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AUGUST AGAIN 17-8-06
Karl Watson and Tom Warnock
Warnock Says.
August again, and as English football fans recover from the uninspiring yet expected quarter-final penalty exit, its time to remove the three lions on the shirt and replace them with just the one.
Yes, it's pre-season again. And not to my surprise, this morning I received, along with thousands of others, a prompt reminder in the form of a four page advert telling us that out support is needed. Not accompanied by a promise of flair filled football I hasten to add.
The advert points out that it's the vocal support which the club values the most, 'Be the twelfth man' it reads. Judging by the advertising this summer it looks as if the twelfth man will need to cough up his hard earned cash for a season of ups and downs, but without the ups.
Although reluctant to start my tenure as a writer on such negative note, there's no harm in a bit of negativity. After all, its better than anticipating a Champions League place with a forward line led by Shola Ameobi.
On a more serious note, many Boro fans have taken a big step back this summer to assess the situation, new manager, players leaving, stumbling over medicals, poor pre-season form etc etc. It's just a shame that so many fans have taken such a huge step back that they'll no longer be in the stadium.
I want to scrutinise the new manager first and foremost. With all due respect to Mr Gibson and Mr Southgate, we all know how good a player he was and that he was indeed a great servant to out club, lifting our first trophy and guiding us through Europe in the process. However he is the manager now and how good a player he was has no bearing on that role.
Gareth is also a great guy. Having met him on a few occasions I can vouch that he is a gentleman and warrants huge respect among footballing peers and fans alike. I reiterate though, he is the manager now and the aforementioned respect will also have no bearing on his new role. To be blunt there is no room for sentiment.
The Teesside public were promised an experienced manager who had the credentials to move us on to 'the next step'. After weeks of flapping around every manager available we decide to look at which player might be retiring soon and who is also English. So Coops or Gareth then.
Before I come under a hail of old non-renewed season ticket books I would like to point out that I, like any other fan, will be patient and give the new manager the time he deserves, but I don't mean that I will be satisfied to see us bottom of the league having played five and lost all of them. No, this was mildly acceptable under Robson and we just about grinned and bared it under McClaren, but asking fans to be patient with the third newcomer in a row is getting to be a strain on the heart. We all want the new manager to be a success, however being a realist I find it hard to see any improvements in any one area since McClaren departed.
While the club would have you believe that Gareth Southgate's appointment was a welcome one, everyone within the club and supporting it will be wishing Martin O'Neill had pitched camp just a bit north of Brumville. In fact I'm sure Gibson would have bitten O'Neill's hand off before he could even take the pen to the paper.
I know that he has the best interests of the club at heart and always will but I fear we may have missed a chance to take this club to the next level. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that if Martin O'Neill is sniffing around the job the last thing you do is tell him to leave his coaching team behind. Gibson has better football knowledge than many a chairman, but probably not more than Martin O'Neill.
We could go through many a parmo and a late night discussing who we could have attracted, but it won't change a thing. Our manager, despite lacking the required and hotly disputed coaching badges, is Gareth Southgate. Still doesn't sound right though.
So to look at Southgate's credentials, yes he may be aptly accustomed to the game and by all accounts his man management skills are excellent, hence being a valuable captain. And he may even be able to know exactly what is needed in training, and where the team needs strengthening and where we can afford to sell. What we should be looking for is evidence of these qualities.
The football club are clearly in the market for new signings, mainly at the back. However the names being banded about are hardly going to inspire the fans. Fans need a reason to go out and buy a ticket. Gone are the days of fans turning up to watch displays which could bore an advance mathematics tutor to sleep. We want flair, there were some great games last season at the Riverside, some incredible games and I don't need to list them, but any fan will tell you that the dire displays stick in the mind just as much, if not more that the glorious victories.
Each and every pre-season we have signed a player or players which send a message to the fans. Yakubu, Hasselbaink and Zenden to name a few in recent years. Names such as Huth, Distin and Emerton are hardly the inspiration the Teesside public needs.
In my eyes, more significant than the names under the 'In' column are the losses we've incurred. At the time of writing eight senior players have departed, including Franck, Jimmy and Doriva and of course the retirement of Southgate have left us looking around the dressing room at what we have left. Southgate has been eager to strengthen at his vacated centre-half position. When Southgate takes a glance upfield he will see Massimo Maccarone, Mark Viduka, Malcolm 'The glass man' Christie and the Yak, who by his own admission must be more consistent. This to me is a sign that Southgate will be a highly defensively minded coach, despite his pledge of attacking football.
So far we have drafted in one senior player, Julio Arca, who must have been itching to leave the Stadium of Light after six hugely wasted seasons. Arca has been in good form in pre-season, which is the one plus point from our goal shy performances. The Downing - Arca combination has promise with one player holding back while the other teases the opposition defence. It's not a question of whether we'll sign anyone else, but of who and when which worries many supporters.
So after years of endless optimism, the bubble may finally have burst in my and thousands of other fans minds, and if it did, it was on May 10th 2006. Let's all hope that come next May we will be praising the team and the manager to the hilt, but for now I can't see it happening.
Karl Watson will be joining Tom Warnock next week.
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