New men must keep best of the old ideas for their fresh start

THE Agnew Effect faces its first major test at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

We’ll get a clear picture of the early impact which Steve Agnew and his new-look coaching set-up have had on the Boro dressing room.

Boro go into the crunch game against Swansea knowing that a victory is vital if they are to eventually battle their way out of the Premier League’s bottom three.

Caretaker-manager Agnew has now had two-and-a-half weeks to impress his ideas on to the squad, during which time he has also completely revamped the coaching staff.

The bulk of Aitor Karanka’s staff had already left the club, so Agnew has brought in Jonathan Woodgate as first-team coach and Joe Jordan as assistant-manager, while also promoting Paul Jenkins from the Under23s as a senior coach.

It’s fair to point out that there is a novice feel about the new backroom set-up.

Agnew has not managed a side for more than two consecutive games previously, while Woodgate and Jenkins are in a senior coaching set-up for the very first time.

In this respect it is a brave decision by chairman Steve Gibson not to bring in an experienced manager for the final ten games of a season which must not end in relegation if it can possibly be avoided.

However, maybe the freshness of Agnew’s new approach, plus the keenness, sheer enthusiasm and talent of the coaches will have a huge impact on the players. Certainly they will have appreciated

the removal of the intense pres- sure which must have been feeling during Karanka’s final few weeks in charge. New faces and new ideas can bring a breath of fresh air to any dressing room.

And, if the players want somebody to respond to, then Agnew could be the man.

On and off the training pitch he’s a smashing fella who has probably already earned the respect of every single member of the squad.

Even when stepping up into the hot seat, I can’t imagine Agnew’s demeanour changing towards the players.

As long as he is seen to be doing the right things, showing no favouritism to individuals and making training fun, then surely the high level of respect will continue.

Jonathan Woodgate is now Boro’s first-team coach and and Phil Jenkins has moved form coaching Under-23s to senior coach

However Agnew cannot afford to rest on his laurels. He knows full well the importance of today’s game and the nine others which follow.

There’s no point in him sticking with the Karanka Plan because it was no longer working.

Even so, Agnew must try to retain the best parts of Karanka’s system and bring in a few ideas of his own, in addition to finding a way to make Boro more productive in attack. Boro have not scored a Premier League goal since January. It’s not that there aren’t any goalscorers at the Riverside. Alvaro Negredo, Rudy Gestede, Patrick Bamford and Cristhian Stuani have all scored plenty of career goals. So Agnew’s task over the past two weeks has been to find the right balance. No doubt he will lean heavily on the thoughts of Jordan, who has been around the block a few times as a coach. Joe first made his name as a top coach when working alongside Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth, while he later followed Redknapp to Spurs. As a player, Jordan was a no-nonsense striker and Redknapp has revealed that Jordan is an enigmatic coach who bears listening to, having lost none of the hard man reputation he gained as a player. In this respect Jordan could prove to be the perfect foil for Agnew. W o o d - gate is one of Teesside’s much loved sporting sons and