AITOR KARANKA has described how it was an “honour” to lead Middlesbrough back to the Premier League and he is satisfied that he still has a strong relationship with Steve Gibson.

Karanka will be back at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday for the first time since leaving 13 months ago as he struggled to overcome a slump which ultimately led to relegation back to the second tier.

His three-and-a-half years on Teesside had plenty of peaks and troughs, with the highs mainly on the pitch until the last year of his reign when things turned sour.

When he lost his job Middlesbrough had dropped into the Premier League’s bottom three with 11 matches remaining having scored just 19 times. There were suggestions of splits in the camp too, ultimately leading to his demise.

“We considered it and the best thing for the club was to separate, for both of us,” said Karanka, speaking in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph before his Riverside return.

“It couldn’t work at the end but the relationship we still have is amazing. Until now, Middlesbrough had been the only place I’d managed so there were many good moments.

“After leaving Middlesbrough I needed the time out. There were quite a few offers (interviewed by Swansea and West Brom) but I was waiting for the right opportunity.

“I was out of work for ten months but when I met the Forest chairman (Nicholas Randall) in Madrid for the first time I knew this was going to be the next step in my career.”

Karanka felt the need to bide his time after the Middlesbrough experience. His first managerial post had really hurt him because he had not envisaged things turning out quite like they did.

There were some fans who had turned on him in the end, but realistically the majority of the fans will give him a warm reception when he steps out as Nottingham Forest manager and takes his place in the away dug-out on Saturday.

“I was the first foreign coach in Middlesbrough’s history and to put them in the Premier League was an honour,” he said. “It had been a really tough two-and-a-half years. The first year was difficult because I was living alone in my first job, with a different language and culture. The atmosphere was depressed and there were only 10,000 in the stadium.

“The following season we played 55 games and lost in the play-off final (to Norwich). The toughest moment was in the summer when I returned to my office and put all the 50 fixtures back on the board. But to finish second and go up the next year was an incredible feeling. When we got promoted I cried in the dressing room for 45 minutes.”

Now the challenge he faces is to restore Forest back to a greater standing, having been out of the Premier League for the last 20 years. He has sensed a real need for change at the City Ground and before the January deadline day he moved seven players out and signed eight.

Forest have only lost one of their last eight games but have drawn five, and they have not scored in any of their last four matches even though they earned points in three of those.

Karanka, 44, said: “My feeling was that a lot of people were really complacent (at Forest), the pressure and blame was always on the manager. Another one sacked, then another one! I’m not here to be the next one, not for a long time I hope.

“The Preston game (on January 30) was the best thing that happened because we realised we had to change a lot of things. I don’t know what would have happened if we’d won that game. Now the players know the challenge, the aim, and it’s different.

“It wasn’t just a message for the dressing room, it was for everyone. To work here should not be easy, unless you’re working hard.”

He added: “The young supporters here have never seen the team in the Premier League and yet they will keep hearing about the history – they won’t know how big this club is.

“The worst thing is when you feel comfortable being in that situation, as a Championship team. My aim is to get promotion and it will need hard work, but we are all here together to try and do it.”