Your three best and worst Boro managers

Best

Sir Bruce
Karanka
McLaren/Robbo - cup win & Europen/the sheer fckoffness of it all re spending and rollercoaster

Worst

Strachan - THE WORST by far (and I called it!)
Agnew
Woody /Murdoch
 
Big Jack
Michael Carrick
Bruce Rioch/ Lawrence

(like Murdoch, Maddren, Mowbray and Southgate despite their lack of success)

Worst Garry Mink, CW & Welsh Tony
 
equaliser said:
Worst:
1/ Warnock - not for his performance particularly, just because he's such a horrible niggly bloke, probably a Tory to boot, who made lots of bitter comments after he was sacked. SO glad he WAS sacked and no longer the manager of my club.
2/ Monk - spent loads on mostly terrible signings and set us back years
3/ Pulis - dire football, sold Bamford, humorless character

I know a lot will say Strachan, but for me he partly redeemed himself when he tore up his contact. Wilder is close, just because of the nasty vibe he brings

Best:
1/ McClaren - brought us our first ever trophy, got us into Europe, made some great signings
2/ Big Jack - first one I remember, and still the yardstick others are measured against
3/ Rioch - led us back from the brink with two successive promotions (and some memorable football along the way). Ended in tears but still a proper manager.

Carrick may achieve top 3 if he gets up up this season with the same football he's had us playing. Honorable mentions for Robbo, Mogga, Lenny L, Karanka
Click to expand...
Worst
1 - Strachan - utter Doyle.
2 - Monk - bot.
3 -Wilder. Probably a raging leftie too.

Best
1- Robbo - transformative
2 - McLaren - winner
3 - Brucie - just Brucie.
 
fmttmadmin said:
But he saved us from the drop - that would be a disaster at the best of times but that was the worst of times - at a time of covid - the consequences would have been horrifying.
Click to expand...
It's purely based on the fact that he hates Tories, bless him.
 
1) Monk - took the blueprint of a side that needed one or two alterations from the previous season to compete again, and absolutely wrecked it with big money signings under the portfolio of his agent mate. Just a deeply unlikeable bloke.

2) Strachan - the worst time following Boro in my two decades or so being a fan. Horrific directionless football, horrific dour gallows humour, again took something which could have been a platform for success and utterly squandered it.

3) Woodgate - don’t dislike the man, and by all accounts he’s been fantastic as a coach under Carrick. Similarly to his playing days - never the main man, and performs best with other people directing him to make the right decisions. Should never have got the job and only did because Jokanovic fancied six months in the Middle East.

Best:

1) McClaren - The man who made the greatest day in the history of our club possible, and turned us into one of the top sides in the country.

2) Aitor - made Boro believe again. Came away from games, week after week, believing we could do anything. Top manager.

3) Mogga - was the right age to really appreciate the task in Mowbray’s hands. Local lad, adored the club and still does, who had very little to work with and truthfully was treated shambolically by fans and the club hierarchy on his way out of the door. Was utterly gutted when it didn’t work out.
 
Interestingly, my best managers were "rookies", so have great hope that In a couple of years time that Carrick will be in this list. He has started well, but his test will be achieving success when he has built his own team.

  1. Steve McClaren - as others have said not the most likeable of our managers, and was blessed with money and, at times, luck. But no-one can take away the memories of our first Cup, and our glorious European adventures.
  2. Stan Anderson - he took over in 1966 when we were a mess in the second division, and got relegated to the third. We started badly, and with astute signings (buying a defender who became one of our best ever Centre Forwards - Big John Hickton ) we achieved promotion on the last day of the season at a packed Ayresome Park. In following seasons he built a team that challenged for promotion to the top division but just missed out. He built the team that Jack transformed to become Champions.
  3. Bryan Robson / El Tel - what a time that was to be a Boro fan. Highlights were two promotions, some top class signings, Wembley finals. Yes, he made mistakes, but the biggest error was not playing the Blackburn game which was not the fault of the manager. Some great memories, which is what being a fan is all about.
    Honourable mentions - Big Jack for giving us a promotion without the usual last day nerves. Bruce Rioch for keeping us going with the youngsters after going bust. Tony Mowbray for picking up the pieces after Strachan. Aitor Karanka for a couple of great seasons.

And now for the managers I wish had never come to our club. Unlike the list above, these were all experienced:

  1. Gordon Strachan - took us from a team near the top of the table to one near the bottom. Bought garbage Scottish players, and played awful football. He seemed to think this was a joke. For the only time in watching Boro for 60 years, it felt like a chore going to Boro home games. No wonder we were bribed with a drink before games. We needed it! He was our worst manager by a long way.
  2. Gary Monk - He blew our promotion kitty after relegation in a few months, and then started looking for a better job! What a disaster he was. Set us back years.
  3. Chris Wilder - to be fair he had a playing style plan, which worked for a while, but was not prepared to change it. What annoyed me most, was that after wins he took the credit, but when we lost he threw a player or two under the wheels. He was only interested in himself, and his ambitions.
Warnock would certainly not be on my list of best or worse managers. He did a good job for us when he took over, and came back the following year when we asked him to.
 
Best

1. Jack Charlton - extraordinary promotion, joint highest league finish in my lifetime. Made us a real force for the first time since WW2.
2. Steve McClaren - trophy, joint highest league finish, European adventure. Made us a real force again.
3. Bryan Robson - catalyst/magnet who gave us a rollercoaster ride we'll never forget.

Karanka was well on the way after a transformational first 3 years, but it did go wrong. Similar to Bruce Rioch really. (Both treated quite badly IMHO).

Honorable mentions to John Neal and Lennie Lawrence. Both did unbelievably well on a pittance of a budget. Development of youth/home grown and canny buys

Worst

1. Tony pulis - amazing I can put someone worse than Monk, but he followed Monk and made additional catastrophic decisions (Flint, Saville, Bamford). A crook and a liar who took us backwards badly.
2. Garry Monk - crook, liar and horrendous transfer record that committed all our PL windfall on the worst group of signings our club has ever made.
3. Gordon Strachan - just got things hopelessly wrong, but at least left quickly enough not to cause further damage.

There have been really badly performing managers.
Murdoch, Southgate, Woodgate: They were terrible, but were all appointed stupidly, far too early, without the experience required, badly supported, poorly resourced and inevitably huge failures.

It is ridiculous to put Warnock on either list. Fair enough if you dislike him, but we were going down on roller skates under Woodgate.
This jaundiced view that we lost his 4 home games, misses the fact we won our 4 away games. The wage bill also plummeted in his time. He did what pulis said he had done (and hadn't).
 
In my time
Best
1) Robson
2) Rioch
3) McClaren
Even Robson and MaC had their critics' while here but they advanced the club,Roich while not the best in my time is my favourite, you had to be there to understand.

Worst
1) Southgate
2)Agnew
3 ) Monk
Southgate eventually blew it as Boro boss, imo you can have a youthful team but you need to have stability and experience in the goalie and other key areas, he got rid of Schwarzer and had **** young goalies instead, they were a real up and down team. I'm glad he's gone on to do well with England but we maybe had him to early in his managing learning curve.
Agnew I know he wasn't a proper manager but after Aitor left he was dire, absolutely stunk the place out.
Monk , do I have to say anymore?.
 
best
McClaren - obvious really..
Robson - changed the club and had some moments i'll never forget
Karanka - i think we were onto something good just a shame it fell apart

worst
Strachan - sucked the life out of the club
Pulis - see above + worst football ive ever seen
Monk - charlatan
 
Best
Rioch
Charlton
Robson
(Honourable mentions for Neal, Lawrence, McClaren and Karanka)

Worst
Carter
Strachan
Monk
(Dishonourable mentions for Pulis, Southgate)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top