GORDON Strachan quit crisis-hit Middlesbrough Football Club without asking for a penny in compensation.

The beleaguered boss tore up his contract after meeting the Championship outfits chairman, Steve Gibson.

The decision, which comes with pre-season favourites Boro perilously close to the relegation trapdoor, follows Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home to Leeds, at which fans called for the Scot to go.

Nine days short of his first anniversary, they got their wish.

Gibson revealed last night that Strachan, who had two-and-a-half years left on a deal worth about £3m, left the Riverside without compensation after he accepted his offer to resign.

Local hero Tony Mowbray is viewed by many as the natural successor, but the chairman would not be drawn on any shortlist for the hot-seat, preferring instead to pay tribute to Strachan.

"It's a sad day," he said in an interview with BBC Radio Tees. "Gordon worked very hard for Middlesbrough Football Club. He is the first to admit it has not turned out how he would have hoped.

"He met with me mid-morning and we debated many things before he offered his resignation and I accepted it.

"He is a man of massive integrity, he cared deeply for this football club. Gordon made life very easy for me and he tore up his contract. He sought no compensation. He walked away with no compensation at all, empty-handed."

Gibson is genuinely saddened the fourth managerial appointment of his time in charge of the club failed to deliver.

"Gordon's biggest regret was that he had let me down, the fans down, the club down," said Gibson. "I hope he goes away and spends time away with his family and he enjoys life.

"We felt it was in the best interests at this time. He did not need to be shoved. He walked. We have to move on and its a part of the history of this football club that has closed. We all have to move on."