MIDDLESBROUGH fans plan to show their support for the Ukrainian people by unfurling a huge banner during tonight's televised game against Spurs.

The Teessiders face Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth round of the FA Cup tonight and a group of fans have commissioned a four-metre long banner bearing the words ‘Glory to Ukraine’ which they hope will shown during TV coverage of the match.

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The banner will be displayed at the Ayresome Park gates in the grounds of the Riverside Stadium before the game and fans in the North Stand will unfurl it during the match which is being shown live on BBC One from 7.30pm.

Christopher Joseph of the Middlesbrough Supporters Forum said he hopes the banner helps send a message of support to the people of Ukraine who are living in fear after Russian troops invaded the country.

He said: “Football is an international language and we are all on the same side; we are doing this in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

“The politics are irrelevant, this is to do with common sense.

“We are not having a go at the people of Russia, this is in support of the people of Ukraine and if it does anything to show that we are thinking of them then great.”

Christopher said that he has fond memories of Ukrainian football fans having met them when Middlesbrough played Ukraine side Dnipro at the Riverside in the UEFA Cup in 2005.

He said: “A big group of them ended up in the concourse in the West Stand, we were in our colours on one side and they were in their colours on the other side and there was potential for tension.

“I said ‘good evening’ in Russian and one of them replied and spoke a load of Russian to me but I had to tell him my O-level didn’t go much further than ‘good evening’.

“He laughed and it turned out they were from the Derby branch of a Dnipro supporters club and we all ended up getting together and having a good chat and banter with them and it was really nice.

“Football fans who travel the world know that football is a universal language so we just want to show our support for the Ukraine people; it is a capacity crowd and we hope the cameras pick up on the banner.”

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