Apparently Vieira was shown the door when he demanded some power - like picking the team and having a say on players ... I never thought that his name was a serious one.
Don't matter who signs it's going to be a yes man as Maclaren is which is a done deal, also a done deal is Charlie Austin.
Lee Clark as number two is fab as he's no number one but very hard working and he does deserve a little luck. Good luck to the fella if it happens.
Christ almighty, mclown is back in the north east. still never rated him as boro manager. I think the bloke has a place down our way though (in yarm) so I imagine he bit your hand off for the job. A nice convenient place for him. Some of the family in Durham are mags, and I've been telling them they can look forward to some dire football ahead.
We've just had four years of dire football to be fair, and the seven years before that weren't much better. Come on though, surely he has to go down as your greatest manager ever? First trophy, UEFA Cup final etc. It's not a massively competitive field, I know Hopefully he can introduce some improvement. He's been given a remit to be ambitious in the cups, which none of the previous managers have had, and I seem to remember him being decent in the transfer market, although I haven't really followed him since he came back to England. If he can confound the board to make a couple of decent signings that aren't based on resale value, compete in the cups and stay well clear of relegation for seasons in a row that's already a massive improvement on the last three years.
Surprised this doesn't have its own thread in the main PL forum. I actually think he'll be a good appointment. Both club and manager are about the right level for each other, IMO. Interested who he'll try and bring in. Patrick Bamford and Charlie Austin all linked so far and it wouldn't surprised me to see a bid for someone like Will Hughes either. Quite surprised Ashley has stepped down from the board with McClaren replacing him too. Really looks like he's going to be backed and I can see a bit of money being spent this summer.
McClaren is perfectly set up to fail if Ashley so wishes. If the transfer money pot stays pretty empty, with all the available funds diverted to a bank account instead, and the team has barely 11 players to put out on the park, then Ashley isn't even on the board now. It's just 'football' people. How that defines Lee Charnley I've no idea. But McClaren is also a board member, so he can be blamed for any deficiencies that result in us not getting to at least 8th top or winning a cup. Fans want to see action in getting things done, rather than appointments of the odd individual, who is more used to being fired from other jobs.
Some of the resources available to McLaren under Gibson at the time, no lying, were some of the best in the league. You have to factor in though: the football was absolutely dire, his tactics were baffling in some games and he never endeared himself to the fans because he always flirted with the man utd job. You could have also seen us taking a 7-0 mauling to arsenal, and he would always turn around in interviews and describe how "fantastic" the players were, or how they showed "tremendous character". McLaren is like marmite with us lot though, some of us love him and some didn't take to him at all. we've had some shite over the years like, and the thing is, I still wouldn't want him back. I'm surprised though, I said to your lot if were going to give a championship manager a go, I don't know why you didn't give warburton a chance.
Fair enough, we can only wait and see I suppose. Remember, we've been watching mostly shite football since Souness got the job over ten years ago, so we're hardly unaccustomed to it. If McLaren can avoid relegation comfortably and get us in the mix for the cups than we'd be very happy with that. I agree about Warburton, but he's not the type of manager we'd go for at all. Managers like that want to have a hand in everything that happens at the club, which Ashley just wouldn't stand for. We're still an old fashioned club in many ways and I think we'll keep going for an old fashioned manager for a long time to come, unfortunately.
