There's an argument to be made that Steve McClaren is the most successful manager Middlesbrough have ever had.

McClaren led Middlesbrough to their first major trophy in the shape of the 2004 League Cup, before then leading them to the UEFA Cup final two years later - albeit they were ultimately thumped 4-0 by Sevilla.

But his departure to take the England job in 2006 was mourned by few fans - and his former goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer, did not come away from his time working under McClaren with a positive impression either.

Schwarzer told FourFourTwo: "For the first two years, he did a lot of really good things.

"His ideas, his coaching and the change in professionalism were exactly what Middlesbrough needed.

"After that, it became more difficult. As he grew in confidence, his expectations changed.

"At times as a player, I felt I was blamed as the reason things weren’t going well, with very little self-reflection from the manager.

"The bigger his profile became and the more he was talked about as the next England boss, the harder it became.

"We won our first major trophy and got to a European final, but there were some very challenging times working under him.

"It was a combination of things. There was a lot of finger-pointing from the manager (McClaren) during games, but when I confronted him about it, he would deny it.

"That led to a complete breakdown of our relationship because I have a problem with people not telling the truth. If you’re not honest with me, then there’s no respect.

"I just felt that I couldn’t work with someone who was so disingenuous, dishonest and not man enough to have that conversation with me.

"There was a World Cup that year, so I needed to play football, and I felt my best opportunity to do that was away from the club.

"I don’t think the manager thought I would hand in a transfer request, so I called his bluff and showed him how serious I was.

"I eventually changed my mind because Steve Gibson became involved and was incredibly reluctant to sell me."