Craig Hignett on Karanka bust up

I think the downing thing stems from a gentlemen's agreement made before he left, that gibson would see him right. plus he was one of the best attacking midfielders in the country.
Jordan Rhodes was bought off his goal scoring record, Gestede too. very little made of what the players traits and abilities were or how the teams had been set up to get the best out of them.

We let ourselves down in the premier league a team full of holes and gambles with players bought mainly for their re sale values.

Why would Boro need to see him right...... he became a millionaire by leaving Boro for Villa, West Ham and Liverpool. We did him ok in the first place!
 
Not again?

Sick of hearing Hignett whine on about this. He was sacked on the back of a disagreement, what 6 years ago, yet is still 'telling his version of events.'

You know what Craig, do one.
 
It is not uncommon for coaches and managers taking over at clubs in countries they have no experience of to ask for coaches and staff with a connection, history, knowledge of that club, division, area, etc. Not everything Steve Gibson did or does is wrong, or a calculated measure designed to undermine his manager or head coach. Maybe if Gibson was determined to make Karanka's life more difficult he would've personally stepped in and made him keep Hignett in his position?

The thing about signings - Karanka, Pulis, Woodgate et al know the situation when they take the job. The manager has the final say on transfers but sometimes recruitment may well be slightly more collaborative. If you don't like this way of working then don't take the job. Southgate said he wanted Alves, for example, but then changed his mind and let the club take the flak. He didn't come out and change his mind on, say, Luke Young though. Or Robert Huth. Nothing about Tuncay. Probably because they were good. You know full well that if Alves had rattled in 20 goals we wouldn't have heard a peep about recruitment.

If a manager joins a club and doesn't like the recruitment process then a)don't take the job or b)stand up for yourself and your principles and leave. Warnock did it himself if you remember, just in a minor way, just casually mentioning it was Woodgate who was pushing for Grant Hall and putting the deal together. This was when Hall had had a patchy start and then been out injured for months. He also said he said the club should do the deal last summer, after he'd been in the job a few weeks or so. Nicely covering his **** there. If he's sh*t it was Woodgate really, if he's good it was me. I did it. Like Akpom, who he definitely definitely wanted and then changed his position on after it became apparent he wasn't that good but then had to qualify again in the press. A lot of managers and coaches are just covering themselves.

Always make sure you mention the recruitment team or "other people's signings" when things aren't quite going to plan. Not when you get promoted, of course, or make the play-offs or win 4 or 5 on the bounce. Lost 2-0 at Huddersfield? The bloody recruitment team, Jesus wept. Beat Rotherham 4-1? I set us up just right, MY players were excellent. It's just newspaper fodder.
Agree with all of this but was nice to see Woody shine some clarity on who signed Dijksteel and Bola.
 
It’s like a Hollywood movie this isn’t it

so if it was to hit the silver screen who would play Aitor and who would play higgy
 
Hignett - Moxey
Karanka - Javier Bardem

Clearly Hignett lacks class and decency, been obvious since the Grand Piano story.
 
Agree with all of this but was nice to see Woody shine some clarity on who signed Dijksteel and Bola.
I don't see a problem with that way of working, TBH. We needed new full backs and the scouts were out watching players, they discovered two they liked the look of it and/or who fit the brief in terms of what the club and the coaching staff were looking for. It turns out they'd found two good ones although it has taken them both a while and a change of coach/manager to really get going.

I think Bola and Dijksteel make the points around recruitment perfectly. This time last year our recruitment staff were being hammered for signing these two. Now it turns out they're good players and playing well we don't hear anything about it. Warnock gets the credit for their upturn in form - quite rightly - but some sort of acknowledgement that maybe those who spotted them and studied them, and a part of the overall process that brought them to the club, would be good. There is a sense that some people think there are groups of staff sitting behind computers in offices, simply selecting players at random irrespective of what the manager and/or coaching staff think about it. It is bizarre really.
 
I don't see a problem with that way of working, TBH. We needed new full backs and the scouts were out watching players, they discovered two they liked the look of it and/or who fit the brief in terms of what the club and the coaching staff were looking for. It turns out they'd found two good ones although it has taken them both a while and a change of coach/manager to really get going.

I think Bola and Dijksteel make the points around recruitment perfectly. This time last year our recruitment staff were being hammered for signing these two. Now it turns out they're good players and playing well we don't hear anything about it. Warnock gets the credit for their upturn in form - quite rightly - but some sort of acknowledgement that maybe those who spotted them and studied them, and a part of the overall process that brought them to the club, would be good. There is a sense that some people think there are groups of staff sitting behind computers in offices, simply selecting players at random irrespective of what the manager and/or coaching staff think about it. It is bizarre really.
Yes I agree. It was nice to hear a manager admit though that it wasn't all down to him when it turned out well for those two players, we do need a bit of balance.

Interestingly, when I listened to the Downing podcast, it sounded like Karanka was absolutely fine with him until March. So even if he had no say in him coming back, its a bit out of order to suddenly turn on those players purely because you didn't 'spot' them, if you're ok in principle with working in that way. As you say, throw your toys out the pram in July if you think its the wrong way to do things.
 
Yes I agree. It was nice to hear a manager admit though that it wasn't all down to him when it turned out well for those two players, we do need a bit of balance.

Interestingly, when I listened to the Downing podcast, it sounded like Karanka was absolutely fine with him until March. So even if he had no say in him coming back, its a bit out of order to suddenly turn on those players purely because you didn't 'spot' them, if you're ok in principle with working in that way. As you say, throw your toys out the pram in July if you think its the wrong way to do things.
I think Downing did an interview with BBC Tees around 12-18 months ago, where he said something like he felt a bit uneasy on the first day of pre-season training due to the way Karanka said something to him. I think Downing was saying Karanka had changed from the person he spoke to during negotiations and was being different with him. I can't remember exactly what Downing said because it was a while ago.

Presumably the Rhodes deal was sort of similar. We needed a striker so went out and bought the best Championship striker around at the time. Karanka will have been involved with this deal from start to finish. And then signed it off. Lets be honest, he does not come across as someone who will accept interference from above. I am positive he is the sort of bloke who would walk out if he was truly unhappy.

There does seem to be a general feeling amongst some of our fans that the chairman is actively making the lives of his managers and coaching staff more difficult in order to prove some sort of point, or for personal gain in some way. I don't really get it.
 
I think Downing did an interview with BBC Tees around 12-18 months ago, where he said something like he felt a bit uneasy on the first day of pre-season training due to the way Karanka said something to him. I think Downing was saying Karanka had changed from the person he spoke to during negotiations and was being different with him. I can't remember exactly what Downing said because it was a while ago.

Presumably the Rhodes deal was sort of similar. We needed a striker so went out and bought the best Championship striker around at the time. Karanka will have been involved with this deal from start to finish. And then signed it off. Lets be honest, he does not come across as someone who will accept interference from above. I am positive he is the sort of bloke who would walk out if he was truly unhappy.

There does seem to be a general feeling amongst some of our fans that the chairman is actively making the lives of his managers and coaching staff more difficult in order to prove some sort of point, or for personal gain in some way. I don't really get it.
Yeah. Although Downing himself (and more so his Dad) was livid with Gibson about how it all ended. So it could just be that Gibson sometimes doesn't have the right conversations at the right times with the right people. I'm sure all club owners will be guilty of this at times though.
 
Yeah. Although Downing himself (and more so his Dad) was livid with Gibson about how it all ended. So it could just be that Gibson sometimes doesn't have the right conversations at the right times with the right people. I'm sure all club owners will be guilty of this at times though.
I think the way it ended was a disgrace. It's a strong word but I can't for the life of me understand how it was ever allowed to reach that point. The lad was the jewel in the crown of our modern-day academy and played over 400 games for us. Maybe that speaks to the lack of planning or long(er)-term vision at the club. Warnock recommended that players like McNair, Bola, Dijksteel et al get new contracts done and dusted so the club have some continuity and can plan properly. It suggests that it wasn't something that was being done properly before. We had a very high number of players out of contract last summer and a large number in on loan. It is unsustainable in the long run, I think(hope) Warnock will try and help the club organise that side of things a little better. Pulis was supposed to have done it but it turns out he did the square root of sod all.
 
I think the way it ended was a disgrace. It's a strong word but I can't for the life of me understand how it was ever allowed to reach that point. The lad was the jewel in the crown of our modern-day academy and played over 400 games for us. Maybe that speaks to the lack of planning or long(er)-term vision at the club. Warnock recommended that players like McNair, Bola, Dijksteel et al get new contracts done and dusted so the club have some continuity and can plan properly. It suggests that it wasn't something that was being done properly before. We had a very high number of players out of contract last summer and a large number in on loan. It is unsustainable in the long run, I think(hope) Warnock will try and help the club organise that side of things a little better. Pulis was supposed to have done it but it turns out he did the square root of sod all.
It does seem to be taking shape now. No one is out of contract this summer other than loanees/short-termers, and hugely overpaid/overpriced forwards.
 
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