Gibson rues Boro inexperience

Thu, 28 May 09:54:43 2009

Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has admitted the club lacked experience as it fought in vain for its Barclays Premier League life.

Manager Gareth Southgate was charged with the task of reducing the age profile of the squad and wage bill when he succeeded Steve McClaren in the summer of 2006.

Southgate, who swapped the captain's armband for the manager's hotseat, has since moved on the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Ugo Ehiogu, Ray Parlour, Abel Xavier and Gaizka Mendieta, while Mark Schwarzer, Mark Viduka and George Boateng have chosen to leave.

With transfer funds limited last summer, the Teessiders opted to rely heavily on their Academy graduates, and Gibson believes with hindsight, that may have been an error.

He said: "We were probably too young this year and we lacked experience.

"That's one of the things we have talked about and we think we need a solution to that. We need to bring in more experienced players. The age that we have gone this year, we will not do that again."

 

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  1. why not get a local lad in as southgates no2 ,i think­ roy chubby brown will do a great job.

    From PHIL, on Tue 2 Jun 8:31PM

  2. Chill out Lads, I can't believe the difference in­ attitudes between the Boro and Mags pages - total doom­ and gloom compared with the we're a big club and­ gonna win the Championship. Usual delusions of­ grandeur from The Skunks and I for one am backing you­ to bounce right back, unlike The Skunks who are in­ total disarray. The Chairman wants out, no-one wants­ in and Shearer is looking for a face-saving way of­ walking away to return to his safe seat on Match of the­ Day. You have a Chairman they can only dream of and a­ crop of young (yes, inexperienced) players who will­ learn from this season and with a few more experienced­ additions (as Gibson has indicated) will be up there­ pushing for promotion. Meanwhile, I'm expecting­ The Skunks to be floundering trying to avoid doing a­ Leeds although it will be great to see - can you­ imagine them in League One looking forward to Derby­ matches with Hartlepool? LOL Ha! Ha! Chin up Boro,­ stick it up The Skunks. FTM

    From safcalsftm, on Thu 28 May 10:52PM

  3. TOO LATE, THE HORSE HS BOLTED AND YOU'RE TO BLAME­ AS MUCH AS SOUTHGATE. ADD LAMB TO THE MELTING POT AND­ I'LL BE SURPRISED IF WE DONT STAVE OFF A SECOND­ RELEGATION. A TOTAL SHAMBLES THIS SEASON AND YOU CAN­ SEE THE REASON WHY.

    From mortgageandmoneycentre, on Thu 28 May 4:32PM
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