The Story of Woodgate’s Tenure: A Miraculous Failure on his Part or a Case of Being ‘Hung Out to Dry’?

By Nathan Rayner Last Saturday marked the return of Championship football, after the halting of the season due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Middlesbrough fans were hopeful of a quick start from their team after a 0-1 away win at relegation rivals, Charlton Athletic, in the game before the stoppage pulled them outside of the drop-zone. A tough task was at hand with the opposition, Swansea City, sitting just outside of the play-off places at the start of the play, though the performance left a lot to be desired. From the get-go, Jonathan Woodgate’s team selection was questioned with various players playing out-of-position, so-called better players missing out and the system played being different to that which gave Boro success last time out. Defensive frailties and failure to create many clear-cut chances made Middlesbrough the masters of their own downfall, as they fell 0-3 behind to the Swans after only 34 minutes. Changes were made at half-time and improvement came with star-man Patrick Roberts being the stand-out player on the pitch in the second half, again emphasising Woodgate’s poor starting selection. Roberts’ impact was not enough though as the Teessiders slumped to another defeat and ended the day outside of the relegation zone on goal difference. With eight games left of the current season, Steve Gibson had seen enough and decided that the situation was too dire to continue any longer. Jonathan Woodgate was relieved of his duties as Head Coach on Tuesday morning and immediately replaced by the experienced Neil Warnock. The announcement has left fans feeling confident that Boro may be able to change their fortunes around in the coming weeks. It is easy to see why as well, with the 71-year-old having many successes throughout his career, so much so that he is the manager with the highest number of promotions out of the Championship and into the Premier League. The appointment of Warnock and the reaction that has been generated as a result has almost left fans wanting to forget Woodgate’s stint at the helm but is it fair to just pin the blame on him for Boro’s failings this season? On the 14th of June 2019, Jonathan Woodgate and his coaching staff, featuring Robbie Keane, Leo Percovich and Danny Coyne, were appointed as the team to take Middlesbrough Football Club into the 2019/20 Championship season. A coaching set-up with little experience was to lead the Club in developing ‘a new identity’, something which failed to suffice. They were always going to struggle with the Championship being such an unforgiving division where if naivety is present, then punishment will follow. Boro started the season well on the opening night, away at Luton Town with a 3-3 draw. Passages of play featuring slick passing and good movement, when in possession, and pressing the man in possession and his passing options when out of it were a main theme on that Friday night in August, and things looked promising. However, since then Boro have failed time and time again to recreate a performance of the same level and have been picked apart by numerous teams throughout the season. The standout negative performances across the season are the 1-4 defeat at home to Garry Monk’s Sheffield Wednesday, in which Boro fell three goals behind inside the first half an hour, a 4-0 defeat away at Leeds United and, most recently, Woodgate’s final game in charge, the 0-3 defeat to Swansea City. These performances cannot be defended from the manager’s standpoint. The ways in which the team was set up in these fixtures highlighted his inexperience, and overall, that he was out of his depth at Championship level. The players must take some of the responsibility for these performances. Things that should usually be relatively simple for players at Championship level have looked difficult at times, with more than a handful of sitters missed across the season and some defending that wouldn’t look out of place on a Sunday League pitch. Attitude and effort can’t be questioned across the board but for players who thrive off confidence, the team have certainly been struggling for it throughout the season. Whether that is down to results or unhappiness with their relationships with the coaching staff, we are unlikely to find out. But despite Woodgate's failure to establish a successful way of playing, one thing that should be looked at is the fact that he was appointed in the first place. In the last decade, two Teessiders have taken the top job at Middlesbrough Football Club and both have similarly been handed very tough tasks. Tony Mowbray held the managerial position at Middlesbrough from 2010 to 2013, and was handed the job of cutting costs and running a team on a low budget after a period of over-spending under Gordon Strachan. ‘Mogga’ was handed this remit in an attempt to steady the ship at Boro and work with what he had, rather than having the freedom to build a team with a reasonable budget. Any players with any value at the club at the time, such as, Adam Johnson, were sold on in order to bring in valuable funds that would stabilise the club again. Mowbray succeeded with this over his tenure, until results began to turn at the beginning of the 2013/14 season. Similarly, Jonathan Woodgate was handed the manager’s post after a period at the club in which costs would need to be cut, after large transfer fees were spent on numerous players during the first season back in the Championship, in an attempt to bounce back up. In total, ‘Woody’ signed 10 players, with minimal funds being spent on transfer fees and the majority being brought in on loan deals. The only real difference between the Teessiders’ tenures at the club has been that Mowbray possessed experience at the top level with his jobs at West Bromwich Albion and Celtic, in particular, in comparison to the lack of that Woodgate and his coaching staff had. The value of experience has shown no doubt in this comparison, with Mowbray stabilising the club on and off the pitch, whereas Woodgate’s team has struggled to pick up points this term. From the outside, it seems that Boro hired Jonathan Woodgate as Head Coach in order to be able to cut costs and buy time for rebuilding, with the likely hope that fans would give the manager and his style of play a chance, more so because of their affinity with one of their own rather than anything else. As seen last season, when Boro aimed to cut costs under Tony Pulis, an unfamiliar face around the club, the fans were keen to shout him out of the club as soon as possible. Whereas, this season, Woodgate, a familiar face among fans as he’s from the town, was likely to have been given more leeway by fans because of who he is. Had Boro even performed unremarkably in mid-table, supporters would have been patient, recognising that Woodgate's first season as a manager was unlikely to be too spectacular and that the new club-wide 'golden thread' would take time to implement. However, the lack of experience amongst the coaching team has cost the club dearly over the course of the season and Boro find themselves on the verge of the drop-zone. A tactic that was once proven to be a relative success with costs being cut under Mowbray, and mediocre success on the pitch, could bite Boro where it hurts if they fail to turn things round in the last eight games of the season. Let’s get behind Warnock and the boys and hope they can change our fortunes.