Danny Higginbotham says that Jonathan Woodgate must be given plenty of time in order for the Middlesbrough manager to be a success at the Riverside Stadium.

Woodgate took charge at 'Boro, his first job in senior management, over the course of the summer, after the club elected not to extend the contract of Tony Pulis at the end of last season.

Having drawn with Luton and lost to Brentford and Blackburn in his first three games of the Championship season, Woodgate picked up his first win as a manager on Tuesday night, as his side beat Wigan Athletic 1-0 thanks to Britt Assombalonga’s first-half header.

That win has lifted ‘Boro to 16th in the early Championship standings, with four point from four games.

That slow start to the season may have raised some concerns amongst Middlesbrough fans, and asked in an exclusive interview with Football League World Chief Editior, Sam Rourke, whether the club would need to be patient with Woodgate, Higginbotham said:

“Of course it is, 100%. I think that one thing that you see in anything that you do in order to get success you need consistency.

“I think it’s a huge thing in football without a doubt.

“You only have to go back- and I’m not putting them in same bracket at all – but you go back to the start of last season everyone was questioning Farke at Norwich, they were looking at the performances at the time and the performances weren’t worthy of the poor results that they were getting and it turned around in their favour.”

Discussing what Woodgate looks set to bring to the Riverside Stadium, the former Stoke defender added:

“I know Jonathan quite a bit, I spent a bit of time with him when he was at Stoke and he knows what he wants to do and how he wants to go about it and it is different in terms of the style from under Tony Pulis there, there’s no doubt about it.

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“Like anything it takes time to adjust and for people to get used to it and it’s Jonathan Woodgate’s first managerial job and the one thing that you need as a manager with whatever you are doing is time because you just don’t know when things are going to turn in your favour around the corner, so it’s all about having time.

Despite that, Higginbotham remains well aware of the pressure that Woodgate will already be under, as he concluded:

“But, you’ve still got to get results in the meantime and with Woodgate – I mean he’s brought his own coaching staff – you’ve got to give him time to adapt and unfortunately in football time’s at a real premium now but it’s something that we need to see more and more of within football.”