Chris Wilder bullish over Middlesbrough’s FA Cup run

It’s been some week for Chris Wilder and Middlesbrough, who followed up their recent victory at Old Trafford by knocking Spurs out of the FA Cup last Tuesday and by beating Luton Town in the Championship on Saturday.

The win has ‘Boro fans dreaming of the possibility of multiple trips to Wembley this season, and speaking to William Hill at Sunday’s Football Writers’ Association North East Awards, Wilder insisted that his side will give it everything in the next round as they host European champions Chelsea.

“Yes, they are (full of confidence),” said Wilder. “I mean it’s going to be another fabulous occasion, but we want to continue our cup run. We want to go deep into the competition. I think getting to the quarter-finals is a brilliant achievement with the teams that we’ve had to turn over to get there.

“Obviously, the draw has been kind to us playing at home, but not so kind being at home to the world champions and Champions League holders, but we’ll give it another go, and I think you’ll obviously recognise that we’ll have 30,000 Middlesbrough fans there backing the team so hopefully we can go again.”

Yet it’s not just the FA Cup where Wilder has found initial success at the Riverside. The club were sitting 14th in the Championship when the former Sheffield United manager arrived in November, with Saturday’s win against Luton propelling them into the play-off positions.

Whilst fans might be dreaming of a storied top-flight return, Wilder refused to be drawn on the promotion talk just yet.

“We can talk about the history of the football club and it’s all there in black and white, especially in the last 15 or 20 years with Steve Gibson and being in the Premier League, but we’re taking this on a game-by-game basis,” said the ex-Blades boss. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, there’s a lot of big teams in the division, there’s a lot of big clubs in League One too as we all know.

“Football can be really unforgiving, and you don’t get rewarded because historically you’re a big club and you’ve got a big fan base. You’ve got to earn the right to do that and obviously that’s going to be key to our success.”

With academy graduate Marcus Tavernier and veteran midfielder Jonny Howson both picking up awards on the night for their displays in recent seasons, Wilder was also keen to stress the importance of balancing youth and experience within his squad.

“We’ve got some really talented footballers at the club, a real good balance,” he said. “We’ve got some fabulous senior pros and some exciting young players that have come through the academy. Obviously, Isaiah Jones has taken a lot of acclaim recently, Marcus Tavernier and Dael Fry but also off the back of that Jonny Howson has been incredible and even some of the boys that have not been playing recently like Lee Peltier and Sol Bamba have been outstanding. It just makes it easier for myself and my coaching staff to go in and implement our ideas.”