When Wembley’s arch was erected over the stadium in 2004, the steelworkers from Middlesbrough stuffed Boro shirts inside the hollows at the highest point before welding it shut. It is a romantic idea, at least to those from Teesside, that the club’s badge will forever hover high over the pitch, perhaps bringing luck to those in red below. If Middlesbrough are able to overcome Norwich in the Championship final play-off on Monday, there will be a few of those workers celebrating on the terraces who will believe they have played their part.
Football fans, and indeed footballers, are a superstitious bunch and who can blame them? The margins between victory and defeat are often so small, especially in a single game in which the rewards are so large – win and a place in the Premier League awaits.
Aitor Karanka is not the kind of man to leave something to chance. Having served as assistant manager to José Mourinho at Real Madrid, Karanka has adopted the same meticulous planning and attention to detail in his first job in management, and in his first full season in charge, Middlesbrough have been transformed.
Just as no other team in the Premier League have conceded fewer goals than Mourinho’s Chelsea, Karanka’s Boro are by far the most defensively sound in the Championship, conceding 37 goals in 46 league games. The next best team in that department, league winners Bournemouth conceded eight more.
It is not just rearguard organisation and continental flair Karanka has instilled. Team spirit might be an ethereal quality that is difficult to quantify on scoreboards and league tables but Karanka has given confidence to the players he inherited, been a wily transfer dealer, particularly this season with the loan signings of the strikers Patrick Bamford and Jelle Vossen, and brought through young home-grown players from the club’s academy, such as Ben Gibson and Adam Reach, who are now integral members of the squad.
“He’s made a big impact on the squad,” said Grant Leadbitter, who is expected to lead out the side at Wembley. “We have a tightknit group, which I’ve spoken of many times, and camaraderie in the dressing room. We have foreign players and sometimes that doesn’t work – but it works here.
“The lads the manager has brought in, the loan players, have bought into it. Sometimes you get loan players who are selfish but everyone who has come here has pulled in the right direction.
“Aitor is a great manager and a great man-manager as well. Every player likes the manager and I’m not sure you would get that in every dressing room around the country. That’s a compliment to the manager.
“He gives me confidence and lets me express myself. He’s put a lot of faith in certain members of the squad and we want to repay the club. The manager has brought a mentality to the club of winning and that’s instilled right throughout the club. You can tell that by the under-18s winning their league. For a Championship club to win the Premier League under-18s level is a fantastic achievement. The under-21s have done the same so really the pressure is on the first team.”
Karanka’s blend of youth and experience is what has made them such a formidable force this season. The Spaniard is softly spoken and relies on senior players on and off the pitch to get across his message. “It’s always important to have leaders in the changing room, and we have experienced players like Jonathan Woodgate and Leadbitter,” said Karanka. “The spirit of the team is amazing, and we have really achieved in reaching this final.
“Everyone knows how important this game is. If they are excited I have to calm them down and if they are calm I have to psyche them, but the main thing is that they are confident.”
Confidence will be key for a squad with little experience of playing in front of 90,000-strong crowds, particularly against a side with a wealth of Premier League experience. Since travelling down from the north-east on Friday morning, Karanka has kept Middlesbrough’s pre-match schedule largely unchanged, with the club preparing at Arsenal’s training ground, although he did take them to Wembley watch the League Two play-off final between Southend United and Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.
“It’s good for me, for the players, for everybody to know where we are going to play,” Karanka said. “Only a few players know Wembley so I think it will be good for them to see how big Wembley is. On Sunday, we will have a pre-game training session and on Monday we will have our normal preparation for a normal game.”
Middlesbrough are not likely to be overawed by the occasion: this season, they were outstanding in beating Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad in the FA Cup, and were unlucky to go out of the Capital One Cup to Liverpool 14-13 on penalties after a pulsating 2-2 draw at Anfield. They have beaten Norwich twice this season in the Championship, hammering them 4-0 at the Riverside and last month came away from Carrow Road with a 1-0 win. “Beating Norwich in the league was important at the time but I don’t think it is very important now because a final is completely different,” Karanka said. “They have very good players, most of them have played in the Premier League. The players have to know it is not a normal game.”
Of those players, Bamford is arguably Middlesbrough’s most likely match-winner. He has been Boro’s talisman this season, finishing the top scorer with 17 league goals and earning him a place in England’s Under-21 squad for the European Championship. The 21-year-old plays freely and without fear, his calm finishing and deceptive pace helping him to win the Championship player of the year award. His recovery from an ankle injury is a huge boost for Karanka and co.
With football in the north-east at a low ebb, with Newcastle or Hull set for relegation from the Premier League, Middlesbrough are hoping they will be the ones to take their place among the elite. There will be 38,000 Boro fans at Wembley, hoping their team will execute Karanka’s gameplan. Or at least looking skywards for a little slice of luck.
