Source: Telegraph
Gareth Southgate sacking was 'difficult' says Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson
The club owner insisted that the "time was right for change" after relieving the former Boro captain of his managerial duties less than two hours after the club had moved to within a point of Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion with a 2-0 victory over Derby County.
"This has been the most difficult decision I've had to make in all the time I've been in football," said Gibson who took over the club when it was on its knees in the mid-1980s.
"Gareth has given Middlesbrough Football Club magnificent service as a skipper and, in very difficult circumstances, as manager. I appointed Gareth in a situation that was greatly unfavourable to him.
"He is a good man and has all the qualities and integrity that we wanted in a manager. However, the time is right for change and that change has had to be made."
Gibson is confident that Southgate, who joined Boro as a player from Aston Villa in a £6 million transfer deal in 2001, will eventually prosper in management.
"Gareth will always be welcome at our football club," Gibson added.
"English football needs people of his stature and we feel certain that this experience will serve him well.
"Gareth deserves another opportunity once he has had the chance to rest and refresh himself."
Earlier, Southgate's dismissal and the departure of Alan Smith, his former Crystal Palace manager, was confirmed on the club website shortly after he had conducted a round of post-match media interviews.
A brief statement on the club website, published just after midnight, said: "Middlesbrough FC have tonight announced that manager Gareth Southgate has been relieved of his position with immediate effect. Football consultant Alan Smith will also be leaving the club as part of the change."
Gibson appointed Southgate as his manager in 2006 when Steve McClaren left Teesside to take over the England manager's job.
Unlike McClaren, the former England defender, who led Boro to their first ever major domestic trophy in 2004 in the Carling Cup final, did not benefit from Gibson's largesse when he took the helm.
Southgate, whose five-year contract was due to expire at the end of next season, had to operate on a relatively restricted budget and saw several senior players leave Boro before the club was relegated at the end of last season when their top-flight status was surrendered meekly.
This season Boro have been inconsistent and lost 5-0 at home to West Brom and Gibson will have been swayed that more and more fans are turning their back on the club because they are dissatisfied with Southgate and the team he has assembled.
Gibson is renowned for his loyalty but when Boro hit a new low against Derby with the smallest ever league crowd at the Riverside with just 17,459 fans turning up, his patience snapped and fan power won.
Former West Ham manager Alan Curbishley is expected to be high on Gibson's list of replacements for Southgate as are former Wigan manager Paul Jewell and former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan.
