Boro fans in scramble to get to Wembley

Middlesbrough fans have been scrambling to secure Wembley tickets, travel and accommodation after it was confirmed the team would definitely compete in Saturday's Championship play-off final.

Original finalists Southampton had their appeal against expulsion from the play-offs for spying on other clubs' training sessions thrown out late on Wednesday, meaning Boro were reinstated and will face Hull City for a place in the Premier League.

Boro's head of supporter engagement Craig McManus said the club had doubled its staffing to support fans getting down to London.

But he warned transport options were "extremely limited" due to a combination of other national events and planned engineering works.

McManus urged fans to come forward if they were having trouble securing tickets.

"We've got everyone all hands on deck," he said.

"We've got a lot of canny fans and they've already booked their hotels and trains many, many months ago and they've held on to that."

At a press conference manager Kim Hellberg said the ups and downs had been a "crazy time" just "trying to keep your head in the game".

"It's been a lot of emotions and I'm very happy to be here," Hellberg said.

"It's a tricky one, it's a weird one, but I'm still very proud of how we handled all those things that's been."

Engineering works mean LNER train services will be reduced in frequency at the weekend with replacement coaches operating between York, Northallerton and Darlington.

However, the train company announced it was putting on an extra service each way between York and London.

City of York Council and First Bus also extended the opening hours of all six of its Park & Ride sites until midnight.

Meanwhile, the club said most of the spots on its official Travel Club coaches had been sold but a "very small number of additional buses may be made available over the coming days".

A limited number of buses would also be made available directly from National Express.

Terry Ainsley, from bus tour agency Family Outings North East, said he had a "mad scramble" to secure coaches for fans at such short notice as a lot of transport was already allocated.

The company said it managed to get coaches from Manchester to come to Teesside.

The fans' excitement and anticipation only grew with the late confirmation of their play-off spot, with Southampton - who were due to contest the final with Hull - being sanctioned after admitting spying on a number of opponents including Boro.

David Rigg, 77, served as groundsman at Ayresome Park and the Riverside Stadium years between 1987 and 2002.

He said during his time "spying was never heard of" but he was delighted with the EFL ruling.

He told the BBC: "It was disgraceful and I think a lot of people saw it that way, it's in no way sporting and I think they've come to the right decision.

"I certainly never was on the look out for spies. The most I had to do was keep track of Paul Gascoigne, I'd keep him from getting where he wasn't suppose to go."

"Now I just hope the team can go and win at Wembley, especially after all this carry on."

Fans in the town centre were in high spirits saying they were "delighted" and "happy to be there".

However, one said the logistical effort to get to London had "turned into a circus, but it is what it is, so let's see what we can do".

The club said it had sold more than 10,000 tickets so far.

A spokesperson said: "However you are able to get there, let's make Wembley a sea of red."

Teesside Airport, meanwhile, invited fans to come and wave off the team as they fly to London on Friday afternoon.

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