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KEITH Lamb today refused to get dragged into a war of words with Mark Schwarzer after the keeper accused Boro of dragging their heels over a new contract.
The frustrated Australian international has been highly critical of the way the club conducts its transfer business.
Schwarzer, currently Down Under with Australia’s Asia Cup squad, has one year left to run on his current deal and is keen to sign an extension.
His quotes - widely circulated throughout the Aussie press overnight - suggest he wants to tie up his future right up to the 2010 World Cup.
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He’s accused Boro of stalling and likened his situation to Mark Viduka’s who was allowed to run down his contract and left for Newcastle on a free transfer.
Schwarzer said: “I’ve taken it to be quite normal at Middlesbrough, they do leave things very, very late and they tend to do things only when they’re under pressure to do something.
“It’s unfortunate because it’s not just with me, it’s with other players like Mark. You would think with the more experienced players and the important players in the squad you would look to tie them down earlier and not let things drag on.
“But for some reason, and unbeknown to most of us, Middlesbrough tend to leave it until very late to sort it out. I’m not sure what I’m doing at the moment.
“My agent is in discussions with Middlesbrough and they’ve indicated that they want to offer me a new contract, but as yet we haven’t agreed to any terms. Plus there is interest from other clubs – one or two in England but a couple from abroad as well.”
Lamb told the Gazette this morning that “talks are ongoing” and added: “We don’t conduct our transfer business through the media.”
Boro will be bemused by Schwarzer’s outburst.
The former Kaiserslautern and Bradford keeper placed himself on the transfer list in January 2006, just one year after signing an extension to his existing contract that tied him to Boro until July 1, 2008.
Despite rumours that Arsenal and Manchester United were interested, no offers were forthcoming and Schwarzer eventually withdrew his transfer request.
Fast forward 18 months and the 34-year-old has hinted that once again he may be prepared to move on if he doesn’t get the contract he’s after.
“What I want to do is be settled and have my future settled up until the next World Cup and the question is whether that will happen at Middlesbrough or somewhere else,” he said.
“I’ve got to the stage where I’ve been at Middlesbrough for ten-and-half years and I’ve given them very good loyalty and service. If that means I need to move on and go elsewhere, then that’s not a problem, I’ll do so.
“There’s a lot of factors involved,” he added. “I’ve got one year left on my contract, so if they don’t want to let me go they don’t have to accept any transfer fee for me.
“By the same token, we don’t need to agree to a new contract and, come January, I can talk to anyone I want to within Europe.
“It’s up in the air.”
It’s unlikely that Boro will want to offer Schwarzer a two-year extension taking him up to the next World Cup.
With Brad Jones and Ross Turnbull both pushing for first team football and approaching the age - early 20s - where they will want to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Gareth Southgate could conceivably start introducing either Jones or Turnbull in the coming campaign. The former was wanted by West Brom last season while the latter is frustrated at being third in line.
Both Schwarzer and Jones will miss most of pre-season due to international commitments with Australia and Turnbull has an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the starting XI.
He’s likely to start both friendlies in Austria and impressive performances will improve his prospects substantially.
Southgate said: “The absence of Mark and Brad in the first few friendlies gives a great opportunity for Ross Turnbull to prove himself.
“We’ve also got Jason Steele, who played very well for England at youth level recently.”
The manager has made it clear he doesn’t want any sacred cows in his team but wants a situation where every place is up for grabs.
“One thing I do expect to see this season is competition for places,” he said.
“I don’t want to have players who expect to be playing every week. I want to have the kind of competition which keeps everybody on their toes.”
I agree 100% that the club leave the senior players hanging too much, leaving contact talks till the end of the season isnt good enough we are not a mickey mouse club, so get mickey mouse lamb out of the way.
We lost Zenden because we offered him a 1 year deal, nearly lost Boateng (wish we had after last season) and lost the duke.
These are senior pros who cant be treat like kids and not know their future. We should nail down there contracts or sell them whilst we can.
You dont find clubs not knowing about the futures of players who are in their plans the minute before they leave.
but....i still dont rate you in the top 10 prem GK's
(appologies for spelling ive been drinking anf entertaining guest)
07-06-2007, 07:12 PM
The Middlesbrough 06/07 Thread. "lets get back into Europe!" Post #516
Zenden only wanted a one year deal. Also, I think Viduka was always going to see out his contract and I don't think we would have got a great deal for him anyway.
So looking at it that way, we haven't really lost anyone because of our policy.
07-06-2007, 09:30 PM
The Middlesbrough 06/07 Thread. "lets get back into Europe!" Post #517
If Zenden would only sign a one year deal then what could we do? Just tell him to feck off? I don't see why, he was on a free anyway so we never lost out on anything. Maybe we could have signed someone else on a more long term thing but he was certainly a good option for a season, giving us more time to find that long term replacement and to maybe convince him to sign another deal. Which, obviously, we didn't do.
Was Viduka worth more to us on the field for a season than the wages we would have saved? I certainly think so.
Maybe it isn't the best strategy but, with the signings of Tuncay and Aliadiere, only time will tell whether or not we were foolish in doing what we did with Viduka.
Also, maybe it's an age thing? Downing's contract wasn't allowed to run down. I haven't got any other examples to back that up mind .
07-11-2007, 05:30 PM
The Middlesbrough 06/07 Thread. "lets get back into Europe!" Post #519
Steele and Franks have signed 2 year pro contracts.
With regard to Zenden he was never going to sign another deal and was nothing more than a stop gap and didnt benefit the club greatly, we wasted time in bringing in a midfielder.
Viduka could have gone end of last season for a couple of million + saved wages and brought someone else in, it might not have worked and we might have gone down but it also might have paid off, lower wage player and a few goals to boot.
Its not an age thing, we let a lot of players contrcts run down, flappers was nearly out 2 years back, downing was in the last year when he renewed, Parnaby, Morrison the list goes on.
Parnaby should have been sold if he wasnt part of the plans, not just letting people go for nothing.
07-14-2007, 12:39 AM
The Middlesbrough 06/07 Thread. "lets get back into Europe!" Post #520
still no spectactular number two though tbh, im not that unhappy with the squad as it stands, barring no right mid. interesting to see who he players there in the friendlies, morrison, johnson, ali?
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