Do manager’s have a right to criticise fans? Absolutely not!

Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka is treading a dangerous path by criticising the fans. The Boro manager claimed the atmosphere at the Riverside Stadium was ‘awful’ and had a pop at the stay away fans of last season.

He said- ‘When I came here, there were 12,000 people. I can’t say anything bad about the Red Army or the people who are travelling to support us, it’s those who think they have always been supporting us – they have to know three years ago, they weren’t there’.

Football managers are paid a handsome salary to bring success to a football club. But sometimes they forget that, as well as being a results business, it’s an entertainment industry. And Karanka has been accused of adopting a negative style of play at Boro. Do the fans have the right to complain if they’re not being entertained? Absolutely. Do managers have the right to criticise the supporters for expressing an opinion? Absolutely not.

Jose Mourinho has done it. Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp have done it. Martin O’Neill once did it Aston Villa as did Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. If any manager of Birmingham City ever tried it, they’d be making their own bed.

Without fans, the game is nothing. Certain managers could do with remembering that.