WHEN Ben Gibson walked off the pitch at Stamford Bridge on Monday night, he reflected Middlesbrough’s return to the Championship after just one season felt like “the lowest point of my life".

The talented defender, who should move on to pastures new this summer and be challenging for honours at the opposite end of the Premier League table, had just been run ragged like the rest of the Boro team by an ambitious, adventurous and extremely gifted Chelsea side.

There were also tears in George Friend’s eyes moments later when he requested to air his feelings to the media (to be published later this week) when he described the utter dejection of seeing his own top-flight stay cut short.

Before those interviews took place the pair, and the rest of the Middlesbrough players, applauded the away support in West London, where thousands of fans wearing red shirts still managed to show their appreciation for a team heading back to the Football League having barely made an impression on the top tier. This group of players do care.

But while Antonio Conte, the Chelsea manager, praised the relationship between the Middlesbrough faithful and the players at the Bridge afterwards, the reality is that the majority of those fans had probably accepted relegation was on the cards weeks, some even months, ago.

When Bob Mortimer said that Boro had turned up to Crystal Palace “farted and left” in a Tweet after losing there in February, that was probably when the threat of relegation became real. It’s safe to assume they didn’t even leave a smell.

The next defeat at Stoke City, despite a further FA Cup outing, effectively brought an end to Aitor Karanka’s reign; the big question was how he survived in the post for so long having lost the majority of his dressing room long ago.

He had struggled to retain the respect of the players he had with him in the Championship from the moment he walked out of a team meeting in March last year ahead of the trip to Charlton.

Middlesbrough still managed to get over the line in the promotion race, but they have not been as fortunate in the Premier League. Not attempting to pose much of an attacking threat for the first six months of the campaign caught up with them.

Karanka didn’t want to change his ways. He might have tinkered here and there with his system, but getting men into the box to support Alvaro Negredo – who has shown exactly what he is about when he has had team-mates around him - was always an afterthought.

Middlesbrough might still boast the best defensive record in the bottom half of the table, but scoring just 26 times in 36 matches highlights where things have gone wrong.

Diego Costa, who scored the opener on Monday night, has scored 21 on his own and only the woeful Derby County and Sunderland teams of 2008 and 2003 respectively have scored fewer during a Premier League campaign.

Walking off the Stamford Bridge pitch without scoring was the 17th time this season that has happened and the only teams they have beaten are relegated Sunderland (twice), Bournemouth, Swansea and Hull.

Little wonder, then, it was confirmed they are heading back to the Championship exactly a year and a day when promotion was secured at the Riverside when thousands partied on the pitch.

Head coach Steve Agnew, who still harbours hope of staying in the job, has failed to revive the sinking ship during his nine matches; claiming just six points, one win, from the 27 points available.

He has had them looking to attack more, which has proved costly at the other end, and has to shoulder some of the blame for being unable to lead them out of the bottom three – even though he has the full backing of the dressing room.

Agnew has never had clarity over his position from the top, which probably speaks volumes in itself. He has repeatedly been asked how long he thinks he would be in the job for and has always side-stepped the issue. He has never been told anything other than, in his own words, “to go and win some football matches.”

There has to be some sympathy for the 51-year-old. He inherited a squad that was on its way down and had finished January weaker than it started.

Karanka had identified three players who were always unlikely to come to Middlesbrough as soon as the transfer window opened on January 1. By the time the window had closed, Jese Rodriguez had moved to Las Palmas, Bojan Krkic had gone to Mainz and Robert Snodgrass had joined West Ham.

Club sources claim that deals for those players always seemed destined to fail, and that it was still on Karanka’s say-so that they ended up with Patrick Bamford, Adlene Guedioura and Rudy Gestede instead.

Those three players should have big parts to play in the Championship next season, although there is an argument any new head coach would still have preferred to have Jordan Rhodes leading the line at that level. It is not inconceivable Rhodes will score for Sheffield Wednesday at the Riverside next season.

The big question chairman Steve Gibson faces is what to do now? He needs to inform the fans too.

The core of the squad is still well-placed for an attack on the Championship, but that could depend on whether a new manager comes in and wants to rip it all up and start again.

Garry Monk, Ryan Giggs, Alan Pardew and Nigel Pearson are understood to have been considered along with a number of others, and Agnew would still like to have more time to put his own stamp on things during the summer.

The challenge one of those faces is to lead Middlesbrough straight back up, avoiding the seven-year wait which last rocked the club and its finances following relegation in 2009.

There will be the appetite from within the boardroom to follow Newcastle’s lead and do just that, although the sooner decisions are made and plans put in place for the future the better.

Gibson, who may have regrets but has not been quizzed on the situation so far, needs to move swiftly and effectively otherwise Middlesbrough will be playing catch-up to the rest of the Championship before a ball has even been kicked in August.