Middlesbrough club stats
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 21:24
Facts
Formed: 1876
Home: Riverside Stadium, capacity 35,049
Nickname: Boro.
People
Owner: Steve Gibson (majority shareholder)
Chairman: Steve Gibson
Chief executive: Keith Lamb
Head coach: Gareth Southgate
Assistant coach: Steve Harrison
Team captain: George Boateng
History
Middlesbrough first came into being when a group of cricketers came up with an excuse to ditch the whites and play a real sport. "Keeping fit over the winter" was the spurious reasoning behind Middlesbrough Amateur Cricket Club's 1876 decision to launch the team after a hearty tripe dinner.
By 1903 they had risen to the First Division and taken up home at Ayresome Park where they would stay for the next 92 years. With the gloriously-named Wilf Mannion leading the way Boro were shaping up as a major domestic force until the war intervened and the team's best years were lost.
Jack Charlton steered the side to a 1970s revival that saw them land the Anglo-Scottish Cup, but once he departed to seek international jobs and spread the gospel of Shredded Wheat, the club nosedived into liquidation. Steve Gibson rallied together a consortium of worthies and together they delivered desperately-needed funds and a cunning alter ego for the club, complete with new badge and name.
It worked as Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Club (1986) Ltd won promotion back to the Second Division at their first attempt and took their place in the inaugural Premiership season in 1992. As Gibson kept the cash flowing, fancy dan foreigners such as Juninho and Fabrizio Ravenelli joined Mannion as Teesside legends and an unlikely glamour seemed to shroud the Riverside.
A return in the Championship in 1997 was mercifully brief with the club bouncing back at the first attempt and, a after landing the club's first major honour in the 2004 League Cup, the 2005/06 season saw a thrilling Uefa Cup run that came to shuddering halt with a 4-0 defeat to Sevilla in the final.
Honours
Division One champions: 1 – 1995
Division Two champions: 3 – 1927, 1929, 1974
League Cup winners: 1 – 2004
Uefa Cup runners-up: 1 – 2005
FA Cup runners-up: 1997
Last Season
Premiership: 12th – P 38 W 12 D 10 L 16 GF 44 GA 49 GD -5 PTS 46
FA Cup: Quarter-finalists – lost 0-1 to West Ham
League Cup: Second round – lost 0-1 (replay) to Manchester United
A fan's view of the 2006/07 season
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