By ComeOnBoro.com
May 17 2006

After five years at the helm, Steve McClaren's reign ended in bitter defeat with Boro losing 4-0 to Sevilla in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday

WE MUST GET RIGHT MAN - BORO CHIEF

Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has insisted the next managerial appointment must be "top drawer".

After five years at the helm, Steve McClaren's reign ended in bitter defeat with Boro losing 4-0 to Sevilla in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday.

McClaren now leaves the club to take up his post as the next England manager from August 1 following one last stint as right-hand man to Sven-Goran Eriksson at this summer's World Cup finals.

Gibson, though, was hardly caught by surprise when it was announced McClaren would move from the Riverside to the Football Association's headquarters in Soho Square.

Work has long been going on behind the scenes, with confirmation of the move merely accelerating the process.

Gibson claims "some interesting applicants" have made it known they are interested in succeeding McClaren.

Among the candidates being speculated upon are Terry Venables, Paul Jewell, Tony Mowbray, Iain Dowie and Alan Curbishley.

Gibson knows after the work done by Bryan Robson and McClaren, he now needs a manager to take Boro to the next level.

"We have to pull a manager out of the top drawer," insisted Gibson in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette. "We have to get it right and make it a seamless transition.

"We'll make an appointment sooner rather than later, but it's not one to be rushed. We have to make sure that everything is in place.

"There is a legacy that a new manager can build on, and we need the new man to take it on.

"We have the coaching staff in place, the academy in place and this is a very attractive job to prospective applicants."

Boro's crop of emerging youngsters is an attraction, but there will also be some rebuilding to do as George Boateng, Ray Parlour, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Doriva are all out of contract this summer.

Mark Viduka and captain Gareth Southgate also only have a year left on their deals and, crucially, there is no European football for the club next season.

But Gibson asserted: "We are a great club, we have a great set up, a great structure, and we have a young team.

"We are very attractive to managers. The people I have been talking to, their interest will not be any less because of our defeat to Sevilla.

"Steve McClaren has taken this club forward over the past five years and we are determined to continue to take the club forward.

"Our ambitions haven't diminished. We have to get on with trying to win the next trophy."

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