Middlesbrough FC - A Brief History
Middlesbrough were formed in 1876 by members of Middlesbrough Cricket Club during a meeting at the Albert Park Hotel, with their first recorded game taking place in 1877 against the Teesside Wanderers.
The club played their home games in those early years at Linthorpe Road and would be elected to the Football League officially in 1899, joining Division Two. They'd win promotion to Division One in 1902 and one year later, the club would move to Ayresome Park for their home games, a stadium that would be home for the next 90 years.
The team caused a sensation in 1905, paying £1000 for centre forward Alf Common, the first ever four-figure transfer fee in football history. In 1914, Middlesbrough would finish in 3rd place in the First Division, which to date is the highest league finish in club history.
The post-war era saw a downturn in fortunes for the club on the pitch, as the team would be relegated into Division Two in 1953-54 and spent 19 of the next 20 years in that league, with the other year spent in Division Three.
The team would finally earn promotion back to Division One after a title-winning season in 1973-74 and they'd stay in the top flight through the 1981-82 season. During this successful period, the team won their first two trophies, winning the 1975-76 Anglo-Scottish Cup and the 1980-81 Kirin Cup.
The club went through its darkest days during the mid-1980s. A string of poor finishes in Division Two culminated in a 21st place finish in 1985-86 and resulted in the club being relegated back to the Third Division. Massive debts forced the club into liquidation in July of that year and with no money to pay the registration fee for Division Three, it looked as if the club was going to have to fold.
With the club locked out of their home at Ayresome Park and a registration deadline looming, Steve Gibson, a 28 year old board member at Middlesbrough and owner of successful local business Bulkhaul Limited, formed a consortium to save the club at the 11th hour. Boro would complete a remarkable comeback from being homeless and on the brink of oblivion by winning promotion from the third division that first year and they'd follow it up by gaining a second consecutive promotion the next year, finally moving back into the First Division.
The team would be relegated back to Division Two the next year but gain promotion again just in time for the 1992-93 season, becoming founding members of the newly rebranded English Premier League.
The team's fortunes changed significantly with the hiring of former England and Manchester United legend Bryan Robson as manager. He'd lead them back to the Premier League after another relegation and see the club move into the 30,000 capacity Riverside Stadium, the largest football stadium built in the UK over the previous 70 years. During the Robson era, the team would make it to three Cup finals, including the 1997 FA Cup finals against Chelsea, losing all three. They'd also open a state-of-the-art training complex at Rockliffe Park, which was acknowledged to be one of the finest in all of Europe.
Manchester United assistant Steve McClaren would take over from Robson in 2001 and the club continued to succeed in bringing in star players from all across the continent while performing admirably in both Premier League and Cup play. One of the highest points in club history took place in February 2004, when the club lifted its first ever major trophy in a 2-1 win over Bolton to win the Carling (League) Cup. This earned them a spot in next year's UEFA Cup competition (now known as the Europa League), where Middlesbrough made it to the final 16 and also finished 7th in league play, their best in the Premiership era, giving them a spot in Europe again the next season. The team would struggle in the league, ultimately finishing 14th but flourished in Europe. One of the distinct highlights in club history came on April 2, 2006, when the club came back from a 3 goal deficit, scoring four consecutive goals to earn a 4-3 aggregate victory over Steaua Bucharest in the UEFA Cup semi-finals, earning a spot in the finals against Sevilla. They'd lose that contest in decisive fashion, 4-0 and McClaren would be wooed away from the club to take over stewardship of the English National Team from Sven Goran Eriksson.
In 2008/09, after 11 consecutive seasons in the Premier League, the team would finish 19th and get relegated to the Championship. Middlesbrough would earn promotion back to the top flight for the 2016/17 season but finish 19th again and see immediate relegation once again.
Middlesbrough have spent the last five seasons in the Championship and after three straight 12th place finishes, manager Ben Wilkinson resigned from the club in order to take the helm at Brentford, who had just been relegated from the Premier League. On June 17, 2022, Chairman Steve Gibson announced that I was being hired as the 36th manager in the club's illustrious history...