Middlesbrough have launched their 2010/11 adidas home and away kits. Boro will don this strip in
the English Football League Championship for the new season as they attempt to make a return to the
Premiership following their relegation from the top flight at the end of the 2008/09 season.
According to Middlesbrough's website: THE band [.
It's been too long since I've done one of these infographics. And it's not like it's hard to devise
ways to graphically demonstrate Liverpool's dire season so far.
Through 20 league games, Liverpool's 14 points worse off than in comparable fixtures from last
season. 14 more points would put Liverpool at the top of the table by two points over Chelsea, 3
points ahead of United with a game in hand.
With Stevenage securing promotion to the football league for the first time last Saturday I
thought I would have a look and see how I think we will do in League 2.
There is no doubt that it is a tough division and will be a step up, but promoted clubs rarely
find themselves fighting for relegation and usually end up sitting comfortably in mid-table.
Stevenage Legend Barry Hayles has confirmed that he is going to play on for one more season,
but it's unlikely that it will be with Cheltenham Town. Hayles, who turned 38 last Tuesday told
the local paper that he wants to go out with a bang and not be involved in a relegation scrap.
Could he finally be looking to finish his career where it all began, now the club is in the
football league?
Former Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura is in talks with Middlesbrough about a possible loan
move to Teesside according to the Spanish media. Shunsuke Nakamura is well known by Gordon Strachan
and with the inevitable departure of Adam Johnson to Manchester City, it looks like Strachan is
wanting more creativity in the midfield and is hopeful of brining the Japanese international to the
Riverside.
Adam Johnson has completed his move to Manchester City today for an undisclosed fee as Boro were
one of the busier teams on transfer deadline day. Johnson picks up the number 11 shirt, vacated by
Robinho, and will once again attempt to cement himself in a Premier League first eleven.
Johnson has been in great goalscoring form for Boro this season, but criticism over his
performances at the Riverside stadium have led to doubts over whether he is ready to play at a
higher level.
Scott McDonald became the latest Celtic player to leave Celtic Park and join up with Boro, as we
did with the others we asked a few Celtic fans for an assesment of the player:
EB:
With the window closing at 5P.M. down south Scott McDonald (Skippy) was cutting his move
fine.
Adam Johnson put in a virtuoso Man of the Match performance as Man City beat Bolton 2-0 last
night. He's young, he's English, and he's good. Could he sneak into Fabio's plans...?
Johnson started off in the hole and was then moved out right, where he terrorised Paul Robinson.
He's been doing it in the Championship this season (he was Boro's top scorer before leaving) and
has now proved he can do it in the Premier League (admittedly only in one game).
Jeremie Aliadiere's injury nightmare on Teesside is set to continue after the midfielder/striker
was ruled out for six weeks yesterday with a broken toe. The 26-year-old had just returned from the
treatment table having been out of action for several weeks but now it seems that the Frenchman may
face being sidelined for the rest of the season.
I've kept very optimistic over the course of the season sensing that we might sneak into the
Play-Off's but after three consecutive draws it is becoming more and more difficult for
Middlesbrough to make a charge for a top-six spot in the Coca-Cola Championship.
We have five very winnable games coming up starting with Preston North End tonight which could
be a massive platform for the remainder of the season if Strachan's boys can produce a decent
performance and ground out a winning result.
Boro's attempt at the crossbar challenge on Sky's Soccer AM.
More on the Trophy Final later...
Stewart Downing had a good season for Aston Villa making 35 appearances in the league and cups
for Martin O'Neill's side. That tally of games becomes more impressive if you take into account
that the 25-year-old only made his debut for his new club at the end of November 2009 and has since
been a constant regular for the Premier League club.
Gordon Strachan will have a new face to work with next season in the shape of Matthew Bates who
is on the verge of returning to full fitness after suffering an agonising knee ligament injury last
summer, which kept him on the sidelines for the whole of last season.
The 23-year-old had a brilliant season two years ago and was amongst only a handful of star
performers in Boro's Premier League relegation team in 2008/09 with 17 appearances in the
league.
Middlesbrough are reported to be lining up a move for Scunthorpe United striker Gary Hooper as
Gordon Strachan looks to add goals to his assault on the Coca-Cola Championship next season.
A recent price-tag of £2.5million was placed on the 22-year-old's head with the likes of
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Scottich giants Celtic interested in The Iron's front
man.
Or will the Middlesbrough defender join ex team-mate Robert Huth at Stoke City next season?
It wasn't long ago that Fabio Capello was scheduling in Middlesbrough games to watch, a then,
21-year-old David Wheater who impressed the Italian during his first few months in charge of the
England team.
This will be my final post with any reference to Scarborough Town, I have no time for them, the
people who run the club, the idiot who posts on the ss or anyone connected with them, but at the
Koolsport NCEL agm held yesterday it was decided that Scarborough Town will be admitted into the
NCEL Division 1 for next season, their place is provisional depending on them getting the necesery
planning permission to have floodlights installed, no doubt the lights will be in place when they
have to be.
Stevenage have confirmed that their Carling Cup first round tie at Broadhall Way will be
televised on Sky Sports. It means that the game will now be played on Monday August 9th, just 2
days after the club's opening day fixture at home to Macclesfield Town. It's unclear whether the
Macclesfield game will be moved back to a lunchtime kick-off or Friday night to give the two teams
sufficient time to recover.
Morning,
despite the fact it still dominates the headlines and the fact that Ghostface McDivey has become
the latest Barcelona player to speak out about how much they want to sign Cesc, I shall try and
keep this blog relatively Cesc free.
Cesc's dad has played down the shirt 'prank', as has Cesc himself, which is probably the right
thing to do.
It's been a long time in coming, but Stevenage finally has a team in the football league. There
have been so many near misses since the club's promotion to the top flight of non-league football
back in 1994, including being denied promotion in 1996 because the ground didn't meet the required
standard.
The English Football Association (FA) Cup 3rd Round began on Saturday, January 2, 2010 with
several matches including Middlesbrough v Manchester City. Boro were relegated last season and were
the underdogs facing a Manchester City side that is chasing for a top four finish. City have won
their first two matches under new manager Roberto Mancini and were looking to continue their
unbeaten streak.
Saturday's FA Trophy clash with Vauxhall Motors is likely to be postponed due to the poor
weather conditions over the last few days. Stevenage announced that there would be a pitch
inspection at 1pm on Friday to determine whether the Broadhall Way pitch had a chance of recovering
in time for Saturday, but I've been told it's almost certain to be called off because of the snow
and ice.
Boro's game with Vauxhall Motors tomorrow night looks likely to be postponed again as the
freezing conditions continue to disrupt the club's fixture list. The initial game was called off at
the weekend due to snow and ice both on the pitch and around the ground. Conditions have improved
since then, but the game may come too quick for the pitch to recover totally.
Can Man City become the first side since Everton to break the Monopoly of the Top Four?
This man certainly thinks so, setting it out as his aim when he joined. And in becoming the
first manager EVER to win his first four games, he has put down a strong marker. However, I could
probably have beaten Stoke, Wolves, Boro and Blackburn (with Man City's side obviously, not alone)
so there are no great shakes there.
It's looking increasingly likely that Stevenage will have another game postponed this weekend as
the 'big freeze' continues in the UK. Weather warnings have been dished out to parts of North West
England, the West Midlands and Southern England while Boro's re-arranged FA Trophy fixture against
Vauxhall Motors was put back again to next Tuesday due to freezing conditions and snow.
By Chris Wright
Gary Caldwell left Celtic after being forced to live in a tree for two weeks
Wigan Athletic have announced that the transfer of Gary Caldwell from Celtic
(where he may or may not have been forced to live in a tree) has gone through today.
Reports surfaced tonight that Torquay striker Tim Sills is about to sign for Stevenage Borough.
Sills has said on his facebook profile that he is leaving the Gulls after nearly 3 seasons at
Plainmoor to join the Blue Square Premier leaders. It's a great coup for Boro, who are now looking
serious title challengers to Oxford United.
Everyone and their mother will captain Rooney this week
Double gameweeks,
injuries, snow, and an open transfer window. January in the Premier League couldn't be more
exciting. Let's get to this weekend's preview:
I. Manchester City @ Everton: Both teams are in form, with City winning four in a row since
Mancini took over for Mark Hughes.
Mark Yeates could soon be heading through the Middlesbrough exit door on his way to Sheffield as
he enters talks with Sheff Utd over a proposed move, rumoured to be worth around £500,000.
Yeates who arrived at Boro in the pre-season for an undisclosed fee from Colchester has
struggled to cement a place in the Boro first team and, since Strachan arrived, has seemingly
fallen completely out of favour.
Kevin Nicholson is in talks with Stevenage over a loan move until the end of the season. The
experienced left back, who is currently at Torquay, has spoken to Graham Westley about a short term
deal and could move ahead of Saturday's important clash against Kettering Town. If Nicholson does
decide to move up to Broadhall Way then he will be following his mate Tim Sills, who signed for
Boro in a permanent deal last weekend.
Leon Best has proved he can score goals in the Coca-Cola Championship so Gordon Strachan must
get his hands on the 23-year-old who has scored nine goals so far this season.
The Republic of Ireland international will be a free agent in the summer when his contract runs
out so now is the best time (excuse the pun) to get hold of a decent Championship striker that
would at least go one better than our current crop of misfiring misfits.
Again, we were left to reflect on a decent first-half performance which created chances in front
of goal but, like previous games, we were unable to punish the opposition.
It was clear to see that the side looked more composed on the ball and for 45 minutes we were
the brighter of the two sides at Bramall Lane, but Strachan must be pulling his hair out at our
inability to put the ball in the back of the net when it matters.
Gordon Strachan confirmed that he wants to bring in a further three or four new players to
Middlesbrough in an attempt to strengthen the squad for a promotion push for the second half of the
season.
With players coming in I suspect that the need to sell players will have to be exercised to
balance the books.
Don't expect the Boro side to click over night after Gordon Strachan sealed the deals of three
new players earlier this week.
We play one of the inform teams in the Coca Cola Championship tomorrow in their back yard so it
will be a big ask for us to produce a performance without any creases.
My last post featured the ongoing transfer speculation between Middlesbrough and Scottish giants
Celtic.
The quartet of players that Gordon Strachan has been trying to get his mitts on were give a
thorough going over by numerous Hoops fans yesterday and have given us Boro fans an insight into
what we are to expect from the players.
Happy New Year!
What have I missed? Have we signed 'the fat Ronaldo' yet?
It seems that the excitement of the New Year transition at the Riverside has somewhat gone flat
amongst the sledging and snow-ball throwing.
Gordon Strachan's attempts at luring old pals from Scotland were short-lived as the bad weather
intervened to scupper talks between officials at Middlesbrough and Celtic.
Middlesbrough have apparently approached Queens Park Rangers about signing 25-year-old Wayne
Routledge for a fee of £1 million but that figure looks unlikely to test the London club's
resolve. Our Championship rivals are willing to do business at around the £2 million mark leaving
Boro to decide whether that would be a good move considering the lack of funds at the
Riverside.
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Dave McIntyre BBC606 - Routledge could be Off
- Wayne Routledge may have played his last game for QPR.
It's no secret that some Middlesbrough fans are already calling for Gordon Strachan's head only
three months after the former Celtic Manager took charge at the Riverside. A lack of consistency
since his arrival has seen the side slip down the Championship standings to mid-table
mediocrity.
Gordon Strachan is again linking up with his former club to try and strengthen the Middlesbrough
team. With the team hit by a recent batch of injuries, Strachan has been forced into looking for
new recruits to add to the ever depleting squad and has recently turned his attentions to Celtic
defender Stephen McManus.
