Middlesbrough have ruled out any major signings to back Terry Venables as he leads the battle to beat the drop.

There is only a limited amount of cash available for the former England coach and manager Bryan Robson confirmed they will look to the current squad to do the job.

"We want to get it right with the lads we've got," said Robson. "We are not looking to spend any more money at the moment. It is important we get the best out of the players here now."

They will, though, move for Australia's 21-year-old midfielder Brett Emerton when he is made available by Dutch league leaders Feyenoord. But that is unlikely to be until the end of the season - and they will face major competition from top clubs.

Venables revealed: "When I came here I was asked about Emerton. I gave him his debut for Australia at 18 and I spoke very highly of him. But Middlesbrough were watching him before I came here so it is not my suggestion."

They are also being strongly linked with a cut-price £1.5m move for Bradford City's versatile Dean Windass, though Leicester City and Birmingham City are also involved.

Windass will be allowed to leave as City manager Jim Jefferies starts a major reconstruction job on his ageing squad.

The 31-year-old, who can play in midfield or as a striker, is a crowd favourite at Valley Parade but Jefferies is planning radical changes and has already started the clear-out.

The Scot wants to build a new side with his own players and, at the same time, reduce the average age of the Premiership's oldest squad.

Terry Venables had praise for Windass after Boro's 1-0 FA Cup win on Monday but contact had already been made and chief scout Ray Train has watched him against Spurs and Leicester recently.

Meanwhile, Venables has offered to back Sven Goran Eriksson - but insisted it is wrong for a foreigner to be leading England's World Cup bid.

Venables, passed over by the FA in the search for a successor to Kevin Keegan, blasted the original decision to appoint Eriksson as national coach.

But he said yesterday: "Of course I will be supportive if he asks me for anything. I still believe England are good enough to qualify for the finals. I will be as helpful as I can because we all want England there."

But the Boro coach still believes the job should be done by an Englishman.

"What I said before is that I didn't like the idea of a non-Englishman being in charge. There is so much emotion involved. It's not about him and it's not a professional thing, it's about the country.

"I think it's a backward step when a country as large as ours in the football world needs to do this. My views are well documented. We should all win together and all lose together.