New owners Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven were making themselves comfortable on Wearside in their first few weeks at the club. Within days of their takeover, the owners were on a media charm which included various interviews with the local media and fanzines - Roker Report included.
After the signing of Alim Ozturk was completed, Stewart Donald spoke to the podcast about the various players that the club were looking at, including local boy Grant Leadbitter, who was at Middlesbrough at this time.
With the club linked with various players such as Lyle Taylor, Chris Maguire, Jack Baldwin amongst others, Donald was unusually open and frank about the club's intentions and who they were chasing.
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> _Two strikers came up on Monday, a midfielder is in from Scotland which I am hopeful will sign. We have a full-back I think will sign and a goalkeeper I think will sign._
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> _I hope they will have all signed before pre-season training starts. We will leave a few holes, but those will start us off. We want to get our wage bill down, but those six signings are likely to cost less than one of our top earners._
Donald was then subsequently asked about the potential return signing of Leadbitter. Talk was rife for some time that the player would have been interested in a return to his boyhood club, and whilst Donald stated it wasn’t close, it certainly was something the club were interested in exploring.
> _He is someone on our radar. If it happens it will be a permanent deal. We are not far down the line with that. What we have said to Middlesbrough is we are interested but let’s get Paddy (McNair) down the line first._
Although Leadbitter himself signalled no desire to leave Wearside around this time, there was certainly murmuring about a potential return to galvanise a team who had lost its identity somewhat with double relegation.
As it happened, the deal eventually came off - but not until the following January, when the midfielder played a big part in the second half of our first League One campaign.
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