Middlesbrough Football Club is English Football Club

Logo of Middlesbrough Football Club

Middlesbrough Football Club also known as The Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship for the 2009–10 season, following relegation from the Premier League. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889. Their longest-serving home was Ayresome Park, where they played for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.

They were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992. The club's main rivals are Newcastle United and Sunderland. The club also take part in Yorkshire derbies with several other Yorkshire clubs, most notably Leeds United.

The club's highest league finish to date was third in the 1913–14 season and they have only spent two seasons outside of the Football League's top two divisions. The club came close to folding in 1986 after experiencing severe financial difficulties before the club was saved by a consortium led by then board member and later chairman Steve Gibson. Middlesbrough were controversially deducted three points for failing to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn Rovers during the 1996–97 Premier League season and were subsequently relegated. They were promoted the following season and spent eleven consecutive seasons in the top division before relegation. Middlesbrough won the League Cup in 2004, the club's first and only major trophy. They reached the final of the 2006 UEFA Cup in May 2006 but were beaten by Spanish side Sevilla F.C.. On 24 May 2009, Middlesbrough were relegated to the Championship after failing to extend their 11-year stay in the Premier League.

Riverside Stadium

They won the FA Amateur Cup in 1895 and again in 1898. The club turned professional in 1889, but reverted to amateur status in 1892. They turned professional permanently in 1899. After three seasons, they won promotion to the First Division, where they would remain for the next 22 years.

In 1903, the club moved to Ayresome Park, their home for the next 92 years. In 1905, the club sanctioned the transfer of Alf Common for £1,000, a record fee. Over the next few years, their form fluctuated greatly, rising to sixth in 1907–08 before dropping to seventeenth two seasons later. The club rose to their highest league finish to date, third, in 1913–14. The First World War soon intervened and football was suspended.

Before league football resumed, Middlesbrough won the Northern Victory League, but the team were unable to maintain their previous form and finished the 1919–20 season in mid-table. They remained in the First Division for the next few seasons, but were relegated in 1923–24 after finishing bottom, ten points adrift of their nearest rivals. Three seasons later, they won the Division Two title. During that season, debutant George Camsell, who had signed from Third Division North side Durham City the previous season, finished with a record 59 league goals, which included nine hat tricks. He would continue as top scorer for each of the next ten seasons. Their tenure back in the top flight lasted only one season, and the club were relegated. They were promoted at the first attempt in 1928–29, winning another Second Division title. The club remained in the First Division until 1954.

Middlesbrough's original home kit upon election to the Football League in 1899 was a white home shirt with blue shorts and they did not adopt their colours of red and white until later that season. Previous kits included a white shirt with a blue and white polka dotted collar from around 1889. The Middlesbrough kit has remained broadly the same over the years with a red shirt and socks and either red or white shorts. The distinctive broad white stripe across the chest was introduced by Jack Charlton in 1973 (following an attempt to change the home shirt to a Leeds United-style white shirt) and brought back for a one-off in 1997–98 and then again for the 2000–01 and 2004–05 seasons due to popular demand. The club subsequently announced in December 2007 that the club would allow the fans to decide via an online and text vote whether the white band should return for the following season. On 8 January 2008 the club announced that the white band was to return, with 77.4% of voters voting in its favour, with the fans to choose the final shirt design from a selection of three designs, of which the winner was announced on 7 May 2008.

The Middlesbrough crest has gone through four changes since the formation of the club. Initially, the badge was simply the town of Middlesbrough's crest with a red lion instead of a blue lion in order to fit in with the club's colours. Following the adoption of the white band on the shirts in 1973, only the red lion remained with the letters "M.F.C" underneath in red. This was further adapted following the reformation of the club in 1986 to a circular crest with the lion in the middle and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1986" around the circle in order to reflect this new era. In 2007, Middlesbrough changed their crest once again, this time with the lion inside a shield and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1876" underneath. The club stated that this was to reflect the club's long history and not just their post-liquidation status.

Since the 2009–10 season, Middlesbrough's kit has been produced by adidas, replacing the previous deal with Errea which had lasted for 15 years. The kit is only available in the UK from the official club shops and Middlesbrough's online store. The club's shirt sponsor was announced on 20 July 2007 as satellite navigation device manufacturers Garmin. This contract was extended until the end of the 2008–09 season in a deal described as "the biggest in the club's history". For the 2010- 11 season, due to struggling to find a season long sponsor, the shirt sponsor will be different every month. Each month a company can purchase the shirt space for that month. The replica shirts will be sold without a sponsors name across the middle.

After formation in 1876, and with the club still amateurs, Middlesbrough's first two years of football were played at Albert Park in Middlesbrough. After seeing the damage being caused by players and supporters, the Park Committee ordered the club to find an alternate venue. The club moved to Breckon Hill, behind the present-day Middlesbrough College, after agreeing to rent the land from its owner. However, two years later in 1880, the owner increased the rent and the club decided to move. They moved into the Linthorpe Road Ground in 1882, home at the time of Middlesbrough Cricket Club. The cricket club departed in 1893–94 to move to the Breckon Hill field, and Middlesbrough Football Club became sole users of the ground.

With the club's growing size, and entry to the Football League, they had to move to a new ground in 1903, Ayresome Park. It was designed by Archibald Leitch and would be the club's home for the next 92 years. Following the Taylor Report in 1990, the ground either needed modernising or the club needed a new stadium. The club decided on the latter, and moved out at the end of the 1994–95 season. It was used as a training ground during 1995–96, before it was demolished in 1997 and a housing estate built in its place. The club now trains at a £7 million complex at Rockliffe Park, in Hurworth, on the outskirts of Darlington.

The Riverside Stadium, named by the supporters of the club after a vote, became the club's home in 1995. It was the first stadium to be built in line with the Taylor Report's recommendations on all-seater stadia for clubs in the top two divisions of the English football league system. It was originally a 30,000 seater stadium, constructed for a modest fee of £16 million, before it was expanded in 1998 to its 35,100 capacity for an extra £5 million.

Average attendances at Middlesbrough matches have fluctuated over the past several years, moving from a 2004-05 high average of 32,012 to a low of 26,092 in 2006-07, then up again to 28,428 in 2008-09. It is expected that following relegation to the Championship attendances will dip slightly, although the crowd of 23,451 which saw Middlesbrough's first Championship game against Sheffield United represents far higher gates than is usual for the division, and indeed larger than those of many Premier League clubs such as Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth and Bolton Wanderers. Steve Gibson was quoted saying that in the next 5 years he would like to extend the Riverside's attendance to 40,000.