Apocalypse

Having been born and bred in Middlesbrough and supported/followed the team all life it was a sad day when in 1986 the receivers locked up Ayresome park gates and the future was looking very grim for next season,just been relegated to the old 3rd division,no ground to play at and training in the local park meant players moral was at an all time low and there was no immidiate light at the end of the tunnel.But people from "the boro" have a high resolve and a group of comapnies including ICI and Bulkhaul (Steve Gibson) formed a consortium to take over the club and renamed it Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Company and a new era was formed for fans and players throughout the north east,our beloved football was back.

Bruce Rioch,a tough tackling scot in his day was our new manager and the day dawns on what was to be a remarkable season for BoroFC as they gained promotion to div2 at the first attempt and the revival continued next season as we got promoted back to the top flight through the play-offs.I was only 15 at the time and remember us having a decent FA cup run when we were drawn to play Everton at Ayresome Park and cup fever hit the town,as a treat my father allowed me to go to my first ever boro game and a friend (liverpool supporter) came along with me to watch the game,not to sure as to where we wanted to watch the game from we stood in the longest queue thinking it would be the best place to see,we got to the front and paid our £2.50 to get into the south east corner a small sectioned off piece of the ground which held about 1500 fans,we found a good spot and leaned against the old metal bars that used to frquent so many stadiums before all seaters came about and we eagerly waited for kick-off.

It was a full house that evening and many fans believed we could turn Everton over on our home gound but to our dismay they scored first,our hearts sank and we held our heads in our hands as we had been the better team up until that point,me and my friend lifted our heads up and for some reason every fan in our section was jumping up and down and cheering,we looked around the ground and it suddenly dawned on us that we somehow had got into the Everton fans section,even worse is that boro equalised and despite the fact i just wanted to shout my heart out i knew i had to resist for safety sake of me and my friend,how would that look 2 "Everton" fans cheering a boro goal.Full time came and the game ended 2-2 and a replay at Goodison was to follow which we eventually lost but i was hooked on football and boro especially,it was the thrill of the game,the shouting,the cheering,the heart in mouth as goals were scored and missed and i knew i had to have more,if boro were to suceed it need fans like me to pay to watch them play and i was only to happy to do so,but from the corect stand next time.

more to come......