By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
Earlier this
week saw Middlesbrough make a brave move in the management market but will it
work out?
Jose
Mourinho’s former number two at Real Madrid, Aitor Karanka got the vacant
position on Teeside. He takes over from Tony Mowbray, who parted company with
the club by mutual consent in October.
Middlesbrough
currently languish in the bottom half of the Sky Bet Championship table, just
five points clear of the bottom three in 16th place. Karanka’s first
game in charge will be a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United next weekend.
Not many
people outside of the Spanish circle will know much about Karanka’s past. He
only ever played one senior international for his country, although he did
represent the Spanish at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, playing four times
in a quarter-final exit for the holders at the time of the football
competition.
Club level
was more successful for the former left back. He spent 13 seasons in La Liga
and won several major honours with Real Madrid, including the Champions League
against Valencia in Paris in 2000.
It is fair to
say though that he lacks managerial experience and in a league as tough to
escape or even stay in as the Championship, this could count against the
40-year-old and his new club.
Middlesbrough
have been in freefall ever since relegation from the Premier League in 2009. A
club that used to be able to bring the foreign stars such as Juninho, Fabrizio
Ravanelli and Gazika Mendieta to the Riverside Stadium now struggle to make
decent gates at the ground. Certainly everytime I see the ground featured in
highlights packages, I see more empty seats rather than filled ones around the
stadium.
Boro’s owner
Steve Gibson (pictured with Karanka) has defended the recent appointment of Karanka, who becomes the
club’s first foreign manager in their history. He wanted change and has now got
it. However while Mowbray had to go, someone like Tony Pulis, or even club
legends from the past like Ravanelli or Bryan Robson might have been a safer
pair of hands for the position the club is currently in.
Gibson has
never been afraid to make bold appointments. They have worked out before
though. Steve McClaren had no managerial qualifications when he succeeded
Robson in the summer of 2001 but brought the club a historic run to the UEFA
Cup final in 2006 and their only major silverware with the 2004 League Cup.
Current England Under-21 manager Gareth Southgate’s first job in management was
also at Boro and he did well on a tighter budget for two seasons before the 09
relegation into the second tier of English football.
Middlesbrough
has been in tougher positions in its previous history. They were 10 minutes
away from liquidation before Gibson led a new consortium to save the club in
1986 but these are tough times in the region, especially seeing Newcastle’s
recent high-profile successes in Europe and the back-to-back Premier League
double over Chelsea and Tottenham this month.
Karanka does
come with Mourinho’s recommendation but he will realise at Elland Road next
week the brutal and physical battle that awaits him and his new playing squad.
Middlesbrough doesn’t have the worst squad in the division but it is far from
the best too. Keeping their Championship status has to be seen as the main
objective for this campaign. For a club that used to compete with the likes of
Spurs, Manchester City and Everton for top signings in the big league; this is
a sad and realistic observation of their current decline.
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