Chris Wilder insists he's “all in” at Boro - as Burnley eye him to be their next boss.
The head coach held lengthy talks with chairman Steve Gibson this week after being strongly linked with the vacant Turf Moor job after Sean Dyche was sacked. During two press conferences Wilder spurned the chance to kill off the chance of him moving to Lancashire, to take what could still be a £5m a year Premier League job if they survive their relegation battle.
Wilder said on Friday: “I am fully committed. If Steve Gibson gets a phone call, if I get a phone call, we have an open transparent relationship that we speak all the time. I am ambitious but I am ambitious with Middlesbrough. I want us to get into the Premier League. My track record in the past says I don’t jump in and out of football clubs. Speculation comes. We embrace it and say it is a decent thing because we are winning games.
“It is head down. I am all in. That is my attitude to my clubs, until I am told I am not all in. There is no excuse. I want to work in the Premier League, and I want to work in the Premier League with Middlesbrough. That is the be all and end all. I have ambitions to work at the highest level. There is no contact. I had a fabulous meeting with the chairman yesterday for over two and a half hours, then we went out for something to eat.
“We are making plans to transform this place (the training ground). There isn’t going to a jacuzzi in the corner for journalists, or a bar, that you might want, or a top notch coffee machine. But it will be to help the players. We have talked about players for next year. This is still a big rebuild. Even though the season is not dead and buried there is lots of work to be done in recruitment and how I want it to look going forward.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Wilder leave Boro for Burnley? Let us know in the comments section
“After a game isn’t an easy time to speak to a manager. I don’t say I get it right all the time. I spoke to the owner and we are all on the same page. I am here enjoying working for a fabulous football club and we have had some great times and I am looking for more good times.”
Boro are in a tense battle to get into the top six and win a play-off place. But they have hit a poor run of form including just two wins in eight league games and four home defeats. Wilder needs goals from his centre forwards and said: “We are still firmly in the hunt. We have to produce those performances and those big moments. We have to stop making silly mistakes. We have not been mullered by anyone or on the back foot.
"This is not an attitude situation. If I thought someone was dangling a foot in and not giving everything they wouldn’t be in the squad of 18. The centre forwards have all missed chances and found the moment they should have found and what they are paid to do. They will all be disappointed. We are all in that together. We get the ball there with good play but we have not found that quality. Our crossing stats are right up there compared to my past clubs.”
.jpg?w=600)
