Southgate's career at the Boro

Paul Addison BBC Tees Sports Editor

Gareth Southgate's departure from Middlesbrough leaves the club looking for its third manager in ten years.

Southgate wasn't the obvious choice for manager when he was appointed in June 2006.

Less than a month earlier he'd led Boro out at the Phillips Stadium in the UEFA Cup Final against Seville.

BBC Tees Sports Editor Paul Addison takes a look back at Southgate's career as Middlesbrough manager.

Your comments on Southgate's exit

Paul Addison writes...

The UEFA cup final ended in a four-nil defeat and signalled the end of Steve McClaren's reign as boss.

Martin O'Neil was the favourite for the job

McClaren left to become England manager and Southgate was one of a number of Boro players looking forward to their Summer holidays and wondering who their next gaffer would be.

Teesside was awash with speculation as to who would take over.

Martin O'Neill emerged as the favourite with many of the fans but for whatever reason he decided against making the move to the North-East.

Controversial start

Southgate's world changed when he received a phone call from chairman Steve Gibson asking him to quit as a player and become the club's next manager.

His Riverside reign got off to a controversial start as he didn't have the required coaching badges to manage in the Premier League.

Southgate succeeded Steve McClaren

Gibson argued successfully that Southgate couldn't have studied for his UEFA Pro Licence as he was too busy playing for club and country.

Southgate's first game in charge was at Reading and with Boro two-nil up and cruising at half-time all seemed well with the world, but come full-time the Royals had won three-two and Southgate was rapidly getting used to the harsh realities of life as a manager.

FA Cup disappointment

Boro eventually finished 12th in the table in that first season, which included memorable wins over Chelsea and a run to the sixth round of the FA Cup.

The following season saw another run in the FA Cup but that ended with bitter disappointment after a home defeat by Cardiff City but the campaign was rounded off on a positive note - an eight-one win over Manchester City at the Riverside Stadium.

That scoreline sent fans away for the Summer dreaming of what could be achieved in the 2008-2009 campaign but it all started to turn into a nightmare.

Relegation confirmed

After an opening day victory over Spurs at the Riverside Boro gradually started to slide due to their inability to string a series of wins together.

The FA Cup provided a welcome distraction once again but it didn't mask an alarming slump in the Premier League.

A run of 17 games without a win saw Boro fall into the bottom three and they never recovered.

Relegation was confirmed following a two-one defeat to West Ham United at Upton Park on the final day of the 2008-2009 season.

Middlesbrough's only trophy

Despite dropping into the Championship Gibson maintained that Southgate was the man to lead them back top the top flight and Boro made a decent start but their form on the field appeared to be masking problems off it.

Some sections of the Boro faithful had turned against the manager and with an alarming drop in attendances at the Riverside Stadium Gibson decided to act and hours after the victory over Derby County Southgate was sacked.

He'll forever be remembered as the man who held aloft Middlesbrough's first, and only, major trophy - the Carling Cup in 2004 - but his record as a manager never matched his on the field exploits for the club.

He took charge of 151 games, winning 45, losing 63 and drawing 43.