‘Incredibly tough’ – Boro sent Championship promotion warning for new season
Middlesbrough will be hoping to win promotion next season but have been warned to expect a much tougher Championship field.
Compounding the frustrations of a really disappointing campaign on Teesside is the fact that everyone expected last season to be the best opportunity for many years to earn promotion. And though Leeds United and Burnley blew that theory out of the water by claiming 100 points apiece, Sunderland’s promotion via the play-offs highlighted how much of a missed opportunity it was for Michael Carrick’s side.
As Boro now conduct an in-depth review of the campaign to determine areas they have to improve for next season, they have been warned that big improvements might be needed because the competition will be stronger next term.
As well as Sheffield United, who will be looking to again after their Wembley heartbreak, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton will be returning to the Championship with parachute payments. All three will be hoping to challenge.
Add to that the ambitious promoted sides of Birmingham City and Wrexham who, with generous owners behind them, will be hoping to emulate Ipswich’s feat in 2024 by achieving back to back promotions. In Wrexham’s case, they’ll actually be aiming for an unprecedented four consecutive promotions.
With all that in mind and the fact that Boro are effectively one of around six Championship clubs who will be hoping to have an ambitious summer to do as Sunderland did and disrupt the balance of the advantages caused by parachute payments, and it’s easy to see why things could be a lot tougher next season if the right improvements aren’t made.
Warning them of exactly that, Oxford United boss Gary Rowett said of next season’s second-tier line-up: “There are some big clubs coming up and some big clubs coming down. It’s going to be incredibly challenging. It’ll be an incredibly tough challenge again in an incredibly tough division.
“It’s one of the toughest divisions in the world I don’t think that’s ever going to change regardless of how much you spend or how big you are, but we’ll look forward to it.”
Leave a Reply