Strachan demands Middlesbrough promotion bid

Middlesbrough manager Gordon Strachan insists he is relishing the pressure of his side’s status as favourites to win the Championship promotion race.

Strachan knows only a return to the Premier League will be enough to satisfy his employers at the Riverside Stadium after a major close-season spending spree saw the club installed as the front runners in English football’s second tier.

The division kicks-off on Friday with newly-promoted Norwich hosting Watford before a full programme of matches on Saturday, including Middlesbrough’s home clash with Roy Keane’s Ipswich.

Signing prolific Scottish striker Kris Boyd, his Rangers team-mate Kevin Thomson and Nicky Bailey from Charlton, has convinced the bookmakers of Middlesbrough’s strength, but the real test of Strachan’s team will be how a group that finished 11th last season cope with such high expectations.

That kind of burden is nothing new to Strachan, who endured life in the hot-seat at Celtic and emerged with three titles and a lot of respect from his time at Parkhead.

The Scot believes the task of leading Middlesbrough back to the top-flight is one that should be savoured, but he has no illusions about what is expected of him.

“We have to get promoted,” said Strachan. “You want players who want to win every game.

“In the Championship you are character-tested. If you’ve got character and goals in your team, then you’ve got to have a chance.

“I could have had jobs that were similar to the ones I had before, but I thought, ‘this is different’. It stretches you; it’s a different job to those I had at Coventry, Celtic or Southampton.”

There are two automatic promotion places up for grabs and a further four teams will go into the play-offs, and this season the battle to fill those positions looks more wide open than ever.

Last year Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion deservedly went up automatically as the class of the division, but unfashionable Blackpool’s success in the play-offs has given hope to every club that they can reach the Premier League’s promised land.

Aside from Middlesbrough, the leading contenders are likely to include Nottingham Forest, Cardiff and relegated pair Hull and Burnley, while Reading, Bristol City and Neil Warnock’s QPR could make a bid for a surprise promotion.

England goalkeeper David James fancies City’s chances after his shock transfer to Steve Coppell’s team last week.

James, who moved to Bristol mainly to remain near his family home in Devon, said: “The club is ambitious and that’s what I am. The south west has not had a club in the Premier League and that needs to change.”

With Leeds back in the Championship after a three-year absence, there is belief at Elland Road that the fallen giants could be on the verge of a return to the big time, but Simon Grayson’s team look a year or two away from a serious challenge.

At the other end of the table, the likes of Barnsley, Scunthorpe, Crystal Palace and League One play-off winners Millwall would happily settle for survival.

But, thanks to Blackpool example, even among the division’s lesser lights hope will spring eternal.

Fixtures:

Friday

Norwich v Watford (1845GMT)

Saturday (1400GMT unless stated)

Bristol City v Millwall, Burnley v Nottingham Forest, Coventry v Portsmouth, Crystal Palace v Leicester, Hull v Swansea, Leeds v Derby (1615GMT), Middlesbrough v Ipswich, Preston v Doncaster, QPR v Barnsley, Reading v Scunthorpe

Sunday

Cardiff v Sheffield Utd (1135GMT)