Middlesbrough Head Coach Kim Hellberg has made clear the significance of Saturday’s Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley Stadium for everyone associated with Boro.
In a hurriedly arranged press conference on Thursday afternoon following Boro’s reinstatement into the final, Hellberg said that “everyone knows and everyone feels how big it is and how important it is”.
“I think you could see in the games against Southampton how much it means to everyone, and how tough it was”, he continued, before adding that there will be various players in the dressing room who will contribute to the pre-match talk, not least Hayden Hackney and Dael Fry.
The prize on offer is a return to England’s top flight, where Middlesbrough have not been since 2016/17, when they spent one solitary season competing against the best, before they returned to the second tier.
Ahead of Boro’s Play-Off semi-final first leg, Hellberg said that he had not yet thought about whether he is Premier League ready. Now, after all of the drama that has unfolded regarding ‘spygate’, as he prepares to lead his team out under the famous arch, he said that thoughts of the top flight have still yet to register.
“I haven’t spent many thoughts on that”, he said, “but I think it’s difficult to be Premier League ready.”
He then drew a comparison to his role at home, “it’s like being a father, maybe I felt that would be a big problem, but when you become a father you are ready, and that’s what I think you have to do with the Premier League.”
“You’re going up against the best teams in the world, the best players in the world if you get there, and unbelievable stadiums, and players, and qualities. So, you just have to make sure you’re ready when you get there.”
Getting there, means defeating Hull City, a side Middlesbrough won handsomely against at the MKM Stadium, but then lost narrowly to, at the Riverside. The advantage for Boro, of course, is that they have known that if they were to be reinstated in the Play-Offs, that Hull would be the opposition. The Tigers, meanwhile, have been preparing for two different opponents.
Hellberg did make clear, however, that training for his side has been practically impossible until the last couple of days. To add to that, Boro will be without Tommy Conway, who sustained an ankle injury at St. Mary’s. He will miss both the Play-Off Final and the World Cup with Scotland.
There was encouraging news about Hayden Hackney though. He has trained and should be ready to take his place in the starting eleven at Wembley. Boro will need him. He, of all people, can be the key to their potential success, given his ability and his roots. He, along with Hellberg, and fellow Teessiders Dael Fry and Sol Brynn, will give it everything to win.
