Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson insists manager Gareth Southgate's job is secure.

He told the Sunday Times: "All clubs are different and have different pressures. I'm not saying we have a secret because we haven't. What I know is that I have a very decent man, a very good man and a very intelligent man in Gareth Southgate. What he doesn't have is a huge amount of managerial experience but he has the intellect to learn very quickly. What I asked him to do, to leave the dressing room and lead this club, was unfair.

"I was asking him to perform miracles. In this situation, things were occasionally going to go wrong and Gareth needs my support and the support of everyone at this football club. We are where we are not because of bad management, not because of bad planning, not because of bad football.

"We are where we are because of circumstances working against us, some important injuries, games that might easily have been won ending in draws, and I like to think we're better than our current position indicates. I may be wrong because the judgment will only come at the end of the season. I read ludicrous things in newspapers, no they're not really newspapers, more comedy strips, saying, 'Gareth's got two games'. He knows that isn't true, I know that isn't true but other people don't appreciate the strength within the club.

"I gave Gareth a five-year contract because I wanted him to have the time to take a much longer-term view of the club. He had a lot of changes to make because he inherited an ageing squad with quite a number of the older players on extended contracts. I didn't want the players, I didn't want the supporters and I didn't want the media thinking that Gareth was a stop-gap manager. What we're trying to do at the football club is create the best possible environment and atmosphere for those whose jobs we can't do."