THE dreams of tens of thousands of Middlesbrough fans were dashed at Wembley in a painful premiership play-off final yesterday.

The team did not produce their best performance and at the final whistle the anguish on the face of Boro's chairman, Steve Gibson, was plain for all to see.

However, one, albeit hugely important, defeat should not take the shine off what has been a very good season for Boro.

And much of the credit for Boro's great run should go to Steve Gibson who surely has to be a leading candidate for the best football club chairman in the country.

It helps that Gibson is a life-long Boro fan who became the club's youngest-ever board member when he joined aged just 26.

He saved the club from liquidation in 1986 and has been a stalwart supporter ever since – finding money for big-name signings and attracting quality managers.

When things have gone well, such as the League Cup win and the UEFA Cup final, he has been content to let others take the credit.

And when things have gone badly he has kept his counsel, preferring to do his talking behind closed doors rather than in public.

Since the club's brush with near-death three decades ago, Boro fans have never had cause to worry about the future. Even when the team was relegated in 2009, Gibson was there to steady the ship and ready to begin the job of rebuilding.

Such devotion – and common sense management – is rare in the world of football these days.

What would Newcastle fans give for an owner like Steve Gibson, rather than the mercurial Mike Ashley?

Boro fans can take heart that their team is good enough to come back even stronger next season. Good enough, perhaps, to win automatic promotion.