Middlesbrough
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The Middlesbrough Football Club was founded in 1876 at the Albert Park Hotel by members of the Middlesbrough Cricket Club. For much of their early history they were an amateur club competing in the Northern Division. In the beginning there was a debate whether or not to turn professional and the team did for a brief time but then reverted back to an amateur team in 1892. Another team from Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough Ironopolis joined the Football League in 1893. This season was their one and only in the Football League as the folded at the end of the season. While this left a hole in the Football League for Middlesbrough, The Boro had no intention of join the professional ranks at this point. They won the Northern league in 1893, 1895, and 1897 and captured the Amateur Cup in 1898. The success was too much to ignore and the teamed turned professional in 1899.
Once the turned professional it was only a matter of time till they were elected into the Football League. On May 19th, 1899 The Boro was elected into the Second Division. At this time the team’s colours were white shirts with blue shirts for home with away being black shirts on white shorts. 1902 could have been one of the most successful in the history of the club and was most definitely the best up to this point. The team let in a remarkable 24 goals for the entirety of the season and won promotion into Division One.
With the move up the team needed a better home ground and in 1903 they moved to Ayresome Park. It was here that they would call home for the next 92 years until they moved to their current field at Riverside. These early years proved challenging to the club and in 1905 they made history by becoming the first team to pay a player more than a thousand pound for season. The lucky player was Alf Common, a centre forward. The team will struggle to stay competitive, but in 1914 they had their best season to date finishing third in the first division. 10 years later however the team was relegated down into Division Two.
This was short lived however as in 1927 the team won back their promotion to Division One, but this was extremely short live as the team was quickly relegated back down the next season. They managed to win the the Division Two championship and the right to play again in the top league in England. It was here they would stay until 1954. This time period would be a tough one for The Boro however as they would spend the next twenty years trying to get back into the First Division. The low point of this time period was when the club was relegated to the Third Division in 1966. Luckily this was short lived and the club managed to climb back into Division Two the next season and back to the top flight by 1974. The would manage to stay in Division One until after the 1984-85 season. This was dark time period for the The Boro as they ran into serious financial troubles and were nearly closed down before the 1986-87 season. If not for Steve Gibson coming into save the team and pay the Football League registration fee, the gates at Ayresome Park would have been closed permanently.
At this point the team was as low as it have ever been in its history. Playing in the Third Division with barely enough capital to keep the gates open and pay the players it seemed inevitable the team would fail. However, by some miracle the team managed to win promotion into Division Two and then even more shockingly back into Division One. They were once again demoted and then promoted. Their timing could not have been more perfect as they were able to become charter members for the new FA Premier League in 1992-93 and with this brought the attention the team needed. This was not enough though as the team was relegated after the 96-97 season. Strangely this season was one of the most successful in the team history as they somehow managed to reach both the League and FA cup finals for the first time in their history. They unfortunately lost both events. They did manage to win their promotion back the next season and this time it looked like it might be for good. The club is currently on the rise and is arguably the best team they ever fielded. Only time can tell what will be for The Boro.