A lot has happened since I last posted, my last one was about Tomlin and Karanka winning their Player and Manager of the Month awards and our 3-1 win against Charlton in February! All of which seems like a lifetime ago!
Now I could make a massive blog post about the great season we had last year and how we fell at the final hurdle. But we are into a new season now and rather than dig up the quite depressing past I thought it'd be best to keep looking ahead.
I also won't be delving into and analying any signings that have already come to or left the club because (A. I probably tweeted about it at @onestevegibson on twitter) but also because there's no chance to change it now. Seeing Tomlin leave was a shame, but in Downing and Fabrinni we have two very capable replacements and the same goes for Stuani and Nugent for Vossen and Bamford.
The squad looked settled after Nugent's signing. Especially after the 3-0 hammering of a rather poor Bolton Wanderers side.
Then 'something happened.' When we conceded a late equaliser in the game away to Derby County (the 'fellow promotion candidates' who are without a win this season.) Albert Adomah seemed to get the blame for it. This seemed strange because Karanka has always put the onus on the team, whether we win or lose it is a 'team' performance. So it was strange to see Adomah's name on the bench for the visit of his old club Bristol City. Last season Ben Gibson had gone through a phase where he had given away penalties and scored own goals, but Karanka had stuck by him and the same with other players. I remember how he changed Friend to be more astute defensively.
Nobody really thought too much of this, although after the 1-0 loss to Bristol City, blame fell at Karanka's door for not including Albert Adomah. Aitor responded with the Mourinho-esc like of 'I am the manager and my say goes.'
What came out in the days after the defeat though was an apparent 'bust-up' of sorts between Aitor and Albert. When the Bristol game was over and the players like Clayton, Friend and Forshaw were applauding the Boro fans, Adomah went over to the Bristol fans and clapped them. This wasn't strange as he has an obvious affection to the club still. When he left the pitch he gave a little clap to the south stand, but that was it.
This obviously ticked AK off because that is when the bust up apparently happened, culminating with Adomah supposedly telling Karanka he doesn't want to play for him again. Hence his omission from the squad who traveled to Burton and Sheffield Wednesday.
This whole situation has put a dampener on moods around Teesside as with Adomah's pace, power and skill it was assumed that he would be key to our promotion push. But it is doubtful if he will ever play for us again and with one a day to find a fitting replacement, and Nottingham Forrest wanting in excess of £7 million for likely replacement Michail Antonio things are looking a little worrying, with only wingers at the club being the inexperienced Adam Reach and hit and miss Wildschut.
On behalf of all the Boro fans i'd just like to ask AK and AA to kiss and make up. We love you both to pieces and for the sake of everyone around Middlesbrough we want to see Albert Adomah on the team sheet for the next game (vs MK Dons) on September 12th.
