Middlesbrough v Sunderland

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.

Glasgow born Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)-based school teacher James Allan started the ‘Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) and District Teachers Association Football Club’ formed Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) A.F.C. on 17 October 1879. On 16 October 1880 the club changed its name to "Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) Teachers Association Football Club" ie the Teachers bit remained, but the statement which announced this indicated that the club opened its membership to all in order to relax financial troubles and increase the pool of players available to it. Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) Teachers AFC became Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) AFC on limited company status. Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) enjoyed an extremely "unhealthy" rivalry with Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) Albion F.C. (who confusingly had the same initials) until their demise in the early 20th century.

Ironically it was James Allan who founded Albion after being voted off the Committee of Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) AFC although he had formed Albion prior to the meeting.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) were admitted into The Football League for the 1890-91 season, replacing Stoke. It was the first time a new club had joined the league since its inauguration in 1989. During the late 19th century they were still famously declared as the "Team of All Talents" by William McGregor, the founder of the league, after a 6 v 1 over Aston Villa at Perry Barr (erroneously up to now attributed to a 7 v 2 home win against Aston Villa); and between 1892 and 1902 the team won the league three times and were runners-up a further three times.

In 1913, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) again won the league and lost their first FA Cup Final 1-0 to Aston Villa. It was the closest the club has ever gone to The Double.

The club's sixth (and to this day last) league championship came in the 1935-36 season, and the next season the club finally won the F.A. Cup after a 3-1 victory against Preston North End at Wembley Stadium.

Following the Second World War, the club suffered a downturn in fortunes, despite breaking a number of transfer records and being labelled 'The Bank of England Club'. In 1957 the club were implicated in a major financial scandal (the second in their history after the Andrew MacCombie scandal in 1904), resulting in an unprecedented fine of £5,000 and the suspension of the club chair and three directors. In 1958 Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) were relegated from the top-flight for the first time in their 68-year league history.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) won their last major trophy in 1973 courtesy of 1-0 victory over Leeds United in the FA Cup Final. Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets), a second division club at the time, won the game thanks to an amazing double save of Jimmy Montgomery to deny Peter Lorimer, described by many as the greatest save at Wembley, and by some even as the greatest save of all time. Ian Porterfield scored a stunning volley in the 30th minute to stun Leeds and take the win. Since 1973 only two other clubs (Southampton in 1976 and West Ham United in 1980) have equalled Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s achievement of lifting the FA Cup while playing outside the top tier of English football.

In 1985, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) appeared in their first and only (to 2007) League Cup final, losing 1-0 to Norwich City.

1987 saw one of the lowest points in Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s history, as they were relegated to the third division of the English league for the first and only time.

Under new Chairman Bob Murray and new manager Denis Smith the club were promoted as champions the following season. In 1990, they were promoted back to the top flight, after losing to Swindon Town in the play off final, but Swindon's victory being revoked after being found guilty of financial irregularities. They stayed up for one year before being relegated on the final day of the season.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s last outing in a major final came in 1992 when, as a second division club, they returned to the FA Cup Final. There was to be no repeat of the heroics of 1973, with Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) losing 2-0 to Liverpool.

The early 1990s was a turbulent period for the club. In 1995, they faced the prospect of a return the third-tier of English football. Peter Reid was brought in, and quickly turned things around. Reid's time in charge had a stabilising effect; he remained manager for seven years, one of the longest tenures in Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets)'s history.

In 1997, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) left Roker Park, their home for 99 years. They moved to the Stadium of Light, a 42,000-seat arena that, at the time, was the biggest new stadium built in England since World War II. The move saw a renaissance at the club, as attendances jumped dramatically. The Stadium capacity was later increased to 49,000.

Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) returned to the top-flight as champions in 1999 with a then record points total of 105. Two consecutive seventh place finishes in the Premier League were followed by two less successful seasons and they were relegated to the second-tier with a record low points total of 19 in 2003.

Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy took over at the club and in 2005 he took Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) up as champions (the third time in under ten years). However, the following season was a disaster; Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) finished on a new record-low total of 15 points. McCarthy left the club in mid-season and was replaced temporarily by Kevin Ball, a former player.

Following their relegation new hope was given to the club by ex-player Niall Quinn, along with the Irish Drumaville Consortium, successfully launched a bid to buy out former chair Bob Murray in July 2006. The consortium appointed former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, a former international team mate of chairman Niall Quinn, as their new manager. Quinn had been in charge for the first few games of the season in a disastrous start. However, under Keane the club rose steadily up the table with an unbeaten run of seventeen games from the start of 2007. Along with Birmingham City FC, Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) clinched promotion to the FA Premier League for the upcoming 2007-2008 season, following Derby County's 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on April 29th. Roy Keane was informed via a text message that Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) AFC had been promoted while walking his dog Triggs. On May 6th 2007 Sunderland(Click here to buy Sunderland tickets) were crowned winners of Championship after beating Luton Town 5-0 at Kenilworth Road.

Their form in the 2007-08 season has been better than the form they showed last time round at this level, and as of early November they occupy 15th place after 11 games and 9 points.