Middlesbrough v Stoke

The football club was originally formed by Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) Cricket team players to stay fit during the winter. They won the FA Amateur Cup in 1895 and again in 1898. The club turned professional in 1889, but reverted to amateur status in 1892. They turned professional permanently in 1899. After two seasons, they won promotion to the First Division, where they would remain for the next 22 years.

In 1903 the club moved to Ayresome Park, their home for the next 92 years. In 1905 the club sanctioned the transfer of Alf Common for £1000, a record fee. Over the next few years, their form fluctuated greatly, rising to 6th in 1907–08 before dropping to 17th two seasons later. The club rose to their highest league finish to date, 3rd, in 1913–14. World War I soon intervened and football was suspended.

Before competitive football resumed, Boro won the Northern Victory League, but the team were unable to maintain their previous form and finished the 1919–20 season in mid-table. They remained in the First Division for the next few seasons, but were relegated in 1923–24 after finishing bottom, ten points adrift of their nearest rivals.

Three seasons later, they won the Division Two title. During that season, debutant George Camsell, who had signed from Third Division North side Durham City the previous season, finished with a record 59 league goals, which included nine hat tricks. He would continue as top scorer for each of the next ten seasons. Their tenure back in the top flight lasted only one season, and the club were relegated. They were promoted at the first attempt in 1928–29, winning another Second Division title. Boro then remained in the First Division until 1954.

The decade before the war saw the emergence of Wilf Mannion and George Hardwick, both of whom would go on to become England internationals in the years ahead. Boro climbed to fourth in the last full season before World War II and were expected to challenge for the title next season, but the war intervened. After the war, the club was unable to recover the form of the previous seasons and hovered around mid-table and exited in the early rounds of the FA Cup. Soon afterwards the team began to falter, eventually suffering relegation in 1953–54. This was the start of a 20 year spell outside the top division, but saw the emergence of one of the club's top goalscorers, Brian Clough, who scored 204 goals in 222 games, before he left for Sunderland. Over that period, Boro maintained reasonable progress in the Second Division but were never serious contenders for promotion. After a fourth place finish in 1962–63, Boro endured a steady decline and were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history in 1966.

New manager Stan Anderson returned the club to the second flight at the first attempt. Boro then would not finish below ninth during the next eight seasons. The FA Cup saw the club never get past the quarter-finals, a feat they were still yet to accomplish in their history. By 1974 Jack Charlton had taken over as manager and guided the team back to the top flight. They ensured promotion as early as 23 March, and with eight games of the season left, they became runaway champions, finishing with a record 65 points.

Back in the top flight, the team had some reasonable cup success, reaching later rounds, but nothing more. 1975–76 however was when Boro won their first silverware as a professional side, lifting the Anglo-Scottish Cup in its first season after a two-legged final win over Fulham.

Boro experienced severe financial difficulties during the mid-1980s. Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) were dropping down the table, and finished 19th in the 1984–85 season. In April 1986 the club had to borrow £30,000 from the PFA to pay wages. The final game of the season saw Boro relegated to the Third Division once more. That summer, the club called in the Provisional 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, a new rule, it seemed inevitable that the club would fold permanently. However, Steve Gibson, a member of the board at the time, brought together a consortium and with ten minutes to spare before the deadline, they completed their registration with the Football League for the 1986–87 season. Following the registration came both a change of club crest and a change of the official company name to Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) Football and Athletic Club (1986) Ltd.

Over the next two seasons, Boro gained successive promotions into Division Two and then into Division One. The next season though, they came straight back down to Division Two, and with it came the then British transfer record move of Gary Pallister to Manchester United for £2.3m. Despite constant promotion and relegation, Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) were founder members of the FA Premier League for the 1992–93 season.

Player-manager Bryan Robson, from Manchester United, took charge in 1994 and Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) were brought back into national attention.Following promotion to the Premier League and high-profile purchases like diminutive Brazilian Juninho, many considered Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) were on the way up. However, a difficult 1996–97 season was compounded by a deduction of three points imposed just after Christmas, as punishment for the club's failure to fulfill a fixture against Blackburn, which ultimately resulted in relegation. Without the points deduction, Boro would have had enough points to avoid relegation. At the same time, the club managed to reach both the League and FA cup finals for the first time, but lost out in both. They were again runners up in the League Cup final the next year too, despite being in the second tier

The 2003–04 season was the most successful in the club's history as they finally won a major trophy after beating Bolton 2–1 in the League Cup final under manager Steve McClaren. This success also ensured that Boro would qualify for Europe — the UEFA Cup — for the first time, in which they reached the last 16. UEFA cup qualification was achieved for the second consecutive year after a dramatic 1–1 away draw with Manchester City thanks to a late penalty save from Mark Schwarzer in the last game of the season.

On 27 April 2006, Middlesbrough(Click here to buy Middlesbrough tickets) reached the UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven, following two comebacks from 3–0 down. However, the team lost 4–0 to Sevilla. Following the cup final, McClaren left to head up the England team, and captain Gareth Southgate took over, despite not having the coaching qualifications, but he was allowed to continue after receiving special dispensation.

Birmingham City were founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875, and from 1877 played their home games at Muntz Street. The club turned professional in 1885, and three years later became the first football club to become a limited company with a board of directors, under the name of Small Heath F.C. Ltd.

From 1889–90 they played in the Football Alliance, which ran alongside the Football League. In 1892, Small Heath, along with the other Alliance teams, were invited to join the newly-formed Football League Second Division. They finished as champions, but failed to win promotion via the test match system; the following season promotion to the First Division was secured after a second place finish and test match victory over Darwen.

The club adopted the name Birmingham Football Club in 1905, and moved into their new ground, which became known as St Andrew's, the following year. Matters on the field failed to live up to their surroundings. Birmingham were relegated in 1908, were obliged to apply for re-election two years later, and remained in the Second Division until after the First World War.

Frank Womack's captaincy and the creativity of Scottish international playmaker Johnny Crosbie contributed much to Birmingham winning their second Division Two title in 1920–21. Womack went on to make 515 appearances, a club record for an outfielder, over a twenty-year career. 1920 also saw the debut of the 19-year-old Joe Bradford, who went on to score a club record 267 goals in 445 games, and won 12 caps for England. In 1931, manager Leslie Knighton led the club to their first FA Cup Final, which they lost 2–1 to Second Division club West Bromwich Albion. Though Birmingham remained in the top flight for 18 seasons, they struggled in the league, with much reliance placed on England goalkeeper Harry Hibbs to make up for the lack of goals, Bradford excepted, the other end. They were finally relegated in 1938–39, the last full season before the Second World War.

The club's current name of Birmingham City F.C. was adopted in 1943. Harry Storer was appointed manager in 1945. In his first season the club won the Football League South wartime league and reached the semifinal of the first post-war FA Cup; two years later they won their third Second Division title, conceding only 24 goals in the 42-game season. Storer's successor Bob Brocklebank, though unable to stave off relegation in 1950, brought in the players who were to produce the club's successes of the next decade. When Arthur Turner took over as manager in November 1954, he made them play; a 5–1 win on the last day of the season confirmed them as champions.

Their first season back in the First Division saw Birmingham make their highest league finish of sixth place. They also reached the FA Cup final, losing 3–1 to Manchester City in the game best remembered for City's goalkeeper Bert Trautmann playing the last 20 minutes with a broken bone in his neck. It was during this FA Cup campaign, in which all Birmingham's games had been away from home, that Harry Lauder's Keep right on to the end of the road was adopted as the fans' anthem. The following season the club lost in the FA Cup semifinal for the third time since the war, this time beaten 2–0 by Manchester United's "Busby Babes".

Birmingham became the first English club side to take part in European competition when they played their first group game in the inaugural Inter-Cities Fairs Cup competition on 15 May 1956; they went on to reach the semifinal where they drew 4–4 on aggregate with Barcelona, losing the replay 2–1. They were also the first English club side to reach a European final, losing 4–1 on aggregate to Barcelona in 1960 and 4–2 to A.S. Roma in 1961. In the 1961 semifinal they beat Inter Milan home and away; no other English club won a competitive game in the San Siro until Arsenal managed it over 40 years later.

Under manager Gil Merrick they saved their best domestic form for the 1963 League Cup competition. Though opponents in the final, local rivals Aston Villa, were pre-match favourites, Birmingham raised their game and won 3–1 on aggregate to lift their only major trophy to date. In 1965, after ten years in the top flight, they returned to the Second Division.

Businessman Clifford Coombs took over as chairman in 1965, luring Stan Cullis out of retirement to manage the club. Though Cullis's team played attractive football which took them to the semifinals of the League Cup in 1967 and the FA Cup in 1968, league football needed a different approach. Replacement Freddie Goodwin produced a team playing skilful, aggressive football that could win promotion as well as reach an FA Cup semifinal. Two years later, the club raised money by selling Bob Latchford to Everton for a British record fee of £350,000, but without his goals the team struggled. Sir Alf Ramsey briefly managed the club before Jim Smith took over in 1978. With relegation a certainty, the club sold Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest, making him the first £1 million player; Francis had scored a total of 133 goals in 329 appearances over his nine years at Birmingham.

Smith took Birmingham straight back to the First Division, but a poor start to the 1981–82 season saw him replaced by Ron Saunders, who had just resigned from league champions Aston Villa. Saunders' team could not score goals and in 1984 they were relegated. They bounced back up, but the last home game of the 1984–85 promotion season against Leeds United was marred by rioting, culminating in the death of a boy when a wall collapsed on him; this was on the same day as the Bradford fire, and the events at St Andrew's formed part of the remit of Mr Justice Popplewell's inquiry into safety at sports grounds. The club was in turmoil on and off the field. Saunders quit after FA Cup defeat to Altrincham, staff were laid off, the training ground was sold, and by 1989 Birmingham were in the Third Division for the first time in their history.

Then the Kumar brothers, owners of a clothing chain, bought the club. A rapid turnover of managers, the absence of promised investment, and a threatened mass refusal of players to renew contracts was only relieved by a victorious trip to Wembley in the Leyland DAF Cup. Terry Cooper delivered promotion, but the collapse of the BCCI bank put the Kumars' businesses into receivership; in November 1992 BCCI's liquidator put up for sale their 84% holding in the football club. The club continued in administration for four months, until Sport Newspapers proprietor David Sullivan bought it for £700,000, installed the 23-year-old Karren Brady as managing director and allowed Cooper money for signings. On the last day of the season, the team avoided relegation back to the third tier.

A poor start to the 1993–94 season saw Cooper replaced by Barry Fry, though the change did not prevent relegation. Fry's first full season brought promotion back to the second tier and victory in the Auto Windscreens Shield at Wembley, beating Carlisle United with a Paul Tait golden goal. After one more year, Fry was sacked to make way for the return of Trevor Francis.

Francis introduced players with top-level experience such as Manchester United skipper Steve Bruce. In his second season the club narrowly missed out on a play-off position, followed by three years of play-off semifinal defeats. They also reached the 2001 League Cup final against Liverpool at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Birmingham equalised in the last minute of normal time, but the match went to a penalty shootout which Liverpool won. By October 2001, lack of progress had made Francis's position untenable. After a 6–0 League Cup defeat to Manchester City, he left by mutual consent, replaced two months later by Steve Bruce. Bruce shook up a stale team, taking them from mid-table into the play-offs where they beat Norwich City on penalties to win promotion.

Motivated by the inspirational Christophe Dugarry, Birmingham's first top-flight season for 16 years finished in mid-table. 2003–04 saw loan signing Mikael Forssell's 17 league goals help Birmingham to a top half finish. Performances and results tailed off badly towards the end of the season. First-team coach Mark Bowen was sacked and replaced by Eric Black, international players were signed, but an injury to Forssell left the 2004–05 team struggling for goals. More transfer window loan signings ensured an unconvincing mid-table finish.

In July 2005, chairman David Gold said it was time to "start talking about being as good as anyone outside the top three or four" with "the best squad of players for 25 years". Injuries, lack of form, and a lack of investment during the transfer window saw them relegated before the last game of a season whose lowlight was a 0–7 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool. Pennant and Heskey left for record fees,many more were released, but Bruce retained the confidence of the board. His new recruitment strategy, combining young "hungry" players with free-transfer experience and shrewd exploitation of the loan market, brought automatic promotion at the end of a season which had included calls for his head.

In July 2007, Hong Kong-based businessman Carson Yeung bought 29.9% of shares in the club, making him the biggest single shareholder, with a view to taking full control in the future. On the field, the club prepared for the 2007–08 season by making eight permanent and four loan signings, most notably former French international Olivier Kapo, Dutch U-21 winger Daniël de Ridder, Aston Villa defender Liam Ridgewell, and Arsenal defender Johan Djourou on loan. On 19 November 2007 Steve Bruce left to become manager of Wigan Athletic.