It’s a different game in April

IT’S a rare occurrence when a Boro campaign peters out long before the final game of the season.

The club has made a habit of saving must-win games until last.

However, it’s difficult to imagine that Boro will still be fighting for Premier League survival at Liverpool on May 21.

Even a double-notching victory against Sunderland on Wednesday night will have a hollow feel.

In frustrating and untypical circumstances Boro began to lose control of their future in March. The toughness of their remaining five fixtures would appear to condemn them to relegation.

There will be many fans who want to get it all over with and start thinking about the future.

Expectations will be high once again next season. After all, Boro have already sold 18,000 season tickets.

At the same time, if Boro are to hit the ground running in August there needs to be – and will be – massive changes at the Riverside.

Maybe this will include a new permanent manager. Steve Agnew is a damn good coach, as everybody acknowledges, and it might be better if he reverts to that role.

If Agnew is asked to carry on, even as temporary manager, he will appreciate the changes which must take place.

Boro do have a few saleable assets with which to help finance a new assault on promotion, the most obvious being Ben Gibson. Gaston Ramirez will be sold, Watford are said to be considering a summer swoop for Marten de Roon while Adama Traore will surely attract plenty of interest.

Agnew has managed to lift the veil off the dressing room and reintroduce a positive approach but this has served to emphasise that the squad is not good enough.

So, in addition to outgoing players, there must be new arrivals during the summer, particularly those with a bit of attacking enterprise.

Naturally, it’s not over yet. The 15 available points offer Boro a survival chance should they win all of them, but this is so unlikely considering they follow up the Sunderland test by meeting Manchester City and Chelsea. Wednesday’s derby will be played in a different atmos- Middlesbrough’s Christian Stuani celebrates after scoring during the derby victory against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Even another derby win probably won’t lift the gloom phere to the one at the Stadium of Light in August, when both teams were full of hope for the new campaign.

However, while Boro were delighted to take all three points first time around thanks to a brace of goals from Christian Stuani, both teams were soon struggling afterwards.

Some hope remained for Boro early this year, especially as they had yet to feature in the bottom three. But once they fell into a relegation position, they became increasingly entombed.

So it appears that both sides are playing for pride only on Wednesday, which is a crying shame for football in the North East.

However, a new season always offers new hope. Boro must ensure that all decisions which are made over the next few months are the right ones.