What Acun Ilicali told Steve Gibson after Middlesbrough play-off final heartbreak | OneFootball

Hull City owner and Steve Gibson spoke after Hull City 1-0 Middlesbrough in the play-off final, with more heartbreak felt by Boro in 2025/26...

Acun Ilicali's Hull City have been promoted to the Premier League, beating Steve Gibson's Middlesbrough in the play-off final at Wembley.

It was one of the most dramatic play-off campaigns in recent memory in the Championship, with Middlesbrough reinstated to the play-off final after losing to Southampton in the semi-finals. The fallout from Spygate gave them another shot at a return to the Premier League.

In fact, Boro essentially had three separate cracks at promotion, having been in the automatic promotion race for months all the way up until the final day. They then had the semi-finals and lost, before losing in the final to Oli McBurnie's last gasp goal.

Hull kept three clean sheets to get to the Premier League, having beaten Millwall 2-0 on aggregate before that late goal at Wembley. It's a fairytale story for the Tigers, given that they started the 2025/26 season with a transfer embargo and, after finishing 21st to survive on the final day of last season.

What Hull City owner Acun Ilicali said to Middlesbrough's Steve Gibson

Kim Hellberg's side will have to go again in 2026/27, knowing that key players like Hayden Hackney are almost certain to leave the club. That said, Steve Gibson is no stranger to a rebuild in the Championship with Middlesbrough.

After defeat to Hull, next season will be their 10th in succession at second tier level, having been relegated from the Premier League in 2016/17. In fact, it will be their 17th year out of the last 18 in the Championship, and they will be desperate to go again.

Speaking via Hull Live, Ilicali revealed what he said to Gibson after the final. He stated: "He's a great guy, a fantastic guy, and he congratulated me. Wishing the best for us, and he really meant it from his heart. I saw it in his eyes. It really affected me, and I hugged him.

"Of course, I felt sorry for him also. There was another, I think, board member of Middlesbrough. He was very emotional in the game, shouting all the time when they were pushing in the game. He was shouting, and I just went near him and wished him all the best for the future.

"Middlesbrough is a good team and a club with which we have good relations. Last summer, we sold Alfie Jones to them, Ryan Giles went on loan to them, and there are some players in our team who have come from the Riverside Stadium, like Matt Crooks and Paddy McNair.

"It's a team that we have good connections with, and I felt sorry for them."

The 2026/27 season is likely to be extremely competitive for Steve Gibson's Middlesbrough

As mentioned, Gibson is no stranger to overseeing major rebuilds at Boro, having repeatedly backed managerial changes and squad overhauls throughout his long tenure at the club. However, arguably, this summer ahead could prove the most important of all.

After building genuine momentum under Kim Hellberg, Boro have a clear direction and identity as a team, but the Swede's possession-based approach requires a very specific profile of player to function effectively. Recruitment will therefore need to be precise when using the Hackney money and reinvesting if promotion is to become a reality at long last.

The challenge is heightened by the strength of the division next year. Relegated sides such as Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United, and Burnley are likely to arrive with sizeable resources and promotion ambitions of their own. Birmingham City and Wrexham will invest heavily again, too.

Derby County came close, with Chris Wilder's Sheffield United also expected to be stronger. Even with Hull, Ipswich Town, and Coventry City out of the way, that's not to mention the other play-off losers. Southampton and Millwall are just two of several other established Championship clubs capable of mounting serious challenges.

Having said that, Middlesbrough have an opportunity to strike while momentum is on their side from a playing style point of view, but mistakes in the transfer market could be costly in an incredibly competitive league.