Boro sign Fabrizio Ravanelli for £7m from Juventus. The much misquoted Italian hitman was to get off to a flying start before spitting his dummy and becoming increasingly fractious. #Fixtures #Fittings

#OnThisBoroDay - 1996: Upstart #Boro stun football with a quantum leap signing of a bloke who has just scored in the Champions League final. Fabrizio Ravanelli - "the White Feather" - joined from giants Juventus for a new club record £7m ahead of what was to be a surreal season.

#OnThisBoroDay - 2020: after 3 month Covid shutdown #Boro resume behind closed doors and observe social distancing protocols, giving Swansea loads of space in a woeful 3-0 loss. Fans watching on streams forgiven for thinking Boro are buffering. Tested before entry. Presser on Zoom. Strange days.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1908: #Boro sign England winger Fred Pentland from QPR for £350. Four years, 11 goals in 92 games. He went on to be a managerial legend in Spain, winning trophies with Athletic Bilbao & Atletico Madrid, introducing a short, quick passing style. #TikiTaka

#OnThisBoroDay - 2007: The Gazette reveals #Boro CEO Keith Lamb is in Istanbul talking to Tuncay. The Turkish international attacker is available on a free and wants to come to England. The livewire schemer is hot property after scoring a hat-trick against Man Utd for Fenerbahce.

#OnThisBoroDay - 2001: Highly-rated Man Utd coach Steve McClaren is unveiled as the new #Boro boss. The forward-thinking 'appliance of science' coach turned down West Ham and Southampton and signed a five-year-deal. Golden age incoming...

#OnThisBoroDay - 2003: #Boro host a full England international at a sold out Riverside. Gareth Southgate squares up with Slovakia's Szilard Nemeth. Michael Owen gets a brace after the break as England come from behind to win 2-1 in a Euros qualifier.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1991: #Boro boss Colin Todd dramatically puts 11 [ELEVEN] players on the transfer list. They had a decent season but lost in the play-offs to Notts County. It meant dismantling the Class of 86. A stark demonstration the post-padlocks Rioch revival was over. Make or break for Toddy.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1980: John Neal's #Boro become a global superpower as they beat Espanyol to lift the fabled Kirin Cup in Tokyo. Craig Johnston scored a screamer in a mud-splattered 1-1 draw with the Spanish side then Tony McAndrew scored the final penalty in a shoot-out.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1962: Despite playing in Division Two with #Boro , North Ormesby goal-machine Alan Peacock makes his England debut against Argentina in the World Cup in Chile. England won 3-1. (Flowers pen, Charlton, Greaves, fact fans.)

#OnThisBoroDay - 1981: Gazette veteran Cliff Mitchell retires after 44 years at the paper and 33 as the #Boro man. The entire post-war period. A generational presence Over in folklore corner, here's that time the players burned his jinxed new trilby after a 3 game nosedive in Feb 1974.

We don’t like them for multiple Wembley nightmares plus a particularly horrible encounter in the play-offs when families were attacked. ( #OnThisBoroDay) Plus all the usual things.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge by those who were there Boro won promotion at Chelsea in a tense clash marred by violence. Here's the inside story.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1988: The Battle of Stamford Bridge. Bruce's #Boro complete a fairy-tale return to the top flight, clawing past #Chelsea in the play-offs amid scenes of chaos & violence. A long read I did earlier. The inside story by those who were there...

#OnThisBoroDay - 1980: #Boro step up their bid for international glory with a 2-0 win over Japan in the post-season Kirin Cup. David Hodgson gets both goals.

#OnThisBoroDAy - 1996; #Boro schemer Nick Barmby books his Euro 96 spot with two goals in a 3-0 friendly win over China in Beijing. Gazza gets the other. When the team get back to Hong Kong they are allowed a quiet night out. #DentistChair

Two Boro fans suffer another layer of historical heartache after watching Colin Todd's side get knocked out in the 1991 D1 play-off semi-final.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1991: Colin Todd's #Boro put in a lacklustre display and lose 1-0 at Neil Warnock's Notts County in the 2nd leg of the 1991 D1 play-off semis. Another layer of historic heartache. Although few expected to win.

Provisional liquidator Tony Richmond, a pivotal figure in a dramatic 1986 summer of brinkmanship for Middlesbrough FC

#OnThisBoroDay - 1986: dysfunctional #Boro lurch towards the abyss as Tony Richmond is named as the provisional liquidator. Former chairman Alf Duffield has issued a winding up order. Debts are calculated at £1,878,000. Things look bleak but Steve Gibson has a plan...

#OnThisBoroDay - 1899: After two FA Amateur Cup wins in four years and bossing the Northern League, mighty Middlesbrough are elected to Football League division two. Surely nothing can stop world domination now! #Boro

#OnThisBoroDay - 1995: "England's No1" Stephen Pears scores the last ever goal at Ayresome Park, poking home a generous Holgate End penalty in his own testimonial. Two teams of #Boro legends plus Peter Beardsley. Title trophy on display. He didn't take it entirely seriously.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1918: the greatest footballer of his generation born in South Bank.

"Mark Schwarzer... the biggest Australian hero since Ned Kelly!" The keeper secures UEFA Cup football with a last gasp penalty save in 2005.

#OnThisBoroDay - 2005: "Mark Schwarzer... the greatest Australian hero since Ned Kelly!" The big Aussie saves a last gasp Robbie Fowler penalty at Man City to secure a 1-1 draw and book a second successive UEFA Cup campaign for #Boro

#OnThisBoroDay - 2015: Aitor Karanka's bubbling #Boro barge into the play-off final after an emphatic 3-0 win over Brentford. A pulsating night at a throbbing Riverside that has a ReadyBrek glow. Tomlin! Kike! Albert! Class. What a night.

#OnThisBoroDay - 2018: Leo! Leo! Leo! Lots of hard, tattooed Teessiders with moist eyes as this big bear of a man made a poignant Riverside return before the play-off SF with Villa. He gave poignant personal thanks to #Boro fans for tehir support after his family tragedy then a booming battle-cry.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1929: #Boro goal machine George Camsell scores two on his England debut, a 4-1 win away to France. He was to go on to bag 18 goals in nine internationals, a staggering strike rate.

18K views · 333 reactions | #OnThisDay in 2015... | #OnThisDay in 2015, goals from Jelle Vossen and Fernando Amorebieta gave #Boro a Play-Off advantage to bring back to the Riverside ⚽️⚽️ Extended...... #OnThisDay in 2015, goals from Jelle Vossen and Fernando Amorebieta gave #Boro a Play-Off advantage to bring back to the Riverside ⚽️⚽️ Extended...

#OnThisBoroDay - 2015: Aitor Karanka's bubbling #Boro plant one foot in the play-off final with a 2-1 win at Brentford in the SF 1st leg. Vossen header, they nick one in a keeper clanger, victory sealed late on with a tasty Nandos. Wifi goes down. Hasty rewrite on iPhone carnage.

Bring on the Boro! Bring on the Boro! #OnThisBoroDay - 1987: jubilant #Boro fans demand the players join them to celebrate a back-from-the-brink post-padlocks promotion after a 0-0 Div 3 Ayresome Park draw with Wigan. Fantastic.

Balding Bosnian Boro striker Bosco Jankovic, a cult hero at Aston Villa after getting the goals to beat Ipswich on the last day of the 1981 season. That handed to title to Villa.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1981: balding Bosnian Bosko Jankovic becomes an #AstonVilla cult hero. With Villa losing at Arsenal, the ungainly hitman struck twice in the second half to secure a 2-1 #Boro home win over Bobby Robson's Ipswich thus handing the title to Villa.

An old school bedsheet banner bids farewell to Ayresome Park as mighty Middlesbrough pla their final game at the old ground in April 1995.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1995: Incredibly, today is 30 years since the last game at Ayresome Park. Jesus. Time flies. A John Hendrie brace seals a 2-1 #Boro win on an emotional full house farewell. A pre-match lap by a legion of legends, opera, bagpipes & the new ground's name is revealed.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1950: #Boro sign Lindy Delapenha, their first black player, from champions Portsmouth for £6000. Fans' favourite. 270 games, 93 goals. Folklore corner: a pen in Ayresome's first floodlit game v Sunderland fizzed under a poorly pegged onion bag & a myth grew he had 'burst the net'.

#OnThisBoroDay - big #Boro birthday greetings to Alan Kernaghan, famously diabetic teenage striker turned top flight and international defender. Folk-lore high-points: 12 minute hat-trick at Blackburn, supermarket cans at Wolves away.

#OnThisBoroDay - 1996: #Boro stars Alan Moore and Curtis Fleming make their debut's for the Republic of Ireland in a 2-0 away friendly defeat to Czech Republic. Shay Given & Andy Townsend are also in Mick McCarthy's team.