Pounds, Goals, Stats and Identity
A FEW statistical snippets and some nostalgic number-crunching ...
Send for the low loader. Mido may be Ajax bound (please, please, please). There is always someone willing enough (or daft enough) to take a chance on a player with a good YouTube goals clip and a good agent.
Ajax gaffer Martin Jol got the best out of the serial bridge burner when he was at Spurs plus staff and supporters at the Amsterdam club were probably the last to see Boro's heavyweight hitman actually put in a full seasons shift. All those factors and no transfer fee may well swing it. We can but hope it goes through and quickly as it will free up enough space on the wage bill for three industrious professionals who actually want to be here and who can make a real contribution.
Even if he doesn't go there he is unlikely to play for Boro again. His agent has been faxing around every club in Europe looking for a gig. He never even made the punishment detail at La Manga. Even the club's official site doesn't list him in the first team squad profiles. Unless he has an epiphany and decides he wants to be a footballer again (and given his 11 clubs in ten years and declarations that despite that he has "nothing to prove") or bubonic plague leaves Boro with only 10 fit men his Boro games and goals figures will not change. Which leaves him as part of a very exclusive club.
Mido is one of a select band of flop forwards who are Boro's ã1m a goal gang. The Sphinx cost Boro ã6m in August 2007, a deadline day panic buy of the sort we know so well. Six million quid.... six goals. Six goals! Count them. In 25 games sprinkled over two injury ravaged seasons he scored six goals at ã1m a time. Bargain.
Add in the signing on fee and ã25k a week basic over three years and the bank-busting bottom line is sickening. The self-important club-a-year waster has been a disaster. A massive indictment of not only Gareth Southgate who signed him but also a discredited scouting set-up that either recommended him or failed to set off the alarm bells and the collective heirarchy who endorsed the deal and agreed the financials.
Mido joins two other gilt edged goal-getters who broke the ã1m barrier. Powder puff "Goal Machine" Afonso Alves drained even more out of the club coffers for every isolated net-busting incident. The errant Brazilian cost Boro a well over the odds club record fee of ã12.7m (plus a monster signing on fee and wages over 18 months) and scored 10 goals in 42 games that were a frustrating object lesson in the law of diminishing returns. The pea-hearted predator visibly shrank by the week.
The other member of a tarnished triumverate is Michael Ricketts. What a waist. Boro's flabby frontman, a one time England international and Next Big Thing cost ã3m from Bolton in another of those deadline day signings. He got three goals... injury jinxed defender Chris Riggott who arrived on the same evening scored more.
Ricketts was the subject of one of the funniest and most damning cameos I have ever seen at a football match. He came off the bench towards the end of an early round Carling Cup game (Coventry?) and trundled from the dug-out to the edge of the opposition box then stopped, slumped hands on knees and gasped for air, knackered after ambling 30 yards.The crowd laughed. They didn't boo. They didn't jeer or throw insults. They just laughed at this pantomime horse of a footballer. What an embarrassing indictment. But who had the last laugh?
At the other end of the scale there is Bernie Slaven. Teesside's favourite radio shock Jock cost ã25,000 in 1985 and scored 146 goal... that is a grand total of ã171.25p a pop. Even allowing for inflation it is still just ã405 a goal at today's prices. Some players not fit to comb his quiff spend that on a single trip to the bar.
Then there is Boro's scandalous signing of Alf Common in 1905. The world's first ã1,000 signing (ã89,000 in new money) sparked questions in the House and grave editorials in the times about a new slave trade and the perfidious nature of money undermining the Corinthian ideals of the game. Not that Boro were bothered. He scored 58 goals in three years at a cost of ã17.24 a time.
And what about George Camsell? He cost ã500 from Durham City and scored 345 goals at a budget ã1.45 each. What can you get for that in the club shop?
*********************
MORE stats and some thrashing around the question of identity....
In the Gazette's big survey about Teesside's identity almost 2,000 Teessiders were quizzed about what the area we live in should be called and the results revealed that despite two decades of expensive quangocratic attempts at rebranding most people were pretty happy with the does what it says on the tin label "Teesside."
There are some understandable minor quibbles about identity around the edges of the historic Yorkshire/Durham divide but the vast majority of people in Teesside accept that the entire ethos and economy of the area and its prospects for the future are based on both sides of the river and joined by a bloody great big bridge.
But on to football. Buried in the big survey was a pointless, tactless and sensibility trampling question about a mooted changing of the name of the football club to portray a more positive image of the area. Because obviously potential massive inward investors from Bisonbreath, Arizona or somewhere in Qatar will be persuaded to stump up if the local football team has a more teasingly attractive moniker. Like Lambsley Meadows or something.
Any hopes that the punters would fall for that marketing wheeze were kicked into touch when 95.8% on respondents voted that the team should be called "Middlesbrough" (another 'does what it says on the tin' moment... Teesside is that kind of place).
A negligible sliver of 3.2% - presumably from Stockton and the hinterlands outside the magic five mile radius of the Riverside - voted for "Teesside United" and a pathetic 0.9% opted for the laughable, non-existant, soap script selection "Tees Valley United." Whether these few sad individuals work for quangos themselves and have some political or financial interest in this label being perpetuated is not recorded but who else uses these terms? Not football fans that's for sure.
You can't interfere with a team's identity. Even considering it is a gross insult that strikes to the heart of a precious cultural heritage that can not be traded or updated to suit the suits. It is a transgression from which there is no return. History is non negotiatable.
Robert Maxwell tried it with his barmy plan to merge Reading and Oxford to form the Thames Valley Royals. That finished him off at both clubs and even though he had funded Oxford into the top flight and a League Cup triumph he was villified and driven out of the club. Suggesting a name change at Boro pretty much hammered in the final nail for Malcolm Allison back in 1983 as well.
Similarly the entire fabrication of MK Dons still raises hackles among "real" football fans a decade after a cynical franchising operation was endorsed by the FA and the Football League in a shabby backroom deal that allowed a businessman to buy a place that had not been earned. The shady fix left an artificial club that had no identity, history or respect playing in the professional game and the "real" club cast adrift. The move managed to make a cause celebre of AFC Wimbledon in the wider game despite the previous consensus that they were a hateful epi-centre of anti-football.
Do the quangocracy think that a queue of eager sponsors will rush forward to pour cash into Tees valley United that they weren't willing to stump up when old fashioned unglamourous Boro were in the UEFA Cup final and on the telly every other week?
Football clubs are incredibly important to the identity of a town, especially an otherwise unremarkable Northern industrail one. There is no question that Boro is the biggest brand - probably the only brand - from Teesside that would be recognised outside the immediate area. It is the single most important institution in Middlesbrough. It is the cultural glue that holds the region together and no matter what the brochures for MIMA say, it is the only real institution that will attract leisure tourists by the thousands - and their crucial pounds - to the town on a regular basis.
So why would anyone - especially smart business people - think that a name change for the only visible brand is a viable vehicle for boosting the region? And I know it is not a serious proposition - it isn't a manifesto pledge - but even giving the impression that it is something that may be on the agenda of the kind of people who considered changing the name of Teesside Airport to "Newcastle South" is damaging.
Football can be a galvanising force and can be a powerful ambassador for a vibrant region (look at the role of Newcastle United in rebranding tired Tyneside as "the geordie nation") but the reality is that Boro have enjoyed their golden age in the national spotlight and the quangocrats missed an open goal and failed to exploit it.
A club in the Premier League gets to bask in the acclaim of the Murdoch juggernaut. It also attracts visitors en masse into the town, and more specifically into the ground. But while the club were at their height - Wemboroly regulars, transfer record breakers every season, trophy winners, cavalier European adventurers - the squabbling suits charged with developing and championing the area were guilty of an unforgiveable institutional paralysis that left the environs of the Riverside a barren wasteland.
It is the failure of a mosaic of ineffective competing development bodies (and the similarly disunited local authorities and MPs) that did most damage to the Teesside and Middlesbrough brands by missing that open goal. Where were the Tall Ships, the marina, the exciting leisure, retail and residential projects that were supposed to spring up around the stadium? Where were the pavement cafes, the shops and the bars? The trees and landscaping from the videos?
The fact is that the very bodies now suggesting that name changes and rebranding of not just the team but also the area, the twon, airport, the sub-region in a superficial retrospective door bolting exercise are exactly the same ones who have failed completely to utilise the national impact of Boro to their advantage and who let the club - and the town - down so badly by failing to deliver on their own promises and the Riverside's potential.
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Anthony Vickers
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Boro fans who visit Pride Park will see what can be done on an unused industrial area.
Whilst there is a river, rail line and a football ground there are also hotels, bars, motor dealerships, housing developments, retail oulets, leisure facilities, office blocks not to mention roads and paths.
The Queen opened the ground, it is a major conference facility. The people who let the area down are a disgrace.
Although what Michael Ricketts conjures up more than most is the football equivalent of when Roy Hattersley pulled out of HIGNFY at the last moment and was replaced by a bucket of lard placed on the empty chair (which, by the way, got more laughs than Roy would ave done!), I think that there is just one smidgeon of redress that just has to be mentioned and that may make his goal/pound ratio look a little better.
17 December 2003, Carling Cup Quarter Final, 86th minute, Boro one nil down and going out.
Equaliser? You've got it. And the rest, as they say, is history.
So, what was that goal worth? Mind you, he did miss a sitter in extra time but nailed his pen. in the shoot out.
The name change stuff, as you so rightly ridicule it, is a stupid sideshow and properly and peremptorily dealt with by the sensible folk of Teesside.
Squandering the regeneration opportunity like Messrs Ricketts, Alves and Mido spurned goal chances was and is the damning indictment.
The University is flourishing and in the sorts of technologies that herald the future not lament the past. MIMA and the area around it and Temenos show that someone - maybe even some of the same quangocrats - have some imagination and notion of the the right things to do but the follow through just isn't there.
If one Boro based regeneration boat was missed, it would be tragedy as farce to miss another one if Middlesbrough can be reborn as Championship winners this season.
If ever there was a time to cut the excrement and pull together, this is it. For sure the answers aren't going to come from outside Teesside.
AV -
I would add our then record signing Peter Davenport to your list of expensive failures. 28 games, 5 goals.
The only highlight for me was when we sold him to Sunderland.
C'Mon Boro!
**AV writes: I did the figures on him but cut him out because once I strayed away from the ã1m a goal ball park there are loads of candidates.
Jellylegs cost ã750,000 or ã150,000 a goal. Adjusted for inflation he cost ã1.6m which is ã320,000 per goal.... that is still well short of what Emnes - another potentiall member of the elite - has cost. The Projects was ã3.2m and so far has scored three at just short of ã1m a goal, although he still has the chance to deliver the good with an unprecedented (and very surprising) goal spree.
Beautifully said AV -
the ones in dire need of a brand change and overhaul are the suits who managed to mess up a gift-wrapped situation, to use Boro at their peak to the region's advantage.
A few years back Boro truly were the pride of Teesside, their efforts in the Uefa cup echoed what Teesside as a region represents, now hopefully GS2 can reinvigorate the pride for the club and in turn the area.
Time for the powers that be, to back-up the club and the people of the region by putting their money where their mouth is. With the debacle of Corus leaving more than a sour taste in our mouths, we can hopefully come back stronger and give the finger to the faces of the naysayers and culprits responsible for the attempted mothballing of the club and its community.
Well, that's Hooper gone. I'm presuming that the line 'never a target' can't be used credibly this time round but it sounds like the deal was a bit rich for our blood. Currently, though, it vindicates Adkins and Scunny hanging out for what they wanted.
I wonder how that will play out in the battle of wits with Rocdale over Dawson.
The problem must now be, given Strachan's comments about the striking options he wants available, what's the alternative at a price the club can afford - assuming (I think correctly) that relying on Lee Miller, Lethal Leroy and Jon Franks to back up and put the pressure for places on Boyd and McDonald won't cut it.
It is alleged that a couple of Championship sides have been eyeing up Adam Le Fondre at Rotherham. There's Charlie Austin at Swindon who is a bit raw but promising and Jordan Rhodes at Huddersfield.
Rickie Lambert of The Saints is outstanding but he must be verging on the unaffordable. And I'm ruling out the likes of Chopra, Becchio and either of the Norwich lads for financial reasons (and attitude in the case of Chopra) - though Cardiff, Leeds and The Canaries might, conceivably, be interested in Lita as a part-ex.
Much beyond that and I'm struggling for ideas. Any more suggestions?
Hand on heart, living somewhat outside the 'five-mile limit', when first asked by me mam and then my wife where I was sneaking off in my scarf and cap on a saturday, i never once said 'going to watch 'Teesside United.'
it was always 'off to The Boro for some beer and the footy!'
Sorry to see Mido going. who can we chicken-runners have a go at now?
(please don't say brad jones.)
I remember being in Aberdeen in around 97\98 visiting the "Tall Ships" race. There was a stand there extolling the exciting future of the Middlehaven site. Not much has happened in the intervening years.
As you say AV the football team are the reason for the majority of the visitors. It is a shame that their lasting memory is of an industrial wasteland with a football stadium plonked in the middle of it.
Regarding the development bodies and quangos and what not - well said AV. Common sense and straight talking, you should run for Mayor or something.
I remember taking trips as a young un with my Dad's Boro-mad mate to the Riverside in the collective stages of it being built. Standing in the little front office with the looped VHS "artists impression" of the finished product. We must have went umpteen times from the early building stages to the almost finished stadium.
Back then there was a real optimism that the stadium could do something for that patch of land, that the Teesside Development Corporation (or whatever it was called) might achieve something and build a vibrant new part of town. But then the stadium opened and they'd barely bothered to lay the approach roads, or sort out car parking nearby. Even the Stadium of Light was built with a little bit more care taken to the surrounding area!
Every time I stand in line queueing to get through the underpass (a genuine authentic Boro matchday experience), there was a bit of a sense that everything was unfinished. You only have to impale yourself on the metal barriers dividing up that underpass once to see that.
There are other socio-economic factors at play though and unfortunately the time has probably passed for economic-boom-time-wave-riding-regeneration of the stadium area. Still, we'll always have our Tees Valley Uni... erm, Boro.
Having checked KLM information it transpires that they use their smaller aircraft to travel backwards and forwards between Teesside and Amsterdam.
It prompts one to pose the following question 'Will they be able to carry Midough'. They do however operate a freight version of the 747-400. As Teesside Airport, sorry Durham Tees Valley, was a former air force base I guess this would not be a problem
So we missed out on Hooper.
Less than a week ago we were seriously worried that Boyd might have a serious injury after the game at Bray. Faced with starting the season with MacDonald paired with one of Lita, Miller, Emnes or even Mido what price our status of promotion favourites then? If any of those gets more than a handful of starts this season we will be nowhere near the promotion playoffs.
Worse still however good Boyd and Macdonald's records in the Mickey Mouse League that constitutes Scottish football they both have to prove themselves at Championship level. So far they have achieved precisely the same as Alves and Ricketts - nothing. And will they work together or are they too similar?
Hooper by contrast has proved himself at this level - in a struggling side where chances would be at a premium he scored goals consistently. To me ã2 million looks a steal for that level of proven scoring ability. Do we really think we can achieve promotion without spending the necessary cash?
By the same token a combined addition of less than half a million extra on our bids would bring in Dawson and Conway. If these players are as good as the management suggest is that really too much to gamble? Again is an extra ã500K too much to ask in buying our way back to the PL? Cheapskates win nowt.
I would have some doubts about Dawson - he has done fine at League 2 level and now faces a big step up in League 1. His manager says after a dozen games at that level his worth could be doubled - it could equally be wiped out if Rochdale struggle which I suspect they will.
The step up to Championship might be something he can take in his stride - or it might be a bridge too far - we have to decide if we want to give him that chance and if we do then we should fork out accordingly not quibble over pennies. We cant view him as another "project" to be eased in over the course of a 3 year contract he might have to start the season in the first team. If we dont want to risk anything on him then its Grounds or Hines if McManus gets a knock - not worth thinking about and yet another promotion showstopper.
So far other than Boyd all our dealings have been in midfield such that our best player there in the past O'Neil might not get a game if we put out a full strength side. All well and good - we needed to do something there. But its in the two boxes where games are won and lost and at both ends of the pitch we are just one injury away from being midtable no-hopers.
**AV writes: our understanding was that the summer rebuilding was to be in three phases. The first involved getting Strachan's A List targets in quickly which was done exactly as had been laid out, price and timetable. Which is nice.
The second phase, which we are in now, involves unloading a few that earn far more than their peripheral value and likely role in the squad justifies. That is probably a bit trickier but if Mido, Digard and Emnes are moved on that will count as a great success. A couple of others out (Arca? Taylor?) will be a bonus.
That will free up wages and possibly even bring in some cash to help fund phase three, which was bringing in the B List. Hooper was on the B list along with Dawson, another wide man (Conway?) and possibly a full-back. Hooper going to Celtic is the first real set-back but we have been assured there were other names there and the spadework has been done.
As it stands the squad is far better balanced and looks more likely to score than this time last year. As it stands the club are pretty much on schedule in their rebuilding. And we have two weeks before kick off and five weeks before the deadline for some tweaking. I think it is going well.
You're absolutely right, AV, that our Boro is the very public face of Middlesbrough and the other local councils.
Here is Middlesbrough's chance to show itself off every other weekend to thousands of away supporters and their team's financiers. But what a face we put: Middlesbrough represented by dereliction and industrial wasteland. No modern powerhouse here.
Does it matter? Well I think so - partly for local pride but also the impact on potential inward investors. These visiting suits, in the Directors Box, are successful business men who the local councils and quangos should be striving to attract. But what do we show them? Disintegration.
Can anything be done? Of course it can. As a start, I'd like to suggest that the Gazette invites local council and quango leaders to a match. BUT, let them find their way to ground (with local guides if needed) after parking at the Transporter or in South Bank or, better, by travelling from home using local buses and trains.
Let them enjoy the vistas of dying ships, unused cranes and the pleasures of the underpass bottlenecks to see how the area really presents itself. Then let them sit amongst the real fans (Block 53 perhaps??) to get them close to the people they're supposed to represent. Then maybe the Gazzette could talk to them after they've walked back to their cars or better still tried to use public transport.
Let's not hold our breaths but there might be one or two who would see how they've continuously failed the area and try to do something positive because it can't be too late. Can it?
I think the landscape around Riverside looks like from the Moon! Is there a new art monument build this year - opinions on that? Of course it is not the same as the marina, the exciting leisure, retail and residential projects or pavement cafes, the shops and the bars. Even the trees are missing!
How about Middlesbrough FC, Celnet Teesside Stadium? UTB!
DidnâÂÂt Mido score with a Howitzer of a shot on his debut down at Fulham, and then again on his Home debut as he danced around Shay âÂÂbest Goalkeeper in The premier leagueâ Given and slide it in, in front of the travelling morons of Newcastle who had given him sickening racial and political abuse.
HeâÂÂs not all bad,
âŠâŠâŠâÂÅ dangles rod in pondâŠâŠâŠâÂÅ
**AV writes: Yes he clearly has the talent. Success in sport comes down to mentality, dedication and hunger. But not that kind of hunger.
"Newcastle South" sounds about right! The Boro could then become a feeder club for the big boys up the road.
... there again 'Glasgow South' has a nice ring about it..
Gary O'Neil not travelling to Germany with a 'muscle strain'.
Hmmmmm......
Firstly - the three non-strikers you mentioned, AV, were more than a disappointment. I suppose any reasonable analysis would conclude that Mido and Alves were (in no small measure) part of the reason we were relegated from the Premier League.
Secondly - loved the "what a waist" line. Could apply to two of the non-striking threesome.
Thirdly - what has NOT happened (at least until some very recent building) on the Middlehaven site is ridiculous. Like the old train journey, particularly from Thornaby to Redcar, it is hard to imagine anything more likely to put people off the area.
The stadium has been there for about 15 years now, hasn't it? There must be 20 year olds who been at work for years or others who are looking to go back to their 2nd or 3rd years at University shortly, who hadn't started school when we were playing at Ayresome Park. The "moonscape" at Middlehaven has been in existence since before those 20 year olds started full time school.
I'll bet the devastation in places like Hamburg and Cologne after World War II was sorted out quicker!
Fourthly there is only one name for our football club. It already has that name. No need to change.
Fifthly - the change of name for Teesside airport was as stupid as "Consignia" and some similar PR gaffes. It's the "does what it says on the tin" test. Go abroad and you'll probably find most airport arrival boards still use Teesside. To anyone in the USA, Durham will mean "Raleigh/Durham airport". The road direction and mileage signs give distances to Teesside, not to the Tees Valley.
I do agree that it shouldn't be "Teesside International Airport". It's the international that shows the name up. Has anyone ever seen a sign for Heathrow International, or Schipol International? Airports that ARE international hardly need to say so. It's as convincing as the sign on the Trotters' yellow Reliant Robin.
Maybe it is to differentiate the larger, major airport near Teesside which serves international routes (Durham Tees Valley Airport?), from that smaller local airport that only has planes that go to Leeds/Bradford, Inverness and Cardiff (at Middleton St George)?
Enough whimsy. Any chance of a goalie? (Sorry, just had an e-mail from a mate indicating that, whilst he is happy generally with transfer progress, he'd like a centre back AND a goalie).
Just 'squaring the circle' between jiffy's post at 12:08 above and your response - I think the three stage strategy is going well. But we do need stages 2 & 3 as well, otherwise we'll have a very decent team - so long as everyone is fit and firing but a squad that's still too small and lacking in some key areas.
Given what Strachan has, rightly, said about width I'm a little surprised that Conway (or some equivalent) wasn't on the A list.
I'm also a little curious as to why - since Big Mick and his experience would be the Big Miss from the centre backs if he got injured - the name in the B list frame is another developer, Dawson, rather than someone with a little more mileage at Championship level or better on the clock.
I won't repeat what I said above about Boyd and McDonald in the absence of Hooper.
I take confidence in the delivery of stage 1 that we are going to get 2 & 3, though - as I hinted above - stage 2 might also have to see GON on his way out to fund stage 3.
AV - got an news of the "free" transfer of Mido to Ajax?
Have Boro shelled out to move him on or he is so loyal to the club he waived any final payments to help the club get promoted?
As for the name of the area I thought "Celtic Tees" was what we were going to be called from now on.
**AV writes: I think if the Ajax move goes through - Boro say it is not quite done yet - then Mido will really want to go there for his ego and he may well be ready to waive a few elements in his contract so we may get off lightly. If I was Lambie I'd be getting it in writing that he won't come back for his image rights.
From the Gazette....
Ajax boss Martin Jol, who managed Mido at Spurs said: "HeâÂÂs a great guy to have here. We had no options up front, but now we have two."
When I first read it I thought, bugger me even he has noticed how lardy the Sphinx is. Reread and realised the missing bit was 'who has also signed Mounir El Hamdaoui from AZ Alkmaar'.
I heard a rumour that BulkHaul are using one of their ore carriers to take him over to Rotterdam, once he has cleared customs a low loader will take off to Ajax.
Great news (except for Gregg's) on Midough moving on. The first element of Stage 2 - now for Messrs Digard & Emnes!
When Jol said he had no choices up front and he now had two I thought at first he meant that both were Mido!
I'd like to see Arca move on but I can't see who would take him and why he'd want to move to somewhere he wouldn't get the Prem wages he's still on at Boro. I'm presuming it wouldn't be the priority to soak up part of his wages to move him on.
I guess he'll either see out the rest of his contract and we won't renew or a move in January may be more on the cards.
In the meantime someone must take the Manager on one side and ensure he isn't tempted to play the Land Crab at left back!!!
I'd forgotten how clearly Mido had scrawled on the walls when still at Spurs. Have a look: http://tinyurl.com/ya92xtb ....and still we bought him. What were we thinking of?
..and then there was Mido's ugly side:http://tinyurl.com/35zpu6r. Farewell, I think not.
Very interesting to see Strachan's next move after Mido is gone (good that Jol did not join Fulham). Perhaps a striker to keep competition hot in attack.
How is our Project doing? Did Emnes go to Germany with the rest of the Boro squad? Is Digard fit and in Germany?
Now the smithy has room to start working again. Up the Boro!
Totally agree with your comments regarding the ground, its an embaressment. I get the train in and all the way up to around the college its not too bad. Afterwards though I cringe at the comments of away fans on the sight of derelict estates, slag heaps and the walk from station to ground.
What the powers that be need to realise is this is all most people outside the area ever see of Teesside and all they get is their sterotypical views re-inforced by the trip.
I'd like the Gazette to start a name and shame campaign to find out whos in charge of sorting it out as has been rightly said, any prospective business people would never consider relocating here based on that trip into the dark ages.
**AV writes: The whole Middlehaven debacle has been an indictment of the areas political paralysis at every level with local councils petty competion over investment funds as big a problem as the quangos damning failure to deliver.
It is probably unfair to compare Middlesbrough to Newcastle but what about Hartlepool. Look at the supermarket/restaurants/museums around their redeveloped docks/marina. Why couldn't the TDC and its heirs deliver something like that? What about Stockton's Teesdale with a University complex, health centre and residential developments?
It would be no surprise if the bigwigs at the club were festering with resentment at the politicians (local, regional and national) who have let them down. They moved to the area on the basis of promises that were reneged on.
I think it might be helpful if some of our clerical colleagues could set up a prayer group. How many prayers would it take to avoid any Mido deal to Ajax falling through? Crowds of the faithful cramming into churches across the area....
And some of us thought Christmas was in December.....not if we get rid of The Big One, it isn't.
Haven't you lot got beds to go to?
Obviously I don't mean those in the Americas, particularly the West Coast where the day is still young, or those in the Antipodes (where elevenses will be the order of the day). But in Europe, come on chaps...bed is calling.
Growing up I often heard that the players in the local leagues like the Teesside League were good enough to play in the Northern League. Fact was they couldnt handle it. The cream always came to the top.
Its the same at the pro level, a lot of players are great for 10 or 20 games then theyre sussed out. I'm not a southgate slappy but I think he did buy some young quality. Digard and Emnes are good players but they joined a team on the way down,they didnt have a Nigel Pearson to sort them outon the field.
I'm really concerned for this season. I hope Strachan has it right. To be honest, where are his flair players? The guy who when he gets the ball worrys the other team? I for one am not up for what hes brought in. I will forecast this though - I bet we have a high yellow/red card count before December
Maybe what I said above about Becchio from Leeds being out of our price range might have been a little premature.
Leeds have just said that they're not going to renew his contract at the moment - which leaves him just a year left. That's the usual signal that he's available at a reasonable price.
Parmo Tarmo photographed at the Riverside and posing for a picture with Strachan at Rockcliff, plus a dodgy google translate from Estonian to English!!
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsport.err.ee%2Findex.php%3F06111921&sl=et&tl=en
Tarmo Kink â Golden Footed Winger â 2009-2010
Looks like he enjoys cutting in from either flank and having a pop with left and right foot. Seems an exciting player!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mUXiQBro1A
Parmo Tarmo/Jinky Kinky has signed.
MFC say 'fee undisclosed' but that hasn't stopped Gyori - the selling club - from disclosing it in enormous detail!
I hope this is as well as Conway, not instead of.
From SkySports....
Hungarian club Gyori ETO have confirmed Estonia international Tarmo Kink has joined Middlesbrough on a three-year contract.
Kink has been discussing a move to The Riverside in recent weeks and was waiting to learn if Boro would push through a deal after passing a medical.
Boro have now paid â¬1million (ã835,000) for the forward and will stump up a further â¬200,000 (ã167,000) if the club win promotion to the Premier League.
The Championship side also have the option to extend Kink's contract by a further 12 months, with Gyor having negotiated a sell-on clause.
Kink is due to bid farewell to Gyor during half-time of Thursday's Europa League tie against Montpellier before linking up with Boro in time for the new season.
Gyor's general director Tibor Klement told Nemzeti Sport: "We have terminated Tarmo Kink's contract with Gyor by mutual consent so the striker can move to England.
"His price is â¬1million which must be paid within 14 days. Boro must pay an additional â¬200,000 if they win promotion with Kink in their squad. If they sell the player, a quarter of the fee must be paid to ETO.
"Kink has signed a three-year contract, with the option of one more year and the extension depends on Middlesbrough's decision."
Jarkko: Woodgate to Boro? With HIS history? Not at any price, thanks! We really don't need trouble of the sort that Big Time and his baggage would bring. No way!
Not sure whether they have been told but aparently Sunderland are playing in the Championship next year!
http://guardian.touch-line.com/StatsCentre.asp?Lang=0&CTID=11&CPID=82
Agree with John Powls. Hope we sign Conway, too. For the past three years our problem have been midfield. With Robson and Thomson in the middle as well as GON and Bailey I think we can do it this season. Who knows.
If we play well in midfield and defense perhaps it does not matter who is in goal. Anyway Jones played well towards the end of the season and we now have new coaching regime - including goalkeeping staff.
Up the Boro!
Double Dutch - Mido. Two strikers in one. And Boro paid him ã50,000-a week - that's ã 2.5m a year! But as AV said not all has been signed just yet even though the Ajax manager says so. But hoping... Up the Boro!
**AV writes: I think he could only earn ã50k a week if he was playing, Boro were in the top six of the Prem and he scored. His basic was half that. Poverty.
Here's how the squad looks at the moment:
Keepers:
Jones, Coyne, Steele.
Defenders:
McMahon, Hoyte, Williams R, Bates, Wheater, McManus, Hines, Grounds, Taylor.
Midfield:
O'Neil, Flood, Robson, Bailey, Thomson, Kink, Arca, Halliday
Forwards:
McDonald, Boyd, Lita, Miller.
Younger (peripheral) players:
Pilatos, Williams L, Franks, Bennett.
Misfits:
Digard, Emnes, Mido???
In summary, that's a senior squad of 24 with support from 4 younger players and 2/3 misfits.
First appearance that it's reasonably balanced but perhaps too many right sided defenders and insufficient depth on the left.
Midfield is strong in the centre with any two from O'Neil, Thomson, Robson and Bailey with a gambles on Kink and Halliday plus Flood's fitness being taken wide.
Our two prime strikers look strong but cover is non-existent.
Now subtract the players who are recovering from long term injuries (Hines, Bates, Flood, Williams R, Taylor, McMahon) and the squad looks more manageable even thin in places.
Who could Strachan safely move on other than Digard and Emnes? Perhaps not Arca who, for all his faults, is versatile. Not Lita or Miller until he has more cover. And that leaves O'Neil who's never impressed as a winger and we have depth of cover in central mid-field.
My conclusion is that there's still some imbalance and risk in the squad. If all goes well we have a strong starting eleven but limited scope for rotation and cover for injuries and suspensions. It will be fascinating to see how phase 3 of squad building plays out. I'm impressed with phases 1 and 2.
**AV writes: Maybe you should pencil in Dawson and Conway plus a LB still to come in and if Digard/Emnes are moved on as well then I wouldn't be surprised to see AN Other arriven, probably someone who can play up front and midfield as well. Whittingham or Burke from cash strapped Cardiff? That would be nice.
**AV writes: Maybe you should pencil in Dawson and Conway plus a LB still to come in and if Digard/Emnes are moved on as well then I wouldn't be surprised to see AN Other arriven, probably someone who can play up front and midfield as well. Whittingham or Burke from cash strapped Cardiff? That would be nice.!
Mmmmmmm - now that lot would make a BIG difference - I hope these are more than Fantasy Championship pencil marks? Is the Smithy non-transferable between blogs or are the bellows still being pumped?? I'm worried that the poor guy is stranded with only Mr February for company
What did they say about a week being a long time in politics?!
Now Leeds are denying that they've not offered Becchio a contract and it seems that there's a possible spanner in the works of Mido's move.
Is the manager of Gregg's threatening to withdraw from sponsor of August's shirt if he goes? Let's hope that defeat isn't snatched from the jaws of victory on this one.
Anyone know anything about this 32 year old Italian left back from Livorno - Mirko Pieri - who is allegedly on trial with Boro while they're in Germany? Phase three of the strategy appears to have taken a distinct continental twist.
Conway and Burke would be good. If for no other reason - and to build on John Bowman's analysis above - than we're getting over-subscribed with left footed midfielders and short on the right footed, especially if GON moves.
If Strachan's after width there's no sense in square-pegging a left footer on the right wing.
Pencil in Dawson, Conway & Whttingham plus Shorey. With what we have already brought in, almost perfect I'd say!
Well its looking good for the new season I must admit, it seems the whole place seems to be pulling together and I have been slowly building a neo optimistic feeling.
Yes I still think Lambie is the wrong guy for us, yes I still think we need another keeper and yes there is still an awful lot wrong with the infrastructure at the club, or at least the way it looks from the outside (seldom are things actually better than the public see)
But look at the signings, the amount and type are surely more representative of what Teesside itself aspires to be, good honest grafters who "dont take no sheeet from anyone else" (thats a direct quote from the soon to be defunct "One North East" press release for the autumn)
BUT, yep there has to be a BUT, many years ago I spoke to one of my sporting heros, Wolfgang Schmidt, he won the Olympic Gold medal for the discus in 1980 for the then East Germany, then as a national hero foolishly criticised his oppressive government and spent a number of years in a prison camp!
He echoed the words of another sporting hero I met a few years earlier, the mad as a box of frogs rally driver Marku Alen, both discussed the power of words, especially "Hopefully"
This to both of them was a losers word, its a ready excuse for failure and one that a lot of footballers like to use, I think it may well be in the "Soccer Long Word Manual", by Graeme La Saux, but I cringe everytime I hear it, its such a negative word, sports psychology is such an important aspect and I think the Boro have the lite version of the England footie team in their ranks.
So for the next season lets ban that bloody word and every implied excuse it brings with it, we arent "hopefully going to, get fit, win, acquire some bodies, not get injured....delete as applicable
You either do or you dont, if you hopefully try (go on say it out loud, its such a facile expression you have to say it in a southern accent for it to sound even half right)then you expect nothing, put it up there with not bad thanks as a greeting
Typical Boro...theres another one.......
Richard - my idea was a loan from the Spurs and pay him as you PLAY agreement. He could made him fit here? But just a though, though.
I think we have good CBs here - only if Bates stays fit. UTB!
The squad looks good, especially when compared to other teams in this league. Agree about a left back.... heard a rumour Lee Naylor, who has just been released by Celtic, is on his way here... Someone like that would be a great signing. Maybe then we could shift Andrew Taylor out and have Joe Bennett as understudy
Once we sold Yakubu late in the day leaving us no time to get a replacement the panic over forwards started and we have never been the same since.
Jarkko -
I understood what you meant. However, I think Woodgate is potentially a disruptive influence in the dressing room also - quite apart from his poor fitness record. Simply not worth it - at any price. He's also got form off the field. Not a character fit with what we have now at all. I don't think Strachan would spare him a second's thought.
Look at the Boro sub list tonight in Germany. Mendi is there - really! But most probably not the former Lazio midfielder we used to love watching.
AV, more info on the two trialists of today? Jackson Mendi and the other one is the Italian left back called Mirko Pieri.
Up the Boro!
**AV writes: No, I've been off this week so I only know what has been in the media.
Richard -
I see your point. But I shame a player of his calibre doesn't get a game next season at Spurs. Really why they keep him if they cannot name him in the 25 playing group? But I know he is like Mido to Boro...
A very helpful post by John Bowman at 11.49am and I thought I detected a bit of optimism (and/or inside knowledge) from AV's reply. Where are those foam hands?
Actually I never had any foam hands even in the "first flush of Juninho" days. Never mind....
2-0 to the boro tonight, Lethal and Bailey again both scoring. An away following of 24 to boot. I wonder if Werdermouth was there. No injuries either and Tarmo Kink signs too num num num
Tarmo Kink's Estonian. Does that mean he's from Eston? Another Teessider in spirit? I like it!
Watching the plethora of Tarmo Kink wonder goals currently flooding YouTube, leads me to ask one question. Is there a decent keeper in Hungarian football?
Great to have you aboard Tarmo. He could be a real crowd favourite. Well done gs2, lamby, gibbo and the fans for adhearing to my spending plan.
Looks as though the MFC site got the spelling wrong (there's a surprise!) & it's Jackson MendY:
"Jackson Mendy (born 25 May 1987, in Mont-Saint-Aignan) is a French-Senegalese footballer, who plays for SC Freiburg. He is currently on trial at English Championship team, Middlesbrough."
Source (such as it is!): Wikipedia (inevitably!)
To think Celtic players spurned Champions League football to join the Boro...
Braga 3-0 Celtic.
Trys to keep a straight face.
GHW
Braga 3-0 Celtic Yup, I wonder if Mr. Hooper enjoyed his first taste of his new team in action.
Another good signing by the powers above. Still hope we can get Conway and Dawson in then that should be about it for now.
Dont think a new keeper is on the cards this time around.
Sorry Smog I didn't make it to the Boro friendly - the appeal of a seven hour round trip to watch Boro play a friendly with a 5th Division german league club was somewhat limited - especially as my parents are over visiting at the moment.
We instead plumped for a night of lager and darts in true german tradition as preparation for my league match on saturday.
BTW: I like the where you're going with the Estonian link Clive!
I also agree with Richard on the Woodgate hypothesis from Jarko 400 - though given the subject of this blog it should be noted that Woody is perhaps the only Southgate signing who made us a profit!
'Ignorant' of boroland said:
"Once we sold Yakubu late in the day leaving us no time to get a replacement the panic over forwards started and we have never been the same since."
I could not agree with you more on this point. For a couple of season we had the best strike force outside of the top four with Vids, Yak and Jimmy in the prem.
Whilst i was gutted Vids left and the club did not sign him the money he was after (and got at NU) was crazy and his fitness and goal return from there on proved a great decision from the club in not signing him.
Jimmy gave his last few best years and Yak spat his dummy out and left.
These guys (until this year?!?!?) have never been properly replaced, the goals dried up and we suffered majorly. I personaly think that not replacing these 3 with like for like has cost us all the pain since.
Goals make points and points mean prizes!
It seems that the two left back trialists didn't fit the bill and are on their way home.
A loaner for Shorey would be a good deal, it seems to me, if it can be done.
A bit more ominous was Gordon Strachan's remark about last night's game (paraphrased) that 'they lacked the sort of pace you'd expect of a top side - and so did we'.
It may just have been his sense of humour or the result of pre-season training and travelling taking its toll. It may also reflect the absence of Halliday, yet, and the awaited arrival of Kink.
But, throwaway comment or not, it does stress the importance of Conway and getting that quality in a left back too, if we're not to be too 'plod, plod' and predictable again.
Just as ominous is the continued lack of confirmation of the Pharoah of Pies departure to Ajax. Any words of comfort, AV?
**AV writes: I don't know where we are on the Mido deal. I still think we will be paying him off to make it work.
Hi Werder,
IâÂÂve never seen so much of my parents since smog jnr arrived, I canâÂÂt get rid.
You didnâÂÂt fancy a 5hr trip to watch the Boro, Glory supporter! Mind you I donâÂÂt fancy it every other Saturday and itâÂÂs just down the road for me now.
By the way, how are you able to have a social life whilst being married and the father of a little one! What form of black magic are you using on the good lady, please tell me pleaseâŠâŠâŠâŠâÂÅ
Tees Valley United?! Thats all very American. How about the Ironoplis Iron Men?
'Ignorant' of Boroland and Boro Doug:
I'm sure you know, or have heard this already, but your postings have triggered the deployment of the soap box! Sorry if it's a bit long and not in the spirit of pre-season optimism that's pervading Teesside - which I share, by the way. But, looking forward with optimism doesn't mean we should ignore the bigger picture or lessons of the past.
So, using your recent posts as an entreeâŠâŠâÂÅ ..
Because of the inflationary pressures on the Premier League (with top clubs paying more and more to remain top clubs and "ambitious" clubs paying more and more to catch up and oust them), to have replaced these guys (Viduka, Hasselbaink and Yakubu - and their like) with similar firepower would have meant increasing Steve Gibson's debt exposure beyond that level at which he actually got cold feet and decided, presumably in view of the world's economy and his other commitments, that he'd have to wind it back in a bit.
This is a perfect local example of my contention that money is the prime determinant of where clubs equilibrate. Sure, there can be some variation of league position, but within bands (leagues within leagues), you can pretty-well predict who's going to be there or thereabouts, by the amount they spend on transfers and wages - irrespective of how it's funded, as long as it's sustainable at that relative level, compared to others.
So the competition isn't about sport. It's about business and who's business strategy and financial model works best in the short, medium and long term.
Clubs with natural advantage are those with highest revenue streams - provided they don't have a major hiccup like getting themselves ejected from the Champions League and failing to re-establish that position within a year or two. THEN they'd be in fairly deep do-do. Not a dissimilar position to finding yourself in the Championship, BUT with the retained advantage of big global brand image and high revenues to help them re-establish.
Get it wrong, big-time though and you end up like Leeds United. Exiled from the top flight for years, paying off residual debts and creditors in small bits while trying to rebuild a team worthy of the club's historical past. That is unless you go the whole hog and put the club out of business completely.
I, personally, would have had no problem with Gibson consolidating financially, if he'd been up front about it.
I'll even now go as far as to acknowledge that he probably spent more money in the transfer market than he would have intended, trying to recover from having got rid of high wage earners from the books.
What stuck in my throat, was at the same time as he was reining it all in, letting the heavy-hitters all go, without replacement, Gibson was still talking European ambition, or when he wasn't, he was keeping his head down while we all wondered what the hell was happening!
What actually transpired was either disingenuous, huge misjudgment or incompetence - or some combination thereof. None of which endeared Gibson to me and obviously, many, many others - despite what he'd done in the preceding twenty or so years.
We look to our leaders, firstly for openness, honesty and integrity, even when the message is unpopular. THEN we expect competent support, commensurate with the true declared intent and ambition. Leaders get it the right way round. Get it the right way round and you build loyalty, define the standards and display character. Get it the wrong way round and you get dissent, divisiveness and when the wheels come off, post-event rationalisation and excuses. (That order pre-supposes you don't live in a dysfunctional anarchic society where the only rules are those of insular self-interest. Hmmm!)
However, we are where we are, and all that's gone before is history. Until some serious reform of the game and it's structure, and, for as long as money remains the dominant, prime determinant of capability, without some rule-based levelling of the playing field, Boro will remain unlikely to ever repeat the achievements of the late nineties and early "noughties".
That is unless Steve Gibson's investment in Rockliffe and his ability to exploit the world's new financial order transform his ability and willingness to assume even greater levels of debt than before.
All that said, I AM looking forward to the new season which ought to be one at least full of passion, rather than the damp squibs and anticlimactic disappointments which belied Gibson's earlier rhetoric.
Gutted!!
That translated piece is phenomenal
"Of course it had to be a surprise to me, but I took it easy and did not put themselves in these stories upset"
Well said Tarmo, well said.
My Peeps have told me ,Boro are still after Routledge ,Newcastle,look for a Andrew Taylor swap,and Oneil is going to Stoke or Villa
Realy looking forward to the new season.
If we dont make it up to the Prem i would just like to see we made the effort. That we go for all out wins especialy at home and not be chasing the games all the time.
Make the Riverside the fortress it should be and make teams to not look forward to visiting us.This is not about getting promotion but about getting our identity back as being a very hard team to beat that plays football and trys to score as often as they can.
Smog,
I don't need black magic (or even milk tray) as i'm merely trying to immerse myself in the german culture to improve my german language skills. So you should learn a foreign language, perhaps Celtic would be appropriate, and then you can enjoy the freedom of needing to gain practical knowledge.
charlie adam interview...
CHARLIE ADAM last night insisted the English Championship will breathe fresh fire into ex-Rangers duo Kris Boyd and Kevin Thomson.
The former Ibrox stars are gearing up for their first campaign with Gordon Strachan's Middlesbrough and Adam reckons it will open their eyes to an exciting world away from the SPL.
Their decision to swap the bright lights of Champions League football for dark midweek nights at Scunthorpe and Doncaster puzzled many but Adam insists Boyd and Thomson are entering an enthralling and exciting new world - and he should know.
Classed as one of the best players in the Championship last season by Scotland boss Craig Levein, Adam's sensational campaign helped little Blackpool blast their way out of the division and into the Premiership.
Boyd and Thomson are entering the arena he just departed but Adam is convinced they will light up the league and realise careers can blossom away from Rangers.
He said: "The Championship is a stepping stone to the Premiership but is a great league on its own with fantastic stadiums. We played at places such as Middlesbrough, Newcastle and West Brom.
"With the greatest of respect, one of the least appealing things for the lads at SPL clubs is playing four times each season against the same teams and going to the same places. Here, it's one visit per season.
"You come to a point in your career like me, Boydy and Thommo when you decide it's time to try for the challenge of reaching the Premiership.
"I'm sure they'll love it.
"Boyd will always score goals and Thommo is a great player so they'll do well."
Yet another post has disappeared! Third time lucky? Dont think it was the Gazettes fault.
Richard -
Money is very much the driving force in football but I dont think our current situation is just down to purse strings being tightened.
The figures I am about to use are from memory and are for a general overview of what has happened.
We brought in Yak and Veruka for about ã12m and JFH arrived on a free. We covered the cost from the sale of Yak. In effect we replaced them with Alves, Midough and Aliadiere for ã22m and what return have we seen on that investement?
We let Cat, Boat, Rocky and Young go for ã9m and replaced them with Digard, M&S and Hoyte for ã11. Not exactly a stunning profit from that lot. And I wont even mention the likes of Arca, Euell, Dong Gook, Folan, King, St Ledger.
As we watched the good ship Boro sail towards the iceberg it was apparent that whilst we could see the peril the crew couldnt or wouldnt.
We duly went down and the money for Huth, Tuncay and Downing was used to service the debts and loss of income.
I have no quible with reducing the wage bill and bringing through home grown talent but there needed to be a framework. When you cant field a central midfield because your centre backs and full backs are injured it is Brian Rix at its very best.
The Unholy Trinity got it badly wrong and that is nothing to do with having no money. The club were just like an old lady being duped of her life savings apart from the fact they were supposedly professional owners of a football club.
We wasted what we had and the current economic climate makes things even worse. There is no doubt football needs to address its finances but how much did we subsequently lose because of inappropriate spending?
Gibbo and the club have not covered themselves with glory but things are looking brighter as the new season approaches.
So Mido is not moving until he gets what he is entitled to from Boro!
Why any other club would even consider signing this lazy greedy waste of space is beyond me. One of the most mercenary footballers of all time.
Can the club fine him for his latest outburst AV?
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=810887&sec=transfers
C'Mon Boro!
**AV writes: Half of the problem is that fines have no impact whatsoever on an extra-ordinarily rich man. How can you discipline a man that doesn't care?
I do hope this worrying news about the Mido deal being in doubt is untrue!!
Amazingly the problem is not with Ajax, or with Mido, but with the Boro who are insisting on a fee!!!
Surely we just need to get rid to plug the Mido cash drain on our finances?
Any light you can shed on the latest situation AV??
So Mido is not going to Ajax ....He will not move till he finds a good offer from someone...if he doesn't then he will stay at Boro and make sure he gets every penny he is owed / can! Not my words his.
Richard , my point about not replacing Yakubu, you can maybe add Vid and Jimmy Floyd to the mix is that big money was spent and on Alves.
The difference between say Yak and Alves was although they both cost a bomb Alves was never proven in the Prem and without untold funds it was gonna break us if the gamble didnt pay off.
So Alves for Yak or Vid or Jimmy was never like for like because Alves premiership goal scoaring record was nil. At the time of the Alves nonsense, remember the trouble we had signing him, I said we should be going for Peter Crouch.
Like you say though its all water under the bridge but just imagine Downing putting crosses onto Crouchys head with Tuncay playing off him. Instead of Alves's miss of the month comp.
Anyway, I do agree with you about the club finance to league position point. With that being the case though last season was a disaster. Since McClaren left there have been so may mistakes from Gibson and Southgate ,its unreal, and then even the timing of the sacking of Gate was bizarre.
On a positive note I do like the look of what is coming together at the Riverside at the mo and I will be returning to give it my full support. But a season of pain hat trick would really see the end of any momentum and turn the premiership into a distant memory.
We would be worse of than Leeds though because as you said its about money and we havent got the support and gate to bring in much wonga.
Boyd and Macdonald over to you and good luck!
Daily Mirror has a story that Queens Park Rangers have joined Coventry in the race to sign striker Marlon King, who was released from prison on Thursday after serving nine months of an 18 month sentence for assault.
Dear me - really? Up the Boro!
Mido said about the switch to Ajax: âÂÂThere has been no financial agreement between both clubs until now,â said Mido.
âÂÂThe deal could fall through. IâÂÂm staying at Middlesbrough until further notice."
Mido said: âÂÂI wish to play for Ajax next season but the current circumstances might not allow me to do so. I will remain with Middlesbrough to help them gain promotion to the Premier League if I do not find a suitable offer.âÂÂ
So MiddlesbroughâÂÂs insistence over a fee for a player nobody want at the Riverside is interesting. Who blinks first? We trust you in this game, Keith (I think he reads the site)!
Up the Boro!
**AV writes: I don't think Boro are asking for a fee but they do want Mido to leave without taking "loyalty bonus" and "image rights" payments he is contractually entitled too. Or if he won't waive them, then to get Ajax to pick them up.
It is brinkmanship. Mido wants to go to Ajax and can't drag thi sout too long or they will look eslewhere. They can get better, cheaper and fairly quickly if need be. He knows that. Or he should unless he is totally blinded by his own ego.
I thought it was too good to be true..
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6286128,00.html
gt -
I can see that Boro may still be interested in Routledge if Conway's proving tricky to land - and that GON is a target for Stoke, Villa (and Blackburn).
But did your Peeps explain why The Barcodes would be interested in Andrew Taylor - a left back that Strachan, rightly, doesn't rate good enough for Boro in The Championship - when they have the most outstanding left back in the The Championship last season, Jose Enrique, now looking to prove himself in The Prem?
I haven't seen any indication that Enrique's likely to move on. So, just don't follow it - even given some of the Sid James's shenanigans of old.
More Mido moaning at www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6286128,00.html
He is even exceeding himself from the past. Dear me what a mess. Why doesn't he just shut up and train hard if he is professional footballer? He seems totally lost here. UTB!
AV
Are Mido's reported comments negotiating ploys or is he genuinely staying with us?
**AV writes: I think he want sto have his cake and eat it. He is desperate to go to Ajax but wants his bonuses (more as a point of principle/ego than for financial reasons). It is all brinkmanship. The danger for him AND for Boro is that Ajax have other irons in the fire and could sign someone else.
Predictably, the Mido to Ajax thing that we all greeted with joy and much relief has not only unravelled but is now turning nasty.
This is about the last thing we need distracting attention, polluting the start of a season that could promise much as well as tying up wages that could be used elsewhere.
Time to (privately) admit the mistake that ever employing him was, do the best deal that can be got, get rid, have him inflict himself on another club and cut the losses.
We'd be better off.
With Mido we should either play him or get rid, forget the brinkmanship . one or the other- get it sorted.
We know this guy is a moaner if he is not playing , part of me thought that under Strach's management we could motivate him and utilise his skill. I think he is better than Miller if his attitude is managed.
**AV writes Ten managers in 11 years have tried to "manage" him.
John Powles -
With respect my friend its a squad game these days,not the the first eleven and you will be suprised to know Taylor has a number of clubs interested. Hes' a young man with plenty of premiership experience as well as European. It's the asking price, right now no one is spending
We so badly need to get shot of Mido I'd rather we just paid his image rights (shouldn't he be paying us, given the state of his "image"?).
John Powls is right. Cut our losses and let's move on with the determined, committed professional squad that Strachan and co are steadily putting together.
'Ignorant' of boroland said:
"With Mido we should either play him or get rid, forget the brinkmanship . one or the other- get it sorted. We know this guy is a moaner if he is not playing , part of me thought that under Strach's management we could motivate him and utilise his skill. I think he is better than Miller if his attitude is managed."
**AV writes Ten managers in 11 years have tried to "manage" him.
Yes, exactly - if! Did he ever play - or even score - at Zamalek when on loan there. What was his record at West Ham - and why did not they offer him a contrack (Well we know, of course).
Watched a bit of Leeds v Wigan in Super League and it was good to see that Leeds managed to purvey the dark arts so well shown by Leeds United.
The only difference is that the Leeds players will be punished after being put on report.
Listened to a couple of Boroworld interviews and Uncle Eric was the interviewer.
Maybe the Gazette has been included in the bonding exercise?
AV, do you think you will ever feature on BoroWorld asking the questions.
**AV writes: I don't think that is unusual to hear Eric or even myself asking questions on there. here's nothing sinister in it.
The way it works is that after a game there is a little huddle of all the local lads by the tunnel: Mark Drury, myself and Gordon Cox normally waiting for the gaffer and the players. Eric would be upstairs in the press room waiting for the main conference and then he gets the gaffer outside for a one-to-one.
Pitchside we take it in turns, the BBC go first because they are usually doing it live, then when they have finished he wanders off; then Coxy goes next with the camera and asks basically the same questions then I get my go and (bearing in mind I already everything they have on my dictaphone) I try to elaborate on a point already made or ask something different because I'm looking for a story for later in the week.
Sometimes circumstances change - maybe Coxy is detained somewhere; maybe they haven't got a camera only audio, maybe he is interviewing one player while I am doing another and he piggy-backs onto my questions out of synch - and so the website/Boro world may end up getting snippets of the other interviews, either the Gazette or the Beeb. It doesn't make much difference because who ever goes first usually asks the same straigh-forward questions anyway.
Shame the Boro management didn't listen to the Spurs fans re Mido. What do supporters know eh?
Bit concerned about Routledge interest again. He's another who seems to have been around for ever, without fulfilling his promise.I hope the lad from Dundee Utd gets signed up, as by all accounts he seems to be a good, ambitious player, offering genuine width.
AV: Re Mido, "...............Or he should unless he is totally blinded by his own ego.
Isn't THAT precisely the point? With so many disaffected clubs behind him in his career (it's now 9 or 10, isn't it - after you count Wigan and West Ham?), it's been the single biggest problem that man has had throughout his career - his ego. Like anyone standing behind him in a queue, he's unable to see past himself.
By his own words, over the summer he lost 7 kilograms? That's over a stone! What other dedicated football player in the world would even admit that he had A STONE to lose and even then, not be close to playing weight and match fitness?
I suppose one of the guy's problems is that he's from a rich family anyway and he plays football for his amusement/ fun and the attention/ lifestyle it brings. He's not coming across as the kind of character you imagine going out for a drink with the lads or sharing dressing room banter. It's all about Mido first. He probably imagines that the teams he's played in probably played FOR and around him.
He reminds me of "Gorgeous Gus" from the "Victor" boys comic. He turned out with creases ironed into his shorts, refused to break sweat and like Roger Moore's James Bond - never a hair out of place. He demanded his playing colleagues provide him with perfect service. But put a ball within a foot of him and he'd burst the net - every time! That last bit is where the similarity breaks down, of course.
Watching the You-tube clip of his antics against the Egyptian national coach when he was being substituted and the exasperation he generated in the coach, serves as an insight into the mentality of the man.
Someone close to him really needs to give him a right talking to. His mummy perhaps? But then, if his mummy had instilled the right values into him earlier in his life, he perhaps wouldn't be acting like a big spoiled baby, as he is now!
I imagine he must also be a bit thick in the head as well as in the waist. He's bound to know his reputation out there. The more often and the more public he makes any gripes he has with his employers, the less likely you imagine any prospective clubs would be to take a risk on him. But then again.........Boro did! I guess it depends how desperate people are!
And you have to admit - he's made quite a successful career and a lot of money out of being an egotistical nuisance. Reading between the lines of Eric Paylor's piece in today's Gazette On-line, perhaps even Martin Jol's personally given up on him as well. It does make you wonder if he'll ever get another club - and indeed, does he even want one?
If Mido had any dignity, sense of fairness and a true understanding of what is appropriate behaviour, he would agree to a dissolution of contract with MFC. That would be the honourable and correct thing to do. THAT would send a more positive signal to any future prospective clubs than the image of him being a demanding, self-centred, egotistical ne'erdowell with an athletically-inconsistent penchant for over-indulgence and a propensity to retain the effects of over-nourishment.
In the "War of the World vs Mido", ultimately the World wins. So Mido should just make peace with it. But frankly, he's not yet mature enough.
Never mind, with (only) a year left on his MFC contract, we could be having a double celebration come next May!
**AV writes: I think you are right . If he misses this chance then I don't think he will play again at any serious level. He will have to buy a club in Egypt.
It is quite simple: Boro will let him go free and don't want to have to pay out bonuses etc that he is due so be out of pocket. Ajax will take him on a free but don't want to pick up the bill for the bonuses he is due. Mido says he wants to go to Ajax and could sign today... but he would have to be prepared to waive what is left of his Boro contract. Does he want to play for ajax or not? The longer he holds the process up and hesitates the more that Ajax must think he does not?
It is an adolescent ego thing. A nose/spite situation. I think he wants to punish Boro for not recognising how brilliant he is and not building a statue to his ability. Someone must be to blame for his career stalling and you can be sure it is not him. So he has gone to his palatial bedroom to listen to Arabic death metal and sulking that no one understands him.
ok guys, forget Mido.
lets hope it does not upset our preparation in any way.
I think the club may regret not onvesting in a goalkeeper. Brad Jones is a liability. I see Bristol City have signed David James, wish GS had done so. I think he will do a great job in the championship and Boro fans don't get too excited,all these scottish players may have been good in the SPL,but are untried at a higher level.
You never know it might backfire and if i was GS I would play Mido, he will score goals in this division.
"Bit concerned about Routledge interest again. He's another who seems to have been around for ever, without fulfilling his promise."
Are you on about the Routledge that changed a Newcastle team from being drab 1-0 winners nearly every game before he joined to walloping teams by 4, 5 and 6 goals when he arrived.
Cant see the barcodes getting rid of him meself, like!
Boro down by two goals in Berlin. But with two great goals by Scotty makes it 2-2 at half time. The first one a beauty from 30 yrds, the second after rounding the keeper. We haven't played well in the first half according to Gary and Allie on the BoroWorld.
AV, I hope the live blog is on next week against Ipswich. I am a season ticket holder for that! Looking forward to a great season with proper strikers at last. Up the Boro!
**AV writes: Yes I think we are back live on the Bosco Jankovic Stand next week.
Boro match live...
http://www.iraqgoals.tv/ch3.html
2-2 half time - just caught a rerun of the goals - two bad defensive errors by Boro, worrying. But two great goals from McDonald, the second especially good!
UTB
Final Result 2-2, uneventful second half with some nice touches by Boro [by far the most of the ball] balanced by some defensive sweats - not sure our backline is raring to go I'm afraid.
Bennett and Williams given a run out half way through the second half, and Lita replaced McDonald, presumably to not overstress Scott after his wisdom tooth problems and also to let Lita know he is third choice ahead of Miller.
Pace was, lets be honest, 'pre-season' and next week will be a very different game - never read too much in to these games, they rarely predict what will actually happen in the League.
Hello from the Highlands of Scotland. Weather is so-so (currently sunny but that probably means it will rain in the next half-hour). But the An Teallach ale is pretty good compensation,
Missed the match but coming back from 2-0 to draw cant be bad.
Looked at the line up and cant make any sense out of a team with Hoyte, bates, Wheater, McManus and Arca in it. That looks like two square pegs and a crab!
When we were buying Mido I was on holiday and our Egyptian waiter made a point about him being extremely rich and equally unreliable.
**AV writes: Look at his face! Just look at his face!
Mido must be the worst signing ever. At least Afonso was available and tried and got into positions. he just had the heart of a pea.
I'd rather have Leee Dong Gook
99 again!
If MFC report is correct we had four right footed defenders in the back four, in front of them a midfield with three left players but right footed Flood on the left.
I am sorry but, if true, it makes little sense to me. I despaired of McMoses and Gate doing the same and criticised those type of selections.
If it continues into the season then it is absolute nonsense.
Maybe it is a case of time on the pitch or an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the most fish on a bike.
Watched the game and although still some rustiness and obviously not as intense as a the real thing we saw enough to suggest we will be better in the middle of the park. Our posession was much sharper than anything I saw last season.
I dont want to get negative but still not a fan of Hoyte, though Matty Bates was excellent(good luck to him)
I listened to this in the car tonight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00t5zp5Archive_on_4_Redcar_Made_of_Steel/
It will soon be available on the BBC i player. Well worth listening to.
AV, you little tease you! Leaving the blog at 99! Just as well that it is a pre season post and it doesn't really matter about the 100. (cough)
Has the sponsor for August been sorted yet?
Oh! and how about the shirt sponsor for the first month of the season?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00t5zp5/Archive_on_4_Redcar_Made_of_Steel/
Part of the link didn't show up. It is now available on the i player. Radio 4
As we probably knew all along, Mido looks likely to refuse a move to Ajax or wherever unless he is paid the outstanding monies contractually due as he sees it.
AV makes the sensible and pragmatic point that this is likely to be ego/principle driven.
If we assume the stories of his great family wealth to be correct (a basic web search reveals little here beyond the fact that his father owned a travel agency but there is a general agreement of an unknown monied background) then the Boro are in a near impossible negotiating position.
However I think the club needs to be brave and fight principle with principle and Steve Gibson needs to invoke the spirit of George Carmen again to win this fight.
A contract is made up of two basic parts â the club agrees to pay a player an agreed amount while the player in return promises âÂÂconsiderationâ i.e. that he will carry out the terms of the contract as stipulated.
This has simply not happened here. Mido, through lack of fitness, willing or whatever has not kept his end of the deal.
The Boro should cancel his contract immediately and let him sue for redress of the 11 months remaining. Yes, it could end up costing far more with the added legal costs but the facts are that Mido has not delivered at all.
The quality and his mental and physical approach has been all wrong and is only tolerated in football because the clubs are nearly always petrified of player power.
A legal decision on MidoâÂÂs consideration will be subjective but there must be an argument here that can be upheld in a court of law. Try it, test the water, donâÂÂt be bullied by the assumption that a playerâÂÂs contract is sacred and cannot be challenged for non performance.
Perversely it is even something Gordon Taylor at the PFA could back Boro in. MidoâÂÂs actions and the sickening amount of money he is siphoning from the English game is not in the interest of his other members i.e. that is several million pounds that would otherwise have been spent on supporting other established, junior and future players.
ItâÂÂs time again to make a stand. Gibson will be fuming as much as any of us, probably more, and it is no use to go over the history and reasoning behind this stomach churning signing.
The club does an awful lot for the wider Teesside community as was detailed in an excellent post earlier this summer. That is hard earned money going to deserving local causes and it makes me proud to know that and furthers the bond between supporter and club and area.
To have someone like Mido take some of this away âÂÂon principleâ is wrong, wrong, wrong.
YouâÂÂre a hard, Labour rooted and principled man yourself Steve Gibson, and have never shied away from this previously. Indeed, it is a determining factor in getting you where you are.
Come on, make a stand again for the club and all its people and sense of decency and reality.
LetâÂÂs fight this one.
**AV writes: I'm going to do my Big Picture column on Tuesday on just this point. Football contracts are not in the real world. Surely they must be subject to the law of the land, specifically employment law.
99, 100, 102, 103! What a spread, truth is I posted at 96 so didnt give the Trabant a thought until I realised I had posted at 99. I thought the blog would be full of comment as the match was on Boroworld.
Unlike Hoyte at Barnsley I am not going to claim I meant it, just a sheepish grin as I trot back to the keyboard.
GHW, in football pre season matches are unimportant friendlies if you lose. If you win they are meaningful workouts, always important to score and need to to an unbeaten/winning run into the new season, good habit etc.
As a thread to thread poster doing my Robbie Mustoe work I will take my little bit of glory with good grace.
Now to follow on from my mini rant about shape. Following Strachans line up yesterday, will Tarmo Kink play right back?
May have it wrong and if so I apologise but with, what appears to be, square pegs at left and right fullback and midfield where is the width coming from?
Ian Gill said:
"Looked at the line up and cant make any sense out of a team with Hoyte, Bates, Wheater, McManus and Arca in it. That looks like two square pegs and a crab!"
I was wondering the same. But I hope it was a test in a preseason friendly! But really glad that Bates is doing OK after all his injuries. But hope Uncle Eric explains all this in his big match low down soon.
As Boro have not lost at home this year (sounds nice now in August) I am going to predict the result for the Ipswich match. 2 - 1 with Wheater and McDonald scoring - but I wouldn't be surprised with a score draw either. Any other proposals for the result? Up the Boro!!!
**AV writes: It is pre-season and it is about giving people pitch time. I don't think it is any great new tactical innovation being unveiled.
Ciamar a tha sibh Werdermouth?
DÃÅ¡ tha thu a dÃÅ¡anamh? Cò an caora sin còmhla riut a chunnaic mi an-raoir?"
Mar sin leibh an drÃÂ sda
P.s.
Tha mo bhÃÂ ta-foluaimein loma-lÃÂ n easgannan
**AV writes: I almost spiked this as spam. Babelfish doesn't do Gaelic so I will have to take you gentlemen on trust.
'It is the failure of a mosaic of ineffective competing development bodies (and the similarly disunited local authorities and MPs) that did most damage to the Teesside and Middlesbrough brands by missing that open goal'.
That may have been the case and there's no doubting the poor quality of politician and disastrous local government arrangments around here, BUT:
as you say the development cycle is slow on Teesside and requires huge public sector funding to regenerate brownfield land; and
Middlehaven is gradually taking shape. The college and office development are there and the residential element is starting with a construction crane now on site. This a lot different to the genuine wasteland of 5 years ago.
Hopefully the club will also be successfully rebuilt within the next few years as well.
**AV writes: Yes things are happening now - 15 years on - but the point I was making is that as far as using the club as the pump priming high-profile catalyst goes, the TDC and it's heirs missed out on the era when Boro were a hot Premier League ticket on the telly every other week. Back then it should have been easy to use the club and sexiness of football to lure in other projects but sectional vested interests and political point-scoring got in the way.
You need to sell something and quick. In this instance - Mido.
You have advertising space going begging. In this instance- Shirts.
Now all we need to do is come up with a catchy logo, maybe a picture of the product for sale (is the white chest band broad enough?) and a contact telephone number. Solution for August Shirt advertising.
Do I win five pounds?
I don't think Mido was worst signing as against Alves. Mido showed in sparodic flashes what he could do which was a lot, when he was in shape.
Unfortunately he comes from a very wealthy Egyptian family and with wealth comes arrogance regardless of profession. In his eyes I just don't think he sees us as worthy of his greatness. But we are stuck with him on the pay roll until the contract expires, like it or not.
Best to forget him and make more of the positives generating around the Riverside now. Roll on the start of what will be a tough and hopefully glorious campaign
To be fair AV you could dump most of my posts as unsolicited nonsense. A simple cut and paste jobby into google should help with the translation should you be bored enough to want to check.
Only four friendly games? Is there a danger that we will be slightly undercooked for Saturday? Other clubs seam to play 6, 7 maybe eight. IâÂÂm sure we have had some behind closed doors games but I think with the influx of new players this year they would have benefited from a bit more game time together.
Apart from Sunderland losing the first four matches then going onto win the chimpship a few years ago, the champions always tend to get off to a strong start then maintain that. Our start last season was OK but was built on wobbly foundations. We will do better than last year but will that be good enough?
Lots of unknown variables in our side at the moment. If they all bed in we should be looking to be in the top six by the end of September then look to hit top gear around the 19th of October.
CâÂÂmon Boro!!
Looking at what some of the clubs have done regarding new signings so far,it is still going to be a competetive league. Our biggest rivals for promotion will be Pompey, Bristol C, Burnley, Leeds,even Barnsley might surprise a few ala Blackpool ,they have made alot of decent signings,and Mark Robins is astute. Throw in Derby, Forest, QPR, Sheff U.... its going to be a long slog
I hope the fans realise this and dont become their usuall fickle selves if we're not running away with it. It's time they showed real support for Steve Gibson NOW, not just in big games - although every game is going to be a big one if we want to get back up
The Observer recently polled fan representatives of all 24 Championship clubs as to how they thought their team would do in the coming season.
The article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/01/championship-fans-preview-season is quite interesting. (At worst, interesting if you're a boring person... like me.)
Fans at Burnley and Reading both predicted that their club would finish second, but only the Middlesbrough lad (from FMTTM) had the stones to predict their team would finish top.
Otherwise, there's a fair bit of pessimism all around this year; normally fans are very-to-ridiculously bullish about their teams' chances, but not this year. All 24 fan representatives named the three teams they thought would go up, and the 'Boro were mentioned nineteen times. When you come to set par for this year, it's pretty clear that most of the league is setting par for us at promotion.
COME ON!
**AV writes: Maybe, but last season we were on most people's lists of promotion contenders as well and the bookies had us third favourites.
from gordon....
Gordon Strachan has spent more than ã10million attempting to build a side capable of taking Middlesbrough back to the Premiership.
But he reckons the man who can help him put everything into place is someone who slipped quietly into the club for nothing earlier this summer.
That man is former Scotland skipper Gary McAllister.
Strachan was McAllister's midfield partner at Leeds and the duo inspired the club to title glory back in 1992. They have remained close friends and the Boro boss snapped up McAllister as first-team coach at the end of last season.
McAllister had been out of work for a year after parting company with Leeds.
But he now can't wait to help old pal Strachan plot Boro's path out of the Championship.
Their quest begins on Saturday with a home game against Roy Keane's Ipswich.
And Strachan told MailSport: "It's good to have Gary here. He has a bit of gravitas and stature. He makes me think. I like to be in the company of people who make you think about things. But not for too long!
"Gary has an opinion on the game and the lads also enjoy working with him. To be successful you need good people beside you - whether it's players, coaches or board members. If they're all with you then so much the better. Gary is with me and that gives us a better chance of succeeding.
"He can also still ping the ball about the place. Gary is a wee bit heavier but still has it and shows that off in training most days."
Strachan took over from Gareth Southgate nine months ago and has weeded out the high-earning wasters who didn't care whether the club was successful or not.
He has replaced them with players like Stephen McManus, Kris Boyd, Kevin Thomson and Nicky Bailey. Working with those guys every day has backed up his judgment to get back in the game.
Strachan spent five months away from football after standing down as Celtic boss in 2009. It was thought he would only take charge of an established Premier League club but Boro managed to tempt him back.
Strachan explained: "When I left Southampton in 2004 I took more than a year out - and I needed such a long break. I had been in the game for more than 30 years and I was fed up with a lot of it.#
"But I did miss the coaching, being with players every day. Having that break was good for me and the family. But after leaving Celtic it was different. It was a smaller break and I crammed in lots of things.
"I read some stuff from Roy Hodgson the other day and he talked about the types of jobs he had. Roy enjoyed the variety and I'm the same. I wouldn't like to do the same job all the time.
"At Coventry and Southampton I took them from the bottom of the league and moved them up. I then had the challenge of winning titles and trying to progress in the Champions League at Celtic. I enjoyed that.
"The thought of going abroad to work crossed my mind after Celtic. Then I thought it wasn't for me. The language is a big thing and that put me off. I enjoy a laugh and a joke with the players. I also need to be able to communicate in training.
"Mind you, I've been learning a bit of Spanish and managed to crack my first joke in the language during the summer. Some of the locals laughed. I was quite pleased.
"When I considered the Championship I thought :'I've never tried that - let's go for it.'
"We'll see what happens over the next nine months but I want us to be up there. It's a challenge we're all excited about."
Middlesbrough 6/1
Nottingham Forest 15/2
QPR 9/1
Burnley 10/1
Reading 12/1
Ipswich Town 14/1
Leicester City 14/1
Sheffield United 16/1
Norwich City 16/1
Cardiff City 16/1
Latest odds from Blue Square.com.
It's not often the bookies get it wrong. (apart from last year that is)
AV -
I wish I was as sanguine as you are about what Ian described as a 'couple of square pegs and a crab' selection for the final pre-season game.
The key partnerships in the spine of the side have had very little game time together, yet in the last opportunity to give them some more, Robson and Thomson - who must be the centre of the engine room - are taken apart again and, unbelievably, Robson is played wide right in what we have evidence from last term to tell us is his least effective position.
With Arca in the centre, the left sided midfield slot goes to Willo Flood and Matt Bates becomes the latest in a long line of wrong footers to try to fill in for the failure to secure or grow trusted a left back.
In the case of the two midfielders - leaving aside the Land Crab - not only does this radically reduce the effectiveness of both of them as individuals but it would be difficult to imagine anything less likely to produce the width we so badly need and that the Manager has, rightly, been banging on about.
In terms of 'learning' what else would you find out about this way of diminishing a team and individuals that we didn't already know from the repeated failures of last season and before when this bankrupt approach has been overused.
Bizarre.
We can only hope that Conway is secured in phase three otherwise Mr. Kink is also, presumably, going to find himself less 'Parmo Tarmo' than 'Square Peggy' out on the right wing!
**AV writes: There were a few left out as precautions, O'Neil and Halliday didn't travel and he could only mix-and-match from the squad in Germany. I don't think there is any undue worry over impending selection chaos. Batesy at left-back was the only real experiment and by all accounts he did well there.
And it is far from complete. They know they are still short in a few positions and we understand are still actively working on three more in. And a few out.
AV
Why play Flood on the left and Robson on the right? If that wasnt an experiment I am lost for a description of what it is. No, it wasnt an experiment because the outcome is already known.
At first glance I thought maybe he was playing 3-5-2 or Bates in central midfield with the crab left back and Flood right right side. Can you explain how playing players out of position provides any benefit whatsover?
Can you give a valid reason why, after crying out for width, you play midfielders on the wrong side to tuck in so the right footed left back will either tuck in or not push on?
It is like having the geeks do the investigative journalism and Uncle Eric do the IT work.
So we go into the first match with no settled line up, no match time to get used to the formations or develop partnerships in midfield.
I am still far happier than this time last year but am at a loss to see why we put out such a muddled line up. Maybe it is because I am not immersed in the football speak of professional football.
For all the faults of cricket the opening batsmen opens the innings and the opening bowlers bowl the first overs. It seems that if professional football was involved they would have come up with a cunning role reversal.
Play the maximum number of players in their most suited positions seems sensible to me. To say that right footed midfield players were injured so we must play the last one standing on the left wing does not make sense.
Rant over
**AV writes: Parmo Kink will play on the left against Ipswich. It seems to me that whenever a problem arises GS asks one of his trusted "men" to fill in. If Coyne doesn't shake off his injury expect Robbo in goal on Saturday.
Just to add a little more to Ian's rant - before hoping that Strachan never uses the tactic again by consigning it to history - 'Appy 'Arry hasn't been the only 'practising pundit' in recent times to say, sensibly', "This game's hard enough at any sort of level without trying to play it out of position".
But, in doing so, I have to recognise that I may have played some small part in its genesis.
In the late Sixties - when I could actually play a little bit - I got a game for an 'occasional' side of reasonable players who went under the title of the 'Ball Playing Club'. (And, yes, the entendre was intentional double)
It was a team more interested in entertaining (ourselves, mostly) than getting results before decamping to the boozer for some underage freestyle drinking.
If we were winning a game easily at the break, our style was to play the second half with the entire attacking half of the team swapped with the entire defensive unit, including goalkeeper.
Not that I want to give Mr. Strachan any more ideas, you understand.......
I realise that GS can hardly come out and say Digard and Emnes are rubbish,especially when he is trying to flog them. But what is it that he doesn't like about them? If he thinks Digard can't do any better than Arca, then I despair.
And as for Emnes,if he is no better than Flood on the left, then it is time to pack in altogether. I'm really curious to hear what he has against them, hopefully when (if) they are sold he will give us all an explanation.
**AV writes: I believe he thinks they are not "men" and they lack mental strength.
John Powls -
I must admit to being a right footed left back but as I was the the closest to being two footed in the squad I got the position by default. It also helped that it took ages for the winger to run round me thus giving the defence a chance to cover.
I played at Uni and the aim was entertainment. The midweek team was in the first division and we manfully struggled to stay there. The Saturday team was in the second division and we certainly enjoyed ourselves.
We were obviously more professional than your outfit because we eschewed freestyle for the more disciplined formation drinking.
Even at such a mundane level a natural left footed player was a godsend.
Versatility should be celebrated and well done to GS2 for using pre-season to see if people can play in different positions. Good players can play anywhere.
Watched some of the game, Macs goals very well taken and looks far quicker than last season.
Their second goal a player was completly unmarked and we still look a little shaky at the back.
My player that has shone the most in the friendlies is Bates, he looks fit and hungry and should be in the team but Mac and Wheats look like starters in centre.Boyd works hard and will get some breaks for his efforts but i think he will be much more effective as a impact player for the first half at home and last twenty away.
Midfield well very hard to say as it has been swapped around so much. O'Neil hasnt played much only. The only dead cert is Robbo.
AV -
Any news on shirt sponsors? Do you think the club would consider free sponsorship for local charities of prehaps help for hero's if a sponsor can not be found?
C'Mon Boro!
**AV writes: First sponsor unveiled in Gazette tomorrow.
BoroPhil -
After managing Robbo and Flood at Celtic one suspects GS2 knows where and how they can play.
Good players can play anywhere but they play better in their best position, maybe Jones should go up front because he is tall?
It is still tosh however you look at it, the odd bit is that you didnt want Gate to leave and I thought bringing GS2 in would be an improvement.
I still think it is an improvement and we are in a far better position to mount a really good promotion push this coming season.
I'm not totally convinced about "square-pegging" being one of the great evils of professional football.
There's an obvious logic to playing people in their best position but the ultimate goal for the manager is to pick his most effective team, and this doesn't always add-up to the same thing.
Players forever play in a variety of positions as best benefits the team, not necessarily the individual.
Thierry Henry was played out of position when he moved up front. At Man Utd Wes Brown regularly plays at right-back, Darren Fletcher used to play right wing and Ronaldo played many a European game up front. Our own Colin Cooper often played left-back.
It's only in this country that we pigeon-hole 9 year old kids into having a position and keeping them there.
The team comes first.
**AV writes: I think I agree with most of that. You also have to consider the problem of a more rigid approach meaning a good player being left on the sidelines because another is considered better in his natural position - the Adam Johnson scenario - or using a player who may be better in a particular role in the starting line-up but not being so able to switch should the boss want a tactical change.
In general, there are a lot of reasons why a manager may want to include a particular player (pace, trickery, tough tackling, experience, motivation, tactical suitability, he has the beating of his direct opponent) in preference to another "better" player. It is not always dithering cluelessness.
Just because I thought GS1 was sacked at the wrong time, doesn't mean I thought GS2 was a bad appointment.
As far as I'm concerned if he thinks Bates can do a job at left back or Flood at left wing that's good enough for me. He sees them train every day, he knows their strengths.
Comparing it to Jones playing up front is just silly and you know it.
And players don't have a 'best position' inscribed on their leg. This is real life, not Football Manager.
I never thought I'd be concerned or even particularly interested in Scotland's international calendar. However, this has all changed with the inclusion of four Boro players selected for Scotlands 'friendly' against Sweden next week.
Am I right in believing that because it is a friendly, Boro cannot request the postponement of the important league cup match at Chesterfield and will therefore be missing the heartbeat of their team.
Now I know it's 'only' the league cup and it's 'only' Chesterfield,but a good run in the competion, helps finacially in these difficult times and helps keep what we all hope will be a winning run going.
Bit suprised the lad from Dundee Utd isn't in the Scots squad.
Interested to see the odds earlier on this blog re promotion and that Boro are favourites. Looking at all the teams in the division, it looks very tight and in my view there are as many as fifteen teams with a (un)realistic chance of making it into the top six.I don't want to put added pressure on to the Boro, but it looks as though we are going to be the team to beat.
AV - I would be very interested in hearing your opinion on why Digard and Emnes have not done anything at Boro. Actually more so concerning Emnes. While Digard has very frequently been injured (and that alone could have been sufficient for him never to get going), Emnes has been fit all the time. Emnes was Rotterdam's Player of the Year, so he clearly has talent. What has been the problem with Emnes?
**AV writes: Homesick? Culture shock? Struggled to adapt to the faster and more physical English football? Lack of bottle? Not hungry enough? Just not good enough? A cocktail of all of the above. It is hard to say because he has had so little first team football. Whatever the reason he hasn't been able to step up a level and given the chance he has spluttered and fizzled out. It is a shame but the move has been a personal disaster for him and a financial cock-up for Boro.
Not sure why there is so much fuss and fretting generated over permutations, line ups, who is in or out, especially by seasoned pundits such as Powls,Gill et al, surely they have seen and heard all this before over many pre seasons.
I am relaxed about friendlies which are essentailly meaningless, apart from the fitness aspect and bedding in new players.
I am looking forward this season to a new determination,a winning mentality and the ability to strike a metronomic level of consistency of performance and outcome,week in and week out. If that means being flexible, being canny with the choice of players, let us get on with it.
We shall not leave this division if we are not at least pragmatic in our approach even if it means carrying Arca and Jones for the season. Chill lads
Just to get a view from around the area here is Skysport's guess for up-coming season:
Skysport view:: Anything less than the title would be a disappointment.
Prediction: 1st
Sky Bet odds: 13/2
Of course I trust a certain AV more but wanted to seek an opinion outside the Tees Valley area (or what ever called). Hope the pundits are right once.
But more importantly nice to see more positiveness in the NE. Positiveness does not mean foam hand as a must. Usually when you aim high you end up there. Up the Boro!
I don't really think there's such a thing as "square pegging" in the modern game. You need players that can fill many roles.
Nowadays you need full backs that can get forward and cross a ball. Your defensive midfielders need to be able the use the ball when they win it. Not just knock it 5 yards sideways. Your forwards have to press the ball. Wide midfielders have to tackle back. Central defenders have to pop up with a few goals a season at set pieces. Forwards have to defend at set pieces. Right footed players on the left, and vice versa, can cut inside and shoot at goal (see Robben for Bayern/Holland).
Players are so versatile nowadays that they can play almost anywhere.
I can understand why Bates or Hoyte would be left back as we are short there and it is certainly better than Arca.
I also agree that players can and should be able to fill many roles but I still cant see the logic of Flood left and Robbo right. I have difficulty in seeing what was gained from that midfield.
As the spine is crucial to the team why not play it especially in the last pre season game. You may well find Ipswich have been doing just that and tinkering on the fringes.
I think we are already one of the best equipped squads in the league, a Derby County player was in our office and he really fancies us for promotion and I guess that is the view of many - at one point we were down at 11/2 to win the league having come in from 13/2. We have a young lad with a SkyBet account so dont think I am a gambler.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, a good start is essential plus getting a fair share of the luck. Toon had plenty of early season points from poor performances and lucky breaks before running away with the title.
A few out and a few more in and we should be be just fine.
Everyone can quote the notable successes of 'wrong footing' - Robben and Philip Lahm at full back. All two of them.
The reason everyone can quote them? They're the exceptions not the rule.
It's also instructive that Robben also does what he does in a 4-3-3. That's a system Boro aren't going to use.
Lots of others can do it, of course, but just nowhere near as well and most often when they're asked to, they play below the standard they're capable of when played where they are comfortable.
No one's arguing about players being more flexible and adaptable within the broad roles they play. Of course that's right - especially when you've got a small squad and a long season with many demands and different challenges.
No-one would argue, either, with a change of role for periods during a game - like a swap of wings - to achieve and effect if the players concerned know what they're doing.
But, if you want to succeed then you need a combination of the best system possible and as many of the players within it in positions where they can consistently give of their best when you have the choice. That's been a feature of every successful team anywhere at any time. And it's been true of Boro too.
Let me ask a question. Strachan has clearly shown himself not satisfied with the left backs at the club. So much so that he has sometimes chosen to play a right footed player there - even when he's had the choice not to.
I can argue - with the benefit of evidence that that was definitely not a success in the case of Justin Hoyte last term. And if the point of playing Matt Bates there in Berlin was to assess whether he was a better option if the attempts to bring a left back in fail or as an option - well, that's justifiable in a friendly, though I'd rather it hadn't been in the match closest to the season kicking off.
But would anyone think it sensible if Strachan went out and bought another right footed right back to play at left back?
Clearly, the manager doesn't think so because none of the options he's trialled and looked at are anything other than predominantly left footed.
I also think it's evident that wide right is not Barry Robson's best position just as wide left isn't Willo Flood's. We didn't need to play them there to know that. In Robson's case, that experiment was tried and failed more than once last season.
If you only had the four who played on Saturday for your midfield then, I would suggest the optimum way of using them - especially in your last match practice of the pre-season - would have been (R to L) Flood, Thomson, Robson, Arca.
That would have been an improvement but it still wouldn't reliably give you the width that the manager has identified and is why we're trying to buy wingers - players whose strengths and natural inclination is to stay wide and cross.
Yet another example of Boro being ignored in the press.
Follow this link to see a story in the Telegraph about Sol Campbell.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/7923227/Newcastle-United-defender-Sol-Campbell-calls-critics-idiots-as-he-fights-to-get-fit.html
What is upsetting is that there is no place the list of pie eaters for Stampy, Ricketts or Midough.
A final thought on wingers playing on the wrong flank and players being able to play anywhere....
As Steve H said above, players have to be multi skilled but it doesnt mean they are.
Last season we had Arca left midfield and Pogo left back and that didnt work because Pogo wasnt happy going forward.
People like Robben (and Jinky) can play on the right and cut in and the full back can bomb on, Chelsea can do the same on the other flank with Ashley Cole at left back for the same reason.
Put a right footed left back behind a right footed midfield player and you are posing needless questions and the opportunity for the opposition to exploit a weakness.
Whether Ipswich are good enough to do so is a totally different matter as is whether we line up the same on Saturday.
I tried to post this yesterday afternoon, but it failed to appear! :( According to this report in yesterday's 'Echo':
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/middlesbrough/8306622.Former_Boro_full_back_is_target_for_Strachan/
GSII is attempting to lure David Murphy, a LEFT-back born in Hartlepool & currently with Birmingham, back to Teesside. How do the folk on here rate him?
**AV writes: Can you make this more statistically based?
Number of times Murphy linked in press in past month: 6
Number of times mentioned by Strachan in past month: 0
AV - Did GS2 ever mention Tarmo before he joined? Sometimes it's the one's that don't get mentioned that actually happen.
Has Strachen mentioned Adam Lallana at his old club Southampton? No?
Chance of him signing 65.34% depending on the 1 in three chance of Gary O'neil moving to Blackburn who have a 25% chance of increasing their midfield squad from 7-8.
Overall rating 4 and 2/3rds
Right, third time lucky for this particular post. It might actually get through the Untypical Boro fog unscathed this time. I thought I was being quite smart, so saved it on my other PC at work......... 60 miles away !!
I have been having a look at the recently announced squad numbers for the forthcoming season. I believe there are a few strong hints in there towards the make up of the first XI, the departures & the possible incomings.
Firstly, the number three has been left blank, which suggests a new first choice left back is high on the current shopping list. Taylor has been relegated from number three to number twenty six. That tells us all we need to know about GS2's rating of GS1's former first choice left back.
Also left blank are numbers twelve & thirteen. Being held in reserve for the anticipated arrivals of Dawson & Conway by any chance ?
Most interestingly, Gary O'Neil has swapped from sixteen last season, to number eighteen this year. I would imagine that if you were looking to change the number of one of your regular starting XI, it would be into a single figure, not downwards. This hints that the club do not expect him to be part of the squad by the 1st of September. First XI numbers are however, given to Kink, Thomson & Bailey.
There is no number for any of Mido, Emnes or Digard. The club must be relatively confident that all three will be long gone before the definitive squad list is submitted the the FA on the 1st of next month. Although, the Mido - Ajax story seems to have gone deathly quiet now. Would the silence suggest that one is dead AV ?
There appears to be a lull in transfer movement at the present time. Clubs are waiting for others to blink first in the game of brinkmanship. We may have to be patient before the final few names are added & the expected departures are confirmed. Whatever happens, it's still an exciting time to be a Boro fan.
AV -
Are the Boro signing Kyle Naughton.
It is interesting to see where this site shows him as playing for 10/11 season (scroll to bottom of site)
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/players/first_team/kylenaughton.html
C'Mon Boro!
**AV writes: We understand the probability is 93.3% he won't join Boro.
So our first shirt sponsor is Deepdale Solutions. Perhaps as well we're not playing Preston North End in the first month, then.........My PNE supporting mates will be very amused.
By the way, Sky Sports reckons Burnley are in for Craig Dawson. Brian Laws says they are financially sound so expect a bid! And of course, if he went there, he wouldn't have to move house. Ho hum! If only we could get shot of Midough to give us more financial clout.
What do you reckon are the chances of us getting rid of both Emnes and Digard, AV? Are any clubs sniffing around? What happened to Emnes' trial spell in Germany?
**AV writes: Digard will be fairly easy to get out on loan. A sale may be more problematic. He did well back in France last year and still has a good reputation but he is on wages that will be considered MASSIVE over there. Potential buyers will know Boro are desperate so we may end up paying a slice of his wages. If we move him on permanently we can't expect much of a fee if any.
Emnes is a problem. He was never really an established big player in Holland before Boro signed him. He was a prospect on small wages. Now he is a tarnished prospect on what will be big wages over there. We will be very lucky to get a fee. We need him to go to Holland on a long loan and do really well with a view to a sale next summer I think.
Birmingham have lined up an ambitious bid to land Italian World Cup-winning left-back Fabio Grosso on a season-long loan from Juventus according to the Daily Mail.
Perhaps then we could move for D Murphy from Birmingham on loan.
I still hope the Conway deal materialised. We need a right winger. But most probably we see more moves near the window closure. Of course we could hope somebody to buy Mido before that. Unfortunate very unlikely.
Up the Boro!
http://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverpool-fc/1210115-liverpool-fc-planning-move-for-australia-international-stopper.html
This is an interesting one this morning!! Wonder how much he would potentially go for. If Liverpool are asking you have to be after ã750k-ã1m surely. I just don't know what is out there as a replacement as i don't think Coyne is the answer all season.
**AV writes: If there was anything in this - that's IF - I think Boro would welcome the opportunity to get a big earner off the wage bill. There must be a Scottish keeper out there they could bring in on half the money. Marshall?
Living in Derby my memory of David Murphy was a good left back never really given a chance at Boro but did well at Hibs.
Not seeing the reserve team and limited opportunities to see any of his few first team chance he was one of those players you didnt know much about but wondered why he left.
What can you recall Vic?
**AV writes: I think he was highly rated but wasn't going to get a game any time soon (Queueueue was LB) and he wanted to play first team football and turned down a new deal, which is fair enough.
Linked with Kilgannon and former Boro left back David Murphy as unwilling to pay fee for Dawson.
As discussed above it is getting players out that may be the priority. This may drag on and it could be we will be watching SkySports on 31st August.
What is good is that looks like it we have the bulk of the squad in place.
The Kilgallon thing would be a good move, if it can be brought about. Experienced cover for Big Mick and an answer to the left back problem.
With Rhys Williams installed at right back we'd have a truly impressive and physically dominant back four.
Even if it doesn't turn out, it might have the effect of 'shaking the tree' on the Dawson saga with Burnley in the hunt now, though then we'd need Murphy too.
Seems that Digard may be on his way back to Nice, on loan maybe, as you suggested AV.
Agree with Jarkko on Conway (or Routledge, if not, to take gt's suggestion) and for the same reasons.
I know this is the silly season in the press but The Corporal to Liverpool 'to put pressure on Pepe Reina' is almost beyond a joke - though I haven't stopped laughing since I read it.
If The Count can pull that one off he's into 'refrigerators to eskimos' territory and anyone who thought they were in the running for salesman of the decade can give up now!
Kilgannon and Kilgallon, two for the price of one - sorry for my lumpy fingers and/or befuddled brain.
Would be interesting to see the Corporal behind Liverpool's zonally obsessed defence.
If it comes off I will be a fan of the Count forever.
The story ends in Philbo's link like this:
"However the resistence of Gordon Strachan has proved to be a stumbling block for the Kop boss." So no sales of Jones!
I don't always see all the dislike some Boro fans have on Jones. Last season there was too many changes in the back four (some say 30 varieties!) in front of him but he played well towards the end. And all the coaches seem to rate him - and now Mr Hodgson, too.
Still I will see Conway as our number one target as said earlier rather than a new goalkeeper. And of course, KL must sell the Big Three first. UTB!
According to this morning's 'Times', the move for Kilgallon & Digard to Nice on loan are a "decent bet". Fingers crossed...
The Corporal to Liverpool? Now I've heard everything! ROTFLMAO...
Steve Claridge, the BBC Sport football expert says that Middlesbrough might have pulled off the signing of the decade in Kris Boyd and Bristol City could be a dark horse under Steve Coppell.
Let's hope so that we'll still talk about Kris in ten years time. A new legend like Bernie or Hicks.
Up the Boro!
What is the probable line-up against Ipswich on Saturday?
Up front: McDonald & Boyd
Midfield: Kink, Thomson, Robson & O'Neil
Defence: Bates, McManus, Wheater, Hoyte
Goal: Coyne (Jones suspended)
I am so glad to see Bates back there. If we sign a LB on loan he might even drop McManus to the bench! Hoyte will be replaced by Rhys when fit. Then I hope GON to fight with Conway(?) on the right. And Bailey has a fight in his hands with Kink on left. What is best, both Bailey and GON can cover in middle. Fabulous!
Up the Boro!
**AV writes: At the open training session yesterday they lined up with Kinky on the left and Flood on the right. Bailey had a knock so sat it out but should be back on Saturday but O'Neil is struggling and probably will miss out.
I think that means Flood will drop out and Robbo will go out wide with Bailey coming into the middle.
Re Digard and Emnes:
Did they not sign on 3 year deals so thiss eason is the last on their contracts so we can either get nowt for them now or nowt in a year's time. I'd give them frees now and save the last year wages.
Re Murphy:
I saw quite a bit of him as a youngster and had high hopes for him. He was a solid built lad with a bit of the young Julian Dicks about him - a bit more meat than the other lads he was up against and he made good use of that power.
If I remember rightly that solid forceful tackling was his undoing and he picked up a bad knock at Southampton I think it was early on in his debut. When he did get back fit again he showed himself to be alarmingly lacking in pace and was soon shipped off to Scottish football with Hibs. I doubt he has got faster so would not see him as any better than what we have already.
**AV writes: On Emnes and Digard -. the problem is not valuation, there are always clubs who will take them. The problem is their wages. For instance, Digard is among the highest paid players at Boro and in France will be paid as much if not more than all but the top paid players at their Champions League clubs.
To get a French club to buy him AND pay a fee may be almost impossible. To get him to leave AND take a pay-cut may be equally problematic. The most likely scenario is a year long loan with a view to a permanent deal next summer but with us still paying a slice of his wages this season. It's a buyer's market.
I am so excited about the season ahead. This is the best squad we have had since Mclaren was here.
Just got to say "Jones to Liverpool as understudy to Riena" LMAO! I'm not one to usually use those texting do-dahs, but thought it was very apt in this case.
Good luck to you Brad, hope it works out (for our benefit that is). I think Schwartzer must have put in a good word to Mr. Hodgson. Hope GS gives Steele a chance, or goes out and buys a good keeper.
Come on you Reds.
"Manchester United's Portuguese winger Nani has upstaged his team-mates by showing up to training in a limited edition Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni - costing ã150,000. It is one of only 250 made in the world."
What is the point - just a months salary to buy one. Do he have all the other Lambo' models in his garage as well?
AV, as we have Allegros and Marainas (and before that Trabies) here, I suppose the "men" of GS2 are driving Volvos (solid, reliable and not too expensive). Could you make a story about the car part at Riverside now and five years ago sometime in the future.
**AV writes: I once parked my mud-splattered and dented Fiesta next to Mido's supertanker sized gleaming white Rolls Royce if that helps.
Jarkko and AV -
The only change I would make if O'Neil isnt fit is Bailey on the right rather than our Barry though as AV says 'when in doubt, play Robbo there'.
I like the idea of Robbo and Thomson central though the players will switch around in any case. Just seems nice and solid and I suspect Bailey's younger legs may be more useful out wide, a sort of goal scoring O'Neill.
Jiffy -
Thanks for the feedback on Murphy. Even if he isnt that pacey he may well have more solidity than Taylor or Bennett and that is useful in this division. And he is left footed.
AV -
Shouldnt have mentioned Midough's huge Limo, John still keeps muttering about being held up at West Brom whilst the Sphinx's two limos were reversed out of the Hawthorns.
AV -
What sort of reaction do the players who are not in the team photo give in training and around the club? Do they know they wont be here and as such aren't actually training and are spending their time by the phone waiting for agents to fix moves whilst on gardening leave?
They want to fight for their place and its a slap in the face for them? (hmm maybe not)
They dont want to be in our stupid photo in the first place?!
Whilst we have seen very little of him on the pitch Emnes has kept a very dignified silence through the not playing/not in GS2 plans period which is a credit to him.
*AV writes: Most the players who are not in the picture are youngsters who wouldn't expect to be and who are aiming at next year's snap.
Those who are frozen out know exactly where they satnd. My understanding is that neither Mido or Emnes are around and are away looking for a club. They need to keep Digard fit so when the probable v possibles game was going on yesterday he was training with the kids and in the gym.
I would like to exchange links with your site anthonyvickers.boroblogs.co.uk
Is this possible?