Alexander Supertramp
Well-known member
Yes. As long as I still get my free pint.
I am not confusing anything. Burnley did alright sticking with Dyche as one example. Dyche has done incredibly well at a club with insufficient funding on playing staff. He might yet keep them up yet again. The fans lost it with AK over his misguided comments after WHU. The club did not recruit well and let him down by failing to bring in a playmaker and thereby hanging on to Ramirez. Karanka lost it at the end of the January 17 window, rightly so, but fans took sides even wanting him sacked after Charlton debacle the year before. Managers are scapegoated all the time, often unfairly, not everything that happens at a club, an organisation of any sorts is always the managers fault, they are the first to be targeted though.Karanka was right to go when he did. I’d argue he didn’t go soon enough. Don’t confuse replacing him with the wrong man as means for justifying the decision to sack Karanka as wrong.
So what you're saying is that he bowed to fan pressure. I don't think he did. He reacted because he like so many understand the game and could see how wrong we were on the pitch.He saw what happened at Stoke away, The fans were a disgrace, just like they were at Barnsley away under Mogga What happened after both events, neither managed another league game. Just a coincidence? I think not!! As for you trying to suggest I have a low opinion of the Chairman, that could not be further from the truth since he sacked Woodgate. It is a fact that people are judged on their actions and rightly so. Between 2006-2013 and from summer 2016 some of his decisions seemed really poor. We all know that players have come in that some managers did not want. Downing confirmed it as did Southgate, you refuse to believe them, Karanka spoke on 2 occasions of receiving ‘gifts’ from his chairman, those blinkers are lasting well though.
Now it is his club, his money he has every right to do as he wishes, but it is undeniable some decisions made turned out to be poor. He has turned things around thankfully and since sacking Woodgate his decision making seems first class. I hold him in high regard for all he tries to do for the club, but i will have my opinions as a fan as I pay my money in to the club, you seem more bothered about Billingham at times than Boro to me.
It was reported he sacked Monk on speaking to another club (Swansea I think) without permission. Pulis was not sacked, his contract was not renewed. Woodgate, acted quick Far too slow for me, he gave him far too long, giving him the job proved another masterstroke!! We would have been relegated imho, but for his bringing in Warnock at the 11th hour.
Some people think he is a god, he isn’t he is just a wealthy bloke who wants the best for Boro, I am extremely grateful for that and always will be, but he gets things wrong like every man does, and sometimes, spectacularly so (e.g. appointing Woodgate, Strachan, Monk, Pulis, sanctioning the signing some players the head coach‘s clearly didn’t want). I suppose you think AK gave Downing that stupid contract where he was contracted to get an extension based on starting appearances. It was a good job AK had him on the bench a fair bit. Pulis then was instructed to do the same. You have him on a pedestal by all means, like anyone i judge on actions. At present, he is letting others get on with their jobs and is doing himself, the club and fans a great service by changing strategy. He has my respect for that, so I suggest you take your bigoted accusation about me having a low estimation of his qualities at present and place it where the sun don’t shine. I am 100% behind him since his sacking Woodgate, he has made some excellent decisions since and has the club in a very healthy state, I will be delighted if he continues in the same vein if thats alright with you.
Karanka lost it prior to promotion, all too evident the following season. He hasn't held a job down since for any length of time.I am not confusing anything. Burnley did alright sticking with Dyche as one example. Dyche has done incredibly well at a club with insufficient funding on playing staff. He might yet keep them up yet again. The fans lost it with AK over his misguided comments after WHU. The club did not recruit well and let him down by failing to bring in a playmaker and thereby hanging on to Ramirez. Karanka lost it at the end of the January 17 window, rightly so, but fans took sides even wanting him sacked after Charlton debacle the year before. Managers are scapegoated all the time, often unfairly, not everything that happens at a club, an organisation of any sorts is always the managers fault, they are the first to be targeted though.
I reluctantly agreed he had to go as the fans had turned the volume was too much for the chairman imho, just like when Mogga went. I do think AK was best placed to get us straight back up with Monks £50M or so though, but hey, thats football.
I am not confusing anything. Burnley did alright sticking with Dyche as one example. Dyche has done incredibly well at a club with insufficient funding on playing staff. He might yet keep them up yet again. The fans lost it with AK over his misguided comments after WHU. The club did not recruit well and let him down by failing to bring in a playmaker and thereby hanging on to Ramirez. Karanka lost it at the end of the January 17 window, rightly so, but fans took sides even wanting him sacked after Charlton debacle the year before. Managers are scapegoated all the time, often unfairly, not everything that happens at a club, an organisation of any sorts is always the managers fault, they are the first to be targeted though.
I reluctantly agreed he had to go as the fans had turned the volume was too much for the chairman imho, just like when Mogga went. I do think AK was best placed to get us straight back up with Monks £50M or so though, but hey, thats football.
Royal Antwerp along with De Laet AND Faris HarounWhere is Viktor Fischer these days anyway?
Deluded The Irony !You're deluded. There is absolutely no comparison to be made between Dyche and Karanka. One could handle the pressures of management, the other couldn't. Karanka had lost the confidence of the chairman, the players and the fans by the time he was sacked and for demonstrative reasons. He was in no way let down by the club in terms of recruitment. He built that squad. It was made up of a large Spanish contingent that he failed to get the best of and at worse let run a poisonous divide within the first team squad. Karanka should've been let go when he walked out on the club before Charlton
He's spot on.Deluded The Irony !
Are you deliberately obtuse. I was not comparring AK with Dyche as managers, read it again. I was suggesting Boro should have stuck with Karanka and given him the chance to get us back up the following season, like Burnley did with Dyche. I also praised Burnley and Dyche. However, some of our fanbase wanted the manager gone after the Charlton debacle the year before, they judged and had a chip on their shoulders, following which 4 senior players spoke out for AK to the chairman. Many fans without knowing what actually happened lost it then.On the Dyche/Karanka comparison that is. Dyche has been a far better manager, and with fewer resources to get there.
His football leaves a lot to be desired but so did Karanka's after a good start.
We were so close to being on the right track, Victor Lindelöf very nearly signing on loan in January 2016 with a view to a permeant deal for £5m at the end of the season. Then in the summer we were in for a certain Harry Maguire for £4m then £5m.. then we cooled our interest and turned our attention to Callum ChambersInvest heavily on quality, don't hold back then spend to try to get back out again. I disagree about plan on relegation. Gibson clearly thought he would spend big enough to march out, then employed an utter tool and let him spend over £50m when we still had Traore, Bamford and Gibson.
Karanka got us up, but spent a lot to do so. The Summer 16 window was pitiful, then the Jan spend was woeful bar Bamford.
Invest well and you have a better squad to retain to get back up, or you have valuable assets to sell.
The promotion winning side Karanka assembled was in my opinion no better than the one that reached Wembley, but it got up having spent a lot of money/lost a fortune in that season.
It needed investment to stay up as it didn't have a lot of Premier League level quality and we invested on quantity not quality.
There are little bits I agree with newy but lots of it I don't.We were so close to being on the right track, Victor Lindelöf very nearly signing on loan in January 2016 with a view to a permeant deal for £5m at the end of the season. Then in the summer we were in for a certain Harry Maguire for £4m then £5m.. then we cooled our interest and turned our attention to Callum Chambers
Valdes - Free - I honestly wasn't a fan, the same season Burnley picked up Nick Pope for £1m (didn't start) and Matty Ryan moved the season after for around £5m
Barragan - £2m - I WASNT A FAN (Paddy McNair too much of a stretch at £4.5m)
Chambers - Loan - GREAT BUT WASNT OUR PLAYER (I would have preferred Nathan Aké on loan)
Espinosa - Free - INJURED a big risk and but a player we doubled our money on.
Fabio - £2m - a cheap and cheerful little player, better than Joe Bennett on a free?
Traore - Swap - had to be done, great bit of transfer business
De Roon - £10m - a solid signing - Idrissa Gueye & Steven Defour both moved for around £7m in the summer
Guedioura - £4.5m - AN UTTER WASTE OF MONEY
Fisher - £3.8m - INJURED a risk worth taking? we took £5m in for Adam Reach (Christian Atsu went on loan to Newcastle for £450k)
Negredo - Loan - a solid premier league player £5m on wages alone (Jordan Ayew moved for £5m)
Gestede - £6m - A COMPLETE AND UTTER WASTE OF MONEY (I would rather have rolled the dice on Mario Ballotelli for less money)
Guzan - Free - poor but fine as a back up keeper imo better nick than Tim Howard anyway
Ramirez - Free - looked like a no brainer, shame he let his winkie loose round boro. Ravel Morrison was knocking about from Lazio at the time..
Bamford - £5.5m - not suitable for the prem at that time, Ashley Fletcher moved to West Ham on a free.
Spent £18m in the summer, £16m in the January
£34m moved them on bringing in £48m - so we made £18m back on transfer fees mainly due to Adama Traore.
Gerard Deulofeu would have held his value, but then again the outlay would have been a large part of our budget.
Where did we go wrong? Free transfers in Valdes, Espinosa, Guzan & Ramirez.. on paper looked good. Loan Transfers of Negredo and Chambers you couldn't complain about. De Roon was a SOLID signing for the premier league, Traore was a great transfer for us. Fisher was a name that excited most.
Espinosa not being fit, Fisher not being fit and rumours of dressing room upset.. in short it was the January transfer window, Gestede, Guedioura & Bamford £10m down the drain on fees alone. These were positions that should have been filled before the season started. Stick Idrissa Gueye - £7m Jordan Ayew - £5m and Christian Atsu in the mix from the start and we look like a premier league team. Christian Atsu moved to Newcastle the season after for £6m bringing us bang on the same budget as we actually laid out. These are players that were known to us that we were looking at. Who on earth signed off on Gestede, Guedioura & Bamford?
What can we learn? Maybe don't gamble on injuries? Start of with the minimum of a balanced squad? GET VALUE FOR MONEY!
This maybe a sticking point but Mario Ballotelli represents better value than Rudy Gestede. Not many would argue that Gueye, Ayew & Atsu are far superior to the likes of Gestede, Guedioura & Bamford.
Bamford was maybe seen as one for the future, but when we sell to make a £1m proffit which we spend on a loan fee for Jordan Hugill.. then what is the point?
I agree with all of this, except two points; Valdes did prove his worth on quite a few occasions and Bamford wasn't a bad signing for the money, considering what he became when he went back to the Prem with a different manager. He was also a fans favourite.We were so close to being on the right track, Victor Lindelöf very nearly signing on loan in January 2016 with a view to a permeant deal for £5m at the end of the season. Then in the summer we were in for a certain Harry Maguire for £4m then £5m.. then we cooled our interest and turned our attention to Callum Chambers
Valdes - Free - I honestly wasn't a fan, the same season Burnley picked up Nick Pope for £1m (didn't start) and Matty Ryan moved the season after for around £5m
Barragan - £2m - I WASNT A FAN (Paddy McNair too much of a stretch at £4.5m)
Chambers - Loan - GREAT BUT WASNT OUR PLAYER (I would have preferred Nathan Aké on loan)
Espinosa - Free - INJURED a big risk and but a player we doubled our money on.
Fabio - £2m - a cheap and cheerful little player, better than Joe Bennett on a free?
Traore - Swap - had to be done, great bit of transfer business
De Roon - £10m - a solid signing - Idrissa Gueye & Steven Defour both moved for around £7m in the summer
Guedioura - £4.5m - AN UTTER WASTE OF MONEY
Fisher - £3.8m - INJURED a risk worth taking? we took £5m in for Adam Reach (Christian Atsu went on loan to Newcastle for £450k)
Negredo - Loan - a solid premier league player £5m on wages alone (Jordan Ayew moved for £5m)
Gestede - £6m - A COMPLETE AND UTTER WASTE OF MONEY (I would rather have rolled the dice on Mario Ballotelli for less money)
Guzan - Free - poor but fine as a back up keeper imo better nick than Tim Howard anyway
Ramirez - Free - looked like a no brainer, shame he let his winkie loose round boro. Ravel Morrison was knocking about from Lazio at the time..
Bamford - £5.5m - not suitable for the prem at that time, Ashley Fletcher moved to West Ham on a free.
Spent £18m in the summer, £16m in the January
£34m moved them on bringing in £48m - so we made £18m back on transfer fees mainly due to Adama Traore.
Gerard Deulofeu would have held his value, but then again the outlay would have been a large part of our budget.
Where did we go wrong? Free transfers in Valdes, Espinosa, Guzan & Ramirez.. on paper looked good. Loan Transfers of Negredo and Chambers you couldn't complain about. De Roon was a SOLID signing for the premier league, Traore was a great transfer for us. Fisher was a name that excited most.
Espinosa not being fit, Fisher not being fit and rumours of dressing room upset.. in short it was the January transfer window, Gestede, Guedioura & Bamford £10m down the drain on fees alone. These were positions that should have been filled before the season started. Stick Idrissa Gueye - £7m Jordan Ayew - £5m and Christian Atsu in the mix from the start and we look like a premier league team. Christian Atsu moved to Newcastle the season after for £6m bringing us bang on the same budget as we actually laid out. These are players that were known to us that we were looking at. Who on earth signed off on Gestede, Guedioura & Bamford?
What can we learn? Maybe don't gamble on injuries? Start of with the minimum of a balanced squad? GET VALUE FOR MONEY!
This maybe a sticking point but Mario Ballotelli represents better value than Rudy Gestede. Not many would argue that Gueye, Ayew & Atsu are far superior to the likes of Gestede, Guedioura & Bamford.
Bamford was maybe seen as one for the future, but when we sell to make a £1m proffit which we spend on a loan fee for Jordan Hugill.. then what is the point?