Hull City and Middlesbrough reach Wembley final at Trafalgar Square
Hull City and Middlesbrough will meet in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Saturday at 15:30 BST, with trafalgar square serving as the backdrop to a final shaped by a disciplinary ruling rather than just results on the pitch. Southampton were expelled from the play-offs for spying on opponents, then lost an appeal against that decision.
Wembley on Saturday
The final now pairs Hull, who beat Millwall 2-0 in the semi-final, with Middlesbrough, who had already beaten Southampton before Southampton were removed. The winner will go into the Premier League, and the match comes after a run of events that changed the shape of the contest only after the semi-finals were complete.
Sergej Jakirovic, the Hull boss, said his side were “collateral damage” while waiting on an opponent and said the situation was unfair. In a Radio Humberside interview, he added: “We can say everything is unfair in this last two weeks. You don't know what's going on,” and “We are collateral damage because we are waiting on [an] opponent and you don't know what's going on, what's happening.”
Southampton and the ruling
An independent commission ruled that Southampton boss Tonda Eckert had “specifically authorised the observations.” Southampton then lost an appeal against their expulsion, leaving the final to go ahead without the club that Middlesbrough had beaten in the semi-finals.
The result creates an unusual end to a 40-year history of play-offs. In that span, pre-match talk before a final has not been so overshadowed by a team not involved in the match, and the winner will still be decided in one game at Wembley.
Hull City’s route to Wembley
Hull finished seventh going into the final day of the Championship season, then beat Norwich City at home while Middlesbrough drew at Wrexham. That left Hull in the frame for promotion after a season that had already included survival on goal difference last May and a three-window transfer embargo later reduced to two after a successful appeal.
Jakirovic’s team will also be without forward Kyle Joseph after the injury he picked up in the win at Millwall. Hull are chasing a third win in their third Championship play-off final, and Saturday’s game will decide whether that run ends with promotion.
