Three games into the stewardship of Gordon Strachan, it is far too early to do any assessment of the new era but one thing is for sure we have dropped a long way off the pace in the promotion race.
When Gareth Southgate’s tenure at Boro came to an end we were just a point off promotion but admittedly not too much further ahead of the bottom ten. Since then the league has opened out, leaders Newcastle have gone on a winning run with West Brom not far behind. Boro have picked up just a single point from Strachan’s three games taking us now down to a low of 11th place and a gaping chasm lies between us and the top two.
We are now a whopping 9 points below West Brom and a frightening 11 points below Newcastle. It will need an exceptional turn of form to put us back into the race. If that doesn’t come in the next month or so then we will be left hoping to post a winning entry in the play off lottery. Not something any of us like the thought of.
This isn’t quite the positive reaction we hoped for following regime change. The accepted wisdom is that a new manager always sparks a revival. In fact a new ideology just as often causes form to plummet before there are any green shoots of recovery. Just look at Steve McClaren’s disastrous start at Boro or Wor Kevin Keegan’s inability to even buy a point in the early weeks of his second stint at Newcastle.
For that reason swapping managers midstream is a really risky business. It is probably no coincidence that of the three teams relegated from the Premier only Boro are struggling. In many ways West Brom and Newcastle went down in worse shape than us, certainly Newcastle with their off field circus. Yet they both settled their coaching staff pre season, well the Toon sort of did almost by accident.
Middlesbrough should have made the decision to stick or twist in the summer. For me we should not have parted company with Gareth Southgate and certainly not in mid-stream. Particularly after a win and a precious home win at that. There was a chance to build a good run by keeping the away form going and following the Derby win start to rebuild confidence at the Riverside.
OK I understand Steve Gibson made his decision largely on the back of defeats where and when it mattered most against our promotion rivals West Brom etc. It was a crushing set-back. But then again so was losing Robert Huth a few of weeks before. Perhaps someone should have forewarned Southgate, and then he surely wouldn’t have built his defence around the man mountain and made Huth his captain.
But as much as I may regret the decision personally there is no point in dwelling on it. It has been made and now we must go forwards. Gordon Strachan is vastly experienced and has a very successful track record. Particularly in working with limited resources.
Gordon’s managerial experience is exactly the criteria many fans have been crying out for years but he will need time to get different ideas across. Loan signings are only ever going to be half the answer. He will need to trade in January. At the moment we have no funds available so Strachan must try to ship out those not in his plans to replace with permanent buys to anchor his team.
The appointment of Gary O’Neil as captain is a really good one. Big Davey Wheater is a young lad and needs to concentrate on his own game first and foremost. We are still proud that “one of our own” is in the heart of the defence but now we can fully harness the experience of Gary O’Neil driving us on through midfield.
It is too early to judge the true impact Gordon Strachan can have on this football club but let’s hope in the short term at least we can start to prosper. We need to build on a shaky point at home to Forest and bring some riches back from the Posh and QPR to get back on track. In these dark times we could really do with a Boro boost. |
