The inside track on Middlesbrough's Jonathan Woodgate's decision as abrupt call leaves club staff stunned

Jonathan Woodgate was relieved of his duties as Middlesbrough head coach on Tuesday.

One game back following football’s long-awaited return, and Boro chairman Steve Gibson has pulled the trigger. It shows how desperate the situation is.

The Teessiders are dangerously floating above the Championship drop zone on goal difference with eight games to go. If they play like they did at the weekend, they will almost certainly go down.

Yet Gibson has repeatedly backed Woodgate this season, firstly in December when Neil Warnock’s name was first linked with the Boro job, then publicly in March when the club dropped into the bottom three.

So the timing of Tuesday’s announcement that Woodgate has been relieved of his duties and Warnock will take charge with immediate effect caught everyone by surprise.

Woodgate had been typically bullish ahead of the Championship restart, saying how impressed he’d been with how his squad had kept themselves in shape.

Yet the woeful 3-0 defeat by Swansea left even the head coach shell-shocked, with Woodgate insisting he didn’t see the performance coming.

It must be said that Woodgate appeared to have a good relationship with everyone at Rockliffe and, even when the situation looked bleak, players and staff alike always seemed upbeat.

Many inside the club will be disappointed to see him go and were as surprised as anyone when the news broke. Woodgate also had a good rapport with the media and was always accommodating during press conferences. Ultimately, though, it’s a results business.

Woodgate took training on Monday after the Swansea defeat but returned to Rockliffe a day later to say his goodbyes.

Gibson was in the directors box on Saturday and, like everyone associated with the club, was clearly concerned by what he saw.

During a lacklustre first half, the chairman will have been carefully thinking if Woodgate is the best man for the job - the best option for a relegation dogfight.

In the end, he decided the far more experienced Warnock has a better chance of beating the drop. Few fans are arguing with the decision.