McClaren steers clear of Eriksson row

Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren today distanced himself from the frenzy surrounding England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson as speculation mounted he could succeed the Swede sooner rather than later.

Eriksson was the victim of a newspaper sting at the weekend which left his future firmly in the spotlight with many commentators predicting the 42-year-old Yorkshireman could replace him.

However, McClaren insisted he has not even read the reports as he attempts to engineer a recovery from his side’s 7-0 Barclays Premiership drubbing at Arsenal on Saturday ahead of tomorrow night’s FA Cup third-round replay against Conference North side Nuneaton.

“At the present moment, I’m not in an ideal position to comment on anything, apart from what’s happening here,” he said.

“I’ve got to start moving this club up the table and get a squad together which can move forward in the FA Cup and look forward to Europe.

“After the defeat against Arsenal, I buried my head, didn’t read a newspaper and didn’t watch television. I’m trying to sort things here at Middlesbrough Football Club.

“At the present moment, (the Eriksson story) has got nothing to do with me. I’ve got enough problems here.”

Ironically, the new links with the England job came as the first suggestions surfaced that McClaren’s tenure at the Riverside Stadium could be under threat following a depressing weekend which left the injury-crippled Teessiders just one place above the relegation zone.

However, McClaren insisted he had received no indication that was the case.

“None whatsoever,” he said.

“We know what we have been doing at this football club for four and a half years, we knew it was going to be a tough season this season, we knew it was tough going to Highbury with the team we did.

“We came away with a right beating, but we have got to regroup. This is what I get paid for, this is the job. This is when you really do earn your money.

“We have had it before, we have had spells before. We have never been this low, but we have got the character – I have, the staff, the players in that dressing room – to get us out of this situation and move us forward.”

McClaren was remarkably calm in the wake of the debacle at Highbury, although he is a manager who is known to vent his frustrations behind closed doors rather than in public.

He admits the drubbing handed out to his youthful side by Arsene Wenger’s men hurt him horribly, but simply increased his determination to get things right, starting tomorrow night.

“Every defeat does,” he said.

“You might think it doesn’t, but you ask my family, you ask the dog. Every defeat, whether it be 1-0 or as it was on Saturday, hurts enormously.

“I’d be very surprised if it didn’t hurt everybody at this football club. We came in and we trained yesterday and it was a humbling experience. We were all embarrassed by that result and performance.

“It’s always a difficult game, always a difficult place to go, but it still doesn’t take away the manner of the defeat, and we have got to bounce back. We have got a game tomorrow against Nuneaton which we have to win.

“That’s why I’m in this situation, because I don’t like getting beaten and I want to do something about it. That’s how I feel at the present moment, I want to do something about it and we have got this game tomorrow night which we need to win.”

Boro’s plight is all the more worrying because of the fact that, despite the return of Emanuel Pogatetz from suspension, McClaren will be without 11 first-teamers.

Doriva is suspended and Gareth Southgate, George Boateng, Franck Queudrue, Tony McMahon, Jason Kennedy and David Knight are all out injured while Stewart Downing, Ray Parlour, Malcolm Christie and Szilard Nemeth are short of match fitness.