Baines: Moyes needs backing

Baines: Moyes needs backing

Published Apr. 18, 2013 9:15 a.m. ET

Stephen McManus has confirmed he will leave Middlesbrough at the end of the season when his contract expires.

The Scotland defender does not figure in Tony Mowbray's first-team plans and he has had two spells out on loan at Bristol City during the last two seasons.

The 30-year-old holds no grudges with Mowbray after finding himself out of favour at the Riverside and he is keeping his options open regarding where his next move is going to be.

"I'll move on in the summer and I won't dwell on the past," the former Celtic star told the Daily Record. "I haven't sat down with the manager yet but I'm not daft, I know how these things work.

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"I have no idea what my next move is. I have nothing lined up. This is the first time in my career I've been in this position.

"Ideally, I'd like to stay in England or go abroad but I'm not ruling anything out.

"I might get a phone call from left-field and fancy it. The important thing is that, wherever I go, we'll all go as a family."

The Goodison Park club are currently sixth in the Premier League table, four points adrift of Arsenal in fourth, following their 0-0 draw at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Moyes, who is out of contract in the summer, admitted after the match that the Toffees may now need to win all of their remaining fixtures to have any chance of joining Europe's elite next term.

And England left-back Baines feels that the Scot's task of matching their Premier League rivals would be made easier if he was afforded greater backing in the transfer market.

He told reporters: "We've been steady over the years. We've been shy of challenging for the Champions League and are edging our way closer.

"We have not had that big push in terms of giving the manager that backing to buy the players that would put us in the mix.

"It is one thing having it and obviously you have to spend it wisely. You have to get the right players.

"So it would not be a given with a good amount of money but it would definitely help."

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