ANGRY Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson last night accused Liverpool and Christian Ziege of "lies and deceit'' over the the German international's controversial move to Anfield.

Boro have protested to the Premier League about the conduct of the Merseyside club and the player, claiming Liverpool made an illegal approach to Ziege and that he invited the £5.5m bid which eventually clinched the deal.

A decision from the Premier League is imminent but, regardless of their findings, multi-millionaire Gibson is prepared to pursue the matter through the courts.

He is not deterred by the fact that there was a get-out clause in Ziege's contract permitting him to speak to any club who offered £5m or more for his services.

The fact that Liverpool's chief executive, Rick Parry, held a similar office with the Premier League when Boro were docked three points for failing to fulfil a fixture and subsequently relegated four seasons ago, provides an intriguing sub-plot to the Ziege saga.

Liverpool insist there was no impropriety in their move for Ziege, who won a legal battle with Boro to secure his Riverside release.

But Boro are understood to be seeking compensation of at least a further £2.5m from Liverpool and Gibson maintained: "There were lies and deceit.

"And the fact that Liverpool made their move only two or three weeks before the start of the season inflicted maximum damage on our football club.''

Boro boss Bryan Robson forked out £4m to rescue Ziege from a miserable spell with AC Milan.

He was named player of the year after his one season on Teesside and the loss of the 28-year-old wing-back has been keenly felt as Boro have struggled with a crippling injury list.

They have slipped into the Premiership's bottom three in the wake of their Worthington Cup exit at First Division Wimbledon last week.

Saturday's home defeat by Arsenal was Boro's fifth reverse in a row and pressure is mounting on under-fire Robson to halt the seemingly inexorable slide.

Gibson admitted: "I was very disappointed we lost Christian Ziege because he's a top-class player.

"But I was also disappointed in Ziege. Conversations I had with him, and that the manager and his assistant Viv Anderson had with him, all indicated he was happy at this club and that his family were happy.

"But we were also very disappointed with the conduct of Liverpool. When we signed Ziege it was a deal-break for him because he'd had a horrid time in Milan and said that, for compassionate reasons, he needed to know that if things didn't work out for him in England and Middlesbrough, there would be some way out.

"We told him at the time that there had to be some risk in it for him because we were outlaying £4m and giving him a five-year contract.

"We took comfort from the rules of the Premier League, which state quite categorically that no club can induce a player to join them and no player can induce a club to sign him.

"Further clauses in the Premier League rules say it's illegal for either the football club to disclose details of the contract of a player or for the player to display details of his contract.

"Liverpool know and Ziege knows exactly what went on and we wish to expose that through the correct channels so that the matter can be concluded to the satisfaction of the Premier League rule book.

"It's an on-going situation and we haven't closed the option of taking the matter outside football. We don't rule out any possibility.

"The rules have clearly been broken. We're not so naive as to believe they weren't broken and I don't think football is so naive as to believe they weren't broken.

"I would hope the severity of any damages would be a warning to all clubs.''

l First Division Barnsley are expected to sign 33-year-old former Middlesbrough winger Stuart Ripley today on a month's loan from Southampton. Saints boss Glenn Hoddle said: ''He wants to try his luck with Barnsley and if it doesn't work out for him there, then we're happy to have him back as part of our squad.'