Car the next cab off rank

IT’s hard to know which job is more secure – being a Tory PM or Middlesbrough manager.

Contrary to popular myth about the patience and loyalty of Steve Gibson, Boro get through head coaches at alarming regularity, if not quite as fast as the Conservatives.

Michael Carrick will be their eighth boss in under six years, in a coalition of chaos that has seen the club become early-season relegation candidates in the Championship.

Aitor Karanka left in March 2017 and since then Steve Agnew, Garry Mony, Tony Pulis, Jonathan Woodgate, Neil Warnock and Chris Wilder have all tried and failed to reclaim Premier League football.

The question that must have made Manchester United legend Carrick (below) pause before taking the job is this...What is the real Boro?

In the late ‘90s Teesside fans, and the nation, loved that influx of Brazilians including Juninho, Emerson and Italian legend Fabrizio Ravanelli under Bryan Robson.

They had 14 consecutive years in the Premier League. They were runners-up in the FA Cup and League Cup before winning the latter in 2004.

There was the high point of boss Steve McClaren and skipper Gareth Southgate’s charge to the UEFA Cup Final 16 years ago.

But they’ve been in the top flight for only one of the last 14 seasons.

The real Boro? A mid-table Championship side, capable of flirting with the top six at best, but ultimately financially overpowered by relegated rivals armed with massive parachute payments.

You can’t be too critical of Gibson. He saved the club, pours his soul (and cash) into it and has been let down by coaches who should have performed and behaved better.

So as Carrick looks to start his solo management career after coaching under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it can only be hoped he is a fast learner and is allowed to build over the next two to three years.