a) when Pompey were playing away at Middlesborough and I thought about going, the last train back to London was at 4.40pm so it wasn't possible to watch the whole match and get back to London
b) my old school friend lives up that part of the country and her son is supporter getting free tickets from a friend of theirs who is one of the back room staff - physio or doctor or something like that.
As for the club as a whole, Middlesbrough Football Club also known as Boro, were 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. One of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, they won the League Cup in 2004, the club's first and only major trophy as they were beaten in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final by Sevilla 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 emergence of one of the club's top goalscorers, Brian Clough (204 goals in 222 games) happened during the 20-year spell outside the top division (in the Championship) which started after the club suffered relegation in 1954. Who knew Brian Clough was actually a prolific goal scorer?
Similar to several of our teams, the club has experienced severe financial difficulties. So for Amy's history bit, during the mid-1980s finances were a problem and in April 1986 the club had to borrow £30,000 from the PFA to pay wages and the final game of the season saw Middlesbrough relegated to the Third Division. That summer, the club called in the Liquidator and shortly afterwards, the club was wound up and the gates to Ayresome Park were padlocked. Without the £350,000 capital required for Football League registration, it seemed that the club would fold permanently but they were saved by a consortium and completed their registration for 1986-87 season 10 minutes before the deadline. Following the registration there was both a change of club crest and a change of the official company name to Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Club (1986) Ltd.
Over the next two seasons, Middlesbrough gained successive promotions into Division Two and then into Division One. The next season though, they went straight back down to Division Two, and with it came the then British transfer record move of Gary Pallister to Manchester Utd. for £2.3 million. Bryan Robson took charge in 1994 and they gained promotions and ended up in the Premier League.
And another fascinating fact that I don;t remember, they were controversially deducted three points for failing to fulfil a fixture against Shirley’s Blackburn Rovers during the 1996-97 season and were subsequently relegated. In that same season they were losing finalists in both the League and FA Cups.
Middlesbrough were promoted back to the Premiership at the first attempt in 1998 and spent eleven consecutive seasons in the top division before relegation in May 2009. During their first season back they enjoyed a 12-game unbeaten run which included most significantly a 3–2 win at Old Trafford in January, United's only home defeat during their treble winning season.
The managers changed with Venables as co-manager for a while and then a spell for Steve McClaren before he left for the England job which was followed by Southgate
The club were relegated to the Championship on the last day of the 08-09 season after eleven years in the top flight. In 2009-10 they finished mid-table and then started the 2010–11 campaign as promotion favourites but they finished 7th in the League, missing out on the play-off's by 5 points and 1 position, meaning Middlesbrough are in the CCC this year
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