Middlesbrough sack Chris Wilder after ‘breakdown in relationship’ with owner Steve Gibson and with Boro in bottom-three after disastrous start in Championship
Middlesbrough have terminated manager Chris Wilder’s contract with immediate effect, the club has announced.
talkSPORT understands former Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan and ex-Watford head coach Rob Edwards are among the early contenders to replace Wilder.
A brief statement from the Championship side confirmed the Englishman’s departure from the Riverside Stadium after 11 months at the helm
Wilder, who impressed during his spell in charge at Sheffield United by taking them to the Premier League and a ninth-placed finish, joined Boro last season and narrowly missed out on the play-offs.
However, despite a decent debut campaign in the dugout the north Yorkshire side have struggled massively this season.
Boro have taking ten points from their opening 11 games to sit in the bottom-three.
A 1-0 loss to Coventry at the weekend left Wilder with a record of two wins, four draws and five defeats this season, and the club has now acted.
As well as their poor form on the pitch, it is understood a breakdown in his relationship with Boro owner Steve Gibson was also behind his departure.
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A statement on mfc.co.uk read: “Middlesbrough Football Club have terminated the contract of manager Chris Wilder with immediate effect.
“Leo Percovich will take over first team affairs in the interim basis, assisted by Craig Liddle, Mark Tinkler and Lee Cattermole.
“The club would like to place on record its thanks to Chris and his staff for all their hard work over the past 11 months.”
talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook join the Breakfast show to react to the news, and said the 'brutally' short statement from the club shows the breakdown of Wilder's relationship with his bosses.
“The vibes coming out the last few weeks haven’t been positive with regards to their relationship with Chris Wilder," he said.
"I think you can read a lot into the nature of the departure by the statement, this is a very brutal statement from Boro. It’s only two paragraphs long, and because it’s so short and maybe not very sweet that tells you all you need to know about Wilder’s relationship with the hierarchy above him.
“I’ve been hearing whispers for some time now that him and Steve Gibson the owner haven’t seen eye-to-eye.
"I think there were some issues over the distribution of transfer funds particularly when Djed Spence was sold to Tottenham. I think Wilder was hoping to get that deal done earlier in the summer and was definitely hoping for more of those transfer profits to spend.
"I think the story was similar with Marcus Tavernier and when that relationship starts to break down between manager and owner there’s only one winner."