The former England defender saw his side finally put an end to their relegation fears with a 2-0 Barclays Premier League win over Portsmouth which spared them and their fans an uncomfortable closing day to a difficult campaign.

But as he breathed a sigh of relief, Southgate's mind was already turning to the future and the work that needs to be done to take the club to the next level.

The loss of strikers Mark Viduka and Ayegbeni Yakubu last summer blew a sizeable hole in his squad, and injuries since have not helped.

However, Southgate has been pleased with the way his players have responded to the challenges with which they have been presented, and while he knows there are mountains to be climbed, he is happy that they are on the right track.

Asked what lessons he has learnt, he said: "We will still be here at midnight.

"We have learnt a lot. There has been a lot of soul-searching.

"Let's be honest, we got safe on the penultimate Saturday last year and we lost 35 goals out of the team, one striker in the summer and one who decided two weeks into the start of the season he'd had enough.

"They are big things to deal with aside from the injury setbacks which most clubs have.

"I have got to decide whether we had the right size of squad, whether we had enough to be able to cope with that, whether we were a bit too young.

"But all those things are decisions that we can now make knowing we are safe in this league.

"The overhaul of the squad was always going to be very difficult because of the age of lots of the players over the last two years, and that has to continue.

"But it was critical we stayed in this division while we achieved that overhaul.

"The wage bill is now a lot more manageable than it was, and lots of those young players are now on long-term contracts, so we have got saleable assets as well should we need them."

Southgate has never sought to hide his own inexperience as a manager and readily accepts the responsibilities his job brings.

However, he remains eternally grateful for the undying support of chairman Steve Gibson and his refusal to succumb when several of his counterparts pulled the trigger earlier in the season.

Southgate said: "I am pleased because we can plan and get on because there is so much that has to change.

"I have found myself in the two years in the job compromising principles a lot of the time, and this summer will be a good cut-off point in terms of coming back and really feeling it should be my team and a club run in the way I believe it should be run.

"I am going to learn all the time about that and how far you can push things and how far you can push people.

"The two most important things this season have been that the players have rallied through very difficult times and huge setbacks and dealt with it, and the fact that I have been able to repay the chairman's faith for keeping his nerve in October-November time when lots of other clubs decided they would change manager.

"He has given me an opportunity here. He knows my inexperience, but he knows I am determined to repay his faith and work every hour that's sent to make this club successful."

It was forgotten man Chris Riggott, recalled from his loan spell at Stoke just 24 hours earlier, who set the ball rolling with a 40th-minute header, and Tuncay Sanli wrapped up the points eight minutes after the break as FA Cup finalists Pompey capitulated in disappointing style.

Riggott had expected to play in Stoke's promotion clash with Leicester this weekend, but had little hesitation in returning to Teesside when asked.