Supporting Middlesbrough FC has continually being likened to riding a rollercoaster and that just about sums up the last 11 years of the club’s history as a Premier League club.
Akin to ‘The Big One’ at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Bryan Robson put us on the gradual climb to our peak when he guided us out of the old Division One in 1998 following arguably a much crazier ride in Robbo’s first three years at the helm which included the First Division title and culminated in two Cup finals and a relegation.
However when we made it back to the Premier League at the first attempt in 1998 thanks to a memorable 4-1 final day win against Oxford at the Riverside, few would have believed what the coming seasons would hold for us!
Many fans probably felt our stay would be a fleeting one when star man Paul Merson jumped ship within a month of our return complaining of a Paul Gascoigne inspired gambling culture in the Boro camp.
However the remaining players quickly turned things around and stormed to a creditable ninth-placed finish in their first season back, which included a 3-2 win at Manchester United that led to Bernie Slaven’s infamous backside bearing antics in Binns’ window.
The following campaign we finished 12th and were fast becoming a solid Premier League outfit as Gary Pallister, Colin Cooper and Paul Ince had all been brought in, while Hamilton Ricard shrugged off a nightmare start to his Boro career with two near 20-goal hauls in successive campaigns.
Ironically as Robbo got more adventurous in summer 2000, bringing Croatian star striker Alen Boksic, along with the likes of Joseph Desire-Job and Noel Whelan, the wheels came off.
A nine game winless run, which included eight defeats, left Boro rooted in the bottom three in December and resulted in the arrival of Terry Venables to try and help Robbo stave off the drop!
Teesside Tel’s impact was immediate as Boro beat Chelsea 1-0 in his first game in charge and the side went on to finish in 14th place after seven wins, nine draws and just four defeats.
However Venables’ arrival marked the beginning of the end for Robson’s seven-year tenure as both men left the club in summer 2001 with Manchester United’s assistant boss Steve McClaren handed his first job as a manager.
