What Kim Hellberg actually said to Sergej Jakirovic before Spygate scandal kicked off | OneFootball

Kim Hellberg told the Hull City boss back in April that he'll see him at the play-offs. It may have been unconventional, but it's come true

Middlesbrough and Hull City bosses Kim Hellberg and Sergej Jakirovic will square off once more this season with Premier League football on the line in the Championship play-off final on Saturday.

It hasn't been the smoothest path towards Wembley, though. Boro were beaten over two legs in the play-off semi-finals against Southampton. Until Tuesday evening, the Tigers were preparing for a meeting against a side they had beaten twice during the regular season.

But the EFL expelled Tonda Eckert's side from the play-offs after finding them guilty of multiple breaches of the rulings relating to spying, including ahead of the semi-final first leg against Middlesbrough, which ultimately brought those breaches to light.

The Saints would lose their appeal on Wednesday night, and it was finally confirmed that Hull vs Middlesbrough will be in the play-off final on Saturday, with a revised kick-off time of 3:30pm.

It's an unprecedented, unconventional way for Kim Hellberg's side to get into the play-off final, but, ultimately, the Swedish boss will feel like justice has been served, and a prophecy he lightly joked about a month ago at the EFL awards has come true.

Kim Hellberg told Sergej Jakirovic that he'd see him at the play-off final in April

The EFL Awards took place last month in the evening of Middlesbrough's 2-2 draw with Ipswich Town on April 19. A late Jack Clarke penalty stopped Boro from ending what was at the time a six-game winless run, and it effectively ended their automatic promotion hopes.

Indeed, Kim Hellberg's side managed seven points from their final three games, but still fell short of second place and had to settle for the play-offs, something which the Swedish boss had seemingly accepted later on in the awards.

Hellberg and Jakrovic were both up for the Championship Manager of the Season award that day, so both attended. While neither won, the two had a conversation that has resurfaced ahead of the play-off final on Saturday.

"I spoke with Kim Hellberg on awards night," Jakirovic said ahead of Hull's next game. "He said, 'See you in the play-offs.'

"He's a very nice lad. I like him. I like his style of football. Maybe his wish is to play us. That would be nice."

While the route to the two sides meeting on Saturday has been far from conventional, their play-off meeting that Hellberg called over a month ago will happen at Wembley with Premier League promotion on the line.

Kim Hellberg will want a repeat of the Hull trip, rather than the home game against the Tigers

Interestingly, the two sides played each other twice in the space of four weeks during the regular season in the early December/late December loop fixture in the EFL.

Middlesbrough destroyed Hull at the MKM Stadium on December 5 in a perfect first-half display, in which they went into the break 4-0 up. A Joe Gelhardt penalty in the second half proved a mere consolation, and Kim Hellberg's side won 4-1.

However, in the reverse meeting at the Riverside, Hull took a lead inside 12 minutes through Darko Gyabi and held out for the rest of the game. Boro took 19 more shots than the Tigers and had 71% possession in defeat.

In a way, that performance provided somewhat of a blueprint on how to beat this Middlesbrough side, and a lot of the losses towards the end of the season for Kim Hellberg's side followed a similar 'smash-and-grab' storyline.

Perhaps the Boro head coach is eager to right the wrongs of that 1-0 defeat in late December, hence telling Jakirovic that he wanted to see him in the play-offs, or perhaps he is just looking forward to locking horns with the Bosnian once more.

Either way, it's rather funny how what was simply an off-the-cuff joke a month ago has turned into reality in the most unforeseen of circumstances.