Former Hartlepool United and Middlesbrough coach Craig Hignett looking to get back into management after seven month break

Hignett was dismissed as Hartlepool manager back in October 2019 and has been without a club since.

The former Middlesbrough forward started his coaching career as part of Boro’s academy back in 2008 before joining Pools in 2013 as assistant to Colin Cooper.

He then returned to Middlesbrough to be part of then-manager Aitor Karanka’s coaching set-up back in March 2014. After an eight-month spell back at the Riverside, Hignett left by mutual consent.

Two separate stints as manager at Hartlepool then followed with both ending prematurely following an underwhelming run of results. Hignett's most recent dismissal has left a particularly bitter taste due to a payment dispute with the club.

But despite the disappointments he’s experienced as a manager so far, Hignett has not been deterred.

“You feel disappointed but I love coaching and I love managing,” he said when discussing a potential return to management.

“I miss it. I loved it, I love [Hartlepool], it’s got passionate fans who want the very best for the club and so they should.”

Hignett has won 27 of his 86 games in senior management but admits he may have to go down the youth football route should he look to pursue another full-time coaching role.

On his experiences as a manager so far, he told BBC Radio Tees Sport: “I believe in myself and I know I’m a decent manager and what I’ve learned is invaluable.

“I’ve had two goes at it and haven’t done anything, I’ve had two decent spells at trying to rebuild a club.

“If you speak to the players, I’m not sure any of them would have a bad word to say. They knew how organised I was and how much I wanted the football club to do well and the amount of time that I put into it as well.

“The hard bit now is getting back in there because it’s tricky unless someone [at a club] really knows you. I may have to look to get into under-23s football or something like that.”