Woody interview

Has he actually described being depressed there, or just unhappy and losing confidence? The gazette seem to have taken a liberty adding it to the headline.
 
I liked Woody's passion, but he had to go because we were struggling (and with the resources he had we should not have been in a relagation battle) and had done for nearly 7 months. I didn't think it was fair to throw him in the deepend with his lack of experience. Some people can be cruel in comments. There is a place for critical comments without being cruel in my opinion.
 
The job was too big for a rooky!
I wanted Woody to do well and I think given time, he would have. Unfortunately, in this division there is never enough time.

I wish he'd gone to Hartlepool, proved himeself and then stepped into the dream job.

I wish Woody all the best. I hope he does well elsewhere
 
As a manager he appeared to be Naïve & Arrogant from a fan looking in.
Listening to interviews he's done after he admits his own naivety with regards to the capabilities of the players and styles of play etc..

My dream job would also be to manage boro.
Being sacked from any job because of vastly under performing is always going to be embarrassing.

Regurgitated Non-story with 'Depression' added for maximum clickbait effect.
 
If he's right in what he says about the chairman and chief executive telling him he'd be in charge regardless of whether we were relegated to League One or not, and then sacking him, that's a concern IMO. Because it kind of echoes what happened to Downing, telling him he'd be getting a deal and then not following through with it. There's quite a few stories around about how the club release players, or move players and managers on, that show a bit of a distance between the boardroom and what goes on beneath that. It's a results business, of course, but a bit of courtesy and honesty goes quite a long way.
 
Was massively out of his depth, Gibson foolishly believed the fans would back him just because he was born in the town and in spite of his inexperience. if he'd have done well with the team he would have got more time but his team had relegation stamped all over it.

Still cant believe he went for Gestede and Nmecha as his forwards for the first game back after Covid struck, I dont think anyone could have predicted that line up based on what had happened during the season beforehand.

In regards to being called thick making a comment like "the league table is lying" is not going to help your cause!
 
gravy173 said:
Was massively out of his depth, Gibson foolishly believed the fans would back him just because he was born in the town and in spite of his inexperience. if he'd have done well with the team he would have got more time but his team had relegation stamped all over it.

Still cant believe he went for Gestede and Nmecha as his forwards for the first game back after Covid struck, I dont think anyone could have predicted that line up based on what had happened during the season beforehand.

In regards to being called thick making a comment like "the league table is lying" is not going to help your cause!
Click to expand...
That Swansea game line up still gives me nightmares
 
gravy173 said:
Was massively out of his depth, Gibson foolishly believed the fans would back him just because he was born in the town and in spite of his inexperience. if he'd have done well with the team he would have got more time but his team had relegation stamped all over it.

Still cant believe he went for Gestede and Nmecha as his forwards for the first game back after Covid struck, I dont think anyone could have predicted that line up based on what had happened during the season beforehand.

In regards to being called thick making a comment like "the league table is lying" is not going to help your cause!
Click to expand...
I was probably someone who mocked that 'the league table is lying' comment as well, but to be fair it was blown out of all proportion really. What he meant was that, at the time he was speaking, the level of our performances across the piece hadn't yielded the points they probably deserved. Or he felt they deserved. But he said it in a really simplistic, cack-handed manner that made him sound naive or deluded and left him exposed to ridicule.

Maybe a more experienced manager wouldn't have said it in those terms, or maybe a more experienced assistant would've helped him to work through what he was going to say in his press conference.
 
Too much too soon, but you have to put the blame of that at the Boro boardroom, not Woodgate. Hard to turn a job like managing your hometown club down, but maybe he should have earned his spurs at clubs where the emotional investment wasn't so high.

I think the club might have at one point taken the hit of a relegation if Woodgate showed he was learning his craft with a young and gifted team, but then two things happened:

1 - COVID-19 putting the season on hiatus and putting the club in such financial peril that a jaunt to League One would have been an absolute catastrophe

2 - Woodgate having 8 weeks or so of no league football to get his players and staff ready for a final push but serving up the Swansea home game

Its easy to forget, but the world was turned completely on its head in the first half of 2020 and for Woodgate to take a conversation just before the lockdowns as some kind of iron-clad promise was a bit naive of him. I've said it before on here, he'll be an excellent number 2 or head of an academy some day.
 
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viv_andersons_nana said:
If he's right in what he says about the chairman and chief executive telling him he'd be in charge regardless of whether we were relegated to League One or not, and then sacking him, that's a concern IMO. Because it kind of echoes what happened to Downing, telling him he'd be getting a deal and then not following through with it. There's quite a few stories around about how the club release players, or move players and managers on, that show a bit of a distance between the boardroom and what goes on beneath that. It's a results business, of course, but a bit of courtesy and honesty goes quite a long way.
Click to expand...
I cannot imagine a conversation where Gibson was discussing being in league 1
 
It seems clear from reading that Woodgate takes being called names such as thick personal. He's admitting he's not exactly smart, but there's different types of intelligence and not all are academic based. I'm sure Woodgate has plenty of other skills, so hopefully he learns not to be too concerned about what others think.

As for the sacking. He can't complain that Gibson made that decision. I remember being at Barnsley a month before the first lock-down and the team was shocking - probably the worst performance I've ever seen. By the time the restart happened the Swansea game demonstrated zero improvement from that. Gibson will have realised then a change had to be made.

I can't have much sympathy for him working away either. Plenty of blokes on Teesside work away in order to provide for their family. It's a choice that a person makes and a situation you have to deal with. He could have said no to Bournemouth.
 
NYboro said:
Depression not helped by comments on social media.....

www.gazettelive.co.uk

Jonathan Woodgate admits 'thick' jibes lowered his confidence at Middlesbrough

The former Riverside boss has also opened up on his battles against depression
www.gazettelive.co.uk www.gazettelive.co.uk
Click to expand...
EbMMEYCXYAIt0Bl
 
wilkos_perm said:
Has he actually described being depressed there, or just unhappy and losing confidence? The gazette seem to have taken a liberty adding it to the headline.
Click to expand...

He's given that interview on a podcast about depression.

I've always thought some of comments about him as a person were massively over the line, and that's including comments from posters on here.

I still don't think he should have been given the job, and I was relieved when he was replaced, but that's a different matter.
 
This is a different story to the one that came out after he’d left.. the one saying that the fans were out to get him before he’d even started. I remember it differently, fans wanted a change from the Monk and Pulis era.. a fresh approach both Cocu and Cowley* were mentioned by fans as Woodgate did not seem like a genuine change in direction. When he was appointed fans go behind him and were excited by the prospect of a long term project with the academy at the heart of a new technical/attacking philosophy.

Woody’s plan went out of the window once he brought Rudy Gestede into the side Mowbray’s ‘find a way to win’ mantra very much playing in his head. Through a combination of injuries and suspensions like his predecessor Woodgate stumbled on a winning formula 3-5-2 this was soon dropped as the injuries and suspensions cleared up.

I think fans were disappointed by this but in no way were calling for his head, most were sympathetic to the cause and understood that his ‘assistant’ Robbie Keane was as much use a t*ts on a goose.

All that being said a sigh of relief (after initial hesitance) was gasped as Warnock steadied the ship with the no nonsense approach of.. well getting rid of Rudy for starters.

Even after all this many have commented that if Woodgate had an experienced hand by his side he would have probably still been manager today! maybe a Steve Round type.. did he ask David O’Leary? Liam Rosenior would have been a marked improvement on Robbie Keane.

*for what it’s worth I don’t think Woodgate was that far off Cocu and Cowley for what they produced for their respective clubs and they both had much more experience than Woodgate.
 
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Seemed a baffling decision at the time and even more so with hindsight.

Probably too big a job for any rookie. If you're going to give it to a rookie then it's surely one who at least had a reputation for being an incredible leader on the pitch during their playing days (eg Robson).

I don't think Woodgate had anything like that sort of reputation. I know he captained us a few times, but always felt that was more down to his status as a player and "leading by example" than because he was a natural captain.
 
newyddion said:
This is a different story to the one that came out after he’d left.. the one saying that the fans were out to get him before he’d even started. I remember it differently, fans wanted a change from the Monk and Pulis era.. a fresh approach both Cocu and Cowley* were mentioned by fans as Woodgate did not seem like a genuine change in direction. When he was appointed fans go behind him and were excited by the prospect of a long term project with the academy at the heart of a new technical/attacking philosophy.

Woody’s plan went out of the window once he brought Rudy Gestede into the side Mowbray’s ‘find a way to win’ mantra very much playing in his head. Through a combination of injuries and suspensions like his predecessor Woodgate stumbled on a winning formula 3-5-2 this was soon dropped as the injuries and suspensions cleared up.

I think fans were disappointed by this but in no way were calling for his head, most were sympathetic to the cause and understood that his goalkeeping coach was a total fool and his ‘assistant’ Robbie Keane was as much use a t*ts on a goose.

All that being said a sigh of relief (after initial hesitance) was gasped as Warnock steadied the ship with the no nonsense approach of.. well getting rid of Rudy for starters.

Even after all this many have commented that if Woodgate had an experienced hand by his side he would have probably still been manager today! maybe a Steve Round type.. did he ask David O’Leary? Liam Rosenior would have been a marked improvement on Robbie Keane.

*for what it’s worth I don’t think Woodgate was that far off Cocu and Cowley for what they produced for their respective clubs and they both had much more experience than Woodgate.
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The change in style is a good point. Woodgate for the job based on a 4-3-3 high pressing style which was never going to work with the players Boro have.

Is there any mention from him that he abandon the approach that got him the job in the first place? Probably not.
 
Nero said:
The change in style is a good point. Woodgate for the job based on a 4-3-3 high pressing style which was never going to work with the players Boro have.

Is there any mention from him that he abandon the approach that got him the job in the first place? Probably not.
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On that front, it should've been clear to those running the club at numerous points in the recruitment process that Woodgate didn't have the players to play his preferred style and/or system. They should've known that what he wanted to do wasn't going to be possible with what he had available. Which is compounded by the fact he'd spent the best part of two years working with Pulis, learning the ropes, with those above monitoring him(you would think). And Pulis must've known what Woodgate wanted to do, as JW said he was pushing Pulis to include Coulson and other youngsters but Pulis didn't think they were good enough at that point. It just seems like a mess TBH.

It's an appointment you can make if you have lots of money and a ready-made squad. Putting a novice in charge of that group of players and telling him to cut costs while dramatically altering the style of play and bringing through youngsters... absolute madness. Just covering up the cracks, hoping for the best. That's how it seems really. I think those running the club thought we'd be far too good to go down, like in 2009.
 
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