By Toby Higgins
November 8 2005

Enough people, myself included, have had their say on what to do about the low attendances at the Riverside for the UEFA Cup group games. Whether you think improving the standard of the competition, lowering prices or a better marketing strategy is the answer, attendances won’t rise until something changes.

When it does, I’ll be returning to this subject. In the meantime, a few quick things that need to be said before I get onto what I really want to talk about this week.

The game against Dnipro passed without much incident, but it was good to see Mark Viduka get a couple of goals. It wasn’t enough to secure him a start on Merseyside against Everton on Sunday though, as JFH partnered Yakubu up front. And why not, they deserved a chance after the Manchester United performance.

I honestly never expected to get anything out of the Everton game. We have a truly awful record against them and so it wasn’t a surprise when James Beattie rose above Ugo Ehiogu to score his seventh goal in twelve starts against us.

McClaren started Ehiogu ahead of eighteen year-old Matthew Bates who was superb against Manchester United. A tough call it must be said, as Ferguson and Beattie both provide a big physical presence and McClaren obviously expected Ugo would be better equipped to deal with.

Had Ugo done so, criticism wouldn’t be aimed at McClaren. However he didn’t. If I could ask McClaren one question about his team selection on Sunday afternoon, it would be what happened to the sink or swim policy which saw the likes of Downing, Morrison and McMahon become established first team players?

As I’ve said before, Ugo hasn’t looked the part all season and his best days are long gone. Why not see if Bates could handle Ferguson and Beattie? A further opportunity to prove himself would have surely been a just reward for having comfortably dealt with Shrek and Donkey a week earlier.

The three-man midfield of Mendieta, Rochemback and Boateng will need time to gel before we can see if it’s a genuine long-term possibility. Things were looking good until Sunday, when we struggled to create chances despite vast amounts of possession.

The man who I want to focus on this week is part of that midfield three, the Dutch Destroyer, George Boateng.

There is no doubt that what Boateng does for Boro cannot be equalled by anyone in our squad. He was made the position of holding midfielder his own over the past few years and his all energy style have made him a fan's favourite.

For those who don’t know, Boateng’s contract runs out next summer and so far he has rejected the clubs offer of an extension. Boateng, 29, was quoted in August as saying “We’re far apart in what I think I should get and what they want to give me. It’s now up to the club to show they want me”. It’s now November and still no news on negotiations, so what’s going on?

In the words of Spandau Ballet, it sounds like Boateng has now ‘got the power to know he’s indestructible’. And suddenly, the club have a problem.

Boateng knows how important he is to the side, and so is demanding a four-year contract and I’m sure a hefty wage rise. Let’s remind ourselves of the situation the club found itself in this time last year.

A Dutch midfielder named Bolo Zenden stalled over signing a new contract, claiming the club wasn’t meeting the price he valued himself at. Zenden was a fan's favourite who believed he needed Champion's League football in order to get himself into his national side. After the January transfer window closed, Zenden still wouldn’t sign a new contract and eventually left on a free transfer.

Zenden claimed he wanted to stay with the club, but they wouldn’t pay him enough. But it seems that he always intended leaving and this would make it look like it was the club’s fault and take the criticism away from him.

In the end, Zenden and the club set a precedent, which Boateng looks like he may be about to cash in on. The club refused to increase their offer and Zenden refused to lower his demands. The result was he walked away.

What makes this situation any different? Like Zenden, Boateng obviously rates himself, and a stalemate has been reached.

And this is the £1,000,000 question surrounding George Boateng at the moment. Do the club;

a) Submit to his demands and offer him the contract that keeps him here until the age of 33 on a massive weekly wage?
b) Tell him to sign the original contract offered to him before January 2006, if not, sell in January so the club can get a fee for him?
c) Hope that he reduces his demands before the end of the season and run the risk of allowing him to leave on a free.
d) Become resigned to the fact the Boateng wants to leave, allow him to sit out his current contract in peace and begin the hunt for a replacement.

Everyone will have their own view on which option the club should take, if any of these. And hell, at the risk of being unpopular, I’ll tell you what I think. It is my article after all.

I would take option b. No player should be bigger than the club or hold the club to ransom over a contract. Zenden came on a free and left on a free, but we paid £5million for Boateng. To allow him to leave for free would be even more sickening than Zenden’s departure.

The fact that he is demanding such a contract shows that he clearly doesn’t care for the club, or he would be happy to continue playing for us for the wage he is on at the moment.

Having said that, I wouldn’t mind any outcome, so long as it wasn’t a.

To lose Boateng would no doubt be disastrous, but every player has his price. At 29 he won’t be a regular for many more years anyway, a four-year deal is outrageous at that age. Even when £28million man Mendieta signed, I questioned the length of his four-year contract.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Boateng to leave. I just hope the club stands up to the player the same way they did last season. We are too good to be held to ransom by the likes of Zenden.

Hopefully, Boateng will sign a new contract next week and make everything I’ve said this week look ridiculous.

Prove me wrong, George… prove me wrong.

Same time next week… UP THE BORO!