Madrid to Middlesbrough: Aitor's New Job

Aitor Karanka has been appointed head coach of Middlesbrough. The Spaniard has been given a two and a half year contract, having just spent three years as assistant manager to Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid. Here is why the appointment of Karanka is a very good move for Middlesbrough Football Club.

Over the past decade, Middlesbrough have been known to be a very ‘English’ club, with an old school mentality. Until now, they had never appointed a manager from outside the UK, and developed a lot of players through their academy. For three years, the club had stuck with Tony Mowbray as manager, the man who came through their youth ranks himself, was club captain, and adored by the fans.

Everybody at Middlesbrough wanted Mowbray to succeed, and in fairness, he did not do a bad job. Some might argue that he was not given the full backing in the transfer market from Steve Gibson. The club had received years of TV income from playing in the Premier League, and the summer after relegation to the Championship under Gareth Southgate, the club gained £29 million from selling its best players. Little of this was reinvested in the team.

Therefore, perhaps some of the blame can be put on Gibson. Middlesbrough had among the highest ticket prices in the Championship, yet consistently failed to sell more than half the stadium and often finished midtable. Considering this, it seems surprising that not much money was spent, and arguably a better solution might have been to take a longer-term approach. Reduce the cost of tickets temporarily, fill the ground and bring through a new generation of supporters.

Mowbray had a hard job

On top of a lower quality squad and dwindling attendances, Mowbray had to work under the pressure of Middlesbrough having been an established Premier League club until very recently. They had often made it into the UEFA Cup with players like Schwarzer, Yakubu and Hasselbaink. To go from there, in the space of a few years, to seeing the team go 3-0 down at Barnsley a few weeks ago will have been disconcerting to say the least.

Mowbray is not entirely to blame for Middlesbrough’s decline, yet on the other hand, a change can prove vital in the club’s future. Aitor Karanka comes in as a man who, although in some ways alien to Middlesbrough culture, he does know how to develop players. He spent nine years as a player at Athletic Bilbao, a club who have a policy of not signing any players from outside the Basque local region. They look to their youth system to bring players through, and having been a member of the Bilbao youth academy, he will have learnt how to develop the best players.

After his playing career, he coached the Spain under-16s team for two years. No country over recent years has produced better players than Spain, as proved by their three consecutive wins at the major tournaments. As the modern game develops, it is becoming clear that the best chance of succeeding in football is when you’re able to play attractive football, either by picking out the intelligent passes, or simply keeping hold of the ball. Spain can do both, and Karanka’s insight into how players are nurtured to be able to do so will be beneficial.

It was largely Peter Kenyon, who had been working with Steve Gibson over the last few weeks, which manufactured Karanka’s appointment. If he continues to be involved, Kenyon will play a very useful part. He has set up a club link between Middlesbrough and Atletico Madrid, meaning Middlesbrough may bring some of their players in on loan, in similar circumstances to Watford’s link with Udinese and Granada last season. But crucially, Kenyon is in contact with arguably the most powerful agent in the world, Jorge Mendes. Mendes’s company, GestiFute, has over 200 players, mainly from Portugal and Brazil, on its books. This could help Middlesbrough get some of the best young players in the world on loan. Kenyon, Mendes and Karanka also have strong relationships with Jose Mourinho, the manager of Chelsea. Indeed it was Mourinho, whom Karanka was assistant to at Real Madrid, who encouraged him to take the Middlesbrough job. Chelsea have a massive development squad of exotic players, and there is potential for Middlesbrough to loan players in from Chelsea. This circle of contacts Middlesbrough now have can be quite valuable in terms of bringing in quality players.

Will Aitor revitalize Boro?

The timing of Karanka’s appointment is right. Although not everyone appreciates the concept of changing manager in the middle of a season, it can work. At the moment, it seems a solid bet that Middlesbrough will not be in any relegation trouble, so Karanka can use these next few months of regular matches as an opportunity to assess his squad. Usually, when a manager arrives in the summer, he can be forced to make snap decisions on his playing staff in terms of who to get rid of, in order to bring in the players he wants. Between now and January, Karanka has time to make a few decisions regarding the players who are a part of his plans.

The other advantage of coming in at this point, is the pressure will not be on him for instant success. Middlesbrough are eight points off the play-offs, which can potentially be evened up if the team go on a good run. However, the expectation is not there and it will not be considered at all a failure if they don’t make it, because the team was a long way off when he took over. The fact that there is no pressure on Karanka, means he can have six months in the job being able to experiment with certain players and tactical systems, without that demand for instant success.

So how will the new man fare? Whenever a new manager comes in there is always potential for the team to be invigorated by the sense of a fresh start, as players look to catch the manager’s eye early on. None of Karanka’s first six opponents are teams to be particularly frightened of, a lot of midtable opponents. If Middlesbrough start to put a run together, you can add them to the mix of teams competing for a play-off place. This is Karanka’s chance to shine in England.