Chris Killen (Unattached)

Dragged after 57 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Palace.

came of the bench today in the 2 nil win over plymouth. strachan changed the whole starting line up from saturday, so both Killen and mcdonald were on bench and came on. not sure if this to do with performance. quite possibly just mixing up bc two games in 3 days.

How has McDOnald been faring at Boro?  Such a goal machine in Scotland

Reading the boro fan forums, most seem keen to re-sign him. Hope he has a good world cup and stays injury free.

mcdonald has scored twice in maybe 10 games. by the sounds of things he's not not yet met expectations, but has been injured somewhat. i think the general view is that he needs more time to deiliver on promise.

killen on the bench against sheffield wednesday:

Killen wants to  his stay with boro and stay with coach strachan:

Played 55 minutes this morning and set up a good chance for Mc Donald before being subbed for Lita.

I didn't think that Killen played very well in the game on Saturday, which I saw most of (until he was dragged).  Seemed very static and didn't often make himself available as an option, didn't hold the ball particularly well, and never really looked a threat (aside from the one lovely touch to create the chance for MacDonald).

Well at least he is getting time on the field compared to when he was in Celtic. He needs more game time to get anywhere.

Currently sitting on the bench during Boros game. Some youngsters starting ahead of him by the looks of him. Miller is starting ahead of him as well. Dear oh dear.

Unused sub.

Damn those clubs managers, can't they see he wants to start and not off the bench. He's not an impact player. He's a grunt so play him as a grunt.AllWhitebelievr2010-04-25 14:18:44

Boro season is over, the manager probaly wants to have a better to look at the youth and see what he needs to do for next year.

So they just keel over and play dead?? I'm all for youth development but that is what preseason and other off season matches are for. Youth can show what they got then, not while the league is still going. You can't decide that they are good enough now when the off season is coming. And youths are playing along side other youths in a league match are not really ideal either. You need a bench fringe player and one of the youths to start with another youth on the bench. Can't have to many disruption to the XI if possible and you don't want to piss off the punters and crowd. Also, Strachan should look after Killen's loyalty if he had convinced Killen to switch over, especially when he knows how important gametime is to Killen. Granted that he doesn't have to play him, but Killen will increase his selling price after the world cup, so it to his and the clubs best interest to get Killen in the best match fitness shape when World Cup is coming to increase the price potential.

that's another completely ridiculous read of the situation. Killen is out of contract in the summer, surely what boro are doing is giving other young players a shot before they decide whether to offer killen a contract for next season. Most fans enjoy seeing young players given an opportuity when a season is over, especially those that have come through the ranks

You can still play them and Killen, with limitations on playing time either way. But as a manager, you can't help but consider increasing the marketing value of your players especially one which is going to the world cup for all to see. It does serve the club interest to give Killen game time in the long time. Half a game at a time should be enough to keep him fresh and reasonably challenged by world cup time. Not really that much to ask.AllWhitebelievr2010-04-27 02:11:41

it s very unlikely that killen will resign with boro:

can you copy the article into here? not allowed that site @ work

GORDON Strachan has launched a massive Middlesbrough clear-out.

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The busy Boro boss is ready to overhaul his under-performing squad after failing to bounce back into the Premier League.

Jeremie Aliadiere, Marvin Emnes, Leroy Lita, Chris Killen, Julio Arca and Kyle Naughton could all be axed.

Livingston�s �150,000 winger Andy Halliday, 18, will be the first of at least five summer arrivals, with Birmingham striker Kevin Phillips, 36, also a target.

Saw that coming. Killen to nix.

It would be sweet if we got him and Fallon

Killen has been scoring goals for a championship club - he will get picked up by someone over there. Fallon maybe, but do we want him?

yup

No thanks.

I have a soft spot for Fallon, but he is not up to it.

Fallon would walk into any A League team.

We wouldnt...
Also who says Killen wont come, he was very close to returning to wellington last season but felt attatched to celtic because of his contract. This time he doesnt have any commitments and wellington are in the need for a quality striker.

Either killen or fallon would be a huge boost to the phoenix, who atm only have greenacre signed for next year.. no idea where dadi is at

Full 90 for killen in a 2-0 loss against Leicester city:

oh man, he missed a penalty....

didn't miss a penalty- it was saved, which is quite a different thing. Sometimes the keeper will get it right.

I thought of most interest was this:

"Chris Killen lined up at centre-half alongside Jonathan Grounds in the 28th different back four combination of the season."

Look out Ryan, Killen is gonna take your place!

Ryan doesn't need to worry, by the sounds of it chris didn't do that good a job

Why they would put him in centre-back I really don't know.  Why some fans would get pissed off at him over this game, considering where he played, is even harder to fathom.

Haha what the hell that was so random having Killen at Centre Half! I had to read the article about 6 times to make sure Id read and processed correctly! He has been signed to score goals so what the hell is he doing back there?!

Killen good enough for the nix, not really for the championship.

bUT GOOD ENOUGH TO SCORE A BRACE AGAINST Totteneham (hate spelling that) who are fourth in the prem league, albeit in pre season.

I don't understand why people persist with the idea that NZ players playing professionally in the UK (or anywhere else in Europe or the States) will want to come back and play for the phoenix.  He is earning say �10,000 per week (wild guess, but having signed to Celtic on a Bosman he would be on a decent whack), playing at places like St James' Park in front of 45,000 people and always has the option of getting a game at Old Trafford or the like in one of the cups.  Why would he want to chuck that in to return to Wellington to play in front of 8,000 people earning $120,000 per year?

Agreed. Besides its better for us if he's over there, let the phoenix (for now atleast) be a springboard to get our local talent overseas and into higher leagues where they're earning bigger money

Ask Ifill, Culina, Sterjovski,...

valeo2010-05-05 22:17:34