Boro business

‘Mr. Nice Guy’, ‘Pinocchio’, ‘a lovely man but a terrible manager’ – these are all the ways former Middlesbrough boss, Gareth Southgate was described. “The Rookie” on Boro bench got sacked even though he was only one point behind the leading teams. In spite of the 2:0 win over Derby, president Steve Gibson made the decision that must be respected…

Straightforward and honest president stated that in his opinion Southgate is not the man able to lead the team to the express return, whereas his heir Gordon Strachan is. Perhaps this decision comes at bad time, but the president must be obeyed. Perhaps the end of last season was a better moment for such a move, when Boro were penultimate in the Premiership and deserved the relegation. This way it seems as Gareth was played.

Truth to be told, Boro’s position on the standings in the new season is much better than the performance. Many victories came as the result of the respect of their rivals, not so much of the good play. The departures of Downing, Turnbull, Hutt and Sanli left the holes in the team that the club somewhat filled by signing striker Leroy Lita from Reading and defender Sean St. Ledger from Preston, but there is still no obvious improvement. The team struggled, troubled by numerous injuries, unprepared youngsters and relied too much on the only inspired player, Adam Johnson. Popular Teesiders lost three straight games at home (with goal margin 0:7) and there was even less people on half-empty Riverside, while the ones that were willing to attend the games kept on provoking and insulting “Pinocchio” Gibson started negotiating with Gordon Strachan and when they reached an agreement Southgate was sacked, even though he won Derby.

When you take a look at Boro schedule in the next period, the president’s decision seems reasonable. If they fail to record some good results in the next matches against the biggest top contenders, it will be too late and no changes will help them. After the era of inexperienced coaches on the bench (Brian Robson and very successful Steve McLaren), Gibson turned a new leaf and trusted the team with experienced Gordon Strachan, former Celtic, Southampton and Coventry boss. We are yet to see if this will pay off but the result will have to improve rapidly.

The positive thing is that Boro are one of the financially most stable teams in the league, a well-built team with an excellent base of young players, that can’t wait to use their chances. Of course, the money is always the question and precisely that is why the express return is extremely important to Boro.

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