How Middlesbrough's Championship rivals are preparing for the new season on and off the pitch

There are now less than two weeks until the start of the new season and there is still plenty of work to be done for Middlesbrough before they kick-off their campaign at home to West Brom. They are close to securing their fourth signing of the summer with Zack Steffen joining on loan from Manchester City.

And while that ticks one box, clearly there are still more to check off between now and the end of the transfer window on August 31. With a tough start to the season, in an ideal world they would have at least a couple more in place before that West Brom game, but the market has been a tough one and Boro have taken a patient approach in the hope of landing better players when they become available later in the window. On the pitch it's been more positive, with solid outings and a tough camp in Portugal helping to get those who are at the club up to speed.

We're all guilty of being rather insular when it comes to football and only really looking closely at what our team is doing. On Teesside there have been growing concerns with how things are progressing in the transfer market. With that in mind, we thought it useful to check in with Boro's Championship rivals to see how their season preparations are going.

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It's been a rather tumultuous summer at St Andrew's so far. Lee Bowyer was sacked in early July as the club's owners look to sell the club. Former QPR assistant John Eustace was named as his successor. On the pitch they've had three friendlies so far, beating Walsall 1-0, Burton 2-1, and drawing 1-1 with Portimonense.

As for transfer business, they recently completed their fourth signing of the summer as Austin Trusty