Football Corner

Steve McClaren has committed his future to Middlesborough by signing a new four year deal at the Riverside. McClaren's future has been the subject of speculation as contract talks took place and he had been linked to taking over at England and Manchester United. He is an assistant to England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and was understudy to Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. But he said: "The club going is places so it was never even a question of whether or not I wanted to stay." The new deal will ease concerns over any exit while ensuring Boro are compensated should he leave.

The 44-year-old guided them to their highest Premiership placing by guiding them to seventh last season. McClaren added: "In my mind, there was never any doubt about the new deal. "It has been as good as done for a long time now but people kept asking me whether I had signed and I've done that now. "What the contract extension means is I can now concentrate fully on continuing to build on what we've done and take Boro forward over the next few years."

Great news for everyone at the club and I believe McClaren has made the right choice by deciding to stay at Boro. A four year deal sounds like a good one for the club because I think when he is a little bit older alot of the big clubs will be after him, with all due respect to Boro. McClaren is only 44 years old and the deal will take him through until he is 48 but I believe alot of Boro fans will be hoping he stays even longer.