesting to see at Ipswich? Any guesses?

Secondly what are the squad numbers for our new players and Supermac in particular?

Up the positiveness!

BBB(hoy)

Gosh that takes me back to when we used to run school buses (arranged by a couple of us) to gigs (aka concerts) to Newcastle City Hall in the late 60's to see the like of Led Zeppelin and The Who.

Sundays on the train to the Redcar Jazz Club to see John Mayall - if Carlsberg had a father of British Blues... - Fleetwood Mac, Nice, Free.

Then I moved on to Leeds Uni to see bands like Rolling Stones, Family, Hisemans Colliseum, Led Zeppelin and Traffic. Plus of course going to see Leeds Utd and as a neutral seeing just how evil they were off the ball.

Wonderful music followed by 'the team that Jack built'

Sorry about the nostalgia.

PS John Powls is a Pickettywitch fan - I can just see him singing 'I still get the same old feeling'. In later life he tried to form a Bucks Fizz tribute band.

I await a stinging response from the aforesaid, much maligned, blues loving schoolmate.

Powmill:

You can't make "THIS IS SPARTA!" jokes at 500.

On the other hand, you could bring up The Proclaimers...

Neil in Canada.

It is just a bit of fun. Until you leap on the cyber advertising hoardings and salute the virtual South Terrace you haven't lived.

This blog is a godsend for all of us exiled Boro fans, the only place where we can discuss all things MFC. Please allow us a little bit of escapism.

AV runs a pretty tight ship and that is the main reason why it is so good, many a grammatical or spelling faux pas is corrected saving us embarrasment. It is a bit unfair to try and slip potentially libelous stuff on here, I'm sure he tires of editing at times. Come on everyone, AV is providing a great blog here, let's not spoil it. He is spending a lot of his free time here and deserves our thanks.

Here's to deepening Roy Keane's scowl on Saturday.

Yes We Can!

Hey lads (and lasses)! This is getting beyond a joke. A hard day at the coalface and when we return from a quiet libation or two at the Battered Badger, what do we find? In excess of 320 posts on this thread>

Don't you lot have lives to live?

It will take me ages to read the posts since I was last here (and that wasn't long ago). I wonder if they are positve or mostly negative? The view at the pub was "we will wait to see" but I have a slightly more positive streak in me. Can't wait for the Ipswich game (but on the other hand the 6 Nations is upon us, and the Wychwood Ales call very seductively).

Sleep well fellow posters (save those in Oz who are no doubt planning an assault on the mythical 400, whose existence had previously been doubted).

Powmill

Can you please explain your comment above regarding the following

"And Ian Gill ... I too remember the evil Leeds Utd ... remember being so disappointed with the old elite teams of the 70s, when we got into the 1st Division under Jack Charlton. It was an eye opener to what professional football at the top really is all about, being able to "cheat" or play dirty and get away with it."

Are you saying that the Charlton team that got promoted "CHEATED" if you are then I suggest that you read the statistics for that season. He had a team that played to the strenghts of the players. Your comment regarding his team absolutely outstand me. AV do you know what he is talking about.

Also AV sometimes when we put words in CAPITALS it is not being "shouty" it is trying to get a point accross. However, on future posts I will endeavour to use inverted commas my friend. This will save time on your review.

So what about that pint mid march.whoops March?

**AV writes: I don't mind the odd WORD in capitals to add emphasis. It is when people JAM THE CAPSLOCK ON FOR WHOLE SENTENCES TO NO REAL EFFECT THAT IT ALL GETS A BIT NUTTER IN THE BUS STATION.

Talking about transfers here are some points to remember. I know this is not a full and comprehensive list but it does show that we were approx £30 million in profit on these transfers alone.

Also take into account the transfer fees of local players Downing/Cattermole £16million.

Highest transfer fees

As not all transfer details are made public, undisclosed transfer fees are not included in the tables, however reported media estimates of notable fees are included below to give a general idea. Fees are listed as the highest total that the fee could rise to.

Paid

1 Afonso Alves £12.8m Heerenveen January 2008

2 Massimo Maccarone £8.15m Empoli July 2002

3 Ugo Ehiogu £8m Aston Villa October 2000

4 Aiyegbeni Yakubu £7.5m Portsmouth July 2005

5=Fabrizio Ravanelli £7m Juventus July 1996

5=Jonathan Woodgate £7m Real Madrid April 2007

7 Gareth Southgate £6.5m Aston Villa July 2001

8=Juninho Paulista £6m Atlético Madrid July 2002

8=Robert Huth £6m Chelsea August 2006

8=Mido £6m Tottenham Hotspur August 2007

TOTAL £74.95m

Received

1=Juninho Paulista £12m Atlético Madrid July 1997

1= Stewart Downing £12m Aston Villa July 2009

3 Aiyegbeni Yakubu £11.25m Everton August 2007

4= Paul Merson £7m Aston Villa September 1998

4=Afonso Alves £7m Al-Sadd September 2009

6=Luke Young £6m Aston Villa August 2008

6=Robert Huth £6m Stoke City August 2009

8 Nick Barmby £5.75m Everton October 1996

9 Christian Ziege £5.5m Liverpool August 2000

10 Fabrizio Ravanelli £5.25m Olympique de Marseille August 1997

11 Tuncay Şanlı £5m Stoke City August 2009

12 Emerson Moisés Costa £4.2m CD Tenerife January 1998

13 Lee Cattermole £4m Wigan Athletic July 2008

14 Christian Karembeu £3.5m Olympiacos August 2001

15 Franck Queudrue £3m Fulham July 2006

16 Gary Pallister £2.3m Manchester United August 1989

TOTAL £99.75

Undisclosed fees

Jonathan Woodgate £7–8m Tottenham Hotspur January 2008

**AV writes: Interesting but flawed and I'm not really sure what you are trying to show. That the club have brought more in on transfer than they have laid out? Maybe, but the sales list goes down to £2.3m while the buys list stops at £6m , effectively cutting out the likes of Viduka, Young, Merson, Ince, Gascoigne, and a whole host of others.

Plus it is simplistic to look at transfer fees in isolation because you effectively need to double the figure on any single deal to take account of wages. Maccarone and Ehiogu for instance cost the club £16m each and left on frees.

Wages are probably a bigger factor than sales in the overall deficit. Think of the likes of Boksic, Hasselbaink, Mendieta who arrived for nothing so don't show in those lists but took out £60k or £40k a week ... thats £3 or £2m a year each over the life of their contracts. That's where the debts come from.

Ian Gill

Good to read of the great music above and your travels to see it. I was one of those also. Here is a little bit of info for you. 13th July 1963 The Rolling Stones first ever gig outside of London was at the "Outlook club" Middlesbrough on the same bill was the Hollies. Oh Happy days.

Powmill

I remember peoples expectations after the promotion under big Jack. They had seen the sanitised highlights on MOTD and thought they would see teams strutting their stuff.

Instead they got cynical teams like Leeds and Liverpool quite happy to kill the game. They showed all the tricks that brought about the rules on last man, goal scoring chances, professional fouls, goalies handling outside the area, back passes, off the ball incidents etc.

Not all was wonderful in the past, diving didnt start with Johnny foreigner, a certain Lee Wun Pen who played for Man City and Derby was an expert.

Something provoked a little smile when I read my morning paper's sports supplement.

There was a promotional offer in the Daily Telegraph offering a chance to win tickets for the derby game at Anfield. It was in association with Espana!

Maybe the Gazette could do one in conjunction with the Glasgow tourist board.

Adam Johnson on his move....

"I went to see the manager to tell him I would like the opportunity to talk with Manchester City,” said Johnson, fully aware of the substantial offers coming in from Eastlands since that night in South Yorkshire.

But rather than be told his wish would not be granted, Strachan surprisingly replied "I know you would; leave it with me." Boro’s stance had softened. A deal was going to take place and Johnson was about to leave the club where it all started for him at the age of 13.

It was not that Strachan wanted to lose Johnson; he did not want to stand in his way after accepting the offer – an initial £6m rising to £8m – was probably more than they would receive at a tribunal in the summer.

"He knew how I felt and he knew I wanted this opportunity to play for a big team. He is a top, top man and he was fantastic to work for,” said Johnson.

“There might be Middlesbrough fans doubting him, but I think he is a terrific manager. All I can talk about is the way he treated me. He is hard but fair. He has been absolutely brilliant with me and my family.

“I had a great relationship with Gordon Strachan and when I spoke to him to say I was on my way for a medical he said ‘I told you, you could trust me.’ I know that I will stay in touch with him. Whenever I need advice I will call him.

“Gordon Strachan wanted me to stay, let’s make that clear, and he told me that plenty of times, but he knew what I wanted.”

Hello My names SmogontheTyne, and I’m a post-a-holic.

It’s taken a while to admit that I have a problem but I am addicted to this Blog. In the future I am going to try and limit my posts to five a day, and try to make at least one serious point and not mention Multi-ball bar billiard style over time.

There you have it, I have said it. I think we all should. It’s like a great weight being lifted from my shoulders. Now to whack on down to the Batter Badger and get stuck into the Hobgoblin with Dormo.

Jarkko cheers for your Boro related story, I love to hear how great misfortune touched us all to become Boro fans and Post-a-holics alike.

**AV writes: Any more confessionals? Or backstories? I was going to write a new piece this morning but I'm liking the way this discussion is mellowing and meandering in post-window contentment.

I welcome the new more realistic attitude that has spread amongst Boro fans in January. I can’t be doing with all the hysteria from some people who think we have a “right” to be in the Premier League and that we “should” be competing with Villa, Spurs etc. Those days are gone.

It has taken a while to come to terms with the effects of relegation, losing our status and our superstars and having to aim lower in ambition and transfer targets.

The attitude over Jonno (“good luck to the lad” “can’t blame him”) is like back to old days when we accepted our station in life and that our brightest and best would move on.

Now we have come to terms with where we are it is time to shrug our shoulders in resignation and move on.

AV you wily fox, got an eye on 400?

When Boro reached the ZDS cup final tickets were very hard to come by. This competition was SKY's first foothold in televised football and the "expert" sitting next to the commentator was Ron Atkinson. On a whim I decided to telephone Big Ron and try and blag a ticket.

"Good Morning"
"Can I speak to Mr Atkinson please"?
"One moment please, who shall I say is calling"?

The next voice I heard was, "Ron, what can I do for you"?

I was gobsmacked, what followed was a 10 minute conversation about football and Boro's chances in the final. Unfortunately he didn't have any tickets, but the fact he was prepared for a chat means that whatever his shortcomings regarding some of his later utterances, he will always be a top bloke in my book. Imagine trying to call a top boss on spec these days!

Yes We Can.

**AV writes: By co-incidence Bernie Slaven's column in the Gazette is about the ZDS CUP.... Saturday is the 20th anniversary of Boro's famous victory over mighty Aston Villa in the second leg of the Northern final, a game the Wolfman describes as "the best ever night at Ayresome Park."

And I don't really think YOU are in any position to suggest I have got MY eye on 400. I can see you marking out your run up now.

Anthony and others I thank you all for your responses to me.

I did say up above regarding Charltons team that maybe it had been misread.or they way it had been written. Anyway all is well now. They were one of the best teams we had in my opinion.

Anthony, as regards the transfer list. I did say this was not a full transfer list. this was only the highest in and the highest out. Obviously there were other in / outs.

I will close this issue by asking one question. The Golf/Hotel at the training ground expenditure - is this for the good of Middlesbrough football club? It is only a question if anyone can answer me this. I will shut up.

**AV writes: Projected gate money this year.... £7m (and behind target). Projected golf/hotel income next year.... £6m. I don't know enough about occupancy rates, green fees, corporate hospitality or how much they charge for weddings in these
places to comment on whether that is a realistic target but I have been assured it has been fully costed and the figures stack up.

Wherever it sits within the Gibson/O'Neill structure, extra money in either means more revenue directly into the club or less pressure elsewhere in the company diverting possible funds away from the club. If Bulkhaul is robust and profitable it really doesn't matter where the cash flow is, it is good for Boro.

I confess I'm not too bothered about the change in status or transfer budget. Yes, relegation hurt a bit but it is not the end of the world. Top half of the second division is about where we have always been in my life, give or take two blips.

I'm not bothered about missing out on signing foreign mercenaries or being on telly. I had actually really started to resent the boredom of the Prem being bought up in advance before a ball was kicked and knowing th ebest we could hope for was 10th.

I'm not bothered about the crowds dropping back either. Been there, seen it, we all knew all along our "real" support is around the 15,000 mark and all the rest were just caught up in the new fad and would drift away when things got tough. I don't blame them. They are the lucky ones because they are not infected with this lifelong virus.

I was bothered about the atmosphere though. The tension, bickering, resentment and pointscoring over people and games that had gone and the agonising over the minutae of things of things we can't know about (Bulkhaul's finances, the hotel, the day to to day workload of Keith Lamb etc) was the most depressing thing about the last few years and relegation.

But I have seen signs of that bottoming out this month. People are coming to terms with the situation and starting to buy into Strachan. A bit of unity. It's good.

It's all become a bit of a haze .... have I been following this thread for over 72 hours ( repeat 72 hours ie 3 days .... nearly half a week ) ?

**AV writes: And we're just getting warmed up....

Hi my name is Keenog (Andrew actually !), and I am also a blog-aholic.

I also am addicted to the live blog, but I got a yellow card on my first matchday appearance and I was sent to the Sin Igloo for 10 minutes.

However, I have repented and will be back on Saturday and promise not to say any more jokes about Penguins or Eskimo's, although if the opportunity arises to have a dig at Mackems or Geordies or Cane Toaders (Hi Phil !) I might be weak.

COME ON BORO

Here's a small memory of one winter evening for me on The Holgate.

Boro are playing in the semi-final first leg of The League Cup, against Manchester City. The biggest match we'd ever had. John Hickton does the business 1-0. Up go all the arms and someone manages to catch my glasses with his arm, and they fall to the ground.

Well, I spent all the celebrations grovelling on the ground to try and find my glasses, pushing as best as I could to try and keep some space around where I thought they were.

Unbelievably I found them, on the terrace and completely un-scathed. Didn’t think about it at the time, but I’m probably lucky not to have got trampled on myself while I was looking.

No way to celebrate a goal though.

It’s good to see the number of positive comments in this blog with regard to the recent team changes and for the first time this season I feel optimistic of the direction we are heading.

I appreciate that we have not yet seen these players in regular action in the chosen Strachanite formation but I’m hopeful they will provide the required results. I had discounted reaching the play-offs before the January window started but now a “glimmer of hope” is emerging.

Powmill:

I'd like Cappello to tell Frank Lampard to concentrate on securing his own place on the plane to South Africa and let the manager decide whether Joe Cole should go. I think he (Capello) should do the right thing and kick Terry out of the squad and make sure the punishment is public so that the others get the message.

If 'Tel Boy' is contrite enough and behaves like Captain Sensible between now and May leave him with a 'dogs chance' to get back in.

I think Ashley Cole deserves praise for his performances he's easily the best full back in the world.

Apart from that Capello needs to make sure Warnock, Downing, Milner, Johnson are in the squad. I actually think McMahon should be considered as well. I know I will be accused of having my Boro Goggles on, but since he first made his debut and played 10 storming games in a row I have always believed he's an excellent fullback.

Remember he was then replaced when that overrated Dutch fullback from Barcelona regained 'fitness' - Reizieger ? Criminally overrated like many Dutch players during that period.

I've only seen Beckford on the TV but I think he's marvelous and I would l love to see him join the England squad. He is confident has beautiful touch and movement, lovely balance that allows him to get 'sweet' shots off. He reminds me of the Italian centre forwards of 1970's 80's like Branca, Rossi. Dangerous !

God only knows why we are attracted to the big musclebound Heskey's , Carlton Cole, Kenwyne Jones's of this world. Makes me weep when I watch them.

So Powmill yes I do think it's time to bring out the two housebricks and get Jon, Frank and Joe to bend over - outside Fulham Broadway !

halifaxp @ 9.12am - excellent post.

Can't wait for Saturday.

Ive been watching Boro since 1960 and Souness is the best player I've seen wear the shirt. I remember him "doing" Terry Yorath after hed been naughty in the previous match at Elland Road. Yorath had gone through him knee high and put him out for a few games. Let's just say Graham wasnt too impressed.

This thread is starting to get a bit nostalgic. The 1974 team was the best we ever had in my opinion. Although, back then, our idea of glory was winning the Anglo-Scottish cup!

As regards John Terry, I think the only question the manager should ask himself is what decision would give us the best chance of winning the World Cup.

Two good results for Boro this mid-week with both Sheff Utd and Blackpool losing.

Three points at Ipswich will be the icing on the cake!

GT -

Graeme Souness had two enforced 'crutch bound' holidays after bumping into Yorath. After that he treated Yorath like he was made of 'unstable explosives'.

I agree Souness was the greatest Boro player (certainly the best I have seen). I was always of the opinion that we Boro fans saw some of his most majestic performances but the media were only interested in his Liverpool days.

Give Souness the credit, he was far too clever and realised he was not savage enough to get into a kicking contest with Terry Yorath.

Powmill -

Tony Mac is a very special player. It will take another three months to get rid of the 'ring rust' caused by the injuries and inactivity and get into his optimum condition. If he stays fit he will be a better player than Gary Neville ever was. He is a genuine defensive fullback - who can play football.

Steve H

I agree about Terry, the only decision to be made is does he deserve to be in the team?

The question to ask is 'What do the other teams in the world cup want us to do about John Terry?' If presidents of countries, members of parliament, people in all walks of life make mistakes and have indiscretions and not resign from their jobs why should he?

I am not a lover of the self serving inner sanctum that existed under Sven and MacMoses but nor do I think any purpose is served by kicking them 'just because'.

Of more importance is the big 400 followed by the match at Ipswich.

I like the idea of a published poet being commisioned to write a Boro song, come on JP get your quill out. In the words of Vic and Bob, in the style of ......

3/5

Scoredraw

I agree in your support of Tony McMahon. I too think if he can stay injury free will be a great player. I remember a few years ago we played at St James Park at the back end of the season. We got a nil- nil draw and Tony was sat in the row behind me and got behind the lads like everyone else.

Your continued support has not gone unnoticed by me, are you a relative? If so do you know Foxy? Anyone else spot a footballer in the stands?

Scoredraw:

"So Powmill yes I do think it's time to bring out the two housebricks and get Jon, Frank and Joe to bend over - outside Fulham Broadway !"

Thumbs up to that Scoredraw! ;)

Thanks, Andy R. If you're off to Ipswich, may bump into you there.

Until today, I thought I was one of very few who rate Tony McMahon! The vibe is getting better and better: we can say nice things about our players now, it seems.

Kev B is the man for the new Boro chanting. I'm not sure but I think he agreed last Saturday to try out any new songs we come up with in his booming voice either inside or outside the Navi on match days, like that guy you see in the pub on the way from the Metro station to Old Trafford (Pete something-or-other.)

Untypical Boro posters are chock-full of brains and creativity: let's start finding some Strachanovite ditties and tunes!

There's Joan Armatrading one called "Shelter in a Storm", which has, in its refrain, "Willo...Willo". I'm going to try and check that out for suitability.

And then maybe present it to Kev B so he can give it a public performance before the Barnsley game. You are still up for this, Kev?

Quite interesting transfer frenzy this time. Lets hope Strachans 'men' doesnt mean the downfall of the academy. He might be less interested in local boys than Southgate was, to say the least.

Read my coloumn at the ComeOnBoro:

«DOOMSDAY FOR THE ACADEMY ERA»

http://www.comeonboro.com/columns/314903.php

OK, Kev, try this:

(To the tune of WILLOW, by Joan Armatrading)

We may not be the best
You know great teams don't come by the score
We've a left midfield missing
Need a goalie who can slam the door

But if we want to share a laugh
Or just to make some noise
We get down the Riverside
And support the Boro boys

Robson won't hide under the sheets
O'Neil firm as any tree
In the rain and the snow
Naughton owns the touchline

Scott McDonald will score
Goals that he and Killen planned
McManus will be
Fierce as Custer's Last Stand

I said, "We're strong, straight,
Wheater's a shelter in a storm,
And Willo, oh Willo,
Yes the Flood is up!

Over to you, fellow bloggers!

Having been surprisingly impressed with Willo Flood so far, I figure a nice new chant for him would be good.

To the tune of Vertigo by U2:

Willo...Willo....(Hola)
He's a little bit like Juninho (Samba)
He runs around and steals the show
Because you know he plays for the team, team!

**AV writes: Keep it simple..... Flood-in-e-ho-ho-ho!

The poems and chants are flooding in. Even AV is joining in. The Shark has been jumped. Do the decent thing. We know what comes next.

Into the 380's is remarkable in itself.

**AV writes: To be fair, I thought it would fizzle out today. I think it's hysteria.

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping?

Reminds you of the fortitude of the Teesside race but some of the words are not appropriate for a family orientated club!

Smog on The Tyne:

No I'm not a relative of Tony McMahon, he's nowhere near handsome enough to be a relative of mine. I'm absolutely gorgeous, but I can understand why you ask. I just think he's potentially the best thing to come out the academy. He's been unlucky with injuries and I think underrated by McClaren and Southgate. He needs a manager who believes in him.

I am also much more interested in the unsung 'heroes' of football, those players that are unselfish, skilful, 'low key'....

Like for example Des Walker and Paul Parker from the 1990 England team. They were fantastic for the whole tournament - easily the best players but all we had shoved down our throats was cry baby Gazza and the 'unsettling' Gary Lineaker.

I will be sticking a tenner on Tony Mac to get the first goal this week.
On Saturday we need to look out for that dirty Leadbitter the ex Sunderland player. He's a very good player but very unpleasant for a Geordie.

This seems to be the blog that keeps on giving - but surely there must be a limit - anyway just in case it stops at 400 then here is my long range effort before I retire to the bench.

**AV writes: OK, I'm going to trundle around snapping at people's ankles for an hour or so. Let the scrum in the box/the lottery of penalties begin.

Where's Grove Hill Wallah ? Forever Dormo? Where's the Scott MacDonald of the Untypical world when you need someone to post 400 ?

Well, i suspect there will a plethora of posts when you get back to set alongside wives and loved ones saying ' been working late' or 'dinners in the dog'.

Bosses will be saying 'Das Werdermouth hast bought into the deutschland vork ethic.' Hostelries in North Yorkshire will be sending out search parties for lost Dormo. All for the sake of 400.

Well I was busy going home to feed my daughters rabbit, she is at Uni and the rabbit is nearly as old as Luke Williams.

Anlov

For my money, I think it might be time to let the Great Southgate Debate go.

I'm a huge sympathiser myself, and couldn't abide what I saw as scapegoating, but with seven new signings Southgate is now long gone.

We have a new team now, a new team built in a new image. There's optimism in the air, and we haven't had any of that for a long, long time.

I don't believe we've seen the end of academy players making the step up to the first team. Perhaps they will, however, be given more time to develop before being thrust forward in this new era.

Collectively, they weren't good enough. I think there are some potentially good players amongst our academy products, but they can't be expected to all flourish together without the guidance of experienced players around them.

On another note, it's interesting that fellow bloggers have chosen this week to praise Tony McMahon just when he looks set to be replaced in the team by Naughton.

Look, you lot! Don't think that 500 will be so easy to achieve......

On another line, I thought the Zenden chant and the irony of the "There's only one Job on Teesside" chant take a lot of beating.

It looks like a more than merely short term plan is being hatched here. If so, I can't wait to see the chick when it breaks free from the shell. I'd better go now, or I might start to sound entirely foam-handed, and that would never do.

AV re Mido.

There may be a clue in his comment on joining West Ham ie "I have made sacrifices to come here",what sacrifice does he mean? I and all Boro fans would like to think it is his wage that we are probably still paying him and that he really is only recieving a token amount ie one grand.

If this is not true he can be accused of being a liar as well as a lazy egocentric layabout. Do fans realise he shortened his long drawn out name and changed it to Mido that means "The chosen one" in his native language

How galling it would be if he starts banging in the goals for the Hammers and saves them from the drop if we are paying him for the privelige. I cant' believe we gave him a 5 year contract,but then thats' typical of the fools running this club.

"**AV writes: You really don't understand the concept of libel do you? It doesn't matter how many times you rephrase it or insert the word allegedly, you can't make allegations like that. It is not about being clever, or daring, or pushing the line as far as you can. Nor is it about me being a killjoy, a club stooge or a stifling free speech. It is about very expensive litigation and the zero chance of finding a shred of evidence to make it stand up in court."

Never did I accuse you of being a kill joy or complain about your editing, but thanks all the same for the condescending response. With "so many" participants guess I won't be missed despite being one of those who posted from this blog's inception. I'm out.

**AV writes: I'm not being condescending but stating the editorial policy. Having cut it out once and pointed it out you reposted it. I could just spike things like that but I prefer to explain to people exactly why I have done what I have done and that it is not some draconian individual stance or a position influenced by political or diplomatic pressures. That way posters have the option of rethinking how they approach contentious issues and continue to make a contribution rather than taking umbrage and thinking I have singled them out or gagged them.

Just woke up - wife leaving for work and 400 up - congrats AV. Our link to Planet Boro through you is an undoubted winner. I will keep popping back here in order to be the highest number poster on a blog. Keep up your outstanding work.
Can I buy you a pint when I'm over in May?

**AV writes: Hmmmmmmmm beeeeerrr.

Well done to Gordon Strachan with the start of his Red Revolution.

I remember posting here during Steve McClaren’s time that the Boro needed a change of attitude to make progress up the league. Well, we certainly have that now with Gordon Strachan.

I think Gordon’s professional approach to football is also beginning to rub off on the rest of the Boro management team. Let’s hope so.

"Is it me, is it me, is it me.....?"

Well done to that hard working man who returned from the coalface just in time to grab the glory. Anyway, just in case at some point we do forget then you could always change the way you write your name to 4ever d0rm0.

BTW: Das war sehr witzig Herr Gill aber Ich habe keine Deutscharbeitsethik.

parkendpimpernel

I thought Mido stood for Maximum Input /Doughnut Overload.

Or alternatively, Meatpies In, Dross Out.

Or even yet again, Middlesbrough's Incredibly Dumb Outlay.

Any news yet on how much we're still paying him, AV? I have to confess that I haven't had time to read all 400+ comments, so apologies if I've missed this!

**AV writes: He is still under contract to Boro so will be due whatever was agreed. Probably £25k or so basic. How that is made up is open to questiion. West Ham have said they are paying £1,000. We don't know if Zamalek are paying a slice. Whatever the balance may be, Boro will be paying it.

Hard to beat Queen's "We will, we will rock you" with that graet beat to clap or stamp to, but hasn't some other devilish outfit stolen the rights to that one ?

Johnpowls

Do you remember Lucas and the Mike Cotton band . I not only saw them at the bowl/ jazz but also on the Fiesta. They were the opening act for the great Roy Orbison. Had to be careful for the last bus back to the BORO. or the long walk along trunk road. Oh Happy days.

Roy Keane on his time at Celtic under Strachan:

Keane faces Strachan tomorrow as his relegation-threatened side take on his former gaffer's Middlesbrough at Portman Road.

The former Manchester United superstar added: "I enjoyed working with Gordon and his staff. I look forward to seeing him again.

"Gordon's training was always interesting and tough and they looked after me in my time there.

"But I tore my hamstring twice and it doesn't help when you are travelling every two or three days.

"Gordon and the club did everything they could for me but my body was talking to me more than anybody else."

Anthony good response to free speech. You directed this type of answer to me and I accepted it. So Malc have a rethink of dropping of the site. We will always talk to you. Anthony has to protect himself also. He does a very good job with the site. I know I can be a pain at times but Anthony and other always come up with a good response.

david connor

I do remember Lucas and the Mike Cotton Band.

I also recall the long walk back down the trunk road with ringing semi-deafness caused by the ear-bleed volume-turned-up-to-eleven.

AV

GRANDAD ROCK! I am most certainly shouting so no comments about Caps locks.

All of the good modern music has its roots in music from the past just as true Boro fans are a product of previous generations who have suffered from this virulent and untreatable virus. Put a Jedward on the head and you come over all Simon Cowell. Take this as virtual admonishment!

Dave Connor

Saw your comment about Lucas and the Mike Cotton Band. As I am a year older than Mr Powls I would be concerned if he was off to the Fiesta and Jazz Club at that time because it was certainly too early for me.

Onto football now.

Vic - yes, still speaking - you could be right about Mancini, the continental model seems to have a new coach nearly every year based on the owners whims.

Jinky should be ok as Bellamy must be due a move soon, the usual falling out cant be far away and the moping Brazilean is back at Santos.

We actually have some football to talk about with the trip to Ipswich. After all my talk about still playing football I suspect the priority is to avoid defeat and take a goal if it comes along.

Strachan will be working to get the blend right and in the absence of Robson you can see the Land Crab being involved because he can use his left claws. At which end he poses the most risk is another matter. GS2 could always surprise us and play a left back at left back. Sorry, I must stop being silly.

I look forward to the new thread.

Now we've got the strikers, who is gonna supply them? The midfield is wafer thin.

I really hope we do the tractor boys and go on a run.

Following on from AV's gracious "invitation" to the elder statesmen in our society to "keep on rockin'" on this blog, here's one I must have written yesterday but forgot to post:

Powmill:

WWRY would be great. But I suspect if you're looking for the crowd to be orchestrated by playing Queen's intro version through the PA system to get it all syncronized, so that it doesn;t sound like a primary school rendition of "Doh, a deer, a female deer....etc ."

You may find that Queen is the outfit that has the rights to it and royalties of some description are likely to be payable. However, presumably something must be getting paid for the use of Pigbag to the title holder of that masterpiece?

Stomp, Stomp, Clap
Stomp, Stomp, Clap
Stomp, Stomp, Clap
Stomp, Stomp, Clap

Boro - we're the boys
Make a big noise playin' in the league
Gonna be a big club some day
We'll be in your face, with skill and pace
Movin' that ball all over the place

We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you

A couple of repetitions of that will have everyone up to speed on the vocals

With Stomp, Stomp, Clappin' throughout (with a full house, especially) it could be awesome (as my daughter would say)!

Maybe you're right and some other "Boro" has already plagiarised the concept. It seems too obvious a choice to miss, although there are likely to be variations on the lyrics.

We could make some clamour bangin' those zimmers, heh, heh, heh, cough!

Hi Grumpy Old Git.

I found if you take the rubber bungs out of the bottom of the zimmer, it makes an even bigger noise !

Excellent reworking of Queen's lyrics.

Apparently Ipswich have lost 2 in 16, I think a point would be