Albion boss Tony Mowbray has predicted an eventful summer in his native North East after Newcastle and Middlesbrough joined the Baggies in the Championship.

Boro, Mowbray’s boyhood club, and Newcastle were relegated yesterday and Mowbray is expecting an intriguing close season as the clubs grapple with mammoth top-flight wagebills.

“We’re all going to sit and wait and see what both Middlesbrough and Newcastle do,” said Mowbray.

“Both teams have been established in the Premier League for a long time now and I would imagine the salaries that go with the Premier League.

“I would hope they can get the equation right financially so they don’t end up in a financial mess. I know the Premier League demands huge salaries that are way, way above anything the Championship can sustain.

“There’s a huge imbalance there and, as Leeds United found a few years ago, if you’re stuck with players on huge Premier League salaries and they are not moving, you are losing money hand over fist every week.

“That’s the concern for those teams and we all await to see what happens and how they adjust their squads – who leaves and how they rebuild for next year. The Championship is always competitive – it’s a league of attrition.

“There are so many games, you have to get up for every game and there are no easy matches. We were there only last season so we know what it takes.

“You’ve got to be ready for every game. If you don’t compete in matches in the Championship you’ll get beaten.

“We hope we have the qualities, as I’m sure the other two teams coming down will hope they have the extra quality for the league.

“But, as we’ve found in the past, the extra quality doesn’t always get you there.

“Sometimes the extra organisation of the teams, spirit of the opposition and the fact you’re a big scalp can make a difference and you lose games. If Newcastle, for instance, decide to keep Michael Owen, Mark Viduka and all their other players then I would suggest their quality is going to hurt the league.

“There won’t be any easy games for them though.

“How confident am I?

“I would hope we can keep all the players we want this summer and go into it believing we are better than the opposition most weeks.

“Having better players than the opposition doesn’t guarantee you’re going to win the game.”

Meanwhile, Mowbray was again left ruing missed chances as his team ended the season with a frustrating goalless draw. “I think we probably deserved to win the game on the balance of chances created,” said Mowbray.

“They had a few spells in the first half but generally I thought we did well and controlled the match. We missed some pretty good opportunities.

“You’ve seen that every week but that’s where we are. It’s frustrating because we can dominate games with the ball but we’ve got to be more clinical.

“It wouldn’t have been too much of a surprise to me if we’d have lost 1-0 from a set-piece late on.

“We kept a clean sheet which was good for the defence and Dean Kiely.

“Hopefully, that’s an omen moving onto next season.”