Boro have named former assistant manager Steve Agnew as Aitor Karanka’s dug-out deputy.
Agnew has opted to leave his role as Steve Bruce’s assistant at Premier League Hull to return to the Riverside dug-out as the right hand man to the Spanish head-coach.
When Craig Hignett left last month Karanka insisted he would replace him with someone who knew the club, knew the league and knew the rhythms of English football.
In Agnew he has found his man, and one with plenty of experience coaching and match planning at the highest level too, as well as years of experience of players and teams in the Championship.
And with one eye on the future, he also has comprehensive knowledge of the Premier League too.
It is quite a coup to attract Agnew from a top flight club and suggests he sees the Karanka project at Boro as a more attractive long term proposition than staying at the troubled Tigers, second bottom and with off the pitch problems.
Former Blackburn, Leicester and Sunderland midfielder has an impressive CV and is well known to Boro fans.
After finishing his career at York he moved into management as assistant to Gary Gill - now Boro’s chief scout - at Conference side Gateshead in 2002.
The pair resigned after major cuts in the club budget and Gill moved into the media as a BBC Tees pundit while Agnew joined Boro as a coach at the Rockliffe Academy.
After solid work with the kids and the completion of his badges he left Boro to gain experience in brief spells as reserve team boos at Leeds then assistant manager at Hartlepool.
He returned to Boro in January 2007 as new boss Gareth Southgate rebuilt the backroom staff after the exit of Steve McClaren and was promoted to number two in July 2008 after the Steve Harrison left.
A shrewd reader of in-game tactics and a respected coach, he was an influential figure behind the scenes at Boro.
He had two brief spells as caretaker-boss first when Southgate was axed then again a year later in 2010 after the resignation of Gordon Strachan.
He was a serious candidate for the manager’s job but reverted to a reserve team role after the arrival of Tony Mowbray in October 2010 with Mark Venus as his assistant.
Agnew left to join Bruce at Hull in JUne 2012.
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