1985–86 Middlesbrough F.C. season

Middlesbrough
1985–86 season
Manager	Willie Maddren (until 2 February 1986); Bruce Rioch (from 2 February 1986)
Stadium	Ayresome Park
Division Two	21st (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
Milk Cup	First round
	← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Last updated October 09, 2024

This period in the history of Middlesbrough is considered its most traumatic. The club was in financial difficulties which eventually led to liquidation in 1986 and the near loss of professional football on Teesside. At the end of 1985–86 season Boro were relegated to the old Third Division. By then Willie Maddren was no longer manager. He was sacked with 13 games remaining, replaced by his assistant Bruce Rioch. Maddren is remembered for his astute signings. Bernie Slaven was signed from part-time football in Scotland to become a Middlesbrough legend. Maddren also brought youth team players through the ranks, including Colin Cooper and Stuart Ripley.

October 1985 – In a trial game against Bradford City, Bernie Slaven scored and impressed the Middlesbrough management enough to snap him up. Bradford^{[ citation needed ]} also wanted him to sign on the dotted line, but the then Albion Rovers owner negotiated a deal with Middlesbrough which satisfied all parties and manager Willie Maddren picked Slaven up for a bargain price of £25,000.^[2]

22 October 1985 – Home team Sunderland beat ten man Middlesbrough 1–0 after Archie Stephens was sent off in the 33rd minute.^[3]

November 1985 – Middlesbrough beat Shrewsbury Town 3–1, in front of a home gate of 4,061, with goals from Gary Rowell, Pat Heard and Tony McAndrew.^[4]

2 January 1986 – Second Division strugglers Middlesbrough are reported to be £1 million in debt.

21 May 1986 – Middlesbrough, recently relegated to the Third Division for the second time in their history, are faced with the threat of losing their Football League status and going out of business after going into liquidation.

Senior squad

The following are all the players who were involved the Middlesbrough F.C. first team at some point during the 1985–86 season.^[5]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ENG	Stephen Pears
—	GK	ENG	Peter Flear
—	DF	ENG	Colin Cooper
—	DF	SCO	Tony McAndrew
—	DF	EIR	Alan Kernaghan
—	DF	ENG	Gary Pallister
—	DF	ENG	Pat Heard
—	DF	EIR	Don O'Riordan
—	MF	ENG	Mitch Cook
—	MF	ENG	Irving Nattrass
—	MF	ENG	Gary Gill
—	MF	SCO	Gary Hamilton
—	FW	ENG	David Currie
—	FW	ENG	Peter Duffield


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	ENG	Brian Laws
—	DF	ENG	Tony Mowbray
—	DF	ENG	Steve Corden
—	MF	ENG	Stuart Ripley
—	MF	ENG	Gary Rowell
—	MF	ENG	Peter Beagrie
—	FW	EIR	Bernie Slaven
—	FW	ENG	Archie Stephens
—	FW	ENG	Lee Turnbull

Second Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
18	Sunderland	42	13	11	18	47	61	−14	50
19	Blackburn Rovers	42	12	13	17	53	62	−9	49
20	Carlisle United (R)	42	13	7	22	47	71	−24	46	Relegation to the Third Division
21	Middlesbrough (R)	42	12	9	21	44	53	−9	45
22	Fulham (R)	42	10	6	26	45	69	−24	36

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(R) Relegated

Related Research Articles

Middlesbrough Football Club is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North East Of England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were formed in 1876 and are the 11th oldest football league club in England and Wales. The club have played at the Riverside Stadium since 1995, having previously played at Ayresome Park for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.

John Grattan Hendrie is a Scottish former professional association footballer who played on the right wing or in attack.

Bernard Joseph Slaven is a former professional football striker. He scored 223 goals in 567 league and cup appearances throughout an 18-year career and also earned seven caps for the Republic of Ireland.

Terence Charles Yorath is a Welsh former football player and manager at both club and international level.

Patrick Kevin Francis Michael Nevin is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a winger. In a twenty-year career, he appeared for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell. He won 28 caps for Scotland, scattered across a ten-year international career, and was selected for the UEFA Euro 1992 finals squad. Since retiring as a player, Nevin has worked as a chief executive of Motherwell and as a football writer and broadcaster.

Ayresome Park was a football stadium in the Ayresome area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and replaced with housing.

The 2000–01 season was the 121st season of competitive football in England.

William Dixon Maddren was an English professional football player and manager. A one-club man, he made all his professional club appearances for Middlesbrough between 1968 and 1979, and went on to manage the club from 1984 to 1986.

Donald Joseph O'Riordan is an Irish football coach and former professional player, who most recently was the manager of Women's National League club Treaty United. O'Riordan notably played for Middlesbrough, Grimsby Town and Notts County amongst others and has previously been on the coaching staff at Sheffield United, in the role of technical director/coach of their feeder club Chengdu Blades F.C. in China.

Middlesbrough F.C. is a football club based in Middlesbrough, England.

David Mills is an English former footballer most notable for his career with Middlesbrough and becoming England's first £500,000 footballer.

This article details Middlesbrough Football Club's recovery after their liquidation in 1986.

During the 1986–87 season, Middlesbrough participated in the Football League Third Division following their relegation the previous season. They were promoted back to the Second Division at the end of the season having finished second in the league.

Stan Cummins is an English former footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder or forward.

The 1987–88 season was the 89th completed season of The Football League.

Paul Andrew Kerr is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. He scored 48 goals in 264 league appearances in a 13-year career in the Football League.

Pat Heard is an English retired footballer, notably a midfielder and left-back. He was a member of Villa’s history-making '82 squad.

Adam Stephen Clayton is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Premier League Premier Division club Matlock Town.

The 1988 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match contested between Chelsea and Middlesbrough over two legs on 25 May 1988 and 28 May 1988. It was to determine which club would play the next season in the First Division, the top tier of English football. Chelsea had finished the season fourth from bottom in the First Division, while Middlesbrough were third in the Second Division. They were joined in the play-offs by the teams that had finished fourth and fifth in the Second Division: Chelsea defeated Blackburn Rovers in their play-off semi-final, while Middlesbrough beat Bradford City.

During the 1988–89 English football season, Middlesbrough finished third from bottom in the Football League First Division and were relegated after just one season.

References

↑ The Guardian, SOCCER IN BRIEF, 30 August 1985
↑ "BERNIE SLAVEN 1985–93". mfc.premiumtv.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
↑ Barclay, Patrick, Stephens off after Gates opens door, The Guardian 23 October 1985
↑ The Yorkshire Post, Action Replay – 30 years ago today 27 November 2015
↑

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] The Guardian, SOCCER IN BRIEF, 30 August 1985

[Official-2] "BERNIE SLAVEN 1985–93". mfc.premiumtv.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2009.

[3] Barclay, Patrick, Stephens off after Gates opens door, The Guardian 23 October 1985

[4] The Yorkshire Post, Action Replay – 30 years ago today 27 November 2015

[5] ↑

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Middlesbrough F.C. seasons
1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

1985–86 Middlesbrough F.C. season

Contents

Senior squad

Second Division

See also

Related Research Articles

References

1985–86 season
Manager	Willie Maddren (until 2 February 1986) Bruce Rioch (from 2 February 1986)
Stadium	Ayresome Park
Division Two	21st (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
Milk Cup	First round
← 1984–85 1986–87 →