The waiting game finally concluded...

THREE weeks is a long time in football, and particularly in the close season when so little is happening. Alas, the wait is finally over. The white smoke rose from the Riverside chimney on Tuesday, and Rob Edwards was finally appointed the new Boro head coach.

- By CRAIG JOHNS

Replacing Michael Carrick, just under three weeks since the Manchester United legend was sacked, Edwards has come through an extensive recruitment process to win the role he very nearly got the last time it was available. Losing out to Carrick on that occasion, he joined Luton Town instead, and led them to the Premier League ahead of Boro.

In truth, Boro were never expecting to change managers this summer. Even after a disappointing tenth-place finish, the desire heading into a post-season review was to implement changes that would have helped Carrick and his team improve.

When he wasn’t as receptive to change as had been hoped though, the decision was taken that the ultimate change was therefore needed.

With no expectation for that beforehand, there was no candidate lined up. Instead, a recruitment process began in which, as well as sounding out potential people of interest that Boro felt would fit the bill, they were keen to consider many others who put their names forward.