Scott Wilson Column: Middlesbrough reaping the rewards of astute ownership as they prepare for promotion push

When Steve Gibson spoke of “smashing the league” in the wake of his side’s relegation, he was reflecting the new financial reality that means recently-relegated clubs have never been in a stronger financial position in relation to the rest of the Championship.

Boro banked almost £99m from the Premier League’s central funds thanks to their one-season stay in the top-flight, and are set to receive more than £86m in parachute payments over the next two years if they fail to make it back out of the Championship.

Accountancy firm Deloitte estimate that a relegated club’s revenue will drop by around £60m in their first season in the second tier, but that still leaves a significant cushion to fund a rebuilding job.

Unfortunately, in the case of Sunderland, that cushion has been obliterated by a pre-existing £110m debt. As Simon Grayson is discovering, your options are severely restricted when your owner is reluctant to spend because previous expenditure has spiralled out of control.

That hasn’t been the case at Middlesbrough, with Steve Gibson having underwritten past spending to ensure the books have remained broadly balanced.

Gibson predicted Boro would have “more resources than any other club in the league” when he spoke at the end of last season, and thus far, the chairman has been as good as his word.

Monk has spent more than £30m on Britt Assombalonga, Martin Braithwaite, Jonny Howson and Cyrus Christie, and while around £17m has been recouped from the sale of Jordan Rhodes (whose departure to Sheffield Wednesday was formally ratified during the current transfer window), Bernardo Espinosa, Viktor Fischer and James Husband, Boro’s net spend remains considerable.

It is likely to rise further, with Monk continuing to target a new goalkeeper as a matter of priority, but the fact Boro can afford to spend such sums while still keeping their finances in check proves the value of their careful stewardship in the past.

The harsh reality is that Sunderland would have been in a similar position had vast sums not been squandered by a succession of managers, directors of football and chief executives. The Black Cats are paying a high price for previous errors; Middlesbrough are reaping the rewards of astute ownership.

The one caveat, of course, is that spending money does not guarantee promotion. The last time the Teessiders were relegated from the Premier League, they were also able to outspend the vast majority of their Championship rivals.

The problem was that Gordon Strachan was given a free rein over the purse strings, and his signings simply did not work. In his first 12 months in charge, Strachan signed the likes of Kris Boyd, Scott McDonald, Barry Robson, Chris Killen, Willo Flood and Lee Miller. Some of those players were among the highest-paid in the whole of the Championship; all were a complete disaster.

Will things be better this time around? The truth is we simply do not know. But while Braithwaite and Assombalonga are still to make their first appearances in a Boro shirt, the initial signs are positive.

While Strachan gambled unsuccessfully on Scottish players being able to handle the transition from the SPL, Monk has targeted players with a proven Championship pedigree.

Howson boasts extensive experience with Norwich and Leeds, while Christie made more than 100 senior appearances with Derby. Assombalonga’s goals-per-game ratio with Nottingham Forest and Peterborough trumps that of just about any other striker in the Championship, and while Braithwaite has not played in England, he boasts a proven pedigree in the top-flight in France.

Monk has made encouraging progress in other areas, most notably when it comes to the reinvigoration of Gaston Ramirez, who could yet have a future beyond the end of the transfer window, and the integration of youngsters like Dael Fry and Mikael Saisolo, who could find themselves heavily involved in the first team next term.

It would be dangerous to make too many predictions with the start of the season still more than a week away, but the mood music on Teesside is certainly more optimistic than might have been anticipated in the immediate aftermath of relegation.

That is what happens when you have stability, strong ownership and a track record for financial good sense. It is no guarantee of promotion, but it should mean Boro start the new season with every chance of bouncing straight back.

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WHEN Roger Federer won his seventh Wimbledon title in 2012, there was a debate about whether he merited the title of the ‘Greatest tennis player of all time’. Five years on, and the debate has surely been silenced.

Federer has so many remarkable attributes – style, grace, technical brilliance, a formidable will to win – and now longevity can also be added to the list.

He didn’t just outplay the rest of the men’s draw at this year’s Wimbledon – he completely outclassed each and every player he was up against.

That would be some achievement at any stage of his career, but coming a few weeks before his 36th birthday, and some 14 years after his first Wimbledon triumph, it represents a quite staggering feat.

Federer might be picking and choosing his events now, and some of his leading rivals might have underperformed during Wimbledon fortnight, but he is playing as well as he has ever done and could yet end the year with three Grand Slam titles to his name. Not bad for someone who was supposedly finished three or four years ago.

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THE recent Star Sixes tournament staged at London’s O2, which featured six-a-side teams comprised of legendary former players from 12 countries, was derided by some as gimmickry.

In fact, it bore a much closer resemblance to ‘real’ football that most would imagine. Take England, for example. Having scraped out of their group, an England team featuring the likes of Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey lost limply to Denmark in their first knock-out game. Sounds pretty much par for the course to me.