AITOR KARANKA has put plans to deal with his touchline ban on the backburner in the hope his absence does not have a negative effect on his team’s performance.

Karanka insists he has made no firm decisions on how to deal with the one-match suspension dished out by the Football Association at Wembley on Wednesday afternoon.

The Spaniard will have to find a new seat at the Riverside Stadium for Saturday’s visit of leaders Derby County but is still intending to deliver his teamtalks before, during and after the match inside the home dressing room.

But he has deliberately avoided talking about how he will communicate with the bench, or who will take the lead role in the technical area, as he tries to ensure training ground preparations for the game do not alter in any way.

“I can’t transmit different feelings to the players in the build up to the game,” said Karanka. “This is a normal game – even though it is against the best team in the Championship – so I have to try to do as many things as normal as we do every day.

“It will not be the same for me because I will not be on the bench. I don’t want to be able to say that we have lost because I was not on the bench. It is my suspension, I made a mistake, and I have to pay, so I will make sure the players are ready.

“Leo (Percovich, goalkeeper coach) could be the man, we will have to speak and take the best decision. I have been working, preparing for the Derby game. On Friday afternoon we will speak about who deals with me in the stands.”

Karanka was hit with a £2,000 fine as well as the one-match ban for pushing fourth official David Coote after Blackburn’s controversial equaliser at the Riverside on November 29. While frustrated at the fact he will be missing tomorrow, he accepted the punishment.

He said: “I told the FA that my objective was to never show a lack of respect to the fourth official. It was to attract his attention. In Spain there is a different body language and I felt I made a mistake.

“It’s not a very big mistake, it’s just one match and that’s fair. I want to express my gratitude to the FA because they treated me well at Wembley. I was comfortable with them and I could explain what happened.”

Fit-again experienced defender Jonathan Woodgate could be asked to sit on the bench against Derby, regardless of whether he is named among the substitutes. That would help add numbers to a bench bereft of Karanka and still short of an assistant manager following last week’s departure of Craig Hignett.

Despite holding discussions with potential replacements for Hignett, Boro are not in a position to confirm a new right-hand man.

Karanka said: “We have to be sure about the person who comes with us again. I prefer to take one week, two weeks or two months to get the right person.

“I prefer a person who knows the league, the chairman, the club. My feelings are the same now. One year ago I said I wanted a person who needed to help me, now I am not going to bring in an assistant from Spain. I want the same still.

“It’s important I get the right man. I don’t want to say my assistant would be my number two, the goalkeeper coach is three or the fitness guy number six ... all of them are the same. We are all a team. All of my staff have the same importance for me.

“I don’t know how long it will take. It’s a club decision and it will never be just my decision. When we sign a player it is a club decision. The chairman is the boss. But we are always thinking what is best for the club. I am meeting some people but the club are introducing me to these people.”

Woodgate has trained without problem with the first team squad after injury and has been joined by Rhys Williams. The Aussie has recovered from an Achilles problem sustained last season and Karanka, expecting Mustapha Carayol to return next month, is excited to have growing options.

He said: “It’s important to have them back because they are big characters in the dressing room. If the squad is full in January then that will be better for us. Woody is training every single session at the moment and Rhys will be with the Under-21s on Monday. It’s good news.”