Kieran Scott's assessment of next season's Championship & Middlesbrough's chances

KIERAN Scott is understandably reluctant to make any bold claims ahead of the coming Championship season, but he does believe Middlesbrough are better placed to compete for promotion than they were this time last year.

Twelve months ago, Boro were facing a challenging summer as they set about revamping the squad and replacing star men who were moving on or loanees who'd returned to their parent clubs.

Fast forward a year and there's real stability on Teesside. On the back of an encouraging end to the last campaign, Boro are fiercely determined to keep hold of key players such as Rav van den Berg, Hayden Hackney and Emmanuel Latte Lath this summer - and they've already bolstered their squad with three signings.

With all that in mind, it's no surprise that Boro are one of the sides fancied to compete for promotion, according to the bookmakers.

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And while the Championship is always incredibly competitive and can never be underestimated, it's widely accepted that the division was tougher than ever last season, with Leicester, Southampton and Leeds United, the three relegated teams, all extremely strong.

This coming season, there's a lot more uncertainty surrounding the relegated clubs.

While they'll obviously have the significant boost of parachute payments,  Burnley are still managerless after losing Vincent Kompany to Bayern Munich, there's an ongoing takeover saga at Sheffield United and Luton, unfancied underdogs in their 2022/23 promotion winning campaign and their Premier League relegation battle last term, must now deal with the weight of expectation.

There are, as always, several sides who'll be preparing for a promotion push. Leeds United will be desperate to bounce back after their play-off final defeat, while West Brom and Norwich will want to compete again after making the top six last term.

Hull City will be out to build on their seventh-place finish last season, and the likes of Coventry, Watford and Sunderland will all want to get themselves in the mix at the top end.

Boro know the battle for promotion will be as fierce as ever but there's a calm confidence ahead of the coming season.

"This is a question I hate because I don't want to get caught saying something stupid," said Scott when quizzed on Boro's chances.

"The Championship each season is always really demanding and tough, whoever is in the league. We all know three really big clubs came down last year, two of them have gone back, one has stayed.

"The clubs that are coming down are boosted by parachute payments, I believe one is due for a takeover. You never quite know the landscape. You never really know what you're up against until it starts.

"That being said, I'm looking at it thinking we have a stronger chance of being competitive this season than perhaps last season. We have a much more settled squad, we have players who ended the season in form. I'd like to think we'll be in and around it."

Boro's preparations for the coming campaign are continuing at Rockliffe after the players reported back for the start of pre-season last week.

And the squad was yesterday boosted by the return of the international players who were given an extended break.

That included last season's top scorer Emmanuel Latte Lath, as well as Seny Dieng and Finn Azaz. Aidan Morris also met his new teammates for the first time after completing his move from Columbus Crew at the end of last week.