Source: SKY_Sports
Boro blues to go on
After a disastrous season last year, Fanzone correspondent Dan Gilgan explains why Gareth Southgate needs to change the club's fortunes...quickly...
Like most Boro fans I'm still in a state of shock since crashing into the Championship after 11 years in the top flight.
Chairman Steve Gibson has made the brave decision to back Gareth Southgate, still believing he will become a 'top manager'. Most fans however, have long since given up on Southgate and for the first time, Gibson's judgment is being openly questioned.
Without the backing of large sections of the home crowd, the manager needs to make a good start to the season. If the team start the campaign badly, the fans will quickly turn on him.
The likelihood of a good start may depend on the remaining weeks and days of the transfer window. It is expected that Tuncay Sanli and Alfonso Alves will leave while Robert Huth, David Wheater & Gary O'Neill are wanted by Premier League clubs. In our current situation we will find it very difficult to replace these players so keeping hold of as many of them as possible could be the key to us mounting a serious promotion challenge.
My personal feeling for the season is one of pessimism. I have lost faith in Southgate. His man management skills seem weak, his judgment of players has been flawed and his master plan of playing, 'fast counter-attacking football', has become a standing joke.
The Chairman has asked the fans to 'show blind faith' in his judgement but it is my opinion that Middlesbrough's fortunes will not improve until we have a change of manager.
Of course I hope to be proved wrong and I will be cheering the team on as ever. Sadly they will be cheers of hope and not expectation.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of skysports.com
