Hellberg keeps it simple as he targets Premier League

New Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg says he will not risk changing the team's style too much at the start of his reign, as he looks to guide the club into the Premier League.

The Swede is preparing for his first game in charge on Saturday against Derby County at Riverside Stadium (15:00 GMT) having been appointed as Rob Edwards' successor earlier this week.

Hellberg takes over with Boro third in the Championship table, 10 points behind leaders Coventry and only below second-placed Stoke City on goal difference.

"To get to the Premier League, that's the clear aim," said Hellberg in his first press conference. "If it's this year or next year, it is of course difficult to say.

"It's an opportunity when you're in this position, to aim for it and to work as hard as possible to get into that spot that gets you to the Premier League. That's nothing to hide from."

Adi Viveash has been in temporary charge following Edwards' departure for Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers two weeks ago, just 14 matches into the campaign.

Under Viveash, Boro picked up four points with a win and draw before falling to defeat at home by Coventry on Tuesday, which Hellberg was in the stands to watch.

"It's a competitive league. It will be a long season, a tough season," Hellberg added, having been unveiled to the Boro fans before kick-off on Tuesday.

"That's also a little bit tricky coming in the middle of a season in terms of [taking charge of] two sessions before the Derby game and you don't want to change too much.

"We start to change some things, but that balance will be a key."

Middlesbrough assistant head coach David Selini also worked with Kim Hellberg at Hammarby

'Aggressive' football inspired by music

Hellberg has eventual ambitions of playing the sort of attacking style that he became known for at his previous club Hammarby in his native Sweden.

"I want to play aggressive, high-defending football. I want to win the ball back as quickly as possible if we don't have it," he said.

"I want to control the ball by keeping it. It has to be a purpose of taking the ball forward.

"We talk a lot about staccato from Italian music like David [Selini, assistant head coach] has [taught] me.

"Sometimes playing slow, but then you get that feeling of now it goes very quick, I love that."

At 37, Hellberg is the joint second-youngest manager in the Championship alongside new Swansea head coach Vitor Matos and behind only West Brom's 34-year-old boss Ryan Mason.

It is a sizeable leap from Swedish football to being dropped into a Championship promotion bid, a third of the way into the season, but Hellberg believes that his 14 years of coaching experience put him in a good position to hit the ground running in England.

He also learned the ropes from father Stefan, who has been a coach for 25 years in Sweden.

"It's a dream to coach in England. I am ready to take the step," he said.

"As a coach, sometimes you bring football home. You work all of the time. It was good for me to grow up with a father that loved football, that worked like that.

"I was clear that I wanted [that] and worked very hard."

Kim Hellberg remembers watching Middlesbrough beat Manchester City 8-1 in 2008

Memories of 8-1 and Afonso Alves

It may excite Boro supporters to hear that Hellberg lists former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa and former Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi among the coaches he looks up to, but he has one memory that fans will particularly enjoy hearing.

"I love English football and I have watched Middlesbrough a lot since I was five or six years old," he said.

"I knew of 8-1 against Manchester City, Afonso Alves scoring from that game. Sven-Goran Eriksson was coach of Manchester City.

"I've seen a lot of English football, but you have to be here to understand everything."

The new boss knows that he will be stepping into the deep end against Derby on Saturday, but he carries no shortage of excitement, despite the challenge ahead.

"I [got] a little bit of goosebumps on Tuesday evening. The reception from fans was amazing," he said.

"Everyone that I've been talking to has explained the group as a hard-working group.

"I can't ask of them to put every shot in the top corner. I can only ask of them to give me the best.

"It's a challenge, but I have a lot of good people around me."

After the Derby game on Saturday, Boro next travel to Hull City and Charlton Athletic, before returning to the north east to host Queens Park Rangers on 13 December.