Karankaing up the ante

Andy Munro welcomes Blues’ new manager Aitor Karanka.

And so the rumours have now been made official. Aitor Karanka is Blues’ new manager. As I’ve said before, he wouldn’t have been my first choice but hopefully I will be made to eat my words and, in fairness, the fans’ websites of the two clubs he’s previously managed (Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest) still speak well of him, which is often the acid test.

I just hope that it’s not another case of big name syndrome that the board have fallen for before, and which led to Harry Redknapp and Gianfranco Zola’s, or that they have maybe been dazzled by the new gaffer’s previous coaching connections with Jose Mourinho. Personally, I would have preferred Paul Cook but he probably comes from a family of whippet rearers or pigeon fanciers so probably lacked the glamour that seem so vital as part of the Chinese football psyche.

Either way, Aitor’s reportedly got a ‘war chest’ but whether that’s sewing box- or trunk-sized is anybody’s guess.