Southgate wishes Woodgate well

Woodgate: Disillusioned at Boro

Gareth Southgate has revealed that he understands the reasons behind Jonathan Woodgate's decision to leave Middlesbrough.

The England international joined Tottenham during the transfer window, ending an 18-month stay with his hometown club.

The defender citied the lack of progress made at the Riverside during his time on Teesside as the reason behind his desire to move on, and Boro boss Southgate has accepted that there is still work to be done at the club if they are to reach the levels they are striving to achieve.

Fresh start

"I have tried to ring Jonathan a couple of times and he has tried to call me back," Southgate said.

"I enjoyed working with him. I think the move will be good for him because the change of environment will give him a fresh start.

"I hope on an individual basis it goes really well for him.

"He is absolutely entitled to say what he wants to say. I have got no problem with that at all.

No quick fix

"Jonathan is a fantastic player and he is showing that at Tottenham now.

"He has been a little bit disillusioned; he wanted the progress within the club to happen quicker than it can.

"We have to build the club piece by piece and unfortunately, there is no quick fix for that.

"I believe we are a stronger group than we were last year, but we have had an incredible amount of things to deal with."