Last week I found my Boro Ground Members Card from 1987/8 season (I think), its a credit card sized card with name number and photo held in a blue square plastic wallet with large Boro badge in white on the front.
There is a political story behind these cards. Thatcher wanted to restrict admission to football games to select people after Heysel i.e wanted everyone to be a Member who it assumed would be less likely to cause trouble and could be more easily identified and controlled. She never got her full wish but The South Terrace at Ayresome (Chicken Run) was made a Members Area and a card was required to purchase a ticket. I rarely went there, but I think I got priority on Away tickets for the sake of paying a £1 and providing a photo, so that was my motive to become a member.
However the Members Card proved useful for a big home game against Leicester in May 1988. We needed to win to get automatic promotion and the game was a 27,700 sell out before the day of the match. It was our biggest crowd since 1981. I had managed to get a ticket for the East End seats, but sold it to a fellow fan (Brian from Bishop Auckland) where I was working in London, when I found out I could get a Members ticket just before KO. Not many fans were members in May 1988 as it was closed for the season.
