There may be plenty of reason for Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson to be pleased with the outcome of this season.
Middlesbrough currently sit in 8th place of the Championship table ahead of their final day clash at home to Watford this weekend.
Boro welcome Tom Cleverley’s Hornets to the Riverside, with Watford making the trip up north on the back of a 1-0 win over Sunderland last time out.
Michael Carrick‘s Boro meanwhile thumped Cardiff City 4-1 last time out.
Middlesbrough have lost just one of 11 in the Championship now and can cement themselves in 8th with a win this weekend.
It’s a step down from a 4th place finish last season and a 7th place finish in the season before.
But after all the events of last summer and this season, there’s reason to believe that this season has been a huge success for Carrick and his players.
And one simple tweet might prove that.
Middlesbrough host Watford in Championship finale
The final day of the Championship will see the rest of the promotion and relegation candidates confirmed.
Ipswich Town now look poised to seal what would be a crazy promotion to the Premier League, after just one season in the Championship, whilst Birmingham City could be relegated after 13 seasons in the second tier.
But looking at the table with one game to go, Middlesbrough’s season all of a sudden seems to be quite a successful one.
The Sky Bet Championship’s official X account posted the standings ahead of the final day and it’s garnered reaction from some Middlesbrough fans.
@UTB_Sedgefield said: “Beat Watford and we finish in the top 8. Remarkable given we lost the spine of our team, replaced with development players and suffered unprecedented injury levels.”
And @MFCJamie_ said: “Actually been a good season, had the rough patch at the start not happened we would have been play-offs easy.”
Why Steve Gibson should be delighted with Middlesbrough and Michael Carrick
Whilst Emmanuel Latte Lath has started banging in the goals, he didn’t seem like a solid replacement for Chuba Akpom at first.
And Latte Lath has been injured for much of the season, along with a horde of other key first-team players like Darragh Lenihan, Marcus Forss, Hayden Hackney, and Riley McGree to name a few.
What’s more is that Carrick had to deal with the mid-season losses of Matt Crooks and Morgan Rogers, and then not being able to sign a new striker in January which looked like a real blow to Boro’s play-off chances.
But finishing the season in strong form and keeping themselves in the top six race for so long, despite all that has gone against Carrick and the team throughout the entirety of the season, is a huge credit to him.
Gibson should be delighted and hopeful that Carrick and the players can truly challenge for automatic promotion next season.
And Carrick shouldn’t have to rely on players like Latte Lath staying fit; this is where Gibson needs to do his part, put some money into the transfer market and provide Carrick with the necessary squad depth.
That may well be possible this summer with the likes of Hackney potentially leaving, for a big fee as well.
Middlesbroug vs Watford kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday.