Strachan getting Bhoys to do a man's job

Some questions raised by Middlesbrough’s January transfer dealings...

Have Boro given up on promotion by selling star man Adam Johnson?

Why do managers always raid their former clubs for players?

Has Gordon Strachan shown a huge lack of knowledge and imagination in plundering Celtic for five of his old boys?

Or perhaps it represents sensible business and minimises the gamble of bringing in players who a manager has never worked with before.

When chairman Steve Gibson says the club are switching playing styles from “a technical one, to one based on hard work", does that mean Gareth Southgate’s sides didn’t work hard enough?

Does it also mean that instead of a fluid passing game we can look forward to watching a bunch of tough tackling cloggers at the Riverside from now on?

I’ll go down to Boro to seek answers, but I know they’ll be short and not very illuminating if prickly Wee Gordon is responding.

He started one press conference recently by saying: “Lads, I’m bored with this. I’m sure you are too. I’ve been doing it 25 years.”

Then I picked up a copy of FourFourTwo magazine and discovered an expansive, lengthy well-written piece by, er, Gordon Strachan.

So not that bored for a sponsored column?

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