Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has hit out at the scouting structure that was built under former manager Steve McClaren.

"We can't compete with the big boys in the transfer market, so we have to be a bit more creative in the way we recruit people," he said. "When I took over [in June 2006] there was a very poor recruitment department and we have spent the last six months trying to fix that.

"But it will take two or three years before we see the benefit of having more scouting awareness of what's going on in the world of football. I don't know why the scouting network was allowed to wither and we still have a tremendous amount of work left to do. But you have to start somewhere."