Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has dismissed claims from Steve McClaren the club has a "success threshold".
Speaking of his time as Boro boss, McClaren said recently: "Clubs have a success threshold, we knew we couldn't win the Premier League, we knew we couldn't get into the Champions League, but Europe was a distinct possibility, winning a trophy was a distinct possibility.
"That's difficult," Southgate told the Sunday Sun, of his predecessor's theory.
"Yes it's true of this season, but over time that can change. I remember Chelsea being in the division below, we all remember Leeds in the Champions League semi-final, now look at them.
"A lot of that is down to money but Steve (McClaren) himself showed it can be done when he took this club to seventh. Bolton under Sam Allardyce and now Mark Hughes at Blackburn, Everton under David Moyes - you need stability over a period of time.
"It won't happen overnight but it can be done. You need to recruit the right people and lay foundations. We're as ambitious as any club but we can't compete with the Manchester Uniteds, who can spend £50 million on three players in one summer.
"We've got to think differently. We try to bring young players through from the Academy, then buy and sell at the right time. We have to be together in our thinking and, if we are, we will progress over a longer period of time."
