Middlesbrough
8/10 Bouncebackability
Confidence is high that their stay in the Championship will be brief
Manager
Steve Agnew will not be kept on as head coach as he has done nothing to prove he is capable of leading a promotion campaign since replacing Aitor Karanka two months ago. Nothing has been announced, but the best he can hope for is to be kept on the coaching staff. The great news for Boro is that they could well have the most attractive job vacancy in English football this summer because they have a huge advantage over the rest of the Championship, not just in terms of the players already at the club, but also the scope for bringing in new ones.
Former Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has already said he would love to return to his former club as manager.
Alan Pardew is also interested. It could even be an intriguing first job away from Manchester United for Ryan Giggs.
Squad strength
Confidence is high on Teesside, despite relegation, that they fall back into the Championship in good health. Although their return to the top flight after seven years proved to be a huge anti-climax because of the negative football of Karanka, there is a widespread belief they are in excellent shape to come straight back up.
Boro have kept largely the same players who got them promoted and have not done anything stupid in terms of their wage budget. Not only that, but if they sell key defender Ben Gibson for more than £20 million – as is expected – they will be able to reinvest that in the team. When that is combined with income from parachute payments, no wonder chairman Steve Gibson has declared they want to “smash the Championship next season”.
Owner
You will be hard pushed to find a better, or more popular, chairman than Gibson in this
country and, although he made mistakes this season, his heart is always in the right place. He wanted to be loyal to Karanka, the man who had overseen promotion, and, having delayed the decision to get rid of him too long, he also wanted to give first-team coach Agnew a chance to show what he could do, safe in the knowledge relegation would not be a financial or footballing disaster.
Gibson will do everything he can to make sure there is money to spend on transfers and as long as he gets the managerial appointment right, Boro will be one of the favourites for automatic promotion.