New Model Needed To Avoid Credit Crunch
THE CREDIT crunch looks set to bite Boro's bum in January. We've all been there: belts are being tightened as the post-Christmas bills have arrived and the splurge on the plastic has to be paid for. And all the while the temptations of the January sales.
Well, Gareth, unless it really is something you really, really need and it's in the mad, mad, mad double blue cross sale or in the bargain bin rummaged through and rejected by more fashionable and well heeled shoppers, you can forget it. Unless you can get rid of a few useless ornaments in a car boot sale before then that is.
Asked about what transfer cash was in the kitty for January the boss said:
"We have to have that discussion as to exactly what we have available. We spent the money available during the Summer and I probably got more than I thought I would. With the position we are in and the way the attendances have been over the last couple of years we have to cut out cloth accordingly and do things right in January but whether we'll have millions to spend I doubt very much."
Given that the team are crying out for a proven goalscorer who can play in the Mido role as a targetman and hold up the ball long enough to make the fluid forward movement a viable option that is deeply worrying. Those players don't come cheap.
Observers of Boro's financial affairs will have noticed the Evening Gazette's exclusive report on the club's latest set of accounts. The figures for the financial year ending in June 2006 - a period covering the chaotic and dramatic glory run to the UEFA Cup final - shows the club posted an overall loss of £13.3m on a turnover of £47.98m.
The figures make for interesting reading. They show an overall wage, national insurance and pensions bill of £38.2m spread across 54 playing staff (the bulk of which are academy lads) and 128 other employees ranging from the chief executive to ticket office staff but not including matchday part-time employees like stewards and kiosk workers.The playing staff wage bill works out at about 65% of turnover - a relatively healthy proportion compared to some Premiership clubs who pour far more of the money straight into players' pockets.
The figures show that for all the glory the UEFA Cup run did not lead to a major windfall. There is little upturn in turnover, partly because gates up to the semi-final stage were bitterly disappointing and partly because TV income. negotiated on a match-by-match base, was relatively meagre. There appears to have been little in the way of commercial spin off either.
The most significant and profoundly depressing figures though are the turnovers of the Premiership's pumped up Big Four which dwarf puny Boro's financial muscle. According to the latest analysis from corporate number-crunching specialist Deloitte, Manchester United's turnover was £167.7m in the same period while Chelsea posted £152.8m, Arsenal £133m and Liverpool £121.6m. The bulk of the Glamouroply cash comes from their slice of Champions League prize pool payments plus an institutionally distorted slice of the Premier League's domestic and overseas TV rights income - figures that are unlikely to change.
The harsh reality is that Boro can not compete. At the start of the season Steve Gibson pointed out the folly of meeting Mark Viduka's wage demands and said that to stump up would mean spending almost half of the estimated £8m per annum season ticket income on one player. Clearly that is madness. Meanwhile it was reported last month that Arsenal and MAnchester United were raking in almost £3m for every home fixture. In effect they can outstrip Boro's total gate receipts in the space of a month and if that doesn't illustrate the nature of gulf between Boro and the big boys - a gulf the short-sighted, the naive and the deluded think the club can bound with a good run up and a new manager - then nothing will.
That is not to say Boro have not kept pace with the financial inflation of the Premiership. After two years in Europe and a highest ever Premiership finish Boro's figures have broadly increased in every column by about a third. The figures posted in the year ending June 2004 in the rosy glow ow Cardiff showed Boro had declared a £17m loss (although over £7m of that was accounted for by writing off player values after a change in the rules regarding recording staff as assets) on a turnover of £33m and had a £22m wage bill.
Given the continued slide in gates, the failure to cash in the Eindhoven dividend and a third successive season spent scrapping in the bottom half things are unlikely to change... and there is little point in praying for a shady White Knight to ride in from Bangkok or Bahrain because there is no profit to be had in investing in Boro. The hefty annual losses are sustainable because Boro have a very generous benefactor who is shrewdly supporting a club living beyond its means by housing it advantageously within the broader Bulkhaul empire but an outside speculator may be far more ruthless and may leverage any public pleasing spending against the assets of the club and leave it burdened with far greater and more pressing debts.
The reality is this: Boro are no longer able to keep pace with not just the silver sharing elite but also the clutch of their erstwhile competitors now in the hands of global businessmen aiming to make their new brands big players in the overseas bums on seats market. At least not in terms of plonking stacks of borrowed cash on the table. And given the mounting sub-prime crisis that may not be entirely a bad thing.
Boro's best hope for progress now is to find a new model based on academy talent and shrewd shopping that is sustainable for a club in the relegation zone of the financial table. The club are already making noises to suggest this is their preferred way forward but we must hope that such public musings are part of a concrete, well thought out strategy rather than just lip service calculated to disguise hasty - and risky - cost-cutting.
That model - youth and buying the best of young talent from outside with the intention of getting their best years first before cashing in on their resale value like a super-charged, top flight Crewe - must be one that is grounded on a vision that players, the chairman and supporters can share and understand and be proud of. If Boro are successful at putting such players in the first team and giving them a stepping stone to the Champions League then it can be a magnet for the best young talent far further afield than the current academy can operate in. It can be Boro's Unique Selling Point and the basis of a club that stands on its own two feet.
If Boro are to flourish in the Premiership's current financial climate then they need restructuring with a view to the medium term. But it must be a partnership: supporters need to appreciate the limitations of the club's economics and the possibilities of a new approach while the club needs a pro-active and inclusive PR strategy to win hearts and minds.
But first we must stay up. By all means neccessary.
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Anthony Vickers
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Just been reading the letters on the mfc website, and on the subject of under-investment, the reply says we spent 23 million on new players.
What it doen't mention is we brought in £14m selling two players, saved a few bob on Vid's contract, and were 'given' £50m. Thats before the usual income from 'tickets sales', and a transfer fund which a PL always has.
Rather than try to argue with us and convince us we have spent a fortune on new players, please start and take us supporters seriously.
I know you will not like to admit it at the club, but some supporters might not be as un-intelligent as you think, and god forgive, some of us mere mortals may actually be a degree smarter.
As a professional in the financial services industry I have to say the club is lookin like a company tighting its belt, a-la northern rock.
Sorry about rambling on but things are really coming to a head.
C'mon BORO !!!
**AV writes: I've moved this from the other thread onto here as it seems more appropriate.
I find it quite obscene that a club can make a £13 million loss in one of it's most successful seasons of all time.
The fact that the yearly wage bill is almost £40m - which I'm sure the bulk of the academy lads didn't see much of - just shows the folly of modern football.
I don't resent paying top players top wages - but let's face it we have so many players that are probably on something around £1-2m that are lacking the skill, motivation and desire that these kind of wages demand.
OK, let's go for the academy model - but please can we spend some of the cash we'll save on a top manager and coaches who can get the best out of them and build a team - otherwise the model is destined to fail.
Av
Sorry but what is your point? Isnt it about who plays on the field for 90 mins? Why are these hotbed of football clubs Reading, Bolton, Portsmouth, Fulham, Birmingham above us in the league?
As fans were not stupid ,we understand who we are but hey, look at some of the decisions that have been made over the last few years, regarding not only overpaid old men we signed but whats allowed at the riverside as far as being a fan is concerned .
Gibson should rename it Riverside Crematorium
Funny how the likes of bolton and blackburn, everton can reach uefa spots without spending fortunes, but no according to the club its the fans fault for not backing the team with poor attendances.
We can compete in the Premier, the fact is that gate money is at its least importance ever with the new TV deal. The reason for failure is steve gibson. Appointing someone with no managerial experience is footballing suicide.
Blackburn are the model club for us to emulate of similar crowd size, revenue etc. The differnce being they are run from the top down as a professional outfit.
**AV writes: Blackburn are just this year's model for mid-ranking club fans to point to and say "see, that's what we shoudl be doing". Last year it was Reading. Before that it was Boro. In teh long run these are short-lived eras of relative success over the life-cycle of one team.
The trick is making it sustainable for longer.
AV, are you sure that the phrases 'long-term' and 'sustainable' can be associated with anything to do with football in today's world?
AV Could you move my last post to this thread please?
**AV writes: Why, are you trying to open a second front in the argument?
just read with interest the thirteen million loss the boro have made and the mention of the majority of players being academy players.
Surely there can be no blame attached to the academy lads for the dire financial situation the club is in. After all I was reading in the gazette last week that Jonathan Woodgate had gave an academy player £100 to get a drink and mentioned the pittance that the academy player was earning.
Let's have the earnings of the first team players and club hierachy in black and white so we can see who does and doesn't deliver value for money.
Seems from where i am sitting that the gulf is widening between the people at the top and the people at the bottom.
We may be suffering from lower crowds than most of our rivals but the question beckons: how much of the problem is of the clubs own doing?
I can remember being locked out of Ayresome Park for big games when i went to every game for years, even remember when i was unable to get a ticket for the Riverside due to the part time supporter.
You can bet your bottom dollar that should we reach a final then we will suddenley have 35000 supporters who go every week looking for tickets so the support is there, the club just need to get them through the turnstiles!
Now seems a good a time as any for the club to liase with the supporters more and keep the fans in touch and make them feel welcome and wanted.
AV,
Oh what a tangled web we weave when our aim is to deceive. Ther can be no doubt that you are a fine and shining example of the art of journalism, and I really do say that in all sincerity.
But you were also born way, way too late as your obvious talents should have been put to far, far greater use at the Kremlin as Stalin's right hand PR guru, as this article reads as if it was dictated to you straight from the count Lambs mouth.
The Evening Gazette is a complete and utter joke of a " sports paper ", and with this article YOU have tainted yourself with the very same brush.
Southgate has been under pressure for some time now with ever more and more fans calling for his head and what do we get from the Official PR macine of MFC ?
Propaganda. A NEVER ENDING stream of propaganda.
Do you really think that wheeling out some of Southgates or Gibson's cronies to tell us to stick with Southgate will really make us change our minds and stand by him ?
Who exactly was that commentator, the latest in a long line of fools that the Gazette has paraded out in order to " win the hearts and minds " as you put it ?
And now we have you doing the exactly the same thing, only wrapped up in a far less obvious, and much more intellectual way.
What exactly is the point of this article ? To tell us what we already know and to try to excuse the fact that God Gibson employed a total and utter joke of a management team in order that he could have his " continuity ".
Is the aim of this argument to excuse and to jusify the ever negative, small town mentality, stagnating, out of touch of a club that we've become ?
Are you trying to excuse the fact that the coaching staff have been at this club for an absolute eternity and are so totally void of the faintest idea as to what to do next ?
Are you seriously trying to excuse the fact that Southgate bought ding dong after telling us how amazing he was in training, only to then tell us all that " gym'll fix it for Lee " ?
Are you seriously trying to excuse the fact that he took and almighty punt on a player from Arsenal who had perenially been injured throughout his career and totally void of goals ?
And what of Jason Ewell ? Yet another GREAT buy.
And what of the punt on Mido ?
Is Huth still at this club or has he died ? Another high risk gamble that blew up in our faces.
Just how many times exactly is Mr Woodgate going to get recurringly injured ? A truly great player, but strange that such a great player ended up here in the cemetary of the terminally injured.
Or how about Pogatetz or Arca ?
AV, I don't want to fall out with you and I really do hope that I haven't offended you, it's just that I'm so angry.
We KNOW what the financial restrictions are and WE DON'T pretend to be able to compete with the financial giants, as you RIGHTLY say.
But to produce THIS ARTICTLE, AT THIS TIME just smacks of the same old Lamb propaganda, which is INSULTING.
WHY DIDN'T YOU produce an article outlining the mistakes that HAVE BEEN MADE and the changes that CAN BE DONE within the constraints of our limited budget ?
WHY DIDN'T YOU talk about the stench of defeatism and apathy that surrounds the club. It may very well be like being back at home for the count, but it's pure hell for the rest of us that have to sit by and watch the ship sink.
Werdermouth is spot on, as we all are when we combine the views in this blog over time.
" OK, let's go for the academy model - but please can we spend some of the cash we'll save on a top manager and coaches who can get the best out of them and build a team - otherwise the model is destined to fail."
WHY DIDN'T YOU produce this article and INSTEAD of defending the people at the club by disguising it all in the financial limitations, go on to outline just how much money we DID HAVE and that much of it was wasted by some truly horrific purchases that beggar belief ?
WHY DIDN'T YOU go onto to question how it's possible to have players who just seem totally unable to ever get off the physio's table ?
WHY DIDN'T YOU explain to God Gibson and his cohort that crowds are down as a DIRECT RESULT IF THEIR POLICIES, and because they are totally inept at communicating with the very people they complain at for not turning up every week ?
No, I'm sorry, but I just cannot accept your article.
YOU DON'T need millions to employ a good, solid manager, and a good solid second in command, and a good solid coaching staff.
YOU DON'T need millions to be able to send injured players to Bimal in London in order to get sorted out.
YOU DON'T need millions to be able to higher good, solid PR men who are able to come up with a pricing structure that gets bums on seat.
No. What you need is people who are WIILING AND ABLE to do the damn job.
THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO COMPETE AND TO BE ABLE TO PROGRESS, NOT MILLIONS.
Win hearts and minds ?
No, all you've done with THIS articel is INSULT US AND ALIEANATE US EVEN MORE.
IF I'm wrong AV, then answer me this one simple question.
How much do Aston Villa have more than us to be able to afford Martin O' Neil, or Portsmouth to be able to afford Harry Rednapp.
NO, WE DON'T NEED A NEW MODEL. WE JUST NEED ONE HELL OF A BIG CLEAR OUT - STARTING FROM THE VERY TOP.
TB
**AV writes: The point of this article is that the financial results were published today and show a distinct trend that started several years ago an is accellerating.
The point of the article is to put that in the context of recent unrealistic demands that the club either spend money that it does not have or to sell up to an investor that is not out there and if he was would be looking to shaft us.
It is not a departure for me. It is consistent with a theme I have raised many times over recent years and several times this season alone. I genuinely believe that the current economic model of football is over inflated and unsustainable and that Boro borrowing heavily to fund a Great Leap Forward is very, very risky.
My great fear is that when the music stops Boro will be left in tatters so any moves towards a more rational, cautious long term policy that is sustainable are good. Call me unambitious if you like.
For me there is no contradiction between criticising the operation and strategy of the club on some areas and agreeing on others.
And it it is not about propaganda. In fact, as far as spin goes I am regarded by the club as 'off message'. You have been reading here long enough to know that when it is appropriate I have savaged transfer spending, the thinness of the squad, tactics, PR, commercial activities, the corporate philosophy, customer service and many other areas - however, unlike you I do need feel the need to crow bar every criticism into every article to prove my credentials as a dissident.
I agree with many of the points you make but you must learn to stop blasting anyone who does not agree 100% with you. If you think something that you disagree with is "insulting" then it is your own position that you should be examining, not mine. It is starting to sound like that "you are either with us our against us" line that comes out of some other organisations. AND STOP SHOUTING!
AV,
A very welcome analysis. But let me ask you this if I may please. If Keith Lamb and others are oblivious to the proven commercial initiatives people like myself and others have offered to the club only to be cold shouldered, how long will it take Steve Gibson to react to the sharply deteriorating 'de-valuation' of the football club?
Another one mate...if I'm good enough for Paris St Germain/Nike and another as yet top unnamed German club why am I not good enough for the BORO?
Surely they could have done with the extra revenue, spin offs and good will amongst the fans.
My area = BOROLAND could and should have been hosting an international youth tournament next summer (amongst other initiatives)so why won't it? If you guys can get an honest answer from Keith Lamb please let me know.
Robin MItton
FOOTBALL FOR NATIONS
Dear AV,
The truth should be stated. State it please AV as I will stand up in court and tell the truth.
Robin Mitton
FOOTBALL FOR NATIONS
**AV writes: If you want to stand up in court feel free but I won't be alongside you.
Dear Tony Black,
I fear we are the modern equivalent of the Russian sailors who initiated their 1st revolution.
They were right but were brutally suppressed...come and work with us on the continent lad where words like 'solidarity' not only have common currency but the meanings of which are practiced in a shared sense of equality and dignity (even in Business too!).
Keith Lamb you want your variant of the free market mate you have it and keep it to yourself and the babbling idiots who follow your pathogeneticlly morbid creed.
Robin Mitton
FOOTBALL FOR NATIONS
I'm not blasting you at all, and if I came across in that way then I'm quite happy to offer my apologies for this. I've apologised before and I have absolutely no problem in doing it whenever I'm in the wrong or cause people offence, as this is NEVER my aim.
I'm expressing my view with passion, probably too much for my own good, which is what this blog allows and does so well. There's a difference.
" The point of the article is to put that in the context of recent unrealistic demands that the club either spend money that it does not have "
Specifically, where do these unrealistic demands come from? Could they possibly come from the all too often off season spin that we would be buying superstars in a ludicrous attempt to buy season tickets ?
" And it it is not about propaganda. In fact, as far as spin goes I am regarded by the club as 'off message'. You have been reading here long enough to know that when it is appropriate I have savaged transfer spending, the thinness of the squad, tactics, PR, commercial activities, the corporate philosophy, customer service and many other areas - however, unlike you I do need feel the need to crow bar every criticism into every article to prove my credentials as a dissident. "
I know all too well and applaud you for this, I really do, but the only problem I have with you is that you seem intent on sitting on the fence all the time with regards the people at this club and you never seem willing to tell us where, YOU, personally stand on their abilities.
1. Where do you stand on Southgate and Coops ? Would you sack them now? If no, when would you sack them ?
Do you think it was wise of Steve Gibson to employ them in the first place, and what do you think that it says about Steve Gibson as he employed them and when he seems intent on sticking with these people no matter what ?
2. Where do you stand on Southgates purchases and what does this tell you about his qualities ?
3. Do you think that we should always be looking to employ better coaching staff, better physio's and the like within the confines of a carefully thought out budget ?
4. What does our endless injury list and inability to get players back fit tell you about the quality of our physio's and rehabilitation methods ?
5. Do you think that it's acceptable that Woodgate has his own personal trainer and physio and don't you think that this says it all about the people we do have ?
6. Do you think that it's fair to be able to criticise Steve Gisbon for the state we are in ?
Look, I know that there are many factors that go into being a successful, financially stable, and well run club. But it just seems to me that we don't get the balance right.
We seem totally unable or just un willing to look to see where we can improve things on the front line, i.e. with the people we employ to do the actual managing, coaching, curing and feeding of the players e.t.c. which to me is where it matters most.
You run a truly great, and emotional blog that really does get the blood pumping. But you have to make your position KNOWN and CLEAR on ALL ASPECTS of the topics you raise, and on all aspects of topics where we want to know where you stand. You cannot simply express an opinion here and there, or an " off message " note that no matter how off message still remains safe.
I'm not asking you to go to war in the Gazette, but I am asking you to tell us where you personally stand in here, your own blog.
Are you telling me that if you told me where you personally stand on the questions that I've put to you that you would either get the sack, or that the club would turn against you making your job impossible ?
TB
**AV writes: I have no problem making my positions clear, it is what I do for a living. I do it constantly and it is open to scrutiny by thousands of people, not least the club and my own bosses. But I can not be expected to write a 10,000 word manifesto with every piece I publish.
You have to accept that my role is to reflect on the issues of the day and put them in context, intervene in the debate, help shape the agenda and take on a old school BBC Reithian role with a commitment to educate, entertain and explain. I am a committed advocate of fans having a say on the game and in the club and hold strong opinions about a string of political questions surrounding Boro but I am not a commando to be deployed at the behest of militant individuals with a particular drum to bang.
The questions you ask would keep me in columns for six months and I would still not cover every aspect. I can't answer them here and now (although many have been covered and are there in the archives) but I will no doubt tackle them as the current drama unfolds.
Not wanting to outstay my welcome and hog the board anymore, I'll make this my last post on this topic.
" My area = BOROLAND could and should have been hosting an international youth tournament next summer (amongst other initiatives)so why won't it? If you guys can get an honest answer from Keith Lamb please let me know. "
An International youth tournament would be great for the area, it really would Robin. Nice try. Try again !
We have a great academy system that is producing some great talent and it would have been really good to showcase this talent and to let the young lads pit their skills against the cream.
It would also have hopefully given the academy some income with which they could have improved things even more.
I'm all for these new an exciting incentives Robin, especially when they help the academy lads and bring other kids into football and off the streets.
TB
AV
" I am not a commando to be deployed at the behest of militant individuals with a particular drum to bang. "
As you will know reading my posts, I have banged many drums from endless different aspects of the club, from PR, to flags and banner waving, and not only from the management, coaching, physio side e.t.c.
" The questions you ask would keep me in columns for six months and I would still not cover every aspect. I can't answer them here and now (although many have been covered and are there in the archives) but I will no doubt tackle them as the current drama unfolds. "
That's a fair and valid point which I totally accept and I look forward to future topics.
Hopefully come Saturday we can have a much welcome break and talk about three points and a display we all know we're capable of and then sit back and listen to that fool shearer having something nice to say about us for a change without that idiotic smile of his.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my many posts.
TB
**AV writes: No problem.
Oh dear!
TB you will have AV running the corridors of the Gazette doing his best Kenneth Williams - 'Infamy, infamy, they've all got it infamy'
Dont shoot the messenger, as usual AV makes some very good points and is balanced in his approach. He is no 'new Boro' apologist, an Islington Angel if you wish. He does not belong to the Pravda school of journalism.
He is as frustrated as us, you cannot turn on him and SHOUT just because you dont agree with every word he writes.
The blog is the home of reasoned discussion, I agree with a lot of what you write, same with AV, even Robin. By the way what has happened to Briggsy? We posted on the old board but moved onto AV's blog because of the qualities of his threads. Long may it continue.
Oh dear, 14 comments so far, and 4 of them from Tony Black. AV - I think you should consider re-naming your blog "The TB Show". As a previous poster mentioned a few blogs ago, I also fondly remember his short-lived resignation from the blog. 3 posts from Robin Mitton too, but at least his are always nice and short.
It's one of the other posters I'd like to comment on though...
"Blackburn are the model club for us to emulate of similar crowd size, revenue etc. The differnce being they are run from the top down as a professional outfit".
This would be the same Blackburn who got burned by an experienced manager, took on a rookie manager and stuck with him even though he spent his first couple of seasons hovering just above the relegation zone. Interesting!
Tony, have a word with yourself son. AV has written himself into a position where he can have a pop at Boro when it is due and he isnt scared of doing it but if he went nuclear like you every time the club dropped a blob he wouldnt last five minutes and then the fans wouldnt have no voice at all.
And you should thank yourself lucky that he gives you the airtime to put your very repetitive views over (which have an obvious agenda btw 'slim') time and again and is patient with you because I would have pulled the plug on your SHOUTING and idiotic insults long ago.
TB - give it a rest. Why do you hijack every article? Why should AV answer to you? Why should Gibbo? Why do you think YOU have all the answers and the people running the club for 20 years what have won trophies and took us into Europe don't? Classic signs of meglomania if you ask me.
Dont get me wrong, we are all passionte on here but I picture you bong-eyed and screaming at the laptop screen while you are typing. I wouldn't mind, I think you have some good points but I wouldnt fancy being stuck in a lift with you.
AV - I would love to see a team based on local kids and only buy in the odd one we really need but sorry, no one has the patience to do that these days. Not in the Prem anyway.
AV - I'm so glad you put TB in his place. He really did outreach himself this time. The blog is brilliant, and your articles always thought-provoking and to the point. It should be compulsory reading for all who work at Boro. Have you any evidence that Keith Lamb or Gibbo or GS read it, or indeed whether they read (past tense) the Gazette's fans' poll?
In your darkest days, when you feel like killing TB (as we all do) it would be good to remember one key thing. Like you, the great majority of us who post on here take our punishment like men and women by watching the Boro live, come rain or shine, hell or high water. At least we're all qualified to criticise. Poor old Tony can only rant and rave from the deepest recesses of his settee.
Firstly I would be extremely proud of a top-to-bottom home-bred (if not home born) club as long as it did not counter our recent history of the odd bit of success.
Secondly, I believe whilst w/o statistical proof that our attendances compare well with our rivals i.e. B'burn and Bolton - both Northern Towns with comparable recent stature and ambitions - and we are miles better than Wigan !
Lastly - Bad PR, mismanagement etc etc would NEVER stop me attending, pricing however may. I used to be a regular at Ayresome despite being a youngster and not earning much pocket money but I could still afford to attend when I so desired - that would not be possible now.
However, saying all this and moaning about rising costs does not stop many, many thousands pouring a lot more than the cost pf a ticket down their necks every Friday and Saturday night - CUT OUT A NIGHT ON THE BOOZE AND GO AND WATCH BORO instead!!!
C'mon Boro !
"AV - I would love to see a team based on local kids and only buy in the odd one we really need but sorry, no one has the patience to do that these days. Not in the Prem anyway."
Not exactly the same system but a bloody good example is Athletic Bilbao who have have more than their fair share of success with an entirley Basque playing staff.
Supporting a football team is all about hopes and dreams. However lowly your club is, you always want to believe that they might go on an amazing cup run, or beat the top team in the division, or sign some brilliant young talent who'll light up the stadium (and sometimes it happens, even at the Boro!).
The problem with statements like "we've got to cut our cloth accordingly" and "Teesside will get the team it can afford" is that it signals all too clearly to us fans that the staff at MFC have given up their ambitions, they've thrown in the towel. They tell us they can't afford to buy players in January (in a few more words than that), and you, AV, back that up with the financial facts. It is all managing our expectation downwards.
The club look complacent. I'm sure that they aren't, that the current inertia comes more from a fear of making a big financial mistake (sacking managers can be costly) or perhaps fear of causing a precipitous change in the dressing room dynamic (players wanting to jump ship), but the end result is the same because I can't see us avoiding relegation if we do nothing.
But perhaps my inability to see any hope is due to it being snuffed out by this continually negative expectation management.
I think most savvy fans understand the limit on a club like Middlesbrough's resources, that buying two new strikers and a creative midfielder in the window is not a realistic option. But we need hope. We need something to believe in. We need Gibson, Southgate, Lamb et al to stop disillusioning us quite so effectively, because the illusions are all we've got at the moment!
p.s. TB - please remove the Caps Lock key from your keyboard, we will all be very grateful.
Interesting reading
The quadropoly definitely have a self perpetuating supremacy mechanism which FIFA have no control over. Platinis move towards integrating more cup winners into Euro comps was swiftly smothered by the large Euro clubs as a prelude to a Euro Super league in the not too distant future i fear.
I think a lot of the boo boys need to take a reality check given the size of our fan base, hinterland and turnover and get behind the team and our investment in the local community.
Bob – loved your post! Read it just before posting mine, so, assuming AV puts this one up, let me apologise for the length of it. I haven’t yet mastered the art of brevity!
AV: Marvellous article! Right up my street that one! Fleshes out much of the skeletal structure of a previous discussion and for me, at least, put Boro’s situation in an appropriate financial comparative context.
What I feel many local people are struggling to either understand or perhaps more likely, accept, is the reality of Boro’s position. And I don’t just mean 17th in the Premier League and a one goal-differentiated league position away from Championship contention!
As your article demonstrated in several ways, Boro is a business in a cut-throat marketplace dominated by clubs and backers who can and are prepared to spend huge amounts of money to maintain their positions in the higher echelons of the league.
The big-hitters simply must maintain those positions, because if they don’t, they suffer the same fate as Leeds United. The financial risks of not being amongst the best in the Premier League are too great for them not to throw everything behind their quest to remain there.
The consequence of this for the Premier League is abundantly clear. There has been a progressive drift towards what is now a well-established annual procession that doesn’t even pretend any more to be a competition.
The increasing money that has been pumped the way of the same top-earning clubs, with their yearly Champions League forays, has ensured the stripping away of any remaining threads of the thin veil which may have been hiding those stark features from the last bastions of either a myopic or a delusional public.
And no amount of tantrums by those of us who don’t like what’s happening to the game is going to change further moves by the powers in the game to shape it in a way that makes more money and/or mitigates the risk of those who have invested heavily.
But what of the “Also-rans�? These are businesses too. And, of course, Boro is one of them. Each business in this league of businesses has its own strengths and weaknesses, its own opportunities and threats. Each must aim to make the most of it’s “Ss� and “Os� while seeking to minimise its “Ws� and mitigate its “Ts�.
Because financial clout dominates over every other factor in the premiership, if Boro, even with a full Riverside Stadium, tried to compete with clubs in the top 6, year on year, the “business� that is MFC would, I fear, place Steve Gibson’s entire business empire in an unacceptable risk category. (Any Boro supporter investing in Northern Rock might just have reflected recently on what happens when executives extend their business risk a bit too far! Well, multiply that exposure by a few millions and you’ll get some idea of what Steve Gibson has at stake!)
If that were NOT the case, I have little doubt that the first person in the market for new playing staff and, given current popular opinion, possibly additional managerial talent, would be Steve Gibson, himself.
Regrettably for most of the rest of us however, our Mr Sugar Daddy has his own personal limits. And frankly, that is not in any way unreasonable!
Some people may ask, “Why doesn’t Mr Sugar Daddy look to sell off (some of) the club to an external financier looking to make a killing in the new money spinner that is the globally-exposed Premier League?�
For the answer, you have to look at the fundamentals of what constitutes an attractive brand. As in the housing market, increasingly it seems there’s only one answer – location, location, location!
However, if we consider a few questions that might just pass through the mind of a potential investor concerning the strength of the “brand� on offer (and this is before asking some more financially-based questions about revenue streams):
PROSPECTS: Is Boro likely to even compete to qualify for European Competition year-on-year?
HISTORY/REPUTATION/BRAND ESTABLISHMENT: Is Boro globally recognised as a power in English Soccer?
ASSOCIATION: Is Boro associated with anything or anyone globally famous that could act as a seed for further image/brand development?
POPULATION: Is Middlesbrough a city of (at least) hundreds of thousands of people?
LOCATION:Is Boro a magnet for tourism? Is Boro a British gateway and/or hub location, or is it on a mainline route to anywhere? Does Boro boast a variety of artistic, recreational venues that can, naturally a) attract young professional footballers with their wags (and wages!) to live here, b) attract a continuous stream of wealthy businessmen or professional groups to international conferences with weather, golf, places of internationally-recognised historical interest, big entertainment venues with theatres, restaurants ? c) offer attractive headquarter facilities to major multinationals, industrial and financial houses?
If you were very, very wealthy – like Abramovich is wealthy – would you, if you had no associations with Middlesbrough at all, viewing the Premier League as a place to put a substantial amount of your own money into a club, would you buy into Middlesbrough Football Club as a prospect to make a lot of money in the Premier League? Or would you buy a Manchester City, or a Tottenham Hotspur, or a West Ham United or even a Birmingham City? What would make clubs such as those a more attractive proposition than Boro?
Answering the above questions, for me, says it all.
This is not to say that Boro’s catchment area is a crap place to live. It’s not. Contrary to what some idiots on Channel 4 reported recently, Teesside and its environs suits many people (but not as many as choose to migrate to cities!).
In spite of that personal view, however, I feel that it is extremely unlikely that any billionaire with money to invest in a Premier League football club is going to afford Middlesbrough any more than a passing nod. (Unless, of course, the Saudi petrochemicals investors feel like having an unlikely happy flutter in competition with their Emirates brothers and buying themselves a square on the Boro Monopoly Board!)
That’s why Steve Gibson, Boro’s Sugar Daddy, can wake up each morning knowing that whatever is his strategic business plan for Middlesbrough Football Club, it’s not going to be rewritten today or any other day soon.
Keith Lamb’s words which caused such indignation and consternation in Middlesbrough last year were fundamentally true, honest and forthright. The man is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. You tell people the truth – they hate you for it! You give people spin and they hate you for it!
That the public didn’t like the message Keith Lamb gave them cannot detract from the reality of it. Because that is the nature of the business we are in.
Hard though it may be to swallow for Boro supporters, it looks increasingly likely that at some point in time, we may have to settle for being a small town that was in Europe. We’re being left behind because the game is changing faster than we can keep up; an accelerating change fuelled by TV money and globalisation.
This, of course, is not what the local football-supporting public want to hear. And therefore, it’s not the message that any business would want to put out there – although Mr Lamb did - in an attempt to appeal to the desire of “loyal� supporters to continue to turn out in their greatest numbers.
I’ll speculate that Steve Gibson’s vision for the development of his business “empire� retains MFC and its Academy as a core component for seeding some talent to sell on, and through developments at Hurworth and in association with the developers of Middlehaven, he’ll seek to make the most of shaping a more attractive “leisure�-based package to be offered on Teesside for possible investors in the future.
But whether this will ever be enough to maintain Boro’s seat at the top table – and whether Mr Gibson would feel inclined to offer a share to others to enable next-phase growth - well, only time will tell.
In the meantime, the job of transformation will be made somewhat easier if Boro’s current membership of the top flight can be continued.
But I suspect this will have to be done on a relatively shoestring budget- especially while Mr Gibson’s own investment finances are being stretched as he perhaps seeks to create a more diversified, but sustainable future!
Hey Clive,
Well at least TB isn't slothfully gaining fat sat on a fat bottom on a fat settee drinking lager from a glass held by fat fumbling fingers!
I've seen other club's blogs and AV's is INTERNATIONAl class compared to theirs. Kindly encourage the likes of TB please as we need people with what might be called intelligent passion.
Come the day I make a few squillion I'll buy the club and have Lambie selling burgers outside the ground for a living.
Wouldn't that be 'mint'?
Saucy Robin Mitton MR. Cartoon Man!
AV - you spell out the realities of the changing environment: all three of the domestic trophies have now virtually become the preserve of the 'big four', while the additional revenues from the Champions League represent a 'lock-in' for the same clubs.
Other realities are that we can't expect to keep producing high quality Academy players if we restrict our scouting and intake to the Teesside area. Other clubs, some smaller thanb us, take a more global perspective
In addition, as Werdermouth points out, to make this model work we have to recruit very high quality coaching and support staff.
Off the field the club is still living in the dark ages - there are ways to limit the damage to revenues from poor results and performances (Norwich are a good example).
We all know that the club needs new direction, a different mindset and a 'customer relationship' focus. Similarly Steve Gibson and others need to recognise that to make statements that promise +A and then deliver -C is, irrespective of any other factor, going to result in disappointment, frustration and allienation.
Vic,
Thanks for that, it has helped put in perspective the questions a lot of us have been asking for many months.
MFC is in decline, MFC cannot compete, MFC are cutting their cloth, the club that Teesside can afford, and so on, all the things a small proportion of fans really knew but the majority were, I am sure, completely oblivious to.
I hope your article goes on to rouse those at the top end of the club into now taking on and inviting the fans to be part of this new model, the new Riverside Revolution?, but sadly I think not, there is still too much arrogance at MFC for this to happen.
I'm afraid we are ALL at the crossroads where Boro and MFC are concerned, 2007-8 will be the making or breaking of the club in my opinion both on and off the field, there are even tougher times ahead I am absolutely sure of that.
Steve Gibson, as an astute hard nosed business man, has seen this coming for a number of years. Quite rightly he is not prepared to see his club (note "his" not "ours") and his Bulkhaul empire get dragged to the bottom of a financial pit that could see both go to the wall.
However, like many other companies and institutions that are struggling, he has failed to keep his customers informed, he's masked the problems, played his cards too close to his chest, created the "good news" press releases and inevitably now that all is laid bare, is faced with revolt which in a normal business set up would have seen him ousted as chairman and replaced.
He has consistently shown disdain for the Teesside populace, told us downright lies, he has deceived us, given us false hopes, and for all of this time denied the fans their say in the clubs future, such that now the fans, (customers, clients, heart and soul of the community he purports to love), are turning their backs on him, the Messiah, and the club.
It could and should have been so different if only he had listened. If only he had kept the fans close, told us of the problems in keeping a club our size afloat, invited us to join him to pull together in harmony as it once was, form a fans cooperative, anything, most of us would have come running to help. We love this club, but to ignore us is perilous and foolhardy in the extreme.
IT'S NOT TOO LATE STEVE !!
Bob
I have blogged many time of the cyclical nature of football where smallish clubs get amongst the bigger boys and suffer a reaction. Some survive and regroup, others dont and get relegated. It has happened to Soton, Ipswich, Leicester. Even bigger clubs get close to the edge, Everton, West Ham, Spurs, Villa.
Blackburn were in the doldrums when Sounness took over. They won the league cup, then qualified for europe through the league the next season, then the slither set in.
Whatever he tried didnt work. I am no apologist for Sounness, he just suffered the fate of many managers of mid sized clubs. Who knows if Bolton wouldnt have had a blip under Allardyce.
I raly hope that MFC read these blogs and see that Middlesbrough people arn't as daft as they think.
Some comments on here border on stupidity but the majority are eye opening and give a realism to how fans feel at any given time.
Through this i am beginning to understand what the club is doing and what the club is trying to achieve without MFC actually coming out and saying as much.
Yes we are poor at the moment as a team but collectively i feel MFC is regrouping and taking stock.
The premier league is a huge multi million pound stamping ground and can either make you or break you and break you very hard ( ie leeds, shef wed, bradford)
What we need to hear from the club is that we are in a period of reform and transition and that our aim is for premier league survival and that by achieving this it will bare fruit in the longer term.
Yes Gibson has come out and said he expects Southgate to keep us in the premier league but last year he was maintaining we needed to push for europe. The club needs to give the fans a true feeling for what is trying to be achieved and why this is.
If we are trying to build a club based on our academy the come out and say it. If the club are in financial problems then come out and say it. Tell the fans what is happening.
Middlesbrough fans make MFC not gibo and we as fans deserve to be treated with respect and not taken for granted.
Give us something back and reduce ticket prices and also do something on matchdays to try and rouse the atmosphere, the club should be behind the fans and in turn the club will have the support of the fans
As I have posted before, SG may get his Academy based side but it will only be a Championship side not PL.
This does not bother me as it would be great to see a Boro side made up of local lads playing with pride and passion.
It can not be any worse than what we are paying to watch at the moment.
AV - A second front in my arguement with Mr Mitton? A pincer movement I hadn't thought of that, beyond my intellectual capability I'm afraid!
Back to Boro's finances, we have never been able to compete with the likes of Man Utd and never will. That doesn't mean we should be settling for second best.
We all believe Boro have been under achieving in the league for years and that is the reason for most of the frustration expressed on this blog.
We've had our cup successes which were terrific, but we have never achieved what Blackburn and Bolton have done in terms of achieving success in the league by consistently finishing in the top ten for a few years in succesion. If they can do it we can.
Our 'secret' weapon has to be the academy for which the club must be applauded - but it alone won't guarantee success.
I can see Steve Gibson wants to create a stable long term management structure, which would be great if it could be achieved, but its going to be a rough ride in the meantime and is relegation to the Championship a price worth paying to achieve it?
Part of what GS said on the Boro Website
“With the position we are in and the way attendances have been over the last couple of years we have to cut our cloth accordingly and we havew to make sure we do the right things in January�
“But whether we’ll have millions to spend I doubt very much�
This is why SG made him manager, he does only what Lamb and Gibson tell him.
Without doubt other clubs will spend the end of season Sky money in January. Boro are going to be hanging onto theirs - we will be the richest club in the Championship.
The so called big names will leave (more money in the pot) and we will then have our Academy side to support.
I have no problem with this as long as SG does not become a Charlie Amer, where Charlie sent the clubs money on a sports hall, hopefully SG will not do the same on his hotel and golf course.
Dave Parnaby does a great job with the academy players, we need a top manager and coaches bringing into the club to allow them to fulfill their potential, when making the step up to the first team.
TB = Nutter on the bus. You need to chill a bit. I don't know if you have a good point or not because I find your posts unreadable. Too long and too much shouting. I think it is a good job you dont go to games or you would explode.
I’ve just had an idea on how to solve the problem of Southgate not having enough experience.
You know how Boro bring on their academy boys by loaning them out to championship teams for 3 months – well why don’t they follow their own model and loan GS to the next championship team who sack their manager?
He’ll no doubt be successful and then Boro fans will be demanding we bring him back early – plus he’ll return with loads of confidence.
**AV writes: You may be on to something. How about a three month loan/swap, Gate and Jinky for Boothroyd?
AV,
Surely you know more than all us bloggers so whats the real story. Surely you can give us some insight into whats happening behind the scenes at MFC.
Is gibbo realy shedding the weight off boro and do you think we are bracing outselves for relegation? Go to the championship start winning bring back the fans start again?
For all you Godless 'unbelievers' out there let me tell you that the recent injury news coming out Rockliffe is proof in power of prayer.
Thank you God.
**AV writes: Damn you and your voodoo doll SD.
For those not in the know yet, Schwarzer has knacked his thumb. The club are saying out for Reading but we are saying six weeks. We heard it from a very good source *taps nose and winks*
Scwarzers injury may be a blessing in disguise, he has been hopeless this season.
The Gazzette wrote:
The Aussie, whose injury was expected to be confirmed following scans today, is still his country’s No.1 and rated one of the top keepers in the Premier League.
Who rates him, Southgate apart as a top PL keeper?
"Boro are reeling following Schwarzer injury .... ." Yeah !
Well I'm certainly doing a reel - I think it's called the "Dashing White Sargeant"
Now he is allegedly fit, why don't we play Huth up front against Reading?
AV - When your 'source' told you Schwarzer was out for six weeks I hop he didn't tap his nose with his broken thumb....that would have hurt!
So who plays in goal on Saturday? Never Happy suggests Huth up front, maybe we could put him in goal?
So no centre forward, two keepers injured, fourth bottom, my jar which is usually half full when I look into it is looking a tad on the empty side just now.
On Tuesday I talked about likely line ups and worked on the assumption Mido would not be fit.
As a keen observer of Casualty, Holby City, Emergency Ward 10 and Hurworth I did add in the caveat that there were still three days training.
Mido is confirmed as out for some time, now Scissorhands for six weeks (MFC has doubful - since when is a broken thumb doubtful for a keeper?) and Taylor three weeks. And there are still two days to go, and a coach trip!
At least Score Draw is happy though I dont think our back up goalies inspire me with great confidence. Score Draw may think MFC might be right with doubtful cos he never gets to crosses and misses his punches. Not even MFC can play with a goalie in a pot.
As Never Happy points out Huth is allegedly fit so why not Huth in goal and Wheater up front?
Whilst the Boro's turnover figures are dwarfed by the big boys in the premier league, it woud be interesting to compare them to the turnover of some of the big 4's champions league opponents: Porto, Sevilla, Sporting, Marseille, Shalke, Olympiakos etc - are these figures you could dig up AV?
These teams do get some money from the champions league, but haven't seen anything like the huge payoffs received from televising their domestic leagues that Boro have got this season, yet are able to compete and often beat the big 4, and would flourish in our league, playing attractive passing football using talent both local and bought in at a fraction of what we pay.
It is after all still down to the skill of 11 good men on the pitch, regardless of how much they cost. Surely there are some quality coaching, scouting, and PR staff out there in Europe doing something very right that we are not? and if so let's get them here - their salaries are small compared to players but can make a massive difference.
At the moment we have defenders who can not defend and attackers who can not score.
Why not swop them all around, it can not get much worse than it is.
I just read my last posting and realised there were some not totally truthful statements, I am not a keen observer of Casualty and Holby City. I included them to add to the message, I apolgise profusely. I do not see this as a resigning matter as it did not materially affect the content.
I also have another admission, in checking the rail timings from Reading and the shuttle bus timings from the stadium I have taken note of the fact that a bus leaves the Mad stadium at 16.40pm and a train leaves Reading at 17.10pm. I do not think we will find WMD's (Wholesale Mass Desertions) at Reading but experience shows a pre formulated exit policy is necessary.
So we should adopt the academy model for the future. Fine - so long as we will be content to spend the next decade outside the Premiership - possibly even the Chamipionship will prove too powerful for us to survive in.
Our great academy success is a myth. Yes we put out an entire home-grown side for 2 games at the end of our Eindhoven season and what happened? Defeats to end-of-season strolling Everton and Fulham!!!
AV you liken us to Crewe with their capability to develop young players who go on to full internationals. We haven't managed that except with Downing and many would argue he shouldn't have ever been an England player and is highly unlikely to be one again now McLaren is out of the way.
Our academy managed to put together a side that played in 2 consecutive FA Youth Cup Finals winning one of them. Where are those players now? Mostly struggling with us.
Not one of those players is likely to be in the Premieirship next season except maybe Morrison and he moved on for a pittance. Johnson will likely move on in january.
The rest of Boro's "quality" youngsters look out of their depth in the Premiership every week and certainly won't find themselves headhunted at the end of the season by Premiership clubs but will have to drop down into the Championship.
Crewe had coaches capable of developing those level of players on - Boro most certainly do not. Somewhere between Academy and reserve team the quality is lost.
How I wish we had Dario Gradi as reserve team boss. Most of our youngsters would struggle to make up numbers in the squads of even the likes of Bolton and Blackburn.
At the start of last season I picked up a copy of a Manchester newspaper where they were reporting on Sylvain Distin desperately pleading with City not to force him out of the club to us.
Elsewhere they reported on multimillion pound sales of 3 of City's acadamy players and adding those to the sales of the 2 Wright-Phillips brothers to say how much the academy had contributed to City's finances and contrasted that to ours where we had a full team of players but 0 cash from them.
I thought it was the wrong way to look at the academy and we would never go that way - then of course we sell Morrison this season for chickenfeed compared to amounts City had sold players for and made the same sort of statements about the Academy paying its way.
To look for a genuinely successful academy side how about Villa. Their Academy products have tortured our defenders for a few years now winning handsomely at the Riverside seemingly every year.
Its been the likes of Luke Young and Agbonlahor that have done the damage. When has any of our academy products managed that?
No if we want to go down the developing young players from our academy route we need considerably better quality coaching to what we have now
**AV writes: It can't be done just through the Acdemy. It woudl also take a brilliant scouting network to bring in the brightest and best from the lower leagues.
Over the past few years we could have been buying the likes of Cahill, Jagielka, Koumas and Bale before our rivals did and before the price rose. We coudl have been selling them now at a profit and buying the next generation.
The point is to create a culture where those type of players WANT to come here because they know they will get a game, be supported, be nurtured and given the chance to earn a big money move to a glamour club.
That could be Boro's USP and give them the edge over the mid-table Premiership outfits who have bigger resources. Yes it will take investment in coaching and scouting and yes it will take a change of mindset for club and fans but it is a realistic possible way out of the financial strait jacket that Boro is bound up in now.
" THE CREDIT crunch looks set to bite Boro's bum in January "
Mido = 6 Million
Huth = 6 Million
Woodgate = 7 Million
Arca = 1.75 Million
Ewell = 300K
Luke Young = 2.5 Million
Jeremie Aliadiere = 2 Million
I wish I could have this kind of a credit crunch.
Not bad figures for a skint, small town in Europe that can't compete with the also ran teams.
This is all smoke and mirrors and I'm happy to be labled a nutter, a crank and the mad man on the bus, becasue I know that a couple of years down the line after we've shipped out all the no hopers from this club and bring in decent, competent people, that i'll be proved right.
Just as I have been so far.
The harsh reality is that we employed tweedle dum and tweedle dee and that we let Martin O'Neil and others slip through our fingers.
The harsh reality is that we had the dollars, and spent much of them very badly because the people spending this money don't have the faintest clue.
Add to this the wages of the non existent like Mr Ding Dong, and Mr Mendietta who we seem totally unable to sort out, and others, and it's all too easy to see why we are now facing this credit crunch.
In addition, the harsh reality is that this club either has a curse on it, or that there is something chronicly wrong at the club because we are constantly plagued by injuries and we are constantly unable to get people back fit.
The proposition put forward by AV misses these points entirely and instead chooses to divert attention from these facts and onto a finacial argument that neglects to acknowledge the fact that we had a good some of money which has produced the following.
17 Middlesbrough 14 -14 10
18 Sunderland 14 -15 10
19 Wigan 14 -15 8
20 Derby 14 -28 6
As I don't want to offend people even more by my long posts I will skip the comparison that can easily be made with similar clubs to ours with similar budgets, or less, that are in fact doing better.
I am not a guru or all seeing. But only a fool can miss the fact that were it not for these under-performing people that we employ, we'd be doing rather better.
TB
My team for Reading:
Turnbull
Young
Woodgate
Wheater
Pogi
Johnson
O'Neill
Arca
Downing
Huth
Tuncay
Subs
Steele, Cattermole, Aliadiere, Hutchinson, Rochemback
Is it true that Schwarzer’s thumb injury is due to excessive sucking after he had managed to spit out his entire dummy collection?
Personally, I think if he’s out for 6 weeks, then he may have already played his last game for the Boro. I suspect the club may have already arranged for Carson’s understudy at Villa to take his place in early January.
Talking about financial difficulties, I've been left with a spare ticket for the Reading game. Does anyone need one? I live in Berkshire so would ideally hand it over at Reading station on Saturday. Sorry for going off topic.
**AV writes: If anyone is interested I'll give them your e-mail but let's not make it a regular thing eh?
Bradhino:
The average attendances so far this season for the clubs you mention are
Middlesbrough 26,393
Blackburn 23,346
Bolton 21,117
Boro's attendance was lowest (ironically) for the Birmingham game, then peaked for the Mackems (at 30,675), but has been declining since by around 2,200 per (home) game.
As for Saturday's team, I'd rather see Taylor back if fit and Pogi alongside Woodgate in the centre. Rochemback and Arca central midfield, with Johnson & O'Neil on the flanks. Up front is the problem, but I think Tuncay has to be given a chance.
Come on, you Infant Hercules!
Oh no!! It goes from bad to worse!
I see the Sun is claiming that Dong Gook Lee will leave Boro in January! How much worse can it get?
Eeee! Ye've gorra laff!
So we have more injuries for reading. Expect injuries the excuse when we get beat.
No Schwarzer? Now we can just see how bad our other keepers really are and people might think twice about getitng on schwarzers back
Never Happy - I thought you were joking!
Huth up front, radical though. I suggest the same line up with Aliadiere in for Huth and perhaps Robin Mitton left field............
Looks as thoguh Ian Dowie may be available shortly - I'd give him a try if we're replacing GS.
Purple Ronnie - it does not matter how our keeper performs on Saturday, Schwarzer has been abysmal this season.
Nigel - I was not joking, when Huth played for Chelsea and during his fleeting appearances for the Boro, he was always put up front for the final 15 mins when the team was losing.
Why not from the start, it would certainly be a shock to Reading.
Purple Ronnie - You say
"Now we can see how bad our keepers are... "People might think twice about getting onto Schwarzers back.."
Do you think he's played well for the last 7 years ?
I can't remember one performance when I thought he earned his wages/place.
If we give this lad Turnbull an extended run i.e. the full 8 weeks we will shoot up the league. Just like we did when Crossley was in goal.
With Young, Pogatetz, Woodgate, Taylor, Wheater, Riggot in front of him he will do well. I have never seen him play but trust my judgement and the Academy.
Even if the young lad drops a Carson like blob we will still benefit in the long run. We have put up with feeble performances and constant whinges from Schwarzer for years now the least we can do for one our home grown is give all the support we can muster. I'd have preferred Gareth to have dropped Schwarzer but this will do.
A broken thumb is not career threatening - he can go and play for Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man Utd or Arsenal in the New Year?
Anyone know where I can buy Wii for my youngest ?
Codify your answers to get by the censors.
**AV writes: I'll have to start a sub-blog doing small ads.
Huth up front? Shouldn't we be encouraging the players to keep the ball on the ground more instead of humping it up in the air? Still, if they're going to do it anyway...
Not convinced by Dowie - he's not that much more experienced than the Gate. And, given that everyone says what needs to be done at Boro is "not rocket science", he's actually over-qualified!
re bradinho.
yes athletic bilbao have totally basque players but look at their coaching staff. JoaquÃn Caparrós (tha manager) has had stints at Villarreal, deportivo and sevilla to name but a few over a career spanning 20 years.
their coaching staff included pepe Reina of liverpool's dad who has a fantaxtic reputation and well known around the world.
to have a successfull home grown team you must have the quality in staff to nurture it and coach it to high standards.
can you say boro have that at the moment?
plus bilboa are 14th in primiera and not to many points off relegation zone with real there next game...
Don't know if anyone noted the comments of Ramos whatever-his-name-is at Spurs but in the paper today he said the January transfer window is a waste of time. "All the good players are bought in the summer" he said, adding "only desperate teams buy in January, and subsequently these transfers hardly ever work out." Take note SG & GS!
Hang on a minute. Been reading all the spin and financial hocum for the last couple of days - is this supposed to make us,the fans,feel guilty?
Perhaps we should all doff our forelocks and turn up at the arsenal game to repent our sins and pay homage to our greatly assembled team of underachievers.
We, the fans, did not spend all the money on second rate players,and we dont agree their contracts. In actual fact ,we the fans would have done a darn sight better in the transfer market than the last 2 managers have.
Why do we always sign other clubs cast offs? We must have the worst scouting system in europe. There must be young fit hungry players across europe or indeed the uk, who could bolster our squad and give it an injection of urgency and passion,the current squad showed us all their talents against villa.
We are expecting julio arca to work miracles when he returns,and i think he may have to to keep us up.
The honeymoon period is over. Boro fans we are being prepared for the championship by our chairman and his staff reading between the lines. I think we already suspect that.
Eric Paylor said "The Aussie, whose injury was expected to be confirmed following scans today, is still his country’s No.1 and rated one of the top keepers in the Premier League."
Man, can I have some of what he's smoking. Who in the world rates Schwarzer? Stage a coup and take the reigns as chief, Vic.
Just a thought. A few weeks ago, when the striker crisis first hit us, we were talking of the possibility of a short term deal for someone out of contract - John Aloisi was mentioned.
So now we're going to be without Mido, Craddock (and hopefully, LDG), why don't we do it? There must be someone out there in Europe looking for a club. A Joseph Job, a Szilard Nemeth, a Maccarone? Or can't we even afford that level of investment?
Those of us who live in the real world and have to budget day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year may be a tad sceptical at the figures coming out of the club.
I for one do not believe that SG is financially naive or incapable of managing his finances. I do believe that the club generally has been grossly incompetent and negligent with its affairs both on and off the pitch.
Dealing purely with on the pitch activities (as the off field activities are largely behind closed doors and as such can only be considered as speculative), TB pointed out above spending totalling almost £25 million on recent transfers.
Of these some have been intermittent part time hits or in the main passengers or injured. The injured and the passengers were totally predictable and not unlucky or just Boro being unfortunate. These players all had "previous" form (or lack of it) on the injury and underachieving front.
The Management appointment was a case of hope rather than belief tempered by the cost implication of attracting someone outside of the club.
Wasted money (Mendi's wages further emphasises this) over a period of time has brought the club to this low. One calculation I would like to see is the cost of players transfer fees plus their salaries divided by minutes on the pitch. I suspect this ratio belies the real truth for the Boro's current predicament.
Recent talk of Nugent to Boro reinforces this pattern of purchasing failures. Perhaps more worrying is the number of players whose careers have died at the Riverside and Tuncay seems the latest of a long line.............coincidence? I doubt it very much.
jc...thanks for those figures, these clubs I see as our rivals but size should not matter, it is about the 11 men on the pitch and the coaching staff
David Morrison...I am aware of Athletic's recent slide (they finished 2nd in '99) and last season finished 17th but they have NEVER been relegated (get yer bets in now that I have jinxed them!).
I am also aware that they have an excellent coaching system and I was never saying that Boro should be totally exclusive with regards staff - if there was a Clough type out there who had massive experience and was still from Boro then we should go all out for him.
RR - Not sure how you'd get hold of player wages, but this might be instructive:
player - fee £M - playing time this season
Robert Huth - 6 - 0%
Jonathan Woodgate - 7 - 64%
Mohamed Shawky - 0.65 - 0%
Lee Dong Gook - 0 - 18%
Jeremie Aliadiere - 2 - 56%
Sanli Tuncay - 0 - 51%
Ahmed Hossam Mido - 6 - 43%
Guys,
the reason why my posts are always so strong is that I personally see the problems, rightly or wrongly, of this club differently.
For me it isn't about money, it's 100% about attitude. I see that the problems all stem from the fact that we are always too negative and we are always to eager to play the "small town in Europe " card in order to justify our position and lack of ambition.
I fully accept that we haven't got a pot of gold with which to indulge our every whim, or that we can just sign a cheque to bail us out of situations like Chelsea do.
But all I'm saying is that we just need to take a much more positive approach in which we always look upwards and forwards to the furure, instead of always looking downwards and into the past.
Can I give just 1 example to be brief ?
We've recently spent £25m and a lot of that was spent badly. Why didn't we spent £24 million instead and then spend £1m emplyoying better people, on and off the field ?
Why don't we still have a deal set up with the best rehab clinic in the world, like where Owen has gone in Germany, so that when we do get injuries to our key and limited personnel, that we send them straight away to the very best so that we know that we are doing is the very best we can be doing?
I've NEVER heard of a groin injury that doesn't respond to the RIGHT treatment. Instead of sending Mido to three specialists and have the club fumble about with him here, we should have just put him straight on a plain to the very best specialist so as not to waste any time. Time we just don't have, especially with no one to replace him with.
Sorting out a deal with a top world renouned rehab clinic ISN'T about money, as we have enough, it's ONLY about having the foresight and will to do it, and I'm afraid that this is something we just don't have, in my opinion.
TB
Who is Robin Mitton and does he do what he states?
He says that he has been employed by PSG and Nike but when you google his name nothing comes up.
Anyone have any ideas?
**AV writes: He works for Mike Delaney "the world's top football choreographer" and runs skills schools and keepy-uppy classes in Hollywood and across the world.
Just a very quick funny. Did i read this right??
Have you all read Gareth's interview on here. "Turnbull urged to make the most of opportunity"???
" Mark Schwarzer is VERY, VERY GOOD on crosses"....Oh is he really ha??
Come on boys lets get at Reading tomorrow...3 points would be fantastic!
Also good to here that Boro had to ask Reading for more tickets, lets get behind the lads win/lose/draw...and please NO booooing!!
Gary Hewit - 'who is Robin Mitton?' , I suggest you take cover, the Mitton barage in response to your question should be an amusing read.
After ages where I have been less than complimentary about the treatment of our players Rockcliffe has extracted its revenge.
I had a reoccuence of an old back injury and spent most of yesterday in bed. Text Powls to warn him obly to receive the advice not to ask MFC for help or I will be out for ten weeks. Luckily I have a pond with leeches in it. I also have paracetamol of my own.
I have managed to get to work and am planning a fitness test before I leave. It is the only problem being a highly tuned athlete like what I am!
Really disappointed with Gareth's pre-match comments.
“We have to look forward and go to Reading believing that we can win it.�
I'm no expert on language, semantics or textual analysis but it sounds like someone saying what he is expected to say but not actually believing it.
Southgate is clueless when it comes pre-match statements. What is the point of saying Schwarzer was good at crosses? In what way does that help Turnbull? If anything it suggests that Turnbull is weak on crosses.
Regarding the accuracy of the statement that "Schwarzer is good at crosses..." Well what do you say ????
I am intrigued by the report that it was a "freak training ground accident". That is normally statement put out to cloak the truth and hide what really caused his absence.
In Schwarzers case I suspect it was a freak accident in that for once he managed to get his hand to a shot ......
With that I promise not to say another negative word on Mark.
Ian - thats what happens when to call the quacks at Hurworth witch doctors.
Why doesn't Southgate promise Turnbull, that if he plays well he will be still in goal when Schwarzer returns?
I am not under the influence and despite Reading decent home form and our abysmal away form, I just have a feeling that we are going to win tomorrow.
2 - 0 with goals from Tuncay and O'Neill
Odds of 95/1, lump on
C'Mon Boro!
Now wheres that darkened room?
i agree that boro need to bring more money into the club and spend big in january. Boro also need a new experienced manager like al mcleish.
Boro are losing a lot of support due to doing bad in the league and thats bringin less money into the club and boro are now 13m in debt.
I think when the january transfer window open's we should see what posistion we are in and maybe bring in a new manager if we are still at the wrong end of the table.
Also look for a fast right winger and a striker which is going to get you goals and perform for most of the season, someone like jermane defoe on loan or even nugent from portsmouth.They should also try and get darren fletcher from man united on loan for the second half of the season.
Swartzer getting injured could be the lifting of a curse !
Turnbull might be a decent keeper.
I am getting behind the team and fancy a result at Reading and I reckon if Tuncay plays with an attacking midfielder [Arca ] backing him up and making space and incisive deffence splitting passes then he could get off the mark with a goal or 2!
If Tuncay is fit and not played I am gonna flush myself down the toilet with our premiership future .
Mitton's self promotional band wagon rumbles on YAWN. Watch you don't choke on those frog's legs old fruit.
Gary Hewit - 'who is Robin Mitton?' I was thinking the same!
No mention of him on Mike Delaney's web site. Companies House check for 'Football for Nations Ltd' shows a dormant company that changed it's name from 'Ebbsfleet Financial Services Ltd' in March 2007.
So who is he? and what does he really do? (apart from believe his own hype)
schwartzer...good on crosses? What is southgate on? Hopefully his bike on monday.
anyone who thought that the goals this season were coming from 2 wingers that they call strikers and a mido who had not played football for months and had no preseason training is crazy. They knew for months that the yak was leaving and so did the fans. Not very good planning god help us, we need a miracle.
We may have to really do some shaking up in january,how about,Woodgate and Downing for Lennon and Defoe if we can get them to move to the Teesside Riviera?
How would people feel about Roy Hodgson as the next Boro manager ?
TB
Yes, it will be really good to see Arca back and hopefully he'll provide the spark that lights up the three points. I can see him getting a goal.
I hope too that the young lad in goal has a great, mistake free game, as I wouldn't want any blame to be put on him, taking it off the main issues.
However he plays he fully deserves his chance and to be given time to settle in to what will no doubt be an exciting, yet very challenging time.
Come on lads, let's see some of that famous Teesside steel on show.....
3 points will be invaluable.
TB
T. Black-
Roy hodgson is a poor manager and a strange individual.
I sense a smidgen of 11th hour optimism on the Blog. Can this really be the game that eventually turns our season around?
Ian is dragging his sore back all the way from Derby, witch doctors and all, TB is looking for Teesside steel in the ranks, Never Happy on a sure fast winner for 2-0 Boro at 95/1, AND no Schwarzer (I know that's a bit unfair). We now need Woody to get his finger out of his you-know-what and start earning his wages at the back, because at the moment I don't think he looks like he gives a toss.
I hope Arca is back, even 70 minutes would be a godsend after the dross we have seen in the middle of the park since the Mackem Muggers visited us. Unlees of course our coach decides on playing him at left back, god no!
The team selection will be interesting though. We don't have a target man unless he plays Huth or Wheater up there, so it must be 2 up front, one of them MUST be Tuncay. Surely Southgate has learnt something from last week?
Onwards and upwards, C'mon Boro.
About attracting £££££££ from oil rich foreign shores – profits for such benefactors should be irrelevant – more - such a cash cow laden benefactor should see his involvement in the BORO as much as buying a PET, for fun and entertainment, regardless of performances … because lets face it - isn’t the BORO - SG’s favourite pet?
Such people have money to burn – one of them just needs rubbing up the right way to part with his cash … and that’s where we need a good PR team to KICK in and sell the BORO as a potential source of fun and entertainment to someone with more ££££££ than SG.
As for keeping and attracting other ACADEMY lads from other clubs – I think not - given our current position – because mark my words – all the time and investment that has been spent to bringing on Stewy, Wheats, Cats, Johno and Co will backfire on US if we go down a league - because these lads will attract ££££££££ from better off clubs which will be hard for our inept financial “gurus� to turn down.
No – let’s face it – we are in a mess off the park – and the sole responsibility of that mess lies with the Chief Executive – that is what happens in the REAL WORLD of business.
I will not tolerate the “Men� in the higher echelons of their Ivory Towers making scapegoats out of GS and the lads - who are doing their utmost best on the “park� to keep us in the top flight.
As for dropping a league, as some bloggers have muted, that is dangerous territory – look at the Saints and other fallen premiership clubs – it’s a hard league to bounce back from!
eddie