Gibson: McClaren has shaken on new deal

Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has confirmed he has shaken hands with manager Steve McClaren over a new four-year contract.

McClaren is yet to sign his new deal – which will not include a get-out clause which would allow him to take over as England boss should an offer come his way - but Gibson is confident the few remaining issues will be resolved soon.

“We shook hands on a major part of it,” Gibson said. “There are one of two things to be ironed out which are relatively minor.”

But asked if he was concerned at the prospect of England calling should Sven-Goran Eriksson’s reign come to an end, Gibson replied: “No.”

The chairman and McClaren have been involved in talks for several months, and the manager indicated as long ago as May that they were close to reaching agreement, although he added that the deal had to be right for both he and his staff.

He insisted then that the world “England” would appear nowhere on his contract after prolonged speculation over his future.

Asked directly on the matter, he said: “No, not at all.”

Speaking at the time, he admitted he was flattered by the continuing speculation, but concentrating only on his job at the Riverside Stadium.

“No, it is never an annoyance because if you are talked about, it is very flattering and you must be doing something well and doing something right,” he said.

“It is always nice to be linked and talked about, but I do not drive it, Sven does not drive it and certainly our club does not drive it.

“Sven is asked a question and he answers it as best he can and I do not think in any if his answers that he has ever mentioned my name.

“People speculate because I am close to Sven, I am close to the England team and you can ask who is in a better position at the present moment to do it?

“The most important thing I have got to do is keep being successful here because one bad season and you are out of it. You look in past history and the people who have been speculated on as the next England manager, and they have a bad season and they are out of the thing.

“The pressure is on me achieving here at Middlesbrough Football Club.”

That said, there is a realisation on Teesside that if the opportunity did come along, the lure of England might be difficult to resist as Fulham and Kevin Keegan found following Glenn Hoddle’s departure in 1999.

McClaren arrived at the Riverside in July 2001 after Gibson reluctantly dispensed with the services of Bryan Robson, and since a difficult start during which he lost his first four competitive games, he has gently fostered a revolution which has brought the club a first ever major trophy and a second successive season of European football.