What is the future of Middlesbrough FC?

muniz said:
i think its amazing some people think thats how he is going to leave the club one day lol
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I don't think that. That is what financial difficulties looks like. It's not impossible that might happen even with Gibson though. Many clubs have gone to the brink with well intentioned owners.

What if his business struggles and he can no longer guarantee our losses? What if we get relegated? What if we need to sell players to balance the books but we have no saleable assets because recruitment has been poor? What if we gamble on promotion and it doesn't pay off and we fall foul of FFP? What if a global pandemic hits and decimates our revenue stream for several seasons and we can't recover? What if the TV deal collapses like it did with ITV Digital? What if he has health problems and is forced to retire/sell and there are no suitable buyers?

There are loads of things outside of Gibson's control that could happen which could lead us into the financial difficulties mentioned above.
 
Hopefully the Super League happens sooner rather than later, the 'elite' clubs f*** off into that. The Football League begins to thrive again with a level playing field for most clubs including wage caps / quota for home grown players etc. We all begin to enjoy watching a half decent Boro side with a mix of quality local talent with a spinkling of international wonderkids for a season or two - before they get cherry picked off into the Super League to sit on City's bench.
 
MolteniArcore said:
Where do you see the financial issues stemming from and what do you think could be done to solve them?
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There isn’t any easy answers to our problems. Without a massive write off I can’t see any answers. Selling a lot of the existing playing staff and replacing with free transfers could raise some capital- other than this the future is not rosey.

The situation is compounded by some of the collective bad decisions made - for a number of years. So our situation isn’t bright at all
 
I'm pretty sure it includes third tier football at some point. It is inevitable for a club of our size.

Since we were last in the 3rd tier, only 10 other English clubs have avoided playing in the 3rd tier or lower. Of those 10, only Crystal Palace can be considered a comparable size to us, and bigger clubs than us have found themselves at the third level.

Of course I won't be happy when it happens, but the lesson of history is that the bullet works its way around eventually.

What matters is how we recover from that when it happens; as confident as I am that it will happen, I am confident we will recover from it.

In the big picture, what happens to us depends on what happens with ideas like the European Super League. It's dead for now, but there may come a time when the big clubs feel it's worth their while leaving domestic football and UEFA to pursue this vision. I'd quite like the rest of us to kick them out now, but it would be crazy to think such upheaval wouldn't impact our club, and the structure of domestic football in some way.
 
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Nosmo-King said:
There isn’t any easy answers to our problems. Without a massive write off I can’t see any answers. Selling a lot of the existing playing staff and replacing with free transfers could raise some capital- other than this the future is not rosey.

The situation is compounded by some of the collective bad decisions made - for a number of years. So our situation isn’t bright at all
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The only sad git around here is you! No counter argument no intelligent contribution - you are a pathetic soul.
 
Johnny Vincents Motorbike said:
amazing isnt it - a bloke who lives on the 13th floor of a south london council tower block, being subsidised by the tax payer, who cant retire from work because he hasnt budgeted properly for his retirement is calling the odds on a Mr Steve Gibson who runs 2 global business' and has an income thats able to find £350,000 a week to provide a football club for the town - the irony should not be lost on Boro fans.

when we call the Jawdees delusional, No-Smoking has it with knobs and a crown on.
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Now you are showing yourself up. Tell me how do you believe you know where I live? Pathetic contribution once more and point proven. Idiot
 
JM14 said:
When we next reach the PL? We have been closer to league one than the PL since our last relegation
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No we haven’t, the lowest we finished was 17th in 19/20, 5 places off a relegation spot.
We have finished 4th, 5th, and 7th (three times), all 5 places or closer to promotion.
 
There is a big problem with the PL becoming a closed shop. Promoted teams being relegated after 1-2 years, becoming yo-yo clubs till they either stay up for a bit longer or stop going up as theyve run out of cash. Its really hard to break into that level due to parachute payments which are distorting the championship massively.

So if that changes in the next few years I think Gibson is the sort who will throw a bit more at it than most foreign investors who own most of the other clubs. I think we would go up and stay up.

I dont see him selling up, hes clearly trying to make the club more self sufficient and so far it seems to be going in the right direction.

Beyond Gibson - in 15 years say, I think his daughter will probably take over and carry on with the same model.
 
Ironops said:
There is a big problem with the PL becoming a closed shop. Promoted teams being relegated after 1-2 years, becoming yo-yo clubs till they either stay up for a bit longer or stop going up as theyve run out of cash. Its really hard to break into that level due to parachute payments which are distorting the championship massively.

So if that changes in the next few years I think Gibson is the sort who will throw a bit more at it than most foreign investors who own most of the other clubs. I think we would go up and stay up.

I dont see him selling up, hes clearly trying to make the club more self sufficient and so far it seems to be going in the right direction.

Beyond Gibson - in 15 years say, I think his daughter will probably take over and carry on with the same model.
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The problem is exactly what the EPL want. We are a financial basket case like most Championship clubs, fortunately our benefactor isn't looking to cash in, but isn't investing either. Without significant investment we are unlikely to return to where we were c2005. However, we could be a Brighton or Brentford with sound footballing decisions, there's evidence at the moment that could happen, but then I thought that this time last year! Overall I think our future's as bright as most in EFL.
 
Malaguena said:
Carrick has been in charge for 5 matches, won 3 and drawn 1 - where has this 4 in 8 or 9 bllx come from ?
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Thought he had been here longer, but my point was a short spell of games isn’t promotion form. This could be the same new manager bounce that wilder had, I would be cautious before thinking we had turned the corner quite yet
 
Redinburgh said:
No we haven’t, the lowest we finished was 17th in 19/20, 5 places off a relegation spot.
We have finished 4th, 5th, and 7th (three times), all 5 places or closer to promotion.
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Since relegation we finished inside the playoffs once, but in all honestly were a million miles off going up that year
 
No we haven’t, the lowest we finished was 17th in 19/20, 5 places off a relegation spot.
Redinburgh said:
We have finished 4th, 5th, and 7th (three times), all 5 places or closer to promotion.
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Get the point and agree, but you might be looking at since the relegation before last?
 
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The only thing that can address our financial position is promotion and staying up a few years.
1. Revenue transformation.
2.Transformation of squad value and potential profit from sale of players.
3.Creation of further market value above book by being a credible PL club with guaranteed future revenues.

What has happened has happened it is gone. We are in this financial mess, that is reality.
We can get promoted either with investment and/or a sustainable recruitment model.
As FH says we could equally drop.
The club would eventually get back up, maybe even under new owners and debt free, which means Steve drops £142m plus.
Sadly I don’t see Gibson making the calls to get us promoted to the PL, so his financial exposure grows covering Champs losses and I don’t see how he gets money back.
I am critical of Gibson’s judgement, but never his motives.

In answer to earlier responses, if he does pass the club to his daughter she will not inherit all he has - and hasn’t enough to compete as it is.
 
Nosmo-King said:
Don’t start Nobby not in the mood. I am taking legal advice regarding a poster on here that goes beyond banter
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Come on Nosmo don't take things so personally.... I certainly don't, Bumface accused me of being in his garden the other night in the dark peering into his lounge and I just laughed it off....no harm done 👍
PS His place could do with a makeover 🤣

I've also been accused of being attracted to wading birds, working nights at Tesco Ingleby Barwick and looking like Roy Cropper (mainly from Borofur)
Of course everyone knows only one of those is true...👍
 
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