Middlesbrough fans are completely defiant despite being handed major promotion boost – it’s sad

Add as preferred source on Google

Middlesbrough fans are seemingly resigned to spending yet another season stuck in the Championship.

Boro are next in action on Friday afternoon, facing off with Plymouth Argyle in a 3pm kick-off.

Plymouth are fighting relegation right now, and on paper, it’s a game Middlesbrough should be winning.

If they do so, there is a good chance the Teessiders will be back inside the top six or at least just outside of it.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
5	Bristol CityBristol City	42	16	16	10	54	45	9	64
6	CoventryCoventry	42	18	9	15	59	54	5	63
7	West BromWest Brom	42	14	18	10	51	39	12	60
8	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	42	17	9	16	61	51	10	60
9	MillwallMillwall	42	16	12	14	41	41	0	60
10	BlackburnBlackburn	42	16	8	18	45	45	0	56

The battle to secure those final two promotion places is very tight, and it’s likely to come down to the final day of the season.

Middlesbrough were handed a boost this week when Coventry City dropped points against Hull City on Monday evening.

• READ MORE: Middlesbrough can’t stop ‘special’ duo Chelsea ‘like’ from leaving, they have ‘made rapid strides’

Middlesbrough fans have given up on promotion

It means Frank Lampard’s men are very catchable, especially as the Reds have a much better goal difference going into the latest round of games.

This should have created a positive atmosphere on Teeside with a shot at the play-offs still firmly up for grabs.

However, after Coventry dropped two big points on April 14, Middlesbrough fans believe it doesn’t matter and that their chances of going up are over anyway.

One fan wrote: “May as well be 3 million points – we aren’t reaching the playoffs either way.”

A second added: “Kind of irrelevant even if we do get in as we’re not getting past Sheffield or Sunderland.”

“Need to stop kidding ourselves,” a third Middlesbrouhg supporter wrote.

A fourth claimed: “Just prolonging the inevitable,” in reference to Boro investibally still failing to win promotion.

A fifth added: “It doesn’t matter. It was over long ago!” While a sixth echoed: “Who cares it’s over.”

• READ MORE: Middlesbrough player is beating Pedri and every other U23 player in Europe with extraordinary Carrick-esque statistic

What will happen if Middlesbrough don’t win promotion

It’s a sad situation for fans to be in, but their views are, in reality, justified.

Middlesbrough have underperformed this season even when factoring in the constant injury problems and losing Emmanuel Latte Lath.

And if they do fail to go up, it’s expected that some big names will be departing the Riverside Stadium.

Hayden Hackney will leave Middlebrough if they don’t book a place in the Premier League, while Rav van den Berg could move to the Bundesliga in the summer without promotion.

The future of Michael Carrick remains up in the air as well, with his third season at the helm set to close out with Boro in a worse position than they were at the end of his first (fourth place).