festa5
Well-known member
It's a stupid point either way tbh. Karanka clearly had input on transfers. There's no way the club signed Kike, Kike Sola, Traore, Espinosa, Barragan all just coincidentally while AK was in charge. So to me it's obviously wrong to say our managers aren't involved in signing players.
And then on from that, even if you're generous about it and assume that (despite being well involved in most transfers) sometimes some players get signed by Boro without the manager having any say or any clue about it beforehand - that's not some great mitigating point in Southgate or Karanka's favour.
If Southgate genuinely didn't want Alves why was he touring him round the stadium? Why didn't he speak up about it months earlier when we were linked with Alves all the previous summer. Alves was discussed as a target on here for about a full year before the signing finally happened. If I as a daft kid at uni knew we were in for him how could Southgate as manager not?
And if Karanka genuinely stropped about us signing an England international while in the championship from day 1 just cause he wasn't the one to choose him for a list of transfer targets then he's a f*cking idiot and it just proves all the worst rumours about his man-management.
You're never going to convince Col on this one, trust me I've tried! I think we've just agreed to disagree on it.
I think Karanka agreed to every signing but that probably for some he was less enthusiastic about it than others.
Re: Downing, I don't think he's said he's ever categorically been told AK didn't want him. He's just inferred it from their relationship.
DOWNING ON… Signing for Karanka
“As soon as I walked through the door, it didn’t feel right. I just didn’t feel welcome.
“I remember going on that first Marbella pre-season trip and saying to my Dad ‘It’s not right but I have already signed.’
“He said: ‘It’s too late. Five years!’ I had to get my head down.
“I don’t know if it was a problem me being around. The manager has obviously given the go-ahead to sign me but the chairman obviously wanted me to come back.