Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg has a big challenge on his hands as he looks to lift his squad after they missed out on promotion. Boro spent the vast majority of the season in and around the automatic promotion places in the Championship and looked on course to end their nine-year absence from the top flight during Hellberg’s first season in charge at the Riverside Stadium. A late-season dip in form meant Boro had to settle for a play-off place and a semi-final defeat against Southampton appeared to have ended any thoughts of a return to the Premier League. However, the Saints were removed from their play-off final tie with Hull City after they were subjected to an EFL investigation in the wake of the Spygate scandal and Boro were handed a second chance at experiencing Wembley glory. A 1-0 defeat at the home of football ensured the Tigers secured a place in the top flight at Boro’s expense and former Sunderland midfielder Don Hutchison believes it is difficult to predict how Hellberg and his players will react to an eventful end to the season. Speaking to Spreadex Sports, the former Scotland midfielder said: “No one knows what happens next for Middlesbrough, because they’re in an unprecedented situation – I’ve never known anything like this in football. A team who gets beat in the play-off semi-finals, gets a bye to the final because the opponent was caught cheating, and then loses the play-off final after a lack of preparation. The emotions that Kim Hellberg must have gone through, the dejection he talked about when Boro lost at St Mary’s, the heartbreak, the ecstasy of then getting their chance at Wembley before then going on to underperform against Hull. If I was Hellberg, before even getting the players back into training, running, any ball work, I’d get the squad sat down with a psychologist to bury the demons from last season and put it all to bed. From there, the players can have a strong pre-season and we’ll know pretty soon into the new campaign in the Championship how the players have dealt with the whole episode.