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NOWHERE in the Championship this weekend will the disparity between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ be quite so obvious than the Macron Stadium.
Middlesbrough, fresh from relegation and hell bent on a swift return to the Premier League, have reduced the average age of their squad this summer with a net spend of £30million.
Hosts Wanderers have been saddled by an embargo since December 2015 and have not paid a transfer fee since the previous January, when Neil Lennon bought Filip Twardzik from his old club Celtic.
Although the Whites once paid £2.3million for David Wheater from Boro, he was released at the end of his contract at the 2016/17 season and picked up again as a free agent. As such, there is not a single player in the Phil Parkinson’s squad who commanded a transfer fee.
Wanderers fans need no reminder of the above, of course. Nor does Parkinson, whose weariness with embargo-related questions at various press conferences in the last 14 months has grown more evident with time.
When Ken Anderson’s Inner Circle Investments Ltd assumed control of 95 per cent of the shares in Burnden Leisure last week, hopes were raised that the end of the restrictions was near.
It did not come soon enough to enable Parkinson a free rein on deadline day but the fact Craig Noone was added without the need for a player moving in the opposite direction has been taken as a positive sign.
“It will be nice to be on a level playing field eventually,” reflected Parkinson this week, discussing the potential for business in January without the need to pass each signing by the EFL.
“Hopefully things are moving in the right direction now that the situation has been sorted. We need to move on as a club.”
Parkinson, nor his players can afford to dwell on the negatives.
While results in the opening five games have indicated Wanderers are having problems adjusting to life at a higher level after promotion, the manager is insistent his team will improve.
Boro have been able to add Britt Assombalonga for £15million from Nottingham Forest, Martin Brathwaite from Toulouse for £10m and Bolton-raised Ashley Fletcher from West Ham for £6.5m.
They have balanced the books to a point, allowing the likes of Gaston Ramirez, Martin de Roon and Jordan Rhodes to move in the opposite direction – but Boro’s net spend is still £11.5m more than their nearest rival Wolves.
Parkinson has done his homework on the Teessiders and spent the last fortnight formulating a plan to plug his leaky defence. The Wanderers boss is keen to ensure the focus is kept on stepping up performance levels rather than containing the multi-million pound signings of his opponents.
“They have bought in a lot of quality,” he said. “Middlesbrough came out of the Premier League and they are spending money to make sure they get straight back there.
“They have the parachute payments and have been able to freshen up their squad with signings. We know all about the new players and I watched them play Preston North End recently so I’ve got a pretty good idea how they will operate. But from our point of view we have got to concentrate on being the very best we can be to get a result.”
Boro defender Fabio reckons his side will improve after a patchy start, which has seen them won just two of their first five games.
“It’s a fresh start this season because last season wasn’t easy,” he said. “We’ve had to forget that when going into this season.
“We’ve won and lost some games so far but we have to always just concentrate on the next game.
“Relegation was hard but like I said you have to come back from your holidays and be ready to go again.”
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