Gareth Southgate is refusing to let the ongoing Stewart Downing saga distract him from his management duties.
The Boro boss has seen his star turn consistently linked with a big-money move to Tottenham since the transfer window reopened at the turn of the year.
Southgate even saw his England international winger hand in a transfer request as he looked to manufacture a move to White Hart Lane - a demand which was ultimately turned down.
He could be forgiven for letting the disruptive escapade get on top of him, but remains remarkably relaxed for a man in danger of seeing one of his most prized assets ripped from his grasp.
Southgate insists dealing with situations such as this is are just part and parcel of his job and believes the events of the last few days are nothing compared to the challenges he faced upon taking the Boro hot-seat in 2006.
"Don't forget, I had to learn a job from scratch, and that first year was the most unbelievable life experience you could imagine," he said.
"There are very few people in football who have experienced that. I was talking to a former team-mate of mine earlier in the week, talking about the change from maybe going from assistant to being a manager and what a huge leap that is.
"I walked straight out of the dressing room. The Premier League is an unbelievable place to manage a football club because of all the things we are talking about as much as anything else.
"Yes, every day brings problems, it's the nature of the problems that is different.
"Obviously, for different reasons, our club has been a bit more in the spotlight this week, but it just means the problems are more public.
"We have had issues with various things, not just players, every day of the week for the two and a half years I have been in charge.
"It's the same with managing in any business and in any walk of life."
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