Boro hoping for Southgate approval

• omgukilledkenny

  14 Jun 07, 15:53

  Middlesbrough will ask for extended dispensation for manager Gareth Southgate as he attempts to gain his coaching qualifications.
  
  
  
  The 36-year-old has combined his first year in management with his studies for his badges, and recently spent two weeks on a residential course at Lilleshall along with coach Colin Cooper.
  
  However, Southgate will not be able to fulfil the newly-amended Premier League requirement of being enrolled on the UEFA Pro Licence course by the start of the 2007-08 campaign, and that could leave Boro with a problem.
  
  The Teessiders have already held talks with the Football Association over the way forward, but seem likely to have to persuade the Premier League board to extend the special dispensation they granted Southgate last year to continue in his post.
  
  Chairman Steve Gibson said: "The FA know our problems and to be fair to them, they have been very helpful and we hope there is not going to be a problem.
  
  "I cannot say categorically that we do not expect a problem because that's not the case, there could be.
  
  "But we will have to deal with it if and when it happens."
  
  Southgate has already completed his UEFA B Licence and is currently studying for the A Licence, hence his trip to Lilleshall.
  
  However, he cannot enrol for the Pro Licence until he has completed that course, and the demands of his job and the lack of available opportunities to fit in the necessary tuition are hampering his efforts to meet the agreement his club reached with the governing body last season.
  
  Gibson, who fought hard to appoint the former England international as his manager, is confident the club once again has a strong case.
  
  He said: "We have spoken to the FA, and part of the problem is that the courses have not been there for Gareth to go on.
  
  "You imagine stepping out of the dressing room, where you perhaps have a two or three-hour day, and then suddenly you are into management and you have to eat, breathe, sleep, drink it.
  
  "For him to find time during the season to progress, it's a bit of a nonsense. There is no fast-tracking. "
• omgukilledkenny

  16 Jun 07, 00:38

  Southgate handed job assurances
  
  The Premier League have confirmed that Southgate - who has already completed his B badge and is currently working towards his A badge - does not face a deadline to comply.
  
  Boro chairman Steve Gibson had stated he feared for Southgate's future if the League did not give him special dispensation to complete the courses.
  
  He said: "For him to find the time during the season to progress, it's nonsense."
  
  However a Premier League spokesman confirmed Southgate's job was safe.
  
  The spokesman said: "Gareth is registered on the courses to get his badges done as quickly as possible. Therefore further dispensation is not an issue."
  
  At the start of last season Southgate was granted special dispensation to pursue the required Pro-Licence when he replaced Steve McClaren as manager at the Riverside Stadium.
  
  The Premier League have now recognised that Southgate's inability to fulfil the requirement of being enrolled on the Pro-Licence course by the start of next season was purely down to a lack of available opportunities.