Gibson will rightly stick with Southgate. As 'The­ Boro Goal machine' and record signing Alves was­ pathetic and needs a barn door to practice with, it was­ always going to be a struggle, nobody could have­ expected him to be so toothless with such a good record­ although it is obviously not down to one player - but­ he is more to blame than anybody. Southgate is young­ and inexperienced and will learn from his mistakes. He­ is good for the future as Shearer will be if he has the­ same strength and confidence to stick with Newcastle­ rather than going back to the easy life sitting on the­ sofa.

if u have no pace in your team u need a forward like­ viduka to hold ball up!feel sorry for southgate,hes­ been used as scapegoat!pennypinching cost us at the end­ of the day!one paced team and no aggression up­ front!alves is a camp version of brian deane!

footyfan4eva & butchkins,
what do you reckon­ 'the boro's' chances are in the­ Championship?
I'm a bit worried for the Toon?
If we­ don't get rid of at least 10 players and get 10 new­ ones in, i think we'll struggle!
I wouldn't­ mind Mr Tuncay mind?
Any chance?

I'll take this opportunity to laugh at Boro,­ Hahaha!!
Last year when Boro beat Man City 8-1, so many­ smoggies were predicting a top six European­ qualification place, how wrong were you?!!!­ Hahahahahaha!!!!

and to think that other teams such as woolford or­ watever theyr called look up ot us

Just not good enough... goals seem very few and far­ between.
Not enough money spent to be a prem club.
Hope­ you don't do a Leeds

Interesting comment keithjoneskj (11) for the sake of­ clarity would you mind explaining ' s h i t­ club'? Boro are a small club with a young local­ businessman who is a passionate supporter as Chairman­ and who is widely regarded as one of the best Chairman­ in English football. There is no foreign investment­ from a board of speculators, Gibson uses his own money­ to support the club. Boro have a core support of about­ 20,000 supporters, a relatively new stadium, superb­ training ground and an envied youth academy. So, your­ opinion is Boro are a s**t club, what leads you to this­ opinion. As to the manager, he has failed to keep his­ team in the EPL, but he has dignity, morals and is­ commitment unlike some that could be mentioned. Boro­ will never 'do a Leeds' as you say. They were­ mismanaged financially with money spent on private­ planes etc by a Chairman who severely overstretched the­ clubs finances. No way would Gibson ever do that. When­ some expensive, and I have to say ineffective players­ are sold Boro should have about £25 - £30m to invest on­ players specifically chosen to gain promotion at the­ first attempt. On results this season they deserved to­ be relegated of that there is no doubt, but your­ comments without explanation are unnecessary and­ completely unfounded.

Sorry but you are going to do a Leeds ur a s h i t­ club no money s h i t manager best players will leave­ no hope!!!!!!!

come on gibson its tim we had a new manager

southgate just stop managing us and come back to play­ for us instead we need a defender that donkey wheater­ is just rubbish and then we have robert huth who cant­ kick a ball and mad dog hu just goes off it

Any other chairman would of sacked a manager way before­ the final day if they were in the same situation as we­ were. I have to admire Steve Gibson's dedication to­ Southgate, but there should of been a change around­ Christmas time. Perhaps now that we have been dumped­ down to the Championship ( with the same amount of­ points as West Brom ( god that hurts )), he will now­ realise that we need to change the manager before it is­ too late and we end up doing a Leeds Utd and spiralling­ further down the leagues. Southgate seems to know what­ to say, but always fails to deliver on the pitch and in­ the dressing room. I'm sorry Gareth, but the blame­ should lie with you for the end of the 11 year stay in­ the league and you should do the decent thing and­ tender your resignation. We are all but certain to lose­ our top players ( Tuncay, Downing, Wheater ), as they­ will all NEED to play first class football to enhance­ their international prospects. I cannot see us­ returning to the Premier League for a few years, UNLESS­ there is a dramatic change in the managerial seat.

will someone please explain to southgate that he cannot­ manage a team!! maybe in the next few years when he has­ had more experince then he can be called a true­ manager!! he was not good for the boro and i think he­ has made too many mistakes since he has taken charge!!­ i hope that gibson will stand by the fans and bring in­ a manager that is worthy of getting the boro back to­ the premiership and fighting once again for a place in­ europe like mc'claren done with the boro!!

We let to many experianced players go without replacing­ them with better players. We had no real leader on the­ pitch and no one willing to do the dirty work like­ Cattermole and Boateng.

We also lack an old head in­ the backroom staff, someone who has seen it all before.­ I just hope that those who leave will enable us to­ become a better club, when the money is invested in the­ right kind of players.

UP THE BORO

I could not disagree with you more Peter S (5)­ Middlesbrough are not a second string outfit, unless­ you are taking as first string outfits the big four­ plus, then of course all the remaining teams possibly­ with the exception of Aston Villa and Man City are­ second string outfits. The finishing league position­ showed Boro were a poor team, unable to deliver when­ they were playing what on paper were inferior teams. In­ terms of fan base they have a core of about 20,000­ loyal supporters who are far from being rubbish. At­ least Boro's supporters come from the town to­ support a team and not a 'brand'. I do agree­ Southgate has really got to do the honorable thing and­ go to enable a new manager to supervise the departures­ and bring in players with the express reason to achieve­ promotion at the first attempt as it gets harder with­ each year out of the EPL. Leaving Southgate in charge­ for say eight to ten matches, which I fear Gibson might­ do is not a good idea as any new manager will have to­ manage for a while with Southgates choices. What is­ needed is a manager who is a rising star who would use­ Boro as a stepping stone in his career, someone with a­ track record in the Championship or even one division­ lower, and someone who could attract loan players in­ the first instant from premier clubs.

guy.bispham, I'm not sure why you included Pompey­ in your list of "woeful" teams, unless­ you're just looking at the period when Adams was in­ charge. The point here is that the board took the­ decision early enough to put things right, and that is­ what Paul Hart did, very well - they did after all stay­ up quite comfortably. Gibson's loyalty to Southgate­ is entirely misplaced; he is and always has been­ completely out of his depth as a manager, especially in­ the EPL. Middlesbrough are a second string outfit with­ a team and supporters to match. You should consider a­ little perspective before spouting this rubbish.

I agree that Southgate says all the right things but­ just cant put it together. His biggest trouble was he­ wanted shut of all his other team-mates when he was­ playing at the Boro, when he did manage that he lost­ leaders. Rochemback, Viduka, The Yak, Schwartzer,­ Boatang, Mendieta the list goes on and on. Then to­ loose Cattermore was just stupid

Southgate is very good at saying the right thing. The­ shame is he is a very poor manager.­ Middlesborough's tactics this season have been­ inept. It takes real determination to get relegated int­ he league this year. Hull, Sunderland and portsmouth­ were all woeful and stayed up. You didn't need many­ points. He stiill talks aboout all the problems as if­ they are someone else's or the players. Take the­ blame. You deserve it and GO!