Source: Daily_Mail
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Gareth Southgate can take this chance to bounce Boro back to the big time
No one at Middlesbrough wanted to be relegated, least of all manager Gareth Southgate.
It doesn't look good on the CV, it won't endear you to even the most dedicated supporter, including your own chairman (well maybe not), but it will ravage your squad and cost a bleeding fortune.
But for Southgate, the fall to the Championship - which looked so unlikely 12 months ago when Boro had just won two of their first four and lost narrowly at Liverpool - has been an opportunity to start afresh.
And while there must have been moments when Southgate considered his future, and his ability to manage his own club, at such a tender age, he is rejuvenated by the challenge ahead.
'I've learned a huge amount,' he said before Saturday's first-versus-second clash with West Brom, one of the biggest games of the Championship season. 'But the biggest thing is that we all have a point to prove from what happened in the last eight or 10 months, and were all very focused on one goal.
'At least in this league we can set a definitive goal and we think it's achievable and realistic. It's going to be very tough, because there are probably eight other teams that might do it, but we're competitive.
'In the Premier League, finance dictates a hell of a lot. The league tables that are published by Deloitte Touche aren't far wrong in terms of finishing position. It's very difficult to set a realistic vision of where you want to finish, and to stick to it.
'Players, whether they're good enough or not, think we should be going for Europe. It's hard to take a more realistic view of what's achievable.
'Now though, we think we can get out of the division - the right way - and then that drives itself. If you're talking about winning the league, then everything you do in training can be geared towards winning.
'The standards have to be those of champions and if you then get results to perpetuate that, it's a lot easier for everybody to buy into it.'
Southgate was a reluctant manager and a late choice for Steve Gibson and as if taking control of Steve McClaren's team was not hard enough, especially without his own considerable influence as a captain, the rookie boss had to attain his UEFA qualifications at the same time.
It was a necessary evil for the English top-flight managers' club, of which, of course, having qualified, he is no longer a member.
He may have inherited the UEFA Cup finalists but it was an ageing squad which was well paid, in fact too well paid.
Cuts had to be made, big names were sold, and on top of that Southgate had to make that tough transition from dressing room leader to manager in an instant.
It was only a move to a new office, but naturally it went deeper than that.
Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer used to be his daily driving partner, within a year he was on his way to Fulham.
Replacing the experienced spine of the club was always going to be his toughest challenge and sadly Middlesbrough have been found wanting in the transfer market. For every Tuncay Sanli, there is an Afonso Alves.
To his credit, and with Gibson's characteristic, unstinting backing, Southgate started to face up to the possibility of relegation long before the end of May.
I remember him standing in the corridors of the Riverside after yet another unlucky, hard-fought home defeat, about a month before the end of the season, admitting that the drop would be the making of some of his players.
It was hard to be realistic and optimistic at that time, but he had no choice. He could envisage some of the younger ones in particular benefiting from being taken away from the comfort zone of the Premier League, and the full-on media world it generates as soon as players make the first team.
He knows there is something to be said for the kind of away trips which Middlesbrough will make this season, and that is why he was particularly pleased with their midweek win at Scunthorpe last month.
When he sat down with every player the day after relegation was confirmed, he wanted players who were ready for the difficult journey ahead.
He also knew he had to re-think his dealings in the transfer market, and so far Leroy Lita and Mark Yeates look astute signings for this level while this week's loan signings Sean St Ledger and Caleb Folan can build on impressive starts with the Republic of Ireland.
Usually players gain international recognition with their impressive club performances, rather than the other way round, but this pair have been fortunate that their potential has been spotted by Giovanni Trapattoni in his desperation to add bodies to his adopted country's World Cup campaign, which takes on added significance with next month's Dublin showdown with his home nation.
Any club would miss Tuncay, Stewart Downing and Robert Huth (when and if fit) but everyone knew they would leave.
In their absence, a new generation has emerged, just as it is a very different club to the one which was masking its deficiencies with its reasonable start last season.
Arguably the most successful academy in the country continues to produce mature players who have taken to the responsibility quietly and efficiently.
All of the back four who won against Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday this week, including captain David Wheater, are products of Dave Parnaby's schooling, and in front of them Rhys Williams and Adam Johnson continue to impress and influence the team. Look out for this pair, they have real promise.
Southgate is impressed by the way the young players have taken to the challenge to return the club to the top flight.
His job has been made easier by an impressive start which has taken them to second above Newcastle and just a point behind West Brom.
He said: 'You don't have to lift everyone when you come in on a Monday morning when you have had a win. For a group of young players, it's a much better learning environment when they're getting rewarded by victories.
'Sometimes, the hardest thing when you're losing is to keep people's confidence, but also be critical of them when you have to be. When you're winning, you can highlight mistakes and highlight things that have to improve.
'After the game on Saturday, we were talking about the goal we conceded and how that could have been better. It's a lot easier to do that when you've won 3-1 than it is when you've lost. When you're losing, players are getting hammered by supporters, what they read, what they see on television and the own pressures they put on themselves. Then another stick from us is difficult to take.
'We feel we can win every game, and obviously we won't win every game, but we feel we have the chance to and if we get things right, we will win plenty.'
Middlesbrough is a relegated club and thousands of last season's regulars have shown how fed up they are by staying away.
The sensible ones will be back and will recognise Middlesbrough is a very different club for many reasons now, not least because Southgate is taking full advantage of the opportunity to stamp his mark on it.
He has had no choice, but once again, Steve Gibson is showing he is an astute judge of his manager, and if he backs him, he expects supporters to do the same.
Southgate is clearly enjoying the challenge again after coming through a difficult period, and tough decisions like firing Malcolm Crosby and then hiring Alan Smith.
But he has never ducked from any criticism. He is such an open and intelligent man, he probably agrees with most of it. He'd just find a better way to put it.
He added: 'We've tried to make it a more enjoyable place to come and we've tried to do a few things differently, not just in terms of how we work, but also in terms of the responsibility that we're putting on to players. We've changed a lot of things behind the scenes.
'In the end, none of those changes have any effect on the mood - it's results that have the biggest effect. We think we've been more professional in how we've done things and been more organised but we've also lightened things up in certain areas. Again, you can do that when you're winning.
'You can have a run of fixtures in the Premier League when you look at the next four or five games and you are scratching your head wondering where your next point is coming from.
'It is a different type of challenge (in the Championship) but the pressure is the same because I am looking at games this week and thinking we have to win them because we could drop off the pace.'
