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January was abysmal. I know some people are debating whether any of our transfer windows have been any good but January stands out in a big way for me, this season. We had big problems we didn't solve and actually caused more problems for ourselves. We'd had defender issues all season and sold one without bringing anybody new in to replace them, then naturally all of them got injured. We sold a right winger, brought in someone very different to Doak on that side, then as soon as we lost Doak we lost all width in the team. We continued our long pursuit to bring Ryan Giles back, gave him 5 minutes to find his feet before telling everyone we also spoke with Iling-Junior, a left winger who might actually provide the width we need in attacking areas, about the idea of playing left-back when we brought him in, so it wasn't at all unusual he ended up playing there permanently for the rest of the season. We worked very hard to get the best deal possible for Latte Lath, whilst he continued to work hard for us when called upon, only for us to replace him with a slow, unfit and expensive striker who isn't actually a striker in the eyes of the manager. So much of it was just downright rotten on paper. You might contemplate the effectiveness of the work we've done during Scott's time here but I just don't know what most of what we tried to do in January was meant to accomplish. It doesn't look like Carrick really knew what he was after or that he really cared about what we were doing. The only saving grace from January really is that, whilst he's not shone so far, bringing in Morgan Whittaker in January could be a really good signing for whoever hopefully takes over from Carrick shortly. Perhaps Scott already had that in his mind when pursuing that one.

Whilst we might think it will cost a lot to make the playoffs, the teams directly above us have all spent less than us (I think) Milwall, Bristol City, Blackburn, Coventry and Sunderland. We just NEED to get a manager in who gets the best out the players at his disposal. Do the basics. Defend properly etc. manage games when in the lead etc. Make impactful substitutions. And hopefully stop the *** injuries!

Looking for you Nobby, disappointed I didnt to listen to you, I was telling my grandaughter about this great knowledgeable football author

We need someone with expert football knowledge to answer this question, maybe a scout or something like that.

So who takes charge of us for the play offs then?

The club won't buy oven ready top championship players or good experienced pros there's no sell on value.

Guys, can anyone explain why Whittaker starts on the right wing ? He's so left footed it's crazy.... He simply can't go outside it's impossible for him. Their left back had his cigar out. Absolutely bonkers, Isaiah Jones is twice the player 🥺

Carrick looked a broken man walking down the tunnel after the lap of honour. He will walk after the Coventry game. We don't deserve the play offs , so much has gone wrong this season and the whole club is to blame for this pathetic waste of a season. Time after time, results have gone our way and we could never capitalise, we have lost games because of constant defensive mistakes trying to play out from the back and not replacing Doak and Lath with quality has cost us. I have backed carrick throughout his tenure including this season but I think it's done. I really don't know where the club goes from here as its going to cost alot of money for us to rebuild to even have a chance of ever making the play offs.

Yeah, I can see the argument about Doak except that we weren't really any better off when he played, at least in terms of league position and that. The four games after he got injured was the nightmare run of Sunderland, Sheff Utd, Watford and Bristol City where we lost all four of them. Would he have made a difference? Yeah, on balance I'd say it's fair to say he would have, it's just that I'm not sure how much. Like we wouldn't have won them all, would we? Might we have won one of them perhaps? Or maybe it's more likely we would have nicked a few draws? If you look at the games leading up to that run, he played all of them but we lost at Preston, lost at Portsmouth, drew at home with Cardiff. We did beat West Brom though so there was at least one win in there. I think in the games he started (21) we won 33 points so that's the equivalent of about 72 points over a 46 game stretch obviously that isn't factoring in other missing players etc. I reckon him not being injured would have meant we'd be in 5th place right now but I'm not sure we'd be much closer to Sunderland in 4th than Bristol City are right now. Maybe 70 points or so going into the final game? My only point with McGree is that when he was fit we weren't playing any better or getting more results. The fact that he only played a small number of games definitely makes it harder to extrapolate with any accuracy what he might have done over the full season but it doesn't suggest that we'd have been much better with him. I would have him in the side ahead of Burgzorg without question but then again McGree is a funny one that has never really produced big numbers. His best season a couple of years ago, when we were a much better side, he got 6 goals and 3 assists in 37 starts. Burgzorg has 5 and 2 in 23 starts. I know which player I prefer mind but is McGree as big of an influence as we might believe? A canny player when he's on it but maybe not a season changer?

I've got more bad news for you Nobby. The footballing gods had a meeting and told me personally that Boro are not getting promoted this season...no way...no how... 😉 I mean it is set up for the unlikeliest of miracles... Millwall will get tonked at Burnley Blackburn will lose at Sheffield Utd Then all Boro have to do is win away at stuttering Coventry. Almost seems pre-ordained, doesn't it? But no. They told me they are making sure there is no fairytale 6th place finish for the Smoggies. And even if there were...we would get bent over and royally spanked by Wilder's boys over 2 legs in any case. Just give up...its easier than tormenting yourself with false hope. 😉

FWIW my predictor spreadsheet has us finishing on 65 points, which means we'll draw with Coventry. Seems quite likely given they've hit a bad patch. Could well be a re-run of today's game, with lots of effort but little quality. 🤷‍♂️

Doak, McGree and all the centre halves. A settled back four is a big one for me.

Guys the positives we are still in this. I told yoos it would go to the last game and I was 100% right... The bad news...nobody turned up for my 'meet and greet' , fuming tbh 👎

Well we've lost 8 of the 16 games since doak got injured. We lost 9 of the 29 before that so that's a very clear difference. Mcgree only started 11 games this season and he's been in and out so I'm not sure any distinction to be made in our form with or without him, but I know when fit he's far more effective than any of our other left wing options have been this season. Fry, i guess what I should have said having a settled backline in general. Weve had way too much change and inconsistency back there due to all the injuries. That's more the issue than any one defender being missing.

Result wise he’s done well. But it’s results based football. Warnock would be proud.

Just listened to that Carrick interview, he sounded very beat. Very protective of players, I hope privately he's telling them its not good enough even if not in the press.

Same I have no idea outside of the obvious options based on this country, it’s why I started this thread. I did used to agree about Farke, didn’t really excite me. But reading Leeds fans opinions of him changed my mind. Even after they’ve had Bielsa, and Farke failed to get promoted last year when it was expected, they still rank him as one of their best managers of recent times. Hes been there and done it, has almost. 2 ppg this season, albeit with a better than average team at this level. 1.5 ppg at Norwich though I think some of those games were prem level. Would that be about an average of 1.75 ppg in English football, over 2 different jobs.

I like the thought that we look likely to finish 5th in the 3 horse race for the last 2 playoff spots. I've said it already but had we won these last 2 games against 2 teams with nothing to play for, Coventry would have had to beat us by at least 4 goals.

I don't think Gibson will ever sell, from becoming an important cog in the area to a nobody, just won't fit his ego. It's all about power and influence, the money side of it is secondary. I notice he scuttled off as soon as the final whistle went, didn't want to hear the booing.

I'm not a fan of him as a person but Farke would not tolerate the lackadaisical, half-hearted performances Boro have turned in over the last couple of seasons. His teams play with urgency and pace. Having said that, I think he'll get a few months in the Prem. Of the alternatives? Probably Cooper. Although I'm sure we could find better options overseas who would also bring an element of mystery for a while as they established themselves. I don't watch foreign teams, so I can't suggest anyone specific, but I daresay people on here could.

Agreed

Tbh I’d be happy with redbull, there’s far less risk of a rogue owner doing dodgy stuff or running the team into the ground, plus they have an amazing track record of running football teams and would open us up to a top notch scouting network and probably give us pretty big bargaining power to buy good players. I know there’s the jokes about the name and people don’t wanna ‘sell out’ but I think other than the fantasy scenario of some billionaire who falls in love with the area or who lives here, RedBull are probably one of the best options we could go with.

It will most likely be in a family trust, you don’t build something like that to not protect it in all circumstances. Also don’t people say his business partner does a lot of the running of it or used to, I have no idea tbh. But yea she would definately still be an ‘owner’ but doesn’t have to actually run it depending on structure, just be a large shareholder.

RB Boro at the Red Bull Riverside or some Yank but has to be one with a brain