Middlesbrough

Noticeable that little criticism has been made of the XI who are paid over the top wages to play football and last season failed to deliver, thus leading to the departure of Southgate.

The last two occasions I saw them play I was struck by their ‘let’s kick the ball about for 90 minutes, we still get paid’ attitude and lack of commitment.

It is these that Des Gibson wants to pay attention to. No win, no pay would soon address their minds and provide the fans, who pay hard-earned money to watch, with a performance they deserve.

But there again, the media bull up poor performances with a 6-8 match rating, leading them to think they are better than they are.

Harry F Pea, Northallerton

I AM not surprised that Gareth Southgate was shocked by the actions of Messrs Gibson and Lamb over the past few weeks.

It seems impossible for the chairman and officials of some clubs to deal with the termination of a manager’s contract in a professional and honourable manner and in my opinion if Middlesbrough attract any criticism then they only have themselves to blame.

In the North-East we have seen a fair share of lack of professionalism by clubs over the years. Sir Bobby Robson, Sam Alladyce, Kevin Keegan by Newcastle, Mick McCarthy at Sunderland and Southgate by Middlesbrough.

Clubs quite often think they can ride roughshod over a manager and totally disregard the rights of the manager. As a result acrimony sets in between the parties and bitter disputes then follow during which time neither players or supporters know what is going on.

The effect is the club’s position gets worse with every day that passes. I cannot see why chairman cannot be up front and inform them that the club is not satisfied with the team’s performance and the club wish to terminate his contract instead of sending chief executives to deliver messages.

The signals such conduct sends out to players and would-be future managers is very damaging and if chairman want professionalism from all people connected with the club they should lead by example.

Thomas C Sutton, Byers Green

WHILE I have long been an admirer of Steve Gibson, his halo has slipped somewhat as a result of the sacking of Gareth Southgate.

Gibson decided, apparently, to sack Southgate as early as September 29, less than two months into the season.

If his confidence in his manager was so fragile then why did he support Southgate following Middlesbrough’s relegation from the Premier League?

The result is that Southgate was dismissed when Middlesbrough were one point off the top of the league! It would appear that the team were behind the manager and are probably coming out of a run of poor home results.

The chairman and a minority of supporters have unrealistic expectations.

Southgate was doing probably as well as he could with the players available.

And how ironic that while Southgate is unemployed, albeit temporarily, Roy Keane, a man with far less managerial skills, continues to survive at Ipswich while they prop up the rest of the league!

As they say, it’s a “funny old game”.

John Crick, Bishop Auckland