diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 18a32a7..61f199c 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ Optional settings::
     # list of default group names to assign to new users
     GOOGLEAUTH_GROUPS = []
 
+    # when creating username from email convert to lowercase and strip non alpha characters, default False
+    GOOGLEAUTH_APPS_CLEAN_USERNAME = True
+
 URL routes
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/googleauth/backends.py b/googleauth/backends.py
index 919868b..c17d1fe 100644
--- a/googleauth/backends.py
+++ b/googleauth/backends.py
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
-import requests
+# import requests
+
 from django.conf import settings
+from django.db.models import get_model
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
 
 IS_STAFF = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_IS_STAFF', False)
 GROUPS = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_GROUPS', tuple())
 APPS_DOMAIN = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_APPS_DOMAIN', None)
+CLEAN_USERNAME = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_APPS_CLEAN_USERNAME', False)
+USERPROFILE_MODEL = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_USERPROFILE_MODEL', None)
+PROFILE_FIELDS = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_PROFILE_FIELDS', None)
 
 
 class GoogleAuthBackend(object):
@@ -14,6 +19,9 @@ def authenticate(self, identifier=None, attributes=None):
         email = attributes.get('email', None)
         (username, domain) = email.split('@')
 
+        if CLEAN_USERNAME:
+            username = filter(str.isalpha, str(username).lower())
+
         if APPS_DOMAIN and APPS_DOMAIN != domain:
             return None
 
@@ -44,6 +52,15 @@ def authenticate(self, identifier=None, attributes=None):
 
             user.save()
 
+        if USERPROFILE_MODEL and PROFILE_FIELDS:
+            model_details = USERPROFILE_MODEL.rsplit('.', 1)
+
+            model = get_model(model_details[0], model_details[1])
+            try:
+                model.objects.get(user=user)
+            except model.DoesNotExist:
+                self.save_user_profile(model, user, attributes)
+
         return user
 
     def get_user(self, user_id):
@@ -51,3 +68,12 @@ def get_user(self, user_id):
             return User.objects.get(pk=user_id)
         except User.DoesNotExist:
             pass
+
+    def save_user_profile(self, model, user, attributes):
+
+        to_save = {'user': user}
+        for google_field, profile_field in PROFILE_FIELDS.iteritems():
+            to_save[profile_field] = attributes.get(google_field, None)
+
+        userprofile = model(**to_save)
+        userprofile.save()
diff --git a/googleauth/views.py b/googleauth/views.py
index be44735..798a81f 100644
--- a/googleauth/views.py
+++ b/googleauth/views.py
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 CALLBACK_DOMAIN = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_CALLBACK_DOMAIN', None)
 APPS_DOMAIN = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_APPS_DOMAIN', None)
 GET_PROFILE = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_GET_PROFILE', True)
+USERPROFILE_MODEL = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_USERPROFILE_MODEL', None)
+PROFILE_FIELDS = getattr(settings, 'GOOGLEAUTH_PROFILE_FIELDS', None)
+
 
 #
 # utility methods
@@ -56,7 +59,7 @@ def login(request):
         params['hd'] = APPS_DOMAIN
 
     request.session['googleauth_csrf'] = csrf_token
-    request.session['next'] = request.META.get('HTTP_REFERER', None)
+    request.session['next'] = request.GET.get('next', None) or request.META.get('HTTP_REFERER', None)
 
     return HttpResponseRedirect("%s?%s" % (GOOGLE_AUTH_ENDPOINT, urllib.urlencode(params)))
 
@@ -104,10 +107,13 @@ def callback(request):
 
             profile = resp.json()
 
+            if USERPROFILE_MODEL and PROFILE_FIELDS:
+                for google_field in PROFILE_FIELDS.iterkeys():
+                    attributes[google_field] = profile.get(google_field, None)
+
             attributes['first_name'] = profile.get('given_name')
             attributes['last_name'] = profile.get('family_name')
 
-
     # authenticate user
 
     user = auth.authenticate(attributes=attributes)