Username
Password
Southgate Backs Downing
By Betting Zone
November 10 2007
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has pleaded with the club's fans to lay off England winger Stewart Downing after he was targeted by the boo-boys. The 23-year-old academy graduate was one of a series of players who came in for criticism during last weekend's 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Tottenham
Grab Your Free £20 Bet From Skybet Here

- as the Teessiders ended a run of five successive defeats but failed to win over sections of their own crowd.

Southgate revealed he has spoken to Downing - who was named in the England squad for the friendly against Austria and the vital Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia - this week to reassure him about the regard in which he is held at the club.

The manager said: "I have because he is one of us, he is one of them, he is a Middlesbrough fan. He is desperate to do well for this club.

"His heart is here and he is a young player who has been a terrific talent for us and has got us so many points and scored us so many goals and created so many goals for us.

"He is a match-winner for us. All I have expressed to him this week is the belief I have in him as a player, and that he has produced time and time again for us.

"Cream rises to the top and the stick he has taken, he takes it on the chin. He has had it playing for England as well."

Southgate added: "He is maturing rapidly as a player but understandably he was down after last week. Anybody who receives that sort of criticism, none of us like it at the time.

"But he will come through it, he will be stronger for it. He will remember the people who were with him when times were difficult, and he will remember those who are only there when things are going well."

Boro have worked hard to produce their own players in recent years - five of the 14 men who took part against Spurs came through the ranks at the Riverside Stadium - and have reaped the rewards of that investment in local talent.

However, Southgate admits that brings added pressure, and sympathises with the youngsters who are confronted by critics at every turn when times are hard.

He insists the local boys in particular have intense feelings for the club, and that the same can be said of those who arrive from further afield.

Southgate said: "Any criticism hurts any player. Some players, because of the manner in which they play and the style in which they play, the amount they care is easier to see than others.

"But I have not played with a player who didn't care and who wasn't hurt when things went badly and wasn't hurt by criticism, and that's genuine.

"Even guys who on the face of it played as if they didn't care, they do care and they are hurt when they are beaten.

"They show it in different ways and they mask it in different ways, but in the end they are all human beings and they all react to things in different ways."

He continued: "The difference for the young home-grown boys is that when they step out of the door, all their friends are Middlesbrough fans and their is no escape from it at all.

"Their families are fans, they go to the newsagent's and they get abused when they go to the shops or whatever. There is no escape for them.

"But players don't go home and stop thinking about football. It's their life.

"In actual fact, supporters think about it a bit less than players because the players are 24 hours a day thinking about how training went, how every aspect of their life revolves around performing on a Saturday.

"Their career is also their passion. The fans care enormously, but they must not think that the players care any less, because that would not be fair and that is not the case."

Grab Your Free £20 Bet From Skybet Here

By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.

CLICK BELOW FOR A FREE £20 BET FROM CORAL
Written by Steve Goldby

Coral, one of the UK's longest established bookmakers are offering new customers a free £20 bet. All you have to do is click below, open an account and deposit £20 and Coral will credit your account with a further £20 for you to bet on any event you like with.

CLICK HERE FOR A FREE £20 BET FROM CORAL



View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

Southgate Backs Downing
Posted by: ComeOnBoro (IP Logged)
Date: 10/11/2007 10:33

Southgate Backs Downing

Options: Reply To This Message•Quote This Message•Report This Message
Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Goto: Message List•Log In

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search•Log In
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net