RELEGATED Derby County are eyeing Middlesbrough midfielder Robbie Mustoe.

Rams manager John Gregory, plotting an immediate return to the Premiership, is keen on Mustoe, who is out of contract this summer and stalling on the offer of a one-year deal from Boro.

The 33-year-old, a key member of the squad in Steve McClaren's first season in charge, had hoped for a two-year agreement and is keeping his options open.

When preliminary contract talks began in February, Mustoe was prepared to sign a new one-and-a-half-year deal.

Now the odds are on Boro's longest-serving player ending his 12-year association with the club.

Meanwhile, Boro yesterday stoked up regional rivalries by claiming to be the best supported club in the North-East.

Based on the percentage of the local population turning out to support their teams, Boro are ahead of rivals Newcastle United and Sunderland.

Boro's average home attendance in the season just ended was 28,459, representing 19.7pc of the town's 144,300 population.

That compares well with Newcastle's 18.8pc - average gates of 51,373 from the city's population of 273,000 - and Sunderland's 16.1pc from averaging 46,744 out of a population of almost 291,000.

Boro communications manager Dave Allan said he believed Middlesbrough were unique in the way the club had worked hard to place itself at the centre of the local community.

"We probably spend more time building links with the community than any other club and our attendances are proof that the hard work pays off," he said.

"We are more aware than anyone of the fact that our attendances have been reducing in recent times. That's a concern to us and we are examining ways of turning that trend around.

"However, when people criticise our crowds many forget that the population of our catchment area is considerably smaller than that of other clubs.''

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