Watch Out Next Season!

Boro are on the up, with Tony Mowbray having masterminded a dramatic turnaround in the club's fortunes.

Hotly tipped as promotion favourites at the start of the season under Gordon Strachan, the players he brought in and the style he attempted to get them to play, proved wholly inadequate for the Championship. He subsequently left Middlesbrough by mutual consent at the end of October, following 3 straight defeats. During those 13 games in charge, Boro had managed just 3 wins and suffered 8 defeats, which left them fighting a relegation battle for the rest of the season.

Since Mowbray took charge, Boro have managed 12 wins in 31 games (a 38% win ratio, compared to Strachan's 23%) and secured survival with a few games to spare.

Granted our defence is still leaky and needs some work, but we are playing exciting, attacking football and the players seem to respond to the manager in a way they never did under the previous management.

Despite still needing to slash our wage by by around 50%, offloading some of the players still on Premier League wages, in order to bring some new faces in over the summer, things are most definitely looking up.

IF we can balance the books, add some strength in depth to our notoriously injury-prone squad and of course, keep playing like we have done the last few months, theres no reason why we can't be contenders for a play-off spot next season.

You heard it here first.


UTB!

while you are at it can you please beat Cardiff monday. what a better way to kick that off
Many thanks
Norwich Fans Everywhere

I think Boro still have a long way to go, cant see Skippy sticking around

Well, we are looking to offload our higher-paid players and I think McDonald is one of them.

Then again, some like Arca are looking set to re-sign on lower wages. I think a lot will depend on whether Mowbray can convince them of Boro's chances next season and whether they're happy at the club or not.

We'd like Skippy and Julio to stay...even Lita seems to be coming good at last. Here's hoping we can convince some of them to take a pay cut...

Have you been impressed with Scott McDonald since he moved to Boro? He was a cracking wee player up in the SPL!

Well, he struggled for the first few months - along with everyone else - under Strachan's reign, but since Mowbray took over and we started playing decent football, he's started scoring more.

He finished top scorer with 14 - just ahead of Lita who got 12.

So overall, yes I think Skippy's been a real asset to the club. Most Boro fans would like him to stay, but I'm not sure we can afford the wages he is on.