Neil Warnock replaces Jonathan Woodgate as Middlesbrough boss

Middlesbrough have sacked head coach Jonathan Woodgate and appointed Neil Warnock as his replacement.

Boro are 21st in the Championship after losing 3-0 at home to Swansea City in their first game since the season restarted on Saturday.

Former Leeds, Real Madrid and England defender Woodgate, 40, was appointed last summer but oversaw just nine wins.

Warnock, 71, has been without a club since leaving Cardiff City after more than three years last November.

He now has eight matches to try to keep Middlesbrough in the second tier, with the Teesside club level on points with 22nd-placed Hull City.

His first game in charge will be away at fellow strugglers Stoke City on Saturday.

Boro will be the 16th club of Warnock’s managerial career, which started at Gainsborough Trinity in 1980 and has seen him win promotion to the top flight on four occasions – most recently with Cardiff in 2018.

Woodgate, who he replaces at the Riverside, was in his first managerial role having previously been in the club’s backroom staff.

In a statement, Boro said it “would like to place on record its thanks” to Woodgate, who had guided them to victory at Charlton Athletic in their final game before the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He signed a three-year deal when he was appointed as head coach following the departure of Tony Pulis.

Capped eight times by England, centre-half Woodgate’s playing career included a £13.4m move from Newcastle United to Real Madrid in August 2004 and promotion to the Premier League with Boro in 2016.

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