This day 1986 - Will we kick off, or not?

[erimus74]

This day 1986 - Will we kick off, or not?
How we got to this day, the most important fixture in the entire history of Middlesbrough FC, IMHO mind

12 months after escaping a similar fate at the same ground we see ourselves back at Gay Meadow on the 3rd April 1986 but unlike 12 months ago & a Boro win on this occasion a goal from Archie Stephens wasnt enough as we see our team lose 2-1 away to Shrewsbury Town & for the 2nd time in our proud history, we were relegated to the third division (now 1st division)

We have to go back a bit further, back to 10th March 1981 when our problems seem to have started, we lost an FAC QF replay away to Wolves & a promising, young, exciting team was broke up & sold for profit, our crown jewels gone
Boro manager John Neal resigned over the shambles & one of Charltons Champions, Bobby Murdoch, was promoted from the backroom staff to replace him, sadly, within 12 months we were releagated after 8 years in the top flight

Following the sale of players such as David Armstrong, Mark Proctor, Craig Johnston & replacing those players with mediocre standard players, Heine Otto apart, 1982 we were releagted

Since relegation from the 1st divison (now PL)  we were on a slippery slope, 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 move on & 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 one reason, or another manager Willie Maddren, who made some excellent signings, who went on to play such an important role over the coming seasons & when some of the players were sold, the club gained a financial windfall, just couldnt get it right, on the pitch it just wouldnt work for Willie Maddren, one step forward & two steps back, as I 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, thankfully 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
One month later, 4th March, Bruce was in charge of his 1st game, a home to Grimsby Town, Boro winning 3-1, a winless run of 6 games followed the Grimsby game, making life difficult for us & with relegation starring us in the face
In the middle of the winless run the Boro lost at home to Sheff Utd 2-1, the Boro were that good that night that the board decided he was the man to take us forward & offered Bruce the job full time, which he gladly accepted
After the winless run of 6 games we beat Huddersfield away 3-0, hope again, win, lose, win, lose until the final game of the season away to Shrewsbury, win & we stay up, we didnt & afetr losing 2-1 & Gary Pallister sent off, we were down

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 to remain 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 & 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 & what was to follow was a once in a lifetime moment

Boro were back

Bruce Rioch named the following team for the most important fixture in our history

Stephen Pears
Brian Laws
Colin Cooper
Tony Mowbray
Gary Gil
Gary Parkinson - registered No581 made his debut
Bernie Slaven
Archie Stephens
Gary Hamilton
Alan Kernaghan
Stuart Ripley
Sub
Lee Turnbull

UTMB - erimus

[TerryCochranesSocks]

They were interesting times to say the least, I think we all thought it was the end for a while.
Thanks for this mate, some brilliant memories brought back.

[Johnny Thunder]

Class post Erimus. One of the biggest memories for a lot of Boro fans.

[erimus74]

From this





To this

[Gboro64]

Good post Erimus. I was there that evening and had watched Pools who hosted Cardiff earlier on. I will always be grateful to Pools for letting us play at The Vic after Darlo had given us the cold shoulder

[tunstall]

Fucking Pikey Darlo cunts

[Ural Quntz (Moderator)]

Darlo Police were not able to cover the security for the game due to another event so game couldn't go on there

Pools stepped up

Nowt to do with the Quakers

Ya pair of daf cun's