Middlesbrough’s Marvin Johnson eager to carry on working with Neil Warnock

Marvin Johnson and Neil Warnock are big fans of one another, so it is no surprise they will be working together for another year at Middlesbrough, with the option for more.
Middlesbrough's Marvin Johnson.Middlesbrough's Marvin Johnson.
Middlesbrough's Marvin Johnson.

Warnock greeted news of the versatile 29-year-old’s new contract by talking about how he has improved on “a weekly basis” and how much he is enjoying the thought of improving him further.

For Johnson’s part, he has appreciated the simplicity and straight-forwardness of his new boss, and enjoying the confidence of one of the best managers in English football.

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“You get different opinions from fans talking or players who had played under certain managers so I didn’t know what to expect but if you go into meeting a new manager with an open mind and just show what you can do, that’s all you can control,” he says.

“Managers each have their own philosophy, playing styles and players they prefer. You’ve got to worry about yourself and keep yourself right.”

But the former Sheffield United loanee was won over straight away.

“I think he just came in and laid the basics down,” he says. “He didn’t do anything too technical or try anything too clever. He just told everyone what he wanted, and what he wanted from us as a team and that was it.

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“Once you start over-complicating things it puts doubts in players’ minds and there’s a bit of confusion as to your role in the team.

“If you get the basics right first everything falls into place and the ability comes through.

“Even in the games we lost, we were coming away from it thinking about our misfortune and in the games we won you could see we were really putting things together and starting to gel.

“If you’ve got someone who backs you 100 per cent before you’ve even kicked a ball it’s a massive boost.”

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Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday’s second signing of the summer, free transfer Chey Dunkley, ought to strengthen them at both ends of the field.

The 28-year-old, whose Wigan Athletic season was cut short by a broken leg in February, is a centre-back by trade, but has scored 20 goals in 185 league appearances for his last two clubs, Oxford United and Wigan, who released him at the end of the campaign.

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