Middlesbrough academy boss praises club's youngsters after positive year

Liddle, who has formerly worked at Darlington and Sunderland, took over as Boro's academy manager in 2017 and helped the club in retaining their Category One status - ensuring that they can continue to develop the next generation of young footballers.

And Liddle is delighted with the work that has already been done with four of Middlesbrough's academy prospects involved with the first team this season.

Marcus Tavernier has been the standout star at the Riverside Stadium, making nine appearances in the first half of the season before joining MK Dons on loan.

The attacker netted twice for Boro, including what proved to be the winner against Sunderland in November.

He isn't the only player to have benefited from a loan spell either, with Lewis Wing excelling in the fourth tier at Yeovil and George Miller a regular goalscorer for Bury in League One.

And Liddle believes the future looks bright for the Teessiders, and he is delighted with the work that has been done this season.

Speaking to mfc.co.uk, Liddle said: “I think it’s been successful.

“We’ve had a few debutants - Marcus Tavernier played and scored a huge goal for the football club in a derby against Sunderland so we’re proud of that, Lewis Wing, George Miller and Aynsley Pears all had involvement with the first team.

“There’s been a lot of boys who have trained with the First Team, which is a massive plus for us and the young age groups are developing nicely so we’re quite pleased with the year’s work, it’s not over yet but what we’ve done so far we’re very happy with.”