Leeds United are one of the favourites to secure promotion and an instant return to the Premier League - but the rebuild has to begin now. The appointment of a new manager and the player trading required following relegation all ideally needs to be concluded by the season's opener against Cardiff City on August 6.
Competition in the second tier is expected to be fierce, with fellow relegated sides Leicester City and Southampton likely to rival the Whites towards the summit. Middlesbrough could be in contention again in Michael Carrick's first full season at the helm, Norwich City will be looking for improvement while Sunderland will be aiming to build upon their unexpected play-off spot last time out.
Leeds' size and the prospect of winning at Elland Road may well again make them a target for rivals looking for a scalp. It was a scenario which Newcastle United, who will play in the Champions League next season, had to contend with during their two relegations in the Mike Ashley era.
Chris Hughton and Rafa Benitez were the men charged with leading the Magpies back to the top-flight, an objective both achieved at the first attempt en route to lifting the title. While the football landscape has shifted significantly since the promotions in 2010 and 2017, there are similarities to be drawn from the scenarios which the Whites would be wise to pay attention to.
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Newcastle's relegation in 2009 was the more surprising of the two, with a star-studded squad featuring the likes of Damien Duff, Obafemi Martins, and Michael Owen failing to fire. It was a tumultuous campaign, with Kevin Keegan resigning in protest at the club's transfer policy, and club legend Alan Shearer taking the reins on in the final weeks after Joe Kinnear required heart surgery.
Hughton was initially given the job on a caretaker basis, and saw the aforementioned trio among others depart. Reflecting on the job he faced a decade on, the popular ex-Magpies manager insisted the main 'difficulty' was determining which players wanted to 'stay and fight', and which had to leave.
Those who were not prepared for the grind of a Championship campaign were promptly shown the door, and others who rolled up their sleeves such as Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez are still remembered fondly by the Toon Army. In the end, Newcastle lost just four league games all season and cantered to the title.
Hughton told the Coaches' Voice in 2019: "I think by the time we got past the transfer window, when it was determined which players were going to stay fortunately for myself we had a group of players who were determined to come straight back up. We had lost a lot of players, and a lot of good players but we still had good quality, a strong mentality and some strong characters. Without that, I think we would have found it difficult.
"You've only got to look at some very good teams and players that have gone down and found it difficult to adjust to what the Championship brings - and subsequently have not got promotion. The strength of the team was one of the qualities we had, and the strength of character we had in the changing room."
Newcastle's return to the Premier League lasted six years, and they again succumbed to relegation after several near misses. Benitez was initially brought in to keep the club in the top-flight, but the ex-Liverpool and Real Madrid boss was convinced to stay on, in part due to a memorable final-day thrashing of Tottenham at St James' Park.
Again, the Magpies waved goodbye to big stars such as Moussa Sissoko and Gini Wijnaldum. But while Hughton spent less than £10 million to reshape his squad, Benitez was backed in excess of £50m to bring in proven Championship performers such as Dwight Gayle and Matt Ritchie.
Newcastle gambled on earning promotion at the first attempt, with their wage bill dwarfing the majority of their new rivals. That part of the story is something Leeds should be wary of, given their own history and a quick look at the upcoming fixture list which shows several teams who adopted the same approach and got burnt.
Rather, it is again the mentality the Magpies had to embrace as Benitez in the dugout and St James' Park made them a target. Speaking after a home victory over Preston in April 2017 which sealed their promotion, the Newcastle head coach emphasised the importance of making the correct calls in the summer and the work ethic his squad needed over the whole 46-game season.
Benitez told reporters: “We had to put everything together quickly [last summer] but we did it. So I say credit to our players, our staff and everyone in the club. Some people don’t realise how difficult it is when you go to play against teams who are in the middle of the table and playing for nothing, but they still fight and compete because they are playing against Newcastle United, who are the top side in the division.
“Or when they come here with 52,000 fans, and they run and work so hard. It has been like that for every single game against us. We watched some teams and thought it might be easy against them, but then they were running double because they were playing us.
"It was more difficult than ever, and we have had that situation every single week. That has meant we have had to keep going, work hard and be strong mentally. But even when there were signs of anxiety, we reacted well.”
Of course, Leeds have their own experience of a Championship-winning campaign to call upon from 2020. Marcelo Bielsa's side romped to the title by a 12-point margin, ending their 16-year exile from the Premier League in the process.
There are parallels and differences to be drawn from both of Newcastle's promotion stories and the challenge now facing Leeds. However, with the right manager in the hotseat, a brutal assessment of the current squad and savvy second-tier recruits, the Whites will surely be well-placed to replicate the success enjoyed on both occasions by the Magpies.
