MICHAEL Carrick says Middlesbrough will embrace the challenge of what has the look of one of the toughest and most competitive Championship promotion battles in years.

Ever since the line-up for the 2023/24 Championship was confirmed, there's been talk of how strong the league looks. Promotion, of course, isn't won on paper and there are countless recent examples of sides backed to charge away at the top of the league only to struggle in the second tier.

But Carrick admits "there are a lot of strong teams" in this year's Championship. Not that that concerns Middlesbrough's head coach. He's relishing the challenge and is looking to some "really big games".

The stand-out teams are the three coming down - Southampton, Leicester City and Leeds United, but then there are those to consider who missed out last season and are likely to be strong such as Norwich and West Brom as well as Sunderland and Coventry, who finished in the top six last term.

Another team who Carrick expects to be up in the mix are Ipswich Town, managed by his close friend Kieran McKenna. The Tractor Boys arrive in the Championship with momentum and high hopes after last season's League One promotion.

“In terms of on paper, there are a lot of strong teams," says Carrick.

"I know Ipswich coming up, I know Kieran really well so I know what he’s capable of in terms of coaching and he showed that with the team he’s developed there. I know they will be a very good team and they’ll be strong.

"The obvious ones are the three coming down - three big clubs, established Premier League clubs if you like. They have good players and are capable of buying and spending decent transfer fees to strengthen again. That’s the challenge we face, and it’s nothing new. That’s the league.

"It’s a challenge we’re looking forward to and you’ve got to embrace it because that’s just how it is. There’ll be some really good games this year, big games too with Southampton, Leeds and Leicester, that’s three serious teams coming down. It’s a big challenge, a good challenge, and it will be interesting to see how the league pans out."

For Boro, the pain of last season's play-off heartbreak will act as motivation, but Carrick is looking forward not back.

Boro came within 180 minutes of the Premier League last season, only to suffer devastation at the hands of Coventry City in the play-off semi-final second leg at the Riverside.

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Carrick admits it wasn't easy to get over the setback but says Boro had planned for the possibility of both promotion and missing out, and were able to quickly turn their attention to bouncing back stronger this season.

“You’ve always got to look ahead in football," said Boro's head coach, who is preparing for his first full campaign in charge.

"You can certainly take things from last season - positives, negatives, you’ll learn things from it. But ultimately it’s about what happens next and it always is in football, the next game, the next week.

"We can take plenty of confidence in what we achieved last season in terms of performances and consistency for a long period of time. We’ll need to tap into that this year. But it is a new season, it’s a fresh start, and it’s now and what’s ahead that counts.

"When you have a setback like that in that situation (the play-offs), it's not easy. Nevertheless it's my role and responsibility to get over that quick because we had a new season and new things to prepare for.

"We had a plan regardless both ways, whether it went our way or not, so the organisation was taken care of. In the end I got over it pretty quickly and our head was on this season preparing the team and squad and club and staff for what's ahead."

Carrick expects a tough game against Millwall, who are smarting themselves after missing out on a top six spot on the final day last season.

He said: "They're a good team, a very good team, well organised, very tough to play against and really effective at what they do, so it will be a good test for us."