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undoubtedly he is the best chairman for Middlesbrough, but is his reputation as a man who is tolerent to a fault of his managers deserved?

of the near dozen managers since he took over, three of them 'caretakers', he has sacked half of them, including our only cup winning manager, our only cup winning captain and a 'Boro legend who he wouldn't let spend any money

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He didn't sack McLaren. Didn't even sack Strachan or Karanka.

 

He did sack Southgate, Robson and Mowbray but he did way after they should have been.

 

Not sure about further back, were Lawrence, Todd or Rioch sacked?

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He didn't sack McLaren. Didn't even sack Strachan or Karanka.

 

He did sack Southgate, Robson and Mowbray but he did way after they should have been.

 

Not sure about further back, were Lawrence, Todd or Rioch sacked?

 

I think the first bit is a really important point. We don't know the terms of Karanka's departure but it seems amicable. Strachan walked away without a penny. Despite reports, I believe Maclaren has a good relationship with Gibson. I can't see Mowbray or Robson slagging him off.

I think all of this is evidence that he is a great chairman. He is respected by the managers he employs, and they value the way he runs the club.

 

See the comment from the Derby fan in the other thread .

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I don't think anyone in the game can say a bad thing about Gibson. He has an impeccable reputation and rightly so. Granted we don't know everything behind the scenes, but I can't recall a really bad thing throughout his reign. Well, maybe the agents don't like him anymore but that's a different story. Any manager at our level would relish working for Gibson.

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I think you'll struggle to find a club that gives their managers more time than we do. Wenger and Ferguson are anomalies (just look at United now ). I don't there's any question that Gibson is tolerant.

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I think you'll struggle to find a club that gives their managers more time than we do. Wenger and Ferguson are anomalies (just look at United now ). I don't there's any question that Gibson is tolerant.

 

They are certainly anomalies- but they have delivered (relative) consistent success - hence the longevity of their tenure. As a club that is rarely in a position to challenge and are often in a position of struggle I agree that Gibson shows immense patience.

In world where 2/3 defeats can provoke a sacking Gibson seems willing to ride most storms.

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don't get me wrong... God knows where this club would be without him, I was just interested in a statistic in the paper that earlier he changed managers every 4 and a bit years (above average) and now we change every 3 and a bit years (below average)

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akadave - have a read of this interview with Steve Gibson from today's Times (pasted below). It sounds a bit like Karanka was on the verge of having another of his meltdowns. Gibbo did him a favour:

 

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Steve Gibson, the Middlesbrough chairman, will give Steve Agnew the opportunity to lift the team away from relegation trouble, praising the “steel” of the club’s acting head coach and describing Aitor Karanka’s former assistant as “more than a safe pair of hands”.

 

In an exclusive interview with The Times, Gibson insisted that the decision to part company with Karanka, who led the club back to the Premier League last season, was mutual, and paid tribute to the Spaniard for his work at the Riverside Stadium. “He sacrificed himself,” Gibson said.

 

While the club’s owner and Karanka remain on good terms, talks this week led to the conclusion that, after an intense 12 months on Teesside, change was necessary. Middlesbrough are second-bottom of the division and have scored fewer goals than any other team.

 

“I’ve had a lot of discussions with Aitor since the weekend,” Gibson said. “We agreed that a different approach is required. Aitor is tired, he has worked so hard for our football club over the last three and a half years and the tension surrounding the end of last season would have taken its toll on anyone. Then we had a very busy summer.

 

“He was working his socks off trying to bring players in and he hasn’t really had a break since the minute he walked through the door. What we concluded — he and I — was that he perhaps wasn’t the guy at this point in time to deliver that change.

 

“I know people are cynical when you say that a decision was mutual, but he wasn’t sacked. He sacrificed himself. He’s in a good frame of mind. I think he’s relieved. He has been enormous for our club. He has progressed us and he will have learnt an enormous amount from this experience. He’s got a wonderful future in football — I really think that.”

 

Karanka’s spell at Middlesbrough has brought both on-field success and episodes of tension. For all the meticulousness, results have deteriorated, with the team failing to win any of their past 10 league fixtures. There has also been a brittleness under pressure.

 

After last weekend’s FA Cup defeat by Manchester City, Karanka, 43, spoke of his discontent with Stewart Downing and Patrick Bamford, explaining that his squad needed “18 fighters”. Twelve months ago, he missed a match away to Charlton Athletic after a confrontation with senior players, while in recent months he has criticised fans and the club’s recruitment.

 

On those occasions, Gibson’s diplomacy soothed matters, but at this stage of the season, with 11 games to play, there is no room for disharmony. “I’m not going to get into any of that,” Gibson, who is also Middlesbrough’s owner, said. “Some things have been in the public arena, but our discussions will remain private.

 

“We did agree that change was required, we did accept that the team hasn’t evolved since about Christmas and not only have we not gone forward, we’ve probably slipped backwards a bit. I’m not going to knock Aitor — he’s a great guy, full of integrity and he has worked incredibly hard.”

 

The hope is that Agnew can foster unity in the dressing room and restore vigour to the team, much as Craig Shakespeare has with Leicester City. While Nigel Pearson and Guus Hiddink are a*** the bookmakers’ favourites to take over permanently, Gibson will give the former Barnsley, Leicester and Sunderland midfielder the chance to make a claim for the role.

 

“I’ve known Steve a long time,” Gibson said “He’s a very good coach and a very good No 2. There’s more to him than people know and a bit more steel. Steve could be a surprise No 1. That may disappoint those people who want glamour and somebody to come in ready-made, a sexy name, but that’s not what we need at this point.

 

“I want to find out about Steve. My phone hasn’t stopped. I’ve had agents offering me obscure individuals and I’ve had some surprises too; at the moment Steve is going to get all the support we can give him.” So Middlesbrough have nobody lined up? “Yes, Steve Agnew,” Gibson said. “He’s more than a safe pair of hands.”

 

It took Middlesbrough seven difficult years to return to the Premier League but Gibson, who saved the club from liquidation in 1986, offers perspective. “We’ve worked bloody hard to get here, but no matter what comes by the end of May, nobody will have died and the world will keep spinning,” he said.

 

“Going down would be disappointing and we’re not in football to be relegated, but we’ll just get on with it. Where we’ll find ourselves is where we’ll find ourselves. We’ve got 11 games between now and then and all we want to focus on is Sunday. Let’s see if we can pinch something from Manchester United.”

 

 

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