Southgate facing fight for O'Neil
by Ben Blackmore, 07 May 2008
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has conceded he could be powerless to stop Gary O’Neil leaving the club this summer.
O’Neil appears to be having problems settling on Teesside after spending the majority of his career at the other end of the country at Portsmouth.
The former England Under-21 international has missed a large chunk of the Premier League run-in due to injury, but Southgate admits there are bigger problems off the field.
However, Southgate insists he will do all he can to keep O'Neil at the club having stayed up until midnight on deadline night of the January transfer window to get his man.
“There has been a little problem off the field,” Southgate explained in The Independent.
“He certainly won’t walk out of the door without a fight from our end.”
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough have offered Tony McMahon a new one-year deal at The Riverside.
Gareth Southgate told The Gazette: “We’ve offered Tony another year so we’re waiting for him to come back.”