'It's been messy' & 'no winners among fans' - play-off final chaos

Middlesbrough were beaten by Southampton over two legs of their Championship play-off semi-final

Usually, the preparations for the Championship play-off final are set in stone.

A four-side, end-of-season mini tournament ends at Wembley with two teams vying for a spot in the Premier League.

But this is no normal play-off campaign.

Southampton's expulsion for spying on Middlesbrough in the build-up to their semi-final earlier this month - in addition to games against Oxford and Ipswich earlier this season - has created chaos.

As things stand, the final is set to take place as planned - albeit with amended kick-off times based on who will actually contest the fixture.

Hull are already through, having beaten Millwall over two legs, yet Southampton's appeal on Wednesday means it is not yet settled who will face who at Wembley.

And that fixture - potentially worth hundreds of millions pounds to the victor - is set to take place in just three days' time.

BBC Radio Tees' Middlesbrough commentator Mark Drury summed it up succinctly: "It's not the build-up anybody would want for a game of this magnitude.

"Obviously, it's been messy. Well, messy doesn't even cut it, does it really?"

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Southampton expelled from play-offs for spying

Middlesbrough's, perhaps unexpected, appearance at Wembley provides a headache for both the club and their fans.

The club began the process, external of selling their allocation of 35,984 tickets on Wednesday but "in recognition of the short timescales involved", they will only be sold on their website.

However, some fans have had issues with disabled and carer tickets and have queued outside the ticket office at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

There is also the issue of fans being able to get to Wembley in time. As it stands, the fixture will remain on Saturday, with a flexible kick-off time depending on the result of Southampton's appeal.

Should Middlesbrough contest the final, it will take place at 15:30 BST whereas if Southampton are reinstated, the kick-off time will remain in its current 16:30 BST timeslot.

Planned railway engineering works mean fans travelling from the north east could face disruption, with a replacement bus service planned between Darlington and York.

Train company LNER said it had been "actively working with Network Rail since the news last night to look at what additional options may be available to us to support Middlesbrough fans travelling to Wembley".

Meanwhile, the club is putting on coach transport from the Riverside Stadium and asked people to only purchase a coach ticket after they had secured a match ticket.

In the aftermath of Middlesbrough's play-off semi-final second-leg defeat by Southampton last week, head coach Kim Hellberg described it as "one of the toughest days" in his coaching career.

Having been granted passage to a game which puts Boro on the cusp of returning to the Premier League for the first time in a decade, Drury believes the decision to expel Southampton will give Hellberg a sense justice has been done.

"He will feel absolutely vindicated because everybody could see and hear and feel just how much that had hurt him," Drury said.

"He believes there is a right and a wrong way to do this.