Gibson is set to cast net wide for new Boro boss

The Teessider paid the price for a poor start to the Championship campaign late on Monday afternoon when he was sacked by Gibson following a run of just two victories in 12 league matches this season.

That followed a calamitous sequence of results in the second half of last term and Gibson – whose seasonal target for Mowbray was to deliver a play-off place – decided to act due to fears Boro might be plunged into a relegation battle instead.

Mowbray’s No 2 Mark Venus will take charge of the side for Friday night’s televised game with visiting Doncaster Rovers.

Meanwhile Gibson is compiling a list of suitable candidates to replace Mowbray long term.

Boro’s chairman is also considering a major backroom overhaul, which suggests a number of Mowbray’s coaching staff, including former team-mates Stephen Pears and Gary Gill, are vulnerable.

Gibson has bankrolled Boro for two decades with the club – despite cutting their outgoings in the past few seasons – still liable for one of the top-five wage budgets in the Championship.

In terms of Mowbray’s successor, the chairman has reportedly ruled out early bookmakers’ favourite Tony Pulis, without a job after leaving Stoke City in the summer, and Neil Warnock.

Martin O’Neill, who has previously been interviewed for the post, has also figured prominently in the betting, and ex-Boro midfielder Paul Ince has been mentioned as a candidate.

But Gibson has admitted he is prepared seriously to consider an overseas candidate for the first time since taking over at Boro in the early Nineties.

Former Boro manager Gareth Southgate, meanwhile, has said poor results left Mowbray’s position untenable.

The England Under-21 boss was at Mowbray’s final game in charge at Barnsley on Saturday, a match also attended by ex-Chelsea and Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon, acting as an adviser for Boro.

While he feels for boyhood Boro fan Mowbray, Southgate concedes a horrendous run of just five Championship league victories in 33 games meant that his departure was inevitable – some fans turned on him during the weekend loss at Oakwell.

Southgate, sacked by Gibson three years ago, said: “I was at the game at the weekend and was aware of the reaction of the supporters – that always makes things difficult for a manager.

“It is a great shame for Tony because nobody would have been prouder to manage Middlesbrough than him.

“I am sure it would have been a difficult decision for the chairman to take because he respected Tony enormously.”