Championship news as former Middlesbrough favourite earns new long-term contract

Championship news as former Middlesbrough favourite earns new long-term contract

 

Matt Clarke has signed a new long-term contract to continue at Derby County next season after helping the Rams avoid relegation.

 

Clarke left Boro in January in search of regular football after losing his place in Michael Carrick’s side this term. He signed a short-term contract at Pride Park and become a central figure as John Eustace guided the Rams to safety. As such, he’s signed a new three-year deal to extend his second stay at the club.

 

Clarke spent two-and-a-half years at Boro but almost 12 of those months were spent on the sidelines with a back injury. He returned in the second half of last season and after an injury crisis at the back, proved his quality with a string of impressive performances. However, his lack of comfort in Carrick’s preferred style saw other defenders preferred over him this term.

 

He left in January to join Derby, at which point Boro made George Edmundson’s loan move a permanent one. But with Darragh Lenihan still not back fit, Carrick ultimately decided against wanting to integrate another defender into the squad and they decided against signing a replacement.

 

That proved costly when Edmundson, Dael Fry and Rav van den Berg all suffered injuries, with Boro playing with Jonny Howson and Neto Borges as centre-backs. Boro plan to rectify that mistake this summer, with a new centre-back among their list of priority targets in the upcoming transfer window.

 

According to the Telegraph, former Boro man Gary O’Neil is one of the names being considered by Norwich City as a potential head coach. The Canaries are searching for a new boss after sacking Johannes Hoff Thorup last month.

 

As well as O’Neil, who is out of work since being sacked by Wolves earlier this season, Norwich are also said to be considering Steve Cooper and Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant Pep Lijnder. Whoever they appoint, they’ll be hoping to have a better go at challenging for a top-six spot next season.

 

After upsetting the odds to secure their own play-off place this season, Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown has promised that’s exactly what they’ll be aiming for again. Their season ultimately ended with a humbling 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sheffield United in the play-off semi final.

 

Lansdown told BBC Radio Sheffield: “Nobody gave us a chance to be in the top six this year, but we’re there. Everybody will think we can make the top six next year, so the pressure is different obviously, but that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to entertain, we’re here to provide excitement for our supporters.

 

“We’re here to boost sport in Bristol, and we just have to keep doing the right things. We’re always going to be hit by injuries and things that go against us, it’s a rollercoaster. What I like about Liam [Manning] is that he always says, ‘Don’t get too excited when things are going well and don’t get too down when things aren’t going quite so well.’ If we keep doing that, we can progress, and that’s the intention.”

After avoiding relegation this term, Portsmouth are planning a busy summer rebuild to try and consolidate their Championship status. Boss John Mousinho expects their summer to be ‘busier than usual’ but feels they’re in a ‘really strong position’.

 

He told BBC Radio Solent: “Nothing is close at all, we’ve been tracking players but we’re not panicking. There’s definitely a couple of free agents we are interested in but it’s likely to be a combination of paying fees for players and bringing loans in. There’s nothing we are absolutely desperate to do. What we don’t want to do is let players go too early and then not necessarily have replacements.

 

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“It’s probably going to be a case of waiting to bring players in before we let players go. It won’t be like it has been for the past two summers. It won’t be 14 through the door. It won’t be one or two. I suspect it’ll probably land halfway between them. We’re not going to force anything.”

 

Josh Windass contract extension

Josh Windass has had his Sheffield Wednesday contract extended by a further year. He signed a new deal at Hillsborough last summer which gave the club the option to extend the deal – with the club now exercising said option.

 

Windass, who is the son of former Boro man Dean, recently scored against Boro for the Owls as they came from behind to beat Carrick’s side 2-1. It proved a damaging defeat as Boro went on to miss out on the play-offs.

 

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