Higgy - “I regret not punching Aitor”.

I wasn't bothered about Karanka’s aloof interviews or even his apparent Hardline disciplinary stance.
Or whether he was a nice fella.
I never met him so can’t comment on that side of him.
He might have been a laghaminute type for all I know :))
It was results on the pitch that I was concerned with, thats what I bought into with my ST money.
He turned the club round, we were hard to beat, and got promotion but it all went sour after that.
His tenure just ran its course.
Apparently he aimed for and insisted on perfection.
He was never going to get that at Boro.
Agree with every word. Aitor may have fallen out with folk but for 2.5 years he did exactly what was expected of him until it all started to fall apart. I suppose the only thing I glean from some of these revelations about him is that we should never go back, I imagine that he will struggle to last anywhere as long as he did here due to his temperament.
 
I wasn't bothered about Karanka’s aloof interviews or even his apparent Hardline disciplinary stance.
Or whether he was a nice fella.
I never met him so can’t comment on that side of him.
He might have been a laghaminute type for all I know :))
It was results on the pitch that I was concerned with, thats what I bought into with my ST money.
He turned the club round, we were hard to beat, and got promotion but it all went sour after that.
His tenure just ran its course.
Apparently he aimed for and insisted on perfection.
He was never going to get that at Boro.

Did he attain perfection when he walked out on the club mid season? His tenure isn't quite black and white for me. He did very well for a season and half to two seasons. He's not everyone's cup of tea and i think there's plenty of evidence in the split of the fan base to demonstrate that.
 
The inner workings of a professional football club are a mystery to many of us and I think podcasts have played a big part in shining a light on what really goes on inside dressing rooms up and down the country, the toxic masculinity, the lack of maturity, the fall outs, the friendships etc etc, by understanding the environment I think it gives us an insight into what goes on and a better comprehension of the day to day dynamics involved.

I know a few people who have been and are still involved in the professional game and they’ve told me story of things that wouldn’t happen in any other profession, I know someone who was at the club during the Hignett and Karanka incident and they told me of the the breakdown of their relationship.....actually they never got on but how that became more and more strained, but they weren’t there on the day of the Blackburn incident but were obviously told of what when on.

I think any ex-player has the right to publicly voice their opinion and let fans know their version of events and it not be disrespectful, I think at times we lionise our footballing heroes without taking a rounded view of their personalities, so and so might be a great player but he could also be an awful individual.

On the Hignett and Karanka situation, Hignett was brought in by Gibson after complaints about Karanka by the senior players and he thought that gave him a level of protection, Karanka was a very intense character and felt Hignett’s input was too light hearted and felt he wasn’t up to it as a coach, they clashed in a regular basis and didn’t really communicate, after the Blackburn game Hignett was talking to some of the back room staff who he’d known from his time at the club and Karanka took exception and questioned his focus and loyalty a scuffle broke out but was quickly broken up and the rest is history.
 
The inner workings of a professional football club are a mystery to many of us and I think podcasts have played a big part in shining a light on what really goes on inside dressing rooms up and down the country, the toxic masculinity, the lack of maturity, the fall outs, the friendships etc etc, by understanding the environment I think it gives us an insight into what goes on and a better comprehension of the day to day dynamics involved.

I know a few people who have been and are still involved in the professional game and they’ve told me story of things that wouldn’t happen in any other profession, I know someone who was at the club during the Hignett and Karanka incident and they told me of the the breakdown of their relationship.....actually they never got on but how that became more and more strained, but they weren’t there on the day of the Blackburn incident but were obviously told of what when on.

I think any ex-player has the right to publicly voice their opinion and let fans know their version of events and it not be disrespectful, I think at times we lionise our footballing heroes without taking a rounded view of their personalities, so and so might be a great player but he could also be an awful individual.

On the Hignett and Karanka situation, Hignett was brought in by Gibson after complaints about Karanka by the senior players and he thought that gave him a level of protection, Karanka was a very intense character and felt Hignett’s input was too light hearted and felt he wasn’t up to it as a coach, they clashed in a regular basis and didn’t really communicate, after the Blackburn game Hignett was talking to some of the back room staff who he’d known from his time at the club and Karanka took exception and questioned his focus and loyalty a scuffle broke out but was quickly broken up and the rest is history.
Well, not quite history. Higgy's claim is that Aitor told Bausor Higgy punched him during the handbags, when he didn't. Higgy now says he regrets not punching him because the outcome was the same and Aitor deserved it. Obviously only one side of the story.

Very different to the 'he is my friend' stuff Karanka said to the press the day after they parted ways though.
 
Sick of hearing about the walk out.

He walked out yes, but he came back and finished the job and got us promoted. That’s all that matters. Man was brilliant for us for about 85 percent of his time here. That’s how I remember him.

According to the players they finished that season in spite on what went on with Karanka's walk out.
 
One of these people has three Champions Leagues as a player, a domestic title and a full set of cups as both a player and a number 2, built a promotion winning team and has the highest win percentage of any manager in the history of Middlesbrough FC.

The other one is Craig Hignett and was sacked by Hartlepool twice.
 
Ref Higgy leaving incident

There probably was some culture clash too. AK came from Spain/Basque issues can get more intense in that culture. In England on the whole we tend to be more easy going and can have a bit of a laugh with old colleagues straight after a game. They didn't work together for long - 8 months? Leo seemed to understand AK and could be warm with the players and proferssional with AK.

Ref Storming out in March 2016 - I get the impression AK didn't get what he wanted and was not willling to compromise. He did come back and we went unbeaten for 8 games and we were promoted.

In AK's 2 full seasons in the Championship we seemed to be in the top 5 all the time - its not easy to do even with a decent budget which he did have. Like Big Jack in 73, AK inherited some very good players Leadbitter, Friend, Ayala, Gibson, Adomah, Dimi.
 
I'm not sure that Karanka would have felt the difference had a Hignett "punch" actually landed.
Craig Hignett was a talented player who probably under-achieved given his undoubted ability.
He has also always struck me as a nice enough fella too.
Everybody gets that he hates Karanka, but Aitor should not have had Hignett gifted to him.
Much the same can be said about another nice lad in Jordan Rhodes.

I have some very fond memories of Craig the player, but I have fonder memories of Karanka's feats here.
I wish them both well.
 
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