STEVE AGNEW is confident the current Middlesbrough squad is capable of securing an instant return to the Premier League, and claims the Teessiders are better placed for life in the second tier than their North-East rivals, Sunderland.

Boro’s relegation was confirmed when they lost at Chelsea on Monday, but they will crash into the Championship with the majority of the squad that won promotion 12 months ago.

There will be changes this summer, but with 23 members of Boro’s first-team group contracted beyond the end of the season, there will not be the kind of radical upheaval that often accompanies a relegation.

That is not true at Sunderland, where David Moyes will lose up to a dozen senior players, including his two star performers, Jordan Pickford and Jermain Defoe.

Moyes will effectively be starting from scratch as he looks to assemble a side capable of challenging for promotion next season, whereas whoever is in charge at Middlesbrough will be operating from a much firmer base.

Agnew is yet to discuss his long-term future with Boro owner Steve Gibson, but while he was unable to keep the Teessiders in the top-flight, the current head coach is optimistic about the next 12 months.

“We’re quite fortunate in many ways because we have 12, possibly 13 players who have a promotion on their CV,” said the Boro boss. “From that point of view, we have a strong squad.

“We also have 23 or 24 contracted players. We have Calum Chambers and Alvaro Negredo who are loan players, but apart from that everybody else is contracted.

“I think when you have had success at a certain level, then you are very, very confident of achieving the same result.”

Earlier this week, Moyes claimed Sunderland would be the biggest club in the Championship next season, but Agnew begs to differ.

Prior to winning automatic promotion, Boro also appeared in a play-off final, and while there are major question marks over Sunderland’s ability to come to terms with the second tier, the Teessiders should have no problem reacclimatising themselves with their new home.

“I think they (Sunderland) have been out of it a long time, but they will be like any other football club. They will understand how difficult it is get out of the Championship and what you need to do to achieve your aim.

“But what I would say is that we have brought players who have played Championship football. So in terms of experiencing a promotion out of the Championship and playing in the Championship, of course we have more experience. But we all know we have to find balance in the squad to achieve what we want to achieve next season.”

When Boro were last relegated from the Premier League, it took them seven long years to reclaim a place at the top table. They look better equipped to make an instant return this time around, but the history books counsel against taking anything for granted.

Newcastle United might have bounced back at the first time of asking, but they are only the second relegated team to secure automatic promotion in their first season in the Championship for seven years.

Burnley were the other, and having won promotion alongside Sean Dyche’s team last season, Agnew has held up the Clarets as a template for Boro to follow.

“Burnley are obviously a good model,” he said. “I go back a few years to when we were promoted at Hull, and went to Burnley and won.

“Sean Dyche had just moved in and was just putting his stamp on it. It has taken him a while to do that, to build a team and a squad to get back into the Premier League, but he has done it and returned very quickly.

“This is a terrific football club, a Premier League club. But unfortunately we find ourselves in the league below and it is never easy. Automatic promotion is not as easy as people think.”

Boro were in 18th position when Agnew replaced Aitor Karanka, but while they had only just dropped into the relegation zone following a 2-0 defeat at Stoke City, the rot had already set in.

Nevertheless, Agnew’s tally of six points from his nine games in charge is hardly impressive, and he readily accepts he must take his share of the responsibility for his side’s fate.

“I’ve been pleased with certain aspects of how we’ve gone about things, and the reaction of the players,” he said. “But there have been one or two disappointments, certainly Bournemouth and Hull away.

“Have I made mistakes? Of course I have. You have to hold your hand up. There’s one or two things I might have changed looking back, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I’ve enjoyed the challenge and I just want to make sure we want to finish the season strongly.”

Victor Valdes and Gaston Ramirez remain unavailable for tomorrow’s game with Southampton, and while Daniel Ayala has returned to the training ground, he is unlikely to be risked.