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."

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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."

Giles, returns, he believes, a better player to once again link up with the manager who brought the best out of him previously.

“I think the gaffer just played to my strengths, and played me to my strengths," he says, looking back on his first spell.

"That was important. Playing with the players I did back then helped as well. Obviously I had Chuba to look for in the box and I knew if I put it to him he’d put it away. It just worked and seemed to fit well.

"The gaffer came in, put a system together and the role I had to play was playing to my strengths and that’s ultimately why it got the best out of me. It was a free-flowing team that kept the ball really well.

"On the other side, the belief he showed in me, and the consistency I had in games, was perfect. I know I wasn’t perfect in every game - it wasn’t all positive. There were a handful of games where I would look back and think, ‘I didn’t have a good game there’. "But he stuck by me and told me to keep going and gave me the belief and confidence to do exactly that. That was important."

Can this spell be just as successful, for Giles and Boro?

“I think it will be different because there are different players here now with different profiles and different strengths," he says.

"Not every player is the same. But in terms of the squad and how we play, I don’t think it’s too different. For me, coming in now, it’s trying to replicate what we did last time and then going one better. That’s what I aim to do."