THE last two years have not gone according to plan for Stewart Downing. His emotional homecoming to Middlesbrough was supposed to have provided a fitting end to a career spent largely in the Premier League and on the international stage.

Things never turned out that way. As much as he would still love to enjoy a successful end at the club where it all started, not far from where he grew up in Pallister Park, nothing can alter what has gone before.

Soon after completing a return to Boro from West Ham in the summer of 2015 he claims he sensed something was not right during a pre-season training trip to Spain under Aitor Karanka.

Now, after earning a reprieve under Garry Monk ahead of today’s visit of promotion contenders Cardiff City, Downing has, for the first time, spoken exclusively and extensively about the last couple of years and what life was like for him under Karanka.

“If I knew what it was going to be like for me here then I would never have come back,” admitted an honest Downing. “Not in a million years.”

The 33-year-old, who came close to leaving in the summer, was clearly intent on getting his message across. He endured criticism from sections of the supporters who used to worship him and has been accused as the man to blame for Karanka’s departure.

Now, in his own words, Downing has had his say and explained his hopes for a brighter ending …

WHAT HAPPENED WITH KARANKA

“I always say don’t look back with regrets, but if I knew what it was going to be like for me here then I would never have come back. Not in a million years. Not the way it was. How the manager was, etc. As soon as I walked in that door it was a problem.

“The manager has obviously given the go-ahead to sign me, but the chairman obviously wanted me to come back, if the manager thought that was a problem to him then he should have said. As soon as I walked in that door it didn’t feel right. I just didn’t (feel welcome).

“I remember going on that first Marbella pre-season trip and I said 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 remember having early conversations with the manager (Karanka) about my position, it might sound weird but I don’t really like playing on the wing. I like to play in the middle. Conversations had taken place anyway, as soon as I played I was left-wing and then right-wing. It was a constant battle of … I don’t actually know what it was.

“I train, quiet, I get on with it. I heard all of these things that we were clashing, we were doing this … it was a load of rubbish. If he’d said from day one he didn’t want me here I would happily have stayed at West Ham.”

WHEN WAS THE TIPPING POINT?

“We were playing Stoke (March 4). He (Karanka) put the squad up to travel, the lads who don’t travel don’t get told why. I have never played for a manager who doesn’t tell you why, or at least you can ask. I asked why I wasn’t in the squad and he said ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you.’

“That wasn’t the answer I was looking for. If he’d have said I wasn’t training well enough then I would have trained harder, or whatever. This has rumbled for months and months.

“It was frustrating because we couldn’t say anything. I was told not to. The next thing I was getting booed. People think I got the manager out of the club and that’s a load of rubbish. Everyone in Middlesbrough thinks it was to do with me and it wasn’t. I couldn’t say why, maybe today I have!”

WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL END TO DOWNING’S CAREER?

“When I first came back I wanted to get the club back in the Premier League, stabilise the club at that level and I would have felt I had done my bit then, maybe then head to America or somewhere because that interests me.

“Having got relegated my aim is to get this club up again. If the manager decides to go in a different direction then I will have to have that conversation again.

“I would love to leave on a high. If I had left this club in the summer it would have been disastrous for me, really sad (to end like that).

“Even when we got promoted, you know, it was a weird feeling because there were underlying issues. I honestly felt that during that summer after promotion the manager would leave.

“You have to think he had walked out on us (during a team meeting before a game at Charlton in March 2016), I think everyone thought that everything was forgotten about because of promotion. Football is not like that.

“He might say everyone loved him. That changing room went from one of the best dressing rooms I had been in to one of the worst by a million miles. You can’t carry passengers, particularly as a newly-promoted team. Once Karanka left (March this year) I think people took sides and it was difficult.”

DOWNING ON GARRY MONK

“If a new manager comes in, then everyone is up in the air. It doesn’t matter who you are, you might have played every game for the last manager, a new man comes in and you might not play again. That can happen.

“I got called ten days early before pre-season training. A few lads had seen him (Monk). I was thinking he might want to hear my ideas, maybe as an older player. I flew back from holiday to see him.

“We had a nice conversation to be fair. It was fine. We talked about football, careers, I had played against him. It went well but at the end I was told I wasn’t part of the plans. It’s difficult, it was a big shock.

“I didn’t leave that office thinking that’s it. I had been in that position before at Liverpool with Brendan Rodgers. Brendan wanted to bring in his own players and he said it was nothing against me, he just didn’t see me fitting into his plans. In the end he ended up playing me nearly in every game.

“What can you do? If you train hard, you see how it goes because I didn’t really want to leave Liverpool. I had worked hard for a lot of years to play for a club like Liverpool, so to go then would have been hard.

“But Brendan came back to me one day and said ‘you’ve worked hard, I have been impressed with you, I want to get you involved.’ It’s been similar here really this season. What you can do is try to play well when you get a chance and go from there.”

DID DOWNING WANT TO LEAVE IN THE SUMMER?

“The big thing is if you have that conversation with the manager as a 22-23-year-old then it is a totally different conversation. I have a young family, I moved back, I took a big risk to come back and leave a Premier League club behind to come here.

“I could have stayed there at West Ham. I was really enjoying it and playing well. I took a lot of risks to come back, so I thought this time I am not going to walk out that door that easy.

“I had a young baby, the missus was heavily pregnant just before the transfer window shut. If the deal had happened earlier then it would have happened. But the negotiations with clubs had fallen flat on their face.”

HOW DOWNING ENDED UP WITH THE UNDER-23s

“The manager (Monk) was fine. Everyone thinks I got sent to the 23s, but that was on my own recommendation.

“I said if you don’t want me to be part of your plans then you carry on with the team you want and I will train with the 23s to push the move through where they wanted me to go. I asked for the 23s. Nothing happened, I had a lot of interest but contract-wise Middlesbrough had to contribute too.

“I went to the manager one day and explained the reasons, it was late and I didn’t want to go to a club where everything was up in the air. That concrete club was Birmingham in the end, and look what happened with Harry (Redknapp) in the end.”

MONK’S MIDDLESBROUGH

“Everyone would tell you there was an issue. The dressing room is a million times better now. At the moment all I think it is is that there are teething problems. From last season to now in the dressing room there have been massive changes.

“The new lads have come in, probably couldn’t believe what was going on before, but we have got a good team here and I would like to think we can get promoted. We need to start moving quickly.”

  • Stewart Downing was one of five first-team players at Middlesbrough’s Herlingshaw Centre, South Bank, this week getting a flavour of the diverse initiatives that take place as part of the MFC Foundation.

Downing, Cyrus Christie, Britt Assombalonga, Daniel Ayala and Adama Traore took part in the activities with groups including the Youth Employment Initiative, Club Together, Premier League Inclusion and Team Talk.