Ryan Giles: Middlesbrough will benefit from Luton & Hull struggle.
RYAN Giles doesn’t do regrets but he knows a missed opportunity when he sees one.
And that is how he reflects on Middlesbrough’s 2022/23 season, a campaign that promised so much after Michael Carrick’s appointment but finished in play-off heartbreak at the hands of Coventry City.
Before the devastation came edge of the seat delight as Carrick’s free-flowing Boro over-powered and out-played teams. And Giles, down the left side, was crucial.
“The rhythm we built and momentum in such a short space of time…I’d never been around anything like it,” he says.
“It was amazing. You’ve seen so many of those lads kick on and do what they’ve done, it’s brilliant.
“It feels like an opportunity missed, for sure it does. But that’s football, it can happen. If I’m being honest, you look at the teams who were in the play-offs at the time and we had a real chance.
“Obviously you can’t get ahead of yourself, but with the squad we had, I really fancied us. It was disappointing. But equally, for me personally, it was a brilliant year – probably one of the best seasons I’ve ever had.
“To kick-on from that, get an opportunity to go to the Premier League, because of the platform Middlesbrough gave me, there was a lot to thank the club for.”
Giles is looking back after coming back. But the past now matters not for the left-back, who returned to Boro in January on a loan move until the end of the season.
He could have joined Boro at the end of that 2022/23 season but instead opted for Luton Town, which led to a loan move to Hull City. His spells at both clubs didn’t go to plan, but rather than look at the past season and a half as a failure, he focuses on what he’s learnt – and how he returns to Boro a better player.
“I don’t regret anything I’ve done,” he says.
“I believe everything happens for a reason and I see it all as a learning curve.
“I honestly believe I come back here now in a much stronger position than I was two years ago. I need to use that.
“I’ve got to do well on the pitch, of course I have. I know I have. I know there is going to be an expectation for me to do well and come back like I was.
“I expect that of myself though, and I put that pressure on myself as well. I don’t regret the spells I’ve had since though. It’s all part of learning and growing as an individual and I think I have done that.”
What, then, has he learnt over the course of the last 18 months?
“At Luton, we didn’t really have much of the ball,” he says.
“Obviously, a lot of it was without the ball and that was something I felt I could improve a lot in my game anyway. I feel like, even with how it went there, it’s something that I have improved on quite a lot.
“You learn from a spell like that and having to focus on that more. Obviously when I was here the first time, it was just so free-flowing and ultimately the sort of football I want to play. Luton was the complete opposite, but that means I had to focus on my weaknesses more, as such.
“I think I’ve done that I really do. Even though it hasn’t gone as well as people would have thought for me it was a learning curve, a good experience and something I can take with me and hopefully people now see the benefits and improvements from that.”
