Mowbray trying to find the right blend

All those qualities are serving the Teessider well as he works overtime to try and take Middlesbrough, the club he supported as a boy, played for with distinction and now manages, back to the Premier League.

While two of his predecessors, Bryan Robson and Gordon Strachan, were afforded considerable clout in the transfer market to try and bulldoze Boro’ back into the top-flight – to vastly differing degrees of success – there have been no such luxuries for Mowbray.

He can scarely dream of blowing rival second-tier teams out of the water to bring in a Paul Merson, as Boro’ memorably did in the summer of 1997 to book an instant return ticket to the top-flight.

Those days have long gone with Mowbray’s arrival on Teesside in October 2010 coinciding with a retrenchment policy after the gamble to back Strachan in the transfer market to gain promotion in 2010-11 back-fired spectacularly.

Mowbray’s brief of steadying the financial ship by getting a host of high-earners off the wage bill, while at the same time harnessing the club’s young talent and putting the first-team back in the shake-up at the right end of the table was a considerable one.

But he’s managed it, with a mid-table berth in 2010-11 followed by a seventh-place finish last term, with the Boro’ faithful now pinning their hopes on Mowbray clearing a path back to the top-flight, exactly 25 years after the man they uniformly know as ‘Mogga’ captained the side to promotion under Bruce Rioch in 1987-88.

Transfer money isn’t on tap like it once was, but neither is it at most Championship rivals, with the sight of several clubs in the last few seasons making it to the Premiership without breaking the bank providing Mowbray with plenty of inspiration ahead of the new season.

“I think we have spent the last 18 months addressing the budget and getting the balance right,” said Mowbray.

“We now don’t have to sell anybody, but we can try and build.

“There’s not bundles of cash around, of course, and we’ll have to work to our means. It’s obviously more difficult as the Premier League clubs have much bigger budgets to spend and utilise.

“You are competing against teams with bigger resources and have to punch above your weight. But teams do that, Reading punched above their weight last year and in recent years, Blackpool have done that as have Burnley.

“Reading achieved a lot last year because of their team spirit and togetherness and at times last season, in my mind, it was something we were still searching for.

“While it’s never easy for all these new players to gel simultaneously, it’s something we will nurture as we go along. As the season unfolds, hopefully we’ll have that spirit to win games – even on tough days.”

Spirit was certainly abound back in 1987-88 when a homegrown Boro side – captained by an inspirational figure in Mowbray and including future England internationals Gary Pallister, Colin Cooper and Stuart Ripley – remarkably achieved back-to-back promotions, just two years after the club almost went to the wall.

Thousands of Boro’ fans still get misty-eyed about those heady days when the team and town were together as one, with the sight of a fair smattering of Teessiders and youthful talents in Mowbray’s first-team squad in 2012-13 something that hasn’t been lost on supporters daring to dream of a repeat.

The summer arrival of Middlesbrough lads Jonathan Woodgate and Stuart Parnaby – both boyhood fans – has supplemented the presence of young local products such as Jason Steele, Richard Smallwood, Curtis Main, Adam Reach and Luke Williams, with the managerial, coaching and backroom staff of Mowbray, Mark Venus, Mark Proctor, Stephen Pears, Colin Cooper and Gary Gill also all ‘Boro’ to the core.

But while feeling for the club is one thing, possessing the necessary quality to achieve success is another with Mowbray, who alongside the signings of established players such as Woodgate, Parnaby and Grant Leadbitter has also brought in a couple of attacking talents from the lower leagues in Emmanuel Ledesma and Mustapha Carayol, conscious of the need to improve home form.

A total of 10 draws and just eight wins at the Riverside cost Boro’ a play-off place last term, with Mowbray anxious for improvement.

He said: “Quality counts and at home, we lacked a bit of final-third quality to hurt teams and create chances last year. Hopefully, Carayol and Ledesma have that quality and (Merouane) Zemmama has it as well. Hopefully, we have a little bit more flair in the final third to be able to open teams up.

“We’ve also brought some players who know the town and the club as well and there’s a balance there and hopefully we’ll get the chemistry right of players who know what it takes to play in front of our supporters week-in, week-out and the demands they put on the team.

“What I am also pleased about is that there’s genuine competition and players will have to perform when they get the opportunity to play.”