Boro Dig In For Credit Crunch
I DON'T know about you, but with the credit crunch biting like a half-starved pit bull there has been some serious trimming of the household budget. Daily living costs have been trimmed and all major future spending plans revised radically downwards while luxuries and personal extravagances are a no-no. We're not quite at the stage of stockpiling tins of beans and taking the telly down to Cash Converters yet but the assumption is that next year could be what politicians and employers like to describe as "challenging."
Just as individuals and companies are tightening their belts and digging in for the duration, so too are football clubs. Or at least, those with the foresight to see that the era of unlimited spending built on the all-seater sell out boom and the crazy satellite cashcade is over are. Luckily Boro are among their number.
Speaking at the latest BBC Tees fans' forum yesterday Keith Lamb hinted at future ticket price cuts and warned Boro supporters it was time for face up to the new economic realities and that the days of bank-busting transfer and global superstars were over. Flesh was put on the bones of that today in the Gazette as we put the latest published accounts for the club under the microscope and looked at Boro's position in the financial league table.
The headline grabbing stats in the report from companies house are that Boro have staggering combined debts of more than £93m. We knew that, or at least the kind of ball park figure. The signs were there when the Gazette looked at the previous set of books and the club had made a £13m loss in the UEFA Cup roller-coaster year. The large debt has been heavily hinted at by the manager all year and it was emphasised in the last transfer window that the club's recruitment policy had - sensibly in my view - moved to a more prudent and sustainable one for a club with among the lowest cost bases in the Premier League. Slowly the people who run the club are ensuring Teesside 'gets the club it can afford'.
The debt has been the elephant in the room during all contract discussions for the past two years. Not just when selling an established, consistent right-back on the eve of the season because it was "a good deal for the club", but also when contract renewals came up for big earners like Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer and George Boateng. The club have acknowledged that the policy shift from buying big name stars to bringing in hungry young potential is as much a pragmatic economic one as a philosophical one.
But what is new in the accounts - and in many ways reassuring - is the structure and time-scale of the debts. The bulk, a hefty £69m, is owed to the Gibson-O'Neill Company Limited, the holding company that also owns Bulkhaul. These are internal loans that are unlikely to be called in so long as Bulkhaul is healthy and on which there are no crippling interest charges or nasty letters from the bank at £15 a time.
They are also accounting devices by which the parent company can move assets and liabilities around in the most tax efficient way. It is a bit like taking a tenner out of the catalogue money to pay the credit card bill so as to avoid interest with the intention of putting it back next pay day. It is never nice to be in debt but it is easier to manage when you owe yourself a tenner than when you are getting the red letters and threats to cut the electricity off .
What is also new is the revelation that the company finances were restructured last March, which suggests that prescient Gibson and his bean-counters saw the credit crunch looming and took early evasive action. That should have insulated us from the worst of what could be to come.
Because if the recession does take a tighter hold then football could be a major casualty. People have to pay their gas bill, their rent or mortgage and they have to buy food and petrol. But they don't have to spend £500 a year on their hobby. And they don't have to spend £30 a month on Sky Sports. Football is a very expensive indulgence: a dad and lad day out with programme, pie and pint comes in around the £60 mark - and when household budgets get trimmed then that will be an obvious target. And once that revenue starts to tumble the clubs are in trouble.
Football economics are a basket case. People talk about "the TV money" as if it is limitless. Most clubs get around £60m. But most clubs are operating on wage bills of £40m and upwards - some significantly upwards - and when you throw in other operating costs (academies, scouting, travel and transport, debt servicing) there isn't a lot left. In short, nearly all transfer spending gets added to the overdraft. Prudent Boro had a net spend of £300,000 this summer and £4.4m over the year.
People also talk about "outside investors" as if they are white knights. Abu Dhabi only has one one royal family. The rest are speculators. Investors want to make a profit and up to now the favoured formula has been leveraged buyouts, using cheap credit to buy the club and fund transfers on the never-never then channel the revenue from TV rights out to another company and the operating income of ticket and merchandising cash to pay off the interest but leaving the original purchase price as ticking debt time-bomb to be defused by future owners or explode in the faces of future fans.
Boro have never gone down this route thankfully. Imagine being a West Ham fan right now, the club walking a tightrope of debt, insolvency and uncertainty and landed with a massive £120m injury ravaged squad of £60-80k a week crocks and fearing meltdown. Look at Newcastle, a divided relegation haunted club lumbered with a owner who can't sell and weighed down by fans with unrealistic expectations and a corrosive political power. Even Liverpool have a hamstrung boardroom and a millstone of a new stadium they are struggling to finance.
For that we must be thankful. We have discussed on here at length before about why Boro are better off declining the billionaires' indecent proposals and most are level headed enough to know that relatively we are small fry.
That doesn't mean we can't flourish or be ambitious or compete so long as we find a way forward that doesn't depend on taking risks and spending money we haven't got. The current financial realism recognises that. Fans are starting to recognise that too.
Boro can continue to punch above their weight - and avoid the looming meltdown - by carving out a niche as a super-charged top flight Crewe based on a commitment to good footballing principles, continuity, shrewd husbandry of bright young talent, investment in scouting and coaching continuity and a unity of purpose between the club hierarchy, the players they bring in and - crucially - the fans. That could be the tricky bit.
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Anthony Vickers
Football has always been an unrealistic busness, more so now and thank god we have Steve Gibson but ask yourself this question, how many players have we let go on the cheap and how many players did we pay over the odds for?
Is the golden legacy left to Gareth Southgate being squandered - Parnaby Queudrue , Morrison Cattermole, Woodgate, Yakubu the list can go on - all sold, all undervalued, none replaced with better players.
I love my Boro and am so grateful to Steve Gibson. Keith Lamb and all, for the pleasure my hometown club has brought me and others throughout the gibson adventure long may it continue.
Up the boro
The irony of the credit crunch is that it may level out the playing field in the Premiership and once again "non fashionable" clubs could be champions!
Manure have a massive debt which is fine when their investors businesses are thriving in a vibrant economy, Liverpool as you mention have concerns and their near neighbours Everton like the Jawdies are up for grabs! Arsenal seem to have adopted a "Boro type" prudent philosophy and when Abramovich gets tired of his toy then what for Cheslea?
As for the Aston Villa's, Man City's etc. will their investors be happy just owning an asset which is declining in value as crowds dwindle and Sky Subscriptions cease?
With the economic doom and gloom set to worsen what else will be frozen or sunk by Icelandic Bankings icebergs as the fall out continues. Hull City may become the bench mark that the "Big 4" will have to emulate in order to survive. Now that Leeds seem to have recovered from their financial woes they may be well positioned to timely progress up the leagues and challenge once again for European glory.
How long, how wide and how deep this recession lasts could determine a whole new era in Football where clubs like Preston and Burnley could again become fashionable and enjoy top flight status for many years to come. This year the relegation prospects from the Premiership could spell disaster if one of the larger ("OK Big") clubs slip out as recovery may well take some time.
For Boro to remain in with the elite, they have to show endeavour and passion on the pitch as well as prudence in the Board Room if they do the fans will be behind them, lets hope the passion starts at 3.00PM tomorrow and not 4.00PM as has been the norm of late!
WELL DONE TO THE EVENING GAZETTE FOR A STORY THAT 90% OF EVERY BORO FAN KNOWS ABOUT..... HUGE EXCLUSIVE THAT ONE....
First and for most Steve Gibson is a very very good business man and it is idiotic to think he would be plying many of his self made millions into MFC with little or no return. Bulkhaul is basically funding a non profit making organisation in mfc and it no surprise to see all these statements coming out about the club looking to youth and having a team the the town can afford.
Its absolute garbage because Steve Gibson will take back every penny when he sells MFC - and sell he will in the long term if football continues to go down the path it is right now.
We are all very greatfull to Steve Gibson and I for one believe he is the reason why we are here in the premier league and why we have been to cup finals and consecutive seasons in Europe but this story is just rubbish.
I dont understand what this article is supposed to achieve on the eve of maybe the biggest derby in recent history. a game that means more than just 3 points and a game against our closest rivals that could see us pile on more misery for them down at the bottom.
Also the headline fans debt gets my back up. Why is it our debt? MFC is a football club and should be backed by its owner thats what happens in football. So why is it our debt? Gibson could be hardy and not invest but then again what would he get out of it at the end or what short term reliif would he get from it? its utter garbage.
"Everton like the Jawdies are up for grabs! "
Good grief, can you not keep your infantile spelling restricted to the childish FMTTM board where it belongs.
This is a blog for adults, not halfwits!
A few comments/questions:
1. The layout of the site seems different. Is "recent work by the IT boys" the explanation for my not being to get into the site for a day or so? I am prepared to believe the fault was at my end but I am afraid I was told "access denied" several times so gave up.
2.I didn't have a problem with anything you said in your piece, so have you done something to annoy David Morrison?
3. The only thing is I winced when I read the description of Newcastle as a "divided relegation haunted club", which I think is to tempt the Football Gods for tomorrow afternoon. You do realise if it all goes pear-shaped, my undies will be let off the hook and it will all be down to you?
**AV writes: The lay-out has changed and some of the engine room software seems to have changed (when I first posted the blog it was one long slab of text until I found a tweak to insert paragraphs). I don't particularly like it but then I am a luddite and was just getting used to the old new look.
As for DM, his problem appears to be not with my article but with the Gazette piece and in particular the phrase "the fans' debt of gratitude." I don't think he wants to accept any legal or moral responsibility for said debt if it all goes belly up.
I think that Gibson's formula of focusing on the youth and cheap but talented players is the model we have to go down.
Spending 60% of revenues on salaries is a business model for failure (look at Pompey). The board and the fans have to understand the fact that being in the Premier league is good enough in this economy. Building a solid club from the Academy level up to the top is very important for Boro who don't generate large revenue streams.
Overspending and going more and more into debt will only cause more teams to pull a 'Leeds' and borrow money on futures that just may not be there tomorrow.
Cheers
Steve Gibson has had some amazing players wearing a Boro strip and they have sometimes produced some amazing results. Thank you very much Mr. Gibson.
I had to check my spelling on this one , hope its alreet so I dont get Peter Holton tellin me I have the same mental capacity for English as a 4 year old.
Peter, Naivety is freedom mate, chill out.
So anybody who bought a house just before the dip payed too much and if they got a huge mortgage without the job to pay for it then they will suffer but not everybody has lost their job and the news and press are scaring the country into a down turn and creating panic. Dont worry though Boro fans as I am still on the spend and will keep Britain's economy afloat single handed!
PS- Gibbo is a Boro fan and I still reckon if a really good player comes up at bit of a price then he will go for it.
Up the Boro
Peter Holton are you Diablo Rojo (Costa de la Darlingtono) in disguise?
This is a football blog for football supporters in general and Boro supporters in particular, consequently football parlance and football slang is used (Jawdies, Skunks, Manchelsearsepool, Mackems, Smoggies et al).
If it offends your sensitivities then perhaps you should confine your posts to Oxford debating circles where you can be assured of your prerequisite level of high brow and supposed intellect.
Fortunately AV does not discriminate on contributors ability to read, write, spell or indeed even structure their sentences correctly. I suggest you focus on the content of the football related debate and banter on here unless of course like Diablo Rojo (or Stockton Rojo) that is beyond your comprehension. Next you will start a petition complaining about posters on here using "Boro" instead of Middlesbrough.
C'mon Boro and stuff it up the Jawdies tomorrow!
Oh and Peter remove that Poker from your Aliadiere!
**AV writes: I correct the worst of the spelling and delete anything in txt spk but most other things I like to keep the tone and style intact, even if sometimes the mangled syntax makes me want to weep.
AV I would imagine if one got one's Syntax mangled it could induce a feeling not too dissimilar to last weeks first 10 minutes v. Bolton!
For Peter's benefit perhaps your next blog could be entitled "argumentum ad hominem" that should appeal to the humour of the intelligentsia and sort out the halfwits on here simultaneously!
Jeffrey Wood thinks the Gate has squandered an inheritance, but look at the examples he quoted:
Parnaby - not good enough
Quedrue - popular, but can't get a game now
Cattermole- hmm, that one might come back to bite us
Morrison - see Cattermole, but not as likely
Woodgate - great player, too much baggage, best off out of here
Yak - yer joking aren't yer? Talented, lazy, unmotivated, AND we made a profit.
The name of the game for a 'prudently' run club is to develop players (Downing, Wheater etc) and pick up good players flying under the radar (Tuncay) and take a few risks (Aliadiere - good, Mido- not at all sure).
Lets be ambitious by all means, but realistic (unlike the skunks)
Up the Boro
Ha ha. Reading the comments on here and good old Google Ads down the right hand side has electronically underlined the point.
One says "Debts out of conrol? An IVA may be your best solution". We should forward that one to the 'Jawdees', West ham, Pompey, Liverpool, Spurs etc.
Another says "Credit crunch survival... money saving tips and bargain hunting". I think Gibbo has already answered that one.
"Mangled syntax"?
Sounds like a government levy on some kind of heavy sado-masochism!
"Sado-masochism"?
Sounds like watching the Jawdies - only more pleasurable (as I'm led to understand it!).
Just for Peter - It's an Untypical Boro thing, Peter! But I'm sure we're all sorry if you found it less than 50% amusing. However, I suspect the reasons for that is both implicit and explicit in your post!
Hope we're all still LOL 2 mora. Eh, AV?
On a more serious note, although David Morrison has expressed it a little more starkly that perhaps I would have (well then, again, maybe not), I tend to agree with a lot of what his sentiment seems to be.
Without taking anything away from Steve Gibson, other than false deity, Ghandi or Mother Teresa-like Sainthood or Benevolent Altristic Icon status, I DO think that Middlesbrough, Teesside and The Evening Gazette, ought to recognise that Steve Gibson is, first and foremost a businessman who would, I doubt, not do anything that didn't make money for himself.
I really don't think that Mr Gibson at any stage in his empire-building since starting his business ventures, ever intended to do anything other than make money and enjoy doing it, indulging himself in his passion for his local football team.
If lots of Boro supporters have enjoyed the ride, then that's fine and if they're happy about it, that's fine too. But for goodness sake, let's keep feet firmly on the deck and over-zealous heads out of the clouds.
Its a bit much to ask the whole of the Boro-supporting Teesside public to start beating our chests, rocking back and forth trance-like and chanting "He's one of us. He's one of us!"
I'm sure all Boro supporters are pleased that Steve Gibson took over the club and felt able to build it where it is now. But, "Come on!". Don't ask us to swallow that Steve Gibson did it for us and not for Steve Gibson!
The bloke's had a great time doing it. And good luck to him!
But for goodness sake, don't anyone ask me to voluntarily assume any of HIS Company's debts. Otherwise I might just have to ask for the occasional use of his Aston Martin, "free" golfing weekends at Rockliffe when it's all finished and a say in who we sign to strengthen our midfield!
**AV writes: LOL? LOL? ROFLMAO.
Redcar Red, you do not even go to Boro's games so shut up.
The mask slips!
I'd just like to say that it's great to be able to read this blog again.
I don't know what the techno bods (OK Peter?) at the Gazette did to this site, but I've been unable to read it for a couple of months.
I can now look forward to the posts on a 'derby' win.
**AV writes: Welcome back, mon ami.
Peter Holten
Sorry can't stay and engage in your monotonous drivel, got to get to the match versus the "Jawdies"!
Suggest you put a whole paragraph together that isn't cut and pasted from other peoples work. Its shouldn't be difficult for an adult like yourself with incisive intellect. Either that or get your tartan wheelie shopper bag and slippers on and get yourself off to the Library!
**AV writes: Time out on this one now lads please.
We might have debts but we also have lots of assets. How much are all the players worth? the stadium? training grounds etc?
Please give me an example of a mangled syntax. Or shall I just google it?
**AV writes: What it is is, syntax, right is the internal dynamics of a sentence that hold it together logically and grammatically. Although if Robert Huth suffered from a mangled syntax you can be sure he would be out for the season.
Good battling performance today with no weak links apart from our man up front who in fairness did up his effort level in the second half.
Digard and Arca fought,battled and scrapped away, Digard in particular I thought had his best game to date. Stewy put in a 5 star display and is back to his best, Ali and Tuncay ran and ran and the back four were solid. Turnbull had to do warm ups in the second half to try and stop himself freezing through lack of activity!
Classic moment was when Pogi (I think it was Pogi as the fog was swirling pretty thick then) went to clear with his head at knee height and got clattered in our box at the South end. He was laid out cold staggered to his feet aided by Turnbull, seen we had a corner, then ran up the full length of the pitch to the North end to try and stick his head back in straight away. Great spirit!
Hapless boro back in the relegaton scrap. Southgate is still clueless and Downing is still a waste of space.
You laugh Vic but it's the truth. If any of us could do this we would... and take the perks. SG is a guy who tries to make a living, like us all. And would you give your money away and hope? NOT UNLESS YOU HAD CONTROL. He is a business guy and is looking like we all are for a profit at the death. Story told
If any two consecutive posts summed up this blog then it would be Redcar Red's post at 5.55pm generally praising a fine performance, swiftly followed by Sweaty Agar's post at 6.35pm bewailing a clueless Southgate, a useless Downing and re-visiting the 'R' word. Classic - you wouldn't believe they went to the same match!
Happy with a point yesterday, and also a rather too uncommon clean sheet.
One of the things that was lost in last weeks usual panic that follows any defeat was the fact that it wasn't all down to our own doing - the opponents were also part of the game. Bolton are in a fine run of form and showed that again yesterday
Back to the credit crunch. The good thing about economic recessions is that it creates opportunities for people/companies/football clubs who are otherwise excluded. This is when market share changes.
In a downturn, one of the first expenditures to be cut back on is advertising. When advertising is cut TV companies don't have the money to spend. Football clubs rely on TV money. Someone's going to get hurt.
This is an opportunity for well managed, well structured clubs to stay stable whilst those that have over-indulged for too long will struggle, and I think (and let's be honest...hope) that some of them do. There could be some quite spectacular crashes. It would be great to see a premiership with Burnley, Preston, Hull, Stoke, maybe a Peterborough, probably the return of a Leeds, maybe even the non-supercharged version of Crewe.
There might be seven or eight clubs all with the chance of winning the league. How good would that be. Better still, they might re-name it Division 1 and have all games start at 3pm Saturday! Sorry...nurse is calling, have to go now...but listen to me, the change is coming...
This I getting more like an Oxford debating society than a Boro debating forum.
Never mind a good performance against the Jawdies, sorry Geordie's, Digard a great game never stopped running and harassing Newcastle when he was not in possession, he could give Alves some coaching in how to chase an opponent when not in possession.
Alves tends to stand and watch the opposition clear the ball, in particular one clearance by the Newcastle goal keeper he just stood and watched him instead of pressurising him.
No weak links in this team except for the continued non goal scoring of Alves. Arca looked good and created plenty of moves that looked dangerous without ever getting the final goal. All in all the Boro were the better team but as in the West Brom and Sunderland matches we did not get a deserved win.
Well, looked for four points from two home games but got just the one. Just shows how tight the league is with Bolton, Wigan and Fulham going into the top half a few weeks after being relegation fodder.
AV
Something for your comments.
After the daily gossip column check on the BBC went off to check the News of the World site for the rumour on Downing. Quite an authorative article by Martin Hardy. Boro are about to spark a bidding war between Spurs, Citeh and Liverpool as Gate seeks to raise funds for squad strengthening.
Part of the rationale is that Stewie's uplift in form and his England performance make it a good time to sell. Jinky and Emnes are cover (Mmmmmm) and money is tight. Apparently we are will to listen to bids for other players - Mido the obvious candidate.
All reports come with health warnings. As I know little about Martin Hardy what can you tell us about him? So over to you Vic, is he a regular at the Boro?. I notice he wrote the match report. Is he just cutting and pasting gossip?
Over to you AV, no pressure.
Further to my last post about Downing it is illuminating that he becomes a topic of confirmation on Sunday Supplement on SkySports. The talk was of him moving in the transfer window - great comment from Henry Winter that talk of Downing meant get the Xmas tree out.
These stories tend to gather their own momentum and I predict it will build. The journos were talking about how highly Jonhson was rated at Boro, getting £11m in current market would be good business, Downing to get top class football for his England future.
**AV writes: We all knew that Stewie's good display for England ensured predictable transfer window speculation by the 2+2 merchants.
Boro's problem at the moment is that their style of football has been sussed out by the rest of the Premier League. The Boro are a good fast exciting attacking team, ON THE BREAK.
However teams are now just sitting back and defending deep (Bolton, Newcastle and Everton all did this, Everton changing their tactics after being given the run around early on)) and the Boro are nowhere near as effective playing against this as the pace is being nullified.
Southgate needs to change the style of playing against boring defensive minded teams or else we may just find ourselves being dragged back into the relegation scrap.
That was a great game of football yesterday. I really enjoyed it. I thought Digard was excellent and fitted in nicely with Arca in central midfield. Downing had a good game as well.
It looked to me like Alves lacks the physical presence for the Premiership. He gets pushed off the ball far too easily. Although he did have a good second half.
Judging by that performace, we will finish well above Newcastle this season.
I did google mangled syntax. Apparently it's something that american presidential candidates do. George W. is good at it as well.
According to that bastion of all things Northern the Sunday People, Boro are lining up McGeady from Celtic as a replacement so that Spurs can have Stewy at a knockdown £11M. Apparently Gordon McQueen has recommended him to Gareth. Obviously as Gordon is Scottish it stacks up as he must spend all his time in his homeland doing nothing but indulging in all things Scottish while we race our pigeons and whippets!
How on earth do these individuals (as oppose to actual news reporters) get paid the Queens coin to sit at home (or more likely in pubs drinking too much warm beer) making up non-news. Roll on the credit crunch!
"Boro's Gibson to buy up collapsed former giants Man Utd and Liverpool for $1 each from their bankrupt US investors moving both clubs to a new 150,000 seater Riverside stadium" ...............this is a doddle, I could have a new career beckoning!
Bob at 10.41am - I agree that, if we could guarrantee Boro could keep its head above water, it would be poetic justice for some clubs to go belly-up. The finances of the game are unsustainable for many clubs. If debts were called in, there would inevitably be some major casualties. Economics of the madhouse! I wonder if some of the clubs are trading insolvent, and whether at some point there might be a few directors facing prosecution for "living the dream" on other people's money?
Clubs have been spending money they don't have and committing themselves to salaries for staff that would be unrealistic for any other "industry". It must be the only field of human endeavour in which a failing manager gets the sack, has to hire a JCB to take away his compensation payment to soothe his failure, and then finds himself given an even bigger contract at a club that has just sacked its own manager for losing three games in a row.
The manager must be financially better off being sacked by club after club, than staying at one club and making a positive contribution to the game like good old Dario Gradi. Who has contributed most to the development of players and football in general, Dario or, say, Peter Reid, and who made the most money?
It's almost as daft as offering mortgages at 125% of a property's value, with a ceiling of 7 times his annual pay, for a chap who has only been in work 6 months. And asking him to self-certify his income? Surely no-one would be THAT financially imprudent, would they?
I think the idea of a league structure where the top teams play in the First Division, the next layer being the Second then the Third Division etc is a good one. But it is probably too revolutionary, I fear. Perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies - a derby game on Saturday at 3.00pm (against Newcastle) brought back fond memories.
Sweaty Agar
Were you at the same game as me, mate? I thought we were the better side throughout. And I thought Stewy was one of the best`players on the pitch. He gave his full back a pretty torrid afternoon and sent across loads of dangerous crosses. It wasn't his fault there was no-one on the end of them!
Disappointing not to get 3 points, but this was a battling performance by Boro, who got stuck in from the word go and made it difficult for the Barcodes. If we play like that every week I shan't be upset, and goals will surely come.
Incidentally, a splendid reception for Viduka. Of all of our former players who've come back, he got the loudest, most vociferous and most disgusted of all I have ever heard. Thoroughly deserved,of course!
AV
2+2 merchants are ok as long as they cant do their sums!
I see the FA are looking into the chants about Mido. All clubs have fans who are guilty of offensive chanting. At the Villa match an insulting chant about Agbonlahor started but it was suppressed by those around the fans. It was self policed.
At that is the best form of action. How to ensure it happens? Easy, shut the area of the ground it came from for the next match if it is home fans.
If it is away fans you can ban them from the next away match or the corresponding fixture next season. In addition make the club pay for the lost revenue for the home club. Away fans are incredibly loyal and if they couldnt go to match they would soon shut up those amongst them who are offensive. People talk about 'foreign' fans pretending to belong to the other club causing trouble. You only have to see what happens when someone is sat in the wrong area to know that isnt an issue.
**AV writes: The FA action is like a Two Ronnies sketch, cracking down on the game before. They know they got it wrong last year when it was so much more obvious and vitriolic and their recation was inspid so this year they are determined to be seen to be more assertive.
In response to Redcar Red regarding Gordon Mcqueen. What a load of rubbish you wrote.
On the 7th November when I returned to Kazakhstan via Amsterdam. Gordon Mcqueen was on the plane in the opposite seat to me as we both had connecting flights from Amsterdam we spent a little time together as he was going on a scouting mission for the Boro, and he was actually going to five different countries over the next five days. He also informed me that he has not seen an home game this season as he is usually away scouting for the club.
So apart from not even being with his family for time on end, I dont think he spends that much time in Scotland, as he is the European scout for the boro, and as he was partly responsible for bringing Digard and Emmes to the club he did not do to bad so far.
I just hope that he had nothing to do with Alves, because this guy is cetainly not premiership standard. Big John Hickton should have given him some tips when he was here for the reunion a few weeks ago. he was not afraid to pressurise the openents or score great goals.
If it is confidence alone then get him in the reserves and lets see if he scores there if not get rid of him and buy someone in January.
This will mean we will sell Downing and Mido soon. If they go then I definately won't go back to the riverside. At the moment i tend to watch all the north east teams. It is upto boro to show ambition and get me back. Until then I will sit in the pub on a saturday afternoon.
david connor, read my post again, it was a tongue in cheek swipe at the southern journo's making up garbage. The whole piece was extracting the urine. Besides it wouldn't be Christmas without Tinsel, the smell of Pine trees, Bing singing White Christmas, watching its a "Wonderful life" for the 43rd time and reading about Stewy going to Spurs. Now where's me whippet n flat cap?