FamilyBoro

It's being reported that Tony Pulis turned down the Cardiff job as he is hopeful of getting either the job at Southampton or West Ham. Apparently he does not want to manage in the Championship anymore and sees himself at Premier league level. Tbf he is probably correct in reflecting on what we have said previously, he is much better at setting teams up not to lose (PL survival) than to win games (Championship promotion).

So we shouldn't get too excited about this England team despite recent youth injection, attacking style of play, Russia World cup Semi-Finals and a comfortable Euro 2020 qualification because of past failings ?

Or Derby would get 1st shout with the connection

Ha I was however I dont think he probably redeemed his Nectar points to get it for free 🙂 He was with his Mrs, looked like they had spent the weekend in London. Tbf he seemed polite etc and who knows what is happening behind the scenes atm.

I assume Pullis would have wanted to sell Britt in the hope he could keep Bamford, and when that didn't work out he had to sell the player the offer was in for. He talks on the Podcast very highly of Bamford so he must have certainly preferred him at the time. As for Britt today, IMO I wouldn't say there is anything to suggest he is 100% wanting away, he is trying but missing chances. On the video of the players arriving at QPR he is the only one to be shown to stop and sign a few autographs/take pictures. It's good to see he still wants to engage with the fans whatever is happening behi

I happened to be sat near Bausor on the train home after QPR's game.... Probably for the best I resisted the urge to bombard him with questions, meby I just didn't know where to start!

Does anyone not just think Randolph is referring to social media i.e. Fans stupidly questioning his injury after he normally receives good praise? I still buy into he is nearly due back from injury, but the QPR game is too soon therefore should be ready for the 2nd International game as that's the important one for them. Surely RK can't of had a bust up Monday, told to have a few days off and do his coaching badges which he is then booked straight onto Tuesday/Wednesday ready to be back with the training yesterday??? Personally (and not a dig at anyone on here) I think people are j

Going down for this game (not too sure why) and expectations are certainly lowest in a long time, especially on recent visits to the Capital. I'm going for a 1-1 result with both Britt and Hugill scoring - Yes I said Britt! Not sure if this will be seen as a decent result or a poor one... Guess it will depend more on the Hull & Barnsley home games to make that conclusion. Starting line up will be whoever is not injured now, but I am on the side of pushing some more youth lads in the squad hoping these will show more fight and a willingness to win the game. Loftus road is strugg

On a positive note, was it the season before we witnessed Friends amazing strike and finished on Adama's first goal for Boro ending in 3-0 🙂 Think it was raining that day as well ....

Although I agree Woodgate shouldn't shoulder all the blame if he takes us down with the other issues in play... He certainly isn't blameless should it happen

I certainly agree with you that we have had much worse squads in recent times and survived in the Championship so Woodgate shoulders some blame why he can't get this set of players to be were we realistically see ourselves - Mid-table.

Very good point, can also add Wolves and Burnley to that list. Teams that go up with a togetherness, a style of football that it embedded in the core of the club and a hierarchy/Manager to suit have seemed to do the best when entering the PL.

Tbf it's similar to what Middlesbrough said they want to emulate with the Youth teams to Senior team setting up the same way so the transition of players is easier. Barca wanted him to keep the preferred 4 3 3 but he reverted to 4 4 2. He had much more trouble from other things as well though with not being allowed to use Under 18 players when they were free, not being allowed to use his preferred stadium (Estadi Johan Cruyff) despite Barcelona's B team and woman team using it, and a fallout with the Board..... All good eh

I don't think Gibson would still get any great media negativity against him if this happened. I think they would allude to Woodgate being inexperienced, this season being a transition of playing styles which the squad wasn't suited for, and previous managers overspending and not producing. I do think though that negativity towards him internally will increase, with even Die Hard followers struggling to find the positives. Normally when 'bigger' clubs drop from the Premier League to lower leagues at quick succession, it's more often than not a full club issue with disruption/poor behi

You can't sack Woodgate after 11 league games that would just be ridiculous and contradict everything that has been said by the Club since the end of last season. Yes things aren't good at the minute but a reaction like that would be daft imo and make us even more embarrassing as a club! Media outlets would have a field day.....

That is well put, exactly that opinion..... He smirks like Sterling would if he misses a chance for a hatrick and City are winning 5-0. Ok if you are finishing your next chance or the next easy tap in but he isn't.

I have 2 ST's but looking for a 3rd ticket for the QPR away game. Anybody in the past had luck with the club giving you the ability to also purchase an additional ticket before they sellout or make General Sale?

I think the commentator was probably correct. We turned lazy in the second half due to thinking job done and they caught us out. You could also tell that the original mind-set was to keep charging forward looking for goals but from about the 75th minute we controlled it much better and remembered we were actually 2 goals up. Overall still happy with performance. 1 win next month sees us qualify ?

Match-day Thread - Middlesbrough V's Reading View from the other side: Match day Thread not open yet but the Prediction Page for this game is active - https://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=186266 Questions: 1) Result? 2) Preferred back 4 to start this game? 3) Do you consider Reading to be relegation candidates this year? 4) Favourite Royal?

Ok granted this takes a lot of information out of the equation such as team dynamics, league etc. but I've wasted a bit of time putting together some stats from 2015/2016 season to current day: Just how influential the team change can be on the players stats, Bamford for e.g. is now averaging 3.6 shots per game for Leeds compared to ~1.8 for us. (Source - www.whoscored.com) In my opinion this shows that they are all similar Championship strikers in terms of basic stats who very likely are all equally suitable for this level only just have different attribu

Agree certainly very close to being on par today with a club years ago we would all 100% agree we were much bigger than. As you said equal now to youth players, stadium, academy etc. We are passing them as we have declined while they are matching/passing us on the incline , obviously that means their camp is likely to be much more positive and rightly so. All in all should be a good test on Saturday and hopefully one that doesn't show us miles apart on the pitch.

Depends what defines a 'small' or 'big club'? Crowds, player total value, positions in league, recent history? Based on majority of that I wouldn't say they are a bigger club than us as things stand today. Possibly could say they stand with higher potential than us today. As for the Billionaire owner, they still have to fall under FFP rules, and if he put this plan in-place 6-7 years ago and yet they are still only seen as a play-off/mid-table team, I'd argue how successful that has been (granted its during the time they got promoted in 2015/2016 season) I must also state I do feel

I think we will see a very similar game here than our opening fixture against Luton. I can see BTTS but optimistic it will be a closer game than people are feeling and don't see a 3/4-0 against us result. I'll go for a bias view of 3-2 to Boro with a Britt double (1st being a penalty he finally gets the confidence to score) and Johnson netting the 3rd. Who says we cant keep positive ?

Yeah, he was a pundit for Sky Sports

A player can have a poor game and still score a goal...... I did think Britt had a decent game against Wigan though, had a couple of decent chances, runs and seemed to have a higher work rate than he has been guilty of in the past. He 100% is the best we have and there should be no question he starts as the main striker every week due to this.