Gordon Strachan has today been confirmed as the new manager of Middlesbrough. The 52-year-old succeeds Gareth Southgate, who was fired last week despite the Teesside club being just one point off the top of the Championship.
The former Celtic manager was unveiled at a press conference this afternoon at 2.30pm, and immediately targeted a return to the Premier League in his first season with his new club.
After putting his name to a four-year deal with the Coca-Cola Championship club, Strachan was asked if he believes immediate promotion is an attainable target. "Of course I do," he said. "I feel I can make the people who I work with better, one way or another, and if I can do that we have a chance. At one point last week we were a point off the top of the league, but also two points off 10th place, so that's how tight it is in this division.
"It's an exciting division to come into. I was fortunate enough last week to watch QPR and Reading and the standard was excellent."
Strachan revealed the reputation chairman Steve Gibson has for backing his managers was a major factor in his decision to replace Southgate.
He added: "First of all, I don't need to be here and I don't have to be here. I'm here because I want to be here. When I left Celtic I told anyone close to me that it will be very, very difficult for me to retrace my steps in terms of jobs and the excitement I had at Celtic. I felt it had to be something different and I've got a chance of something different here.
"I know who the chairman is, I know where the money comes from. I know you get time and with the stability of the club you have a chance here to develop things the way you would like to see it develop. Developing younger players, making the better players better, these things attracted me to the job."
Strachan began his managerial career at Coventry before moving on to Southampton, who he led to the FA Cup final in 2003.
The former Aberdeen, Manchester United and Leeds midfielder took charge at Celtic in May 2005 and after a dreadful start, when the team lost a Champions League qualifier 5-0 to the Slovakian side Artmedia Bratislava, he led the team to three successive Scottish Premier League titles. His first game in charge of Middlesbrough will be Saturday's encounter with Plymouth.
Southgate's dismissal after three years in charge at the Riverside came as a shock to many. Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson and chief executive Keith Lamb came in for criticism for sacking Southgate shortly after giving his post-match press conference following victory over Derby. But Lamb said today: "My job is to do what is best for Boro. Gareth served the club well as a player, captain and a manager. I only have good things to say about Gareth. We dealt with the situation as best as we could. It was never going to be easy asking Gareth to leave."
The former England defender could not prevent the club sliding out of the Premier League last season and Steve Gibson, the Middlesbrough chairman, revealed it was his fear that the club would not bounce back at the first attempt which led him to make the change.
"When I sat down and considered our start to the season, I felt that the league table was actually more favourable than some of our performances," he said last week. "Then I looked at the important games against the teams immediately around us, and took those results into account. In general the results and the performances have not been to the level I would have hoped for."
The team were led on a temporary basis by Colin Cooper at the weekend and drew 2-2 at Preston. They are now three points behind the Championship leaders Newcastle United.
- Tags:
- Middlesbrough,
- Championship,
- Gordon Strachan
