Your Comments

AboveUsOnlySky (Liverpool fan)

"good on Boro for standing firm, must admit that i'd have taken anything over 8 million for him....really don't know what Harry sees in him i don't rate him at all"

MickS_Boro (Middlesbrough fan)

"I think the issue is not that Gibson doesn't want to sell Downing, I'm sure he realises the value of £12-15m for a player that we have adequate cover for. It's more the fact that he's making a statement about the way big money clubs conduct their affairs, trying to show that clubs like ours don't have to bow down to the will of rich clubs."

Mag (Middlesbrough fan)

" se a lot of Man Utd and Spurs "experts" on here saying that Downing is not very good; strange then that Fabio Capella rates him as one of the tope two English left wingers. Anyway, good or bad the point is that all of these teams cry into their scarves when player power works against them or when another club taps up one of their own players but Steve Gibson, Southgate and Boro are doing the whole game a favour here by standing up to it and saying "NO!". The lad signed a contract 12 months ago, got a signing fee and a hugely increased salary. He plays every week, he's in the England team and he should do his job; that is help Boro back up the table and entertain the fans.

If he shows a bad attitude then play Johnson on the left and let Downing play reserve team football until the summer and then sell him on our terms.

Well done Boro - at least one reason to be proud of our club this season."

Jenasfan (Tottenham Hotspur fan)

"rejecting the request may help depending on downings personality. for example barry stayed at villa after wanting to move, yet still gives 110% for villa. On the otherhand berbetov does not have same mentality. i think downing is great for boro but is nowhere 15mil of quality. but then again who is bentley???bent?? certainly he will be better then these 2. but hey it aint my money at the end of the day he will improve spurs."

longone

"if Downings not interested in staying, get as much as they can and let him go.

i am just a bit concerned about giving Southgate a load more money."

roverandout (Blackburn Rovers fan)

"Good on Boro! They need to follow Aston Villa's lead as all other clubs do - Gibson now needs to say "put up or shut up" to Levy and set a 3 day deadline and if they don't meet their asking price then Spurs should drop their interest! If this transfer goes through then it should be on Boro's terms - £15m!"

hortonok (Tottenham Hotspur fan)

"SEAN T... couldnt agree more... that's why when Berba asked to leave he should have been let go straight away, we were hearing about the disruption it caused within the squad for months... dragging it out got the price up, but made the squad unhappy and affected results (not the sole reason for poor results - but didnt help).

REIGATEBORO - Agree he shouldnt sign a long contract and want to leave. I'm sure signing the long contract equated to a healthy signing bonus for him, just think keeping a player that wants to leave is going to create as more problems... this would apply if it was any player, and any club chansing"

curbsout (West Ham United fan)

"At last clubs are standig up to players do not sign a 5 year contract and a year latter decide you want a transfer! Good on Brough i hope mine onn West Ham do the same now"

reigateboro (Middlesbrough fan)

"hortonok - Downing signed a 5 year contract last February, period. On his salary it is hardly slavery. I suspect just about anyone would want to be in Downing's financial and professional position. I also hope your wish comes true and Downing leaves on a free, only another 4 years to go on his contract. If Spurs want Downing they can stop tapping him up, especially after bleating about Man U doing the same thing to Berbatov, and pay a fee acceptable to Boro. I think £15 million should do it. With any luck he'll be as poor for Spurs as he has been for Boro this season."

All comments on this story