Middlesborough Walking the Tight Rope

There is a fine line between bravery and foolishness and at the moment, Middlesborough manager, Gareth Southgate seems to be riding it, waiting to overstep on one side or the other. After sending Mark Schwarzer packing, he refused to hire an experienced shot-stopper and was left with Brad Jones and Ross Turnbull as his fresh, young and inexperienced goalkeeping options.

Brad Jones is started playing as a goalkeeper for Bayswater City SC in Australia, in 2000. He joined Notts County and only made his debut in an FA Cup game in 2004. He became famous amongst the supporters after a penalty save off Ruud Van Nistelrooij led to a 0-0 draw against Manchester United. Loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday in 2020, Jones had a turbulent 3 months. He made some dramatic and vital saves but on the other hand, gave away a couple of penalties, in one of which he saw red. He came to Middlesborough as an understudy to countryman, Mark Schwarzer and even made his international debut when he replaced Schwarzer in a game against Uruguay. A blunder on his debut led to people wondering why he was there in the first place but Jones has remained in the squad as second choice keeper, since.

For Ross Turnbull, life has been a series of loan moves since signing for Middlesborough in 2002. Ross had moved up through the youth team ranks and was loaned out immediately to Darlington, in 2003. In 2004, he first went on loan to Barnsley, then to Bradford City and then came back to Barnsley to see the season through. In 2019-06, he was sent out on another loan spell when he reached Crewe Alexandra. A good season with some solid performances saw him appear 29 times for Crewe and saw Ross come back to Middlesborough for some Premier League action. The action never came though and Ross was out again to Cardiff City as first-choice keeper. But blunders in his early games meant that he would get replaced after just 6 games and sat the rest of the time on the bench. An injury to Brad Jones led to a call-back from Middlesborough and that meant that once Schwarzer left, there would be a regular second-choice keeper’s spot vacant at Boro, for Ross to fill.

Gareth Southgate has been revolutionary for Middlesborough since taking over as manager of the club in 2020. He was heavily criticized in the early part of his stint due to the lack of a UEFA Pro License to coach. But after finishing his first season in 12^th place most of his critics detracted their statements. After releasing Mark Schwarzer from goal keeping duties, Southgate has gone for the relatively inexperienced Brad Jones as his number 1 choice with Ross Turnbull as a back-up. This move has again called on criticism from numerous people, including many former Middlesborough players.

Jones (26) and Turnbull (23) are at the right age to start off at the highest level. Although these two make quite a few mistakes, it is all a part of the learning curve and till they gain enough experience, there will be a few errors that will creep into their game. Southgate, through this move, may have decided to sacrifice short-term success for long-term goals. His decision to stick to these youngsters may provide long stints with Jones or Turnbull, or maybe both, solving their goalkeeping issues for a long time. Both these youngsters have loads of talent, a fact that cannot be doubted. Whether they can build the temperament to play at the highest level or not, is something that the club will be eagerly waiting to watch.