Source: SKY_Sports
Gibson has faith in Southgate
Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson is adamant that Gareth Southgate is the right man to lead the club.
The Boro boss came under fire last season after he was unable to prevent the North East outfit from slipping out of the Premier League.
He has seen his efforts to secure an immediate return to the top flight hindered by the summer sales of a number of key men - including the likes of Robert Huth, Stewart Downing and Tuncay Sanli.
However, Southgate has Boro sat among the early frontrunners in the Championship and Gibson believes he remains the ideal candidate to steer the club to success.
"With a football club like ours, you are going to hit a difficult time and it's easy to have a scapegoat and at most football clubs it's the manager," Gibson told the Evening Gazette.
"But there's not one single reason why we got relegated, there was a build-up of reasons.
"Part of it is that we got hold of the purse strings because we felt that things were running away with us, particularly on salaries and transfer fees.
"We couldn't give Gareth the resources that, perhaps, other managers had enjoyed in the past. That's, unfortunately, one of the reasons.
"I think Gareth - I've talked about his attributes before - would be the first to accept that he's inexperienced and he's learning.
"I have a responsibility because I put him in that position.
"He deserves my support because he's been very brave, he's taken on a very difficult job and it hasn't gone the way that we would have hoped but, as I've said, we take it on the chin, dust ourselves down because it's a new challenge now."
While admitting that a close eye has been kept on the club's finances in recent years, Gibson has revealed that Southgate will have money to spend in January, should he wish to do so.
He said: "We're in a position now to reinvest in the squad and let's put it into context, we are a very well resourced Championship club, so in terms of resource, we can compete with anything in this league.
"Maybe Newcastle are double what we are in terms of income, but other than Newcastle, we can compete with anybody in this league.
"Part of that is thanks to the fans, they've continued to support us in this league."
