Steve Agnew will take charge of Middlesbrough’s home game with Manchester United tomorrow, having been appointed as interim boss following Aitor Karanka’s dramatic departure on Thursday. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson was at his press conference yesterday as he outlined his hopes and plans

DRIVING into Middlesbrough’s Rockliffe Park training ground yesterday morning, Steve Agnew will have been greeted by a huge sign advertising “An Evening With Heather Small” at the adjacent Rockliffe Hall hotel.

Small, the advert explains, was the lead singer of M People and responsible for the hit single “Moving On Up”. As a slogan for what Agnew wants to achieve at Middlesbrough, it could hardly be more apt.

Moving on up the league table; moving on up the hierarchy of power at Rockliffe Park. Agnew wants to achieve both, and as he addressed the assembled press in his grey Middlesbrough training top yesterday afternoon, it did not take long for the erstwhile assistant to stress how much he wants the top job.

As a number two stepping up to the leading role, there is always a need to tread a fine line between humility and confidence. Downplay your ambition too much, and there is a risk your authority immediately disappears. Overplay your credentials, and as Craig Shakespeare initially discovered at Leicester City, you can be accused of a Machiavellian desire to stab your former boss in the back.

Agnew got the balance just right. He was respectful of Aitor Karanka, while simultaneously leaving himself with sufficient wriggle room to stress that he was prepared to do things differently in order to improve results. He trotted out the traditional line of “not looking beyond the next game”, without giving the impression that he was afraid of taking on the head coach job permanently. And most strikingly of all, he conveyed unshakeable confidence in his own ability, without coming over as arrogant or misguided.

It was an assured performance, befitting an established Premier League manager rather than a coach promoted out of his depth. Laughing and joking when the opportunity arose, the 51-year-old looked comfortable in the spotlight.

Clearly, the prospect of staking a claim for an extended stay in the manager’s chair does not concern him, despite the chastening experience of last season’s defeat at Charlton Athletic, when he unsuccessfully covered for Karanka after the Spaniard’s training-ground strop resulted in him failing to charge of the team at The Valley.

The Northern Echo:

Charlton, Agnew was quick to point out, is in the past, and the situation was markedly different as Karanka’s shadow continued to loom large. Tomorrow, Agnew will be his own man - and that man is ready to make his own mark.

“It’s always difficult to decide when to go into management, when to take over the key role,” said Agnew. “But probably over the last year, it is something that has really stayed with me. I’m very, very confident carrying out my duties.

“If I could help keep this club in the Premier League, it would be the biggest single achievement of my life. I do believe we will stay in the Premier League.

“I think I’m capable of delivering it, the players are capable of delivering it, and I know we have the support of everyone else in and around the club. I see myself as being a creative coach, and I know I’m capable of drip-feeding ideas into the group that will pay dividends.”

A creative coach. Now there’s three words Middlesbrough supporters must have feared they would never hear again. For all that Karanka achieved during his three-and-a-half years in charge of Boro, the sterility of the last few months in particular has sullied his record.

The statistics are bad enough – three goals in the last ten matches, fewer goals and shots on targets than any other team in the top-flight – but the mind-numbing boredom of having to watch the majority of the club’s games this season has been even worse.

Agnew knows he will have to change that, partly to improve his side’s chances of claiming their first league win since mid-November and partly to help win over a support that had grown increasingly infuriated at Karanka’s negativity.

Things have to change, and while it would clearly be suicidal to be too gung-ho against a Manchester United side that will start as favourites despite the protestations of their manager, Jose Mourinho, there will be a subtle shift of emphasis tomorrow in an attempt to enhance Boro’s attacking threat.

“By nature, I’m creative,” said Agnew. “Although I understand the difficulty of the opponent. I have to have a balanced view, but I’m positive, absolutely.

“My thoughts on how to win a game are that you’ve got to score a goal, and we’ve got to start winning football matches.

“The last few weeks have been difficult, of course, we are as frustrated as everybody else, but I take the positives out of when we last played well, when we last scored a goal, and from analysing goals. Everything has to be positive about achieving what we all want.”

But what about the divided dressing room that Karanka bequeathed in his wake? There have been splits in the camp, but then there always are when players are frustrated at not playing or disappointed with results.

The difference under Karanka was that those splits became personal. Ultimately, that became extremely damaging, but Agnew is respected across the board and should be capable of repairing things reasonably quickly.

Stewart Downing will be restored to the first-team group, and Gaston Ramirez will be granted a final chance to make up for the conduct that saw him attempt to force through a move to Leicester in January. Beyond that? It will be a case of rekindling the spirit that powered Boro to promotion last season, with Agnew confident there is not too much wrong.

“Togetherness is something we’ve used all season,” said Agnew. “In my opinion, that’s never gone away. The group is strong, committed, and fully behind each other on the back of promotion. We all knew how difficult the Premier League would be, and it has been proved to be, but now there is positivity, togetherness, energy, spirit and all of that.”

The hope is that a change at the top will spark an improvement throughout the team. That was the case at Leicester, with Shakespeare’s success in a caretaker role sure to have played a part in Steve Gibson’s willingness to promote from within.

Agnew knows Shakespeare well, and the pair chatted at length when Leicester visited the Riverside in early January. Back then, neither could have imagined what was just around the corner.

“I suppose there are probably comparisons between us,” said Agnew. “If I’m as successful as he’s been in his first three games, we’ll all be happy.”