Source: SKY_Sports
Southgate - Belief is back
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has told Sky Sports News he feels his side have rediscovered their belief.[LNB] Boro are currently 19th in the table and have not secured victory in any of their last 13 top-flight outings.[LNB]Furthermore, failure to defeat Wigan Athletic on Saturday would mark their longest ever run in the Premier League without a win.[LNB]Southgate, though, has been encouraged by his charges' growing confidence and is hopeful they will soon turn a corner and avoid relegation.[LNB]He told Sky Sports News: "What has pleased me in the last few weeks has been the improvement in the performance, obviously outside the club everybody is going to focus on results and position we are in.[LNB]Growing"But we have to play ourselves out of the position that we are in. There is a belief in the team that wasn't there three or four weeks ago."[LNB]Southgate went on to praise owner Steve Gibson, who has come in for criticism of late amid the club's fragile position in the league, hailing his effort and financial commitment to the club.[LNB]"If he wasn't here, we wouldn't have a club - as simple as that," said Southgate.[LNB]"I'm amazed people could possibly question his role in anything because there would be no Middlesbrough football club but for his intervention in '86, and since then.[LNB]"The success of the last 10 to 12 years is because he salvaged the club at the time, and he has been the one who has enabled us to have success in the cups and maintain Premier League status.[LNB]"We have to remember our size as a club because without his backing and support we wouldn't have brought in the types of players who have played at this club over those years.[LNB]Gibson"So it's very simple for me - he is someone who cares about the club, cares about the long-term of the club, and that is why we have had to do certain things this year financially.[LNB]"We couldn't have afforded to have stayed in the way we have been going the last couple of years, and without Steve taking on board that debt, again there would be no football club.[LNB]"It has left us a huge challenge in terms of staying in the league, but it's a challenge we can win.[LNB]"Long-term, it might be the most important couple of years for the future of the club, and without his role in that you could forget everything else."[LNB]
