The mighty Boro travelled to 1st division giants Man City for our FAC 3rd round cup tie
City were sitting in 2nd place in the  1st division, one point behind leaders Man Utd

Boro gave a good account of themselves & were very unlucky not to have won the cup tie on the day

David Mills scored his 4th goal of the season in the 42nd minute when he put the Boro one up & along with Jim Platt, Willie Maddren, John Craggs & Stuey Boam were making their FAC debut for Boro.

With 3 minutes remaining & Boro dealing comfortably with everything City could throw at us were dealt a serious blow when Franny Lee dived (cheated) who dusted himself down & put City level to fight another day

Stans Team.
Jim Platt
John Craggs
Gordon Jones
Willie Maddren
Stuey Boam
Bill Gates
Nobby Stiles
Eric McMordie
David Mills
John Hickton
Derrick Downing
Sub
Joe Laidlaw

47 years ago the mighty Boro went to Newcastle & smashed them 4-2 with goals from Stuey Boam, Stan Cummins & a brace from Billy Ashcroft

John Neals team
Jim Platt
John Craggs
Ian Bailey
John Mahoney.
Stuey Boam
Alan Ramage
David Mills
Stan Cummins
Billy Ashcroft
Tony McAndrew
David Armstrong

49 years ago Boro beat Man City 1-0 with a John Hickton 8th of the season at Ayresome Park in our semi final first leg cup tie

Big Jacks team
Jim Platt
John Craggs
Ian Bailey
Graeme Souness
Stuey Boam
Willie Maddren
Bobby Murdoch
David Mills
John Hickton - Alan Foggon
Terry Cooper
David Armstrong

Attendance  - 34,579

Manager Stan Anderson considered his Boro future after this defeat to 3rd division Plymouth Argyle
One win since 2nd December Stan had the weekend to consider his position on whether to stay as manager of the Boro, or stay on & if he decides to go, then a sad ending to a good managers reign & the 1st Boro manager for me following the Boro.

Through his term as Boro manager he'd put together a very good team, made some excellent signings, including my favourite player of all time, John Hickton & introduced some brilliant youngsters through the ranks, Willie Maddren, David Mills, David Armstrong etc, he had transformed the mighty Boro from a relegated team to a team constantly knocking on the door to win promotion to the 1st division, now PL

Stan signed for the Boro from Newcastle in November 1965 as the clubs 1st player coach (back then a coach wasn't a manager, he was an assistant manager) the 1st such role in Boro's history, he then went on to become the 1st player to represent & captain all 3 north east teams, making his scoring debut at home to Cardiff on November 4th in a 4 -3 defeat
January 1st seen him score his 2nd & last Boro goal in a 4-1 defeat at Rotherham & by April 66, with the team struggling & heading towards the 3rd division, he was offered the position & appointed manager of the Boro, unfortunately Stan couldn't halt the slide in to the 3rd division for the 1st time in our history, but good days were around the corner

Stan got the Boro promoted at the 1st attempt & in the following 5 seasons had us finishing, 6th, 4th, 4th, 7th & his final full season 9th, this was long before the playoffs were even thought of

Stan had proved to be a very good manager, good football, cracking FAC runs, including victories over Man Utd, West Ham, Man City

The Ayresome Angels, supporters on the terraces from 66 had come & gone but Stan had one thing that never left him, his eye for a good player, John Hickton, Hughie Mcllmoyle, Willie Whigham, John Craggs, record signing Jonny Crossen, 6 foot 2 eye of blue Stuey Boam is after you, world cup winner Nobby Stiles & the introduction of Willie Maddren, who eventually played alongside Boam, as the telepathic twins & my favourite Boro keeper, Jim Platt
Most of the players mentioned, including his final 2 signings, Alan Foggon & Graeme Souness, again a master stroke, played a massive part, IMHO, forming the best ever Boro team

The Boro team this day was.....
Jim Platt - Debut October 1971
John Craggs - Signed by Stan August 1971
Gordon Jones
Nobby Stiles - Signed by Stan Anderson summer 1971
Stuey Boam - Signed by Stan summer of 1971
Willie Maddren - Scored on his full debut 12th April 1969
Eric McMordie
John Hickton signed by Stan, scored on his debut on the 24th September 1966, his 22nd birthday
David Mills - Full debut 12th April 1969
Graeme Souness - Final signing by Stan, debut 6th January 1972
Alan Foggon - 2nd final signing by Stan, debut 25th November 1972
Sub - Malcolm Smith.

Happy birthday to, without a doubt, the best defender ever to play for the Boro in my time

The late, great, Willie Maddren was born in Port Clarence on this day 1951 & what a legend, both as a player & manager

As a youngster, while playing for Port Clarence, he broke his ankle just two days before he was to have a trial with Leeds United, who failed to follow up on his progress
Boro's gain, a blessing in disguise

He signed for the Boro, progressing through the levels & on his 18th birthday was handed the No12 shirt for our 2nd divison game away to Bristol City, replacing Frank Spraggon in the 2nd half to make his debut
Later in the season, 12th April 1969 at home to Bury & after just the one sub appearence, registered No475 Willie was in the starting line up, wearing No10 shirt at home to Bury for the final home fixture of the season

Unbeaten at home Boro v almost relegated Bury

In the 33rd minute, the Boro won a corner, the ball was swung over with Willie heading the ball home, not long after another corner to Boro, Willie again rose high to meet the ball but, unfortuntly the ball hits the crossbar & goes over the bar, leaving a round muddy stain mark on the crossbar, typical Boro though as we lost 3-2, he mentions in his brilliant & emotional book extra time, he reported back for pre season training & smiled, the ball stain mark was still visible on the crossbar

He had a fantastic telepathic relationship with Stuey Boam, IMHO, the best defence pair the club have ever had
Willie played 343 games between 1968 - 1977, scoring 21 goals

He scored our 2nd goal at Burnley that put us in our 1st ever league cup semi final

Sadly, 3rd September 1977 was to be his final Boro appearences, in the same game as Cyril Regis & Billy Ashcroft making their debuts & at such a tender age of 26 he'd played his final game for the Boro

A few turbulent years later in March 1984 big Jack came back as temp manager to successfully keep the Boro up, bringing in Willie as his No2, he left in June 1984 & recommended Willie Maddren take over the hot seat at Ayresome Park

Willie took the role in June 1984 & even though he couldn't stop the slow decline of the club, he brought players to the Boro who, not only played a major part in the amazing, unforgetable seasons which followed him leaving but, when some of those players left we gained financial windfalls from their sale

Just remember some of the players he brought, Bernie Slaven, Stephen Pears, Archie Stephens, Gary Pallister, Brian Laws, Gary Rowell, while giving debuts to Stuart Ripley & Colin Cooper, with his final signing been the jigsaw that moulded all the named players together into an excellent team, Bruce Rioch

There were others he wanted to sign but couldn't get the deal over the line, one Neil Pointon, who was playing for Scunthorpe, later transferred to Everton

The players he brought in, also blooding youngsters from within the club, he put in place fantastic foundations that made Bruce Riochs job that much easier, BR, who went on to gave us an unbelievable few seasons following WM's departure, each season as we went closer & closer to the black hole no manager was putting anything in place, just buying adequate replacements to see us through, Willie Maddren built for the future & what a job he did

I could go on writing about Willie's time at the Boro

RIP Willie Maddren x

One of our darkest periods in our history for me

I still look back with fondness at the club at those days, what we come through & where we ended up not long after

This season (1984/85) Boro were going from one crisis to the next, we only had 6 wins leading up to this match & facing another long battle against relegation to the 3rd division

The start of the year didn't start off well, losing at home to Oxford 1-0 on NYD then drawing 0-0 at home to Darlington on the 5th in the FAC 3rd round, thought we were lucky to come away & still be in the cup, if we were lucky to escape the 1st match we certainly weren't in the replay, as Boro old boys had their day of glory

2 former Boro players scoring against the mighty Boro & here we go again, facing a mountain to drag ourselves back in to this cup tie

Crowd trouble erupted throughout the game, fans running on the pitch
I really felt for the late, great Willie Maddren that night in the dug out, he didn't sign up for this, he was taking one step forward & two steps backwards

The ref took both teams off the pitch, a section of the Boro fans were hopefully thinking the game would be abandoned but the ref told both managers, that no matter what time it will be, tonight's match will finish
With the police getting the crowds under control & back in the stands both teams resumed the match.
Tony McAndrew dragged a goal back, his final Boro FAC goal, at last a Boro Cup goal & away goal for that matter, but as Boro huffed & puffed it was a case of too little too late & we were out of the cup & the Boro gloom continues

Willie Maddren picked the following team.
Kelham O'Hanlon
Irving Nattrass
Gary Hamilton
Mick Buckley
Mick Saxby
Paul Ward - Future Darlington temp manager & the youngest
Tony Mowbray
David Mills
Heine Otto
Dave Currie
Tony McAndrew

A crowd of 19,084 at the game, to see struggling Boro against former Boro favourite Cyril Knowles, now managing Darlington, a team who were on the up, strangely enough, they could have been the favourites, crazy to think so

Things were not going well as the late, great Willie Maddren was hoping, we were struggling on the field, results were poor

In 1984 we had won 6 games, 2 at home & now face an inform team on the up, with it been a derby game all the more for our visitors to be busting at the leash to get out at Ayresome Park & fight tooth & nail for a place in the FAC 4th round

Darlington's 1st visit back at Ayresome Park since Boro stuffed them 4-0 back on 27th December 1967, but things are a lot different now

We huffed & puffed, the game seemed to be end to end, there wasn't a big difference between both teams, Darlington were matching Boro all over the pitch

The match finished goalless, have Darlington had their best chance to inflict a rare victory over the mighty Boro.
Chicken run for me & our dad that Saturday afternoon

Willie Maddren's team.
Kelham O'Hanlon
Irving Nattrass - Captain
Gary Hamilton
Mick Buckley
Mick Saxby
Paul Ward - Future Darlo's youngest manager
Tony Mowbray
David Mills
Heine Otto
Dave Currie
Tony McAndrew
Sub
Alan Roberts.

FAC 3rd round  - Boro flashback

For the 2nd season running we were drawn away to non league opposition, last season (5/1/1974) it was Midland League side Grantham who were disposed of 2-0 in the 3rd round, this season it's Isthmian League team Wycombe Wanderers, who created their piece of club history when playing in the third round proper of the F.A. Cup for the first time facing joint top First Division Boro at Loakes Park.

Big Jack made one change from the previous home game, bringing in Peter Brine for Bobby Murdoch

The game ended goalless & WW earned a big money day out at Ayresome Park
 
Big Jacks team.
Jim Platt
John Craggs
Frank Spraggon
Graeme Souness
Stuart Boam
Willie Maddren
Peter Brine
David Mills
John Hickton
Alan Foggon
Davey Armstrong
Sub - Alan Willey, replaced Alan Foggon in the 2nd half

FAC 3rd round  - Boro flashback

1st match of the new decade & could it be any bigger, mouth watering cup tie with one of the capitals biggest teams coming to Teesside & 3 members of the world cup winning team in their ranks, plus Clyde Best, Frank Lampard & Billy Bonds, they had a team to frighten the very best in the 1st division
A crowd of 32,585, our biggest gate of the season & biggest since beating Oxford 4-1 in the final game of the 66/67 season

Boro ran out winners with goals from Hughie Mcllmoyle & a Derrick Downing diving header seasling an unforgettable cup win

Stan Andersons team

Willie Whigham
Gordon Jones
Alex Smith
Frank Spraggon
Bill Gates
Derrick Downing
Joe Laidlaw
George Smith
John Hickton
Hugh McIlmoyle
Willie Maddren

West Ham.
Bobby Ferguson
Bobby Moore
Alan Stephenson
Bobby Howe
Billy Bonds
Frank Lampard
Ronnie Boyce
Martin Peters
John Sissons
Clyde Best
Geoff Hurts

FAC 3rd round at Old Trafford