Who should be the next Middlesbrough manager?

MALCOLM MACDONALD:

I THINK they should go with somebody who knows and understands the area and I really do think getting Mogga in, with Bruce Rioch as his number two. I think that would tick every single box going in terms of satisfying the crowd and satisfying the boardroom and the dressing room and also getting a side put together that will get results and get some discipline into the club. He will inherit players he didn’t want in the past but that’s the art of management that you need to wheel and deal. You can go into the dressing room and say, ‘hey, it’s up to you there’s nothing I can do until the transfer window so you’ve got until then to impress me’. Players normally do very good out of transfers so I’m sure they’d jump at the opportunity if they were to be moved on.

I think Souness would do a super job there too. He knows the place well but I’m not sure he would want to take a job outside the Premiership to be honest but out of everyone, he has the best CV.

BERNIE SLAVEN

NOT just out of sentiment, but I can’t see past Tony Mowbray. He was a great captain and great player at the club. He’s plied his trade the proper way and worked for his coaching badges and he’s worked his way up in Scotland before he came to England and he did ever so well with West Brom to get them into the Premier League. They got relegated but I’ve never seen a manager get a standing ovation when his team’s got relegated, and Mowbray got that. I think in Scotland he was forced to sell some players and the big question is if he did get the job, how would those who came to Boro react, he has already shown them the door, so that’s the downside of Mowbray but the important thing is he knows the area and he knows the mindset of the public and he would put bums on seats. He’s the one Boro fans are crying out for but you can’t always go for sentiment. I wouldn’t like to be Steve Gibson, because he has to get this one bang on, there’s no room for error.

Souness is another name I’ve mentioned and he is the most successful manager out of the lot when it comes to picking up trophies and he’s vastly experienced but as I say, I would go for someone who can connect with the public, because Strachan has alienated them in a year and whoever comes in needs to get the fans back on side.

MICKY HORSWILL

THEY’VE got to think about getting someone in who will get the crowd back on their side, one of the main things is to get results but they need someone who can come in and manipulate the crowd to come back and watch the team and maybe the main one to do that would be Mowbray.

He was a massive star there and they all loved him and he’s got the pedigree. He did fantastically with West Brom in this league and he knows what the Championship is all about and what you need to bring a team up into the Premiership.

If I was them I would possibly get a playermanager, because you get two people in one and they’re short of players.

Someone like Gary Neville at Manchester United who is looking to get into coaching and managing but the down side of that is experience - but it can work. Sunderland got Roy Keane in and he got the crowds back, so that’s something else they might look at but the Chairman will have his own ideas so we’ll just have to wait and see what Mr Gibson does.

■ The Legends were speaking to Steph Clark.

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