# 1986–87 Middlesbrough F.C. season

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.

## 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 | 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 |
| 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 |
* ↑ 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.
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

* 1 2 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.