Karanka: I went to Middlesbrough and it felt like I went to the best place in the world

asredastheycome

asredastheycome

Well-known member
asredastheycome said:
Nice to get something good said about us. Hope he does well at Granada.

sportwitness.co.uk

"Best place in world" - Manager still raves about period in charge of Middlesbrough - Sport Witness

Aitor Karanka took over at Granada this month, with the club fighting against relegation from Spain’s top flight. They’re currently in the relegation zone, but just a point from safety, and the manager is trying to bring everybody together at the club, including non-footballing staff, as they...
sportwitness.co.uk sportwitness.co.uk
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I wonder if he knew how good it was while he was here?
 
TeessideCleveland said:
Well he didn't criticise things.
Very few ex-players actually slag Teesside or The Boro off - even Ravanelli and Emerson are happy to praise us.
Merson did have a go for a bit - but even he's stopped that now
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Easy to score points on the after dinner circuit slagging off the north east. He says a lot being made to live with Gazza.. like he wasn’t a fully grown man able to make decisions for himself. Gazza delights in slagging the club on the after dinner circuit.. wish we’d never had signed him personally.
 
newyddion said:
Easy to score points on the after dinner circuit slagging off the north east. He says a lot being made to live with Gazza.. like he wasn’t a fully grown man able to make decisions for himself. Gazza delights in slagging the club on the after dinner circuit.. wish we’d never had signed him personally.
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If I was asked to provide an example of fully grown men then neither Merson nor Gazza would be exhibit A
 
wilkos_perm said:
Aitor had a good approach to things. A lot of managers and players don't bother fully moving and leave their families behind, and it never gives a feeling that they're up for sticking around. AK brought his family and adapted to the area well.
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Totally agree. I was surprised yesterday when Mogga said his family still live on Teesside. My first thought was could this be the reason he never really pushes on throughout the season?
 
newyddion said:
I wonder if he knew how good it was while he was here?
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Remember Aitor was here for Alastair Brownlee's passing and funeral. He was in the stadium when the funeral cortege passed on to the pitch and the strength of feeling and community on the sad, sad day will have definitely impacted him as it did all present. I saw him that day sitting in the West Stand and he nodded over to me a greeting of shared sorrow. Moving moments and times like that stay with you and perhaps in some ways tie you to a place forever.
 
I wish him all the luck in the world - I'm still a massive AK fan and think that by and large he has been our best manager since the McClaren days. No doubt the pressure got to him and he is a very emotive guy but I don't for one moment doubt that he loved and still loves the Boro, the club, the fans and the area. It was almost like he was one of us. Hopefully through his managerial journey he'll learn to be a little more flexible and adaptable and keep his emotions a little in check and if he does I still think he could have a great career. He did relatively well at Forest and a lot of fans were surprised and disappointed that he was let go, whilst the debacle at Brum was the fact the club is a basket case so I don't think that was down to him.

Good luck at Granada AK and I hope your career soars.
 
TheBlueButterfly said:
Totally agree. I was surprised yesterday when Mogga said his family still live on Teesside. My first thought was could this be the reason he never really pushes on throughout the season?
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i don't think so, the same thing happened as Boro manager.
I do wonder if it's a little unfair though, maybe he gets teams with not much quality achieving more than expected and then it's hard to sustain.
 
WeeGord said:
I wish him all the luck in the world - I'm still a massive AK fan and think that by and large he has been our best manager since the McClaren days. No doubt the pressure got to him and he is a very emotive guy but I don't for one moment doubt that he loved and still loves the Boro, the club, the fans and the area. It was almost like he was one of us. Hopefully through his managerial journey he'll learn to be a little more flexible and adaptable and keep his emotions a little in check and if he does I still think he could have a great career. He did relatively well at Forest and a lot of fans were surprised and disappointed that he was let go, whilst the debacle at Brum was the fact the club is a basket case so I don't think that was down to him.

Good luck at Granada AK and I hope your career soars.
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i thought there was some real bitterness towards him at the end from some fans, which was a massive shame. Yes he made some mistakes and felt the pressure but he worked hard for the club and embraced the area. Plus he brought the first two enjoyable seasons that we'd had in a long time
 
wilkos_perm said:
i thought there was some real bitterness towards him at the end from some fans, which was a massive shame. Yes he made some mistakes and felt the pressure but he worked hard for the club and embraced the area. Plus he brought the first two enjoyable seasons that we'd had in a long time
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Agree with that but there was bitterness from him too. He was briefing against his own players in the press and had lost control of the dressing room. He hired a PR team the summer we got promoted. I think he got ahead of himself.

But time makes the pressures of his final 6-8 months in charge history now really. You’d say that almost all managers leave a club under a cloud of disappointment. Even Brian Clough.

Karanka was brought in to take us up and he did it. That win at Manchester City was and is absolutely remarkable. I don’t think we fully appreciate how good it was, how we completely cut them open on the break time and again. The playoff team he built was brilliant.

Good luck to him in Spain.
 
Steer said:
He was absolutely great for a couple of years. But then the pressure really got to him, the cracks started to show, and it did not end at all well.

I thought that he was destined to become a top top manager, and that we would struggle to keep hold of him. Pressure is a funny thing though.
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Was about to say something similar. Was his own worst enemy in the end.

I've no doubt he's a really good guy, good coach and he does a lot right in the way he approaches management. Those 2 seasons in the championship were brilliant.

Just needs to be a bit more flexible at times both in terms of tactics if he doesn't have players to play the way he wants, and in handling different personalities. Players seemed to love or hate him, not much in-between.
 
newyddion said:
Easy to score points on the after dinner circuit slagging off the north east. He says a lot being made to live with Gazza.. like he wasn’t a fully grown man able to make decisions for himself. Gazza delights in slagging the club on the after dinner circuit.. wish we’d never had signed him personally.
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What type of things did Gaza say?
 
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