Boro face anxious wait
09 Nov 2006 - 08:10:59
Manager Gareth Southgate faces an anxious wait to discover whether he can continue in the hot-seat following talks between Middlesbrough and the Premier League.
The 12-week period the rookie boss was granted to work without having the required UEFA Pro-Licence expires on Saturday and Boro have been holding talks with the league's governing body in a bid to gain special dispensation for the 36-year-old to continue.
Southgate could be the first to benefit from a change in rules that would allow unqualified managers a period of grace to complete the necessary training courses.
But despite the possibility that he could be forced to step down, the Boro chief remains in philosophical mood.
"What will be will be as far as I am concerned," he said. "I am very relaxed about it.
"If somebody turns around and says I cannot do it, I cannot do it. There is nothing I can do to influence or affect anything.
"I am committed to the education programme that is in place so at the moment it is difficult to find a solution as to how quickly those qualifications can be done.
"But the most important thing for me is to concentrate on the job the chairman has given me here."