Steve Gibson had very different Middlesbrough dream before becoming club owner | OneFootball

Steve Gibson is, to many, one of the greatest football club owners in England, but his relationship with Boro may have been much different

Steve Gibson is Mr Middlesbrough. It's not often owners hang around at one football club for more than a decade, but the current Boro owner has been chairman since 1994.

Numerous Middlesbrough fans who are growing up, who are in their late twenties and even early thirties, don't know a football club without Gibson as chairman. And those in their forties will have lived through the football club with the 68-year-old being involved, too.

Indeed, the current Boro owner joined the board aged 26 and helped form a consortium to take them out of administration back in 1986. Since then, he's taken the club to the dizzying heights of the Premier League, won trophies and made deep runs in Europe while signing some of the best players in a generation.

Some say he's living a dream, but he could have been living a completely different one if his playing career had taken off.

Steve Gibson initially wanted to play football, rather than be involved at board level

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Steve Gibson's relationship with Middlesbrough is so special, as he's been a fan of the club all his life. He grew up in the town alongside former Boro, Leeds United and Brentford midfielder Chris Kamara, who he watched games with.

Both he and Kamara enjoyed playing alongside watching, too, and in an interview back in 2003 with 'When Saturday Comes' magazine, nine years on from becoming Middlesbrough chairman, he opened up about his time on the pitch.

"I used to play for the school team on a Saturday and a local team on Sunday, like most people I suppose," he said.

"I’ve only packed in playing competitively in the last couple of years, and I still play testimonial and charity games when I can.

"I thought I was a fantastic player, but unfortunately other people didn’t share that view."

In a different profile piece, Gibson admitted Middlesbrough were, understandably, the team he was to play for. Unfortunately, out of the duo, it was Kamara who'd make it pro, while the Middlesbrough chairman went into business and ownership.

Steve Gibson went on to do more for Middlesbrough as a chairman than any player has

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Less than a year after that interview, Gibson would be watching from the stands at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Middlesbrough won their first League Cup — their first piece of major silverware.

It was their third League Cup final in eight years, and alongside that, Boro had become a regular fixture in top-flight football for the first time since the 1970s and had reached an FA Cup final, too.

A couple of years later, Middlesbrough would make the UEFA Cup (more commonly known as the Europa League) final, too, losing out to Sevilla.

That squad had the likes of Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Mark Viduka and Ray Parlour in it, alongside the likes of Yakubu and James Morrison at the start of their careers, and are just examples of the quality of player Steve Gibson was employing at his club.

Unfortunately, since their 11-year stay in the top flight came to an end in 2009, Boro have only spent one other season in the Premier League, but throughout the last 17 years, Steve Gibson has continued to support the club, and the fanbase has continued to respect him.

Steve Gibson will be looking for another feather in his cap this season

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This season is arguably the campaign with the most expectation surrounding Middlesbrough in the Championship since they were last promoted in 2016, and part of that's down to the moves Steve Gibson has made in the past few years.

Initially, selling Morgan Rogers and inserting a 20% sell-on clause for any future profits when they did back in February 2024 has turned out to be one of the best decisions a Championship club has made in a long while, as it banked them a record-breaking sell-on windfall this summer when he moved to Chelsea for £117 million.

Keeping on the sale theme, not backing down to suitors for Hayden Hackney, despite their academy product entering the final year of his contract, saw them bank at least £16 million for his services from Everton.

That money has been invested wisely this summer, with good money being paid for the likes of Will Lankshear, Ash Phillips and Radek Vitek, but all with significant add-ons, which likely won't be satisfied until they're in the Premier League once again.

Above all, though, the decision to hire Kim Hellberg last November after Rob Edwards left for Wolves is proving to be the best one over the past couple of years. The Swedish boss has transformed the way the club plays, and the promotion talk is mainly down to him.