Craig Hignett: Middlesbrough assistant head coach leaves club

Craig Hignett joined Middlesbrough in March from Hartlepool

Middlesbrough have parted company with assistant head coach Craig Hignett, only nine months after he joined Aitor Karanka's backroom staff.

Hignett, 44, moved to the Riverside in March after leaving Hartlepool, where he worked as Colin Cooper's number two.

A statement from Boro said "all parties have agreed for Craig to leave his position with immediate effect".

No announcement has been made regarding Hignett's replacement on the Championship club's coaching staff.

"We had difference in our decisions and our points of view," Karanka told the club website.

"All of us want the best for the club, we have talked and we agreed this is the best for the club and I just want to say thank you to him.

"He knows he's more than an assistant, he's my friend and he was my first assistant."

Although born on Merseyside and a Liverpool supporter, Hignett has enjoyed a close bond with the Teessiders since his arrival as a player at the old Ayresome Park in 1992.

He scored 48 times in 194 appearances for Boro, as well as playing in the 1997 League and FA Cup finals, and also held a number of coaching roles with the academy and first-team set-up following his retirement as a player.