Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson has expressed hope that head coach Aitor Karanka will stay at the club following their Championship playoff disappointment.
Boro lost 2-0 to Norwich City in Monday's final at Wembley to miss out on a place in the Premier League, but it is thought that several clubs are admirers of Karanka for the work that he has done at the Riverside Stadium.
Gibson believes that the Spanish coach should stay on Teesside if Boro are to go one better next season and win promotion.
"I would just say to the boss 'Please stay at our football club.' I believe in him. He is the man who has instilled a winning mentality not just in the first team but throughout the football club," Gibson told the Daily Star.
"Obviously the boys are distraught right now but I want Aitor Karanka to get my football club back in the Premier League. He is the best man to do that.
"He got the lads together in the dressing room after the game and said: 'We are in this together, we have got to go one step better. This destroys us inside now but we make sure it motivates us.' I have no doubts he will be with us because he wants to finish the job he's started."
Karanka has been Middlesbrough boss since 2013.
Steven Toplis
