MIDDLESBROUGH FC chairman Steve Gibson and manager Aitor Karanka have joined the fight to save steelmaking on Teesside.

As SSI agreed two crucial deals that should safeguard its Teesside works into next week, the Boro chairman called on George Osborne to act now and save an industry that is vital to the region’s future.

“The whole point of being in Government is to step up and take action when it is needed and action is certainly needed now if the industry is to be saved,” said Mr Gibson, who has given the ok for campaigners to parade around the pitch with a Save Our Steel banner before tomorrow’s Championship match at home to Leeds United.

The troubled SSI site won a double reprieve yesterday as last minute deals to pay workers and buy coal quelled fears that the site was on the verge of collapse. There are still grave concerns about its future as owner SSI remains tight-lipped about plans for its 1,900 staff, but workers received some rare good news yesterday as a tax rebate ensured that monthly wages were paid on time.

In addition, agreement was reached with coal suppliers that ensures the Redcar coke ovens, which will suffer massive damage if they stop burning fuel, will be kept alight over the weekend.

The Middlesbrough chairman shared concerns for the plant's survival when he said: “People will be deeply worried that they will lose their jobs and their homes. It’s as stark as that and the harsh reality for thousands of people on Teesside this weekend.

“The Government must act. They must intervene to manage the crisis, to be mature and intelligent about this nationally key industry. The people in Redcar, Middlesbrough, Stockton and right across Teesside deserve answers. They’ve given their blood sweat and tears to the steel industry and they rely on those good jobs which will take some replacing if they are lost.

“They want Ministers to do something for them, right now.

“Saving our steel industry is not an act of nostalgia. Yes, steel making is in our DNA and formed the backbone our industrial past, but it is also a key to our industrial and manufacturing future.

“We need to produce that credible industrial strategy as a matter of supreme urgency,” Mr Gibson said.

Boro's Spain-born manager Karanka said: “I've been here for 22 months but I know how important that industry is in the area, and for that reason, the main way to help them is for us to work harder, help them keep coming to the games happier. That's how we can support them and we will work harder.”