Team spirit only grew stronger over the week

IT DIDN’T have the best of endings in Lagos on Friday evening, but make no mistake – the week in Portugal has proven very beneficial for Middlesbrough. It’s so important not to judge too much based on that defeat to Braga.

Braga are a quality side. Boro won’t play a team of that quality in the Championship next season, nor will they face the challenges of playing in such temperatures either.

Nevertheless, the testing defeat will have given manager Chris Wilder plenty to think about in terms of what they still need to work on before the start of the season.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to miss the obvious benefit of the trip to Portugal. As well as boosting fitness levels to the point that many players were able to complete 90 minutes in such trying conditions, they were able to work on some more intricate tactical details of their play, while the most obvious was the spirit in the group, which grew only stronger during this week away together.

Anybody who, like myself, has enjoyed watching Matt Crooks’ video diaries this week will be able to see that spirit and togetherness. Having been allowed inside the camp for two separate training sessions, on top of amazement at how hard they were working in such intense heat, the togetherness and bond among the group was without doubt my biggest takeaway from this trip.

If only Boro could have pushed through a transfer deal earlier, those Crooks videos would have been the perfect way of making the announcement in the social media age where gaining traction from such matters is important for clubs.

Boro weren’t able to get anything over the line quickly enough, with Wilder noting the logistical issues in getting any new players out to Portugal in time.

More positively though, with new signings clearly still needed, the club are set to make an early breakthrough when Zack Steffen joins on loan from Manchester City, while the impending sale of Djed Spence after a fee was finally agreed with Tottenham will prove a big boost to Boro cracking on with yet more incoming deals.

In an ideal world, of course, they would have come sooner meaning they would have had more time to integrate. But it’s been a slow market this summer and there won’t be one team in the Championship – except for maybe Cardiff City who recently completed their 12th summer capture – who believe their work in this summer’s transfer window is done.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and this is the end of my tour diary.

It’s been a fantastic week and a brilliant experience, particularly getting behind the scenes at Boro and just mingling with staff at the club – great people like kit men Peter Darke and Andrew Thompson, analyst Phil Hudson, coaches Alan Knill, Matt Prestridge and Leo Percovich, sports scientists Frankie Hunter and Nick Allamby and so, so many more great members of staff who work so hard behind the scenes to help put together the kind of performances we were treated to last season and will hopefully be treated to more going forward.

Boro flew back to Teesside on Saturday morning. My flight was 24 hours later and did at least give me the opportunity to have one day around the pool to attempt to return to England looking like my skin has seen at least some sun this week.

There will be time for more sunning though, as I’m only back in England for four days before heading off on a family holiday to Magaluf.

That sadly means I’ll miss Boro’s final friendly against Marseille, although I will be back in time for West Brom. In those four short days back I’ll also be making the trip to Morecambe and a slightly shorter one to Whitby too.

To channel a line from Crooksy’s video diary earlier this week, I love this game!