Double Sale Is No Disaster

PLENTY OF discontent across the Boro blogosphere over the past 24 hours following the double departure of Robert Huth and Tuncay Sanli. Why sell our best defender? Why only £11m? And most pertinent - why Stoke?

Well, they survived their first season in the Premier League at a canter while Boro were occupying the drop zone for a start.

Also, they have loyal and passionate supporters who I would bet are likely to propel their side to another mid-table finish this time out.

The big German will slot in seamlessly to Stoke's abrasive style. But you wonder where Tuncay is going to fit in - I certainly can't envisage the Turk attacking Delap's lofty throws with the same vigour as Ricardo Fuller does.

Huth marshalled Boro to four successive clean sheets at the start of this season

It took an extra day for Tuncay to put Pulis's pen to paper. Perhaps he was holding out for an offer from his one-time admirers at Villa Park before dooming himself to the direct football played at the Brittannia Stadium...

But fair play to Stoke. They deservedly stayed up last season by playing to their strengths. And the acquisition of the former Fenerbahce star may signal an intent mix up their style a little.

It is a great double swoop for the Potters. Though contrary to some forum banter, I also believe it is good business by Boro and was surprised at the fallout from some fans regarding the "cheap" fee.

The £11m paid by Stoke breaks down to £5m for each player, with an extra £1m for Huth based on performance and appearances.That means we have virtually recouped the £6m paid to Chelsea three years ago for a player whose Boro career has stuttered between several injury problems.

Meanwhile, the £5m Tuncay fee looks admittedly small, particularly in today's hugely inflated transfer market.

Tuncay has hit 15 goals in 58 international appearances for Turkey

But maybe we Boro followers have been prone to over-rating our star man. After all, he did fall out of favour during the middle of the relegation campaign after struggling for form and failing to hit the net in twelve consecutive appearances.

After two years watching him play, I still can't decide what his best position is. Nor can many Riverside regulars.

He operated in a wide position when Southgate first brought him to the club before quickly switching to a supporting striker role. Then, towards the end of last season, amid much clamour from fans to play him there, Southgate employed him in the heart of the midfield.

Nonetheless, he was a great player and will be fondly remembered, particularly for his goals at the beginning this season despite looking visibly unsettled at the club.

Realistically, we could hardly have dreamt that top-class performers like Huth and Tuncay would still be Boro players this far into the new season. Both are full internationals who have a realistic chance of representing their countries at next year's World Cup in South Africa.

At Championship level, both players represented added luxuries if they stayed beyond the deadline. Although Huth had forged a formidable parntership with David Wheater, the 25-year-old - as Gareth Southgate rightly points out - can be replaced from within the club.

The relatively inexperienced Seb Hines is in contention to partner Wheater at the back against Bristol City tomorrow. But Boro have Chris Riggott, Emmanuel Pogatetz and Matthew Bates to come back from injury - players who are the envy of most clubs in our division.

I hope, for Southgate's sake, the team doesn't begin to leak goals and give armour to those questioning his authority within the MFC hierarchy.

While I'm sure the boss would have loved Huth to stay, player power is stronger than it has ever been. If a player wants to leave a club nowadays, they do. Ask David Moyes.

Highlights Hell

IT’S SATURDAY, 11.15pm, and I’ve gotten over the fact that Matt Le Tissier and Paul Merson won’t be discussing my club during the Soccer Saturday build-up any more.

I’ve also gotten over the fact that one team let me down on my accumulator (cheers, Villa). And I’ve even gotten over the fact that my club aren’t as important as Stoke and Burnley after watching Match of the Day.

But none of that matters. The Football League Show is about to begin and my club won a game for the first time in ages.

I don’t mind the achingly long lottery results re-cap (who plays Lotto Daily Play, by the way?). I’m about to witness evidence that Boro hit three goals away from home for the first time since January 2007 to help record their first victory on the road in nine months.

Marvin Emnes struck a fine second in the weekend win at Swansea

First, though, us viewers are treated the goals from the Newcastle game. I mean, it was live on TV a couple of hours ago, but not everyone has Sky, so fair enough.

Oh, then there is the featured game – a dour 0-0 between Ipswich and Leicester. It’s okay, Marvin Emnes's cracking strike will surely be up next...

No. Instead, further sleep-provoking analysis from Steve Claridge as he sways from side to side like he’s on stage with the Black Eyed Peas. But not before – in a vain attempt to liven up the broadcast – viewers’ texts and e-mails are read aloud with feigned interest by the blandly attractive, oxymoron-inducing Jacqui Oatley. Yawn.

Then, I am subjected to ‘Clem’s Gems’. This piece of TV innovation involves Boro fan and Five Live reporter Mark Clemmit reading a quirky tale from the world of football to a camera. Very good – but any chance of seeing some, y’know, football?

I was pleased when BBC won the Football League highlights from ITV. But it seems that, because it’s on straight after MOTD, they’ve felt the need to fiddle with the classic highlights format as well as building a set that resembles Dr Evil’s underground lair.

A brilliant interview with Neil Warnock over ‘the goal that never was’ at Ashton Gate saved the first half-hour of the show. I feel sorry for the Palace players, but it couldn’t have happened to a nicer manager or chairman, could it?

As much as I enjoyed listening to the pissed-off Warnock, it had nothing on the ninety seconds of footage which documented Boro’s 3-0 win at Swansea. This might all seem a little over-indulgent to non-Boro fans, but highlights shows have been best avoided on Teesside for the best part of a year.

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Adam Johnson has showed his Premier League pedigree over the past week

The performance itself was pleasing, although Swansea were without three key midfielders and are adjusting to life without boss Roberto Martinez and striking lynchpin Jason Scotland.

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More impressive was Tuesday night’s follow-up at Scunthorpe, where Boro did a professional job against hard-working and confident opponents at Glanford Park. And as in the game at the Liberty Stadium, an added bit of quality in the final third in the shape of Adam Johnson helped secured the three points.

Games come thick and fast in the Championship and the home clash with Doncaster this weekend presents an altogether different task. Like Sheffield United on the opening day, most teams will come to the Riverside content to return with a point.

Away from home, Boro are a dangerous counter-attacking outfit with the pace of Emnes and Johnson. But it will prove tougher for us to play our way through teams who set their stall out to defend, which puts a bigger onus on set-pieces. Not a problem, I wouldn’t have thought, with the presence of the Redcar Rock and the Berlin Wall – not to mention the so-far excellent delivery from Johnson and Mark Yeates.

Though rather anxiously, there’s still no telling who’ll be with us beyond the next couple of weeks. Twelve days remain before the transfer window slams shut and Boro fans can only hope the speculation surrounding star men Robert Huth and Gary O’Neil is little more than paper talk.

To add to our meantime woes, Ajax have reportedly cooled their interest in the thoroughly unwanted Afonso Alves, while it looks certain that the club will be forced to accept a cut-price deal for crowd favourite Tuncay.

Might it have been better for the Middlesbrough FC hierarchy to keep schtum about the club’s piss poor finances? Potential buyers now hold the upper hand, fully aware that Boro need to sell and are likely to accept any reasonable offer so close to the end of the window.

Tuncay could potentially leave for as little £4 million, which would make the £3 million touted by Derby County for Rob Hulse earlier this summer look even more expensive than it did at first glance.

To Boo or Not to Boo?

GARETH SOUTHGATE can be under no illusions of the scale of the task in front of him now. It is going to take a special season to regain even a shred of support from those who called for his head following relegation.

Much more than a dedicated and defensively-solid performance against one of Boro’s promotion rivals, clearly. The chorus of boos that scythed through the Riverside at the final whistle of Friday night’s lame 0-0 with Sheff Utd was audible, yet hardly sustained. But who – or what – were they aimed at?

Well, probably not the players, who had plenty of energy and endeavour – qualities seriously lacking last season – against those tough-tackling Blades. (A team led by Chris Morgan won’t be featuring on Soccer AM’s showboat too much, you wouldn’t have thought.)

Danny Coyne made some smart stops on his debut. Wheater and Huth were dominant at the back. And the surprise picks at full-back McMahon and Grounds looked pretty solid. In midfield, Rhys Williams was at least entering the opponents’ half – take note, Arca and Shawky. While outside him, Yeates and Johnson looked dangerous switching flanks.

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Southgate is on borrowed time in the eyes of some Boro fans

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As was often last season though, a toothless attack was the difference between one point and three. Marvin Emnes was full of running but was never going to get into the game with Jeremie Aliadiere leading the line in front of him.

I don’t know what it is with the Frenchman. He’s a canny little player – has a bit of pace and shows some nice touches. But where on earth do you play him on the football field? No prowess in the box to be a striker and no crossing ability to play on the wing. He should do a Cantona and go and play in that beach soccer tournament at Butlins, I reckon.

Still, the effort was there from Ali – I think he even won a header. And effort counts for a lot on Teesside. Remember Alen Boksic and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink? Sure, plenty of goals and moments of quality, but they could never close down a defender like Dean Windass could.

Lita may be the spark needed up in the final third when he’s fit. But you feel it needs to happen sooner. Scoreless games at home will not be tolerated by a crowd starved of goals last season and actively disillusioned at the management and direction of the club.

As Antony Vickers astutely points out in his blog, Southgate is in a no-win situation as Boro boss. Wins at this level are to be expected, not celebrated. So of course, some of the boos on Friday night will undoubtedly have been aimed his way for his handling of the first-team squad.

In many fans’ eyes, Southgate’s mismanagement of Mido and Afonso Alves was one of the reasons for both players’ misfiring form. The Egyptian was ignored despite hitting three in three at the beginning of last season, while Alves was dropped after scoring in the FA Cup win at Wolves in January.

But discontent with Southgate has already been registered. Supporters made it perfectly clear they were unhappy with him in charge during a live radio phone-in a couple of weeks ago. And the boo boys sporadically vented their anger after poor performances towards the end of last season.

Could some of the current dissent from the terraces be directed higher up? Or is it still unthinkable that some factions might be dissatisfied enough to vocally turn on our golden chairman?

After all, to those fans who called for Southgate to be sacked from January onwards, Steve Gibson’s failure to act decisively was just as telling a contribution to Boro’s decline as the manager’s team selection.

Re-Lita My Fire

A SAD week for kebab shops and Greggs outlets across Teesside, but a glorious one for Boro fans. Okay, so it’s only a year-long loan for now, but even a lad of Mido’s physique can score enough goals in the Egyptian league to secure a permanent deal, can’t they?

Despite my relief at seeing the back of him (at least temporarily), it seems a strange move for Mido. While he is undoubtedly a nuisance, he is better than Zamalek. And so are Boro – if he wants to impress his national boss to secure a World Cup place, then surely he’d be better advised scoring goals for Championship promotion chasers than for a side who finished 6th in the Egyptian Premier League last time out.

Elsewhere on the stroppy striker front, there are still no takers for Tuncay Sanli or Afonso Alves. Bafflingly in the case of the former, who has not only been brilliant for Boro over the past two seasons but also an inspiration for his national side. It would be incredible if the Turk stayed beyond the transfer window; although his reported £65k-a-week wages could be something of a strain the club’s beleaguered budget.

After being relegated, the Holgate faithful could scarcely have believed Tuncay – not to mention the likes of Gary O’Neil, Robert Huth and Jeremie Aliadiere – would be available for selection in tomorrow night’s curtain-raiser at the Riverside. At the moment, we have (on paper) a team rightly touted by bookies as one of the promotion favourites.

Leroy Lita scored 32 goals in four seasons for Reading

And now, in Leroy Lita, Gareth Southgate has finally added an experienced Championship goalscorer to the ranks. The free transfer signing is unlikely to be fit enough for a place in the starting line-up against Sheff Utd but what price he comes on to grab a goal against the club he snubbed to join Boro?

There is a bit of a gamble attached to his signature. Lita comes with something of a bad boy tag after falling out of favour at Reading last season and subsequently being farmed out on loan to struggling Charlton and Norwich. After finally getting rid of Mido, the last thing we need is a troublesome front-man. But Lita is a risk worth taking – he is still only 24 and boasts a blistering England U-21 career, hitting six goals in just nine appearances.

Whilst it is a great addition to what is a strong squad at this level, I hope it doesn’t signal the end of Boro’s transfer activity this summer. We still need a target-man striker as a foil to the pace of Lita, Aliadiere and Marvin Emnes. Rob Hulse is the most obvious solution, though rumours linking the 29-year-old with a move to Teesside have simmered in recent weeks.

More depth could be required in midfield, too. After losing Matthew Bates to injury, we look short on players capable of filling the 'Boateng role'. Rhys Williams, who has had a superb pre-season, can play there but, like the promising Josh Walker, is still largely unproven in the first-team. The ever-forgettable Mohammed Shawky would struggle to get in the Zamalek side, while Julio Arca’s tackling makes Adam Johnson look like Robbie Mustoe.

Still, we have exciting (if perhaps lightweight) first-choice quartet of Mark Yeates, O’Neil, Digard and Johnson which should have the beating of most defences in this division. Don’t expect too much tomorrow night, though. The Blades are a tough side to beat but, more decisively, the game is on telly – so it’s bound to be a shocker.