GARETH Southgate has warned his Middlesbrough players not to demand a starting spot when they return for pre-season training this summer - because many of their performances last season did not merit one.

Despite spending a club record £12.7m on Afonso Alves in January, Southgate intends to make four or five more signings this summer as he looks to improve a squad that flirted with relegation for much of the last campaign.

The Middlesbrough manager has accepted that changes are needed in the wake of a disappointing nine months, and has warned the current squad not to take their position for granted as they look ahead to next season.

Southgate admits he paid too much attention to reputation when he preferred Jonathan Woodgate to Chris Riggott in the first half of last season, and is adamant he will not be making the same mistake again.

"The players have to understand there will be more and more competition for places," said the Boro boss, who is eyeing both Steve Sidwell and James Milner as he looks to bolster his side's midfield.

"When they are out of the team, there is no point them knocking on my door. I can explain things to them, but they have to understand that we finished 13th last season.

"In some ways, everything has been a success for them. A lot of them are still young lads and they've had a lot of games as young players. But we are not anywhere near where we want to be. There is a process of improvement we have to go through, and I am confident we will do exactly that."

Southgate's newly-discovered ruthless streak stands in direct contrast to the 'nice-guy image' many feel has held him back in his first two years as a Premier League manager.

The former England international has always denied that his affability is a hindrance, insisting he is more than happy to exert his authority when required.

Yet it cannot have been easy for him to manage players who had been his team-mates for a number of years, and he admits his credentials might well have been called into question in the early months of his managerial career.

Those questions have now been answered, though, and after successfully guiding Middlesbrough away from the relegation zone last season, Southgate feels he has made an important point to his players.

"I felt as though the dressing room was maybe looking to see how I would overcome last season's difficulty," he admitted.

"They were thinking, 'How are you going to overcome this as the leader of this organisation? Are you going to panic?

"Obviously you have to prove yourself forever, but a lot of the lads I played with needed to see I was capable of surviving in this division. I've done that now."