Middlesbrough: Championship club’s ‘messy’ build-up to Wembley play-off final

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.

“And there is no doubt that Southampton’s management in this case have taken completely the wrong way of doing it.

“The fact they’ve admitted to three breaches – two in recent weeks but one not so very recent – does rather suggest this has been a pattern of behaviour.

“So he will feel absolutely vindicated and I hope he’s feeling energised now [and] I hope the players are as a result of this.”

As for a short turnaround between the decision, Southampton’s subsequent appeal and Saturday’s final, the rigours of the Championship schedule might mean Middlesbrough are more prepared than some may have given them credit for.

“In the Championship, it’s a quick turnaround a lot of the time anyway so while the circumstances that got us to this point are out of the ordinary, the actual turnaround isn’t, and that is some variation on the message Kim Hellberg will be telling his players,” Drury added.