by Louise Taylor | Apr 28, 2017 | Sports
Why did it take so long to confirm promotion? Given that Benítez invested £55m in 12 players last summer (although he achieved a £30m transfer profit after raising £85m in sales from his newly relegated squad) many neutrals expected Newcastle to be up by March at the...
by Louise Taylor | Apr 5, 2017 | Sports
Managerial stability is supposed to promote reassurance, a sense of safety even, but its belated advent at Sunderland has merely prompted widespread insecurity. Last July David Moyes became the club’s seventh manager in five turbulent seasons as Ellis Short vowed to...
by Louise Taylor | Mar 18, 2017 | Sports
The rationale behind Steve Gibson’s long-standing reluctance to sack Aitor Karanka and the reason he ultimately felt impelled to dismiss Middlesbrough’s first foreign manager were, paradoxically, both encapsulated by the Basque’s handling of Adama Traoré. A...
by Louise Taylor | Feb 24, 2017 | Sports
Sack the manager? Keep the manager? Sell your best player and import seven new ones, five on loan? Go warm‑weather training in Dubai? Cancel the Gulf trip? Switch to a sweeper system? Revert to a flat back four? Play two up front? Keep the faith with a lone striker?...
by Louise Taylor | Jan 4, 2017 | Sports
Adama Traoré arrived in England trailing a reputation as an astonishing hybrid of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Perhaps predictably, it did not take him long to disappoint his new public. “It was good to hear that from Tim,” says Middlesbrough’s elemental...
