THIS time last year, Middlesbrough weren’t really ready for the start of the season. Three key loanees had left at the end of the previous campaign, and star striker Chuba Akpom was edging towards the exit door. Emmanuel Latte Lath, who would end the season as Boro’s leading scorer, still hadn’t been signed. Neither had Lukas Engel or Alex Bangura, their two left-backs. In hindsight, it is really little wonder that Michael Carrick’s side started so badly, failing to win any of their opening seven league games.

This time around, things feel different. Paddy McNair is the only senior player to have left since the end of last season, meaning there is a strong sense of continuity within the squad that will line up against Swansea City for today’s opening Championship game. Luke Ayling, who joined on a permanent basis as a free agent, knows all about Boro, having spent the second half of last season on Teesside. Fellow summer signings Aidan Morris and Delano Burgzorg have been with their new team-mates throughout pre-season.

Nothing is a given in football, but with the new campaign beginning today, Boro feel as though they are in a much better place than 12 months ago.

“We’re stable,” said head coach Michael Carrick. “We’ve largely been together for quite some time now as a group. The boys that came in, in January, know what it feels like, so they’re a step ahead a little bit, further down the line. Then obviously we’ve had new additions too, which is fantastic, so we feel as though we’re in a good place, without getting carried away.

“I think we’ve got everything right, and we’re certainly excited and positive about the season. The boys know each other and have a feeling for each other and an understanding of what works for each other. That’s really important, as I’ve said at various points. Sometimes, that takes a bit of time to create so it’s largely positive at the moment, I certainly couldn’t ask for much more.”

READ MORE:

Working alongside head of football Kieran Scott and chief executive Neil Bausor, under the watchful eye of chairman Steve Gibson, Carrick has put plans in place to try to ensure the major upheaval of last summer is not repeated.

There has been a conscious effort to reduce the average age of the Boro squad, targeting a different type of signing, to try to avoid the constant churn of players that has proved so damaging in recent years. If youngsters are to be signed on loan, Boro will push for the inclusion of a clause enabling them to turn the temporary arrangement into a permanent deal. And with Carrick still in place, the methods and philosophies that were being preached last season have rolled over into the current campaign. Unlike in previous summers, there has not been a need to turn everything upside down.

“We’ve said for some time that we’ve got a plan and a way that we want to try to develop the group,” said Carrick. “We know how we want to try to move the club forward, and part of that is the type of player that we’re looking for and the way that we’re trying to balance the group.

“The loans come into that. Listen, loans are fine in certain ways and at certain times, I’m not knocking the loan market, but we’ve tried to be cleverer in that.

“Credit to Steve, Kieran and Neil who have been working above me, and who have been backing that and believing in it. We’ve been working together to try to create that stability over time.

“Of course, it’s what happens on the pitch that ultimately matters, and we all know that. That’s fine. But at the moment, we feel like we’re in a decent place. We’re not chasing too much, we’re not desperate for much. We feel like we’ve got a good, balanced group, which is really good at this stage of the summer, and if we can get something else on top of that, that would maybe make a bit of a difference, then fantastic.”