TONY MOWBRAY feels his former club, Middlesbrough, still have plenty of time in which to turn their season around following the dismissal of Chris Wilder.

Wilder was sacked as Boro boss this morning, with the Teessiders floundering in the Championship relegation zone after winning just two of their opening 11 league matches.

Mowbray learned of Wilder’s departure as he was taking his seat to speak to the press ahead of Sunderland’s game with Blackpool tomorrow night, and was asked about events on Teesside.

The Black Cats boss remains a Boro legend after spells at the club as both manager and captain, and while his former employers might be six points adrift of his current side, he expects whoever is appointed as Wilder’s successor to have plenty of time in which to turn things around.

“I think with Chris Wilder in charge, and with the players and the team they have, everybody would have (expected) Middlesbrough to be up in the top six competing,” said Mowbray, whose Sunderland side suffered a 1-0 defeat at the Riverside last month.

“What I would say, though, is that they could still very much do that. If you look at it, then from third bottom to sixth top is only five or six points. The league is really congested at the moment, and a win can catapult you into the top six or a defeat can drop you down into the bottom half of the table.

“It’s a very tight league, and it probably won’t be until the World Cup break where we can all take a breath, look at the table, and see who’s going to be really strong and who needs to make January a good window for them.”  

Thanks to the huge growth in social media in the last decade or so, Mowbray feels there has never been a tougher time in which to be a football manager.

Ultimately, however, he accepts that the strength or weakness of a manager’s position will still be dictated by results.

“I think football management is becoming harder and harder,” he said. “The social media aspect of it is what resonates with me, although we all understand that you have to win football matches.

“At the end of the day, it’s not the people on social media or the opinions on the phone-ins, or even the punditry that decide things – football managers have to win football matches.

“You have to find a way to win. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, professional football management, and we all understand you have to win games.”