And a word from the Hull owner Acun Ilicali
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I’m not the richest owner, but I am the craziest. This is the best day of my life. In my career I managed many success. I started from zero in my business and now we are one of the biggest producers of reality television in the world. But football is crazy.
Oli McBurnie on his omission from Scotland’s World Cup squad. No rancour at all
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Football is a game of opinions. I felt I gave myself as good a chance as I could to get into the squad but that’s the manager’s decision and at the end of the day I have to respect that.
Some of the boys in that squad are my best friends in football so I’ll be supporting them from a warm, sunny place with a beer, hoping they go as far as they can.
Sergej Jakirovic speaks to Sky Sports
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Amazing feeling. I cannot still believe it because we suffered a lot. As I said before the game, they are very happy with the ball. They don’t have many chances.
After 50 minutes we changed the shape and Crooksy helped out.
Oli enjoys to play this type of game. You are born with this. We agreed that he would score 15 goals. [You owe him a present don’t you?] Yes but don’t say that out loud. The owner owes us a lot of presents now.
Since my first meeting [with the owner] we clicked. A hundred per cent support. Without his trust we cannot do anything.
This is a very demanding, very difficult league. I have managed in Turkey and Croatia but here, such intensity. Loads of the games. Unbelievable.
I’m very happy [with the way the club is set up with a powerful recruitment department]. I think they already have a player list for the Premier League. They know what I need for our football style. We are on the same page.
Tonight we will burn out the hotel, go home tomorrow then Monday open bus!
I cannot control this [the players going wild tonight]. I am not the police! If there is a problem on the pitch then it’s a problem, I don’t care about private life at all.
Hull City are promoted to the Premier League
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Hull become the first sixth-place finishers for 16 years to win the play-off final, emulating Blackpool in 2010.
From despair to where
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It is remarkable how quickly a stadium can empty. Or at least one end of a stadium. A few Middlesbrough fans have stayed around as the Hull players bask in their glory and five Boro players, including Luke Ayling and Riley McGree (who is on crutches), are on the touchline, graciously to watch the trophy lift. To the vanquished on play-off final day, there is only despair and another 46-game league season – at least – before the hurt can be wiped away.
Lewie Coyle speaks to Sky Sports
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It’s tough. There’s just one man I want to celebrate with. He’s not with us. I look up to the sky in every game and I had a little look up there today. He’s with me.
I don’t think there’s many people who thought I could captain a side to the Premier League. Just saying it out loud seems a little bit wild but there’s certainly one man who would have believed in me and that’s my old man.He would have been saying ‘You can do it son, f--- ’em!’ and I know I swore and I shouldn’t and I apologise but I had to get it in there because that was the way my old man spoke. He got us over the line today.
Hull are going up for their medals
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Captain Lewie Coyle is leading them up. He just gave a very emotional interview to Sky in praise of his late father, Chris, which I’ll transcribe in a moment.
Oli McBurnie speaks to Sky Sports
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I’m speechless. It was tough out there with the heat. We knew we were right up against it.
We knew we weren’t going to have all of the ball. We’ve not won a game this season when we’ve had more of the ball than the opposition so it was tough out there with the heat. Middlesbrough are a top, top team.
We knew we would get one chance. I’m knackered so I just tried to get a good contact on it. Feels like it was written for me.
I was looking forward to it so much I couldn’t sleep last night. The gaffer’s brilliant, such a good character. So many tough times and he’s dragged us through it. The lads, it’s such a good dressing room it’s a pleasure to go into work every day.
Full time: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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For the third time in 18 years Hull are promoted via a 1-0 play-off final victory at Wembley. Dean Windass, Mo Diamé and now Oli McBurnie are the Tiger kings.
90+14 min: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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Hull on the attack after Brynn’s poor clearance and Hirakawa pulls it back to Crooks who shoots into Ayling.
That’s that.
As the final Boro free-kick floated long beyond the Hull by-line, who was leading the Hull cheers but McBurnie, whipping up the fervour of the Tigers fans, as if they had levels of fervour still to ascend before one final bellow of triumph as the final whistle sounded.
Hull are promoted back to the Premier League. The lawyers miss out on a payday.
90+13 min: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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On we go and Boro have a throw-in on halfway. Ayling belts a long ball into the box but it’s a Hull head that is first to it.
90+12 min: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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Brynn goes up for a free-kick in Boro’s half. Brittain whacks it long and out for a goal-kick. Bah!
90+10 min: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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Firm defensive headers from Ajayi see off a pair of hopeful Boro crosses.
90+9 min: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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Brynn dribbles the ball out of his area and chips it long. Boro on the brink.
90+7 min: Hull 1 Middlesbrough 0
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A host of changes before the restart. Sarmiento is on for Boro. There must still be four minutes left.
GOAL!
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Hull 1 Boro 0 (McBurnie) In like Flynn to bury Brynn’s parry as the keeper dived to catch but dropped Hirakawa’s left-wing cross. Gelhardt was in an offside position when McBurnie struck the ball but not interfering with play. Talk about Johnny on the Spot.
One mistake and it’s over: Sol Brynn flapped the ball into the path of Oli McBurnie. Hull take the lead five minutes into time added on. More ink on a shirtless McBurnie than the front page of The Telegraph.
90+4 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hughes is OK after treatment and will be coming back on as Hull attack down the left…
90+2 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Mildly promising probing by Hackney and some penalty-box pinball ends when Ajayi pole-axes his team-mate Hughes by thunping a clearance straight into the back of his head. He’ll need a concussion test.
It’s too late for Ollie McBurnie to change the mind of Steve Clarke and make Scotland’s World Cup squad, but if ever you wanted a man to chase lost cause after lost in searing afternoon heat in the hope of making something happen for his side, you could do a lot worse than choose the Hull striker. Indefatigable.
90 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Coyle is now down with cramp, the Hull captain trying to stretch his calf by pinching the toe-end of his boot and pulling it towards him. Moments before Whitaker had sliced a cross from the right nearer the corner flag than goal.
Eight minutes of stoppage time are signalled.
Crowd of 84,506. Remarkable how packed the Boro end is despite the late notice. Surely the biggest ticket sales of any game in Europe this season – when you include those sold to Southampton fans too.
88 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Morris tries to force a 25-yard shot through a crowded Hull defence and the ball rebounds back upfield.
86 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Coyle sends Hirakawa off down the left wing and he stands up a deep cross that bypasses all three amber-shirted runners.
84 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hirakawa should be clear through the middle after decent work again from Gelhardt but he lacks the pace to drive down the centre and into the area, allowing himself to be tagged by Morris’s excellent recovery tackle.
82 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Gelhardt diddles Targett to get away from him at the back post and chase a seemingly lost cause from a left-wing cross. He improvises a quick spin to shoot, hooking it wide of the right post. Almost something from nothing and only fine margins made it nothing from nothing.
80 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hansen, the winger who has just come on, makes a run around Ajayi on the left to latch on to Morris’s pass. He opens his body as he nears the byline and bends a right-foot shot that Pandur saves very sharply low down to is left. And then the flag goes up, making the save redundant.
If this goes to extra-time, we may well be down to walking football. Riley McGree pulled up as he sprinted and won the ball near halfway. It looked more like a muscle pull than cramp, so he is off. There may be more of this with a possible 45 minutes still to play. The play-offs themselves are about the last team standing. That may be echoed in the final itself.
78 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hackney peels off down the right to receive Brittain’s pass and crosses deep, pulling it back to the 18-yard line. Ayling, surprised, still gets on the end of it but can only send it upwards with a loopy header that Pandur easily pouches.
76 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Double change for Hull:
Hirakawa → Belloumi
Drameh → Giles
75 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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McGree is down and needs treatment. Seems to have tweaked his right hamstring. He’ll be hoping it’s merely a tweak with the World Cup imminent.
Nope, he has to go off.
Hansen → McGree.
72 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hackney’s first touch is cheered as he taps the ball on to McGree. Hull are happy to defend at the moment and are careless with the outball once they have won it back.
The second half drink breaks and very few fans are nipping out this time. Cacophonous cheers from the Boro end as their local lad ‘he’s one of our own’ Hayden Hackney enters the pitch.
68 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Giles is down with cramp. Bring on the pickle juice. Giles’ distress gives the ref the opportunity to halt the game for a water break.
A Boro fans’ roar for Hayden Hackney as he removes the bib and prepares to come on.
66 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hayden Hackney is bouncing up and down on the spot, ready to come on at the next break in play. Boro fans are on their feet, serenading him as one of their own.
64 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Spell of probing by Hull with Gelhardt and Giles on the left before they switch it to Ajayi bounding down the right. The centre-half bends over a dipping cross but Fry is first to it, beating McBurnie, and bludgeons it away.
Much better game after the break. Hull have got some of the ball at last and the game is being played in Middlesbrough’s half of the pitch for the first time. It was a pretty unremarkable first half but some good performances.
62 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Belloumi is allowed to take the ball on the right as the referee plays advantage. He cuts infield, tacks across the 18-yard line, looking for a gap to bend a shot through and into the top left corner but can’t find one, hits it anyway and it balloons off Malanda and safely into Brynn’s hands.
Gelhardt → Millar.
59 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Ayling shows his class by pickpocketing Millar in full flight and galloping away with the ball. His former Leeds team-mate Joe Gelhardt has been told to get ready to come on for Hull.
57 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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This is considerably better than the first half and a cute pass from Whitaker sends Sterelec through the right of the penalty area, bearing down on goal. If only he could accelerate a bit more quickly. His lack of explosive pace allows Egan to duck round on the cover and knock it away before he could pull the trigger on his shot.
How long will Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg wait before he introduces Hayden Hackney into the game? The Championship Player of the Season last played 10 weeks ago today and has been out with a groin injury. Boro have won just two games in his absence. Hackney is fit again, but not match fit and with the possibility of extra-time, how long dare Hellberg risk him playing?
55 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Luke Ayling does Luke Ayling and earns a free-kick when shielding the ball with his back to Belloumi and executes his pratfall when brushed.
53 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hull again make hay down the left and send over a cross for Crooks who tries to control a header past Brynn but nods it wide instead. Had he gone for power, he may have had a better outcome.
50 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Giles, on the run down the left, goes for a deep cross, mis-hits it which sends it too close to goal but because it is high and dipping it menaces Brynn who backpedals quickly but turns and watches it sail wide at the last.
The half-time interval has seen the shadow move across the halfway line so that over half of the pitch is now in the shade. It is the half which Middlesbrough are defending, so naturally the opening three minutes of the second period have taken place in the sunshine at the other end.
48 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Brynn goes long down the inside-left channel, McGree heads it on to Whitaker who crashes a left-foot volley from 18 yards on target. Egan’s terrific defensive block sends it wide for a corner.
Targett whips a corner to the near post that is flicked on to Fry at the back post. He sends a form header back across the six-yard box and McBurnie heads it behind. Targett has another go, whipping it deep to Fry who climbs above Slater, extends his swan-neck and steers it over. Should have scored.
46 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hull knock the ball all the way back to Pandur from the kick-off. Ajayi goes to sleep and lets Strelec run past him to close the keeper down and he blocks the clearance with his head. Could have gone anywhere but it sails wide.
Half-time: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Life in the old dog yet? The last five minutes have been the best with chances for McBurnie and one made for himself by Strelec. If McBurnie was playing up front for Boro, I would hazard that they would win this easily. Hull will be happier at 0-0 and will be content to keep it that way for 25 minutes and then unleash Joffy Gelhardt. Boro may have to bring Hackney on sooner than they had planned to play some passes for Whitaker and McGree to get behind the back three.
45+3 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Strelec shows what he can do in deeper positions. Brynn knocks a long ball down the inside-left channel, Whitaker flicks it inside to Strelec who shifts it to his left, sending Hughes off to buy an Evening Standard and a pint of milk, opening the space to shoot from 20 yards but rakes his left-foot daisycutter through Egan’s legs… and about 2ft wide of the right post.
45+2 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Excellent defending from Malanda thwarts McBurnie at the back post when he climbed to meet a deep cross after good work down the left from a combination of Millar and Giles. The Boro defender stuck to McBurnie and managed to deflect his goalbound header over the bar.
44 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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McGree stands up a cross to the back post with his left foot and Pndur stretches himself after backpedalling to claw it away from Strelec.
In dire games like these when sides cancel each other out, it is often said that they know each other too well. All I can say is that it’s a good job they only found out they were playing each other on Wednesday…
42 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Strelec’s dodgy first touch wrecks another promising Boro attack and Hull counter by virtue to McGree giving the ball away cheaply to Belloumi who wafts a 25-yard effort over the bar.
Boro are dominating possession, as expected given the way they play. Hull sitting back but having no luck on the counter-attack. Lots of room for Boro’s US-born playmaker Aidan Morris - a cultured footballer who uses the ball shrewdly. He grew up in Florida, so he will be well-accustomed to these conditions. Has an outside chance of making the US World Cup squad.
40 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Ayling makes ground, dribbling to halfway, passes to Morris who finds McGree. The Australia international opens his body to pick out Whitaker whose shot lacks either punch or precision.
37 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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McBurnie, as raw-boned as ever, wins a header from Pandur’s goal-kick, heads it on to Millar who miscontrols and McBurnie puts a flea in his ear. Hull win it back in midfield and Slater makes a cute angled pass from in to out for Miller to run on to and gather in his stride down the inside-left. Once again it promises more than it delivers as Brynn is alert, flies off his line and boots it away.
34 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Fry chips a long ball down the middle for Strelec again to chase. Out comes Pandur, he crosses the 18-yard line and fly-kicks it away but only as far as Whitaker who took the ball forward then fell over, claiming he was fouled. The referee waved play on and eventually Middlesbrough carelessly put the ball out for a goal-kick.
Sad to report this is an absolute dog of a game. Dreadful fare.
The early impetus, fervour, possession and half-chances have largely belonged to Middlesbrough, but none of that will perturb Hull in the slightest. All season, they have played the underdog card in matches only to find a way as the games progressed to parlay it in a play-off campaign. They possess a collective iron will that allows them to withstand periods of pressure like this and somehow emerge victorious in the end. The best part of it all is that their opponents know it, too, so Boro anxiety is going to rise the longer it stays 0-0.
32 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Now Strelec is given a chance to stretch his legs when Morris arrows a 25-yard pass down the inside-right channel. Strelec is favourite and had he got there first and cushioned it he would have been through one-on-one but his first touch is clumsy and gives Ajayi the time to run round, tap it away and buy a free-kick.
30 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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The heat is keeping the tempo down but so, also, is Strelec’s lack of mobility. He is well-marked but easily marked and Boro have no target for their passes.
28 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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My collegaue said five minutes ago that ‘this game has 1-0 written all over it’. Not sure. Pens looking more likely at this point.
26 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Boro’s dominance of possession is 77 per cent to 23. Sky tells us that in the past 26 Championship play-off finals, teams who had overall possession stats of 54 per cent or more had won only twice.
Drinks break. And it isn’t just the players who are dashing off for refreshment. Those in the Hull end are off to seek a few seconds of respite from the sun.
24 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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First coherent Hull attack when Millar hares down the left beyond Brittain and floats over a deep cross that Coyle, the right wing-back, meets with a header that was arrowing towards the cross-bar. Brynn decides to minimise the risk and tips it over. From the corner Giles blazes over.
Time for a water break.
22 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Malanda sweeps a pass over to the right and Brittain, from halfway, goes for a big up and under over the inside-right channel. Strelec bounds after it, lets it bounce but his control isn’t perfect and Hull manage to crowd him out.
19 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Crooks gets up first to head the corner away from the near post to the back. Ayling gathers, sends Browne down the line and the Ireland midfielder stands up a cross with a left-foot dink that Strelec reaches at the apex of his leap and heads over the bar.
17 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Boro push high down the left and Targett keeps Hull under the cosh with a whipped cross that Strelec tries to reach with a near-post run across Egan. But Hull defend it well.
Back Boro come down the right after a Hull counter peters out and earn themselves a corner after Brittain’s direct run.
16 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Aidan Morris, the USA midfielder, drags a right-foot shot miles wide from 22 yards after winning the ball off Hull’s Slater.
14 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Browne is OK after lengthy treatment and the game can restart with him on the touchline for 30 seconds. The match is as tense and bitty as these finals tend to be. It’s a long time since Charlton v Sunderland.
The Boro substitutes have just been sent out from the dugout for the first time to warm up. I wouldn’t have thought that was necessary today …
11 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Browne is hurt when Crooks goes in hard to tackle him, gets the ball and then brings his studs down on to his toes. The referee waves play on but then stops the game when it becomes clear he is genuinely injured.
9 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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McBurnie flicks a clipped chip off to Miller down the left but the Canada winger does not trust his left foot and tries an outrageous piece of skill, bending an outswinging cross on the run with his right from the left. It doesn’t come off and Malanda intercepts. I have seen Paul Merson pull that off but it’s very difficult.
7 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Hull are well organised in defence but have doen nothing on the few occasions they have had the ball so far.
Wembley is full save for three empty blocks of seats in the upper deck opposite the Royal Box in the Hull City end. By a couple of thousand supporters it means that Middlesbrough have the edge in attendance. But they don’t have the sunshine. That is almost exclusively the preserve of the Hull fans as their team attacks their end in the first half.
5 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Jakirovic said that he thought Whitaker would operate as one of twin No 10s but he has been hugging the right touchline so far to take the ball. Ayling chips a long crossfield pass to Brittain who turns it backwards and they try again, this time up the left but get nowhere.
3 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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Boro very much on the front foot in terms of possession and territory. Ayling drives through the heart of midfield then goes sprawling about 25 yards from goal but the referee has seen his trick before and tells him to get up.
Moments before McGree whipped over a cross that Pandur flopped down to smother.
A riot of noise and colour. The senses were certainly being sent into over-drive in the moments before kick-off. Can the atmosphere possibly be maintained once the stomach-churning anxiety takes over?
1 min: Hull 0 Middlesbrough 0
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After tossing up, Hull switch Boro around so they have the advantage of the half of the field that has more shade (not much, up to about 25 yards from the goal). Middlesbrough kick off after both teams break their huddles and McBurnie runs straight into Morris and barges him over. The referee waves play on and Boro attack down the right with Whitaker cutting in off the wing and trying to pick out Strelec. Ajayi cuts out the cross and Boro will have a throw-in.
Just before we start, more on Hull’s plans to sue the EFL
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Acun Ilicali, the Hull owner, has given an interview to the BBC confirming that he will take legal action if Hull lose the match.
Our legal team says that we have to go for action, that’s for sure. We have no doubt about it. All we want is justice. If justice is broken, nobody will enjoy football.
If this action was so big that a team is out of the play-offs, why didn’t they let them not play the semi-final, investigate and take Southampton out and put Wrexham in?
Why is Wrexham out now? Put Wrexham in and continue the competition. For me, an eliminated team put back – also our lawyers say this and that’s their opinion too – is an incredibly wrong decision.
Now I can talk a little more because now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me. I didn’t want to make their focus disturbed.
Decisions are discussable from what I understand from our lawyers, very discussable.
For now we have to focus on the game and the boys are tough enough to overcome these difficulties.
The players are coming out of the tunnel
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Both sides in their home kits, Boro in red with white trim, Hull in amber and black.
Following in Luton’s footsteps?
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There has already been a precedent at Wembley this season for a side that has lost a knockout tie making it to the final and winning. Luton Town did so in the Vertu Trophy, benefiting from a Swindon Town error in fielding a player not named on the team sheet for their 2-1 victory over Luton at Kenilworth Road. Swindon were subsequently thrown out, Luton were reinstated and Jack Wilshere’s side went on to lift the trophy, beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley in April.
Could recent history repeat itself today?
Are you watching Harwood-Bellis?
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Kim Hellberg speaks to Sky Sports
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It’s been crazy but for the moment I feel proud and ready. It’s been back and forth but I’m really looking forward to getting out there and playing.
Hayden [Hackney] trained but not enough for him to start. In using him a bit later in the game, we can even out the physical attributes [he lacks] because he’s the best player in the league. We are going to use him [appropriately].
We have had two very, very good days. We had a lot of emotion to handle, a weird time but we have had two good training session, two good days of preparation and are ready to go.
It’s the first hot day since I arrived in England. It will be a different game [compared with the weather on the day they won 4-1 in December]. It’s a final and everything that comes with it.
Football in sun and shadow
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Why are the Hull players warming up in the searing sunshine on the near side of the Wembley pitch when there is shade on the far side? The Boro coaches and players seem to have twigged that it’s cooler in the shade.
Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic speaks to Sky Sports
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On Tuesday we had tactical training for Southampton and in the evening we changed everything. We have played them twice already so it’s a 50-50 game.
Spygate opened Pandora’s Box. [Legal action if they lose] is for my chairman. My job is to prepare my team and win the game.
They are so good in possession. We have to have good balance between the lines, very compact and very narrow because of Whitaker and McGree in the pockets. We have to be very vertical and fast because we are the best in transition in the league.
They have very good structure but we have clear triggers to press the players and the ball and cut supply to the players in the pockets. But it’s very hot so we will need possession, too.
Oli [McBurnie] likes this type of game. We have six internationals and they know how to handle the pressure of this game.
No pyro no party
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Incidentally a couple of Middlesbrough fans vox-popped by Sky say “we shouldn’t be here”. Kind of them to say so, but they are there legitimately. One Hull fan points out that they are still the underdogs even though they beat Millwall away and have had 12 days to focus on the final if not their opponents.
A clash of styles
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One team thrives with the ball, the other without the ball. Expect Hull to try their usual rope-a-dope tactics.
Guess what today’s must-have accessory is…
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Your teams in black and white
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Hull City Pandur; Ajayi, Egan, Hughes; Coyle, Slater, Crooks, Giles; Belloumi, Millar; McBurnie.
Substitutes Phillips, Lundstram, Hirakawa, Drameh, Hadziahmetovic, Gelhardt, Dowell, Koumas, McNair.
Middlesbrough Brynn; Ayling, Fry, Malanda; Brittain, Morris, Browne, Targett; Whittaker, McGree; Strelec.
Substitutes Wildsmith, Hackney, Gilbert, Silvera, Castledine, Edmundson, Hansen, Ibeh, Sarmiento.
Referee Jarred Gillett (Australia)
The extraordinary messages and pictures that damned Southampton in ‘spygate’ scandal
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As Middlesbrough’s players were put through a series of tactical drills in their final in-depth training session before their Championship play-off semi final first leg against Southampton, spirits were high and the work intense.
Kim Hellberg, the Middlesbrough head coach, had stressed the importance of the session in his daily meeting with the players and led the drills.
As members of Middlesbrough’s in-house media team stood on the sidelines chatting, a photographer taking pictures spotted something suspicious in the background. As he zoomed in he could clearly see a man recording the session, partially hidden by a tree, standing by some bushes. The individual did not move. The photographer urged others to look through his camera lens and the alarm was raised.
Middlesbrough team news
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One change for Boro, too. Hayden Hackney returns but is on the bench and Alan Browne, the Ireland midfielder, replaces Tommy Conway, the Scotland striker.
Hull team news
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Sergej Jakirovic makes one change, Mohamed Belloumi replaces the injured Kyle Joseph:
United by disdain
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On the trains, the Tube and even Wembley Way, this has the feel of a friendly play-off final. Two northern clubs from the east coast divided by 67 miles as the crow flies, yet united by a disdain for Southampton FC, who have disrupted the preparations for both teams. For now, as they mingle outside Wembley before separating to find their respective entrances, all of the legal shenanigans have been temporarily forgotten, it seems.
Too hot for suits
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According to the Let Office it’s 29C outside our office in central London right now. Might be an ideal time to trial water breaks this afternoon.
Scenes from Wembley Way
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Injury news
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Hayden Hackney, Boro’s brightest star and the player whose fitness was the reason Southampton sent their Desmond Simpkins up north, has been back in training this week and should make his first appearance since March 14, possibly even starting. But the No 9 Tommy Conway injured his ankle at St Mary’s and needs surgery while Alex Bangura was rated a major doubt.
Hull’s Kyle Joseph also suffered an ankle injury in the second leg of their play-off semi-final and joins Eliot Matazo and Toby Collyer on the sidelines. But Cody Drammeh and Amir Hadziahmetovic resumed training this week and are in the squad.
Hull City’s bus damaged before final
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Objects were thrown at the Hull City bus, smashing a window as it was moved to the hotel to pick up the players to set off to Wembley.
BREAKING: Hull City's team bus has had a window smashed this afternoon ahead of their Championship play-off final clash against Middlesbrough 🚨 pic.twitter.com/lWfoa03s7j
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 23, 2026
Preview: Fuelled by a sense of injustice
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Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the Championship play-off final between Hull City and Middlesbrough to determine which club will try to emulate Sunderland, spend £200m and challenge for a top 10 place. It’s the 40th final of its kind and regrettably this correspondent is old enough to have been at both legs of the very first iteration which then went to a replay and extra-time and it set the tone for three more defeats over the next 38 years at this stage.
A year after that personal trauma, Boro from the Second Division beat Chelsea who had finished 18th in Division One to go up which remains their only success even if they were denied a trip to Wembley under the old format. In 2015 they lost to Norwich in front of a crowd of 86,000.
In 2016, eight years after winning the final against Bristol City, Hull City were once again victorious by beating Sheffield Wednesday by virtue of Mohamed Diamé’s 72nd-minute gem. Hull may have the greater pedigree but Boro finished seven points in front of them and hammered them 4-1 at the MKM Stadium in December before Hull went to the Riverside three weeks later and earned their revenge with a 1-0 win.
Given that Southampton were not thrown out of the play-offs for cheating until four days ago and their 2-1 aggregate victory in the semi-final rendered void, my part of north-west London was surprisingly festooned with scores of red-and-white shirts this morning and there were more than 300 coaches en route from the old East and North Ridings that set off just after dawn. I could hand-wring about the cruel and unusual punishment served upon Southampton’s fans and while they did not deserve to be victims of their club’s transgressions, I’m in the camp that believes justice prevailed in this case and Boro deserve their day out.
Both sides trailed off alarmingly towards the end of the Championship campaign, Hull gleaning only 10 points from their last nine games and Middlesbrough only one more as they slid from second to fifth. Hull’s ability to pull the irons out of the fire in their 46th match and defeat Norwich and then go on to beat Millwall at the New Den 2-0 to seal their place here makes them favourites.
They also have the advantage of knowing their fate if not their opponent for 12 days but both have been preparing in the dark essentially. Boro’s lack of certainty may be mitigated by the sense of injustice that has sustained them but it may come down to more prosaic elements today, whether Boro can keep out Oli McBurnie and, at the other end, Morgan Whitaker can start hitting the target again.