'I hated it' - Former Middlesbrough loan man reflects honestly on his poor season at the club

Marcus Bettinelli says he hated his time at Middlesbrough - though that's more because of his honest reflections of his personal form than anything to do with Boro.

Neil Warnock signed Bettinelli on loan from Fulham in the summer of 2020 in what proved to be a campaign spent entirely behind closed doors due to Covid restrictions. While he enjoyed living on Teesside during his year at the club, his performances for the club make it a spell he doesn't look back on fondly.

The first-choice for much of the campaign, he would play 42 games for Boro and kept 13 clean sheets in total. However, he conceded 47 goals as Boro suffered a negative expected-goals-against record that term, with the now-Chelsea keeper admitting himself he was being beaten by shots he shouldn't have been.

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Speaking on the Yours Mine Away podcast, Bettinelli said: “I played nearly every game so from that point of view it was good, but I have to be honest, I hated it. Do you know when you’re just having one of those seasons… there were goals going in and you know you can do better.

"I’d be the first to admit, I didn’t enjoy playing up there because I wasn’t playing well. I enjoyed living up there, and the missus did too. I lived right on the golf course, which was amazing. But I didn’t enjoy my time at Boro for that reason, and there were probably a few factors to that. It was a tough period, particularly then going back to Fulham and finding out I wasn’t wanted.”

While Bettinelli didn't expand further on the reasons he felt he failed to perform in a Boro shirt despite having twice won promotion from the Championship with Fulham, he did admit that his heart was still at Craven Cottage, having been at the club since he was 14. Throughout his time on Teesside, there were even still discussions for him to remain at Fulham, with his contract up at the end of his season at Boro.

“I was gutted to leave Fulham," he said. "The thing was, I was meant to re-sign. While I was on loan with Middlesbrough, I still kept a good relationship with Tony [owner, Tony Khan]. Fulham had a year option on me and we stayed in contact often discussing that year option.

"So from Christmas on, I was in the mindset that I would be staying at Fulham. I’d just done my house up and had everything planned to just be in London. Then I got a call saying they weren’t taking up the option. It was sad because I didn’t really know anything else."

It ended up working out pretty well for the now-32-year-old, however. Upon his release from Fulham, Bettinelli found himself a free agent for the first time ever in his professional career and, off the back of a poor campaign at Boro, there were concerns about what options he might available to him.

"Then I got the Chelsea call," he recalled. "Surprise is maybe the wrong word, but it was like, ‘wow, it’s Chelsea’. I guess I was surprised I was going to go and sign there. They’d just won the Champions League and stuff. But equally, I knew the role I was taking there and that was different to what I’d obviously done in the past.

"In that respect, it kind of felt like I was taking a step back, but also at the same time I was taking a huge step up because I was going to a club of that size, going to train with players at a level I’d never seen before. To be honest, I didn’t have much else on the table at that point because it was quite a late decision by Fulham. It was a relief to get the deal over the line. It’s different doing that role, but it’s a top club to be at.”

Bettinelli has been at Chelsea in the three years since leaving Boro, though, as third choice, he's only made one appearance in that time. He understands his role at Stamford Bridge, however, and was on the bench against Boro at the Riverside this season in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, as he was back in 2022 for the FA Cup fifth round tie.