Erimus74
Well-known member
How we got to this day, the most important fixture in the entire history of Middlesbrough FC, IMHO mind
3rd May 1986 Boro lost 2-1 at Shrewsbury Town & for the 2nd time in our proud history we were relegated to the third division (now 1st division) Since relegation from the 1st divison (now PL) in 1982 after selling the top players such as David Armstrong (RIP)
Mark Proctor, Craig Johnston & replacing those players with mediocre standard players, Heine Otto apart, we were on a slippery slide, each season we were struggling, both financially & league positions
1984-85 season we survived relegation on the final day of the season winning at Shrewsbury 2-0, even with two Boro players getting their marching orders, in Gary Hamilton & Peter Beagrie
Hopefully 1985-86 season was to be lessons learned & the Boro can progress, but sadly it wasnt to be, something was badly wrong within our football club, we had a decent enough team, some young players, some very good players to at least enjoy a comfortable season plodding around midtable, but for some reason, even though manager Willie Maddren made some excellent signings, who went on to play an important part over the coming seasons & when some of the players were sold the club gained a financial windfall, but on the pitch it just wouldnt work for Willie Maddren, one step forward & two steps back, as mentioned Willie brought excellent signings, but for me, IMHO, his best & most important recruit was bringing Bruce Rioch to the Boro, Bruce was in a short list of 4 candidates for the job as 1st team coach, Sam Ellis, John Pickering & an ex Ipswich player, Bruce got the nod, though John Pickering ran him close, if Alf Duffield hadnt sat in on the interview with Bruce then Willie would have chosen John Pickering. Results continued to go against Willie & sadly on the 1st feb 1986 after a 3-1 defeat at home to Charlton Willie was removed of his duties, the board gave the job to Bruce on a temporary basis, a month later Bruce was in charge of his 1st game at home to Grimsby, Boro winning 3-1, a winless run of 6 games made life difficult for us & relegation starring us in the face, in the middle of the winless run the Boro lost at home to Sheff Utd 2-1 but the Boro were that good that night that the board gave Bruce the job full time, after the winless run of 6 games we beat Hiuddersfield away 3-0, hope again, win, lose, win, lose until the final game of the season away away to Shrewsbury, win & we stay up
If we thought relegation was bad then we weren’t prepared with what was about to happen, on the 21st May 1986 the Boro went in to voluntary liquidation, with debts amounting to almost £2 million, the club called in the provisional liquidator
Late July, the Inland Revenue took the club to court, we owed £115,156 in tax & the judge issued a winding up order
On the second of August, Bruce Rioch & twenty-nine other non-playing staff were sacked & the gates to Ayresome Park were padlocked. Some players chose to remain & train under Bruce Rioch & coach Colin Todd, while others chose to leave
This went on throughout the summer, while the consortium fought tooth & nail to secure our football clubs future, as a football league club, even a club in existence at any level, the players tried to ignore what was going on with their club & employers & train to keep as fit as possible
One minute good news, the next bad news, the football league wanted the creditors paid in full, were they trying to make an example of us, send out a warning to other clubs?…………
This went on throughout the summer, from May 21st through to the 23rd of August
The consortium were in London days leading up to the Port Vale game, even the day before kick off there was more chance the Boro wouldn’t kick off the season than would, not a nice time to be a Boro fan
With not much time to spare before the registration deadline, the documents were signed by Graham Fordy, Reg Corbridge & Henry Moszkowicz.
In recognition of Henderson's achievements in delivering the bond in a format acceptable to everyone, he was named chairman of Middlesbrough Football & Athletic Company (1986) Ltd
The day arrived, 23rd August, a day many of us thought would never happen, all the traumas of the summer from May 21st when we officially went in to voluntary liquidation, so many ups & downs, twists & turns to finally get over the line
I made my way to Victoria park the 18:30 kick off, paid my £3.00 & watched with pride & relief when Tony Mowbray led his team mates out on to the pitch to the cheers from the Boro fans, the game kicked off, Archie Stephens is credited with scoring our 1st goal under the new club regime, he got both that day, as we went in to a 2-0 lead, though due to lack of fitness, no pre-season training matches, Port Vale, who had a thorough pre-season, came back & secured a draw after scoring 2 goals, the game ended 2-2
And to the relief of the 3,690 Boro supporters that Saturday evening, we had a football club that was alive & kicking a football team to support, regardless, the Boro were in the 3rd division that was the least in our thoughts
Boro were back
Bruce Rioch named the following team, Gary Parkinson registered No581 made his debut
Stephen Pears
Brian Laws
Colin Cooper
Tony Mowbray
Gary Gil
Gary Parkinson
Bernie Slaven
Archie Stephens
Gary Hamilton
Alan Kernaghan
Stuart Ripley
Sub
Lee Turnbull
UTMB - erimus
3rd May 1986 Boro lost 2-1 at Shrewsbury Town & for the 2nd time in our proud history we were relegated to the third division (now 1st division) Since relegation from the 1st divison (now PL) in 1982 after selling the top players such as David Armstrong (RIP)
Mark Proctor, Craig Johnston & replacing those players with mediocre standard players, Heine Otto apart, we were on a slippery slide, each season we were struggling, both financially & league positions
1984-85 season we survived relegation on the final day of the season winning at Shrewsbury 2-0, even with two Boro players getting their marching orders, in Gary Hamilton & Peter Beagrie
Hopefully 1985-86 season was to be lessons learned & the Boro can progress, but sadly it wasnt to be, something was badly wrong within our football club, we had a decent enough team, some young players, some very good players to at least enjoy a comfortable season plodding around midtable, but for some reason, even though manager Willie Maddren made some excellent signings, who went on to play an important part over the coming seasons & when some of the players were sold the club gained a financial windfall, but on the pitch it just wouldnt work for Willie Maddren, one step forward & two steps back, as mentioned Willie brought excellent signings, but for me, IMHO, his best & most important recruit was bringing Bruce Rioch to the Boro, Bruce was in a short list of 4 candidates for the job as 1st team coach, Sam Ellis, John Pickering & an ex Ipswich player, Bruce got the nod, though John Pickering ran him close, if Alf Duffield hadnt sat in on the interview with Bruce then Willie would have chosen John Pickering. Results continued to go against Willie & sadly on the 1st feb 1986 after a 3-1 defeat at home to Charlton Willie was removed of his duties, the board gave the job to Bruce on a temporary basis, a month later Bruce was in charge of his 1st game at home to Grimsby, Boro winning 3-1, a winless run of 6 games made life difficult for us & relegation starring us in the face, in the middle of the winless run the Boro lost at home to Sheff Utd 2-1 but the Boro were that good that night that the board gave Bruce the job full time, after the winless run of 6 games we beat Hiuddersfield away 3-0, hope again, win, lose, win, lose until the final game of the season away away to Shrewsbury, win & we stay up
If we thought relegation was bad then we weren’t prepared with what was about to happen, on the 21st May 1986 the Boro went in to voluntary liquidation, with debts amounting to almost £2 million, the club called in the provisional liquidator
Late July, the Inland Revenue took the club to court, we owed £115,156 in tax & the judge issued a winding up order
On the second of August, Bruce Rioch & twenty-nine other non-playing staff were sacked & the gates to Ayresome Park were padlocked. Some players chose to remain & train under Bruce Rioch & coach Colin Todd, while others chose to leave
This went on throughout the summer, while the consortium fought tooth & nail to secure our football clubs future, as a football league club, even a club in existence at any level, the players tried to ignore what was going on with their club & employers & train to keep as fit as possible
One minute good news, the next bad news, the football league wanted the creditors paid in full, were they trying to make an example of us, send out a warning to other clubs?…………
This went on throughout the summer, from May 21st through to the 23rd of August
The consortium were in London days leading up to the Port Vale game, even the day before kick off there was more chance the Boro wouldn’t kick off the season than would, not a nice time to be a Boro fan
With not much time to spare before the registration deadline, the documents were signed by Graham Fordy, Reg Corbridge & Henry Moszkowicz.
In recognition of Henderson's achievements in delivering the bond in a format acceptable to everyone, he was named chairman of Middlesbrough Football & Athletic Company (1986) Ltd
The day arrived, 23rd August, a day many of us thought would never happen, all the traumas of the summer from May 21st when we officially went in to voluntary liquidation, so many ups & downs, twists & turns to finally get over the line
I made my way to Victoria park the 18:30 kick off, paid my £3.00 & watched with pride & relief when Tony Mowbray led his team mates out on to the pitch to the cheers from the Boro fans, the game kicked off, Archie Stephens is credited with scoring our 1st goal under the new club regime, he got both that day, as we went in to a 2-0 lead, though due to lack of fitness, no pre-season training matches, Port Vale, who had a thorough pre-season, came back & secured a draw after scoring 2 goals, the game ended 2-2
And to the relief of the 3,690 Boro supporters that Saturday evening, we had a football club that was alive & kicking a football team to support, regardless, the Boro were in the 3rd division that was the least in our thoughts
Boro were back
Bruce Rioch named the following team, Gary Parkinson registered No581 made his debut
Stephen Pears
Brian Laws
Colin Cooper
Tony Mowbray
Gary Gil
Gary Parkinson
Bernie Slaven
Archie Stephens
Gary Hamilton
Alan Kernaghan
Stuart Ripley
Sub
Lee Turnbull
UTMB - erimus
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