Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder places incredible pressure on himself, and struggles to escape it

By now we're all accustomed to the high standards and demands of Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder, and such pressures are not just put on others but, probably even more so, himself too.

With Boro still without a win this season despite pre-season hopes and ambitions to challenge at the top end of the Championship table, the Boro boss went into intriguing detail about the pressures of being a football manager, and how he tries to cope with them.

For such a determined, driven and tunnel-visioned winner, the role of being a manager is all-encompassing and Wilder admits, while he tries to enjoy down-time as much as possible, doing so is not always as easy as it seems. And while for Wilder it's the love of the game and the job that keeps him going, he admits that it's those around him - friends and particularly family, who he feels for the most.

Wilder said: "You could never understand the pressure that I put on myself, and have done for about 20 years. I think most outside of the game would struggle to handle it. You have to be an optimist because you don't win or achieve things without being positive. I'm ultra-positive about my team.

“I’m on it 100%. When I’m on the [golf] green with my best pal and I’ve got a six-foot put for a halved, I’m not thinking about rolling that put in, I’m thinking about who’s going to play Saturday. That’s possibly why I miss them all and he knicks £20 off me!

"Of course, there is a bit of downtime and you try and use that with family and friends. But, you speak to every football manager, it runs your life. You’re always there, especially in this sort of period. Of course, that’s your job and that’s what you buy into. If I didn’t, I’d possibly do something a bit different.

"But I buy into it