Bury and Bolton troubles highlight how fortunate Middlesbrough are to have Steve Gibson

Jonathan Woodgate has praised owner Steve Gibson and says the troubles experienced by Bury and Bolton Wanderers highlight how fortunate Middlesbrough are to have him at the helm.
Middlesbrough head coach Jonathan Woodgate.Middlesbrough head coach Jonathan Woodgate.
Middlesbrough head coach Jonathan Woodgate.

Bolton’s future may have been secured after a takeover by Football Ventures (Whites) Limited was finally sealed but debt-ridden Bury were this week expelled from the EFL after a takeover deal collapsed.

Following the crisis in League One, Woodgate has moved to praise Gibson and the job he has done in transforming Boro since helping rescue the Teessiders in the 1980s.

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Woodgate said: “We didn't lose it because we had a chairman who stuck by us through thick and thin and really grabbed the bull by the horns and brought this club from out of the mire to where it is now.

“To a European Cup final, to being in the Premier League, to getting to Carling Cup finals to FA Cup finals to winning promotions, to getting to Wembley, he's that man and that's what Bury needed but unfortunately they didn't get that.

Middlesbrough need to count themselves lucky that we have someone like that from Middlesbrough, from Park End, born and bred in Park End, to become the owner of the football club is fantastic and it's just a shame that someone couldn't do it for Bury.

“When I met the chairman we hit it off straight away, he's a Middlesbrough fan like myself, my father is a Middlesbrough fan, he came with us at the time. But I wanted to play for this football club.”

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Pressed on whether he is sometimes taken for granted, Woodgate added: “I'd say definitely at times they do and that shouldn't happen, he does the most he can for this football club and he'd pumped his own money in for God knows how many years and backed every single manager more or less with a lot of money.

“I remember that season we went down a few seasons ago – the amount of money he put into the club was astronomical.

“Sometimes the grass isn't always greener, that's what you've got to work out as fans, we've got a great chairman here who's Middlesbrough born and bred, who loves the football club.”