I rather hope Harper and Shunt leave now

[Victor Meldrew]

One has to wonder if Harps has given further thought to a few years living in the sh*t hole known as Middlesbrough

Money really isn't everything......................

There is some fabulous countryside around 'Boro and wonderful coastline.
I very much doubt that millionaire footballers live next door to ICI.
Lol at typical Home Counties type thinking that living in the Thames Valley>Rural North,the first being one of the grimiest and unhealthy areas of the country with nothing but diabolical car and aircraft fumes,the other having just small pockets of industry surrounded by beautiful countryside and about 20% of the traffic and lower cost-of-living to spend that increased salary on.

Tomorrow I will drive along with many thousands of others to the filth that is West London ,pay some massive parking charge for the car,pay a fortune if I want something to eat and spend ages in the car afterwards battling with the thousands again to escape one of the dirtiest and scruffiest places in the world-the last time I went to 'Boro I spent a hour on the massive beach at Redcar,had a pint for not very much and parked my car for nothing.
Life ain't all bad up North you know.
Oh and pay £30 to watch Championship football.

[seahawk10]

I hope they stay. Can't wait for the deadline to pass and the window to close.

[The whole year inn]

One has to wonder if Harps has given further thought to a few years living in the sh*t hole known as Middlesbrough

Money really isn't everything......................

filth that is West London .

[towserSL2crew]

Sky reckon Boro will pay £5m but in installments and based on his performance !! Shite ,thats got it down to £200.000 .They reckon Shorey ( left back before Armstrong ) will join him .Hope we dont pass them on the way up at the end of the season.

[Stranded]

Sky reckon Boro will pay £5m but in installments and based on his performance !! Shite ,thats got it down to £200.000 .They reckon Shorey ( left back before Armstrong ) will join him .Hope we dont pass them on the way up at the end of the season.

Thanks for that I was really struggling to place a Shorey then phew!

Although technically S.Hunt was LB before Armstrong.

[Royalee]

If either of them reads this...piss off, you're overrated and held the club back last year.

[Friday's Child]

I still don't think we've replaced Sidwell, Kitson or Sonko to be honest.

I think it's debatable wether we've replaced Shorey either (the good one not the one from the majority of last season). Armstrong is steady enough and does ok in this division but could he cut it in the Prem? I doubt it to be honest.

Just wanted to pick up on this, and while I agree that the players you mention have not been directly replaced, I think the key to being a successful football is the ability to continually reinvent oneself and create a new organisation when one key member leaves, similar to a good company. Replacing like for like is never an easy task, and along with lofty expectations of directly comparable statistics, it quite simply isn't always the degree of "fit" that a team needs. Often a player leaving is also a chance for others to showcase their skills that a different game may not have provided. For example, I like the way that Bryn is now brought on as a sub and plays a beautiful game for 30 - 45 minutes, something that at this stage of his career is the best use of his assets.

I would not look at players like Armstrong and say "do they need replacing when we get to the Premiership", I would look to continually strengthen competition on the left wing and centre-backs to protect him and make the most of the type of game that suits him best. Never to the degree that he would be "carried" - which to my mind is where a team of 11 plays like 10 - but for example if a centre-back is slow but good at positioning, get a pacey, tall, and raw centre-back alongside! Back up a pacey right back with a strong tackling right-of-centre back and a defensively good winger. You get the point.......

[Rex]

Why is it seen as high treason if a player does leave the club. It's a career to these players. look at it from the point of view of how many players never even make a living off their wages. There are plenty of £30 appearence fee players out there. Harps has been there and sdone it with this club. Should he leave then good luck to him.

With the Shunt saga, if there was a spat concerning the request that (never) was - so what!!. We all know Shunts temperment in the pitch, excess energy, passion, hot head....why should this not come to the fore in his dealings with RFC and Coppell. Taking your frustrations out in your pace of work and at your manager is not exactly taboo. Coppell is paid to guide and focus players irrespective of the outcome.

Players come and players go. The club morphs. The players either succeed or fail, the club still exists.
Some of the comments on this thread are hopefully tongue in cheek........

[loyalroyal4life]

If either of them reads this...piss off, you're overrated and held the club back last year.

[Ian Royal]

If either of them reads this...piss off, you're overrated and held the club back last year.

How are Derby doing these days?

[rg6royal]

I hope they stay. Can't wait for the deadline to pass and the window to close.

'greed

Would be a shame to see them go and we would definately miss their work rates.

[ankeny]

Radio Tees has said Harper wont be coming.Make of that what you will.

[Ian Herring]

I still recall Harper asking us if Beard Day was a 'national' thing.

Of course it was James.

[gn1982]

Boro aren't expecting anyone else to sign between now and June. All paper talk. Harps and Hunty are Reading heroes... don't be such o*fords and instead get behind those that have got us to within 2 points of top spot in the league. You all sound like Rafa.

[url]http://www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,1~1539383,00.html[/url]

[Archie's penalty]

Boro aren't expecting anyone else to sign between now and June. All paper talk. Harps and Hunty are Reading heroes... don't be such o*fords and instead get behind those that have got us to within 2 points of top spot in the league. You all sound like Rafa.

http://www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,1~1539383,00.html

Completely agree. We are closer to the top spot now than we have been since the first game of the season and this is what people think? Makes me sick sometimes

[Woodcote Royal]

One has to wonder if Harps has given further thought to a few years living in the sh*t hole known as Middlesbrough

Money really isn't everything......................

There is some fabulous countryside around 'Boro and wonderful coastline.
I very much doubt that millionaire footballers live next door to ICI.
Lol at typical Home Counties type thinking that living in the Thames Valley>Rural North,the first being one of the grimiest and unhealthy areas of the country with nothing but diabolical car and aircraft fumes,the other having just small pockets of industry surrounded by beautiful countryside and about 20% of the traffic and lower cost-of-living to spend that increased salary on.

Tomorrow I will drive along with many thousands of others to the filth that is West London ,pay some massive parking charge for the car,pay a fortune if I want something to eat and spend ages in the car afterwards battling with the thousands again to escape one of the dirtiest and scruffiest places in the world-the last time I went to 'Boro I spent a hour on the massive beach at Redcar,had a pint for not very much and parked my car for nothing.
Life ain't all bad up North you know.
Oh and pay £30 to watch Championship football.

And LOL at this dim witted response assuming my observations were purely of the South>North variety.

Middlesboro was recently voted the worst place to live in the country, largely because it's a dump that even places London W12 in a positive light.

If you're happy to make the 8 mile trip to Redcar, a similar trek from Shepherds Bush would take in Kensington , Chelsea, all the West End, including Covent Garden, not to mention places such as Richmond and, guess what? All of these can be reached with ease by public transport, so why not leave your "filthy" car at home thus helping to save the planet you seem to care about and cut down on those needless parking fees?

[Royalee]

Radio Tees has said Harper wont be coming.Make of that what you will.

They probably didn't even put a bid in because they realised just how crap he is. Disappointing.

[Royalee]

If either of them reads this...piss off, you're overrated and held the club back last year.

How are Derby doing these days?

Funny how Pearce who I was lauding all last season and saying should play suddenly makes man of the match against Wolves and is probably our best defender. An unbiased observer would recognise that I've shown more foresight than yourself and Coppell put together given I realised this 18 months ago without all this bullshit about having to watch players train day in day out. I also said Bikey has the best raw attributes at the club and would be the best partner for him, which would make sense given Ingimarsson's plethora of mistakes recently.

[roll over boltonhoven]

Royalee finally talks some sense!
I refer to his comments re Pearce and Bikey - they are our best bet for cutting it in the Prem next year if we get there. They would each need a lot of work on them for different reasons between now and then but speed and strength are must have attributes for survival [Vidic being the shining example] and they have both whereas Ivar and Doobs don't , though clearly we need to keep both of them too.

FWIW SHunt is less replaceable than Harps; but if both do stay and we make it back to the Prem we would need a real rethink about midfield and play much more cannily according to the opposition than we did last year. Cisse will hack it in the Prem now and should be in for each match, Marek would be good against some teams but not others, etc etc. Tabb being the unknown. But the quality and deployment of our midfield would be the decisive factor for survival or not.....

[juanpablo]

some things mean more to me than results i want Hunt out... sorry