MIDDLESBROUGH chairman Steve Gibson has assured the club's FA Cup Youth Cup-winning side that they won't be held back by an influx of big-money signings at the Riverside.

Darlington-born winger James Morrison is the first of the side that triumphed over Aston Villa in the Youth Cup final to break into Steve McClaren's senior team.

Morrison, 18 next Tuesday, made his bow in the FA Cup third-round tie against Notts County in January as a substitute and came off the bench again at Portsmouth on the final day of the Premiership season.

Gibson has sanctioned a multi-million pound summer spending spree by McClaren in a bid to turn Boro into a top-six force.

But Gibson, proud of the youth-team success masterminded by academy director David Parnaby and coach Mark Proctor, insists the kids are all right.

"Steve McClaren has a history at this club of giving debuts to young talent,'' said Gibson. "We've had Stewart Downing, Stuart Parnaby, Andrew Davies and now James Morrison breaking into the first team. These lads have all been given a chance by the manager.

"David Parnaby took over as director of our academy when it was threadbare. Now it is recognised as one of the leading lights in football.

"We followed the academy rules that were laid down by Howard Wilkinson some time ago, but things have to evolve and David has developed the youth set-up to such an extent that, in two seasons, we won the Youth Cup and finished runners-up.

"The next step is to make sure we keep the best of those players and give them all the best opportunity to make it here.''

Gibson has overseen a sea change on Teesside since becoming chairman over ten years ago.

The Middlesbrough-born tycoon's dreams were realised when McClaren led his side to Carling Cup final glory in February.

With their first major trophy finally in the cabinet, Boro can now look forward to a UEFA Cup debut next season.

Gibson stressed: "We've been very tenacious. The infrastructure of the club has changed with the stadium and the academy, and we've gone from a fanbase of ten or 12,000 to a stage where we're almost disappointed with a 31,000 average.

"The club has moved on, the fans have move on and we're well established in the Premiership. Anything less than a top-ten finish shouldn't really be tolerated.

"We're ready to bid for a top-six spot next season, providing Steve McClaren gets his targets into the club.''

l Boro have confirmed the first of their pre-season friendlies. They visit Preston on Saturday, July 24 (3.00) and Nottingham Forest three days later (7.45).

On the same day as the Preston game, a Boro XI travel to Scarborough for the North Riding Senior Cup final.

l Mark Schwarzer had a nightmare night as captain of Australia in a highly-charged Friendship Cup contest with Turkey, writes PAUL FRASER.

The goalkeeper was asked to be skipper in the absence of a number of Socceroos through injury and things could not have gone any worse.

Schwarzer, whose last appearance for Boro was when he allowed five goals past him at Portsmouth a week ago, gifted the Turks the lead when he allowed Umit Ozat's free-kick to squirm under his body.

And, after Marco Bresciano had pulled Australia level with a penalty and Hakan Sukur had put Turkey 2-1 up, Schwarzer charged into no-man's land when he failed to reach Hasan Sas' cross. The ball deflected off Okan Buruk to Sukur, whose job was to simply nod home from a yard out.

That was not the end of Schwarzer's horror show, though, as he had to be substituted after sustaining a hip injury in the dying stages of the encounter.

Aussie boss Frank Farina, without stars such as Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, had his side playing on home soil for the first time in 31 months.