The next few weeks is make or break time for the club. Pick up some points and catch up with Walsall and we’ll all sleep better at night. But regardless of form or results, what do we want or need in the Boro’ Christmas stocking this year?
A contract for the caretaker?
Now be very careful what you wish for. Take Manchester United as an example. The fans got their Christmas wish and had Solskjaer installed as permanent manager. And we all know how their run-in ended last season. Interestingly, despite our position in the table it’s not Sampson who is the bookies’ favourite to get the sack in the coming months.
Our former boss Dino could theoretically get the old heave-ho first, unless he starts to pick up some point pretty fast. Darrell Clarke looks to be the next to go though, as Walsall are in a funk that they look unlikely to pull themselves out of.
We’re optimists, so we’re going to assume that Sampson can turn around our fortunes and get us off the foot of the table. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he should get the gig full-time, which leads us to our next wish.
A proven manager to take the helm
Please don’t dismiss this as soon as you hear it, but would it be all that bad if someone like Neil Warnock took over at the club? Yes, he’s tough to take at the best of times, but there’s no doubt that the man knows how to manage clubs to promotion.
If Warnock took over, we’re in no doubt that he’d have the club mid-table by the end of the season and possibly up for promotion the next.
Money to invest in the squad
We’ll support every player in the squad to the very end, but there’s no hiding the fact that certain positions could do with investment. What we wouldn’t give to get one of our bests back in central defence.
But the defence, while not quite watertight, is not our biggest worry. The lack of goals up front is a major issue. We’ve scored 12 goals this season, and while this can’t all be attributed to the lack of form of our strikers, someone who knows where the nets are would go down a treat right now. Add a creative midfielder, or a winger who can cross the ball, and we’d be laughing all the way to the middle of the table – dreamland.
To be honest, it’s quite tough to be specific about what we need, as the club is in a bit of a transition period at the moment. With this in mind, it really is anyone’s guess as to what the fat guy in red has for us this year. Fingers crossed it’s a goal-scorer – everyone wants one of those, right?
