Middlesbrough illuminated the football world in the mid-1990s with their big name foreign imports and attacking flair, but on December 20 1996 they made the headlines for all the wrong reasons thanks to a decision which would ultimately cost them their place in the Premier League.
In 1996 the newly promoted club had money to burn and manager Bryan Robson wasted no time in spending it, bringing the likes of Juninho, Emerson and Fabrizio Ravanelli to the Teesside club. Danish international Mikkel Beck arrived from Fortuna Köln, while Branco, capped 72 times by Brazil, also came along to join what was to be known as the “United Nations” of football.
Playing in the newly built Riverside Stadium Boro’s first season in the Premier League had been a relative success as they finished 12th and the future looked bright for the coming years as Robson’s new multinational signings, who were seemingly afraid of nobody, played every game as if it was their last.
The optimism continued into the 1996/97 campaign when Middlesbrough’s stars held Liverpool’s “Spice Boys” side to a thrilling 3-3 draw in front of a packed house on the opening day thanks to a Ravanelli hat-trick, proving that the new look outfit could now seemingly hold their own against the big guns.
Ravanelli would go on to score 16 that season while Juninho, still one of the most naturally gifted players in the world, bewildered opponents thanks to his quick feet and dazzling close control, making Middlesbrough just as easy-on-the-eye as their North East neighbours some 40 miles up the A1 who were widely referred to as the entertainers at that time.
But despite the encouraging start Boro’s form took a turn for the worse that autumn and between September and Boxing Day they failed to register a single win in the Premier League and took just four points from 12 games; but it would be a game they didn’t play that proved to be the club’s biggest and most costly downfall.
Despite Ravanelli proving himself as one of the league's top marksmen, by Christmas Middlesbrough were deep in relegation trouble and to make things worse they were struggling due to an injury and illness crisis that was ravaging the Riverside as they prepared for a trip to Blackburn.
Out of Middlesbrough's registered 30-player roster the club claimed that only seven were fit or able to make the trip to Ewood Park that weekend and Bryan Robson, along with chief executive Keith Lamb decided that the team wouldn't travel to Blackburn to play the game.
Ironically, at a time when Manchester United were proving that the kids were alright under Alex Ferguson, they seemingly felt that fielding a starting line-up consisting of predominantly youth team players would spell certain defeat and that it was better to not play at all.
So after much deliberation and further conversations with the Premier League, Boro decided to postpone the game, claiming they were informed by the Premier League that, according to the League’s own rules, a game could be called-off on the grounds of “just cause,” and that they had acted within the letter of the instructions they had been given.
“I remember it really well,” former Blackburn Assistant Manager Tony Parkes later told the Guardian. “The first I heard of the match being called off was on the Friday when one of the players had gone home and he phoned me up to say he’d seen on Sky Sports that Middlesbrough weren't going to turn up because they had 'flu.”
But if Robson thought the authorities would be sympathetic he was wrong. The FA were far from pleased and nor were their intended opponents that Saturday. “The strange thing was they didn't contact us earlier in the week and say we've got some doubts about this,” says Parkes. “In fact, I never spoke to Bryan Robson at all. Looking back I would have expected him to give me a call at some point.”
The League took the sternest action available to them as Rule 19 of the Premier League's statute states that if a team fails to fulfil a fixture then a three-point deduction will be enforced. Boro appealed the decision but to no avail, and in January 1997 the club saw three precious points disappear from their league total and also received a £50,000 fine.
Middlesbrough never really recovered from the punishment as it threw them further into danger at the foot of the table, what’s more they were ordered to play the game again and when the two finally did meet that May in the penultimate game of the season it finished 0-0, meaning more dropped points.
A distraction from the club’s relegation dogfight came in the form of terrific runs in both the League and FA Cups which saw Boro embark on an incredible two trips to Wembley that spring to face Leicester City and Chelsea respectively; though once again there would be disappointment as on both occasions they ended up on the losing side.
And the club’s exit from the Premier League was finally sealed following the final game of the season on May 11th when a draw at Elland Road confirmed what many had feared and Middlesbrough slipped through the trapdoor and back into the second-tier of English football.
What would have happened if they had managed to scrape a team together that December day nobody can be sure. Could the club have stayed up if they had fulfilled their commitment to fielding 11 players? Would further big-name signings have arrived on Teeside?
But one thing we do know is that Boro's final points tally at the end of the 1996/97 season following the three point deduction was 39 with the amount needed to avoid relegation that campaign – an agonising 41.
