Boro v Charlton (A) 1-0 (McNair)

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

3 hours ago, Changing Times said:

Because the Crewe game isn't the only time he's played/looked like that.  Gestede has been a far worse signing than Braithwaite, even if Braithwaite is a nobhead.

I've not disputed that he's been a worse signing. I'd put him right bang at the top of the list of our worst signings of the decade. I also think the club are a great deal more to blame than him for that. 

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

3 hours ago, Redcar Rioja said:

I remember that game very well for all the wrong reasons and the vitriol that existed at the final whistle in the stands for the Ref allowing the goal and then the Blackburn Players celebrating like they had just won the Champions League in a totally over the top manner. Under the circumstances it was ill advised. The abuse coming from just the North Stand were I was sat was far worse (none of it racist) than a pensioner giving the pits sign, there were hundreds gesticulating with two fingers and other hand gestures. For those who thought he was being racist I struggled to see it at the time (unless he had one limb perhaps). It didn't take a genius to have even a modicum of doubt as to why the gesture wasn't the normal two armed universal obnoxious gesture but the Pensioner was weak, easily bullied and intimidated by the Club, Cleveland Constabulary as well as millionaire Footballers. That their players noticed one Boro fan when they were (or should have been) focusing on their own fans shows what was going on in their minds at the time. They were gloating and goading in equal measure, it was the game that had tensions so high both on and off the pitch at the end it finished Higgy's tenure on the coaching side. Meanwhile I must have missed his commitment to the Boro up until these last two games when he has played very well, conveniently the timing suits his personal needs in seeking a new contract, hopefully elsewhere. 

Sticking two fingers up at someone is not worse than being a racist. The bloke wasn't being racist but if you can't understand why 'the pits' looks racist to a man of African background then I don't think you ever will. The authorities were absolutely spot on to investigate it and in doing so, came to the correct conclusion. Not to have taken Gestede's claim seriously would have been dreadful.

Also, 'Gestede shouldn't be looking at the people potentially being racist' is one hell of a hot take that I am incredibly not on board with. 

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

2 hours ago, TLF10 said:

I think its best we leave this topic here. I am more than happy to talk about Rudy but your subsequent reply seems to about wanting to discuss the alleged unfair treatment of a fan who was taken to court over racism. 

If my memory serves me right that fan was from redcar and your username suggests you are too so not sure if you got a personal link to that particular fan. Nonetheless i dont think this forum is the place to discuss an alleged case of racism from over 5yrs ago. 

No link whatsoever other than he was a Boro fan along with around 17,000 other disgruntled Boro fans at the time of which I'd guess 5,000 or so came from East Cleveland. I'm not debating the racism angle, that was resolved in courts by people far more qualified than any of us on here. Had I believed it to be racism I would have been the first one supporting Gestede regardless of who he played for.

What I am saying is that the manner and events of the injury time equaliser and Mark Clattenburg giving it caused a bad atmosphere in the Stadium with mere seconds remaining after 5 minutes of added time. The OTT, rubbing noses in it, style celebrations after the whistle from the Blackburn players and the subsequent fall out from it including the court case are the reasons why I and many others sat around me at the time didn't want him at the club when he signed in the January window and nothing has changed my mind on him since. Your claim was that I was "Badly mistaken" for having that opinion, my point is that for the above reasons I still don't believe that I was mistaken then or indeed I am now.

Just for the avoidance of doubt there is absolutely no place in society let alone sport for any type of "ism's" which I think is something that we do agree on.

[ViewFromTheChickenrun 37]

3 hours ago, BoroSmoggie said:

And Fletcher 

Don't forget Lee Dong-Gook !!

 

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

21 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said:

Sticking two fingers up at someone is not worse than being a racist. The bloke wasn't being racist but if you can't understand why 'the pits' looks racist to a man of African background then I don't think you ever will. The authorities were absolutely spot on to investigate it and in doing so, came to the correct conclusion. Not to have taken Gestede's claim seriously would have been dreadful.

Also, 'Gestede shouldn't be looking at the people potentially being racist' is one hell of a hot take that I am incredibly not on board with. 

I fully understand why it may have looked racist and have no problem with it being investigated, none whatsoever and support it and anything similar being investigated. The behaviour of the Rovers Players added fuel to the flames winding up the home fans which is part and parcel of football. Sticking single or double digits up at opposing players or officials or indeed questioning the marital status of the same said individuals parents isn't nice either but it happens in football grounds around the world every week and will continue. My point is that some Boro fans were not exactly enamoured with him before his arrival and that what happened that day was the reasons why he got more stick than Braithwaite. 

To be clear my point about where Gestede and his colleagues were looking was about if they were  genuinely "celebrating" with the away fans why were they even bothered about looking into the home fans section unless they were winding them up? My recollection of the day was that they were in full on wind up mode. I too would not be "on board" with any form of racism.

[Changing Times 12,347]

44 minutes ago, Redcar Rioja said:

Just for the avoidance of doubt there is absolutely no place in society let alone sport for any type of "ism's" which I think is something that we do agree on.

I hope there's a place for organisms or we're all screwed.

I know my own support of Boro would be lost without my scepticism and cynicism.

I'd love to see some professionalism from us and maybe some intellectualism as well.

Unless we intend to only sign players from the UK then we're probably going to need some multilingualism.

This place could certainly do with some realism from time to time and we could all do with some optimism.

I hope you don't mind this good natured criticism.

[BoroAbroad 321]

12 hours ago, Changing Times said:

There's truly nothing like a Boro win to get the nonsense flowing on here 🙂

So the majority of the time its a no nonsense board then. 😁

[RiseAgainst 3,793]

I was shocked we signed Gestede. Apart from one purple patch at Blackburn, he never looked good to me. He wasn't what we needed in that window (neither were Bamford or Guediora TBH), and our flaccid relegation proved the point. He was an expensive mistake, on a ludicrous contract, and his injury record has probably rendered him our worst ever signing.

I've been shocked by how poorly he's played. I think you could do a brilliant reverse highlights reel (lowlights reel?) of his misses. I recently described him as playing as if he had a concrete neck, because the ball bounces off in the most random directions. Sheldon Cooper would have a field day working out some of the trajectories. Plus, Swansea. The defence rests, m'lud.

And yet I'd be shocked if Gestede doesn't lead the line for us in the next couple of games at least. After three pretty abysmal years, he's finally found some form. He's the best of our strikers at winning knock-downs for onrushing midfielders, he's played some good passes into the box in the last two games, and I think defenders are disproportionately terrified of him, given his scoring record. We've taken four points from six with him in the team, and apart from bringing Roberts and Ayala back once fit, I hope Woodgate puts his roulette wheel away and sticks with the same team for the foreseeable future.

If Gestede scores the goal that keeps us up, I will cheer like a madman and possibly even join in a verse of "Rudy, Rudy". But by June, I'll be refreshing the Summer Transfer Window thread every half an hour to see whether Metz have ponied up some cash.

[Duvel 2,446]

Well done to Gestede, he's had a couple of good games and I've got no bad feelings towards him. 

Saying that we can't ignore the last 3 years, he was a terrible signing (by Premier league standards) and a very costly one. For such a big financial outlay he's been injured a hell of a lot and when he has played he hasn't been great.  

If the club is genuinely trying to move away from the old era then I think we need to move away from players like Gestede. The fact that he's keeping players like Britt out of the team says a lot more about Assombalonga than it does Gestede. 

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

Not even close to the top 5 worst strikers I've seen in the last decade at this club. That is definitely more of a damning indictment on Boro than a compliment to Rudy, though. 

A bad signing overall - but if he keeps us up with some decent performances in the run-in of this season, then we can part on perfectly amicable terms in the Summer.  

[boroie 484]

47 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

I was shocked we signed Gestede. Apart from one purple patch at Blackburn, he never looked good to me. He wasn't what we needed in that window (neither were Bamford or Guediora TBH), and our flaccid relegation proved the point. He was an expensive mistake, on a ludicrous contract, and his injury record has probably rendered him our worst ever signing.

I've been shocked by how poorly he's played. I think you could do a brilliant reverse highlights reel (lowlights reel?) of his misses. I recently described him as playing as if he had a concrete neck, because the ball bounces off in the most random directions. Sheldon Cooper would have a field day working out some of the trajectories. Plus, Swansea. The defence rests, m'lud.

And yet I'd be shocked if Gestede doesn't lead the line for us in the next couple of games at least. After three pretty abysmal years, he's finally found some form. He's the best of our strikers at winning knock-downs for onrushing midfielders, he's played some good passes into the box in the last two games, and I think defenders are disproportionately terrified of him, given his scoring record. We've taken four points from six with him in the team, and apart from bringing Roberts and Ayala back once fit, I hope Woodgate puts his roulette wheel away and sticks with the same team for the foreseeable future.

If Gestede scores the goal that keeps us up, I will cheer like a madman and possibly even join in a verse of "Rudy, Rudy". But by June, I'll be refreshing the Summer Transfer Window thread every half an hour to see whether Metz have ponied up some cash.

Have to say I agree with this as much as if I had written it myself. 

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,884]

He’s had one half decent game against a very poor Charlton side, let’s not get carried away here. I know he scored against Forest, the ball kind of rolled down his face and went in off his chin, it was hardly a convincing finish. The next chance he got, he played it backwards instead of shooting, that could have earned us another 2 points.

The only reason I can see him staying in the team is because Britt and Fletch are equally dire, coupled with the fact that Woody probably feels under pressure to make less changes to the team than he normally does. 

[TLF10 4,497]

53 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

I was shocked we signed Gestede. Apart from one purple patch at Blackburn, he never looked good to me. He wasn't what we needed in that window (neither were Bamford or Guediora TBH), and our flaccid relegation proved the point. He was an expensive mistake, on a ludicrous contract, and his injury record has probably rendered him our worst ever signing.

I've been shocked by how poorly he's played. I think you could do a brilliant reverse highlights reel (lowlights reel?) of his misses. I recently described him as playing as if he had a concrete neck, because the ball bounces off in the most random directions. Sheldon Cooper would have a field day working out some of the trajectories. Plus, Swansea. The defence rests, m'lud.

And yet I'd be shocked if Gestede doesn't lead the line for us in the next couple of games at least. After three pretty abysmal years, he's finally found some form. He's the best of our strikers at winning knock-downs for onrushing midfielders, he's played some good passes into the box in the last two games, and I think defenders are disproportionately terrified of him, given his scoring record. We've taken four points from six with him in the team, and apart from bringing Roberts and Ayala back once fit, I hope Woodgate puts his roulette wheel away and sticks with the same team for the foreseeable future.

If Gestede scores the goal that keeps us up, I will cheer like a madman and possibly even join in a verse of "Rudy, Rudy". But by June, I'll be refreshing the Summer Transfer Window thread every half an hour to see whether Metz have ponied up some cash.

Good post with some good points but to save you some time in summer, no need to press refresh every half hour to see if Metz will give us any cash for him. He either leaving as a free agent or staying on very reduced wage. Either way we ain't getting a fee for him.

[Duvel 2,446]

8 minutes ago, BillyWoofs_shinpad said:

Britt and Fletch are equally dire

Pretty much my thoughts as well. 

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

My point isn't even about making Gestede out to be a better player than he is or a better signing than he has been. He is what he is and I've always maintained that; a very limited player on a huge contract that we paid way over the odds for. That doesn't demand the sheer level of abuse he gets. I reckon at least 90% of the abuse he gets should be levelled at the club for ever signing him in the way they did to begin with and my eyes roll every time I see the word 'donkey' associated with him.