Like Hull City, Middlesbrough are conducting an end-of-season football review, which will include assessing the future of head coach Michael Carrick.
Carrick failed to get Boro into the top six with their faint hopes of an unlikely final day success dashed by a 2-0 defeat at Coventry City, who secured a place in the semi-finals against Sunderland.
Boro ended up finishing 10th, four points off a top-six berth and given the expectation on Teesside that Carrick would guide his side to the top six, it will be deemed a major disappointment that they did not.
What happens with Carrick could well have a direct impact on Hull City and the future of Ryan Giles. The defender re-joined Boro on loan until the end of the season back in January, making 12 appearances in the second half of the campaign.
Only three of those appearances came from the start, and there were games where Giles was restricted to fleeting outings. While there were 90-minute displays against Sunderland, Sheffield United and Swansea City, the 25-year-old played for just three minutes at Stoke City, one against QPR and Plymouth Argyle, four against Blackburn Rovers and then another four-minute appearance on the final day.
It’s been a difficult couple of years for Giles since he left Wolves to join Luton Town and then arrived at City in January last year. The Tigers were obligated to make that loan move permanent 12 months ago in a deal worth around £4m. The Telford-born performer fell out of favour under Tim Walter, and when Ruben Selles came in, he eventually returned to Boro, who spent most of last summer trying to do a deal with City.
Their current agreement with the East Yorkshire club is only temporary. Boro have no option or obligation to buy, so as it stands, Giles will return to the MKM Stadium at the start of pre-season training and present the club with a decision to make. And Boro may not want to pursue it.
Carrick and his assistant Jonathan Woodgate were key drivers in bringing Giles back to the Riverside Stadium after a successful loan spell in the 2022/23 campaign. But he has struggled to live up to those heights. No goals and no assists summed up a tough second half of the season for Boro and Giles. Carrick may pay for that with his job, depending on the outcome of Steve Gibson’s review.
City paid £4m for Giles and he’s under contract for another two years. Does he come back and have a role to play given the issues at left-back, or will he be moved on? Will City cut their losses and accept a cut-price fee to get him off the wage bill? Or will he be loaned out again?
What impact does the manager have? Selles didn’t want Giles and moved him on. If the Spaniard is still in charge, does that stance remain the same? Or will he offer him a pre-season to find his form and confidence and prove he should be involved?
If there’s a managerial change, could that yield a fresh start for Giles at City and the chance to find that form which saw him impress so much at Boro a couple of years ago? Equally, it’s hard to imagine a new manager on Teesside being quite so keen to re-sign Giles as Carrick was.
There are so many questions that will need answering over the next few weeks. What happens with Carrick could well hold the key to the Giles and Hull City situation.