Hi Mrs G (i assume).

I see Steves account was logged into.
That is no problem at all. We are all here when and if you need us.

All of us held Steve in high esteem as a "bossman" and a bloke.
Personally i shall never forget the man. His bravery and devil may care attitude should be a shining example to us all.

Read away.
Contact me personally if there is anything you need or want.

Love from us all on RR.
X

The mother of all seasons

16th March 1974 - West Brom 0  Boro 4

Since losing at Forest on the 2nd Feb the mighty Boro drew the following game, then went on a magnificent winning run of 9 games on the bounce, with the West Brom game our 5th win in that run
Graeme Souness, Alan Foggon & a brace from John Hickton

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Frank Spraggon
Graeme Souness
Stuey Boam
Willie maddren
Bobby Murdoch
David Mills
John Hickton
Alan Foggon
David Armstrong.
Sub
Peter Brine

The following game, Tuesday night the mighty Boro travelled to Craven Cottage & inflicted another 4-0 drubbing, we were really head & shoulders above everyone in that league

An unbelievable season & my favourite one still to this day











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19 years ago

The mighty Roma beaten over two legs

Peter Brine one of the 73-74 legends team, scored his 1st Boro 1st team goal

Peter Brine, who was making his 7th first team appearance for the Boro, including 3 starts, scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Cardiff City at Ayresome Park, Alan Foggon, who we signed  from Cardiff City in October for £10k, doubled our lead when recording his 3rd Boro career goal to date

Temporary Manager Harold Shepherdson, standing in after Stan Anderson had resigned, had yet to taste defeat with 2 wins & 2 draws from 4 games named the following team.

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Frank Spraggon
Nobby Stiles
Stuey Boam
Willie Maddren
Bill Gates
Peter Brine
Malcolm Smith.
Alan Foggon
Graeme Souness
Attendance  - 7,686

For me, he's up there in my all time top 3 Boro managers

Just after one in the afternoon I got up after my nightshift, made my way downstairs & noticed a crunched up note someone had pushed through my letter box, on opening the note I couldn't believe what I was reading & immediately turned on the radio in the kitchen for the local news. No sky sports back then

On the note was written, 'Bruce Rioch has been sacked', I was shocked & gutted, yes we were struggling in the 2nd division after, unluckily relegated the previous season, but this man had, IMHO, saved our football club from falling in to the football abyss, while guiding us to our 1st ever Wembley cup final under the twin towers

I'm a great believer that a club & person can be an ideal fit, no matter where they were born, John Hickton, Gary Hamilton, Bernie Slaven, players who came to the Boro & left as legends, well Bruce Rioch fitted into that category

I think if we had turned to any other manager when Willie Maddren was sadly dismissed those incredible seasons under Bruce would have been pipe dreams & we would have become a third, even 4th division team ack then, just my opinion mind
Willie Maddren, who made some excellent signings, yet to me, Bruce, who was Willie Maddren's final recruit & probably the most vital when he took charge as temporary manager of his 1st match v Grimsby Town on the 4th March 1986, within a few games after a 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield United when the team received a standing ovation as they left the field, the directors were so impressed with the new Boro that they offered Bruce the job full time & thankfully Bruce accepted, we looked a team, the following seasons were unbelievable & most likely never, ever repeated, to then take us to Wembley only one month previous after beating 1st division, 2nd place Aston Villa in the northern final on 6th February over 2 legs

1st match 4th March 1986 v Grimsby Town at Ayresome Park, Boro won 3-1
Last match, 7th March 1990, Boro 1 Watford 2 at Ayresome Park

Met the great man a few times at former player reunions & his love for the Boro still shines through

Thanks for the ride Bruce, it was as good a ride as anytime in my Boro supporting lifetime

Its with a heavy heart that im sorry to announce to our non members (i know we have read only peeps) the sad passing, after the bravest of fights of Steve Goldby, founder of ComeOnBoro.

RIP Steve.

Xx

The original Super Cooper, Terry Cooper scored his only Boro goal & the our iconic, superstar legend that is John Hickton, scoring his penultimate Boro goal

When the mighty Boro won 2-0 at Anfield, our last away win that season, we won our previous away game to Liverpool with a 2-0 at Leeds

Unfortunately this win didn't achieve a double over Liverpool, earlier in the season on the, 1st November, Liverpool won 1-0 at Ayresome Park, which was the 1st goal we conceded at home that season

We really were a Jekyll & Hyde team that season, we just couldn't get any consistency at all in the league, L, D, W, W, L, W, L, D etc, etc throughout the season, finishing 13th, dumped out of the FAC in a 3rd round replay away to Bury 3-2 & after leading 2-0, the only thing we were consistent in was the league cup & showed consistency of our history by losing a big game (semi final) but we had the Anglo Scottish Cup to remember

In 123 games for the Boro Terry Cooper scored one goal, a great signing for me & IMHO, still good enough to play for England while at the Boro

John Hickton, well what can you say about the man

Big Jacks team

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Terry Cooper
Graeme Souness
Stuey Boam
Tony McAndrew
Phil Boersma
David Mills
John Hickton
Willie Maddren
David Armstrong
Sub
Billy Woof

Middlesbrough FC, allegedly, played their 1st ever football match against Tees Wanderers, a local rugby union team, on this day 1877

I say allegedly because I have read, through snippets of internet news, that Boro played a game before this date, even the date that is in our history books is wrong, though I've not seen anything concrete to state its any date other than the 1st March, plus it sounds more romantic as I & I would say thousands of Boro fans, here & around the world, will celebrate this day every 3 years for our Carling cup triumph

The game was played 12 months after the club were formed (18/02/1876) which took place on the archery ground, at Albert Park

Oddly enough, Boro captain & goalkeeper Harvey kicked off the match to start the history of the mighty Boro

The following, word for word, was from the weekly exchange dated 1st March 1877 that is printed inside Middlesbrough FC complete record book

On saturday afternoon last a match (Association rules) was played between the eleven of Tees Wanderers & the eleven of Middlesbrough football club, on the archery ground, Albert Park
There was a good attendance of visitors. The ball was kicked off by Mr Harvey (captain of the Middlesbrough club)
A very strong wind was blowing against the Wanderers, but, notwithstanding this, some excellent play was witnessed
The ball was taken to the Wanderes goal & kept near for the whole of the half with one exception, when it was taken back in very good play by Jenkins (Middlesbrough) & a goal kicked by Ewbank (1-0 to the mighty Boro)
In the second half, Wanderers, who, after showing some excellent play, succeeded in making a goal, thus making a tie, both sides having one goal each
The players of Lees, Ewbank, Jenkins & Hildreth for the Middlesbrough club was very good, as was also that of Logan Dickens & Wilson

The game was played over two 40 minutes halves

Boro team that historic day:

GK. Harvey (captain)
Backs. Windorss & Hardisty
Half Backs. Booth & Parkin.
Forwards. Jackson Ewbank, Frank Lees, Greenwood, Jenkins, Harrison, Hildreth

The Boro put the date of the 24th of february on their website & others have stated the Boro played a game before this date but I've not seen anything to show that a match took place

PLAY UP BOROUGH 😁👆

Boro flashback 1st March 1975

Boro 2 Stoke City 0

Going in to this fixture the Boro have now gone 7 games in the league without a victory to our name, with not one home league goal or league victory this calendar year, although we are going well (so far) in the FAC, its the league which is concerning big jack & the lack of goalscoring that has him frustrated him
During the 7 winless games we have managed to score just 2 goals, with only one coming in 1975

6/11/1973 - The last time Stoke City arrived at Ayresome Park was for a league cup replay with an attendance of 26,088 in the ground to see a 3rd round league cup replay between big Jacks 2nd division soon to be champions Boro against 1st division Stoke, following the drawing 1-1 draw at the Victoria ground it was back to Ayresome Park & after extra time Stoke won the cup tie 2-1 but now, this fixture was between two teams on the same level & for the visit of Stoke City the Ayresome Park attendance of 25,766 was slightly down on the previous meeting but the outcome was different with the mighty Boro running out winners to claim our 1st points since boxing day with John Hickton scoring his 6th goal of the season & Alan Foggon with his 13th goal of the season, to make sure both points stayed on Teesside & bring a smile to big Jacks face
Normal service was resumed!?

Although goalscoring was the big issue Jack had to try & resolve, he was in negotiations in bringing a quality player in other areas of the field & we were on the verge of signing one of the best attacking full backs in my time following the Boro

Big Jacks team v Stoke

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Frank Spraggon
Graeme Souness
Stuey Boam
Willie Maddren
Bobby Murdoch
David Mills
John Hickton
Alan Foggon
David Armstrong

Normal service was resumed!?

Although goalscoring was the big issue Jack had to try & resolve, he was in negotiations in bringing a quality player in other areas of the field & we were on the verge of signing one of the best attacking full backs in my time following the Boro

Big Jacks team v Stoke

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Frank Spraggon
Graeme Souness
Stuey Boam
Willie Maddren
Bobby Murdoch
David Mills
John Hickton
Alan Foggon
David Armstrong







 

Remember that one well.
A proper tear up.
Arsenal fans spilling onto the pitch to get away from the bottles and darts.