Riverside Stadium regulars will be hoping that Gordon Strachan and Middlesbrough will prove a marriage made in heaven, but as the manager gets acquainted with his new surroundings, bells are consuming his thinking as much as balls.

Strachan, who has a rich and colourful history of quirky comments, is perplexed by the shortage of married men within his team. While that may be a by-product of the youthful nature of his first-team squad - which is populated with graduates from Middlesbrough’s respected academy - he believes it raises important issues regarding personal responsibility.

“[Emmanuel] Pogatetz is one of only three players in the squad that are married, which is quite unbelievable in a world that should be for men,” Strachan, whose Coca-Cola Championship side play at Crystal Palace today, said. “I have never come across that in my life. That's how young we are, but it's a big miss.

"I'm not saying you have to be married to be a good footballer. I'm just saying it felt strange to come to a club where there are only three members of the first-team squad that are married. You need responsibility in life.”

Strachan is no Cilla Black, however, and he does not intend to seek out eligible partners for Middlesbrough’s bachelors. “I'm not going about finding wives for them, it was just a shock to me,” he said.

For Strachan and Middlesbrough, whose home form is undermining their promotion campaign, it is the details that matter. “It's like golf,” the Scot said. “You can drive the ball well, you can approach and hit the green, but if you three-putt then that's not a great round of golf. Small things are the things that count.” A case of wedding ringing the changes, perhaps?