ADAM CLAYTON is hoping Middlesbrough have put their promotion campaign to bed before the final game of the season – so he can dye his beard red and white for charity.

When he was playing with Huddersfield, Clayton dyed his beard blue to raise more than £3,000 for the Yorkshire club’s charitable foundation, and the midfielder has plans to stage a repeat following his move to Middlesbrough.

He has identified the May 2 game with Brighton as the ideal opportunity to get out the hair dye, but accepts his plans will have to change if there is anything significant hanging on the game.

“If the last game of the season isn’t a promotion battle or something serious, then I could do something for charity,” said Clayton, who returned from suspension to help Boro record a 2-0 win over Huddersfield at the weekend. “If we need to win to go up, I think I’ll leave it the colour it is, but if it turns out different, I don’t see why not.

“I’ve had the beard for the last two seasons and enjoyed it. The missus doesn’t like it and keeps telling me to shave it off, but I feel like I have more of a presence with it.

“I don’t know why, it’s a bit weird. I don’t know what it is, but it gives you something different – it’s the power of the beard maybe.

“There’s just something to it I like, and I’m going to grow it for as long as she lets me. I might start a petition on Twitter to keep her off my back!”

On the evidence of his performances since moving to the Riverside this summer, the beard is having a positive effect, and Saturday’s result kept the Teessiders in fourth position in the table.

If they beat Cardiff City tomorrow, they will move into second, a point behind leaders Bournemouth, but while the table is increasingly take shape, Clayton insists it is still too early to be fixated on league placings.

“It’s still only January and nothing is won or lost for two or three months yet,” he said. “We’ve just got to stay in there with the pack and, if we can nick into the top two, that’s great. But we’ve just got to keep on winning.

“I wouldn’t be looking at other people’s results yet. When it comes to March time we can look at what other people are doing, but for now, we just have to concentrate on ourselves.”

Clayton’s move from Huddersfield saw Jacob Butterfield move in the opposite direction to end an 11-month spell that saw him make 32 appearances for the Teessiders.

The former Boro midfielder came extremely close to scoring on Saturday with a superb 20-yard strike that was turned around the post by Konstantopoulos, and will be keeping his fingers crossed that Boro make it into the Premier League in the final four months of the season.

“I hope they get promoted,” said Butterfield. “It’s a brilliant club and they deserve to be in the Premier League. It’s a fantastic set-up, some really good lads and people behind the scenes, and I wish them all the best.

“I hope they go all the way and get promoted, and I think they’re good enough to do that. They’re one of the best teams we’ve played this year. There are a few good teams and it’s going to be difficult, but I don’t see why they can’t.”