He’s gone.
Following our latest away day downfall at the weekend Steve Gibson has pulled the trigger on Chris Wilder’s tenure as Boro boss.
Results have fallen far below expectations for most of 2022 and a large-scale summer reboot has failed to reignite the club. With Boro in the bottom three after a two-week break that seemingly did nothing for Boro’s fragile confidence, the chairman has decided enough is enough, with the club releasing a short and rather terse statement to announce the manager’s departure.
If too much churn was one of the causes of Boro’s malaise then firing the manager is a strange, but not surprising, way to counter it. Long gone are the days when Boro were a patient club. The new man, whoever he is, will be Boro’s seventh permanent manager in less than a decade. That’s more managerial change than Chelsea. Breathe that in for a second.
Gibson must be wondering why the managers he hires – much like the players they then sign – arrive with good records that are rarely replicated at The Riverside. What is hindering success at our club?
Whilst Chris Wilder had impressed throughout his managerial career with a marvellous mix of promotions and panache – and initially looked to be recreating that success at Boro - he was, perhaps, and in hindsight, not the ideal fit for a club attempting to build something for the longer term. The manager wanted immediate success and, much like his predecessor Neil Warnock, may have fallen out with the club hierarchy over recruitment policy. The half-and-half approach of signing some players for now and others for tomorrow appears to have irked, with Wilder rarely missing an opportunity to bemoan it in public.
In the early part of the season, Boro’s performances were a little better than the results but that isn’t the case now. We’re third from bottom and that’s about right based on our last three performances. With just 10 points from the opening quarter of the campaign, is our season over before Hallowe’en? It’s a scary thought.
So where do we go from here? Perhaps a younger manager, more willing to adhere to the club’s strategies, is the way Gibson will go. Rob Edwards, the former Forest Green Rovers and (briefly) Watford manager has been mentioned and that seems to fit. Typical Boro would of course hire a manager who can’t work with any of the new ten or so players that have been brought in but, you hope, having a more strategic approach to recruitment will help to halt Boro perpetuating the endless loop of building and rebuilding. Certainly the hiring of the next manager is by far the most important bit of recruitment the likes of Kieran Scott and his team have to do.
In the meantime, burly Boro cheerleader Leo Percovic will look after affairs and his first task will be to prepare the side for the visit John Eustace’s in-form Birmingham City on Wednesday evening, kick-off 7.45pm.
One-time Boro loanee John Eustace (no, I barely remember him either – 1 appearance in 2003), took charge of The Blues over the summer following Lee Bowyer’s exit and has guided them to 15th place, 3pts ahead of Boro following a decent mini-run of 2 wins and 2 draws in their last 4.
3 of those 4 games have been away from St Andrews including the impressive 1-1 draw at Sheffield Utd last time out, so Birmingham will likely arrive at the Riverside with the sort of confidence Boro can only dream of at present.
Scott Hogan is The Blues dangerman with 5 goals to his name already but the midlanders have struggled for goals generally, with just 9 scored from the opening 11 fixtures.
Though Eustace is just 42 years old, his side appear to be a bit of an old-fashioned throwback, so typical of the Championship’s middling sides. Favouring a direct and aggressive approach that focusses on crosses into the box, they’re not a side that worries too much about keeping the ball and controlling the game but rather prefers the physical battle and to hit teams on the break. The experienced Troy Deeney acts as a battering ram for the more mobile Hogan whilst Juninho Bacuna (you’re not the REAL Juninho!) offers pace from midfield to aid the direct attacks.
How Boro will setup is anyone’s guess. Presumably – SURELY – Ryan Giles will be restored on Boro’s left after Wilder’s bizarre overthinking at Coventry, with Tommy Smith filling in for the suspended Jones. Zack Steffen didn’t do too much to convince the doubters but could keep the goalkeeping gloves. Akpom may well get a start alongside Muniz in what looks to be Boro’s first choice frontline (at last) but it’s the midfield three that continues to cause headaches as no-one has yet looked that part.
Howson, Crooks and Mowatt all look like they need a spell on the bench but it’s difficult to see how that can be achieved – Luongo, McGree and McNair? Boyd-Munce? Gibson? No combination looks convincing on paper or on the field at the moment.
Will we change shape? Probably not, especially with Jones unavailable as, if we wanted to play with orthodox wingers, there’s no-one else. The lack of time between games is also a factor in reshaping the side but who knows, Leo was once a disciple of Aitor Karanka and perhaps he will return to what he once knew.
Boro need a win. Any win. And then another one. And probably another after that if we’re to have any excitement come April and May that isn’t simply about avoiding the drop.
Come on Boro. Please.
Thanks Andy for your quickly revised match preview to take into account the breaking news of Wilder's departure - I agree that Wilder wasn't a manager in tune with building a team for the long term and perhaps given the bulk of money spent in the summer has barely seen the pitch may indicate the tensions behind the scenes. Though one thing is having a manager only prepared to work on the next result and do his own thing, another is having that manager fail to get results in spite of the plan.
Birmingham was going to be the latest must-win game for Wilder and maybe with him gone the pressure has lifted from the players that had looked ponderous and in fear of making a mistake.
Hard to see a change of tactics or shape with an interim manager in charge with only a day or so of preparation - I expect Leo's job will be to get the players fired up and make sure they give everything in front of an expectant crowd.
What happens next will probably come to light over the coming days and whether or not Gibson has a new man lined up - we can only hope there is something better ahead and Boro get that new-manager bounce, which has often eluded us!
Wow. Clearly there was bad blood building up.
Before the sacking, I was going to suggest a rest for Crooks and Mowatt and a midfield of Howson, Luongo behind McGree. I’m now not sure because I don’t know what formation they will pick and whether they want to give some kids a chance.
Do we believe in new manager bounce?
I can see Edwards fitting in with the club’s new acquisition strategy but it could be too much of a risk.
utb
Do we know how many of the new back room staff - goalkeeping coach, fitness etc - are staying?
This is one thing that might actually work for us. Assuming that Leo is in charge I think there'll be a real attempt by the fans to back him and the players.
Wilder's sacking really does feel like it was as much for what was going on off the pitch as well as on it. It does mean that we are now in basket case territory: 5 years and 5 managers. We really, really have to get it right now.
If we don't, we're getting into Sunderland 'til I die territory where we risk falling through the trapdoor.
I have no idea how Leo will set us up. He can either stick with what we're doing only with more headbutts or completely change it around. About the only thing we know is that Jones is suspended and pretty much everyone else is available.
I think if we go for a complete change that he might go for 4-3-3
Steffen
Dijksteel - Fry - Lenihan - Bola
Crooks - Howson - McGree
Watmore - Muniz - Giles
If he sticks with 3 at the back I think he might go with
Steffen
Dijksteel - Fry - Lenihan
Smith - Crooks - Howson - Giles
McGree
Muniz - Akpom
One thing, as an ex-keeper it will be interesting to see if Leo rates Steffen.
I must admit, that I had been dreading the Birmingham match but now at least there's a change and that leads to hope.
It does mean that we are now in basket case territory: 5 years and 5 managers. We really, really have to get it right now.
Yes, where is the old Steve Gibson who gave time for his managers. The start by Steve McClaren was not that impressive but Gibbo kept faith in him.
Up the Boro!
Other than his first appointment, Bryan Robson, has Gibson given his managers plenty of time?
McClaren got a little longer than I suspect he would now but not many have outstayed their welcome for long.
Southgate’s sacking was a bit of a surprise at the time, as was Monk’s. Mowbray, Strachan, Pulis, Woodgate and Warnock all seemed to go when their time was up, rather than months and months later. I don’t think any got loads more time than they would have at most other clubs. Same for Wilder.
There was a time when Boro felt a bit different to other clubs but I feel that that time has gone.
I hope this is just a necessary step towards a more holistic approach but I have my doubts. Who we appoint next will tell us something about the direction and clarity of thought.
There is little doubt that Wilder had to go for all the reasons mentioned in the emails above from the contributors to this forum. I wonder, however, to what extent all the blame for where the club finds itself today can be laid at Wilder’s door and whether there might be failings on the part of the senior management of the club that have contributed to Wider’s demise. Other team managers in the past have alluded to things not being hunky dory behind the scenes and there certainly appears to have been friction over the recruitment of players. Whatever the causes of the falling out I only hope that the senior management of the club take a very close look at all aspects of the management structure, performance and abilities to identify to what extent they may be at fault and to identify those areas where action is needed to improve the effectiveness of the top team.
As for the next manager, in a well run business there would be a detailed business plan that would include a clear business strategy and goals with defined objectives with target completion dates, detailed action plans to achieve them and a system of checks and balances to monitor progress towards the achievement of the goals. The content of this plan would be a clear steer towards the profile of team manager required to stand the best chance of achieving the defined goals. The profile would include age, track record, skill set, character, man management ability, ambition, personality and presence thereby enabling those assessing candidates to home in on the most suitable for final selection. My worry is that, as I have mentioned on this forum before, I have seen no evidence that there is any sort of structured business plan at all for MFC because the vast majority of actions taken by the management in recent years seem to me to be short-term reactive measures to fix what are obvious problems rather than considered actions to move the club forward along the path laid out in a cohesive plan for the future.
I hope desperately to be wrong about this but what I fear might happen now is what has happened again and again in recent years. A manager is sacked, the replacement is an older well known manager who has been around the block many times and is seen as a safe pair of hands, the recruitment team deliver a mixture of young unproven players who never get a look in together with a few more mature players who are average and a lot of loanees who have no loyalty whatsoever to the club. The better young players who have com through the academy get shipped off on loan to develop their careers with very few of them ever given chances in the first team and the club’s star players are sold. The result is that the team manager is unhappy with the resources at his disposal, the friction within the club grows, the level of morale and commitment of the players drops, results are poor and the whole cycle starts again.
This time please let”s not repeat the cycle of doom but take a different approach. Find a younger, talented, ambitious, hungry young manager, give him (or her) authority over playing resources and recruitment, encourage him to use academy graduates if appropriate and task him with building a team over a number of years that can really challenge at the top of the Championship. Then let him get on with it and make an effort to stick with him through thick and thin even if it means a season or two in League One if it leads to greater things in the following years.
Now there is an opportunity for real change at MFC. Let’s hope that the management can grasp it.
What I have been reminded of looking back at previous managers to try and get promoted back to the PL is that it's been over 13 years since Boro were an established Premier League side - just that one brief season back in the top flight under Karanka and then Agnew but Boro have not since found the magic formula.
Changing managers every season or so hasn't worked but perhaps failing to appoint the right manager that fits the brief is possibly the problem. With 35 games of the season left I would hope someone can come in and galvanise a squad that is still capable of winning enough games to make the play-offs.
Clearly Chris Wilder wasn't getting the best out of the players for some time now - a good man-manager may be what we need to restore confidence plus someone who the players can believe in too. Unfortunately, I suspect Gareth Southgate will have much better offers if he departs England!
Perhaps like Tony Mowbray was, I think Chris Wilder may have been the right man at the wrong time.
Mowbray remains a solid manager at Championship level and had us towards the top of league at the start of consecutive seasons before falling away badly. He signed the nucleus of Karanka's promotion-winning squad but, unfortunately for him and us, he was never granted the financial freedom in the transfer market to show us how far he could take us. The vast majority of his signings were cheap punts of which about 50% worked but that 50% turned out to be very good indeed once under his successor.
Wilder, I still very much feel, is a very good manager. He's proved that multiple times elsewhere and gave us a glimpse of it from November to January and a few times here and there beyond that. You can infer from his tactics and his interviews, however, that he's very much his own man and does things his way and only his way. I suspect that his limited control over recruitment constrained him, irritated him, angered him and ultimately drowned him.
I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated that I think at any time over the past decade bar the past 12 months, I think Wilder would have been a great success here. At the right club, he'll be a great success again.
However, we're on a different path now. Probably the right path for a club of our size and place in the game. A path that, if executed well enough, will be sustainable and put us ahead of many a club around our level. It's the same path that has seen the likes of Brentford, Brighton and others overtake us and establish themselves at the top table.
But it's still frustrating that, in my view, we've had a very good manager on our hands and missed the opportunity to make the most of it.
From January onwards things started to go wrong. The team needed a solid goalkeeper and a proven striker but instead settled on Boyd-Munce (one for the future, rarely seen), McGree (perfectly fine but not absolutely necessary at the time), Balogun (lively but unproven and always likely to be unable to hit the ground running) and Connolly (flop, big time). If recruitment had been right, we might have been in the Premier League now.
The Burnley issue seemed to confuse matters and puncture the positivity around the club. Had we got it right in the January window, would that even have been a thing?
Clearly the summer went against Wilder. I'm sure that the likes of Giles, Lenihan and probably Steffen were his signings but not so sure about the rest, especially Hoppe and Forss. When Tavernier departed, I suspect Wilder lost what remained of his faith.
Steve Gibson is no longer a patient man and quite combative these days as we saw from the Derby/Mel Morris situation. I don't think he would have reacted particularly well to that Burnley episode or Wilder's regular swipes at recruitment. Now there are other voices in the club as well who would also undoubtedly not have taken to Wilders comments. I suspect Wilder's sacking has more to do with that then results to be honest,
What is clear is that the club can't be successful unless the next man is firmly on the same page as the club hierarchy and strategy. Boro have to work out how they can make that work so that the manager can operate with enough autonomy to not feel interfered with but at the same time be content to let others have ultimate control over recruitment. It's a tricky balance and I can't see how any of the "old school"-type managers won't go the same way as Wilder did, with likely worse consequences given that they're not likely to be as good as CW can be.
I really wanted this to work: a proven manager, entertaining football played with intensity and goals - remember the 19pts from a possible 21, remember the games against Forest and Bournemouth where we swamped two of the league's best in front of a raucous Riverside - signing players with an eye on value, a sustainable model for the future success of the club. I'm deeply frustrated that we haven't found the right balance within the club corridors to make it work.
Phillip may be able to help me here but didn’t Coberan leave Huddersfield quite suddenly after falling out with the club on recruitment/control?
If so, you can rule him out straight away. At least you’d think you could!
There seem to be quite a few candidates who fall into the category of 'one good season', which is a high risk strategy as unless you can reproduce the same circumstances in how they flourished then it's more likely to fail. Even a former manager like Karanka only had one good, possibly two-ish seasons and has never been a success since.
So being able to define the role for somebody who can come in and make the team better in the short to medium term is what is needed. Whether that is the same person who is needed for what will be another major rebuild come next summer is debatable - as key players this season are loan players and others will also be out of contract or even be sold.
Perhaps, the real issue is not the 'manager' but whether those at the club in charge of recruitment are capable of getting the players needed to build a winning side for whichever manager, or more accurately coach, is appointed. In truth, whoever is appointed under the current hierarchy will have little managerial control as they will be working under a hands-on chairman and his Director of Football plus Chief Executive. There won't be a manager building a team, he will be coaching players he has been given.
So from that point of view it will rule out many of those being mentioned - especially the usual names!
I think Kieran Scott may have worked with Rob Edwards previously, possibly at Wolves.
I don’t really know anything about Edwards other than that he had success at Forest Green Rovers but made a sluggish start at Watford.
if there is an existing relationship with Scott then I can see that happening.
It’s untenable to give a manager responsibility for the performance of the team and results and then have the Chairman, Chief Executive and Director of Football all telling him what to do. Why would any self-respecting manager take the job on that basis? With responsibility must go authority.
The problem with that system is that player's contracts tend to outlast the manager several times over. It's not that they tell the coach how to coach tactics or pick the team but provide him with players, which he would have some input in the process. It would certainly stop every new manager moving on and signing lots of new players only for the process to be repeated every year. Boro don't have the resources to finance such upheaval and as long as you can have a reliable DoF and recruitment setup it should work better. I think the days of the old-school manager in charge of everything at a club are gone - coaching, tactics and game preparation are far more complex than they used to. Wilder seemingly only had a Plan A - as did Warnock and Pulis - modern coaches can switch shape and tactics during games depending on what is needed. Indeed, many prefer not to get too involved with recruitment.
Yes Corboran, who came from Leeds Utd, left suddenly a few days before the start of the season. There is not the slightest doubt that he massively overachieved at Huddersfield and was ambitious. Rumour was that the Club didn’t share his ambitions.
A few days after leaving Huddersfield he was appointed as manager at a top European Club which is playing in the Champions League this season. He recently was sacked after winning something like 3 games out of 6.
Philip of Huddersfield
Andy
Many thanks for your opener and subsequent posts you’ve been really busy and for that I thank you.
All the Diasborians seem to have obtained a new surge of energy and enthusiasm and interest in the Boro once more which in my opinion was in danger of stifling our lively debate and proactive discussions.
I’m pleased Wilder has gone. Yes I’ve said it! In my opinion he was becoming a mouthpiece for a club which I didn’t recognise or particularly like. No one man is bigger than the club and most of us have now seen quite a few managers at the Boro, more than we expected over the past few years.
I do think Wilder was being controversial regarding the team he selected for Saturday and was trying to make a point which either played into his strategy or spectacularly backfired. Either way I think we have a result which we should now try and achieve promotion with.
Am I being too ambitious?
Just look at Forest last Season…..
OFB
It’s untenable to give a manager responsibility for the performance of the team and results and then have the Chairman, Chief Executive and Director of Football all telling him what to do. Why would any self-respecting manager take the job on that basis? With responsibility must go authority.
I think Karanka was a head coach and we had a direcror of football back then. The guy who went to Leeds after us. I think he was Spanish, too.
I agree with Werder that a manager is not needed in modern football. It is a DoF and a head coach system.
Too much work for one person who usually chooses new players from his old teams. And misses the possibilities elsewhere.
Next, we should appoint a manager that brings up some academy players, too. Woody tried to do that as he knew the academy players. A Mogga type of person would do nicely now.
Up the Boro!
You and Werder may be right about the need today for a coach and a DoF rather than a manager. All I would say is that the current structure and organisation of responsibilities at MFC however defined and applied doesn’t seem to work except in maintaining a steady stream of manager departures. Surely something needs to change radically if the downward spiral of doom is to be reversed.
Well done Andy with the quick sift Headliner at the eleventh hour.
I guess it will interesting to see the team choice and how the more senior players react to Leo and friends.
As BBC Tees said, you wouldn’t want to be the fourth official with Leo, Cattermole and Leadbitter in our technical area!
Corberan, based on his Huddersfield achievements, is worthy of serious consideration. A better bet than the recently sacked Watford manager who only has a few weeks experience of the Championship compared to Corberan’s well over a year.
He was well respected for the amount of detail and preparation he put in and his ability to change systems based on the opposition. Okay, he set out not to concede many goals but that’s no bad thing if you are strong defensively and capable of popping in a goal or two at the other end of the pitch.
I seem to remember Karanka’s team was strong defensively and pretty good on the break.
No doubt we’ll be reading about a number of likely new managers in the coming days and hopefully S.G can come up with someone who excites us.
Meanwhile, Boro are on the Red Button on Sky on Wednesday.
Philip of Huddersfield
Nice post boroexile
Thanks Andy for your multiple posts trying to cover the important Birmingham match and Wilder's departure and replacement. I am at a loss in trying to figure out where we go from here. It seems that having a recently proven successful manager has failed as has having the older long term experienced and stable managers. I am also doubtful about bringing in a manager who had done well but has just been sacked after failing to find success in the last 10/11 games which seems too similar to Wilder's recent record. I think that rules out all possible candidates!
Whoever the new manager turns out to be I am left with just paying for my season ticket (and the considerable extra costs) and hoping for the best from the Boro. The stories about internal splits and arguments about the Boro are so disappointing.
Nice post boroexile
I was responding to your first long post on this thread....
Many fantastic contributions above, lads (and lasses?). Particular thanks to Andy for a superb opener. It’s a brilliant debate, which has highlighted the challenging issues facing Boro now that we’ve lost the manager who potentially should have been the best we’ve had since Karanka. That he ultimately failed to achieve that potential - and that we failed to harness it - is very disappointing, as Andy said. Where on earth do we go from here? I agree with Philip that Carlos Corberan would be well worth considering. I also agree that we have to get this right and that we need someone who will work with Scott and the new sustainability plan. There’ll be plenty of interest - we’re the third biggest club in the Championship after all - but it’s not going to be easy to find the guy with all the required qualities.
Bob: I’m very interested in your view that, Wilder ‘was becoming a mouthpiece for a club which I didn’t recognise or particularly like.’ Could you explain that a bit? I think I know what you mean - and I’m not about to disagree with you, as I had similar misgivings - but I’d like to be sure I wasn’t barking up the wrong tree. What was it about the things Wilder was saying which irritated you?
Thanks AndyR. Brilliant of you to get your opener bang up to date with today's developments.
OFB. I agree with you and I am glad Wilder is gone but at the same time I do share some of Andy's disappointment. It will be interesting to see if he will go on to achieve more success or not. Perhaps his unexpected and rapid exit from Sheffield Utd was because the man and his approach in post had been rumbled and on that basis we should not be surprised. After early promise he has failed to convince me and it does all seem to hark back to the Burnley distraction.
I really have no idea who will be the best fit. At the moment I hope for Leo to have some immediate and continued success. He is Boro through and through and perhaps that is what we need more than anything at the moment. The old romantic in me would love for us to find out he is the best manager we have had for a long long time.
Re Birmingham on Wednesday. I probably won't get to see it as we are early to bed to be up at 3 on Thursday to get to the airport to head off to Majorca for 10 days. Still, I would hope to see Roberts in goal. Apkom and Munitz up front. Djiksteel Fry Lenihan and Clark across the back. Howson with Giles and McGree on either side of him with Watmore in behind the front two.
I expect the player will be full of passion and I expect we will be convincing winners... 4 - 0 to Boro.
I've got mixed feelings on this sacking , for years we've spent a fortune on strikers that ended up failing, the reason being we were playing one upfront to pretect the defence, hence few goals scored, Wilder comes in with a different approach and it's shown we can score goals, I believe another round of the transfer window moving some out , bringing some in ie another CB, two quicker midfielders and a striker we would have moved up quickly.
This new strategy , is concerning, or it could be the people Gibson as hired , just like managers might be poor at their job, after all we don't really know their record
After another defeat Nottingham Forest may part with Steve Cooper. Now he would be a good choice for Boro.
I think my opinion of Wilder was lowered like so many others when the Burnley managerial vacancy raised its head. It came at a time crucially when Boro needed every bit of support both on the field and off it to work together to reach a playoff position. The way that Wilder was presenting his 20-30 minute press releases he could have dismissed the Burnley rumours at a stroke but didn’t. It irked me and other supporters and I’m sure it hacked off Steve Gibson.
This episode certainly seemed to affect the players at that time and seemed to be the catalyst for poor performances and results which ultimately led to another season in the championship.
I never felt that Wilder bought into the principle of Boro having a DOF and a recruitment strategy that was sustainable for a Championship Club with no parachute payments or income other than that generated by the sale of players or the deep pockets of our Chairman.
Little attempt was made by Wilder to develop and introduce Academy players and when we see Hayden Coulson receiving rave reports about his performances in Scotland one can wonder why Boro couldn’t find a place for him in the team and had to resort to loan players.
Wilder wanted instant success and really that’s what the supporters and Boro wanted. Unfortunately he wanted older experienced players which didn’t fit into the new recruitment profile and policy adopted by the club and there were clashes between him and the rest of the management regarding this. Wilder didn’t keep his mouth shut regarding this and was keen to allude to the fact that his hands were being tied and that there was only one way (his way) to gain promotion. Always keen to promote himself and his achievements the story was starting to wear a bit thin when the performances in the pitch didn’t match the bullish statements off it.
Notably the players didn’t come out and support the manager at any time and Wilder never praised any individual performances and does anyone remember him putting an arm around a player who had had a good game or even a poor game and requiring consolation? No it was always about him and little mention was made regarding the rest of his coaching and support team.
Othet jobs were becoming available and it seemed Wilder was linked to every one of them. Was it a plan by him or his agent to get more money at the Boro? Or was it so he could sign older players that didn’t fit the profile decreed by the Board and Implemented by the Chief Executive.
Finally the writing was on the wall when after poor games he never once took the blame for poor tactics or team selection he blamed (and named!) individual players which of course doesn’t help team building or raising the spirits of players.
Managers come and go and upon reflection this manager deserved to go and in my opinion will be quickly forgotten.
OFB