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

[erimus74]

How we got to this day, the most important fixture in the entire history of Middlesbrough FC!

3rd April 1986 - Twelve  months after escaping a similar fate on the same ground, we see ourselves back at Gay Meadow, but unlike 12 months previous & a Boro win on that occasion,  a goal from Archie Stephens wasn't enough as the mighty Boro lost 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 heartbreakingly lost an FAC QF extra time replay away to Wolves & with that 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

Following the sale of players such as David Armstrong, Mark Proctor, Craig Johnston & replacing those players with mediocre standard players, Heine Otto apart,  Bobby Murdoch was starting life as manager with one hand tied behind his back, sadly, within 12 months we were relegated after 8 years in the top flight we were relegated

Since relegation from the 1st division (now PL) we were on a slippery slope, each season we were struggling, both financially & in our league positions following relegation from the top flight to relegation to the 3rd we finished (1982/83) 16th, (1983/84) 17th &  (1984/85) 19th

1984-85 season we survived relegation on the final day of the season, winning at Shrewsbury 2-0, two Boro players, Gary Hamilton & Peter Beagrie, sent off

Hopefully, 1985-86 season was to be lessons learned & the Boro can move on & progress, but sadly it wasn't 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

Our late, great manager Willie Maddren, made some excellent signings, who went on to play such an important role over the coming seasons,   just couldn't get it right on the pitch, it just wouldn't work for Willie Maddren, one step forward & two steps back, as I mentioned, Willie made 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 hadn't 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, Bruce was in charge of his 1st game

4th March 1986 - Grimsby Town arrived at Ayresome Park for a Tuesday night second division fixture Boro without a league win this calendar year & following 4 defeats & a draw in the previous five fixtures of 1986 put all that to bed with a convincing 3-1 with goals by Tony Mowbray & a brace from Bernie Slaven,  but things seemed to revert back to as they were as we went on another winless run of 5 games, followed the Grimsby Town game, making life very difficult for us & relegation continually starring us in the face

In the middle of the 5 game winless run the Boro lost at home to Sheff Utd 2-1, the Boro were that good that night that the board decided Bruce Rioch was the man to take us forward & offered Bruce the job full time, which Bruce gladly accepted

After the winless run of 5 games we beat Huddersfield away 3-0, hope again, win, lose, win, lose until the final game of the season away to Shrewsbury Town. Win & we stay up, lose & we're down, unfortunately  the latter & after losing 2-1 & Gary Pallister sent off, we were relegated

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 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 & 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

23rd August 1986 - The day arrived, the most important fixture in the clubs history was finally here, 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 for 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 & for me, one of the best eras ever as a Boro fan

Bruce Rioch named the following team


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


And what we want on to achieve after that historic Port Vale game

UTMB - erimus