Southgate: Boro lined up Strachan weeks ago

Former Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate claims he was told after he was sacked that Gordon Strachan had been lined up as his successor more than two weeks earlier.

Southgate was relieved of his duties as Boro boss late on Tuesday night, just hours after guiding his team to a 2-0 triumph over Derby – their first home win in four attempts – which left the Teessiders one point off top spot in the Coca-Cola Championship.

He was stunned to be given the news of his dismissal by chairman Steve Gibson, and then equally shocked when he popped to the training ground on Wednesday to say his farewells.

“(Chief executive) Keith (Lamb) was quite open in telling me he had interviewed Gordon Strachan in London for my job more than two weeks earlier, on the night before we beat Reading (October 3),” the ex-England international told the Mail on Sunday.

“Apparently, I was going to get the sack then but we’d played so well that Steve decided he couldn’t do it. I found it bizarre that Keith should tell me all that. I didn’t know whether I should applaud him for being so honest or get angry for taking the mickey.”

Gibson hopes to unveil Strachan as the club’s new manager tomorrow.

Southgate, meanwhile, admits his exit from the Riverside came completely out of the blue.

“The whole thing was surreal,” he said. “It was normal for me to go to see the chairman in the boardroom after a home game. And it was usually a happy experience if we’d won.

“I didn’t have the slightest inkling I was in trouble. We’d won the game, I’d spoken to the media and had a celebration drink with my staff. After a difficult few weeks, there was a positive mood around the place.

“As I walked up to see Steve, I thought about asking him about signing a striker on loan.

“After the handshake, Steve always asks me what I want to drink. But this time there was no offer.

“He said there was something he needed to talk about. Even then, I didn’t get it. He seemed serious but I thought it might be about someone else, not me.

“Then he told me straight that he’d been monitoring the team’s results over the season and that poor results meant I was losing my job.”

The 39-year-old added: “It didn’t sink in, it was so unexpected. I was too stunned to mount a defence. I regret now that I didn’t say a few things, like the fact we were only one point off the top of the table.

“It wouldn’t have changed his mind but it might have made me feel better. I’ve heard different reasons since then for my sacking – low crowds was one. I understand that Steve might feel a new manager could lift the fans at this stage but the reason I was given was poor results, which is surprising.

“I got a text from someone pointing out I’d only got one point less than Chris Hughton and he had been offered the manager’s job full-time at Newcastle United.”