By Tim Sigsworth
On this day in 2015, Stewart Downing re-signed for Middlesbrough six years after he left his boyhood club for Aston Villa following Boro’s relegation to the Championship.
Having come off the back of a fine season with West Ham United, Downing’s return was a morale-boosting shot in the arm which galvanised the Boro fans who had been left so disheartened following the no-show Play-Off Final defeat of two months before.
However, in the three years since his arrival, questions have regularly been raised over the soon-to-be 34-year-old’s performances and whether his regular placing in the starting XI has been warranted by them.
Considering that we are in the middle of a transfer window and that it has been exactly three years since he returned, it is worth asking the question whether Downing’s second spell has been one of under-performance, or one of under-appreciation.
High Expectations
After leaving for Villa Park in 2009, Stewart Downing told The Evening Gazette of his desire to one day return to his hometown club. Speaking of “unfinished business”, Downing’s wishes would have been reciprocated across Teesside considering the key first-team role he had developed into since breaking into the team in 2004.
In the season before his return to Teesside, Downing had regained his place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad during a season in which he registered 6 goals and 8 assists for Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United.
Consequently, expectations from almost all Boro fans were astronomical ahead of his first game since returning to the club. Here was a player of undoubted Premier League quality with a determination to return his hometown club to the Promised Land. To many, it would have been farcical to predict Downing’s second spell at Boro would be anything other than a huge success. It was written in the stars for him to lead us to promotion.
Reality was a stark contrast.
During his last season at the Boleyn Ground, Downing had found his success from a central, attacking midfield role. With Boro, he returned to the left wing; the position in which he had become so iconic during his first spell at the club.
However, Downing struggled to adapt to Aitor Karanka’s 4-2-3-1 and stood behind Diego Fabbrini in the attacking midfield pecking order. After only managing one goal and one assist in his first 12 games, Downing was controversially dropped for an October away game against Wolves.
Karanka’s selection gamble almost failed disastrously, as it was only after Downing’s re-introduction in the second half that a 3-1 victory was secured. With just one goal and three more assists between October and March, Downing was criticised by Karanka just before the infamous 2-0 defeat away at Charlton Athletic.
After the mid-March managerial debacle was settled, Downing continued to play a part in the Boro squad. However, he was often substituted towards the end of the run-in matches and was dropped for the final-day promotion decider against Brighton.
These decisions showed there had clearly been a rift between Downing and Karanka. From where it stemmed was up to debate.
Perhaps, under pressure from the board to make a statement of intent, Karanka had reluctantly agreed to sign Downing against his personal feelings. Maybe Downing’s reputation and personality had clashed with Karanka’s totalitarian management style, or Karanka was simply unimpressed with the 3 goals and 6 assists Downing had managed to secure across a total of 49 games that season.
It’s all conjecture.
Speculation aside, it is fair to reach the conclusion that Downing’s first season back on Teesside had been a disappointment. Nevertheless, promotion to the Premier League had been achieved and Boro had the experience of a player who had been there countless times before. As this could have proven to be vital in the sustainment of Boro’s top flight status, it was time to look to the future.
The Promised Land, or maybe not.
Following what seemed to be a brilliant summer transfer window during which Boro had secured the permanent signatures of Gaston Ramirez, Victor Valdes and Alvaro Negredo, Stewart Downing returned to life in the Premier League very well indeed.
He performed well alongside Ramirez and Negredo, and had seemingly patched up his relationship with Aitor Karanka as the Spaniard described him as a “completely different player”.
However, by December, Downing and Boro’s season began to turn for the worse. He was dropped to the bench on an increasingly consistent basis after missing something tactically in the words of Aitor Karanka, anyway.
Come January and the Riverside exit door was opened to Downing. However, he chose to remain and fight for his place, a decision which would only serve to worsen his relationship with Karanka.
Supposedly frustrated with Downing’s application and attitude, Downing was dropped for an FA Cup home game against Manchester City in March 2017. After the game, Karanka justified his decision by stating he needed “fighters” for survival.
According to The Evening Gazette, Downing felt singled out by what to him was unfair criticism.
Nevertheless, Karanka was sacked later that month and replaced by his Assistant Manager, Steve Agnew. Although Agnew returned Downing to the Starting XI, he couldn’t stave off the threat of relegation.
With Boro’s relegation already confirmed, Downing was booed by large sections of the crowd when substituted in the 60th minute of the final home game of the season. Looking back with hindsight, this vociferous vocal criticism was unfair, but at the time it was understandable.
Downing was a player who had failed to live up to expectations in the Championship and the Premier League after returning to the club. Furthermore, his rift with Karanka had been one of the few insights into the toxic situation that had developed in the dressing room during the second half of the season shared publicly by the press and media.
Fans were hugely frustrated and had been left in the dark about the reasons behind Boro’s fall from grace so when solely focused on a player who to them had instigated the dressing room toxicity amidst a personal failure to live up to expectations, anger and disappointment boiled over into apathy.
A Fresh Start
With Boro readying themselves under new boss Garry Monk for an immediate return to the top flight, Downing would have been looking forward to making amends for the second relegation he had suffered at the club.
However, in his first face-to-face meeting with Monk, he was told he had no place in the new manager’s plans and should look for a new club. Having been sent to train with the Under-23s, a move to Harry Redknapp’s Birmingham City seemed to be the most likely next step on what was turning into a journeyman-esque career.
This deal never came to fruition, however, and so Downing chose to remain at the Riverside and fight for his place. With Boro struggling to create and performing ineffectively out wide, Downing was brought in from the cold and offered an olive branch by Monk. In each of his first 8 games of the season, Boro avoided defeat; a remarkable stat considering the inconsistent start endured under Garry Monk.
Despite his return to the first-team, Downing only scored once and assisted twice in the seventeen games he played under ‘Monkbot’ and it would therefore have been understandable had Monk’s replacement, Tony Pulis, moved Downing on to pastures new in January.
However, with Pulis reluctant to increase Steve Gibson’s transfer outlay and wishing for a “team of Downings”, the Pallister Park-born winger remained at Boro and became, in the aftermath of Martin Braithwaite’s temporary departure to Bordeaux, one of the club’s most consistent performers as he directly contributed to a goal once every three games during the remainder of the league season.
Although the club didn’t achieve promotion, Downing played a role in Boro’s rise up the table into the play-offs; a remarkable feat considering the disjointed nature of their play under Garry Monk.
His Legacy
It would definitely be fair to say that Stewart Downing’s second spell on Teesside has been underwhelming considering he has only scored 8 and assisted 16 in the 100 competitive games he has played since returning to the club.
However, it has to be noted that this poor return has come during far from ideal managerial circumstances.
Aitor Karanka probably didn’t personally choose to sign Downing and almost certainly disliked him for the majority of the time the pair worked together. Furthermore, Downing’s left-wing role in Aitor Karanka’s 4-2-3-1 held far more defensive requirements than the creative freedom of the attacking midfield role that Downing had enjoyed so much success in during his final season at West Ham United.
To contribute offensively as much as was expected, Downing would have needed the physical attributes that he simply didn’t have at the age of 31 because the half-to-half, box-to-box requirements for attacking threat in such a role would have been incredibly demanding.
Then, under Garry Monk, Downing was encouraged to play slightly cautiously considering the box-to-box runs expected of the wing-backs. This, as well as the frosty relationship he had with Monk, inevitably limited the attacking threat he posed during the first half of the 2017/18 season.
Having experienced something of a renaissance under Tony Pulis, Downing should enter next season as a rotational player. Although he had some success in the second half of last season, it isn’t sustainable or realistic to rely on a 33-year-old to consistently deliver promotion-winning performances in every match of a 46-game season.
Downing’s second spell at Boro has been disappointing in terms of statistics, yes. However, criticism levelled at him regarding behind the scenes controversies that have impacted on on-field performances have been almost always based on hearsay and conjecture.
He delivered on his promise to return to the club, and has taken an active role in the wider Teesside community beyond what would naturally be expected of him. Instead of dwelling on his lacklustre performances of recent years, it’s time to look to the future.
This season provides a wonderful opportunity for Boro and Downing. Tony Pulis has built on a strong core by carefully recruiting top-quality players to cover areas of weakness, whilst also offering pre-season opportunities to Boro’s talented young wingers: Harry Chapman, Marcus Tavernier and Lewis Wing.
Downing, with his top-flight and first-team experience, can be of great value to these youngsters, as well as Adama Traore, regarding advice and improvements to their game. An exciting blend of their youthful dynamism and potential with Downing’s experience and respectability could provide Boro with some of the most effective and exciting wing options in the league.
His legacy isn’t fully shaped yet, and he could still have a major role to play in the future of our club in the short-term and the long-term. It’s time to give him the respect he deserves.
So, has his second spell been underwhelming or underappreciated?
In terms of performances, its been undeniably underwhelming. With a measly return of 16 assists from the 100 competitive games he has played since returning to the club, Downing has fallen far short of what was expected of him on the pitch.
However, I do also believe he has been underappreciated by sections of the fanbase. His community work and experience have had a great impact on the club’s reputation and the development of other players, but because they do not have a directly observable impact on matchday performance, it is understandable why they haven’t seemed to have had much of an impact on his post-return reputation.
What do you think? Has Downing been underappreciated since he has returned to the club? Or is his reputation among the fans at the right level?
Let us know via our Twitter, and thanks for reading.
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