AS a keen wind whipped off the River Tees, the wind of change that had swept through the club saw manager Aitor Karanka shown the exit door after three and-a-half years.

Outside the Riverside a trickle of fans were arriving in order to visit the club shop, while the obligatory television trucks stationed themselves at the back of the car park ready for any interviews to be had.

After getting the brush off from one individual – “I work for the club so we can’t talk about it” – I had better luck with Matthew Mohan, who despite having just visited the dentist was happy to have his say.

“Let’s get an attacking manager, Karanka was too negative,” he said.

“I have heard Roy Hodgson [as a possible replacement], but I don’t think that will happen.”

Mark Thorpe, 48, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, said: “Everybody respects the job he [Karanka] has done.

“However this season he has proved to be tactically inept. He has been stubborn with no plan B.

“The alternative was carrying on doing what they were doing and going down without a fight.”

Rob Nichols, of Boro fanzine Fly To The Moon, said: “Our Premier League status was ebbing away without a fight, the last few games have been really hard to watch and there didn’t seem to be any chance we would change the way we were playing.

“The only chance left to stay up is to change the man in charge.”

Mr Nichols said Premiership winning manager Claudio Ranieri, who was recently sacked by Leicester, could be someone who could lift the mood and would be a popular appointment.

Frank Goodchild, who was at the Riverside to buy a match ticket for his grandson who lives in Greece, recalled watching Boro legends such as Wilf Mannion in his younger days.

The 81-year-old was shocked to hear of Karanka’s sacking and said he believed the club would still find it difficult to avoid relegation.

Former Boro player and radio pundit Neil Maddison said fans would back chairman Steve Gibson’s decision and the team now needed to score more goals.

And Ex-Boro midfielder Peter Beagrie, a regular pundit on Sky Sports, said: “The fact they are stuck in the lower echelons of the division without any signs of making improvements has brought the pressure on the manager. The club have obviously felt this is the right decision going forward.”