Stewart Downing has no regrets joining Middlesbrough for a second time.

Boro chairman Steve Gibson offered Downing security in the form of a four-year contract and he liked the idea that his new young family could grow up next to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

"I didn't want to come back at 36 when my legs had gone," he told the Mail on Sunday. "Yes, going into the Championship wasn't ideal and if we hadn't got promoted, people would have asked why I'd done it. But it worked out."

He views Middlesbrough as similar to Liverpool as a place.

"I used to drive through the streets there and it was exactly the same as the estate I came from. The people as well; down-to-earth, straight-talking."