MIDDLESBROUGH start the new season tomorrow with a minimum target of a top-eight Premiership spot.

Boro's best top flight finish was back in 1999 when Bryan Robson guided them to ninth spot, and his successor Steve McClaren has been building towards turning his squad into one of the best in the country.

The summer signings of Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Ray Parlour, Michael Reiziger and Bolo Zenden have given the Boro fans a major boost, and the players are well aware the time has arrived to deliver on the pitch.

French defender Franck Queudrue admitted the club have discussed the season's objectives, and once they have reached one target, then they will simply set themselves another.

Queudrue said: "We will have a meeting and discuss our objectives. First we must look to finish in the top eight.

"Hopefully, when we are eighth early on in the season then we can set ourselves another target.

"In a way we may have to split the season into different sections. When we meet one objective then we can set ourselves another."

The addition of proven international quality should allow McClaren's side to compete both at home and in the UEFA Cup, with the Teessiders first foray into European football beginning in mid-September.

But Queudrue is one player who already knows about the different pressures of European football having played there for his previous club RC Lens before his £2.5m move to the Riverside.

He said: "We've brought in four or five top class players - players with experience at the top level that all bring something to the team.

"We already have players who have experience of European football and we've added to that.

"The UEFA Cup will be a great experience."

Boro's spending over the summer has proved a big hit with the Middlesbrough supporters with season ticket sales for the new campaign currently at 26,000 - the best for five years.

But Boro have warned fans to be on their guard with the club aware that a ticketing fraud is in operation on Teesside.

Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb said: "We are aware of a number of attempted scams that have taken place during the summer, whereby adults are purchasing concessionary season tickets and match tickets, hoping to gain admission to the ground with these tickets.

"We are, over the next few weeks, running a series of security checks on our turnstiles, and anyone who is found in possession of a match ticket or season ticket which is not valid will have it confiscated."

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