Kowalski Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Boro poised with big Miller bid Dons could cash in by selling Scotland international attacker lee for £700,000 By Michael Gannon Published: 17/08/2009 Mark McGhee has lamented the Scottish football exodus to England. But the Aberdeen manager may have to brace himself for a departure from closer to home as Middlesbrough consider making a bid for forward Lee Miller. McGhee used his programme notes to highlight the financial crisis in the game in Scotland and spoke at length on the topic after his side’s dismal 3-1 defeat against Celtic on Saturday. The Dons manager has watched leading Scottish players depart the SPL to earn lucrative contracts in the English Championship with Scots clubs being forced to shop for replacements in English League 1 and 2. Aberdeen’s Scott Severin, Hibs’ Steven Fletcher and Motherwell pair Stephen Hughes and David Clarkson were among the players who headed south in the summer and now Aberdeen attacker Miller could follow the gold rush. Middlesbrough chief scout Gordon McQueen was at Pittodrie on Saturday to watch Miller and the Teesside club is poised to make a £700,000 offer. The 26-year-old targetman is in the final year of his contract and the Pittodrie club could be tempted to cash in. The money would certainly aid McGhee’s rebuilding mission at Aberdeen, which is looking an increasingly formidable task. Saturday’s 3-1 defeat only flattered the Dons as a rampant Celtic could have inflicted a far more damaging scoreline. Jerel Ifil, the recent recruit from Swindon, will be a welcome addition, but the rest of the Dons squad looks stale and there is little competition for places. Aberdeen require three or four new players, but financial constraints are likely to limit the manager to just one more signing. McGhee said: “It is not a case of how many players I want to bring in. I could answer that with Chinese mathematics, it is more realistic to ask how many can we get? “I think we probably have the budget to bring in one more player. The best young players in the SPL have all gone down south. A chunk of the quality which has been in this division is recent years has been replaced by players from a slightly lower level. That has got to impact on the quality of the SPL.†Ifil endured a fraught competitive debut but still managed to enhance his reputation with the Dons supporters, winning the sponsors’ man of the match award. The 27-year-old was far from the worst on show as Aberdeen were torn to pieces in the opening 45 minutes. Aiden McGeady struck twice and Scott McDonald added a third before Aberdeen were booed off at half-time. In the second period Celtic eased off in anticipation of tomorrow’s Champions League qualifier against Arsenal and the Dons salvaged some pride through a superb Sone Aluko strike. Ifil urged the Dons supporters to keep the faith and promised better is to come from him and his teammates. He said: “Commonsense will tell you not to judge us on just one game. It is a long season and we should be judged over the campaign. “You need time to build some form. It was a game I had to play in to experience. You could see the quality Celtic had. It felt as though we were constantly under attack. They were good and we were below par. “They will be very similar to Arsenal in terms of the quality of players and their speed of thought. They do everything quicker and coming from League 1 I have not experienced that in a long time. There is no comparison with League 1 but it is something I want to get used to.†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigAl Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Lazy lazy journalism..... iI could have sat at my laptop and written that. Regurgitated from yesterdays Sunday Mason. Not a direct quote attributed to anyone on the interest or size of fee. Extremely large pinch of salt required Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CtS Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Gareth Southgate must be insane. £700,000? Yes please. When he's on form I suppose you could say he's worth that kind of fee, but when did we last see a prolonged spell of good form from LM? Sell, sell, sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotfree Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 If he saw how little Miller done on the Saturday he will not be going any where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizer Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 If he saw how little Miller done on the Saturday he will not be going any where. Indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iraq_Red Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Apparently, McQueen left at half time. he'd seen enough!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TENEMENTFUNSTER Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 McQueen was there to look at McGeady. Boro can't afford that little fuck. Miller is actually not that inlikely but he is a pea hearted cunt and didn't show up at all. 700k would be a good deal purely based upon Saturday's effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redordead Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Boro can't afford that little fuck. Miller is actually not that inlikely but he is a pea hearted cunt and didn't show up at all. 700k would be a good deal purely based upon Saturday's effort. every day's a school day on here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyBiscuit Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 McQueen was there to look at McGeady. Surely McGeady wouldn't go to the Championship and Boro must know that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowalski Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Boro not interested in signing Miller MOVE OFF after Poor show against celtic Published: 18/08/2009 MIDDLESBROUGH have cooled their interest in Aberdeen forward Lee Miller after watching the Dons player fail to impress in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Celtic. Boro manager Gareth Southgate sent scout Gordon McQueen to Pittodrie to watch the striker, but McQueen departed at half-time having been unimpressed by what he saw. The English Championship club had reportedly been set to make a £700,000 bid for the Scotland international who played in England previously with Bristol City, but Southgate yesterday insisted he will not be making an offer for Miller. Upon being asked about reports a bid was imminent, the Boro manager said: “There is no truth in it whatsoever.†Southgate must move players on before he can bring in new faces and both Tuncay and Afonso Alves are expected to leave the Riverside before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. Miller had been touted as a possible replacement, but Southgate is expected to turn his attention towards Gillingham’s Canadian international forward Simeon Jackson, who is also being tracked by Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Poor stuff from the P&J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doricle Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Poor stuff from the P&J Most of it's pretty true though. Plenty papers were touting boro to be looking at miller. He played pish. Southgate says 'no ta'. I don't see what's poor about it, apart from millers attitude and effort. Would you seriously be interested in signing him after last saturday's showing? I know i wouldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowalski Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Most of it's pretty true though. Plenty papers were touting boro to be looking at miller. He played pish. Southgate says 'no ta'. I don't see what's poor about it, apart from millers attitude and effort. Would you seriously be interested in signing him after last saturday's showing? I know i wouldn't. I was referring to the P&J doing no research into their story yesterday only to change their tune today after having bothered to contact Boro. Agreed, Miller was rubbish on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doricle Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I was referring to the P&J doing no research into their story yesterday only to change their tune today after having bothered to contact Boro. Ah, well that's unfortunately very much the case these days- don't get me started on the grammar, spelling and lack of proof-reading in it these days. It is at least marginally better than the turgid EE though. In their defence, at least it looked like they'd maybe been arsed by actually getting in touch to ask if he was interested, instead of the lazier 'sources close to the club said.....' malarkey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
️ Come on you Reds! ️
️ Come on you Reds! ️
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