Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were formed in 1876 and are the 12th oldest football league club in England and Wales. The club have played at the Riverside Stadium since 1995, having previously played at Ayresome Park for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.
Middlesbrough were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and have spent all but two seasons of their entire history as a professional club competing within the top two tiers of English football. Their highest league finish to date was third place in the top flight in the 1913–14 season. The outbreak of the First World War stunted their push for a first top division title, though the club pushed again during the inter-war years, finishing fourth in the 1938–39 season before the Second World War halted the English leagues and again prevented a push for a first title. The club came within minutes of folding in 1986 before they were saved by a consortium led by board member and later chairman Steve Gibson. A remarkable recovery saw the club immediately earn back-to-back promotions to the top division in the 1986–87 and 1987–88 seasons. The club were runners-up in the FA Cup and League Cup in 1997 while also being relegated following a controversial 3-point deduction, and losing another League Cup final the following season. Under Steve McClaren, the club won the League Cup in 2004, its first major silverware, and reached the 2006 UEFA Cup final. The club has played one Premier League season since relegation in 2009.
Middlesbrough is the only major professional football club in the greater Teesside area, the Tees Valley, and the county of North Yorkshire. The club has regional rivalries with the two closest major clubs, Newcastle United and Sunderland.
The club's traditional kit is red with white detailing, often in the form of a white chest band. The home shorts and sock colours have interchangeably been shifted between red and white, complementing the red shirt that was adopted in 1899. The various crests throughout the club's history, the most recent of which was adopted in 2007, incorporate a lion rampant.
History
Formation and early years (1876–1914)
Middlesbrough were formed in 1876, and won the FA Amateur Cup in 1895 and again in 1898. The club turned professional in 1889, but reverted to amateur status in 1892. They turned professional permanently in 1899. After three seasons, they won promotion to the First Division, where they would remain for the next.In 1903, the club moved to Ayresome Park, their home for the next. In 1905, the club sanctioned the transfer of Alf Common for £1,000, a record fee. In the same year, Tim Williamson became the first Middlesbrough player to play international football.
Over these early years in the top flight, their form fluctuated greatly, rising to sixth in 1907–08 before dropping to 17th two seasons later. The club rose to their highest league finish to date, third, in 1913–14. The First World War soon intervened, and football was suspended.
Ups and downs (1914–1966)
Before league football resumed, Middlesbrough won the Northern Victory League, but the team were unable to maintain their previous form and finished the 1919–20 season in mid-table. They remained in the First Division for the next few seasons, but were relegated in 1923–24 after finishing bottom, 10 points adrift of their nearest rivals. Three seasons later, they won the Division Two title. During that season, debutant George Camsell, who had signed from Third Division North side Durham City the previous season, finished with a record 59 league goals, which included nine hat-tricks. He would continue as top scorer for each of the next 10 seasons. Middlesbrough's tenure back in the top flight lasted only one season, and the club were relegated. They were promoted at the first attempt in 1928–29, winning another Second Division title. The club remained in the First Division until 1954.The decade before the Second World War saw the emergence of Wilf Mannion and George Hardwick, both of whom would go on to become England internationals in the years ahead. Middlesbrough climbed to fourth in the last full season before the war, and were expected to challenge for the title the following season, but the war intervened. After the war, the club was unable to recover the form of the previous seasons before the war, hovering around mid-table and exiting in the early rounds of the FA Cup. Soon after the war, the team began to falter, and were relegated in 1953–54. This was the start of a 20-year spell outside the top division, but this was the spell too that saw the emergence of one of the club's top goalscorers, Brian Clough, who scored 204 goals in 222 games, before he left for Sunderland.
On 6 May 1950 Middlesbrough were represented by a Black player for the first time, Jamaican-born Lindy Delapenha making his debut in an away game against Fulham on that date. In total he went on to make 270 appearances, scoring 92 goals, before he left for Mansfield Town after the 1957–58 season. Over that period, Middlesbrough maintained reasonable progress in the Second Division, but were never serious contenders for promotion. After a fourth-place finish in 1962–63, the club endured a steady decline and were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history in 1966.
Resurgence, 'Charlton's Champions', and financial crisis (1966–1994)
New manager Stan Anderson returned the club to the second flight at the first attempt. Middlesbrough would not finish below ninth during the next six seasons in the Second Division, finishing 4th on three of those occasions.In 1973, Jack Charlton took over as manager and guided the team back to the top flight. A team led on the pitch by Willie Maddren and Bobby Murdoch, and including a young Graeme Souness, ensured promotion as early as 23 March 1974, and with eight games of the season left, they became runaway champions, finishing with a league record 65 points. After a very promising start to their first campaign back in the first division Bob Paisley, manager of eventual runners up Liverpool, tipped Middlesbrough as favourites to win the league, however they ultimately fell short finishing seventh. Middlesbrough won their first silverware as a professional side in the 1975–76 season, lifting the Anglo-Scottish Cup in its inaugural season after a two-legged final win over Fulham.
In 1979, John Neal made the club's first international signing, with Boško Janković arriving from Željezničar Sarajevo.
The club experienced severe financial difficulties during the mid-1980s. Middlesbrough were dropping down the table, and finished 19th in the 1984–85 season. In April 1986, the club had to borrow £30,000 from the Professional Footballers' Association to pay wages. The final game of the season saw Middlesbrough relegated to the Third Division again. That summer, the club called in the Provisional Liquidator, and, shortly afterwards, the club was wound up and the gates to Ayresome Park were padlocked. Without the £350,000 capital required for Football League registration, a new rule, the club risked folding permanently. Steve Gibson, however, a member of the board at the time, brought together a consortium, and with 10 minutes to spare before the deadline they completed their registration with the Football League for the 1986–87 season. Following the registration came both a change of club crest and a change of the official company name to Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Club Ltd.
Over the next two seasons, Middlesbrough gained successive promotions into Division Two and then into Division One, the latter being the first and only time a second-tier side directly relegated a first tier side through the English Football League play-offs. The next season however, they came straight back down to Division Two, and with it came the then British transfer record move of Gary Pallister to Manchester United for £2.3 million. Following promotion again, Middlesbrough became one of the founding members of the FA Premier League when it was launched in the 1992–93 season.
Bryan Robson years (1994–2001)
Player-manager Bryan Robson, from Manchester United, took charge in 1994. Following promotion to the Premier League Middlesbrough made high-profile purchases like Brazilian international Juninho and previous season's Champions League final goalscorer and Italian international Fabrizio Ravanelli. A difficult 1996–97 season, however, was compounded by a deduction of three points imposed just after Christmas as punishment for the club's failure to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn Rovers, which ultimately resulted in relegation. Without the points deduction imposed by the FA Premier League despite the club having taken advice from the Premier League themselves prior to calling off the match, the club would have had enough points to avoid the drop. At the same time, the club reached both the League and FA Cup finals for the first time, but lost both games. Despite being in the second tier, they were again runners-up in the League Cup final the next year.Despite losing high-profile players Ravanelli and Juninho due to relegation, Middlesbrough were promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt, in 1998. The following season saw them settle well and they had a 12-game unbeaten run midway through 1998–99, including a 3–2 win at Old Trafford in January during which they took a 3–0 lead; it was Manchester United's only home defeat during their treble-winning season. Middlesbrough continued to stay secure in mid-table the following season, due mainly to the goals of Hamilton Ricard and the signings of prominent players such as Paul Ince and Christian Ziege. In 2000–01, they had a brief relegation scare that was solved with the arrival of Terry Venables as co-manager, and a 3–0 win away at Arsenal in April was the team's best result. The trend of buying high profile European-based players continued with the acquisitions of Christian Karembeu and Alen Bokšić. Bryan Robson left the club before the start of 2001–02 season, having served as manager for seven years.