‘I don’t want to see that’: Rob Edwards airs Middlesbrough gripe despite late draw at Preston North End
PNE suffered last-minute disappointment against league-leaders Middlesbrough, who secured a late point at Deepdale.
Rob Edwards has criticised some of the travelling Middlesbrough fans at Deepdale for the ironic cheers to Morgan Whittaker.
With the scores level at 1-1 in Lancashire, the head coach rolled the substitutes in a bid to continue his men’s winning start to the campaign.
Whittaker was one of the changes made by Edwards after the break, with ironic cheers heard from the 5,728 travelling Middlesbrough supporters after a frustrating display.
It’s been a tough start to the campaign for the forward, who has provided just two assists in his six appearances in all competitions to date.
And while, the Boro boss has praised his side’s incredible backing at Deepdale, he was far from impressed with jeers towards the 24-year-old after his withdrawal.
Rob Edwards criticises Middlesbrough fans at PNE
Speaking to Middlesbrough’s in-house media, he said: “Incredible. Thank you so much for your support.
“I do have to say one thing, though. I don’t want to see that response when I’m making a substitution, I don’t like that.
“We are a family and if we’re going to achieve something and want to progress, move forward and doing what we’re doing, then us, the fans, the players, the staff and everyone has to be together.
“Morgan (Whittaker) has been brilliant, he’s been so committed, he works so hard and we’ve got to protect him and we’ve got to love him. I don’t want to see that because I don’t think it helps us at all.
“I appreciate the support, I absolutely love the fans.
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but whilst we’re in this moment where we are winning games, undefeated and everything feels good, we’ve got to look after our own.
“He loves playing for this football club and he’s giving everything to us at the moment and I’ve got to stress that we protect our own and we look after our own.’
Rob Edwards praises difficult PNE
With North End still denting Boro’s 100 per cent start to the campaign, Edwards was full of praise to Paul Heckingbottom’s troops, who made the game difficult for the early Championship leaders.
“I really enjoyed the game. I thought it was a cracking game of football. We got stronger and stronger as the game went on and it was a really good performance.
"I just said to the lads, nobody will make it easy for us and nobody has a God-given right to turn up and win games of football. Preston are good, they've shown that already with the teams they've beaten.
"What we showed today was loads of character. We came from behind twice, which we've not had to do yet. We fought really hard. I'm delighted to score a couple of goals in front of that away end."