May 2009 - Posts
Not much had happened over the last few days, and then I come into work this morning and I found out we have signed another player and had let quite a few go. So in case you are confused like me with who has gone and who has come in I have devised a list – aren’t I helpful?
Who has come in
Charlie Griffin (striker)
Yemi Odubade (midfielder)
Joel Byrom (midfielder)
Chris Beardsley (striker)
Peter Vincenti, Lawrie Wilson, Mitchell Cole, have renewed contracts.
Who has left
Steve Morison (Millwall)
Calum Willock (released)
John Martin (released)
Gary Mills (gone to Mansfield – What is all that about?!?!?)
Liam McDevitt (released)
Eliot Buchanan (released)
George Brinkman (released)
Zak Burke (released)
Junior Mendes (loan deal expired)
I think that’s it. God when you look at it, there has been a lot of movement. But at the same time a lot of fringe players have gone, so the core team should still be there.
I imagine there will be some other news soon concerning players. Even if it is players renewing their contracts. Normally what happens is, I enter a post on my blog like I am doing now and then an hour later, we are told some more signing news. So watch this space!
Well we have had quite a few busy days in the world of Boro, since I lasted posted on my blog.
We have signed Joel Byrom and Obubade alongside Griffin, Vincenti renewed his deal and Morison has left for Millwall in a £130,000 deal.
It is a shame to see Moro go, but we have brought in Griffin who is used to scoring goals at this level. Joel gets rave reviews from his previous club, Northwich, and Obubade is another promising signing. It is great to see that Westley has faith in Peter too, so that should give PV more confidence on his ability.
I love the way Westley straight away brings in new players. He certainly doesn’t hang around. The season was only just over after he signed Griffin and the other two, followed quite quickly afterwards.
By signing them so soon after the season has finished, it will give the players time to bond with each other and once they start back in training they will hopefully be familiar with one another, and hopefully this time the core of the team will stay put.
We are not sure who has been released from the club, but I would expect there to be at least 3. Probably Martin being one of those, and maybe Calum.
Other big news this week is Lawrie’s apparent relationship with Frank Lampard’s ex, Elen Rives. How random is that. And the mystery man is….. Lawrie Wilson, Stevenage Boro player!
I feel sorry for his girlfriend because apparently it has been going on with Elen for a few weeks now, and Lawrie no matter how many high fives you get, that it no way to treat someone who you have been with for five years.
Season ticket prices have been frozen this year which is good, but shirt prices have been reduced, which is very annoying for me as I only got mine a couple of week’s before the end of the season. I could have got it for a tenner! (I fit into a youth’s shirt) How frustrating!
I am not sure what Boro will bring over the next week or so, but I will keep you posted on my thoughts etc if we get any more signings or some of the beloved Boro players leave.
Oh and how can I forget, three words.
Thank you Torquay!! [:)][:)][:)]
(After probably the worst day of my life, it is nice to get a little bit of sunshine)
EDIT: Typical, i just post this and they confirm that Martin has been released. Good luck John, you were one of my favourite player's and I hope you do well wherever you go. Keep running!
Just watched the parade go by our office window. They had a police escort and everything. So got out my camera and managed to take two shots before they whizzed past.
You would have thought they would have gone a bit slower so I could get a better picture at least.
They gave us a nice wave, but to be honest I think they were a bit startled to see some heads just pop out of a window on a two-storey building.
Anyway I have posted them to the web for you all to have a look at (although we seem to be experiencing a delay at the moment with stories appearing on our site). So keep checking the site (http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/sport/boro/default.aspx)
I will be doing a photo gallery on the parade as well, so look out for that one!
Cat
Well what a day!
I was a bit nervous with it all in the morning, but everything seemed to be going to plan. Everyone arrived on time for the coach, and my street was rammed with cars.
We set off at 9.45 and amazingly it only took us 50 minutes to get there. For some reason the car park only opened at 11 so we had to sit and wait in the coach for that to open.
In that time though my friend Ryan had spotted Paul Parker walking to the ground and a Borat look-a-like.
Once we got out of the coach, we went and got some food and then headed for the Greyhound pub. Well that was a mistake. It took us over half an hour to get a drink, and considering the amount of people you would have thought that 3 members of bar staff was never going to be enough.
Time seemed to fly by in the pub and before we knew it, it was 1 o clock. Time to head to the ground. There seemed like there were a hell of a lot of Boro fans compared to York fans.
When everyone was finally seated you could see this even more so.
I don’t know whether it was just me, but the whole Wembley thing didn’t seem overly organised. First off it took forever to try and find a programme. You would have thought people would have had trollies or something with them on.
Secondly a few people who were on my coach had club Wembley seats, yet the Champagne bar and some of the main food restaurants were not open. If you pay for club Wembley, you expect club Wembley treatment.
Anyway I finally got my programme and the game kicked off. The first half wasn’t all that good. We had the majority of possession and there were a few chances for each team.
The atmosphere was quite good where we were sitting (block 125 in the £30 seats), as we were right next to some of the barmy army. They got everyone going and even my friends who hadn’t really seen Boro before joined in some of the chants.
The thing with Wembley though, is that even though your songs are amplified by the way the stadium is shaped, you can’t hear fans on the other side. At one point I looked down to the left behind the goal and I could see quite a few Boro fans singing, and they were waving for us to join in, but I could not make out what they were singing at all. It makes me wonder how much the players actually heard.
The second half was when the game really came into its own. Boro pressed a lot more and I was more confident we were going to go on and win the game.
The deadlock was finally broken when Moro had two chances to get it in the net. It was very similar to his chance he had at Cambridge but this time he managed to stab it in the back of the net.
Everyone went mental. It was such a great feeling to have seeing the ball go in the back of the net. Moro as a result got bundled.
We looked really comfortable after the goal and had a few more chances. York had a few free-kicks towards the end that I was worried about. No offence to them, but they did not deserve to take it into extra time.
Then Lee “Never Stop Running” Boylan popped up with a great goal in the 90th minute to make sure the trophy was ours. The ball came to him and he curled it into the net. A much deserved goal.
It was great to see the lads go up and pick up that trophy once again. Mark Roberts and Laird really looked like they cherished the moment. It was such a shame for Lairdy to miss the tie, but he was ecstatic all the same. Bayes was going mental as usual. I don’t think you could see a bigger grin that day.
It seems that was Moro’s last game for us, and to be honest he gave us a helping hand. I wish him the best of luck wherever he goes (Millwall), and I hope our new signing, Griffin, will slot into the team nicely.
Hopefully now we can build on this trophy win and make sure next season there is no “Nightmare November” just a sensational season.
This week has been a bit of a whirl wind week. To be honest I haven’t really been able to get over all the events that happened to me on Monday. I am still exhausted and confused and it has been hard for me to concentrate on the football.
But Wembley is here and I have got to focus on that. The players have probably had a similar week to me, heads are down, but you have got to pick yourself up.
Tomorrow is massive for us. It is a chance for the club to give the fans a good day out and to come back with some silverware. For me, if we win, it could mean some of the players who are not sure whether Boro will ever be able to get out the conference, can see the promise that we have. We can win things, and we will win things.
For players to be able to pick up a trophy, it must give them such a lift, such promise and pride. For a lot of them, playing at Wembley will be a massive dream, so it holds great importance.
Yes it is a shame we are not there twice, but we have got to focus on what we have now.
I believe we can do it, we may struggle more than we should because of the key players we have missing, but if they need any inspiration to win tomorrow, Monday would have been that.
I hope we win, I really do. It would be great to finish the season on a high, it really would. It is just such a shame for Scott. Hopefully they will win for him, as he is one player who really deserves it.
Come on Boro!
Well yesterday was not a good day at all for me. It started off really bad for personal reasons but then it just got worse and worse. Boro lost so were out of the play-offs, and of course it had to be against our rivals Cambridge. Then I find out their third goal was offside so it shouldn’t have been given. Then we walk back to the car and find out the police towed it away for reasons unbeknownst to us. Smashing news.
So after a pretty rubbish day and result, we just wanted to get home and couldn’t. So a 20 pound taxi fair to Cottenham and 150 pound later we have our car back and could head home.
I am so gutted for Scotty. Yellow cards can’t be rescinded, so we can’t even appeal I don’t think. How that was a sending off I don’t know. I think I even shouted out when He.Got.The.Ball, great tackle or something like that.
He is going to miss the trophy final now, and for me he is one player who has deserved to play in that game.
Now we are without Mitchell and Laird, so our left hand side is looking swell.
I still don’t understand how we missed those chances, but we can’t really dwell on it now. We have to look to Saturday, although I don’t know how the lads are going to pick themselves up from this.
I feel pretty rubbish today so I am sure they are feeling it too.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all go to the Caribbean somewhere to get away from it all?
The sad thing is we can’t. We have to take each day as it comes and try and be strong. No matter how hard it is.
That’s what I am going to do this week. Our heads maybe low. But as I have been told over the last two days, you have just got to stay positive.
Get in there!!!
What a game last night was. I was so worried after Murphy was sent off at the end of the first half. But the players pulled their fingers out and got the job done. They worked so hard in the second half, and you would have never known that we had ten men.
I am still reeling from that sending off, although it has to be rescinded because it wasn’t even a foul, let alone a sending off.
The ref apparently said to Moro that he had a ‘gut feeling’ about the decision. How he can ref on a gut feeling I don’t know. It was weird though, after he gave all the decisions and dubious free kicks to them in the first half, it was like he switched a switch in the second half and started to do everything Boro’s way. So I suppose in a weird way, it levelled it out.
I thought Moro was excellent last night. He looked like he had desire for the ball and that he wanted to score. His two goals were excellent, but I think Drury’s balls into the box were the key. They were pin point. Excellent work.
I was gutted after we conceded so soon after our first goal. When we scored I think I nearly blew my ear drum from shouting and screaming so loud. And then I was silenced. To give credit to their fans, they are really loud. Very intimidating. But we kept plodding away and we deserved the second two goals.
I thought the Boro crowd was great yesterday. It was absolutely rammed. I am so glad I have a season ticket now. I think the queues tomorrow are going to be even longer now that we are going into the tie 3-1 up.
The tie is not over by any means but we definitely have a good shot now.
Come on Boro!