Gareth Southgate has paid a glowing tribute to his Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson for bankrolling the £12million club-record purchase of Brazilian hot-shot Afonso Alves.

With an increasing number of Barclays Premier League clubs coming under foreign ownership, Gibson is one of the few English owners left in the division.

The fact he is a lifelong fan of the club he owns and grew up within walking distance of the Riverside Stadium makes him just about unique in English football.

Major outfits like Aston Villa and Tottenham have budgets bulging with overseas cash thanks to recent takeovers.

Once in the same spending league as Boro, those two and others like them are now operating on a new financial plane - and that has led to calls from a small but vocal group of discontented Teessiders for Gibson to sell his beloved club to a new set of investors.

Southgate, however, believes Boro's audacious capture of the prolific Alves from Heerenveen and the fact that bids were also lodged for fellow Brazilians Fred, of Lyon, and CSKA Moscow's Wagner Love, will silence the critics.

He said: "I've heard criticism from some quarters aimed at the chairman for allegedly not backing the team, but this proves just how fortunate we are to have a chairman like Steve.

"No way would this deal have been done without his support. As a manager, I'm delighted to have a chairman like him behind me."

Southgate has also revealed that Alves was a mightily impressed observer when he watched Boro beat Wigan 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night in a Premier League six-pointer.

While the scoreline was modest enough, the hosts' impressed in the first half, ripping the visitors apart time and again open only to squander chances in front of goal.

Southgate expects Alves to provide the much-needed finishing touches, saying: "Afonso was very impressed with how we played, not just our attacking play but also how we defended.

"What he saw actually encouraged him to sign. There had been some other clubs trying to get in on the deal but he wanted to come to the Premier League and he wanted to play for Middlesbrough.

"He believed, having watched us, that he suits our style of play."

Boro are looking to build on their improved form in 2008 by ruining Kevin Keegan's return to the Newcastle hot-seat.

The Toon Messiah has yet to see his side win - or score a goal - since he took control of first team affairs two weeks ago.

A win for the visitors at St James' Park in Sunday's Tyne-Tees derby would see Boro leapfrog their north-east rivals in the table.

Southgate's side have lost just one match in seven in all competitions and he's focusing on that run of form rather than local bragging rights.

He added: "Our priority this week has been the matches.

"We got the win at Mansfield in difficult circumstances on Saturday and then followed up with the win over Wigan on Tuesday.

"Now we've got a fantastic game to look forward to at St James' and we go there in good spirits.

"We've managed to close the gap on Newcastle and Tottenham in midweek. We've talked about taking small steps up the table and we have to keep trying to do that.

"Newcastle would be a fantastic place to go and win, but it's always tough there and with Kevin in charge now there is that added enthusiasm up there, so we realise the task ahead of us - but we're relishing it.

"In games in this league there's always so much riding on it for both teams.

"We've been very resilient on our travels, we've had one defeat in eight away and that's very pleasing."

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