In the first of a three part series, Business Echo looks at the commerce behind the region's top football clubs, starting this week with Middlesbrough FC. Busines Correspondent Paul Willis reports.

WITH the football team riding high in the Premiership and fans getting their first taste of European competition, these are heady days for Middlesbrough Football Club.

But back in the dark days of 1986, few could have predicted such a rosy future for the club.

As anyone who has seen the club badge can attest, the date is writ large in the club's history.

It was the year that crippling debts got so bad that the club was driven into liquidation - only to be reborn as Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Company (1986) Ltd.

No sooner had the gates at the old Ayresome Park stadium been clinked shut and padlocked, than they were opened up again to welcome in a new era.

Middlesbrough's rescue from the brink of extinction is common knowledge, as is the name of the man who masterminded it.

Steve Gibson was then just a director but, determined not to see his beloved home-town side disappear, he formed a consortium and engineered a rescue package.

Less well-known are the people who helped Mr Gibson in his efforts to save the club.

At the height of the crisis, he went to Middlesbrough Council for help and was introduced to, among others, Graham Fordy, of Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, who became a director.

His association with the club has continued.

Today, he is the commercial director and helps look after the day-to-day running of Middlesbrough FC Ltd.

Mr Fordy admitted it had been a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the club.

He said: "The main driving force has been the team's performance on the pitch. It's a fact of life that success breeds success and nowhere is that more true than with the football industry.

"When the team does well, it attracts more interest and the more support you get, the bigger your profile and the more businesses want to be associated with you."

However, despite its first foray into Europe and a team full of internationally-recognised stars, Mr Fordy said that Middlesbrough Football Club remains a local brand.

Even now, 75 per cent of the club's business comes from within a 25-mile radius, with just 5 per cent coming from outside a 50-mile zone of the ground. This means that while the club is keen to expand its brand in the UK and abroad, most of its efforts remain focused on its core business.

Consequently, Boro remain one of the few Premier League teams whose replica kits are not available in high street sports shops. Middlesbrough football shirts can only be bought online or at the club shops. The reason for this tight control of the merchandising is to ensure that all revenue from kit sales can be ploughed back into the club.

Mr Fordy said: "Most of the big teams have contracts with retailers to have their kits sold nationwide. But the reality is that Boro kits don't sell outside of this area.

"So rather than sign away the club's rights to the replica kits and lose revenue, we prefer to control the sale of the kit to our own outlets and keep all the profit for the club."

As more big name teams float on the Stock Exchange, Middlesbrough remains steadfastly a private operation.

Steve Gibson remains the only shareholder in the club.

He has won wide praise for putting his money where his mouth is.

His understated style and obvious heartfelt commitment to the club have often been seen in stark contrast to the egocentric and brash approach of many football chairmen.

And far from leaving the business behind the times, Mr Fordy said having just one shareholder has allowed the club to be dynamic in exploiting new ideas and innovations.

He said: "The merchandising side of the business has come on massively in recent years.

"When you consider that back when we were at Ayresome Park, our retail operation consisted of a shop counter selling shirts, we have really come a long way."

Today, Middlesbrough sells its merchandise through two retail outlets as well as on the club's website.

The Boro superstore in Middlesbrough town centre is 8,500 sq ft and the biggest town centre club shop in the country, while the Riverside Stadium has another 3,500 sq ft of shop space.

Both outlets sell a vast array of goods bearing the club's logo, from whisky to car air-fresheners.

Mr Fordy said: "This is the beauty of only having to answer to one boss and not a board of directors or shareholders. You can be much more dynamic.

"We've been able to come up with a string of firsts.

"We were the first club to have our own range of chocolates and sweets, the first club to sell cards and wrapping paper with the club colours on it."

Middlesbrough was also the first team to launch its own TV channel, Boro TV, which can be viewed on the local cable TV network.

According to Mr Fordy, most of these marketing ventures remain relatively risk-free.

He said: "Normally, it's a case of people approaching us with a product they want to add our name to and we have to decide yes or no."

The club needs to be as dynamic as it can to compete with the footballing big boys.

Although the majority of the Premiership club's revenues come from sponsorship, gate receipts still account for 20 per cent.

Another heavy chunk comes from TV coverage, with teams in the Premiership earning an average of between £16m and £20m from appearance fees.

But with Middlesbrough averaging six to seven live appearances on Sky Sports a season and commanding average gates of around 30,000, compared with Man Utd's 17 to 20 TV showings and Old Trafford's 67,000 capacity, it is clearly not an equal situation.

But Mr Fordy is not jealous, just ambitious.

He said: "That's where we want to be and the way to do it is through success on the field and capitalising on that success off the pitch."

And though they're no Man Utd just yet, considering where the club has come from, it's certainly not done badly.