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Sorry, but that's absolute tripe. My dad wasn't into football but my mum supported Man United cos she grew up in Manchester near Old Trafford. I didn't. That wasn't a good enough reason for me to follow them. I was born in Bradford, and aged 7, I watched Valley Parade burn down. Two years later, we moved to a part of Scotland where football was all about sectarianism. Those two things put me off football completely for over a decade, till a group of mates decided to catch a Boro game while we were on holiday in the north east in 1997. I fell in love there and then (it helped that we beat Chelsea) and I've been a fan ever since. Are you telling me that's not a valid reason to support MFC? Should I start supporting Bradford?

man where you lived in scotland must of been bad to go on holiday to Middlesbrough

Scott Parker who has had 2 promotions in 2 seasons with 2 different clubs? And is looking good to make it 3 out of 3? Not a bad bracket to be in.

I said the same on twitter on Saturday, we criticised Carrick for not getting the wins against teams like Derby earlier in the season, so it's only fair he gets credit when he does get those kind of wins. It's promising that he's picked up the two wins but my faith in Carrick isn't high for the long term. In the same way my opinion was formed from his under performance over a longer period, my opinion will only change after a prolonged period of over performance. It would be far too fickle otherwise.

I dunno, I think most of his dodgy moments come from his own doing rather than any lack of support or changes ahead of him. He's still linking up decently with whoever he's playing with, he just lacks concentration and positioning when it comes To defence.

I was born in the Boro, my dad had been going since he was 10 he passed away at 84 years of age & a ST holder, massive fan

Probably looking at NFL - they don't have promotion or relegation there across their "Conferences". But its been that way from the start. Its a very different model. Whereas the boost of promotion and jeopardy of relegation have been a part of football for...probably at least as long as it been a professionally organised sport. Take that away and it becomes a closed shop...a lot like the proposed European Super League. If smaller clubs have no prospect of rising through the ranks, there's little incentive to continue investing in them. Imagine this would kill off lower league women's football and the Championship would become pretty meaningless.

Well...lets wait & see how Burnley back him in PL (assuming they don't try and bring someone else in). Maybe third time will be the charm? Carrick's got a lot less experience, so not really surprising he is some way behind...not that I'm trying to make a case for keeping him at Boro...

Seduced by Juninho's diving header?

I have literally no idea the point you are trying to make here mate? Carrick's foundation provides funding for kids teams and offers free sessions for kids to play football. As far as I'm aware Carrick's foundation has no ties to either of those places you mentioned (although Carrick did visit Kader last year on behalf of MFC Foundation). We win two games on the bounce and people just begin inventing reasons to pick fault at Carrick

Pretty much this. My feeling about Carrick is that he is maturing into an ok Championship manager. I suspect he'll end up in the same bracket as the likes of Lampard and Parker. I'm not convinced that unless he gets a spell where everything goes our way that he's got it in him to get us promoted. I do think he's improved and got gradually more streetwise but I do think the best managers/head coaches tend to be a duo where their strengths cover each others' weaknesses. I *suspect* that Woodgate's weaknesses are the same as Carrick. I say that because when Carrick's teams stop working it feels like they fail in the same way that Woodgate's did. I think they're both football "romantics" wanting to play beautiful, entertaining, attacking football. Nothing wrong with that but I suspect that what Carrick needs as a 2nd in command is a pragmatist. As far as I can tell, most teams that get promoted from this league without parachute payments tend to do it in the first or second year of a manager's contract. I suspect that we are more likely to be promoted next year with a new manager who builds on the best of Carrick's era.

yeah I don't see why you can't still have relegation in there and promote one extra team, its worked before in the mens game when league sizes needed to change by just increasing the promotion or relegation side until the league is where they want it to be.

I'm not sure it would *** him off, chance of promotion, without threat of relegation if he gets into the top 2 tiers before they hit 16 teams in each league. Gives teams something you could invest in, knowing if you get over the line you have a bit of security to build on. would be adding 4 teams to each league it looks like with an extra promotion each season, then likley relegation gets turned back on after that point. some teams could stop investing I supose, but I think they may be some that see it as a reason to invest and try to break that top 2, and if that happens for many teams it will cause any teams thinking they can coast for a few seasons on wages and transfers to rethink at the risk of being left behind

it's only temporary tho isnt it? because they will be adding teams to the top 2 leagues each season. once they are at 16 they will be relegation again if was me tho i'd still have the current promotion and relegation happening as it does presently and just have additional promotion places until it ends up with the number of teams they require

Got a feeling Dijksteel needs some inspiriation/pressure to perform at best. Like when he got back in, he showed real spirit and composure. Sometimes he gets too relaxed / comfortable or his head wanders, and he stands still too close to the centrebacks. When the pass comes he´s too close and leaves himself with almost no time to act, which often ends up with him losing the ball or with a bad pass. I think he needs to go wider and be more switched on. When he´s at it I love his forward runs and handling of the ball.

Might even watch the cup final if Man City go out A great FAC line up, just like the one we should have got to the final in

Helps that the favoured teams are mostly away...hopefully we see something different for once.

Man United out now too. If somebody can beat Man City, it's going to be a massive opportunity for a different winner to the usual suspects.

Fry makes a big difference seems to have a bit more authority and stature. Hopefully rav can find a way to stay injury free. That partnership could make a big difference with travers solid triangle there.

I'm surprised it's taken us so long to knacker him, we're normally much better than that.

Chakvetadze at Watford is moving further up my summer wanted list Flog McGree to the MLS and bring him in? MLS is a beautiful money printing scheme for champ players atm, they’ll buy anyone who’s played in the league it seems

How did the derby keeper get in there 😂

Dijksteel's game sense and positioning has always been ropey. When he's at his best he can compensate for it but if he's carrying an injury or off the boil, he can be a liability. He's been really good for most of this season so perhaps he's having a bit of a dip right now.

Especially as we have only won three on the spin once this season and that does not bode well imo

Don't get me wrong he has a blunder in him without a doubt but the more he is exposed or subjected to pressure the more likely he is to screw up is where I'm coming from.

We've had that before with Boro when a new Manager picks up where the old one left off and manages to get a little bit more out of the side (admittedly with a few of their own new players). Karanka after Mogga's efforts and long before that Charlton with Anderson's squad. We are possibly seeing it now with Lampard and Coventry after Robbins. Sometimes things go a bit stale and a fresh perspective and impetus is all it needs rather than a criticism per se of what went before.

"Irritated" is maybe the wrong word for me to use but I often wander into the room to see that Man City as an example are 4-0 down to Arsenal and I'm thinking "wow" and then notice that it's WSL. I'm not suggesting they go down the route of "Belles", "Pixies" or "Marigolds" (flowers not the gloves) but U21's, Cricket and Rugby scores as an example are not intermixed. I do think they should have a high profile but should be separated or readily identifiable as WSL, distinct from the men's side to avoid confusion. Passionate followers of the Ladies game I imagine may feel the same in reverse when seeing score lines. Maybe a banner beneath the banner or confining them to the right hand panel with up to date scores collectively every 5 minutes or so the same way they do the individual game updates.

Everyone grows under lights these days 😉

I missed the detail as well but it still looks uncomfortable in terms of a bias. Teams like Durham as a local (ish) example would have to align themselves with a Men's Club to be considered "worthy" if favouritism is going to be applied for Premier League clubs. Imagine being Durham and not being with a League club, let alone Premier League. It's a critical time for Women's football and they need to build on the momentum and encourage sporting achievement regardless of the Club's name. Speaking of Club's names that brings me onto another point, is it just me that get's irritated when I see Liverpool beating Chelsea 3-0 only then to see WSL at the side of the banner on Sky. I'm not suggesting they should use a pink font or anything like that but I'd prefer them to be clearly and immediately identifiable in their own right (they actually deserve it as well). For that reason alone I'd prefer if they were not named the same as the Men's Clubs.

Seems to me that Dijksteel's performances have dipped since Doak got injured. Since then wve had a mixture of Whittaker in front of RB, Forrs, Illing and even Burgzorg and if I'm not mistaken one other (Nacho perhaps?). Any more that I've missed? Hardly surprising that he has been caught out and exposed at times.

Thats not so bad, I guess. Gives them a chance to see how competitive the newcomers are. Although you wonder if it won't result in a few seasons of mad spending to try and make sure they don't end up bottom of the pile when promotion & relegation resume. Think your suggestion makes more sense. Would at least take away any incentive for rash spending.

Sounds like teams will still get promoted but no relegation from the league to get the it from 12 teams to 16

The American league doesn't have relegation but with their draft system the teams at the bottom get first dibs on new talent to allow them to build up squads of players. You just know we wouldn't implement anything of the sort here and whoever is 20th in the WSL would stay 20th while the big clubs start building super squads. Edit, just seen Rob saying it's temporary so ignore this 😁

Would be a disastrous decision for Woman's football. Killing off the competition before it gets going, elitism at it's very worse, I wonder what gave them that idea?

I'm in no way wanting Edwards, I think he's another busted flush with limited ideas and inability or unwillingness to adapt and change. I was replying to "keeping Carrick until next October/November". Like Edwards he is a busted flush with limited ability to adapt and change. Put simply I hope that Carrick is gone in the summer and Edwards is nowhere near our club.

I imagine that will *** off Gibson. Only just started investing in the women's team and the ladder is potentially getting pulled up. Boro women are currently 2nd in the 4th division, 3 points off the top with a game in hand.

I thought Dijksteel was poor against stoke as well. He might be suffering from this bug that’s going around the squad

True, but there were 2 occasions that if derby had absolutely anything up front they would have had a golden chance to score through dijksteels indecision. He's done okay lately, much better than we've seen previously of him but he's the most upgradable position in the team and I can't wait to move on to someone else at rb in summer.

Bit of an overreaction, Ayling was at fault for goals and played poorly over a sustained period. We didn't even concede too many shots on Saturday, the fact Dijksteel struggled on the ball after playing fairly well lately doesn't amount to costing us points and regular poor performances

We almost signed 2 of them haha. Their bench is absolutely atrocious though

Probably been told they have a special fitness programme sorted for him. 🙂 To be fair to the lad, he got out of a couple of tight spots with good turns early on but seemed to be expecting Travers to come out more when he was passing back so might have put less speed on a couple of them. Overall, he did OKish but have seen him do better

Might be just a Dede leg..

Yes me too Is that so we can give the rest of the Championship another six or eight game start to keep us lean, mean and hungry and playing catch up again?

Apparently it was, we got 3 points which shows that it was good enough.

Spot on.. saw Fry and Dijksteel having words with Ayling after the early chance that Travers saved and it became noticeable that if they couldn't draw someone in by standing with the ball and the midfielders were covered, it was hoofed upfield for Forss to chase. Mixing it up doesn't hurt, so happy to see that the option is permitted when required.

Shame we sold Isaiah... Job's retired so no comfort there either ...can we recall Micah or Joshua? Solomon is out for the season so maybe Samuel or Daniel can save the day before Lamentations start 🙂

Jesus some of our fans are complete and utter fun sponges. DO NOT DRAG ME INTO YOUR MISERY, SATAN!

??? we've always done much better against teams that come at us.. we struggle when teams sit with 11 behind the ball

Apart from hitting the post twice, their keeper making a few good saves but year totally comfortable all game. Also look at Derbys previous results although getting beat a fair amount most teams have only been beating them by a1 goal margin so not like they are getting tonked every week, take the win be happy with the result.

Late to the party but my suggestions for songs have Boro roots. Free. All right now Young Rebel Set. Lions Mouth