Somewhere down the line, it happens to everyone and Gareth Southgate appreciates that one day it will happen to him. At the start of this week, when one bookmaker suspended betting on the Middlesbrough manager losing his job, Southgate found himself looking out of the window and seeing television cameras pointing at his house. At the club’s training ground, the football grapevine was bearing bitter fruit.

“The first I knew about the rumours was a couple of the players texting our youth coaches,” he said. “We had a laugh about it. I assumed everything was OK, but I thought I’d better clear off before 5pm, because that’s usually when these things happen. By the time it was made public, I had reporters parking up my drive. It didn’t make any difference to me. You accept it’s always a possibility.”

Keith Lamb, the Middlesbrough chief executive, announced that Southgate’s position was not under scrutiny, although with the team in the relegation zone — they travel to Stoke City today — it remains an uncomfortable period for the club. Southgate has taken the brunt of criticism while working under testing circumstances: cutting costs, trimming the squad, promoting youthful players.

“It’s great that I have been publicly supported, although I didn’t need it,” he said. “I have it internally. For 2½ years, I’ve been second favourite to get the bullet; maybe now I’m No 1.

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“I don’t take myself too seriously, but I take my job seriously and I accept the speculation that goes with it.

“Clubs change managers and players all the time, but the underlying issues remain. For our club we have a huge debt and that has to be managed. People get fed up of hearing excuses from managers and that’s why chairmen make changes. It gives supporters hope. The reality is that the manager goes and the problem is still there.

“We have an experienced chairman. He will not make a kneejerk reaction, but he won’t allow us to just plod on and lose games. He would be quick to crack down, but he feels the majority of the decisions we make are the right ones for our long-term future. But we are suffering.”