Fergie has Southgate sympathy

24 October 2009 12:58
Sir Alex Ferguson feels Gareth Southgate's demise at Middlesbrough is an unfortunate sign of the times. The former England international was relieved of his managerial duties at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday after three years in charge. He ultimately paid the price for being relegated out of the Premier League, but appeared to have the North East outfit well placed to make an immediate return. Manchester United boss Ferguson feels Southgate was unfortunate to be given the axe, considering all he had done for the club, but admits that modern football is not blessed with patience. "In modern-day football, the manager is always going to be the scapegoat, no matter what happens. That happens time and time again," he said. "Gareth Southgate - you can look at that and scratch your head. "I know you can say it's been three years, but it's three years from being a footballer one day to a manager three years later. It's not an apprenticeship. "Apprenticeships used to be five or six years so he's not really had a proper apprenticeship. "Steve Gibson, in fairness, has a good reputation as a chairman and that has been proved, but on this occasion he has surprised people and only he can explain the reasons. "He has given some reasons but I still think for a young manager, when you don't have that luck in your early years, you are struggling. There is no leeway nowadays." Southgate's legacy on Teesside will be that he helped to bed a number of promising youngsters into the Middlesbrough first team, and Ferguson feels the 39-year-old can take heart from the manner in which he set about his first coaching role. Ferguson added: "He structured Middlesbrough in a different way, ie through youth. "You have to recognise how good Middlesbrough have been in terms of the players he has produced, but it hasn't saved his job. "That's the climate we're in, managers are always going to suffer. That is the climate we are all working in. "Only two or three years ago I was being written off, past my sell-by date and should have had my slippers and pipe. "It's just the climate we're in. I can't take it personally because it is the industry we're in."

Source: SKY_Sports