IT might not be a pleasant experience at the moment, but Gareth Southgate feels Middlesbrough’s ongoing relegation battle will create a future generation of leaders.

Boro currently boast the youngest squad in the Premier League, and six members of the side that started against Hull last weekend were 24 years old or younger.

Former Boro skipper George Boateng claimed a lack of experience was a key factor in the club’s slide down the Premier League table in the build-up to Saturday’s game, and having been forced to sell a number of seasoned performers last summer, Southgate accepts his side is short of older heads.

The likes of Matthew Bates, Tony McMahon and Andrew Taylor have been asked to assume a great deal of responsibility given Boro’s perilous position in the Premier League’s bottom three.

But having watched the trio perform admirably against Hull, Southgate can sense the emergence of a group of youngsters who will lead the club for many years to come.

“Given time, some of those lads will be really strong leaders,”

said the Boro boss. “The likes of Bates, McMahon and Taylor will all go on to be brilliant leaders.

“They are all really strong characters, and I think they’ve become even stronger in recent weeks. We need strong characters at the moment, and they have all stepped up to the plate.

“I know they are young, but the alternatives (in the squad) are probably only two or three years older so I’ve asked them to stand up and be counted.

“I asked them to do that (against Hull), and they did.

We knew we would need people who were able to handle the occasion.”

As a player, Southgate was one of the best leaders Middlesbrough ever had, and the former skipper insists his own leadership skills were forged from adversity.

He was at Crystal Palace when they were relegated from the Premier League, and infamously missed the decisive penalty in the semi-finals of Euro 96, both formative moments that helped mould him into a successful captain.

He might have entered the history books as the first Boro skipper to lift a major trophy, but things weren’t always as happy or successful.

“I think a lot of the younger lads look at our coaching staff and think that it was always like the glossy bit at the end of our careers,” said Southgate.

“But the reality is we had to scrap and fight our way to get a living out of the game.

“That is how I learned my trade at Palace, and it’s also how Coops (Colin Cooper) started here.

“Steve Agnew was the same at Barnsley. It is a hard slog to make a living in the game, and that is what they have to realise.”

While the majority of Boro’s squad have never experienced life outside the Premier League, Marlon King has played in every division with Barnet, Gillingham, Nottingham Forest, Watford and Wigan.

The on-loan striker knows what it is like to have to scrap for a living, and Southgate is urging him to pass on his experiences to his team-mates.

“Marlon is someone in the dressing room who has played through the divisions and appreciates where he is playing,”

he said. “That is a big thing for us because a lot of lads think it is always like this.

“But as I have said to them, if you are sitting on the coach to Plymouth next year, you will know all about it. It is important these lads take those sort of lessons on board, and he can pass on lots of little things just from having played through the divisions.”

■ Middlesbrough have launched a ‘Ful House’ deal ahead of Saturday’s crucial relegation encounter with Fulham.

Following the success of a similar offer that helped swell the crowd against Hull to more than 30,000, season card holders can buy up to ten tickets for the Fulham game at a price of two for £20.

Season Card holders can book the additional seats online at mfc.co.uk, by phone on 0844 499 1234 or in person at the Riverside’s main ticket office.