Southgate justified appointment - Gibson

Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson insists he could have asked little more of Gareth Southgate during his first season in management.

Boro finished 12th in the Barclays Premiership on 46 points – two places and a single point better than they achieved during the previous campaign under Steve McClaren, the man now leading England.

For Gibson, that was all the justification he needed for his decision to appoint the 36-year-old as McClaren’s successor.

He said: “If somebody had offered us 46 points and 12th in the Premier League at the start of what was going to be a very, very difficult season for our club, we would have taken it with both hands.

“I have said it many times, Gareth has got fantastic football experience, but not football management experience.

“But my belief in him was that he had the intellect to learn very quickly, and I think the season represents that.

“It was not an ideal season for us – there were parts that we would, with hindsight, have changed. But overall, to finish with 46 points and 12th, yes, I will take that.”

Gibson, Southgate and chief executive Keith Lamb are currently working to revamp the squad for a fresh Premier League challenge, having secured the future of £7million defender Jonathan Woodgate, but also losing leading scorer Mark Viduka to derby rivals Newcastle.

The 31-year-old Australian’s departure after rejecting a new deal at the Riverside Stadium was a major disappointment, but the chairman is not too downhearted.

He said: “I don’t think I was disappointed because we had taken the offer to the point where you take a deep intake of breath.

“I wasn’t entirely happy that the offer represented value. Mark has gone, he is history to this football club now.

“We wish him well, we enjoyed parts of the three years he was here. It is an opportunity for further change at our club and we will take it. The aim now is to improve on that which we had last season, and we are busy trying to do that.”

Boro have agreed a deal with Arsenal for striker Jeremie Aliadiere, although their interest in West Brom’s Diomansy Kamara is understood to be at an end, with the Baggies now having placed a £6m price tag on his head.

Lamb is understood to have flown to Turkey to investigate the possibility of landing out-of-contract Fenerbahce striker Tuncay Sanli, while Boro are also being linked with Feyenoord frontman Romeo Castelen and Levante midfielder Mustapha Riga.

Gibson was giving nothing away, but promised signings which would excite the club’s fans.

He said: “We have some big targets. Obviously, we need one striker, preferably two. We need somebody on the right, we would like another midfield player and we are looking hard at the right-back situation.

“It is no more difficult for us than it is for our peers in football to attract players.

“We are on a virtually level playing field once you get outside the big hitters.

“Those clubs can only take so many players, and then we have got to fight our corner and make sure we deliver the players we want.”