Charlton manager Lee Bowyer gives verdict on Jonathan Woodgate’s Middlesbrough

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lee Bowyer goes head to head against former team-mate Jonathan Woodgate – and reckons the Middlesbrough boss will get things right on Teesside.

Bowyer is looking for his Charlton charges to end a seven-game winless spell tomorrow and could be boosted by the return of Lyle Taylor and Chuks Aneke to his squad.

Woodgate played in the same side as the Addicks boss at Leeds United. He also raided the South London club in the summer – paying £2million for Anfernee Dijksteel.

Boro lost 4-0 to Leeds last time out and are 20th in the Championship.

“The only other person I have gone up against who I played with was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink,” said Bowyer. “It will be good to see Woody – I haven’t seen him in years, apart from a managers’ meeting in the summer.

“Robbie Keane is there and I know him, he was also at Leeds with us. So it will be good.

“Their budget is different to ours [Charlton have the lowest wagebill in the Championship] but I know their budget has been cut from what Tony Pulis had.

“Obviously they came and got Anfernee, so they were shopping in a different market to what they had been in the past. They took the young lad from West Ham, again they haven’t spent fortunes.

“I know it’s been tough for him but he’s good – he knows the game. It takes time.

“He’s trying to change everything from last year and the way they played to to the way he wants to play. I’m sure he’ll turn it around.”

PICTURE BY KEITH GILLARD