O'Neil Out

Gary O'Neil has followed Mido in cutting short his season after having to go under the knife.

O'Neil, who has been outstanding for BORO since his transfer deadline day move from FA Cup finalists Portsmouth, has had his season cut short with four games of BORO's season remaining.

O'Neil limped out of the 1-1 draw with Spurs with what was hoped to be a minor knock, but a scan revealed dreaded knee ligament damage and the player had little option but to undergo an operation to correct the problem.

O'Neil will now be out of action until at least the start of next season's pre-season schedule, but The Evening Gazette have reported that it could be as late as October before the influential winger will return, leaving Gareth Southgate with the dilemma of who to fill the gap for the remainder of the season and a further headache of whether to splash out in the summer to provide cover.


Gibson Looking Forward

In other news, today, Steve Gibson has publicly announced his backing for manager Gareth Southgate and has vowed to supply the required funds to bring global talent, the likes of Juninho, Ravanelli and Paul Merson, to The Riverside.

Speaking in a DVD recording made for publication with the launch of the club's season card renewal prices, Gibson announced his plans to make the club as successful as possible by offering every amount of support to the manager,

"We want to bring the best that we can to this club. We have a search for global talent. We want to be in a position to be able to attract the best world talent.

"We have done that with Alves, Tuncay and others and just look what we have done in the past with the likes of Juninho, Ravanelli and Merson."

Pictures & quotes courtesy of Google (images.google.com) & Sky Sports (www.skysports.com/football)