How Kim Hellberg feels about working with Adi Viveash at Middlesbrough - Boro fans will be delighted | OneFootball

Boro are set to retain the 56-year-old as part of Hellberg's coaching setup

Middlesbrough are set to retain the services of Adi Viveash as part of their coaching setup ahead of Kim Hellberg's pending appointment at the Riverside Stadium.

In what has been a dramatic managerial search on Teesside following Rob Edwards' controversial switch to the Premier League's bottom club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Swede became the latest figure at the front and centre of such developments on Monday.

After previously being a long-term figure admired by the hierarchy of Middlesbrough's divisional rivals, Swansea City, who are also conducting a managerial search of their own following the dismissal of Alan Sheehan last week, Hellberg is set to move on from his current role as manager of Swedish Allsvenskan runners-up, Hammarby IF, and make a move across the North Sea to the Riverside instead.

Much has been made of what the internal setup of the second-tier's currently second-place side after such a well-documented and dramatic two-week period will look like, with Edwards also poaching his previous Boro assistant, Harry Watling, who joined the 42-year-old in a similar role at Molineux.

Viveash, of course, remained at the club following Watling's exit, despite the fact the duo - alongside Craig Liddle - oversaw an emotion-filled victory for the Reds over Birmingham City heading into the final international break of the calendar year.

The 56-year-old is highly respected within the Championship circle, having been integral to Coventry City's rise from League Two to a Championship play-off final and FA Cup semi-final in 2023 and 2024 alongside current Stoke City boss, Mark Robins.

And, he could be set to enjoy a similar feat with Middlesbrough, with a fresh update revealing how Hellberg feels about Viveash's retention.

As previously mentioned, Hellberg is set to move to Middlesbrough unless anything untoward occurs in the meantime, with subsequent reports claiming Steve Gibson will part with a figure between £203,000 and £283,000 to secure his services.

The Northern Echo now report that the 37-year-old sees the promotion-chasing Reds as a better fit than Swansea at this moment in time, and has been viewed as an appointment seen through the lenses of Boro's head of football, Kieran Scott, more than the aforementioned Gibson.

They also state that Hellberg's right-hand man at the 3Arena, David Selini, will also move from Stockholm to the Championship outfit, having overseen matters at Hammarby since the turn of 2024 following the exit of current Leicester City boss, Marti Cifuentes, who initially joined Queens Park Rangers just weeks before.

Most importantly, though, it has been stated that Viveash will remain on Middlesbrough's books amid the mass turnover at the club, with Hellberg seeing the ex-Coventry assistant's wealth of second-tier knowledge as "desirable", rather than being forced into working with the former Chelsea youth boss against his will.

Viveash is also seen as a key and constant link between the short-term Edwards era and Hellberg's looming tenure, having also endeared himself to those on the terraces with a passionate post-match celebration in victory over Birmingham last time out.

As is so often the case, a new manager or head coach will look to immediately lay the law down in terms of their principles, as well as those who will be working alongside them.

This can often lead to the departure of long-serving or knowledgeable coaches, which sometimes has been for the worse rather than the better.

As such, the retention of Viveash could prove to be a masterstroke by Hellberg before he even outlines any other messages to his players or supporters.

Indeed, at the time of Robins' dismissal at the CBS Arena, many Coventry supporters cited Viveash's off-season exit as the start of a chain of events which led to such a predicament taking place, prior to the sudden upsurge the current league leaders have enjoyed under Frank Lampard.