Michael Carrick sacked by Middlesbrough following disappointing end to Championship season

The latest North East sport headlines, from Daniel Wales. 05/06/25

Transcript

00:00Middlesbrough have sacked head coach Michael Carrick following the club missing out on the

00:04playoffs. Here's what he had to say following their final game of the season.

00:08I couldn't ask any more for them today. I thought we played really well and on top of

00:14that the circumstances it makes an even better performance but we obviously didn't get what

00:19we wanted from the game and just as we were going in a really good spell first half and

00:23taking control and looking really good, conceding before half time, giving them something to

00:28hold on to. I thought we came on second half really positive, really bright, really very

00:34good in so many ways and then we had opportunities, fell by the wayside, hitting the woodwork, keepers

00:40making saves and then we had to go for it at the end and then you expect a bit of breakaway

00:46here and there and probably the second goal is a goal-length clearance, we have a chance.

00:51Game's on a knife edge at that point and then they go and score the second goal so I felt

00:55for the players having to go through that on the pitch today. But we're aware that it's

00:59the course of the season and this one game wasn't the story of the season, it was defining

01:05in the end but I think that as the season as a whole we just come up a little bit short.

01:11And Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has remarked just how proud he was of his squad

01:16following what was a tough season from last summer all the way through to May which saw

01:22the side qualify for the Champions League.

01:25Yeah, very proud because I think if you said at the start of the season, especially the

01:29way we started the season, how the season would end, you know, you'd find or struggle to find

01:35too many people believe that we were in a position to do that at that time. We had an inconsistent

01:40beginning, we had a disruptive summer, you know, we haven't signed a sort of a major big signing

01:47in three transfer windows. They're all huge challenges. Lost players as well that we wouldn't

01:53have wanted to lose. So the players that we do have regrouped and just gave more and gave

01:58everything and that's why they deserve huge credit. It's very easy now to look back and

02:02see it through different eyes. But they're the challenges that we faced. A brilliant group

02:08to manage and to work with every day, very professional and they've got their rewards.