1986–87 Middlesbrough F.C. season

Middlesbrough
1986-87 season
Chairman	Colin Henderson
Manager	Bruce Rioch
Football League Third Division	2nd
FA Cup	3rd round
League Cup	2nd round
Top goalscorer	League: Bernie Slaven (17); All: Bernie Slaven (21)
Highest home attendance	18,523 v Wigan Athletic; Away: 13,835 v AFC Bournemouth
Lowest home attendance	3,690 v Port Vale; Away: 2,788 v Newport County
	← 1985–86 1987–88 →

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.

Team kit and sponsors

During the 1986–87 season, Middlesbrough maintained the white band on their home kit from the previous two seasons and were sponsored by Dickens.^[2]

Home colours

Away colours

Season review

Pre-season panic

The financial problems that had been plaguing the club since the early 1980s almost led the club into extinction following their relegation the previous season.

After Alf Duffield's resignation near the end of the previous season, Boro had been operating without a chairman. On 21 May 1986, the worst fears of Middlesbrough fans were realised. Debts believed to be in the region of £2 million meant the club were forced to call in the provisional liquidator. Late in July, the Inland Revenue took the club to court, claiming that it was owed £115,156 in tax arrears and so the judge issued a winding up order. On the second of August, Bruce Rioch and twenty-nine other non-playing staff were sacked by the Official Receiver and the gates of Ayresome Park were padlocked. Some players chose to remain and train under Rioch and coach Colin Todd, while others chose to leave.

Steve Gibson approached the local council, ICI and Graham Fordy of Scottish & Newcastle for help. An advert was placed in The Times for help, and Henry Moszkowicz was one of those who replied. Gibson reached an agreement with former chairman Alf Duffield, who was owed £500,000, that he would wind up the company. Clubs in less serious situations had previously used liquidation to get out of problems, but when it came to Middlesbrough's turn, the Football League showed a lack of support.

The council was unable to meet its £200,000 share of the pot to help the club, meaning Gibson and Moszkowicz had to raise their inputs. Three days before the start of the season, the league introduced a ruling meaning the club had to have £350,000 in working capital and show it could pay all creditors 100 pence in the pound. The death of the club was then announced on Tyne Tees Television.

A meeting with the Football League took place on Friday 22 August. Notes were passed from room to room between the league's representatives and the consortium. Colin Henderson agreed a deal with ICI for a bond, meaning that they would pick up a major part of any subsequent debt, and the consortium put in their £825,000. With ten minutes to spare before the registration deadline, the documents were signed by Graham Fordy, Reg Corbridge and 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., the new company formed by the purchase of Blackplay Ltd., a dead company, off the shelf. Gibson, Fordy, Corbridge and Moszkowicz formed the board. The club had been saved and the deal was announced to the public at the town hall.

Football League Third Division

Results

Win Draw Loss

Game	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result F–A	Attendance	Boro Goalscorers
1	23 August 1986	H^[1]	Port Vale	2–2	3,690	Stephens (2)
2	30 August 1986	A	Wigan	2–0	2,904	Turnbull, Mowbray
3	6 September 1986	H	Bury	3–1	6,499	Stephens (2), Slaven
4	13 September 1986	A	Gillingham	0–0	4,888
5	17 September 1986	A	Bristol Rovers	2–1	3,768	Slaven (2)
6	20 September 1986	H	Chesterfield	2–0	7,633	Mowbray, Laws
7	27 September 1986	A	Fulham	2–2	3,852	Laws, Hamilton
8	30 September 1986	H	Swindon	1–0	9,221	Laws
9	4 October 1986	A	Rotherham	4–1	4,321	Stephens (2), Laws (2)
10	11 October 1986	H	Blackpool	1–3	11,470	Stephens
11	18 October 1986	H	Walsall	3–1	8,349	Stephens (2), Laws
12	21 October 1986	A	Notts County	0–1	4,405
13	25 October 1986	A	Bristol City	2–2	8,800	Slaven, Laws
14	1 November 1986	H	AFC Bournemouth	4–0	10,702	Stephens, Slaven, Hamilton, Ripley
15	4 November 1986	H	Bolton	0–0	10,092
16	8 November 1986	A	Darlington	1–0	9,947	Stephens
17	22 November 1986	A	Newport County	1–0	2,788	Mowbray
18	29 November 1986	H	Chester City	1–2	9,376	Slaven
19	13 December 1986	H	Doncaster	1–0	8,100	Mowbray
20	21 December 1986	A	Brentford	1–0	5,504	Slaven
21	26 December 1986	H	Carlisle	1–0	14,216	Gill
22	27 December 1986	A	Mansfield	1–1	5,042	Proudlock
23	1 January 1987	A	York City	1–3	8,611	Mowbray
24	3 January 1987	H	Newport County	2–0	9,595	Gill, Stephens
25	24 January 1987	A	Bury	2–0	3,485	Slaven (2), Laws (pen)
26	7 February 1987	H	Bristol Rovers	1–0	9,610	Ripley
27	14 February 1987	A	Chesterfield	1–2	4,085	Slaven
28	17 February 1987	A	Port Vale	0–0	3,263
29	21 February 1987	H	Fulham	3–0	9,361	Slaven, Hamilton
30	28 February 1987	A	Swindon	0–1	11,341
31	3 March 1987	A	AFC Bournemouth	1–3	13,835	Slaven
32	7 March 1987	H	Bristol City	1–0	10,220	Mowbray
33	14 March 1987	A	Walsall	0–1	7,332
34	17 March 1987	H	Notts County	2–0	9,845	Stephens, Slaven
35	21 March 1987	A	Blackpool	1–0	7,132	Stephens
36	28 March 1987	H	Rotherham	0–0	9,569
37	5 April 1987	H	Darlington	1–1	11,969	Slaven
38	11 April 1987	A	Bolton	1–0	5,858	Slaven
39	18 April 1987	H	York City	3–1	10,546	Ripley, Stephens, Turnbull
40	20 April 1987	A	Carlisle	1–0	5,993	Pallister
41	25 April 1987	H	Brentford	2–0	9,942	Slaven, Turnbull
42	28 April 1987	H	Gillingham	3–0	11,937	Stephens, Slaven, Turnbull
43	2 May 1987	A	Chester City	2–1	3,788	Mowbray, Hamilton
44	4 May 1987	H	Mansfield	1–0	13,543	Hamilton (pen)
45	6 May 1987	H	Wigan	0–0	18,523
46	9 May 1987	A	Doncaster	2–0	3,556	Hamilton, Ripley

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Bournemouth	46	29	10	7	76	40	+36	97	Division Champions, promoted
2	Middlesbrough	46	28	10	8	67	30	+37	94	Promoted
3	Swindon Town	46	25	12	9	77	47	+30	87	Promoted through play-offs^[a]
4	Wigan Athletic	46	25	10	11	83	60	+23	85	Participated in play-offs
5	Gillingham	46	23	9	14	65	48	+17	78	Participated in play-offs

Source: ^[3]
Notes:

^ Swindon Town were winners of the play-offs and were thus promoted.

Cup Reviews

League Cup

Win Draw Loss

Round	Venue	Opponent	Result F–A	Attendance	Boro Goalscorers
1R 1st Leg	A	Hartlepool	1–1	2,356	Slaven
1R 2nd Leg	H	Hartlepool	2–0 (3–1 agg)	7,735	Ripley, Hamilton
2R 1st Leg	H	Birmingham	2–2	9,412	Stephens, Ripley
2R 2nd Leg	A	Birmingham	2–3 (4–5 agg)	4,987	Laws (2) (1 pen)

FA Cup

Round	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result F–A	Attendance	Boro Goalscorers
1R	15 November 1986	H	Blackpool	3–0	11,205	Bernie Slaven (3)
2R	7 December 1986	A	Notts County	1–0	7,415	Hamilton
3	10 January 1987	H	Preston	0–1	15,458

Squad

Senior squad

The following are all the players who were involved the Middlesbrough F.C. first team at some point during the 1986-87 season.^[4] 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	Kevin Carr
—	GK	ENG	Peter Flear
—	DF	ENG	Colin Cooper
—	DF	SCO	Ronnie Coyle (loan)
—	DF	EIR	Alan Kernaghan
—	DF	ENG	Gary Pallister
—	MF	ENG	Gary Gill
—	MF	SCO	Gary Hamilton
—	MF	ENG	Paul Kerr
—	FW	ENG	Peter Duffield
—	FW	ENG	David Hodgson (loan)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	ENG	Brian Laws
—	DF	ENG	Tony Mowbray
—	DF	ENG	Gary Parkinson
—	FW	ENG	Paul Proudlock
—	MF	ENG	Stuart Ripley
—	MF	ENG	Gary Rowell
—	FW	EIR	Bernie Slaven
—	MF	ENG	Steve Spriggs (loan)
—	FW	ENG	Archie Stephens
—	FW	ENG	Lee Turnbull

Coaching staff

Manager: Bruce Rioch
Assistant manager: Colin Todd

Transfers

Players Out

Mitch Cook to Scarborough free

Gary Rowell to Brighton and Hove Albion free

David Currie to Darlington free

Peter Beagrie to Sheffield United £37,500 (tribunal)

Tony McAndrew to Darlington free

David Mills to Darlington free

Don O'Riordan to Grimsby Town free

Tony Hall released

Irving Nattrass retired

Players In

Paul Proudlock from South Bank £2,000

Paul Kerr from Aston Villa £35,000

Ronnie Coyle from Celtic loan

David Hodgson from Norwich City loan

Steve Spriggs from Cambridge United loan

Kevin Carr from Newcastle non contract

References and notes

^ ^a ^b Game was played at Victoria Park, Hartlepool due to Ayresome Park's gates being locked.
^ "Middlesbrough". historicalkits.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
^ "League Division Three end of season table for 1986–87 season". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
^ [1]

[table_note_res_PPP0.89256038372058-3] Swindon Town were winners of the play-offs and were thus promoted.

[PortValeHome-1] Game was played at Victoria Park, Hartlepool due to Ayresome Park's gates being locked.

[2] "Middlesbrough". historicalkits.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.

[league2-4] "League Division Three end of season table for 1986–87 season". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.

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