Aitor Karanka owes part of Middlesbrough success to one individual: View | OneFootball

Middlesbrough's 2015/16 Championship success story was authored by Aitor Karanka, but it was his predecessor that laid the foundations.

In every sporting success story, there's often someone in the background whose contribution goes largely unnoticed, but is crucial to the main protagonist's achievements.

Every boxing champion has their trainer. Every top goalscorer has their forwards coach. But in football management, changes in the dugout tend to stem from poor decisions and results, resulting in most jobs being recovery missions rather than building on the good work that came before.

In the case of Karanka and his automatic promotion-winning Boro side, however, José Mourinho's Real Madrid assistant inherited a football club that had been cleaned up by a true Teesside legend, Tony Mowbray.

FLW takes a look back at the Mowbray era at the Riverside Stadium, and explores the legacy "Mogga" left for his eventual successor.

Mowbray cleared out the Boro deadwood

Mowbray had taken the summer and early stages of autumn 2010, to process his departure from Glasgow giants Celtic earlier in that year.

But in late October, one of Middlesbrough's favourite sons was drafted in to reignite a club that had fallen back into the Championship, following relegation from the Premier League at the conclusion of the 2008/09 season.

He was welcomed back to the North East with open arms, as those who were old enough told tales to the youth of "Mogga's" legendary decade-long career, during the club's darkest times in the 80s-early 90s.

It wasn't going to be a straightforward task, however, as previous manager Gordon Strachan had largely wasted a significant amount of transfer funds on eventual flops from the Scottish Premiership, leaving the club in a perilous 20th position in the Championship.

As an indication of just how poor his recruitment was, out of his 17 signings made between October 2009-October 2010, only Scott McDonald (124) and Nicky Bailey (111) ever made over 100 total appearances for Middlesbrough, per Transfermarkt.

"Mogga" was able to steady what was a rapidly sinking ship that season, and guided the club to a far more secure 12th-placed finish in the 2010/11 season. With Boro now in a healthier position than when he took over, Mowbray had given himself a platform from which to begin building his squad for the future.

Mowbray's cut-price bargains that became Karanka's promotion stalwarts

Mowbray eventually began to stamp his mark on the squad in his first full season as Middlesbrough manager, in the summer of 2011.

A mass exodus of Strachan imports slipped out the back door at Rockliffe Park with their tails between their legs over the following transfer windows. In fact, out of the entire 17 brought in under the Scottish footballing legend, only Andy Halliday remained at Middlesbrough beyond Mowbray - and he even sealed multiple loan moves away during his time with Boro, as per Transfermarkt.

And so, over the next couple of transfer windows, Mowbray began assembling his squad, all the while spending next to nothing doing so.

The majority of "Mogga's" permanent recruits were free transfers, but even when fees were paid, some excellent scouting and negotiation skills ensured Boro rarely paid beyond a seven-figure fee.

Among those arrivals were many who would go on to become future promotion stars under Karanka. Grant Leadbitter captained Boro to the Premier League, whilst Dimi Konstantopoulos and George Friend were both instrumental in helping to set multiple club records for clean sheets during the 2015/16 season.

Albert Adomah became one of the best wingers in the Championship under Boro's Spanish boss, as key squad rotation players like Dean Whitehead and Jonathan Woodgate would all play their respective parts during the Karanka era too.

Mowbray couldn't win promotion, but he'd make sure his replacement could

Mowbray would come as close as he ever did to taking his boyhood club back to the big time in the 2011/12 season, finishing seventh and just five points outside the play-offs.

However, after an unforeseen struggle in the 2012/13 campaign that saw the club finish 16th, Mowbray was relieved of his duties in late October 2013, with the club sitting in that very same position at the time.

Karanka would come in and perform a similar steadying of the ship job that "Mogga" had himself performed back in 2010. Eventually - after a play-off final defeat in the 2014/15 season - Karanka was able to guide his Boro side to a second placed finish in 2015/16's memorable campaign, doing so at the wheel of a side laced with Mowbray's handy work of yesteryear.

Therefore, when Middlesbrough fans look back on the glory days under Karanka, the importance of the role the man who came before him played in helping the club achieve that success, should never be lost on the Teesside faithful.