Glory to the North East - A Middlesbrough Story

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Middlesbrough Football Club is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. They are currently competing in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889. They played at the Linthorpe Road ground from 1882 to 1903 and at Ayresome for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.
Glory
They were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992 and became one of the first clubs to be relegated from it following the 1992–93 season. The club came close to folding in 1986 after experiencing severe financial difficulties before it was saved by a consortium led by then board member and later chairman Steve Gibson.The club's main rivals are Sunderland and Newcastle United. There is also a rivalry with fellow Yorkshire club Leeds United.


Middlesbrough won the League Cup in 2004, the club's first and only major trophy.They reached the 2006 UEFA Cup Final, but were beaten by Spanish side Sevilla. The club's highest league finish to date was third in the 1913-14 season and they have only spent two seasons outside the Football League's top two divisions. The League Cup win and the UEFA Cup run was part of an 11-year consecutive stay in the Premier League, before a relegation in 2009. Although the club returned in 2016, instant relegation followed.
The club's traditional kit is red with white detailing. The various crests throughout the club's history, the most recent of which was adopted in 2007, incorporate a lion rampant.

The most notable player to come through the excellent youth setup at the club was Brian Clough

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Squad

Goalkeepers

In goal we have Darren Randolph who is probably the best keeper in the division IMO. Behind him the quality drops off hugely. Connor Ripley would probably be the best backup option, but he's out on loan.

So you'll probably have to end up using 39 year old Dimitris Konstantopoulos if Randolph gets injured, which isn't great as he's pretty poor.

Full-Backs

As you can see we are in desperate need of more depth at right-back, we have Ryan Shotten pbut behind him is no natural right-back. Paddy McNair can play there at a push, but yeah another right-back should probably be your first priority. Sadly you've only got a £4m transfer kitty to start with so will have to sell to buy.

George Friend represents good quality at LB. Solid player and vice-captain. Loanee Sam McQueen is more pacy and technically better, but his tackling is weak at 9.

Centre-Backs

In terms of centre-backs we are also strong with Daniel Ayala and Aiden Flint and loanee Danny Batth solid Championship players. Flint is a beast in the air and can score a lot in set-pieces.

Then we have Dael Fry one of the local talents. He should develop into a really good Premiership quality player as well as England international. So 4 really solid CBs to choose from.

Also in the Under-18s we have Nathan Wood who has great potential and should become a great player in the future.

Midfielders

We're also really strong in the DM/MC position. 6 players in fact, all more than good enough for the first team. Loanee Mo Besic is the best rated of the bunch and probably the best option in the DM slot.

Team captain Grant Leadbitter is rated as the least quality wise and I will be looking to try and sell him as at 32 he won't feature much

Johnny Howson should also be one of the first names on the team sheet, Adam Clayton, Paddy McNair and loanee George Saville (who you're commited to buying for £7m in Jan) are also good enough to play, so you'll have to juggle them around to keep them happy. I'd rather not buy Saville and have the £7m back, but you can't cancel the deal


There's also MC/AMC Lewis Wing, but he lacks quality IMO.

Wingers

Out wide we have Stewart Downing for the left (winger) or right (inside-forward) and Martin Braithwaite is a natural AML-IF as well as a natural striker, though I'd use him outwide on the left as we have strength upfront without him and don't have much depth on the wings.

The depth in question are youth products Harry Chapman and Marcus Tavernier who can both play either wing though both are slightly more suited to the left wing (even right footed Chapman who's more natural as a winger on the left for some reason. Tavernier is either footed, which is nice.)

There's also Marvin Johnson, who's currently out on loan to another Championship club Sheffield Utd.

Strikers

And finally upfront we again have great options. Brit Asombalonga scores bag loads of goals. There are always Premiership clubs sniffing around him, same with Braithwaite. Loanee (and local lad) Jordan Hugill is a really good Pressing Forward for the Championship. And then if you want a Target Man, Rudy Gestede is your man, 6'4" beast in the air.

There's also Ashley Fletcher in the reserves for some backup

So all in all a great squad to get promoted to the Premiership at first asking. Boro also have a really good youth setup so fingers crossed we can get some excellent prospects coming through​
 
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Season Build Up

Transfers

View attachment 24598So we have signed the 3 usual suspects of Marin, Tonali and Morilla. They are 3 of the brightest talents in European football and will all become key players for me if they all develop as expected.

We also hit the loan market heavily to help add depth to the club. The 3 main ones will be McTominay, Lookman and Burke to help take the club to the next level.

Leaving the club we have decided to let club legend Downing leave the club as he was on £35,000 a week and was going to be behind Lookman and Marin down the left. Leadbitter was allowed to go on a free as at 32 and on £20,000 a week he was just going to pick up the money for nothing so made sense to free up the wages. Finally Clayton leaves for £4 million to allow us to make the transfers we've made.

Expectations

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I feel the expectations set by the board are reasonable and we should really make the playoffs with this squad so lets hope we can go as far as we can go.

Pre-Season

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The first two games were really just testers to see what formation we were going to go with and we really kicked on in July with getting the team used to the tactic I was wanting to use and getting everybody fit.

Tactic

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August Fixtures

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Loving reading these at work to kill time! Really enjoy the way you lay them out. Was following your Sunderland save and thought it was fantastic, definitely my next on after I have finished my West Brom one (fantastic team with some good talent (Ollie Burke is a world beater!). Following this one, best of luck
 
Emirali said:
Loving reading these at work to kill time! Really enjoy the way you lay them out. Was following your Sunderland save and thought it was fantastic, definitely my next on after I have finished my West Brom one (fantastic team with some good talent (Ollie Burke is a world beater!). Following this one, best of luck
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, glad your enjoying it. Will get the next update up tonight
 
August

Millwall v Middlesbrough

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An excellent start to the season where Braithwaite pops up with the goal. It was made even better by the fact we were able to keep Millwall from getting a single shot on target.

Middlesbrough v Sheffield United

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A much tougher game here and we were made to fight right until the end but we have the legs to get a late winner to secure the 3 points

Middlesbrough v Birmingham

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Assombalonga comes in for his first start of the season and has an excellent first half and gets us off to a great start. We hold off in the second half since a fight back doesn't happen.

Carabao Cup First Round
Middlesbrough v Grimsby

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We go with a full 11 player rotation in this game to give everybody a well earned rest and they duly deliver. Marin has a blinder of a debut to contribute to a great win.

Bristol City v Middlesbrough

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Our toughest challenge yet and we even manage to come back from 1-0 down to go up 3-1 before a nervy final 7 minutes to see out a good win.

Middlesbrough v West Brom

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Our biggest win so far as we get a massive win against a fellow promotion contender. The turning point of the game was bringing Howson on for Mctominay.

Carabao Cup Second Round
Middlesbrough v QPR

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Again we go with a full rotation here to provide a rest to everybody and get a great win with Gestede taking the plaudits with the first hat-trick of the season.

Month Overview

An excellent month with only conceding 2 goals in the league so far. Keeping clean sheets in the league is one of the most important things of doing well in this league.

We also progress to the third round of the Carabao Cup which sees us meet the board expectations for the competition where we have a trip to Luton Town so I feel we should be able to progress to the fourth round and give the back ups a run out.

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September Fixtures

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September

Leeds United v MiddlesbroughView attachment 24076
A well played match here getting 2 goals in each half but our lack of control at corners cost us 2 goals in 3 minutes and its something I will now look at in training to try and resolve.

Norwich v Middlesbrough

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Another great match against a strong team that will be competing up the top end of the table. Braithwaite really seems to have found his scoring boots now as we are becoming reliant on him up front.

Middlesbrough v Bolton

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Ashley Fletcher comes on in the 60th minute and becomes a super sub with scoring the only goal of the game 3 minutes later.

Middlesbrough v Swansea

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We remind the players before every game to keep pushing right until the end as it can always make a difference and it did here as we killed the game off with a last minute penalty with local graduate Tavernier slotting home from the spot after coming on a sub in the second half.

Carabao Cup Third Round
Luton v Middlesbrough

View attachment 24072Full rotation here again as we give everybody a run out against a much weaker team and it gets off to a great start after Tavernier putting us in front after 2 minutes. Braithwaite comes on as a late sub to add to the goals as well.

Hull v Middlesbrough

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A very good win against a team in poor form. Fletcher comes on yet again in the second half to bag himself 2 goals. He can hopefully continue this form off the bench.


Month Overview

We've had a very good month winning all our games which included big wins against Leeds, Norwich and Swansea which see's our promotion credentials a huge jump.

We also progress in the cub where we have been very fortunate again and been given a home tie against Millwall.

The board have also agreed to upgrade the youth facilities as well at a great cost to the club but we will hopefully reap the rewards soon.

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October

Ipswich v MiddlesbroughView attachment 24053A tough match but again we keep going right to the end and manage to ****** a draw in injury time for our first dropped points of the season.

Middlesbrough v Nottingham Forest

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Nothing much to say about this result apart that it was probably the fairest result for this match as we play out a bore draw.

Sheffield Wednesday v Middlesbrough
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An exciting minute in the first half saw us take the lead before throwing it away straight away a minute later before Lookman got us the 3 points straight after half time.

Middlesbrough v Rotherham

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We bring Carles Alena into the fold from the start to add the creative spark we've missed so far this month and not only does he get a goal he also sets up the two goals by Burke.

Middlesbrough v Derby

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Alena holds his place in the starting XI after the last match and gets us off to a great start with the opening goal before we put another 3 past Derby.

Carabao Cup Fourth Round
Middlesbrough v Millwall

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And Alena pops up again with the only goal of the match to send us through to the Quarter Final.

Month Overview

Another unbeaten month where we had 3 wins and 2 draws in the league to keep our lead at the top of the table along with a a win in the cup to see us into the quarter finals. The draw happens at the start of October so we eagerly await the draw being the only team left in the competition not in the Premiership.

Alena was the stand out performer this month after coming into the starting lineup and will be staying there for the upcoming matches.

We have also confirmed the signing of our new first choice keeper from January in the form of Dominik Livakovic from Dinamo. He should be first choice keeper for years to come. Chelsea and Man City were both interested in him but never made moves for him so he'll be joining us.

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November Fixtures

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November

Stoke v Middlesbrough

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So it turns out we can do it on a rainy night away to Stoke as we go out and pummel them from the off and they just can't cope as we put 5 past them.

Middlesbrough v Wigan

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Alena getting us off to great start before we concede another late goal, this time it costs us as we drop 2 points with the draw.

 Brentford v Middlesbrough

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Well we suffer our first loss of the season and we getting properly beaten off Brentford here as we just couldn't get going at all after falling behind.

 Preston v Middlesbrough


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We bounce back with a good win over Preston with Burke getting us off to a flyer in the second minute before Assombalonga secures the 3 points with his goal near the end.

Month Overview

A bit of a mixed month here with only getting 7 points out of 12 and suffering our first defeat of the season. The loss to Brentford will hopefully just be a blip in what is shaping up to be an excellent season.

I have been busy in the transfer market again this month and we have signed Samir Nasri on a free transfer and he will be joining the squad in training before making his debut in January. He will hopefully add another dimension to the team before probably being sold in the summer for additional funds.

I have also agreed to sell Braithwaite this month to Leicester for £10 million, he was on a lot of money and I'll hopefully be able to reinvest the £9 million added to the transfer budget in a better and younger striker that can start to get use to the game for the Premiership if we gain promotion.

We have also managed to pull off a great signing in bringing in Bryan Klug from Ipswich to become the new Head of Youth Development. He is hopefully going to become very important to the club with being able to bring world class youngsters through.

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The board have also shown faith this month in increasing the wage budget available to me as well with an extra £100,000 available for bringing in new players. They have also injected an additional £8.75 million into the club to help comply with the financial fair play.

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December Fixtures

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December Middlesbrough v Aston VillaView attachment 23772
A very poor result from this game considering our home form but it was probably a fair result in the end.

Middlesbrough v Blackburn

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We bounce back with an emphatic win over Blackburn with Marin taking his chances given in the first team over Lookman with 2 great goals off the left.


QPR v Middlesbrough


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A bit of a nervy game here but we manage to scrape a win even though we didn't play the best game of our lives after a good win over Blackburn.

Carabao Cup Quarter Final
Middlesbrough v Leicester

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What a game for the neutrals here, we fall behind 3 times and manage to finish the game 3-3. Alena was just a class of his own in the centre of the park. We were lucky it goes straight to penalties as I reckon I would of lost in extra time. Bad thing is only 1 player who scored in the shootout is on a permanent deal.

Reading v Middlesbrough



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A poor result here but the players were dead on their feet by the end of the game with how soon it came after the cup match.

Middlesbrough v Sheffield United

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Another poor result but again we were lucky to get away with a draw here so we will take the point and move on as the games have been coming thick and fast.

Middlesbrough v Ipswhich

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Dael Fry with his second goal in 2 games and both goals have been really important. This time though it comes with the least head of the ball from a late corner to secure a valuable point.

Month Overview

So all in it hasn't been the best of months with us only picking up 9 points out of a possible 18. On the upside though we have been able to make it through to the Semi final of the Carabao Cup in our first season which is impressive. We have been drawn against Huddersfield as well so there is a possibility of us being able to make it through to the final.

On another positive note the board has offered me a new contract which I was quick to accept which will now keep me tied to the club until 2021

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After the results this month our gap at the top of the table has been closed to 4 points. Hopefully we can kick on in the second half of the season.

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January Fixtures

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January Transfers

So as usual with a transfer month I'll kick off with the outgoing and incoming players with how we have revamped the squad.

So for the outgoings we had already agreed to sell Braithwaite to Leicester for £10 million but to this we also agreed to sell Paddy McNair to West Brom for £3 million, Rudy Gestede to Brighton for £4.5 million, Ryan Shotton to West Brom for £4.5 million, Ionut Rus to Fiorentina for £1.2 million and finally George Friend to Celtic for £2.9 million. Most of the people that left were on high wages and were getting on with their careers and weren't going to make the cut next season no matter what happened.

For the incoming players I feel we have managed to reinvest the money in some quality players that come straight into the first team and build a steady base going forward regardless of what happens.

First in is Andreas Pereira who joins from Man Utd for £6 million and will hopefully form a strong bond in the centre of the park with Tonali.

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Next in is Felix Uduokhail for $4.3 million from Wolfsburg and again hopefully form a tight partnership with Fry in the centre of defence
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Alex Robles comes in from Malaga for £2.8 million and will make the RB position his own from the start.

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Karlan Grant Joins from Charlton for £1.5 million and will play as a back up striker and coming off the bench.

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Finally comes in Jannes Horn from Bayer 04 for £5.5 million who comes in to take over the LB position

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Finally I also bring in a couple of players in on loan as well to make sure we have cover in every area. We bring in Phil Foden to cover Nasri in the AMC role, David brooks comes in to cover Oliver Burke and Breel Embolo comes in to give another quality option upfront.

All in all I feel we have done some great business here but still lack a couple of permanent signins in some key areas as players weren't available within our budget. They will be looked at in the summer now.


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January

Derby v Middlesbrough

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A poor match by our standards but we manage to rescue a draw after a terrible start.

FA Cup Third Round
Middlesbrough v Derby

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A return match and Andreas Pereira comes into the midfield to make his club debut and he single-handedly tears Derby a new one. What a way to announce yourself to your new club.

Carabao Cup Semi Final 1st Leg
Middlesbrough v Huddersfield

View attachment 23610On a high from the FA Cup we run out at home and show our credentials for next season if we're promoted and show we can handle playing the big boys yet again as long as we're at home.

Birmingham v Middlesbrough

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Alec Robles comes into the first team to make his debut for the club and gets off to a great start to get the first goal of the match.

Middlesbrough v Millwall

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Pereira comes back in after being cup ties and gets on the score sheet again along with Marin to show we are developing as a club with our new signings.

Carabao Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg
Huddersfield v Middlesbrough

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Barring any major issues here the game was already over before is started so we were able to make a bit of rotation to try and rest a few players. We make it through to our first Final.

FA Cup Fourth Round
Wycombe v Middlesbrough

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Another rotated squad goes out against an inferior opposition. Embolo comes in for his debut and yet again we have another scorer on his debut.

Middlesbrough v Bristol City

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We love a late goal and its even better when its an own goal. We kept pushing for the goal here right until the end and we walk away with the 3 points.

Month Overview

We have an amazing month which shows how much depth we have at the club considering how busy it was. We had 4 league games along with 4 cup games.

We have also made the Carabao cup final where we will be playing Spurs. Its going to be an exciting game that i don't expect to win but we will give it our best shot.

We have also progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup where we will learn next month who we will face there after the replay between Barnsley and Wigan. Hopefully it will be a good draw and we can go a bit further and get the money from a good cup run.

View attachment 23598View attachment 23597
February Fixtures

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Great business done there with all the under 23 signings and managing to get £7.5m for Friend and Shotton!
 
February

West Brom v Middlesbrough
View attachment 23495
A great spectacle for the neutrals where we have fallen behind twice and managed to walk away with the 3 points. Assombalonga getting a well needed 2 goals for his confidence and Pereira just can't stop scoring.

Middlesbrough v Leeds

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Ofcourse after such an exciting game the next is a bore draw where we just can't get the ball in the back of the net.

Sheffield Untied v Middlesbrough

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There are no words needed here apart from Andreas Pereira. He is just in a class of his own in this division.

FA Cup Fifth Round
Middlesbrough v Wigan

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We re able to rotate a large number of players here and Alena is showing that whatever Pereira can do then so can he. Always good to have midfielders in great form.

Middlesbrough v QPR

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Pereira just can't stop scoring, he has become a club legend in my eyes already with how important he's become to the club and its only his second month.

Carabao Cup Final
Middlesbrough v Tottenham

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We were simply outclassed by a much better team. We will definitely build upon it though and come back stronger in the future. After Kane scored in the first minute the heads went down for a few minutes and we conceded another early goal and there was just no coming back after that.

Month Overview

What a month in the league where we have managed to extend our lead at the top of the table to 12 points. Its looking good for automatic promotion.

Pereira is just unbelievable just now. If the worst comes to it then we will at least be able to sell him for a huge profit as I have a bad feeling he'll look for higher wages if we get promoted.

The cup final was a bit of a disappointment even though its the result we had expected after being massive underdogs. We progress though in the FA cup where we will be facing Chelsea in the next round.

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March Fixtures

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Looks like its your title to lose! Quality season though, getting to the Carabao cup final too!
 
March

Wigan v Middlesbrough
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It was outrageous that only a penalty was what separated this game. We just couldn't hit the back of the net at all. We hit the woodwork 4 times in the match as well.

Blackburn v Middlesbrough

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We always make sure we play right until the final whistle and yet again we manage to ****** a late goal to rescue a point with Foden becoming the hero of the match.

Middlesbrough v Brentford

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Not sure what happened here after Nasri put us ahead but we were just beaten by the better team on the day.

Middlesbrough v Preston

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We come out with a point to prove after the defeat to Brentford and Foden bags us the first goal of the match with a screamer from 25 yards out. Embolo gets the important goal to secure us the 3 points though.


FA Cup Sixth Round
Middlesbrough v Chelsea

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It was a close fought game in a match we were heavily touted to get a gubbing in. But we showed what we can do and proved a lot of people wrong and even though we were knocked out we can hold our heads high.

Middlesbrough v Norwich

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A game where a draw would of probably been a fairer result but we got a very lucky goal from Burke but I'm not complaining as this win secures us a playoff spot at the worst.

Month Overview

A brilliant month for us which see's us secure a playoff position which means we can just go out and play as at the worse we will just have to play another few games to try and go up through the play offs. Hopefully it won't come to that though as we have a 13 point gap at the top of the table.

I have also decided to let Darren Randolph leave the club as Watford came in with a bid of £7.5 million which I wasn't going to reject for a 31 year old on £25,000 a week as a back up. I will be looking to bring in a younger keeper as back up once we see who is available in the summer.

We also had the youth intake at the start of the month and we have got one gem of a player who if he develops should reach the top of the English game. Please welcome Joey Stevens

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April Fixtures

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That Joey Stevens looks a right player at the age of 15, surely a future England international!
 
NashBigginss said:
That Joey Stevens looks a right player at the age of 15, surely a future England international!
Click to expand...
Fingers crossed. If I get some easy cup matches next season might give him a run out to see how he does
 
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