KARANKA SACKED FOR DOWNING ROW
Clash with stalwart sealed Boro boss’s fate
MSportsmail revealed earlier this week that the Spanish coach had clashed with club stalwart Stewart Downing and it proved to be the final straw as chairman Steve Gibson brought an end to Karanka’s three-and-a-half-year period at the Riverside.
Assistant manager Steve Agnew will lead the team at home to Manchester United on Sunday and club sources are not ruling out Agnew remaining in charge until the end of the season.
Nigel Pearson is the bookies’ favourite to be the next permanent IDDLESBROUGH sacked manager Aitor Karanka after a dramatic slump in form was compounded by growing claims of dressingroom unrest. boss, although Sportsmail understands Boro have made a bold move to bring former Real Madrid and Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink to the Riverside.
Karanka, Middlesbrough’s first foreign boss, was appointed in November 2013, when the Teessiders were near the relegation zone in the Championship. He won promotion last season but despite a bright start to life in the Premier League, the team’s form has been in freefall since Christmas.
The club are on a 10-game winless streak and are the Premier League’s lowest scorers with 19 goals. Boro have failed to score in nine of their last 13 top-flight games (including no goals in their last four) and are three points from safety in 19th place.
As form dipped, the club began to fracture. One month ago, Gibson took the unusual step of joining Karanka and his players for lunch at the club’s Rockliffe training complex. Karanka viewed it as a show of support but it could now be seen as Gibson taking stock of the atmosphere as morale slumped among players.
Gibson first became alarmed in January when Karanka took aim at the club’s fans, accusing them of creating an ‘awful atmosphere’ and demanding ‘long balls’ during a 3-1 defeat by West Ham. Gibson had already been irritated by Karanka’s criticism of the club’s dealings in the January transfer market. The club failed to seal deals for Robert Snodgrass and Spanish trio Gerard Deulofeu, Jese Rodriguez and Bojan Krkic.
Instead, they signed Patrick Bamford and Rudy Gestede. Karanka quickly sensed Bamford, who scored 19 goals on loan at Boro two seasons ago in the Championship, would need time to make a difference in the Premier League.
Karanka’s relationship with Downing had reached breaking point. They never recovered from the episode last season that led to Karanka being absent from the touchline for Boro’s 2-0 defeat at Charlton. The 43-year-old was keen to move Downing on last summer and again in January. His relationship with playmaker Gaston Ramirez also suffered after the Uruguayan demanded a move to Leicester in January. The move was blocked and the player’s agent Pablo Bentancur claimed the manager had threatened to quit if the transfer had been sanctioned.
Some sections of the dressing room were sad to say goodbye to their manager, with summer signings Marten de Roon and Victor Valdes expressing their thanks on Twitter. Valdes wrote: ‘When football said no to me, you were the only one who gave me the option to enjoy this beautiful sport again. I will always be grateful!’
Last week players, backroom staff and club employees had a bonding lunch and quiz at the local Muse restaurant. The team responded with a better performance in the 2-0 FA Cup loss to Manchester City but it was not enough to save Karanka.