Source: SKY_Sports
Gibson keeps Southgate faith
Chairman Steve Gibson insists Gareth Southgate is the "right man" for the job of getting Middlesbrough back into the Premier League.
Gibson stuck by his manager during last season's relegation campaign, despite increasing calls for his dismissal.
And the Boro chairman now believes Southgate can get the club back into the top-flight.
He said: "We will not have a scapegoat at this football club, it will not be Gareth Southgate.
"He is a good man, an intelligent man capable of being a top, top manager.
"Gareth has convinced me he knows what it takes to get us back up.
"He is a man I know and admire and we will work together in getting this football club back into the Premier League.
Need support
"What we need is the support of the fans and the town, and let's work together to get the club back in the Premier League.
"You may disagree with my decision and I respect that, but I have to make the decision and I am convinced that Gareth is the right man for the job."
He added: "We are, of course, all very bitterly disappointed and it's been a hard time.
"But I was born five minutes from the Riverside Stadium, my childhood was in Pallister Park, I was brought up in Park End - we can take it.
"We can't change that, that's happened. We need to plan for a new challenge, the coming campaign in the Championship.
"We are here and it is important that the club, the town, the supporters, we all stick together, prepare ourselves for this new challenge.
"We have a clear objective and the clear objective is that Middlesbrough Football Club returns to the Premier League as soon as it possibly can.
"There is nothing certain in football, but we have one objective and that is back to the Premier League."
Dismissed rumoursGibson also dismissed rumours that Boro could go into administration and confirmed that their debt burden - at one point understood to be in excess of £90million - has been reduced by two-thirds.
He also hit out at claims that the club wanted to go down in a bid to cut costs.
"We hate the Championship, we don't want to be here. We are a Premier League club, we are a Premier League town with Premier League supporters," said Gibson.
"At the moment, I am a Championship chairman - I want to be a Premier League chairman. It's daft to suggest anything else.
"It's just daft. There is no evidence to support that theory whatsoever."
