Robert Exley
For Boro in the late sixties and early seventies, there would be a run of six consecutive top half finishes in the second tier, which meant that for a few years they were knocking on the door of top flight football. In October 1969, Boro suffered a 0-4 defeat to QPR in front of the cameras of ‘The Big Match’. Despite this, on two separate occasions they finished as high as fourth in the table. In 1970/71, the cameras would capture a 4-3 away win over Cardiff City. That same season, Boro eliminated Man Utd from the FA Cup in the third round. After holding United to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, three days later at a snowy Ayresome Park the side from the North East would run out 2-1 winners.
The following season, Boro would sign former Man Utd and England World Cup hero Nobby Stiles, also the ITV cameras would capture a 3-4 defeat to Terry Neill’s Hull City. In 1972/73, Boro achieved another high finish in fourth place, however they were a good fourteen points off of promotion. Boro manager Stan Anderson, who had been in charge of the club since their drop to the third tier seven years earlier handed in his resignation in January 1973. Alf Ramsey’s World Cup winning assistant manager Harold Shepherdson took over as caretaker boss until the end of the season, before the appointment of Jack Charlton who had only just retired from football and would arrive at Ayresome Park on his thirty eighth birthday.
According to his autobiography, Charlton laid down the law to the board at Middlesbrough with them effectively handing over to him the running of the club. He refused to sign a contact with Boro and accepted a lower salary than the board at Ayresome Park were willing to offer as long as a gentlemen’s agreement was in place that they would never fire him, that they would never interfere with team affairs and that they would allow him to only work three days a week so he could partake in his hobbies of fishing and shooting. Their concessions however paid off, as Jack got Boro back up to the top tier at the first attempt, with a side that included a young Graeme Souness (whose name mid-1970s commentators often oddly pronounced as ‘Sour-ness’) as who was rejected by Spurs just a couple of years earlier, as well as the prematurely balding David Armstrong and David Mills.
In September 1973, the cameras of LWT’s ‘The Big Match’ captured a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace in September. Like Jack Charlton’s old club in 1973/74, Middlesbrough were also running away with it in the second tier. After a run of seven straight wins, with a fifteen point gap over second place Luton, the Boro found themselves in a position to secure promotion at the end of March. According to his autobiography, Charlton wanted to secure promotion for Boro at home and told his players to settle for a draw. His players however ignored his instructions and beat Luton Town 1-0 at Kennilworth Road. The following week, the Second Division title was secured with a 4-0 win over Notts County – their ninth straight win.
After a reasonable start to 1974/75, Boro received a visit from Coventry City and played out a 4-4 draw before the cameras of local ITV station Tyne Tees for their weekly football highlights show ‘Shoot!’ with commentary from former voice of the BBC, Kenneth ‘they think it’s all over’ Wolstenholme. Despite being a football mad area, Tyne Tees’s coverage was poor in comparison to other ITV regions, as the station only possessed one Outside Broadcast unit, which was often required for racing coverage from Newcastle for ITV’s Saturday afternoon equivalent to Grandstand ‘World of Sport’. Because of this, Tyne Tees were unable to cover a local match, and viewers often instead had to watch LWT’s ‘The Big Match’. The station’s snapping up of Wolstenholme, who was cruelly discarded by the BBC in 1971, was an attempt to revamp the station’s football coverage.
The following week, Middlesbrough pulled off a 3-2 away win over that year’s eventual title winners Derby County at the Baseball Ground. In November, Boro visited reigning champions Leeds United who were now under the management of Jimmy Armfield after Don Revie took the England job and Brian Clough was sacked after forty four days. On Jack Charlton’s return to Elland Road, Boro came from two goals down to pull off a 2-2 draw. A fortnight later would be Boro’s first visit to Highbury in nearly two decades. A goal from Liam Brady and a penalty from Alan Ball gave Arsenal a 2-0 win.
In the FA Cup, Jack Charlton’s side would be drawn against non-league Wycombe Wanderers, which would be captured for posterity by LWT’s ‘The Big Match’. Boro would be held to a 0-0 draw. In the replay back at Ayresome Park, Boro would progress with a 1-0 win. Ten days later would be Arsenal’s return to Ayresome Park in mid-January 1975, where the two sides played out a 0-0 draw. A week later, back in the FA Cup Boro would defeat North East rivals Sunderland 3-1. Boro got as far as the Quarter Finals before losing 0-1 away to Birmingham. One week later, Graeme Souness proved his point to Spurs by scoring against them in a 3-0 win at Ayresome Park.
At the end of their first season back in the top flight, Boro achieved the respectable finish of seventh place (Arsenal in comparison finished sixteenth and just four points off relegation in 1974/75). The following season, Middlesbrough visited Highbury in October. Arsenal ran out 2-1 winners with goals for Alex Cropley and a nineteen year old Frank Stapleton, while David Mills would be on target for Boro. In February 1976, Arsenal managed their first victory at Ayresome Park for a quarter of a century as a goal for John Radford secured a 1-0 win. Boro’s second season in the top flight under Jack Charlton saw them finish further down in the table, this time in thirteenth position (four places above Arsenal in seventeenth), though in 1975/76 Boro made progress in the Cups.
Middlesbrough reached the Semi Finals of the League Cup against Manchester City and led 1-0 after the first leg at Ayresome Park. In the second leg however, they were hammered 0-4 back at Maine Road. Boro also won their first honour in the shape of the inaugural Anglo-Scottish Cup with a 1-0 win over the previous season’s FA Cup runners up, Fulham. Jack Charlton lasted one further season at Ayresome Park and in February 1977 inflicted two heavy defeats on an Arsenal side now managed by Terry Neill within the space of eleven days. In the League, Arsenal suffered a 0-3 defeat with goals from Peter Brine, David Armstrong and David Mills. Arsenal returned in the fifth round of the FA Cup and goals for David Armstrong and a hat-trick for David Mills inflicted a 1-4 defeat on the Gunners, with Arsenal’s goal scored by Malcolm McDonald.
In the summer of 1976, members of the Middlesbrough board had felt that Jack Charlton was overstepping the mark with regard to his authority on decision making and voted to sack him. The club’s chairman however over-ruled the board and he remained for one further season. At the end of the 1976/77 season however, Charlton decided that he couldn’t take the side any further and resigned. He was replaced by Wrexham manager John Neal and one week later brought his new side to Highbury to face Arsenal. Goals for Arsenal’s Frank Stapleton and Boro’s Graeme Souness meant a 1-1 draw. Three games into 1977/78, Boro picked up a 2-0 win over local rivals Newcastle with two goals for David Armstrong which included a superb free kick curler @0.50.
Arsenal visited Ayresome Park in early December, where a Middlesbrough own goal gave the Gunners a 1-0 win. Middlesbrough’s visit to Highbury that season came on the final Saturday of the season one week before their FA Cup final meeting with Ipswich Town. A Frank Stapleton goal gave Arsenal a 1-0 win. Meanwhile, though the town of Middlesbrough lacked the famous fictional TV characters that their North East neighbours on Tyneside had with the Likely Lads, Auf Wiedersehen Pet or Byker Grove, Teeside had to make do with the Christopher Biggins character of Lukewarm from the recently reprised prison sitcom ‘Porridge’.
In the first episode of the spin off series of ‘Going Straight’ @15.23, Fletch cites the hard inflexible nature of Middlesbrough FC as an example of Lukewarm’s difficulty reintegrating into society on parole, though around this period the Boro lost one hard inflexible aspect of their play with Graeme Souness transferring to Liverpool. In late September 1978, Arsenal came back from Teeside with a 3-2 win secured by goals from David O’Leary, David Price and Steve Walford, while Billy Ashcroft and David Mills were on target for Boro. One week ahead of Christmas 1978, Boro thrashed Chelsea 7-2, which was caught before the TV cameras, sadly only one goal from Mark Procter is available on YouTube. The following February, Arsenal and Boro played out a 0-0 draw back at Highbury.
In 1979/80, Middlesbrough came to Highbury in September. Goals for Alan Sunderland and Frank Stapleton gave Arsenal a 2-0 win. That same term was a seventy game season for Arsenal, told in full in my article for the Online Gooner in 2013. After losing the 1980 FA Cup Final to West Ham and the European Cup Winners Cup Final to Valencia, game number seventy came away to Middlesbrough five days later with a 2-1 away win over Wolves in between. Arsenal required a win to secure qualification for the UEFA Cup for the 1980/81 season. However, a fan called Tony Turner, quoted in John Spurling’s account of Arsenal in the 1980s - ‘All Guns Blazing’ stated: ‘as I looked around at the Arsenal fans, they looked like the team; knackered and glazed’.
An Arsenal side dead on their feet suffered a 0-5 hammering at Ayresome Park and by all accounts it could have been an even heavier defeat. This was also the game in which Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson and Liam Brady played their final game for Arsenal with goals for future Liverpool pair Craig Johnston and David Hodgson, as well as Dave Shearer and two for David Armstrong. The following September, Arsenal minus Liam Brady returned to Ayresome Park and suffered a 1-2 defeat with goals for Mark Procter and David Armstrong, while Graham Rix was on target for the Gunners. Two weeks later at Ayresome Park, the Match of the Day cameras captured a 6-1 hammering of Norwich City.
Two months on, title challenging Aston Villa came to Ayresome Park. Boro however managed to scupper Villa’s chances with a fourth straight game without a win, as the North East side ran out 2-1 winners. In the third round of the FA Cup, Boro met second tier promotion challengers, John Toshack’s Swansea City away from home. John Neal’s side however scuppered a giant killing with a 5-0 win. Boro’s visit to Highbury in 1980/81 came at the end of February. The two sides played out a 2-2 draw, with goals from Frank Stapleton and a John Hollins penalty, while on the scoresheet for Boro would be Dave Shearer and another for David Armstrong.
Meanwhile, in late April, Middlesbrough visited Villa Park to meet top of the league Aston Villa. A 0-3 defeat for Boro meant that Villa were just one point away from winning the title, which they duly did a week later at Highbury despite Arsenal beating them 2-0. As for Boro, they finished the season in fourteenth position and never once rose above mid-table. During the close season, John Neal left Ayresome Park to take over at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea manager. Former player Bobby Murdoch took over after Neal’s departure in July 1981, though with the loss of David Armstrong to Southampton and Craig Johnston to Liverpool by late October a 2-3 away defeat to West Ham left Boro languishing in the relegation zone.
By the time of their visit to Highbury in mid-February 1982, Boro were anchored to the bottom of the table and seven points adrift of safety. A 1-0 win for Arsenal in front of a paltry 13,738 fans, secured by a goal from Graham Rix made matters worse for Boro. Also dragged into a relegation dogfight were their North East neighbours Sunderland. Boro though were given hope with a 2-0 win at Roker Park which lifted them off of the bottom. One month later however, as Arsenal visited Ayresome Park at the start of May, Boro were back at the foot of the table.
Middlesbrough took the lead with a goal from Mick Baxter. However goals for Brian Talbot, Paul Davis and Graham Rix meant a 3-1 win for Arsenal and Boro needing six points from a possible nine in their last three games, as well as other results going their way in order to survive in the top tier. Boro managed to win their next two games against Notts County and Swansea, however a West Brom win over Notts County meant that Boro were needing a win over Champions Liverpool in their final game to stay up. A 0-0 draw at Ayresome Park (in which as many as seven Boro players had played their final game for the club) sealed their fate.
In 1982/83, Middlesbrough’s poor form carried on into the second tier, spending most of the season in the bottom half of the table. In October 1982, the flamboyant Malcolm Allison took over as manager at Ayresome Park. One bright spot for Boro was progression to the fifth round of the FA Cup, where they would be drawn at home to Arsenal. Graham Rix gave Arsenal the lead, however a late equaliser from Heine Otto earned Boro a replay with a 1-1 draw. In the replay nine days later, as Jon Spurling described in ‘All Guns Blazing’: ‘David Shearer, the Boro centre forward, played the game of his life….scoring two excellent goals and a thudding another drive against the post’.
At two down, goals for Paul Davis and Tony Woodcock pulled the Gunners level. Spurling goes on to describe that: ‘Highbury became a frenzy of nervous energy. At 2-2, as the clock ticked towards full time, Brian Talbot summoned up the resources to dash from his own area into their box and crash in our ejaculatory winner’. After Arsenal’s 3-2 win, five days later back in the League, a deflated Middlesbrough side were hammered 1-6 over on QPR’s plastic pitch (Rangers at the time managed by former Allison managerial protégé Terry Venables). Boro finished 1982/83 in sixteenth position and just three points away from relegation, while Arsenal progressed to the Semi Final of the FA Cup losing to Man Utd.
