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Middlesbrough are right to take their time in selecting their next manager.

If an experienced old head like Tony Pulis can’t take the club back to the Premier League, then we have a clear idea of the scale of the task.

Pulis can point to the fact that he earned a play-off place and a seventh-place finish during his 18-months tenure.

Unfortunately times have changed a great deal over the last 25 years or so. The expectations of fans are higher than ever.

This increasing level of expectations will be inherited by the new manager, who will be under pressure from the start to take the club forward again.

How easy a task is that? Not easy at all, because the current squad has attacking deficiencies.

Even when Pulis released the brakes and gave Boro the chance to attack in the final third of last season, the players were not always up to the task.

I suspect the club’s financial situation is tighter than we might have first believed, which means they will be unable to throw money willy-nilly at the new boss.

The incumbent may be charged with wheeling and dealing in order to improve the squad and reduce the wage bill at the same time.

It’s a tough ask. The new boss could do without such a heavy weight on his shoulders. But it’s the nature of the modern game.

The wheeling and dealing must surely include the signing of a couple of orthodox wingers, and preferably a striker who has a decent scoring record at whatever level.

Does this mean the end of Britt Assombalonga, who has been linked with various clubs over the past few weeks?

Maybe. Certainly we should expect to see outgoings, which means that one or two of the better players could leave if Boro can realise their market value.

In interviewing the men on their short list, Boro will have made it absolutely clear what is available and what is not.

It means that prospective new bosses will vet the club, at the same time as they are being vetted.

So does Steve Gibson stick on the Pulis road and opt for experience?

Or does he look for someone in the Bryan Robson or Steve McClaren mould, men who are ready to test their managerial ability for the first time?

If the choice is bookies’ favourite Jonathan Woodgate, you would hope that the former England defender is not expected to stand alone.

If Woodgate is appointed and can find an old head who he respects and who he can work with in a partnership, then maybe this is one way forward.

Certainly it can be difficult to step up into the breach when you are already a familiar figure at the club, as Gareth Southgate discovered.

John Terry is another who would represent a gamble, though at least he would be coming into the dressing room as a fresh face.

I would have liked to have seen Nigel Pearson among the front runners. He’s a man’s man who has a strong affinity with Boro and a proven track record.

Maybe the fact that Nigel is deemed to have a little bit of baggage will, unfortunately, count against him.

If not Pearson, I can see the sense in handing the reins to Slavisa Jokanovic.

The Serbian is a proven commodity who has achieved the kind of success that Boro are looking for at this level.

Jokanovic also knows the division and has good experience of the English game.

Whichever route Boro plump for, it must be the right one.