Middlebrough manager has talked about Kevin Keegan, his old boss in the England camp, and seems to have good memories of his time with Keegan.
Gareth Southgate – has done a good job at Middlesbrough
Newcastle’s record under Keegan is played 3, lost 2 and drawn one, but those two losses are to Arsenal at the Emirates, a difficult place for any team to gain points and goals. Gareth commented on the mediocre start for Kevin:
“Going into the game with Bolton, Kevin only had a couple of days to work with the team.†“Arsenal away twice is a tough fixture for any team so really I guess they will be thinking everything starts from now.â€
“They will attack us and go for the win, but it’s a game we’re really looking forward to.†“The result will be whatever it is but we’ve got to make sure our performance is right, our attitude is right and the way that we play is right.â€
“I’ve got a group of players that are in the right frame of mind in that respect. We’ve got competition for places now, we’re in a decent run and we want to keep that going.”
Southgate played for England 57 times from 1885 through 2004, but was never an England regular during Keegan’s England reign. The former Aston Villa stalwart started just six matches out of a possible 18 under Keegan, and a further 3 appearances as substitute. So he appeared in half of Keegan’s England matches.
But Southgate seems to have fond memories of the way Keegan handled the England players:
“I enjoyed my time with him at England and I think, though he didn’t pick me all the time, if you work with somebody and they don’t always pick you but you still have fond memories of that person then it tells you something about the relationship you had with them.â€
“He was somebody that I enjoyed playing for, somebody that made you feel you wanted to play for them and although we didn’t have the most successful of times over that period, I thought it was a good camp to be involved in.”
Southgate was one of many surprised when Kevin decided to come back to manager Newcastle United, something the Geordie fans had dreamed of since he left in early January, 1997. Gareth continued:
“I was surprised because there hadn’t been too much indication that he would take the job, but he’s a football person and his enthusiasm for the game is immense so from that side of things it doesn’t surprise me.”
Gareth done a surprisingly good job in his first manager role at Middlesbrough and although the team hasn’t done great under him, he has lots of leadership and football knowledge, and he seems to be able to get the best out of his players. We also like the way he always acts as a gentleman whatever the result.
He looks a good man and seems to have a promising career ahead of him, but he was always a good leader when he was playing and Bobby Robson even fancied bringing him to Tyne-side when he was at Newcastle.
Middlesbrough will not be able to give club record signing Afonso Alves his debut today, as the Brazilian’s application for a work visa was not accepted in time.
We look forward to a decent (good) game this afternoon, and hopefully a win for the home side, from our point of view.
Comments very welcome.
5 comments so far
yet_another_indian_toon
Feb 3, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Comment #1A good free-flowing game please….
Coolsmurf
Feb 3, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Comment #2just wannna see a good game! i don’t wanna sleep so early!
tommyy
Feb 3, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Comment #31885 – 2004? He looks good for 119 years of playing football.
Tom_Toon
Feb 3, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Comment #4fk me, look at that nose!
valle
Feb 3, 2008 at 11:58 AM
Comment #5He is a vampire, didnt u know?… Anyone that skinny who can play central defense that good is a vampire