Boro need to clear the air quickly
GOING, GONE: Boro are down and Gibson may go MIDDLESBROUGH’S bad joke of a season is best summed up by celebrity fan Bob Mortimer – they turned up, stank the place out and left.
They slunk off from the Premier League without so much as a fight and barely a goal to their name. But, despite the doom and gloom, maybe all is not lost.
Boro’s swift return to the Championship was confirmed by their 3-0 defeat at championselect Chelsea.
The inquest into what went wrong is already in full swing. A lack of quality signings and a failure to jettison positivity-sponge Aitor Karanka much earlier than March are among the major reasons for a mind-numbing nine months. The stats are damning. They are the top flight’s lowest scorers with just 26 goals and only five wins – two of those against hapless North-east neighbours Sunderland, with whom they are battling to avoid the wooden spoon.
Steve Agnew has failed in his nine-game audition to prove he should be the man to try to lead Boro back after they threw away seven years of hard work in getting back to the Premier League in the space of 12 months.
The caretaker boss was unable to spark the kind of late revival seen at Leicester, Hull, Swansea, Crystal Palace – all struggling clubs who have seen an upturn since changing managers mid-season.
After chairman Steve Gibson left himself open to accusations of pandering too much to Karanka’s increasingly self-centred style, there is a groundswell among fans to return to his tried and tested policy of British bosses. Many want to see Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs given his first shot at management.
The Teessiders will lose players such as Alvaro Negredo and Victor Valdes, and Gibson is set to reinvest the £20million Boro will rake in for his in-demand nephew Ben, a target for Everton and Leicester.
And £40m in Premier League parachute payments will help Boro keep together a squad which retains the nucleus of players who clinched promotion last May.
Their odds to win promotion at the first time of asking are as short as 3-1, and they are 9-1 to follow in Newcastle’s footsteps by returning to the big time as champions.
A failure to spend big in January means Boro have not over -stretched financially and they could follow the cashconscious model of Burnley in coming back stronger a second time.
Former Boro winger John Hendrie says the Teessiders paid the price for sticking with Jose Mourinho’s former right-hand man Karanka.
“Other struggling sides took action earlier and it worked. Boro were far too late,” he said.
Gibson knows he needs to have a permanent manager in place well before the start of pre-season in July, and Hendrie added: “The chairman has a big decision to make. The parachute money will run out before you know it so they need to recruit the right players.
“It will be tough but the key is not to feel sorry for themselves.” REPORTS
Chairman has a big decision
ANTONIO CONTE did not bother asking Victor Moses if he fancied playing wing-back, or even if he had played there before.
One day last September the Nigeria international was simply told that was where he was playing in training, and that was that.
And it was a moment that transformed his career.
Moses has become a key part of a team that has dominated the Premier League and now stands on the brink of a sixth league title – their