Kim Hellberg out to reward Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson at Wembley

Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg is desperate to reward chairman Steve Gibson for his backing by securing Premier League football for next season.

The Swede was handed the reins at the Riverside Stadium in November last year and has guided the club into Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final against Hull at Wembley after the famously supportive Gibson fought tooth and nail to expose Southampton’s spying mission at their Rockliffe Park training ground.

Asked how big a part the chairman had played in that fight, Hellberg said: “He’s been absolutely brilliant since the first day I arrived here – or to be fair, the first day I met him because that was some days before.

“He’s been absolutely brilliant to me, very, very supportive. In tougher times and in good times, he’s been absolutely brilliant. He’s been brilliant.”

Those tougher times have included runs where the prospect of automatic promotion slipped away and left Boro facing a two-legged semi-final against the Saints which they lost on the pitch, only to be reinstated when an independent commission ruled that the South Coast club had breached EFL regulations by observing a training session ahead of the first leg.

However, Hellberg felt secure throughout with Gibson firmly in his corner.

He said: “You can feel that from the first meeting, that that is the type of man he is, and it’s been a good time.”

If it has been the drama on the pitch which has largely occupied Hellberg’s mind since his arrival in England, the intrigue in the last few days has been off it as Boro’s complaint over Southampton’s behaviour was upheld and the most stringent punishment applied.

The former Hammarby manager spoke out emotionally over the ‘Spygate’ affair following his side’s semi-final defeat, but was happy justice had been done in the end.

He said: “My feeling was that I was very happy, of course, with the verdict.

“From all the information we have been given, I think it was a very, very easy call. But you never know if people are going to do one thing or do the right thing. Maybe you can know what’s right, but you also have to do it, so yes, it was a good moment.”

Boro will be without striker Tommy Conway at Wembley because of an ankle injury which will also rule him out of Scotland’s World Cup finals squad, while midfielder Hayden Hackney is physically fit after a calf problem but has barely trained for two months.

Published: 22/05/2026 by Radio NewsHub