Middlesbrough Choose Wisely

Congratulations to Gareth Southgate, who today was appointed manager of Middlesbrough in succession to Steve McClaren. And congratulations to his Chairman, Steve Gibson, both for the quality of his judgement and the courage of his convictions.

Hopefully, Gareth will be given the necessary time to get on with the job of managing a club which, despite the best efforts of his illustrative predecessor, only managed 14th place in the Premiership last season.

But that depends largely upon the attitude of the Premier League, whose rules stipulate that without a UEFA Pro Licence, a manager can remain in charge for only 12 weeks.

And then of course, there is the League Managers’ Association. After much huffing and puffing, their Chief Executive John Barnwell has issued a statement declaring: “I would reiterate this is not an LMA matter, it is a UEFA directive and an FA Premier League rule.” Which begs the question – if it isn’t an LMA matter, why all the huffing and puffing?

John has presumably retired to lie down in a darkened room.