MIDDLESBROUGH last night denied making an illegal approach to Manchester United for Steve McClaren, who is officially scheduled to take over at the Riverside Stadium this morning.

Chief executive Keith Lamb described as 'inaccurate' reports that United were unhappy with the way Boro opened talks with the Old Trafford coach, who succeeds Bryan Robson as manager.

"We had the full permission of both the club and Sir Alex Ferguson to talk to Steve and they were fully aware of the situation," he said.

With McClaren's arrival, chairman Steve Gibson will step nearer to the £100m mark in his search to buy a place in the big time for Boro.

It has cost around £6m in compensation alone before a ball is kicked just to release Robson and assistant Viv Anderson, and install McClaren and his back-room team of Steve Harrison and Jim Barron - who have quit Aston Villa - along with England sports psychologist Bill Beswick.

The haulage tycoon is already £37m down in the transfer market and has spent £27m on the Riverside Stadium and £10m on a state-of-the-art training centre.

And he will hand McClaren up to £20m to spend before next season.

The new manager is expected to get busy straight away with bids for £7m-rated Seth Johnson of Derby and Aston Villa's Gareth Southgate, available at £6m.

But he could also trim the squad, with players like Hamilton Ricard, Dean Gordon, Christian Karembeu, Brian Deane, Noel Whelan and transfer-seeking Andy Campbell allowed to go.

Boro have never won a major trophy in their 125-year history and Gibson is hoping McClaren can put something in the empty cabinet, but failure in the past has taught him to be cautious.

Previously Gibson has set targets for the season like the top six or Europe. But now he will only admit: "We'll just be concentrating on trying to win the next match."

McClaren, 40, returned from a family holiday in Florida at the weekend before holding further talks with the Boro chairman.

The dialogue has lasted for almost three weeks since it became clear that Terry Venables, brought in to assist Robson last season, would not accept an offer of an extended stay on Teesside.

The capture of McClaren brings to an end a difficult year at the Riverside during which the club flirted for an extended period with relegation undermining Robson's position.

Boro slumped to the foot of the Premiership table a day after Venables was parachuted in to stage a rescue attempt back in December and, although he succeeded with one game to spare, the writing was on the wall for Robson.

He made the decision to accept Boro's offer after realising he was ''well down in the pecking order'' at Old Trafford as United looked for a successor to Sir Alex Ferguson, who retires at the end of next season.

''Within the space of 24 hours I made the hardest and easiest choices I have ever made,'' he said at the weekend.

''People say that nobody in their right mind would leave Manchester United and 99 times out of 100 that would be true.

''But I had reached a stage where I needed to take a change in direction and the chance to manage a terrific club like Middlesbrough provided it.''

Ferguson gave his seal of approval to McClaren's decision to quit the club in stark contrast to when Brian Kidd left the United number two post for Blackburn.

''Sir Alex was the first person I turned to for advice about the Middlesbrough job and he gave me his total backing,'' added McClaren, who also held talks with West Ham and Southampton before choosing Boro.

''But as soon as I spoke to Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson I knew it was the club for me.

''I am ambitious but I don't think I've come across anybody who combines Gibson's ambition with such enthusiasm, optimism and drive.''

l Leeds stars Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka are due to have showdown talks with Frank Farina within the next 48 hours as Soccer Australia look for a World Cup qualifying tonic from their European-based internationals.

Kewell, Viduka and a string of other top Australia players were absent for last week's Confederations Cup tournament in Japan and South Korea in which the Socceroos beat both France and Brazil on their way to finishing third.

Despite an exhausting season for Leeds, coach Farina is hoping to convince the duo to play for Australia in the qualifying matches against the Oceania Group Two winner likely to be New Zealand on June 20 and 24.

Farina believes his side's performances in the Confederations Cup will fire up Viduka and Kewell to lead Australia into next summer's World Cup finals.

Viduka, however, currently remains on holiday in his homeland of Croatia, while Kewell has only recently become a dad to month-old son Taylor.

But a determined Farina is due to speak with the United pair ''over the next few days'' before finalising his squad.

He said: "I have no doubt they will want to play for Australia especially with the Cup results we've had.