Boro play down McClaren contract issue

Middlesbrough have attempted to play down fresh speculation over manager Steve McClaren’s future after it emerged that he had not signed his new four-year contract.

McClaren, for so long perceived as a potential successor to England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, was paraded by chairman Steve Gibson at a press conference in November last year after he had apparently finally put pen to paper on the deal which had been on the table for several months.