UK Football

Gareth Southgate has once again received the backing of the Middlesbrough higher powers.  Specifically chairman Steve Gibson this time has said that sacking Southgate will not help Boro’s situation in the least.  And I would have to agree with him.  I don’t see much wrong with what Southgate has done at the club, considering the quality of players he’s had available, and given Middlesbrough’s financial situation.

I see this as more the fault of bad transfer decisions, opposed to lapses in management, and I doubt Southgate has a whole lot of pull when it comes to which players are sold and bought.  If you ask me, Boro still haven’t looked as confident attacking as they did when Yakubu wore red.  And little decisions like those have come back to haunt them, that and the fact that Boro don’t have a real leader on the pitch.  I’ve yet to see Boro skipper, Pogatetz, really inspire any sort of positive performance from the other players, when Middlebrough have needed a captain most.

I think Middlesbrough are to suffer the same fate as Reading did last season.  Steve Coppell toyed with the squad too much, and sold a few key players, then suddenly Reading couldn’t find goals when they desperately needed them.  Basically the same situation Middlesbrough are in now.  Southgate is doing the best with what he’s been given, but Boro have lost the key elements that made them much better in seasons past.  Which is why I foresee Boro being relegated at the end of the season.

But hopefully Steve Gibson will hold on to Southgate, because I still see him as being the sort of manager the club needs, and a worthy choice to earn their promotion once again to the Premiership.  

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