AITOR KARANKA has outlined a determination to emerge from one of the most testing periods of his Middlesbrough tenure by suggesting he will do everything within his power to turn things around and will never quit.

Pressure has mounted on the Boro boss during the last fortnight after frustrating defeats at Crystal Palace and Stoke City, with many supporters directing ‘it’s time to go home’ chants in his direction last Saturday.

After a chat with Steve Gibson since losing at Stoke, Karanka believes he has the support of the chairman and has been told to focus on Middlesbrough’s FA Cup quarter-final with Manchester City at the Riverside tomorrow.

The Middlesbrough squad plus the backroom staff went out for a bonding meal on Wednesday in a bid to lighten the mood and improve team spirit – an indication that Karanka is focused on improving fortunes.

He said: “I learned a new word today - that I am not a quitter! As long as I feel one player here supporting me, I will fight for him. Because when I see their faces, disappointed because we lose and they couldn’t do their best but they tried their best, until that day I will be fighting because I have players who have been with me since I arrived here, and I will do more than my best to stay with them until the last moment.”

There was a degree of uncertainty surrounding his position as head coach after the events at the Bet365 Stadium and yet he tried to remain calm during all of the talk.

Karanka said: “I can’t be afraid of something I can’t control. The decision is out of my hands. My concern is to prepare the team to compete on Saturday, to show them how Man City plays, and how we can beat them. This is my only concern.”

The Spaniard has had a strong relationship with Middlesbrough’s fans for the majority of his three-and-a-half years on Teesside, so the events of last Saturday were new to him.

He was not clear of what was said to him after the defeat until he had left Stoke, although he knows the fans’ frustrations have grown as the slump has worsened.

Middlesbrough have not won in the Premier League since before Christmas; they have only won four times all season. Such poor form has seen them drop into the relegation positions for the first time this week.

Karanka said: “I don’t want to divide the crowd who chant against me or the ones who sing my name. All of them are the same, all of them want the same for Middlesbrough, the same thing I want for Middlesbrough.

“As a coach, as a supporter, I will always understand that when one team is winning, everything is perfect, and when one team is losing, the first one to be criticised is the coach.

“The only thing that I want is for them to support the team in the way that they have been doing this season, because they know how important they are for us. If they criticise me, I knew when I decided to become a coach that this kind of thing would happen.”

Karanka was aware of the reaction of supporters at Stoke but having eventually learned the extent of what was chanted at him he was saddened; even if he remains determined to deliver for his critics.

He said: “As a person you can imagine, because when you have been doing your best or working I don’t know how many hours every day, and someone told you … sometimes it is a good thing when you are foreign that you don’t understand.

“But when someone told me what they were singing, as a person you could feel something hard. But as a coach you understand and you have to separate the person and the coach.”

Rather than focus on tactics to turn things around, Karanka is looking at ways to repair the fractured confidence of the last few weeks.

He said: “We can be working here 24 hours and score 25 goals, but if we go to the pitch and are not confident we are not going to do the same.

“I know all the problems but I am not going say what they are because I have to fix them inside the club.

“I have worked the same hours, but I have changed the training sessions. I need to work more on their confidence. We had a lunch on Wednesday together, with the staff, the chairman, the main thing is everybody was on board. You can feel the spirit of this team and it is trying to recover their confidence. They need to know they can do a lot of good things.”

Middlesbrough’s hopes of a turnaround have been hit with the blow that George Friend has been ruled out for a number of weeks through injury. The left-back has been undergoing tests and the calf problem suffered at Stoke means he will be out of action for a while.