Southgate, a figurehead for a worrying young UK managerial trend

[sibeer]

What has Gareth Southgate brought to the Premiership? Massively inconsistent team performances, constant rotation, transfer blunders (didn't sell Downing for mega bucks and bought Alfonso) and an uncanny ability to make Steve Mc'Clown look good

Is it any wonder English managers aren't in charge of any of our best clubs with this kind of record. He took a solid mid-table side and has done it very few favours after his playing career. Whilst I am all for stability in clubs were possible, clearly the man has not been up to the job for a while.

To my mind a large part of the problem though is the trend of dumping a young/inexperienced manager in the Premiership. The likes of Keane, Ince, Pearce, Adams and Southgate have not done their managerial careers (nor probably their own confidence) any favours by trying to run before they could walk. Shearer should take note before he finds his career similarly tarnished. The more successful, younger managers in our league are the likes of Moyes, Bruce and O'Neil, all of whom proved themselves before taking the next step.

At the end of the day there is too much at stake financially in the Premiership for managers to be given the necessary time to mold their teams. This has been the downfall of many very experienced coaches so to expect anyone to learn their trade whilst doing so is hopeful at best.

Maybe the experience of bringing Middlesbrough back up will be the learning curve that Southgate needs. At their best they have played some good attacking football and nurtured some quality homegrown players. Sad fact is though that it could just as easily be the last we see of him and/or Middlesbrough in the Prem for a long time.

 

[peterattheboro]

Firstly, lose the first 'o'. It's Middlesbrough.

I agree with pretty much everything you've said. Southgate should never have been appointed. Unfortunatley we have one of the best chairman in the country in Steve Gibson. He will not sack the most useless of managers we've had seen Lennie Lawrence. He had too much faith in Southgate when he was never ever going to achieve his target.

We badly need a new manager who actually knows what he's doing to get use back into the Premiership. Thankfully we are in a much better position than Newcastle so I don't think they aren't going to be a threat next season.

I can't blame Southgate for Alves though, well, I can a little bit. Alves was the top scorer in the Dutch league and he looked like a very very good striker. Unfortunatley Southgate didn't do enough (or anything) to encourage him and the fans didn't either. Therefore is morale and confidence hit rock bottom. This happens to a few newcomers to the english game though.

Stewart Downing. What a useless pile of one trick ponyness who's had his left foot cut off with a teaspoon. He is not a captain. He was only made captain as he was having a cry as he and the team were doing so bad that he thought he could change our luck. Na ah. This guy should have been sold for £10 million (lol) to Spurs in January. And Boateng should never have left. He had a horrid season last year which is why all the fans wanted him out. In truth, he was a great leader for us and we've lost someone to direct us on the field which is another reason for our downfall.

Gonna stop posting now as i'm turning into drunkenmaster!

 

[peterattheboro]

Ohh, and again i'll post this conspiracy theory.

I think the club gave up the desire to stay in this league a long time ago. Thats why the people pleading for Steve Gibson to sack Southgate are wasting their time. In the eyes of the club, Gareth Southgate is an integral part of Middlesbrough FC's new future. And that future does not include Premiership football. Any new manager coming in would not take the job under those circumstances, but Gareth accepted it when he signed on the dotted line and he was most likely assured his job would be safe despite the eventual relegation that was on the cards 2 years ago.

This club cannot financially survive much longer in this league. We've been in this division for 11 years and have racked up a £93m debt. That says it all really. But for those who think losing £30m a year in TV revenue is going to be a disaster, just have a think why we're in so much debt and where the bulk of that TV revenue goes each year. The greed of the modern footballer holds no bounds, and if we have reached the point where we are unwilling and unable to rack up more debt paying silly wages to attract the calibre of player here needed to keep us up every year, then its inevitable that clubs like ours will eventually be priced out of the top league. Thats exactly what's happened to us now. Rightly or wrongly, the club have accepted it and are moving us into a whole new direction that encompasses lower league football, lower quality players, lower wages, and downsizing in every conceivable way to bring financial consolidation at a more manageable level.

We've been clearing the decks and preparing for life outside the Premeirship for some time now. Our summer transfer dealings were the initial hint. We lost 5 or 6 experienced players and replaced them with 2 unknown foreigners, one of which was a reserve from the start. And the inactivity in the current transfer window just confirms it. While every other club around us has added new players in an attmept to preserve their top flight status for another season, we didn't even bother to get a few loan deals in with the un-spent £2m Ben Watson money to freshen the place up - god knows we needed it. We're told we have a squad good enough to survive, we're told our manager is proud of his players efforts, we're told the lads are giving their all. Its all spin. Southgate would make a fantastic politician. But we can't really blame him when he's "only following orders".

So why did we keep Downing then? Its because its pointless selling a player to bring in 2 or 3 more wage earners when the policy of the club is cutbacks cutbacks and cutbacks, and selling Downing and failing to buy players with the money in January would have openly admitted to everyone what the clubs policy and ambition truly was. They were never going to admit what the new direction of the club is as it'd be a blatant kick in the nads to those who forked out for season tickets last summer.

Downing, along with Tuncay and anyone else whose worth a few bob will be sold to the highest bidders in the summer and that money along with any parachute payments will be used to pay off a chunk of our bank debts. And I wouldn't be suprised to see some of it going back into Bulkhaul since that company is currently struggling.... and we can't blame Gibson if that happens since he's bankrolled this club for years.

Next season our squad will be a combination of academy players and free transfers. We WILL NOT bounce back. Our new level will be Championship consolidation, and thats it. The calibre of the players we'll employ in the future will be on par with those at Blackpool, Barnsley, and Norwich City - with a wage structure to match. This is the future of our club now. Our day in ths sun is over. We've got 14 premiership games left so we may as well ****ing enjoy them, win lose or draw, because they're the last Premiership games we'll see for a long time. Boro's surrender is just the first though... and I think we're the first because we have a chairman who has seen it all before. The experience of 1986 has made him more aware than most and he knows the signs when he sees them. But I expect a few other smaller clubs will follow suit and gladly go down with a whimper over the next few seasons.

When the founding clubs got together and formed the Premier League back in the early 90's, they should have insisted on some form of salary cap like they have in Rugby. They didn't and now that short-sightedness is coming back to haunt all but the richest clubs.
Clubs like ours who aren't willing to mortgage their futures or continue to allow themselves to spiral into more and more debt playing in a league we'll never win, or even get a sniff of a top 6 finish now that Man city have joined the elite, will dissapear back into lower league obscurity.

Like I mentioned on another thread, Gibson made the choice wether he wanted to see this club play russian roulette with its future, or take it to somewhere were it can be kept financially sound. No foreign billionaire is on the horizon to come take it off his hands so can we really blame him?

 

[sibeer]

Stewart Downing. What a useless pile of one trick ponyness who's had his left foot cut off with a teaspoon. He is not a captain. He was only made captain as he was having a cry as he and the team were doing so bad that he thought he could change our luck. Na ah. This guy should have been sold for £10 million (lol) to Spurs in January.

I think everyone should encourage Spurs to keep buying mediocre English wingers if only to stop Rafa ruining the pool with them

 

[sibeer]

Ohh, and again i'll post this conspiracy theory.

That's pretty believable as far as conspiracy theories go. I still think that keeping Downing is a sign they genuinely thought the up and coming players had a chance though. The sad thing is that with the likes of Downing (or similarly Owen / Barton), taking a massive proportion of a Championship club's wage fund, they won't be able to keep hold of the better young players. Those same players would potentially stabilise them in the Championship and make an assault on the Prem a possibility.

Once the more promising ones have been pinched, Alves has gone back to the dutch league for a song and Southgate sits on a hospital bed literally bleeding money for you, the "game plan" won't look as rosey

 

[Egon]

I agree with the majority of what has been said and to some extent even the conspiracy theories don't sound too far fetched. But if that was the case then why pay £12m for Afonso Alves? I've read a few things recently that made me wonder. I'd heard that it was Steve Gibson who wanted Alves and not Southgate, if that was the case then it was a strange move by a chairman trying to consolidate the clubs future. I know we needed a striker, but £12m for an untried Brazilian.... the Dutch league isn't exactly the Premier League is it.... remember Mateja Kezman?

On a more positive note I'd also heard that Gibson had written off the £70m that he was owed by the club. My impression was our debt was close to £90m so does that mean the bulk of the debt has been cleared?

Anyway, I don't agree with all of the pessimism in that conspiracy post, but I do worry if we don't bounce back up immediately then we could spend a lot longer than was ever anticipated struggling in the championship, right now Middlesbrough will still hold some appeal to players, but the longer they stay there the more that will fade. I have faith in Steve Gibson, sadly, I couldn't say the same thing for Gareth Southgate.

 

[Bubo]

What has Gareth Southgate brought to the Premiership?

Exaggerated blinking?

Clearly the guy has zero charisma. Infact, I expect he sucks charisma out of those who happen to be around him. If he was to stand next to Jose Mourhino for long enough, I imagine there would be nothing but a small pile of dust left where Mourhino stood given the *massive* potential difference in charisma levels. And even then Southgate would still have the appeal of a wet weekend in Bolton.

 

[peterattheboro]

Ohh and in the words of Gareth Southgate:

"We have to learn from this and improve for our next game"

EVERY WEEK HE SAID THIS!

 

[sibeer]

"We have to learn from this and improve for our next game"

Maybe if he had practiced what he had preached then they wouldn't have played so inconsistently. When they were having a good day the team looked as good as any mid-table side, on a bad day they looked as lost as Newcastle

 

[sibeer]

Exaggerated blinking?

Clearly the guy has zero charisma. Infact, I expect he sucks charisma out of those who happen to be around him. If he was to stand next to Jose Mourhino for long enough, I imagine there would be nothing but a small pile of dust left where Mourhino stood given the *massive* potential difference in charisma levels. And even then Southgate would still have the appeal of a wet weekend in Bolton.

I for one will be praying that Mourhino decides he wants a new assistant and that young Gareth will fit in well with the Inter crowd

 

[drunkenmaster]

Sorry but people are blowing this all out of proportion, boro changed, it wasn't southgate. They didn't have Juninho, nor could they entice anyone of his quality. They spent years overpaying big stars to join and the 3-4 big names helped keep the team out of relegation battles. Shockingly, you lose those players, play a team with a heavy youth team influence, put in a bunch of English players that fans and pundits alike wet themselves over despite the fact they are utterly woeful and you have a team that won't sell its incorrectly valued assets and won't shell out for the big names anymore.

Southgate being in charge was a mere coincidence. Well theres a slim chance the lack of him being a big name in the managerial business meant the owners maybe didn't bend over backwards trying to do him a favour with transfers.

They simply didn't have the squad to stay up, they had a squad that on its very best day Downing's hopeless shots from 30 yards, one goes in, they win. On its worst day Downing is normal aswell as the rest and they lose. THeres barely a consistant player in the squad and a manger can't get consistant performances from that. Fergie's had an inconsistant squad this year, look at the gulf in quality and tell me you expect consistancy at the bottom end of the table with little to no real money being pumped in anymore.

Likewise Adams got screwed by the Harry Redknapp bailout tactic. Spend spend spend spend, then jump ship before the house of cards comes falling down. Sven Goran erikson, and Mourinho are both masters of that game. Buy inform players, LOTS of them, and sell them the next season after their abnormally good form goes back to normal.

Adams didn't do badly, he had a cack squad, Ince didn't do badly, the club was refusing to replace good players at Blackburn and Hughes jumped ship before a bad year happened, but it would have happened with him there.


AS for Mourinho, Chelsea had that team spirit before he got there, all there players say so, a little success, it went to his head and he started to disrupt the team, people forget he was fired because a once close team with unbreakable spirit, lost several games, were at each others throats and Mourinho was standing about taking credit for everything.

Till Mourinho takes over the likes of Boro, and turns them into a european side, theres entirely no proof he's a fantastic manager.


yes in the past 5 years our "english" managers have been choosing badly in terms of taking jobs, but their performances and the team's direction isn't the only thing to measure a manager by.

Even so, who the hell cares if this batch of players aren't great managers, its football, we're not fighting a world war against the rights and wrongs of some regime, its god damned football. Most importantly you'll find HUMANS are in charge of teams of a bunch of humans, and thats all that matters.


Might seem trite to say it here, and I usually hate the use of this kind of thing, but there are people in Africa being killed by genocidal maniac's because they can't accept other people, and here we are complaining about lack of english managers, in a thoroughly worldwide representative league thats the most enjoyable(maybe) in the world.

Can't you just enjoy the football and pray the competition continues to produce great to watch a games without caring where the people are from?

if we decide to get rid of foreign managers, and players, the league will turn to crap, it will be average, boring and we'll have 20 teams playing longball turd football.

 

[peterattheboro]

DM wooooow!

What's that about the Africans?

 

[toon_mad]

see you in the championship smoggies