2017-18 Preview: Great expectations sees smart money placed on Middlesbrough

When told at his press unveiling in June that his new boss in Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson had declared a bold and slightly brazen intention to “smash” the Championship, he immediately quipped in deadpan fashion: ‘No pressure, then.”

A touch of humour at times will probably serve Monk well during the intense, attritional Championship assault course which possesses booby traps – certainly for a Boro side who are there to be shot at.

Following a lavish spending spree of over £40m – with more to come – the Teessiders look very much the team to beat.

With that comes considerable pressure as Monk will know only too well. The 38-year-old does not miss too much in a managerial sense and is an old head on young shoulders in that regard. And he will no doubt counter that no-one will put more pressure upon him than himself.

But rest assured Monk will also be mindful of the statistics. In the last decade, only nine of 30 relegated teams have achieved promotion back from the Championship at the first time of asking. Of those, four have had to fight their way back through the play-offs to regain their Premier League status.

It will not be straightforward, but in footballing life, nothing hardly ever is. Making your managerial bow in the furnace of a South Wales derby certainly wasn’t. As returning to your former club in Leeds to run the gauntlet of hate definitely will not be either.

Perhaps the only safe prediction to be made is it will not be easy, with Monk making his intentions plain to build a fast-paced, workaholic outfit full of energy and goals and move away from the defensively-minded Aitor Karanka.

A style make-over is all well and good, but it must not come at the expense of results.

The goals department looks catered for, given Boro’s head-turning signing of three strikers for just over £30m in Britt Assombalonga, Martin Braithwaite and Ashley Fletcher. But work remains elsewhere. Monk said: “We have concentrated a lot on moving players out as well as bringing them in. The balance is crucial.

“Of course, when you are spending money, you need to bring money in the other way, and I think we have tried to maximise both ways.

“There is still a bit of coming and going to be done, but we will continue to try to do it in a good way.”

It will perhaps only be in September when the transfer window is closed and Monk knows what he is fully working with that Boro will truly start to evolve in his image.

Monk is someone who clearly prizes intelligence alongside ability, with those insights revealed in Michael Calvin’s ‘Living on the Volcano’ book on football management.

In it, he speaks about his desire for players to be “thinkers” and “technically adept and intellectually capable in a football rather than an academic sense”.

That should come in handy when trying to crack the code of sides who will come to the Riverside to frustrate and stifle. While on their travels, big-spending Boro will be an undoubted scalp in 2017-18.

No pressure, then.