Emotional Hayden Hackney footage emerges post-play off final defeat as Middlesbrough exit looms | OneFootball

Hayden Hackney has almost certainly played his final game for Middlesbrough after their play-off final defeat to Hull City

Middlesbrough's dreams of Premier League football have come to an end, at least for this year, with a 1-0 defeat at Wembley resigning the Teesside outfit to another year in the second tier.

On the whole, it has been a good season for Boro, but you can forgive those at the club for feeling that it has been anything but that at this stage.

Boro were neck-and-neck with Coventry for top spot for a huge portion of the campaign, but having slipped away from the top spot, their slide continued out of the automatic position and into the play-offs.

A 2-1 defeat to Southampton in the semi-finals seemingly put an end to their season, but after the Saints were expelled for spying on Boro and admitting to doing so against other teams, Boro were handed yet another lifeline, and took Southampton's place in the final on Saturday.

Unfortunately for Boro, a late winner from Oli McBurnie sent the Tigers to the top flight instead, which will have huge ramifications for the futures of numerous Middlesbrough stars, including Hayden Hackney, who has almost certainly played his final game for the club.

What Hayden Hackney did after Middlesbrough's defeat to Hull City in the play-off final

Hackney, 23, has progressed through the ranks at Boro all the way to the first team, and over the past few years, his stock has increased exponentially, and he has since become, without a doubt, the club's most valuable asset.

An England youth international, Hackney's performances in the middle of the park for Boro have seen him attract interest from numerous Premier League clubs, including Manchester United, where his links with former boss Michael Carrick could well see him move to Old Trafford this summer.

Ipswich Town saw a £20 million bid accepted last summer, but Hackney turned down a move to Portman Road in favour of staying on Teesside. Now, his time at the club is surely over, and he seems to know it.

Introduced as a late substitute in their 1-0 loss on Saturday, having only recently returned from injury, Hackney was visibly upset following the final whistle and made his way around the Boro fans to applaud their support.

It seems inevitable that Hackney has played his 154th and final game for his boyhood club, as with just 12 months remaining on his current deal, it's unlikely that he will sign fresh terms at the Riverside now.

The Englishman has been a Premier League player in waiting for a while now, and Boro's only chance of keeping him around was to earn promotion. Now, with that no longer a possibility, it looks as though he was saying his goodbyes to the fans who have supported him over the years.

It's not the fairytale ending he or Middlesbrough fans would have hoped for, but he will no doubt leave on good terms, knowing he gave his absolute all every time he pulled on that red shirt.

Kim Hellberg will be gutted to lose Hayden Hackney after Middlesbrough missed out on the Premier League

Since Hellberg replaced Rob Edwards at the helm at the Riverside, the Swede has helped Boro to play some of the most attractive stuff the Championship has ever seen.

His high possession preference and focus on working the ball into the box, whilst allowing full-backs to take up much more advanced positions, is a level of tactical nous the second tier isn't used to seeing.

Unfortunately, despite dominating games more often than not, Boro were unable to convert their dominance into victories as often as required, and as a result, were unable to get their noses over the line.

The absence of Hackney in the latter stages of the season was also particularly damning, and had he been available, things might have been different.