Football News: How Much Longer Can Gibson Support Middlesbrough?

This season could be a make or break one for Aitor Karanka's Middlesbrough. There cannot be many owners who have done so much for their club than Steve Gibson has for Boro, but even he must have limits.

Despite the massive investment made in stadium, training facilities and players during Gibson's time, still the crowds are not flocking to see the team play. That is not so much of an issue if the team is in the Premier League, TV, prize money etc can fund the team to a large extent, in the Championship teams have to cut their cloth accordingly.

So far Gibson has propped up the club and continued to enable it to invest heavily, for the level, in player recruitment, backing manager after manager in the pursuit of success. So far a return to the Premier League has eluded the team, though Karanka has moved them closer than they have been for a long time.

Unfortunately though, a large portion of the squad was made up of loan players, meaning that this summer will again be one of attempting to sign players just to stay at the level they were at, before attempts can be made to move the club forward. How much longer can Gibson be relied upon to invest in the hope of a return?

It must be demoralising to do so much and yet each home game see a stadium that is nowhere near full. Each time the ground is not filled means more money has to come from him to make up the difference to allow the team to stay competitive. It surely has to be getting close to his limit, this season could well be the final time before he loses hope.

Written by Tris Burke June 17 2015 10:14:44