Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka has insisted that he will not leave the club until chairman Steve Gibson decides that he is no longer the man for the job.

Boro saw their winless run in the Premier League extend to 10 matches with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City this afternoon, during which a section of fans were heard singing for Karanka to "go home".

Today's defeat saw Middlesbrough drop into the relegation zone, but Karanka believes that the fact it has taken them so long to enter the bottom three proves that they have been doing well for the majority of the season.

"I didn't hear [the chants]. But I came here because the chairman called me three years ago to help the club to be in the Premier League, and I will leave the day that the chairman says," he told reporters.

"The only thing I can do is work harder every day. The problem I think is a lot of things - it's not just one. Because if it was just one, I would fix it, but it's more than one, more than two, more than three.

"We are in the bottom three in March. For a recently promoted team to be for the first time in the bottom three in March is because we are doing something well. We knew we were going to be fighting until the end to survive and my thought is just to keep going."

Boro have failed to even score in their last four league games.