Gordon Strachan will be confirmed as Middlesbrough’s new manager by the end of this week, with Steve Gibson moving swiftly to fill the void created by Gareth Southgate’s departure.

The Middlesbrough chairman told The Times last night that the Coca-Cola Championship club will “lick our wounds” after his reluctant decision to relieve Southgate of his duties, but the substance of a deal is already in place to take Strachan to the Riverside Stadium.

Strachan is available after stepping down at Celtic at the end of last season, although there have been complications regarding his representation — now addressed — before he could commit himself to Middlesbrough. The Scot will be expected to add spike and discipline to a team who lie a point from the top of the division.

Whether Strachan will be appointed in time to pick the side for Saturday’s match away to Preston North End is not certain. “We’ve had a strategy for finding Gareth’s replacement,” Gibson said. “That person may not quite be in place for this weekend, although I’m hopeful that it will be sooner rather than later.”

If the timing of Southgate’s dismissal has caused some bemusement — it came after a 2-0 home victory over Derby County on Tuesday — Gibson had determined that change was necessary in the wake of Middlesbrough’s dreadful 1-0 defeat by Leicester City on September 29. He pulled back from sacking him after their subsequent win away to Reading only because of delays in securing a replacement.

That has now been resolved. “It’s been about balancing Gareth’s dignity against the needs of the club,” Gibson said. “It’s so sad because he’s a man of enormous honesty and integrity and I admit that not all the problems we’ve faced have been of his making. It can be a cruel game, but we need to get the fans and the town back behind the club. United, we’re strong; divided we’re weak. We can’t have these splinters.

“I’m sure Gareth was taken aback by what happened, but he took it with good grace and that’s him all over. He said, ‘Thank you for the opportunity and I wish you well for the future.’

“We need time to lick our wounds because we’ll miss Gareth Southgate, the man, immensely. He was a fine player for us, our captain when we won our first trophy, and he brought ethics and integrity to the manager’s job. We hope to carry all those things on.”

Southgate had become a polarising figure among supporters, blamed for their relegation from the Barclays Premier League, in spite of the cost-cutting he had been obliged to implement. Over the summer, he had rejected offers to sign experienced players such as Gavin McCann from Bolton Wanderers, while the make-up of his coaching staff was another cause for concern within the hierarchy. Had they lost against Derby, Middlesbrough would have dropped to tenth in the table.

They have already been beaten on three occasions at home and have not defeated any of their leading rivals. At the end of last season, in the face of some damning results, Gibson summoned Southgate and his backroom team and asked them if they felt they were capable of delivering promotion.

The answer he received was positive, but Gibson reserved the right to review the situation and, with crowds dwindling — record-low league attendances have become a feature — he acted.

While he has known Strachan for a decade, he spoke to Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s leading shareholder, about the 52-year-old former Manchester United and Leeds United midfield player, and received a resounding endorsement.