Middlesbrough FC v Coventry City

Chris Wilder is winning the
battle for the hearts and
minds of Middlesbrough
fans and helping to forge a
powerful sense of unity at
the Riverside Stadium.
The new boss speaks
passionately, honestly and
directly in no-frills, workingclass
language that echoes
the thoughts and feelings
of fans. He doesn’t do selfpromoting,
sugar-coating or
excuses. He tells it as it is.
That was underlined
by his reaction to the 1-0
televised defeat away at Tony
Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers
on Monday night. It was a
tight game decided by a
rare mistake and Boro had
chances to nick something.
It would have been easy
to write it off as “a bad day
at the office”. After all, it was
the first defeat in nine and
against a very good team.
And his team had won six
of the previous seven league
Come on Boro!
“Wilder doesn’t do self-promoting, sugarcoating
or excuses. He tells it as it is”
games to completely reshape
hopes and ambitions after
a radical mid-season reset.
He could have cut them
some slack.
But Wilder sets high
standards for the attitude and
performance he expects. He
makes exacting demands of
individuals and of the team.
He wants them to improve
and deliver in every single
game and is not happy if they
fall short.
“I’m not into spin,” he
simmered after the game. “I
could come out and say, ‘How
have we not got a result?’,
but a football fan sees right
through that. Blackburn
wanted it more, were more
aggressive than us, and they
had the better chances.”
Just under 3,000 Teessiders
travelled to Ewood Park for an
evening kick-off that was live
on the box. That is mightily
impressive. And just under
10,000 tickets for another
potentially awkward evening,
the televised Friday night
FA Cup tie at Manchester
United, were sold in 24 hours.
There is a buzz about the
club right now and renewed
expectations.
Much of that stems from
Wilder. He has quickly
instilled a crowd-pleasing
style of high-tempo, frontfoot
attacking football with
quick and slick passing. He
demands that his team
perform at high levels
of industry, passion and
consistency. He has the team
playing well and fans daring
to dream.
So he wasn’t happy that
they slipped back into bad
old habits of starting slowly
and passing square and
sidewards rather than setting
the tone, shape and tempo.
He wasn’t happy at some
“poncey bits of tactical and
technical stuff”.
That will strike a chord with
Boro fans pack the Darwen End at Blackburn Rovers on Monday night.
22 #UTB