Boro Mania

Relegation is still proving very difficult to come to terms with, to talk about and above all accept. Time they say is a great healer, but I firmly believe in sport and in particular football you never fully recover from the bad times just as you never forget the good times.

We have to at some point face up to the fact that we are now a Championship side, one of the favourites to be promoted in the coming 2009/2010 season and now we have to deal with this and move forward or we would face turning into the next Nottingham Forest or even worse Leeds United.

With this in mind we need to take the positives the club clearly possess and move towards the future, a future that is very bright when compared to many other football clubs. Newcastle United is the obvious comparison to this point.

Recently Steve Gibson announced he had restructured the clubs debts which have been reduced to approximately £30million with a view to these been wiped out completely by the end of the year. Incoming transfer revenue, season ticket sales and Adidas sponsorship and merchandising are the main reasons for this.

Gibson deserves more praise than he has received for doing this as many clubs are currently struggling to survive let alone work on an even platform.

With this in mind the announcement to allow Gareth Southgate to continue is his role as manager needs to stop been criticised, we have to move on and support the club for this coming season. Gareth is an intelligent young manager and with an assistant manager appointed who could add a bit of steel and authority to proceedings, then we should be able to move forward.

Gareth offers many qualities to move the club in the right direction; familiarity has to be a significant quality, he knows the club, which players to keep, which will leave as well as continuing the excellent youth policy the club has in place.

Adidas branding and merchandise will bring a new wave of football fan to the team, energise the current fan base as Errea definitely needed removing as well as bringing many financial opportunities to the club.

Yes we know several players will leave and this is probably something we needed to happen; we have carried a lot of dead wood for too long, I just hope Gareth and his coaching team can be ruthless enough with those who feel they can stay for a comfortable ride. We know who they are, he should know who they are and hopefully this will happen.

Investment in the playing staff is required, but we have to invest in some experience to help us through what will be a long hard season in the Championship, 3 or maybe 4 experienced signings right through the centre of the team should put us in a good position to start the season.

I was as disappointed as anyone when we suffered relegation but let us turn this on its head, we have a bright future in the game and it will not be long before we return to the heady heights of the Premier League, but not to just make up the numbers, we will go back and compete to a level that will excite and allow Boro fans to dream of success.

Time will tell, I only hope I am right, come on Boro back me up, actions speak louder than words!