A NEW book published by three Boro fans breaks down the history of their club into events that happened on each day of the year.
Middlesbrough FC were formed in 1876, so are approaching their 150th anniversary, and although their trophy cabinet is not especially full, their teams have been graced by some of the greatest players, and their stories – from liquidation to the Premier League – are inspirational.
“In bringing together the famous matches, the stories of star names, incredible achievements, agonising failures and some of the quirky and less known moments from Boro’s story, this book, day by day, attempts to present a flavour of the various pieces that come together to form the history of Middlesbrough Football Club,” say the authors in their introduction.
So in the spirit of their day by day approach, we thought we’d dive into the book and see what happened at the Boro every day this week in years gone past.
And what a week that was! Great players, from Wilf Mannion to George Camsell and Paul Gascoigne, were involved in some extraordinary matches, and some landmark events took place: the appearance of Boro’s first substitute, their quickest ever penalty and the opening of their famous ground, Ayresome Park.
This is an abridged version of the entries for this week taken from Middlesbrough On This Day by Tosh Warwick, Gordon Rees and Shaun Wilson (Pitch Publishing, £14.99).
SEPTEMBER 7, 1946
Boro hosted Stoke City in their first home game of the season and, after the police ordered the gates of Ayresome Park to be closed as they estimated some 46,000 were present (the official attendance was 43,685), one of the most incredible matches ever seen at the ground kicked off.
At half-time, the sides were level at 3-3, with Micky Fenton scoring all of Boro’s goals.
Into the second half, Wilf Mannion restored the lead before Freddie Steele levelled for the Potters.
It was not until the dying minutes that Fenton scored his fourth and Boro’s fifth to record a third successive victory.
Following the match, so impressed were the visitors by Mannion that Stoke City manager Bob McGrory announced that he had tabled an offer for the “Golden Boy”, but Mannion remained until 1954.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1982
Tony Mowbray faced a baptism of fire on his Boro debut away at a star-studded Newcastle United with the unenviable task of marking Kevin Keegan.
Relegated the previous season, Boro were pointless and had shipped seven goals in their opening two matches.
But Mowbray helped arrest the rot as Boro battled back after falling behind to a second-half Mick Channon goal to earn a draw thanks to a Darren Wood equaliser.
SEPTEMBER 9, 1935
George Camsell scored five in a 7-2 win at Villa Park to make it 12 goals in two away games for the Teessiders as they went top of the First Division. The Birmingham Gazette described Villa’s heaviest home league defeat since the First World War as “their severest football lesson for years”.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2002
Szilard Nemeth (two) and Massimo Maccarone scored the goals as Middlesbrough triumphed in the Tees–Wear derby at the Riverside Stadium to go fourth in the Premier League.
SEPTEMBER 11, 1965
Bryan ‘Taffy’ Orritt – the versatile forward who played in defence, midfield, attack and even as a goalkeeper – fittingly also had the honour of becoming the club’s first ever substitute when he replaced the injured Nev Chapman at Preston. Since the beginning of the season, clubs had been allowed to name a substitute who was permitted to replace a teammate – in theory – only in instances of injury.
SEPTEMBER 12, 1903
James Clifton Robinson, president and managing director of Imperial Tramways and a shareholder at the club, performed the official opening ceremony of Ayresome Park with a golden key as a crowd of 30,000 packed into Middlesbrough’s new home. The ground, designed by Archibald Leitch, featured a new main stand with the opposite stand relocated from the club’s former home at the Linthorpe Road Ground.
To employ Leitch was a brave decision by Boro. He was a Scottish architect whose first stadium, Ibrox, the home of Glasgow Rangers, had been completed in 1899, but on April 5, 1902, a stand had collapsed during an international match, killing 25 spectators. Leitch pleaded with Rangers to be allowed to fix the mistakes, and, with a new patented design, he went on to build some of the most famous stadia in the country: as well as Ayresome Park and Roker Park, he was responsible for Bramall Lane, Goodison Park, Stamford Bridge, Anfield, Craven Cottage, Hampden Park, Old Trafford, Villa Park, and Tottenham’s old White Hart Lane.
At Ayresome Park, Sunderland were the visitors for the first home league game of the season as Boro looked to record their first win after losing their opening away fixture at Sheffield Wednesday.
Just before half-time, Scotsman Joe Cassidy made sure of his place in the history books by scoring the first goal at Ayresome Park to give Boro the lead.
The Wearsiders levelled after half-time but Boro hit back in less than a minute through Alex Brown.
Unfortunately, Sunderland went on to win 3-2 to put a dampener on Boro’s big day.
3-0 this week in 1998
SEPTEMBER 13, 1998
Hamilton Ricard smashed a double as Boro, newly promoted to the Premier League, stunned caretaker manager David Pleat’s Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in front of the national TV cameras.
Vladimir Kinder, a late substitute for former Spurs player Paul Gascoigne (who received a warm ovation from the home fans), scored a long-range effort to make it 3-0 shortly before the end.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1985
Sunderland legend and former Canaries forward Gary Rowell scored the fastest penalty in Boro’s history to give the home side the lead after just 38 seconds in a 1-1 draw against his old club Norwich City.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1991
Boro recorded a 3-0 victory over Leicester City in front of 16,673 at Ayresome Park. Bernie Slaven’s fourth goal of the season and a brace from new marksman Paul Wilkinson extended the team’s winning run to five in a row.
READ MORE: HOW BRIAN CLOUGH'S PLAYING CAREER CAME TO AN END EXACTLY 60 YEARS AGO
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