clubname	Middlesbrough
fullname	Middlesbrough Football Club
nickname	The Boro
shortname	Boro
founded	1876
ground	Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
capacity	34,988
owntitle	Owner
owner	Steve Gibson
chrtitle	Chairman
chairman	Steve Gibson
manager	Tony Mowbray
league	The Championship
season	2011–12
position	The Championship, 7th
website	http://www.mfc.co.uk
pattern la1	_shoulder_stripes_white_shirt_alt
pattern b1	_whitesholders
pattern ra1	_shoulder_stripes_white_shirt_alt
pattern sh1	_whitebottom
pattern so1	__3_stripes_red
leftarm1	DD0000
body1	DD0000
rightarm1	DD0000
shorts1	DD0000
socks1	FFFFFF
pattern la2	_redborderandshoulder
pattern b2	_thinredsides
pattern ra2	_redborderandshoulder
pattern sh2	_red_stripes_adidas
pattern so2	_color_3_stripes_red
leftarm2	000000
body2	000000
rightarm2	000000
shorts2	000000
socks2	000000
current	2011–12 Middlesbrough F.C. season }}

Middlesbrough Football Club (), also known as ''Boro'', are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889. Their longest-serving home was Ayresome Park, where they played for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.

They were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992. The club's main rivals are Sunderland and Newcastle United. The club also take part in Yorkshire derbies with several other Yorkshire clubs, most notably Leeds United.

The club's highest league finish to date was third in the 1913–14 season and they have only spent two seasons outside of the Football League's top two divisions. The club came close to folding in 1986 after experiencing severe financial difficulties before the club was saved by a consortium led by then board member and later chairman Steve Gibson. Middlesbrough were controversially deducted three points for failing to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn Rovers during the 1996–97 Premier League season and were subsequently relegated. They were promoted the following season and spent eleven consecutive seasons in the top division before relegation. Middlesbrough won the League Cup in 2004, the club's first and only major trophy. They reached the 2006 UEFA Cup Final in May 2006 but were beaten by Spanish side Sevilla. On 24 May 2009, Middlesbrough were relegated to the Championship, failing to extend their 11-year stay in the Premier League.

The club's traditional kit is red with white detailing. The various crests throughout the club's history, the most recent of which was adopted in May 2007, incorporate a lion rampant.

History[link]

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 three seasons, they won promotion to the First Division, where they would remain for the next .

In 1903, the club moved to Ayresome Park, their home for the next . In 1905, the club sanctioned the transfer of Alf Common for £1,000, a record fee. Over the next few years, their form fluctuated greatly, rising to sixth in 1907–08 before dropping to seventeenth two seasons later. The club rose to their highest league finish to date, third, in 1913–14. The First World War soon intervened and football was suspended.

Before league football resumed, Middlesbrough 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. The club 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. Middlesbrough climbed to fourth in the last full season before the Second World War 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, Middlesbrough maintained reasonable progress in the Second Division but were never serious contenders for promotion. After a fourth place finish in 1962–63, the club 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. Middlesbrough would not finish below ninth during the next eight seasons. 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. Middlesbrough won their first silverware as a professional side in the 1975–76 season, lifting the Anglo-Scottish Cup in its inaugural season after a two-legged final win over Fulham.

The club experienced severe financial difficulties during the mid-1980s. Middlesbrough were dropping down the table, and finished nineteenth 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 Middlesbrough 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 Football and Athletic Club (1986) Ltd.

Over the next two seasons, Middlesbrough 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 £2.3 million. Despite constant promotion and relegation, Middlesbrough 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 were brought back into national attention. Following promotion to the Premier League and high-profile purchases like diminutive Brazilian Juninho, many considered Middlesbrough 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 fulfil a fixture against Blackburn, which ultimately resulted in relegation. This success also ensured that Middlesbrough 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.

Middlesbrough reached the 2006 UEFA Cup Final in Eindhoven, following two comebacks from 3–0 down in the rounds preceding it, but 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. During the 2007–08 season, Southgate broke Middlesbrough's record transfer fee, paying £12 million for Brazilian striker Afonso Alves. Southgate's first two seasons saw the club finish in 12th and 13th places. He oversaw the club reaching the quarter finals of the FA Cup for three seasons, but the club was relegated to the Football League Championship on the last day of the 2008–09 season. Southgate was sacked in October 2009, and replaced by Gordon Strachan. At the time of Southgate's dismissal, Boro were fourth in the Championship and only four points away from the automatic promotion spot, but their form under Strachan was significantly worse and they finished mid-table.

Despite starting the 2010–11 campaign as promotion favourites, the club endured a disappointing start to the season securing only 1 point in 5 away games. Having slipped to 20th in the Championship following a home defeat to rivals Leeds, Strachan resigned on 18 October. A week later, Tony Mowbray was confirmed as the new manager. Having staved off the threat of relegation, Mowbray successfully transformed Boro's fortunes, eventually guiding them to a top-half finish. Boro ended the season top of the form table after four consecutive league wins, the first such run since 1998. However, despite a magnificent first half of the season, Boro failed to capitalise, and finished 7th in the League, missing out on the play-off's by 5 points and 1 position, meaning Middlesbrough will be playing Championship football in the 2012/2013 season.

Colours and crest[link]

Middlesbrough's original home kit upon election to the Football League in 1899 was a white home shirt with blue shorts and they did not adopt their colours of red and white until later that season. Previous kits included a white shirt with a blue and white polka dotted collar from around 1889. The Middlesbrough kit has remained broadly the same over the years with a red shirt and socks and either red or white shorts. The distinctive broad white stripe across the chest was introduced by Jack Charlton in 1973 (following an attempt to change the home shirt to a Leeds United-style white shirt) and brought back for a one-off in 1997–98 and then again for the 2000–01 and 2004–05 seasons due to popular demand. The club subsequently announced in December 2007 that the club would allow the fans to decide via an online and text vote whether the white band should return for the following season. On 8 January 2008 the club announced that the white band was to return, with 77.4% of voters voting in its favour, with the fans to choose the final shirt design from a selection of three designs, of which the winner was announced on 7 May 2008.

The Middlesbrough crest has gone through four changes since the formation of the club. Initially, the badge was simply the town of Middlesbrough's crest with a red lion instead of a blue lion in order to fit in with the club's colours. Following the adoption of the white band on the shirts in 1973, only the red lion remained with the letters "M.F.C" underneath in red. This was further adapted following the reformation of the club in 1986 to a circular crest with the lion in the middle and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1986" around the circle in order to reflect this new era. In 2007, Middlesbrough changed their crest once again, this time with the lion inside a shield and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1876" underneath. The club stated that this was to reflect the club's long history and not just their post-liquidation status.

Since the 2009–10 season, Middlesbrough's kit has been produced by adidas, replacing the previous deal with Errea which had lasted for 15 years. The kit is only available in the UK from the official club shops and Middlesbrough's online store. The club's shirt sponsor was announced on 20 July 2007 as satellite navigation device manufacturers Garmin. This contract was extended until the end of the 2008–09 season in a deal described as "the biggest in the club's history". For the 2010–11 season, due to struggling to find a season long sponsor, the shirt sponsor will be different every month. Each month a company can purchase the shirt space for that month. The replica shirts will be sold without a sponsors name across the middle.As of the start of the 2011/2012 season Middlesbrough will be sponsored by Ramsdens pawnbrokers.

Kit manufacturers[link]

1976–1977 – Bukta 1977–1983 – Adidas 1984–1987 – Hummel 1987–1992 – Skill 1992–1994 – Admiral 1994–2009 – Errea 2009–present – Adidas

Kit sponsors[link]

1980–1982 – Datsun Cleveland 1982–1984 – McLean Homes 1984–1986 – Camerons 1986–1988 – Dickens 1988–1990 – Heritage Hampers 1990–1992 – Evening Gazette 1992–1994 – ICI 1994–1995 – Dickens 1995–2002 – Cellnet/BTCellnet 2002–2004 – Dial a Phone 2004–2007 – 888.com 2007–2010 – Garmin 2010-2010 – Wiring Services 2011–present – Ramsdens

Sponsorship[link]

Ramsdens – Official Sponsor Adidas – Official Partner Jaguar – Official Partner Teesside University – Official Partner FCBETZ.com – Official Partner Carlsberg – Official Partner BBC Tees – Official Partner SG Petch – Official Partner Dickinson Dees – Official Partner Rockliffe Hall – Official Partner Tees Valley Coach Travel – Official Travel Provider

Stadium[link]

After formation in 1876, and with the club still amateurs, Middlesbrough's first two years of football were played at Albert Park in Middlesbrough. After seeing the damage being caused by players and supporters, the Park Committee ordered the club to find an alternate venue. The club moved to Breckon Hill, behind the present-day Middlesbrough College, after agreeing to rent the land from its owner. However, two years later in 1880, the owner increased the rent and the club decided to move. They moved into the Linthorpe Road Ground in 1882, home at the time of Middlesbrough Cricket Club. The cricket club departed in 1893–94 to move to the Breckon Hill field, and Middlesbrough Football Club became sole users of the ground.

With the club's growing size, and entry to the Football League, they had to move to a new ground in 1903, Ayresome Park. It was designed by Archibald Leitch and would be the club's home for the next 92 years. Following the Taylor Report in 1990, the ground either needed modernising or the club needed a new stadium. The club decided on the latter, and moved out at the end of the 1994–95 season. It was used as a training ground during 1995–96, before it was demolished in 1997 and a housing estate built in its place. The club now trains at a £7 million complex at Rockliffe Park, in Hurworth, on the outskirts of Darlington.

The Riverside Stadium, named by the supporters of the club after a vote, became the club's home in 1995. It was the first stadium to be built in line with the Taylor Report's recommendations on all-seater stadia for clubs in the top two divisions of the English football league system. It was originally a 30,000 seater stadium, constructed at a cost of £16 million, before it was expanded in 1998 to a capacity of 35,100 for an extra £5 million. The capacity of the stadium has since been reduced slightly to its current level of 34,988.

Average attendances at Middlesbrough matches have fluctuated over the past several years, moving from a 2004–05 high average of 32,012 to a low of 26,092 in 2006–07, then up again to 28,428 in 2008–09. Following relegation to the Championship attendances have dipped, although the crowd of 23,451 which saw Middlesbrough's first Championship game against Sheffield United represents far higher gates than is usual for the division, and indeed larger than those of Wigan Athletic. Steve Gibson was quoted saying that in the next 5 years he would like to extend the Riverside's attendance to 40,000.

Supporters[link]

Traditionally supporters come from Middlesbrough itself and towns in the immediate area. Middlesbrough have one of the highest proportions in Britain of locally-born season ticket holders at 80%, and one of the highest proportions of female fans at 20%. A survey at the start of the 2007–08 season found Middlesbrough supporters were the seventh loudest set of fans in the Premier League. Middlesbrough supporters at the 2006 UEFA Cup Final|left|thumb Middlesbrough Official Supporters Club, which features their own team in the local football league, has links with supporters' clubs across the globe. The largest supporters' clubs include the Official Supporters' Club, the Middlesbrough Disabled Supporters' Association, Yarm Reds, Red Faction and Middlesbrough Supporters South.

Middlesbrough supporters' main rivals are Sunderland (with whom they contest the Tees–Wear derby), Newcastle United (with whom they contest the Tyne–Tees derby), and Leeds United, a fact confirmed by planetfootball.com's 2004 survey, where Sunderland and Newcastle fans also considered Middlesbrough to be amongst their top three rivalries. Carlisle United see Middlesbrough as their biggest rivals, but Middlesbrough supporters have not reciprocated, as they do not see Carlisle as a top three rival.

The nickname ''Smoggies'' was first used as a derogatory term by opposing supporters; it relates to the industrial air pollution (smog) that has been ever present since the Industrial Revolution, but it was later used by Middlesbrough fans in a somewhat self-deprecating manner before finally being adopted as a badge of pride by supporters of the club. An example of this can be seen on the banners carried to away games stating "Smoggies on Tour". Middlesbrough fans were notably praised by UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson after their behaviour during the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign. He commended that: Middlesbrough fans had also been praised by Cleveland Police for their behaviour in previous rounds, particularly in the light of aggravation prior to and during the match at Roma.

Media relations[link]

Middlesbrough were the first English football club to broadcast time-delayed full-match footage of their league games on their own channel, "Boro TV", in August 2001. Boro TV ran through NTL cable television until July 2005. The club now show match highlights through a subscription-based scheme on their official website.

Middlesbrough's official matchday programme, ''Redsquare'', was ''Programme Monthly's'' 2006–07 Programme of the Year. There are numerous other fanzines available, most notably ''Fly Me To The Moon'', formed in September 1988 following Bruce Rioch's quote to Tony Mowbray, stating "If I had to go to the moon I'd want him by my side".

Community[link]

Middlesbrough Football Club in the Community (MFCIC) was founded in 1995 by club chairman Steve Gibson and is the largest community-based football scheme in the United Kingdom. It is run separately from the football club but receives support from both the club in terms of providing players, staff, stadium facilities and PR in the matchday programme and other publications, as well as support from other local organisations.

Since 2002, the club and MFCIC have also run the Middlesbrough Enterprise Academy, a scheme which helps local children improve their entrepreneurial skills and increase their awareness of business planning and finance. In March 2008, plans were announced by the Premier League to roll out the scheme nationally amongst all Premier League clubs.

It was announced in December 2007 that Middlesbrough football club had carried out more community work during 2006–07 than any other Premier League club, rising from second place the previous year, with the club making 318 appearances – almost twice the Premier League average of 162. They were in the top two for community appearances again in 2007–08, with 374 – a 17% increase on the previous season.

Middlesbrough's mascot is Roary the Lion. The club runs Roary's Children's Charity Fund which purchases items for local children's charities.

In 2009, steel producer Corus Group announced the possibility that it would mothball its Teesside plant, with up to 4,000 employees and contractors facing redundancy, after a consortium of steel magnates walked away from a 10-year deal. Middlesbrough Football Club helped with the "Save Our Steel" campaign by hosting dozens of steel workers and their families as they marched around the ground, promoted the campaign via the stadium's PA system, scoreboards and in match day programmes, while players wore t-shirts during warm-ups promoting the campaign. Chairman Steve Gibson said:

}}

Honours[link]

Domestic[link]

League[link]

Football League Second Division / Football League Division One: :Champions: 1926–27, 1928–29, 1973–74, 1994–95 Runners-up: 1901–02, 1991–92, 1997–98

Football League Third Division: :Runners-up: 1966–67, 1986–87

Northern League: :Champions 1893–94, 1894–95, 1896–97 Runners-up 1890–91, 1891–92, 1897–98

Cup[link]

League Cup :Winners 2004 :Runners up 1997, 1998 FA Cup :Runners up 1997 FA Amateur Cup :Winners 1894–95, 1897–98 Full Members Cup :Runners up 1990 FA Youth Cup :Winners 2004

International[link]

UEFA Cup :Runners up 2005–06 Anglo-Scottish Cup :Winners 1976 Kirin Cup :Winners 1980

Club staff[link]

''''

{| |- |valign="top"|

Executive Members
style="width:150px;"	Role !! style="width:140px;"|Person
Chairman	Steve Gibson (businessman)>Steve Gibson
Chief Executive	Neil Bausor
Chief Financial Officer	Alan Bage

Non Executive Members
style="width:150px;"	Role !! style="width:140px;"|Person
Non-Executive Director	Keith Lamb (executive)>Keith Lamb
Club Secretary	Karen Nelson

Senior Team Management
style="width:150px;"	Role !! style="width:140px;"|Person
Manager	Tony Mowbray
Assistant manager	Mark Venus
First Team Coach	Mark Proctor (footballer)>Mark Proctor
Reserve Team Coach	Steve Agnew
Goalkeeping Coach	Stephen Pears
Fitness Coach	Peter Hood
Scout(Europe)	Gary Gill

Medical
style="width:150px;"	Role !! style="width:140px;"|Person
Head of medical	Chris Moseley
Physio	Adam Read
Doctor	Brian Blackage

|width="5"|  |valign="top"|

Academy Team Management
style="width:150px;"	Role !! style="width:140px;"|Person
Academy Manager	Dave Parnaby
Academy U-18 Coach	Colin Cooper
Academy U-16 Coach	Paul Jenkins
Academy U-15 Coach	Kevin Taylor
Academy U-15 Coach	Kevin Scott (footballer)>Kevin Scott
Academy U-14 Coach	Mark Tinkler
Academy U-13 Coach	Craig Hignett
Academy U-12 Coach	Gary Bennett (footballer born 1961)>Gary Bennett
Academy U-11 Coach	James McGlynn
Acadermy U-10 Coach	Jamie Pollock
Acadermy U-9 Coach	Paul Crager
Head Goalkeeping Coach	Simon Hood
Goalkeeping Coach	Paul Clements
Sports Scientist	Peter Hood
Head of Recruitment	Ron Bone
Assistant Head of Recruitment	Martin Carter
Head of Education and Welfare	John Barry
Academy Assistant	Terry Mulgrew

|}

Players[link]

Reserves and Academy[link]

Notable players[link]

Middlesbrough Legends[link]

These ten players were voted for by fans as part of a campaign with the ''Evening Gazette''. George Camsell George Hardwick Wilf Mannion Brian Clough John Hickton Willie Maddren Tony Mowbray Bernie Slaven Juninho Gareth Southgate

Top appearances[link]

These players made more than 430 appearances during their time at the club. The number in brackets indicates the number of appearances in all competitions. Tim Williamson ''(602)'' Gordon Jones ''(532)'' John Hickton ''(499)'' John Craggs ''(487)'' Jim Platt ''(481)'' George Camsell ''(453)'' Jacky Carr ''(449)'' Mark Schwarzer ''(446)'' David Armstrong ''(431)''

Top goalscorers[link]

These players scored more than 140 goals during their time with the club. The number in brackets indicates the number of goals scored in all competitions. George Camsell ''(345)'' George Elliott ''(213)'' Brian Clough ''(204)'' John Hickton ''(193)'' Micky Fenton ''(162)'' Bernie Slaven ''(146)'' Alan Peacock ''(141)''

Player of the Year award winners[link]

Football League 100 Legends[link]

The Football League 100 Legends is a list of "100 legendary football players" produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football. * Alf Common George Camsell Steve Bloomer Wilf Mannion George Hardwick Nobby Stiles Graeme Souness Bryan Robson Paul Gascoigne

English Football Hall of Fame[link]

The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at The National Football Museum in Preston, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of top English Footballers and Footballers who have played in England. These players appeared for or managed Middlesbrough at some point in their careers. Brian Clough ''(2002 inductee)'' Paul Gascoigne ''(2002 inductee)'' Bryan Robson ''(2002 inductee)'' Viv Anderson ''(2004 inductee)'' Wilf Mannion ''(2004 inductee)'' Jack Charlton ''(2005 inductee)'' Graeme Souness ''(2007 inductee)'' Nobby Stiles ''(2007 inductee)'' Terry Venables ''(2007 inductee)'' Steve Bloomer ''(2008 inductee)'' Malcolm Allison ''(2009 inductee)''

Scottish Football Hall of Fame[link]

The following former Middlesbrough players and managers have been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Bobby Murdoch ''(2004 inductee)'' Graeme Souness ''(2004 inductee)'' Gordon Strachan ''(2007 inductee)''

Middlesbrough players at World Cups [link]

The following players were chosen to represent their country at the World Cup while contracted to Middlesbrough.

1950 FIFA World Cup

: Wilf Mannion

1962 FIFA World Cup

: Alan Peacock

1982 FIFA World Cup

: Jim Platt

1990 FIFA World Cup

: Bernie Slaven

1994 FIFA World Cup

: Jaime Moreno

1998 FIFA World Cup

: Hamilton Ricard : Paul Merson

2002 FIFA World Cup

: Alen Bokšić : Juninho Paulista

2006 FIFA World Cup

: Stewart Downing : Mark Schwarzer : Mark Viduka

2010 FIFA World Cup

: Chris Killen

Managers[link]

The following are all the full time Middlesbrough managers since the club turned professional in 1899. {| |- |valign="top"|

style="background:#aad0ff"	Dates	Manager(s)
1899–1905	Jack Robson
1905–1906	Alex Mackie
1906–1909	Andy Aitken (footballer born 1877)>Andy Aitken
1909–1910	John Gunter
1910–1911	Andy Walker (football manager)>Andy Walker
1911–1919	Thomas H. McIntosh>Tom McIntosh
1920–1923	James Howie>Jimmy Howie
1923–1926	Herbert Bamlett
1927–1934	Peter McWilliam
1934–1944	Wilf Gillow
1944–1952	David Jack
1952–1954	Walter Rowley
1954–1963	Bob Dennison
1963–1966	Raich Carter
1966–1973	Stan Anderson

|width="5"|  |valign="top"|

style="background:#aad0ff"	Dates	Manager(s)
1973–1977	Jack Charlton
1977–1981	John Neal (footballer)>John Neal
1981–1982	Bobby Murdoch
1982–1984	Malcolm Allison
1984	Jack Charlton
1984–1986	Willie Maddren
1986–1990	Bruce Rioch
1990–1991	Colin Todd
1991–1994	Lennie Lawrence
1994–2000	Bryan Robson
2000–2001	Bryan Robson with Terry Venables
2001–2006	Steve McClaren
2006–2009	Gareth Southgate
2009–2010	Gordon Strachan
2010–Present	Tony Mowbray

|}

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

;Official websites

MFC.co.uk Official club website

Middlesbrough at The Football League's official website

;News sites

Middlesbrough news from Sky Sports

;Fan/other websites

Boro-Stat Unofficial stats & graphs website

Friends Reunited Photos through the years

Category:Football clubs in England Category:Sport in Middlesbrough Category:Premier League clubs Category:Football League clubs Category:Association football clubs established in 1876 Category:North Yorkshire football clubs Category:Football League Cup winners Category:Football League Championship clubs Category:1876 establishments in England Category:Northern Football League

ar:نادي ميدلزبره bn:মিডল্‌স্‌ব্রো ফুটবল ক্লাব be-x-old:Мідлзбра (футбольны клюб) bg:ФК Мидълзбро ca:Middlesbrough Football Club cs:Middlesbrough FC cy:Middlesbrough F.C. da:Middlesbrough F.C. de:FC Middlesbrough et:Middlesbrough FC el:Μίντλεσμπρο Φ.Κ. es:Middlesbrough Football Club fa:باشگاه فوتبال میدلزبورو fr:Middlesbrough Football Club ga:Middlesbrough Football Club gl:Middlesbrough FC ko:미들즈브러 FC hr:Middlesbrough F.C. id:Middlesbrough F.C. is:Middlesbrough F.C. it:Middlesbrough Football Club he:מידלסברו (כדורגל) lv:Middlesbrough FC lb:Middlesbrough FC lt:Middlesbrough FC hu:Middlesbrough FC mr:मिडल्सब्रो एफ.सी. ms:Middlesbrough F.C. nl:Middlesbrough FC ja:ミドルズブラFC no:Middlesbrough FC nn:Middlesbrough FC pms:Middlesbrough FC pl:Middlesbrough F.C. pt:Middlesbrough Football Club ro:Middlesbrough F.C. ru:Мидлсбро (футбольный клуб) sco:Middlesbrough F.C. simple:Middlesbrough F.C. sk:Middlesbrough FC sr:ФК Мидлзбро fi:Middlesbrough FC sv:Middlesbrough FC th:สโมสรฟุตบอลมิดเดิลสโบร tr:Middlesbrough FC uk:Мідлсбро (футбольний клуб) vi:Middlesbrough (câu lạc bộ bóng đá) zh:米德尔斯堡足球俱乐部

Name	Borough of Middlesbrough
Nickname	Boro (current), Ironopolis (obsolete)
Type	Town, Borough & Unitary authority
Blank emblem type	Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Subdivision type	Sovereign state
Subdivision name	United Kingdom
Subdivision type1	Constituent country
Subdivision name1	England
Subdivision type2	Region
Subdivision name2	North East England
Subdivision type3	Ceremonial county
Subdivision name3	North Yorkshire
Seat type	Admin. HQ
Seat	Middlesbrough
Government type	Middlesbrough Borough Council
Leader title	Leadership:
Leader name	Mayor & Cabinet
Leader title1	Executive:
Leader name1
Leader title2	Mayor
Leader name2	Ray Mallon (Independent)
Leader title3	MPs:
Leader name3	Stuart Bell (L)
Established title	Founded
Established date	1830
Area rank
Area total km2	|R}}

|latd=54 |latm=34 |lats=31 |latNS=N |longd=1 |longm=14 |longs=03 |longEW=W |coordinates_display = inline,title |population_as_of = |population_total = |R}} |population_rank = Ranked |population_density_km2 = auto |timezone = Greenwich Mean Time |utc_offset = +0 |timezone_DST = British Summer Time |utc_offset_DST = +1 |postal_code_type = Postcode |postal_code = |area_code = |blank_name = ISO 3166-2 |blank_info = |blank1_name = ONS code |blank1_info = 00EC |blank2_name = OS grid reference |blank2_info = |blank3_name = NUTS 3 |blank3_info = |blank4_name = Ethnicity |blank4_info = 93.7% White1.1% Mixed Race5.1% S.Asian1.0% Black |website = middlesbrough.gov.uk }} Middlesbrough ( ) is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. The local authority, a unitary authority, is Middlesbrough Borough Council.

Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, in 1968 the town became the centre of the County Borough of Teesside, which was absorbed by the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland in 1974. In 1996 Cleveland was abolished, and Middlesbrough became a unitary authority, within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire.

It is locally regarded that the town exceeds the confines of the Middlesbrough Borough to include the areas of Eston, Grangetown, Normanby, Ormesby, and South Bank which are wards of the neighbouring unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland.

To the northeast of Middlesbrough lies the Tees Estuary, approximately away. A few miles to the south lies the edge of the North York Moors National Park.

Teesport, the UK's third largest port, lies to the east, and Durham Tees Valley Airport lies to the west, near Darlington.

History[link]

Toponymy[link]

''Mydilsburgh'' is the earliest recorded form of the name. The element '-burgh', from the Old English ''burh'' (meaning 'fort') denotes an ancient fort or settlement of pre-Anglian origin. The spelling ''brough'' sets Middlesbrough apart from other English towns, which typically use the spelling ''borough''.

It is not certain if ''Mydil'' was someone's name or a reference to its position (middle) in between the centres of Durham and Whitby. The burgh, though, may have included a monastic cell and was probably situated on the elevated land where the Victorian church of St Hilda's (demolished in 1969) was later built.

The town and its sporting teams are commonly referred to as ''the Boro'', which is a common abbreviation for ''borough'' despite the fact that the name is spelled with a single "o".

Early history[link]

In 686, a monastic cell was consecrated by St. Cuthbert at the request of St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby and in 1119 Robert Bruce, 1st Lord of Cleveland and Annandale, granted and confirmed the church of St. Hilda of Middleburg to Whitby. Up until its closure on the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1537, the church was maintained by 12 Benedictine monks, many of whom became vicars or rectors of various places in Cleveland. The importance of the early church at “Middleburg”, later known as Middlesbrough Priory, is indicated by the fact that in 1452 it possessed four altars.

After the Angles the area became home to Viking settlers and it is argued by some that 'old' Cleveland has the highest density of Scandinavian parish names in Britain. Names of Viking origin (with the suffix ''by'') are abundant in the area – for example, Thornaby, Ormesby, Stainsby, Lackenby, Maltby and Tollesby were once separate villages that belonged to Vikings called Thormad, Orm, Steinn, Hlakkande, Malti and Toll, but now form suburbs of Middlesbrough. Lazenby was the village belonging to a Leysingr – a freeman; Normanby, a Norseman's village and Danby, a Dane's village. The name Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name and dates to Anglian times (400 to 1000 AD), while many of the aforementioned villages appear in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Other links persist in the area, often through school and/or road names, to now-outgrown or abandoned local settlements, such as the medieval settlement of Stainsby, deserted by 1757, which amounts to little more today than a series of grassy mounds near the A19 road. In 1952 Stainsby Secondary Modern School, now renamed Acklam Grange Secondary School, was named after this village.

Industrial history[link]

right|thumb|Old Town Hall In 1801 Middlesbrough was a hamlet with a population of just 25 people living in four farmhouses. During the latter half of the 19th century, however, it experienced a growth unparalleled in England. Development began with the purchase of the farm in 1829 by a group of Quaker businessmen, headed by Joseph Pease the Darlington industrialist, who saw the possibilities of Middlesbrough becoming a port for the transport of northeast coal. Four initial streets, leading into the market square, were duly laid out. This cause was facilitated by an 1830 extension of the Stockton and Darlington Railway to the site, which all but erased the logistical obstacles to ongoing development of the town. Before this, the shipment of coal had been problematic owing to the shallow waters around Stockton-on-Tees. The opening of the Clarence Railway, in 1833, which shared some of the Stockton and Darlington Railway's track, also provided the stimulus for the growth of Port Clarence on the opposite side of the river to Middlesbrough.

From 1840 to 1842 the civil engineer George Turnbull built Middlesbrough Dock which was then bought by the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company.

When Prime Minister William Gladstone visited the town, he stood under the roof of the original (1846) town hall and famously dubbed Middlesbrough 'an infant Hercules' in 'England's enterprise'.

right|thumb|A wall celebrating the name Ironopolis At the very moment when early fortunes showed signs of giving way to decline, another great leap forward took place, with the discovery of ironstone in the Eston Hills in 1850. In 1841, Henry Bolckow, who had come to England in 1827, formed a partnership with John Vaughan, originally of Worcester, and started an iron foundry and rolling mill at Vulcan Street in the town. It was Vaughan who realised the economic potential of local ironstone deposits. Pig iron production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856.

The importance of the area to the developing iron and steel trade gave it the nickname ''Ironopolis''. Also, a local football team playing in the late 19th century (now defunct), called itself Middlesbrough Ironopolis F. C.

+ The first ten mayors of Middlesbrough	Year	Name of Mayor
1853	Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow
1854	Isaac Wilson
1855	John Vaughan
1856	Henry Thompson
1858	John Richardson
1859	William Fallows
1860	George Bottomley
1861	James Harris
1862	Thomas Brentnall
1863	Edgar Gilkes

On 21 January 1853, Middlesbrough received its Royal Charter of Incorporation, giving the town the right to have a mayor, aldermen and councillors. Bolckow became mayor in 1853 and Middlesbrough's first Member of Parliament (MP).

On 15 August 1867, a Reform Bill was passed, making Middlesbrough a new parliamentary borough, Bolckow was unanimously elected member for Middlesbrough the following year.

The population of Middlesbrough, as county borough, peaked at almost 165,000 in the late 1960s but has been in decline since the early 1980s. From 2001 to 2004, however, the recorded population jumped significantly, from 134,000 to 142,000, then to 147,000 in 2005. The current population, as of mid 2010, is approximately 142,400.

The Bell brothers opened their great ironworks on the banks of the Tees in 1853. Steel production began at Port Clarence in 1889 and an amalgamation with Dorman Long followed. After rock salt was discovered under the site in 1874, the salt-extraction industry on Teesside was founded. By now Bell Brothers had become a vast concern employing some 6,000 people. Isaac Lowthian Bell's own eminence in the field of applied science, where he published many weighty papers, and as an entrepreneur whose knowledge of blast furnaces was unrivalled, led to universal recognition. He was the first president of the Iron and Steel Institute, and the first recipient of the Bessemer Gold Medal in 1874. Bell was Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1854–1855, and again in 1862–1863. He served as MP for Hartlepool in 1875–1880.

For many years in the 19th century Teesside set the world price for iron and steel. The steel components of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) were engineered and fabricated by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough. Fittingly, the words ''MADE IN MIDDLESBROUGH'' are stamped on the Bridge. "The golden rivet" was hammered in by Kenneth Johnson Esq, Mechanical Engineer, whose son Christopher was later a pioneer in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry . The company was also responsible for the earlier New Tyne Bridge across the river at Newcastle.

right|thumb|Transporter Bridge, built in 1911 Via a 1907 Act of Parliament the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company also built the great Transporter Bridge (1911) which spans the Tees itself between Middlesbrough and Port Clarence. At long and high, is one of the largest of its type in the world, and one of only two left in working order in Britain (the other being in Newport). The bridge remains in daily use and it is worth noting that, contrary to what is suggested by the plot of popular BBC drama/comedy ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'', the bridge was ''not'' at any point dismantled and removed to Arizona. It is, indeed, a Grade II* listed building. Another landmark, the Tees Newport Bridge opened further along the river in 1934. Newport bridge still stands and is passable by traffic but it no can longer lift the centre section.

Several large shipyards also lined the Tees including the Sir Raylton Dixon & Company which produced hundreds of steam freighters including the infamous SS Mont-Blanc, the steamship which caused the 1917 Halifax Explosion in Canada.

The great steelworks, chemical plants, shipbuilding and offshore fabrication yards that followed the original Middlesbrough ironworks, have in the recent past contributed to Britain's prosperity in no small measure and still do to this day.

Second World War[link]

Middlesbrough was the first major British town and industrial target to be bombed during the Second World War. The Luftwaffe first visited the town on 25 May 1940 when a lone bomber dropped 13 bombs between South Bank Road and the South Steel Plant. One of the bombs fell on the South Bank football ground making a large crater in the pitch. The bomber was forced to leave after RAF night fighters were scrambled to intercept. Two months after the first bombing Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited the town to meet the public and inspect coastal defences.

German bombers often flew over the Eston Hills while heading for targets further inland, such as Manchester. On 30 March 1941 a Junkers Ju 88 was shot down by two Spitfires of No. 41 Squadron, piloted by Tony Lovell and Archie Winskill, over Middlesbrough. The aircraft dived into the ground at Barnaby Moor, Eston; the engines and most of the airframe were entirely buried upon impact.

On 5 December 1941 a Spitfire of No. 122 Squadron, piloted by Sgt Hutton, crashed into rising ground near Mill Farm, Upsall, on the lower slopes of Eston Hills. Poor visibility due to bad weather and low cloud is believed to have been the cause of the crash.

On 15 January 1942, minutes after being hit by gunfire from a merchant ship anchored off Hartlepool, a Dornier Do 217 collided with the cable of a barrage balloon over the River Tees. The blazing bomber plummeted onto the railway sidings in South Bank leaving a crater twelve feet deep. In 1997 the remains of the Dornier were unearthed by a group of workers clearing land for redevelopment; the remains were put on display for a short while at Kirkleatham museum.

On 4 August 1942 a lone Dornier Do 217 picked its way through the barrage balloons and dropped a stick of bombs onto the railway station. One bomb caused serious damage to the Victorian glass and steel roof. A train in the station was also badly damaged although there were no passengers aboard.

By the end of the war over 200 buildings had been destroyed within the Middlesbrough area. Areas of early and mid-Victorian housing were demolished and much of central Middlesbrough was redeveloped. Heavy industry was relocated to areas of land better suited to the needs of modern technology. Middlesbrough itself began to take on a completely different look.

Origin of motto "Erimus"[link]

The rapid growth of the town saw the prophetic words (probably spoken by Pease), 'Yarm was, Stockton is, Middlesbrough will be' come true. Indeed, the motto chosen by the first body of town councillors was in fact'' 'Erimus'''; Latin for 'We shall be'. (See also the Pearson family grave at Crambe, which uses the motto "''ERIMUS''".)

“Erimus” or “We shall be”, in Latin was chosen as Middlesbrough’s motto to signify the town’s will to grow and become great from its foundation in 1830. The arms of Middlesbrough were designed by W. Hylton Longstaffe in 1853, the year of incorporation. The arms were modified in 1911. They show an azure (blue) lion beneath a row of 2 ships to represent the shipping trade of Middlesbrough. The design is based on that of the Brus family who owned the site on which Middlesbrough is built. Their motto “Fuimus” means “We have been”.

Green Howards[link]

The Green Howards was a British Army infantry regiment very strongly associated with Middlesbrough and the area south of the River Tees. Originally formed at Dunster Castle, Somerset in 1688 to serve King William of Orange, later King William III, this famous regiment became affiliated to the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1782. As Middlesbrough grew, its population of men came to be a group most targeted by the recruiters. The Green Howards were part of the King's Division. On 6 June 2006, this famous regiment was merged into the new Yorkshire Regiment and are now known as 2 Yorks – The 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards). There is also a Territorial Army (TA) company at Stockton Road in Middlesbrough, part of 4 Yorks which is wholly reserve.

One of the most well-known soldiers of this historic regiment was WO2 (Company Sergeant Major) Stanley Hollis. He was the only soldier in all of the British and Empire armies to be awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) in the D-Day landings at Normandy, France in June 1944. Other well-known Green Howards have included the TV magician Paul Daniels, Middlesbrough F.C.'s Wilf Mannion, General Sir Richard Dannatt (who was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the British Army in August 1996), former England rugby player Tim Rodber, and Yorkshire and England cricketer Hedley Verity, killed in action in 1943.

Governance[link]

Middlesbrough was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1853. It extended its boundaries in 1866 and 1887, and became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. A Middlesbrough Rural District was formed in 1894, covering a rural area to the south of the town. It was abolished in 1932, partly going to the county borough; but mostly going to the Stokesley Rural District.

In 1968 Middlesbrough became part of the County Borough of Teesside, and in 1974 it became part of the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland until the county's abolition in 1996, when Middlesbrough became a unitary authority.

Middlesbrough gained a "twin" in 1890 when the town of Middlesboro, Kentucky was incorporated in the United States; it was named after its English namesake due to the discovery of ironstone deposits in the region.

Middlesbrough is twinned with Oberhausen in Germany, Masvingo in Zimbabwe and Dunkerque ('Dunkirk' in English) in France. This last association resulted from the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force during World War II, in which one quarter of the ships involved were from Teesport.

The district in England and Wales with the lowest healthy life expectancy, according to the Office for National Statistics study, is Middlehaven, the dockside area of Middlesbrough, which is currently undergoing major regeneration and will soon become a flagship regeneration project in the UK, with plans from the architect Will Alsop.

City status[link]

Middlesbrough has bid for city status on three occasions. The first occasion was in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium and the second in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, both bids being unsuccessful. The town submitted its latest bid for city status in March 2011, this time to celebrate the occasion of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It was announced on 14 March 2012 that this bid was also unsuccessful, the winning bids coming from Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph.

Crime[link]

Middlesbrough uses combined installations of CCTV cameras and loudspeakers to reprimand citizens when they are committing infringements (throwing cigarette ends on the ground, littering etc.). Middlesbrough was the first place in the UK to install CCTV with loudspeakers which inspired other towns to use this idea. The crime rate in Middlesbrough is nearly twice the UK average and was 4th highest in England in 2007 despite seeing year on year reductions according to the Cleveland Police crime statistics.

Politics[link]

The MP for Middlesbrough is Sir Stuart Bell. Middlesbrough has been a traditionally safe Labour seat, largely due to its industrial, working class history. The first Conservative MP for Middlesbrough was Sir Samuel Alexander Sadler, elected in 1900.

In 2002, Middlesbrough voted to have a directly elected mayor as head of the council. The current mayor is Ray Mallon (independent), formerly a senior officer in Cleveland Police. Mallon was voted in as the first directly elected mayor in 2002; he was re-elected in 2007 and 2011.

Geography[link]

The following is a table of the different wards, districts and suburbs in the Middlesbrough area.

		Beckfield	Beechwood	Berwick Hills	Brambles Farm
Brookfield	Clairville	Coulby Newham	Easterside	Eston	Gresham
		Hemlington	Kader	Ladgate	Lazenby
Linthorpe		Marton Grove	Marton West	Middlehaven	Netherfields
	North Ormesby	Nunthorpe	Ormesby	Pallister
Priestfields	Saltersgill		St. Hilda's		Thorntree
Teesville	Tollesby	Town Farm		West Lane	Whinney Banks

Middlesbrough's contemporary townscape is largely workaday, it being no longer a heavy industrial town, though there are areas around which still support chemical, fertiliser and iron and steel production.

Street layout[link]

Unlike some English towns where there was an older market town around which a larger industrial town grew, Middlesbrough was laid out starting from scratch. The result of this can be seen in the grid-like pattern of streets. Although there is no overall grid plan of the sort found in many American cities, there are areas in which side streets are laid out at right angles to major thoroughfares, with other side streets crossing them at right angles. These streets are continuous over three or four blocks of buildings. In the main shopping area, and on the east side of Linthorpe Road, streets were laid out in rectangular grid which seems to be based on Corporation Road, which runs from east to west. To the west of Linthorpe Road a grid pattern is based on Linthorpe Road itself, but after a few blocks the layout changes to a grid based on Newport Road, which runs north-east to south-west. South of Albert Park there are other smaller grids, but the long continuous streets are all north of Parliament Road and Albert Park. Further out of town there are more recent suburban streets with various layouts.

Climate[link]

Middlesbrough has an oceanic climate typical for the United Kingdom. Being sheltered by both the Lake District and Pennines to the west, Middlesbrough is in one of the relatively drier parts of the country, receiving on average 25 inches (643mm) of rain a year. It has more of a continental climate than other parts of the UK, with above average summer temperatures, and below average winter temperatures. Summer highs typically reach around 20°C (68°F), while winter lows can fall to several degree's below 0°C (32°F).

Transport[link]

Middlesbrough is served well by public transport. The Arriva North East, Stagecoach on Teesside, Leven Valley, Alrite Travel and Go North East bus lines provide local transport mainly in Middlesbrough and to Durham Tees Valley Airport, Sunderland, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. National Express and Megabus operate long distance coach travel from the bus station. Middlesbrough has recently benefited from an upgrade in bus services; with digital displays having been fitted at selected bus shelters in the town and many bus shelters being renovated.

Until the 1970s Middlesbrough bus services consisted of the blue buses of Middlesbrough Corporation Transport, or the red buses of the United Bus Company, with an occasional green bus from Stockton Corporation Transport. The merger to form Teesside resulted in a unified Teesside Corporation Transport, with Stockton's green merging with Middlesbrough's blue to give a turquoise-liveried fleet, a colour which was not universally popular. The United Bus Company, which had operated fewer services than the other two, but tended to cover longer distances, began operating under the National Bus Company brand at about the same time.

Train services are operated by Northern Rail and Transpennine Express, the latter of which provides direct rail services to cities such as Leeds, York, Liverpool and Manchester, departing from Middlesbrough railway station. Currently there are no direct rail services to London King's Cross from Middlesbrough, however, open access operator Grand Central Trains operate four weekday return journeys from nearby Eaglescliffe. Northern Rail connect with the East Coast Main Line at Darlington providing an interchange for direct services to many areas of the UK. Northern also operate the Saltburn route as well as the beautiful Esk Valley Line to Whitby. The Tees Valley Metro scheme intends to improve railway services from Middlesbrough to Darlington, Saltburn, Nunthorpe and Hartlepool and open new stations at Teesside Park, Middlehaven, James Cook University Hospital and Nunthorpe Parkway. The first stages of the scheme were approved by the Department for Transport in 2009.

Roads[link]

Middlesbrough is served by the A19 (North / South) and A66 (East / West) dual carriageways which link up with the national motorway network. Other major roads into the town include the A171, A172, A174, A178 and A1085.

Landmarks[link]

Located in the suburb and former village of Acklam and by some distance Middlesbrough's oldest domestic building is Acklam Hall of c.1680–83. Built by Sir William Hustler, it is also Middlesbrough's sole Grade I listed building. The Restoration mansion, accessible through an avenue of trees off Acklam Road, has seen progressive updates through the centuries, such that it makes for a captivating document of varying trends in English architecture.

There is also a group of interesting churches, for example at Acklam, Marton and Stainton (c. 12th century), as well as the modern St. Mary's R.C. Cathedral at Coulby Newham, replacing in the 1980s the previous structure on Sussex Street that was left gutted and at the mercy of arsonists in 2000.

A modest tally of pre-1900 buildings remain in the town centre, however; the priory, farmhouse and any other elements of the town's pre-industrial landscape (such as the Restoration Newport House and its associated Hustler Granary, which submitted to demolition in the 1930s by virtue of its vicinity to the then-recently opened Tees Newport Bridge, and the locally famous "White Cottages" on St. Barnabas Road in Linthorpe) have long since been banished to history. Indeed, incorporation of the town itself did not occur until 1853. Even so, the urban centre remains home to a variety of architecture ranging from the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, opened in January 2007 to replace a number of former outlying galleries; and Centre North East, formerly Corporation House, which opened in 1971. Many believe that there is a beauty to be found in the surrounding landscape of industry along the River Tees from Billingham to Wilton. The terraced Victorian streets surrounding the town centre are characterful elements of Middlesbrough's social and historical identity, and the vast streets surrounding Parliament Road and Abingdon Road a reminder of the area's wealth and rapid growth during industrialisation.

left|thumb|Middlesbrough Town Hall The town hall, designed by George Gordon Hoskins and built between 1883 and 1887 is a Grade II listed building, and a very imposing structure. Of comparable grandeur alongside these municipal buildings is the erstwhile Empire Palace of Varieties of 1897, the finest surviving theatre edifice designed by Ernest Runtz in the UK. The first artist to star there in its guise as a music hall was Lillie Langtry. Later it became an early nightclub (1950s), then a bingo hall and is now once again a nightclub in the form of 'The Empire'. It has recently, as of 2005, had the missing ornate glass and steel over-canopy to the front entrance fully restored. Further afield, in Linthorpe, can be found the Middlesbrough Theatre (formerly the Little Theatre), which was opened by Sir John Gielgud in 1957 and was one of the first new theatres built in England after the Second World War.

The town can also boast this country’s only public sculpture by the celebrated modern American artist Claes Oldenburg, the "Bottle O' Notes" of 1993, which relates to Captain James Cook. Based alongside it today in the town's Central Gardens is the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), the successor to previous art galleries on Linthorpe Road and Gilkes Street. Refurbished in 2006 is the Carnegie library dating from 1912. The Dorman Long office on Zetland Road, constructed between 1881 and 1891, is the only commercial building ever designed by Philip Webb, the great architect who worked for Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell.

The town centre has been undergoing modernisation in recent years; this includes the addition in 2004 of 'Spectra-txt,' a high interactive tower of metal and fibre-optics inspired by ''Blade Runner'' (whose own industrial scenery was inspired by that of Teesside, by virtue in part of the experiences of its director, the South Shields-born Ridley Scott, a former art college student up the coast in nearby industrialised West Hartlepool). 'Spectra-txt' allows a member of the public to send an SMS (text) message via a mobile phone to change the colours of the lights. Texting various codes, such as 'Chromapop' produce a display of changing colour lights.

Economy[link]

There is a large and comprehensive shopping district made up of several separate shopping centres, which include 'The Mall Middlesbrough' renamed in 2005 from 'Cleveland Shopping Centre,' which has undergone a major refurbishment, it was renamed back to 'Cleveland Shopping Centre' in 2012. 'Dundas Street Shopping' renamed in 2005 from 'Dundas Shopping Arcade', 'Hill Street Shopping Centre' and 'Captain Cook Square'. Linthorpe Road is home to several independent and national fashion shops. A four-part BBC3 documentary "The Secret Life of the Shop" was made in 2005 about the clothing store Psyche, which highlighted how seriously some Teessiders take fashion.

Major employment in the area is supplied by the chemical and steel industries. The large A&E; James Cook University Hospital, located in the south of the town on the A172 is also a major employer.

Future developments[link]

As part of its £1.5 billion investment programme, Tees Valley Regeneration has started work on reclaiming Middlesbrough Docklands with the £500 million Middlehaven scheme to bring new business and homes to a area. The first phase around the former docklands has already begun and is visible from the Riverside Stadium. The master plan drawn up by Will Alsop in 2004, includes proposals for the relocation of Middlesbrough College and the building of a virtual reality centre by Teesside University as part of the DigitalCity development, in addition to numerous offices, hotels, bars, restaurants and leisure attractions. Tees Valley Regeneration now has a shortlist of five developers seeking to build at Middlehaven, the list includes some of the most prestigious and groundbreaking names in development and regeneration, and a decision on the chosen developer is due to be made in the next few months.

The Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative is a 20 year vision for regenerating the urban core of the Tees Valley, the main focus being the 30 km² area along the banks of the River Tees between the two centres of Stockton and Middlesbrough. The master plan has been drawn up by environmental design specialists Gillespies, the eventual aim being to bring distinctive high-quality city-scale assets to the centre of the Tees Valley, including the town centres of Stockton and Middlesbrough. The project will include not only the existing developments at North Shore, Stockton and Middlehaven, Middlesbrough, but many others over a 15-20 year period.

[[File:site of odean middlesbrough.jpg|left|thumb| The former Odeon cinema in Middlesbrough, during demolition]]Private local developers have recently announced plans to build a tower on the site of the old Odeon Cinema (more recently a nightclub named "Jumpin' Jaks") which collapsed during demolition work in July 2006. The site is in central Middlesbrough at the eastern end of Newport Road and was proposed to be the tallest building in the North East, although the plan was later, as of 2007, downscaled.

One of Middlesbrough's finest buildings, Kirby College, set in the inner suburb of Linthorpe is currently in the process of being brought back to life by local developer Green Lane Capital. The building will become known as The Old College.

Middlesbrough, along with other towns and cities in the UK, will be granted a licence to build a new large casino. Manchester won the bid to host the 'Super Casino'.

Just announced is a plan to turn one of the area's most impressive yet under-used buildings into a top specification office location. Cleveland House on Cleveland Street was built in 1872 by John Gibson – a renowned architect who worked with Sir Charles Barry designing the Houses of Parliament. The building's new owners have renamed it Gibson House and plan to spend £1m on the grade II listed construction. It is thought that the developers are planning to capitalise on the success of the huge regeneration project at nearby Middlehaven district of town.

Culture and leisure[link]

The long-awaited flagship art gallery project, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art opened its doors in January 2007. It currently holds the second largest collection of Picassos in the United Kingdom. It also holds works by Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse and Damien Hirst among others. Its considerable arts and crafts collections span from 1900 to the present day. Surrounding it is the town's overhauled Victoria Square and Central Gardens, in tandem producing "the largest civic space in Europe".

Middlesbrough also has a healthy musical heritage. A number of bands hail from the area, including Chris Rea, Journey South and Collectors Club.

Middlesbrough has two major recreational park spaces in Albert Park and Stewart Park, Marton. The former, originally hailed as the 'People's Park', was donated to the town by Bolckow in 1866. It was formally opened by Prince Arthur, youngest son of the monarch, on 11 August 1868 and comprises a 30 hectare (70 acre) site accessible from Linthorpe Road. The park underwent a considerable period of restoration from 2001 to 2004, during which a number of the park's most well-known landmarks, including a fountain, bandstand and sundial saw either restoration or revival. The latter park was donated to the people of Middlesbrough in 1928 by Councillor Thomas Dorman Stewart and encompasses Victorian stable buildings, lakes and animal pens. During 2011 and 2012, the park is to undergo major refurbishment of many of its features. Alongside these two parks are two of the town's premier cultural attractions, the century-old Dorman Memorial Museum and the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum. In March 2011, the Dorman Memorial Museum was given the honour of displaying the Middlesbrough meteorite (loaned from the Yorkshire museum). This was the first time the 1.5 kg meteorite had been put on display in the town since it fell to Earth in March 1881. Close to the Captain Cook Birthplace museum is a granite urn, marking the approximate location of the world famous explorer's birthplace.

Newham Grange Leisure farm in Coulby Newham, one of the most southerly districts of the town, has operated continuously in this spot since the 17th century, becoming a leisure farm with the first residential development of the suburb in the 1970s. It is now a burgeoning tourist attraction: the chance to view its cattle, pigs, sheep and other farm animals is complemented by exhibitions of the farming history of the area.

Back in the 'Old Town' or St Hilda's, is the Transporter Bridge Visitor Centre, opened in 2000 and offering its own exhibitions charting the stirring past of the surrounding industrial powerhouse, as well as that of the singular structure it commemorates.

Sport[link]

Middlesbrough is home to the Championship football team, Middlesbrough F.C., owned by local haulage entrepreneur Steve Gibson. The club is based at the Riverside Stadium on the banks of the River Tees, where they have played since relocating from Ayresome Park, their home for 92 years. Founder members of the Premier League in 1992, Middlesbrough are winners of the 2004 Football League Cup, and were beaten finalists in the 2005-06 UEFA Cup. In 1905 they made history with Britain's first £1,000 transfer when they signed Alf Common from local rivals Sunderland. Another league club, Middlesbrough Ironopolis F.C., was briefly based in the town during the 1890s, but folded within a few years.

Speedway racing was staged at Cleveland Park Stadium from the pioneer days of 1928 until the 1990s. The post-war team, known as The Middlesbrough Bears, and for a time, The Teessiders, the Teesside Tigers and the Middlesbrough Tigers operated at all levels. The immediate post war Bears team, which operated between 1945 and 1948, was reputed to be a victim of its own success. The track operated for amateur speedway in the 1950s before re-opening in the Provincial League of 1961. The track closed for a spell later in the 1960s but returned in as members of the Second Division as The Teessiders. Speedway returned to the Middlesbrough area in 2006 and the team is known as the Redcar Bears.

Middlesbrough is also represented nationally in Futsal. Middlesbrough Futsal Club play in the FA Futsal League North, the national championship and their home games are played in Thornaby at Thornaby Pavilion.

Middlesbrough hosts several road races through the year. In September, the annual Middlesbrough Tees Pride 10k road race is held on a one lap circuit round the south part of the town. First held in 2005, the race now attracts several thousand competitors, from the serious club athlete to those in fancy dress raising money for local charities.

Education[link]

Middlesbrough became a university town in 1992, after a concerted campaign for a distinct 'Teesside University' which had run since the 1960s. Prior to its establishment, extramural classes had been provided by the University of Leeds Adult Education Centre on Harrow Road, from 1958 to 2001. Teesside University has more than 20,000 students. It dates back to 1930 as Constantine Technical College (although teaching formalities had begun in the then-new building as early as September 1929). Current departments of the university include Teesside University Business School as well as the Schools of Arts and Media, Computing, Health and Social Care, Science & Engineering and Social Sciences & Law. The university is internationally recognised as a leading institute for computer animation and games design and along with Arc arts centre at Stockton-on-Tees, Cineworld cinema in Middlesbrough, and the Riverside Stadium, hosts the annual Animex International Festival of Animation.

The university is not alone in providing further and higher education in the town. There are also a number of modern schools, colleges and sixth forms, the largest of which is Middlesbrough College with 16,000 students, which once covered the four campuses of Acklam, Kirby, Longlands and Marton, including the one-time Acklam Hall until July 2008. From September 2008 Middlehaven is now the new home of further education in the town. Others include Trinity Catholic College in Acklam and Macmillan Academy on Stockton Road. Two of three campuses of Cleveland College of Art and Design are also based in Middlesbrough, with its primary site on Green Lane having been officially opened in 1960. It remains the only such college remaining in the North East, and one of only four specialist art and design further education colleges in the United Kingdom, the others being in Herefordshire, Leeds and Plymouth.

Secondary schools[link]

Middlesbrough also includes some secondary schools.

Acklam Grange Secondary School is also a specialist mathematics and computing college. Its also home to the Acorn Sports Centre and Middlesbrough City Learning Centre. It opened its new school building in September 2010. In July 2011 the long time headteacher of the school, John Bate, retired, after over 2 decades of service.

Oakfields Community College Speciality Sports And Arts College is open as of September 2010 due to be rebuilt elsewhere on site and open in September 2012, with a multi-million pound college building located in Acklam on Hall Drive opposite Acklam Hall.

The King's Academy, in Coulby Newham, was opened in 2003 by Tony Blair and is part of a group of schools built by Peter Vardy (businessman). It has a sixth form, and the total number of students the school has at the moment is 1000, with roughly 150–200 staff. It has a high pass rate at both GCSE and A-level. The academy specialises in business, but has excellent sport facilities. It is the top school in Middlesbrough for its teaching of deaf and visually impaired students.

The £17 million Unity City Academy, which replaced the Langbaurgh and Keldholme schools in east Middlesbrough, was one of the first schools to open as part of the government's £5 billion City Academy programme for failing comprehensives. In 2005, an unusually large proportion of pupils gained no GCSEs, and only 14% of pupils gained 5 A*–C grades, compared with a national average of 51%. However, in 2006 the school had new management in place, and achieved pass rates of 33%. In 2009, Unity City Academy was named the most improved school in Middlesbrough by Ofsted. In 2007, Ofsted reported that Macmillan Academy was grade 1, outstanding, in overall effectiveness.

Religion[link]

Christianity[link]

Middlesbrough is a deanery of the Archdeaconry of Cleveland, a subdivision of the Church of England Diocese of York in the Province of York. It stretches west from Thirsk, north to Middlesbrough, east to Whitby and south to Pickering.

Middlesbrough is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough, which was created on 20 December 1878 from the Diocese of Beverley. Middlesbrough is home to the Mother-Church of the diocese, St. Mary's Cathedral, which is located in the suburb of Coulby Newham. The present bishop is the Right Reverend Terence Patrick Drainey, 7th Bishop of Middlesbrough, who was ordained on Friday 25 January 2008.

St. Stephen's, Middlesbrough, near the university campus, is an evangelical congregation, worshipping in the style of the Church of England, but which is in the Evangelical Connexion.

Islam[link]

The Islamic community is represented in several mosques in Middlesbrough. Muslim sailors visited Middlesbrough from about 1890. and, in 1961, Azzam Din opened the first Halal butcher’s shop. The first mosque was a house in Grange Road in 1962. The Al-Madina Jamia Mosque, on Waterloo Road, the Dar ul Islam Central Mosque, on Southfield Road, and the Abu Bakr Mosque & Community Centre, which is on Park Road North, are among the best known mosques in Middlesbrough today.

Sikhism[link]

The Sikh community established their first Temple, or Gurdwara, in Milton Street, in 1967. After a time in Southfield Road, the centre is now in Lorne Street and was opened in 1990.

Hinduism[link]

There is a Hindu Cultural Centre in Westbourne Road, North Ormesby, which was opened in 1990.

Television and filmography[link]

Middlesbrough has featured in many television programmes, including ''The Fast Show'', ''Steel River Blues'', ''Spender'', ''Play for Today'' (''The Black Stuff''; latterly the drama ''Boys from the Blackstuff'') and ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''.

Some of the Movie ''Billy Elliot'' was filmed on the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.

Tyne Tees Television used to broadcast its news for the South regions from its studios located at the base of Corporation House (now Walkabout bar), before moving to its new premises in Billingham.

On 17 December 2007, at about 1 p.m. local time, the American television network NBC broadcast live from the Transporter Bridge, where presenter Ann Curry performed a bungee jump above the river, as part of a fundraising effort for charities such as Save the Children and United Way. Despite advance publicity in the ''Evening Gazette'' and the BBC, the occasion did not attract many spectators other than the members of the UK Bungee Club supervising the jump, and the recovery party in a river boat. Despite recent adverse publicity for the town, including a poll conducted by a Channel 4 television programme, ''Location, Location, Location'', making use of criteria questioned by the mayor Ray Mallon, which listed Middlesbrough as the country's supposed 'worst place to live' in 2007, no local politicians attempted to capitalise on the occasion.

In May 2008 Middlesbrough was chosen as one of the sites in the BBC’s Public Space Broadcasting Project. Like other towns participating in the project, Middlesbrough was offered a large television screen by the BBC and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. The screen was installed on 11 July 2008 and is located at the western end of Centre Square.

In November 2009, the mima art gallery was used by the presenters of Top Gear as part of a challenge. The challenge was to see if car exhibits would be more popular than normal art.

Middlesbrough is also the home of the award-winning series of short films called ''Cold Up North''. Made by local people, with no formal training and with local bands providing the soundtrack, they have won two Best Film Awards at film festivals, two awards on YouTube, numerous awards and accolades from Middlesbrough Council and recently worked with the North East Film Council. There is a story attached to the film crew that they once received an e mail from Sir Ridley Scott (who has connections to the area) complimenting their work and encouraging them into the future. Some of their short films are available on YouTube.

Notable people[link]

The world-famous explorer, navigator, and map maker Captain James Cook was born in Marton, which is now a suburb in the south-east of Middlesbrough.

Other famous people from Middlesbrough include:

Sports

*Rob Smedley, Formula One race engineer for Felipe Massa

* Footballers Brian Clough, Wilf Mannion, Jacky Carr, Don Revie, Alan Peacock, Peter Beagrie, Chris Kamara, Mark Proctor, Stuart Ripley, Gary Gill, Phil Stamp, Tommy Mooney, Keith Houchen and Jonathan Woodgate, as well as current England players Stewart Downing and Matt Jarvis.

* Middlesbrough Football Club Chairman Steve Gibson

* Rugby union players Rory Underwood and Alan Old

* Cricketers Liam Plunkett, Geoff Cook, Bill Athey and Chris Old

* Boxer Paul Truscott

* Darts players Glenn Moody and Colin Osborne

* Billiards players Mike Russell and Dave Causier.

* Olympic swimmer Jack Hatfield and Commonwealth Games swimmer Alyson Jones

* Olympic cyclist Chris Newton

* Former British long jump record holding athlete Chris Tomlinson

* Former Premiership referee Jeff Winter

* Junior World and European Track Cycling Champion David Daniell

* The Football Association's Director of Communications Adrian Bevington

The Arts

* Models Jade McSorley and Preeti Desai, who was Miss Great Britain 2006

* Comedians Dave Morris, Bob Mortimer, Roy Chubby Brown and Kevin Connelly

* Musicians Cyril Smith, Chris Rea, Paul Rodgers, Micky Moody, Alistair Griffin, Vin Garbutt, Chris Corner and Stephen Mark Barchan

* Actors Wendy Richard, Thelma Barlow, Christopher Quinten, Elizabeth Carling, Mark Benton, Jerry Desmonde, Jamie Parker and Neil Grainger.

* Writers Ann Jellicoe – playwright and theatre director, novelists Ernest William Hornung, Richard Milward and Wally K Daly, TV and radio scriptwriter

* Visual artists Fred Appleyard, Robert Nixon, Mackenzie Thorpe, Chris Dooks and William Tillyer

* Author, educator, historian and lecturer Paul C. Doherty

Roman Catholic and Dominican priest, theologian and philosopher, Herbert McCabe

* Antiques Expert David Harper

Other Entertainers:

* Magician Paul Daniels, Pete Firman

* TV Presenter Kirsten O'Brien

* ''X Factor'' third place contestants Journey South

* ''X Factor'' finalist Amelia Lily

* ''Any Dream Will Do'' third place contestant Lewis Bradley

* Magician ** Magician/Comedian John Archer

Other eminent sons and daughters of Middlesbrough and its environs include Martin Narey (1955–present), chief executive of Barnardo's, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, E. W. Hornung, the creator of the gentleman-crook Raffles (who was fluent in three Yorkshire dialects), and Naomi Jacob novelist. Florence Easton, the Wagnerian soprano at the New York Met and Cyril Smith (1909–1974), the concert pianist, were also natives. The famous M.P. Ellen Wilkinson wrote a novel ''Clash'' (1929) which paints a very positive picture of ‘Shireport’ (Middlesbrough). The classic study, ''At The Works'' (1907), by Florence Bell (1851–1930), gives a striking picture of the area at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. She also edited the letters of her stepdaughter Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), which has been continuously in print since 1927. Pat Barker's debut novel ''Union Street'' was set on the thoroughfare of the same name in the town, its central theme of prostitution still associated with the area around it to this day. The Jonny Briggs series of books, written by Joan Eadington (and later to become a BBC Children's TV series of the same name, was also based in the town.

Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) was billeted in Eston during the Great War (1914–18) and his great novel sequence ''Parade's End'' is partly set in Busby Hall, Carlton-in-Cleveland.

Adrian 'Six Medals' Warburton, air photographer, was played by Alec Guinness in'' 'Malta Story'''.

The great model maker Richard Old (1856–1932) resided for most of his life at 6 Ruby Street.

Image gallery[link]

Twin towns[link]

Middlesbrough is twinned with the following places:

Middlesboro, Kentucky, USA Dunkirk, France, since 12 April 1976 Oberhausen, Germany, since 1974 Masvingo, Zimbabwe, since 1990

See also[link]

A66 road

Middlesbrough Music Live

References[link]

External links[link]

"Pioneers of the Cleveland iron trade" by J. S. Jeans 1875

This is Middlesbrough – Visitor and leisure guide for Middlesbrough.

Official Middlesbrough Council Website

Unofficial Middlesbrough Town Hall website

Visitmiddlesbrough – the official visitor and leisure guide for Middlesbrough

"At the works, a study of a manufacturing town (Middlesbrough, Yorkshire)" by Florence Bell, 1907* BBC Tees – the latest local news, sport, entertainment, features, faith, travel and weather.

Genuki – History of Eston parish & District Descriptions from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890)

"How Boro will lose its "crap town" image" – Stephen Bayley, ''the Observer''

"Introducing mima – Middlesbrough's Moma" – Ian Herbert, ''the Independent''

"Mima – painting a pretty picture" – Channel 4 News

Tide times for Middlesbrough Dock entrance.

Kirby College – development plans.

Middlesbrough's Claes Oldenburg sculpture is featured in this short film by Ian Robinson.

Cleveland House/Cleveland Club – development plans.

Category:Locations in the Tees Valley Category:Port cities and towns of the North Sea Category:Ports and harbours of Yorkshire Category:Towns in North Yorkshire Category:University towns in the United Kingdom Category:Areas within Middlesbrough Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:Towns with cathedrals in the United Kingdom Category:Local government districts of North East England

ar:ميدلزبره az:Midlsbro zh-min-nan:Middlesbrough be:Горад Мідлсбра be-x-old:Мідлзбра bg:Мидълзбро ca:Middlesbrough cs:Middlesbrough da:Middlesbrough de:Middlesbrough es:Middlesbrough eo:Middlesbrough fa:میدلزبورو fr:Middlesbrough ko:미들즈브러 hr:Middlesbrough id:Middlesbrough it:Middlesbrough he:מידלסברו ka:მიდლზბრო sw:Middlesbrough lb:Middlesbrough lt:Midlsbro nl:Middlesbrough ja:ミドルズブラ no:Middlesbrough nn:Middlesbrough pl:Middlesbrough pt:Middlesbrough ro:Middlesbrough qu:Middlesbrough ru:Мидлсбро simple:Middlesbrough sk:Middlesbrough sr:Мидлсбро fi:Middlesbrough sv:Middlesbrough vi:Middlesbrough vo:Middlesbrough war:Middlesbrough yi:מידלזברא zh:米德爾斯伯勒

}} }}

Lee Dong-Gook () (born 29 April 1979) is a South Korean football striker who currently plays for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Club career[link]

Early career[link]

Lee started playing football for Pohang Steelers, where due to his outstanding performance in his first season, he managed to make his debut for the South Korean national team making a total of 71 appearances and scoring 22 goals. He was then sent on loan to Werder Bremen of Germany's Bundesliga.

During six months at Werder Bremen in 2001, Lee's playing time was limited partly due to injuries.

Lee left the Steelers in 2002 to perform his military service, joining the military team Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix. He spent two seasons there. His career recovered after he returned to Pohang in 2004.

In April 2006, Lee tore cruciate ligaments in his knee while playing in a K-League match for the Pohang Steelers that forced him out for six months, and was unable to play in the World Cup.

Middlesbrough[link]

Lee signed with Middlesbrough in January 2007, after he was granted a work permit. He made his Premier League debut for Middlesbrough on 24 February 2007 against Reading, and scored his first goal on 29 August 2007 in a Carling Cup match against Northampton Town, and his second in the FA Cup against Mansfield Town on 26 January 2008. His contract expired at the end of the 2008 Premier League season.

Lee did not return to his former club Pohang Steelers on transfer deadline day, and was released at the end of the season for the season 2008/09. He received offers from clubs in Japan and Germany.

Seongnam Ilhwa[link]

Lee signed a contract with Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in 2008. However, he was unsuccessful, and was linked another move to several K-League and J. League clubs.

Jeonbuk Hyundai[link]

Lee was transferred to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the 2009 transfer window. He scored a brace in his debut for Jeonbuk on 15 March 2009 against Daegu FC. Lee completed his second senior hat-trick on 2 May 2009 against Jeju United. On 4 July, he scored his second hat-trick of the season against Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix. He eventually became the K-League Top Scorer in 2009 K-League, scoring 20 goals in 27 league matches. He also scored one goal in the second leg of final in K-League Championship, and Jeonbuk beat Seongnam Ilhwa by 3–1 to win the first league trophy in their history.

Lee became the K-League's all-time leading scorer with 117 goals when he got two goals in the 2012 season opener against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma on 3 March 2012.

International career[link]

Lee was a member of the South Korea national football team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He also took part in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and finished top scorer with six goals.

In 2002, Lee was not chosen by Guus Hiddink to represent South Korea in 2002 World Cup. Fans called him "Lazy Genius," because they felt that he did not fully use his potential. This is also because Hiddink emphasized strong stamina, great power, and agile speed, which are the categories that Lee struggles in, except power. He later admitted to spending his days drinking and not watching a single game that took place in Korea.

Lee was coach Dick Advocaat's first-choice selection at forward for Korea ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but a knee injury suffered in a K-League match forced him to miss the tournament.

On 1 November 2007 Lee was banned from the national team for twelve months after it was revealed that he, along with team captain Lee Woon-Jae, teammates Kim Sang-Sik and Woo Sung-Yong, went on a late night drinking spree with several female employees during the Asian Cup, in which Korea received third place.

Unlike the other members who were involved in this incident, because Lee played for Middlesbrough in England, the KFA could not ban him from his club team matches.

2010 World Cup[link]

Lee was listed onto the South Korea national football team line up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He came on as a substitute in a game against Uruguay and missed his last big chance to redemption. Lee had a clear chance from 16 yards on the Uruguayan keeper, but his shot lacked the power to cross the line.

Personal life[link]

Lee married Lee Soo-Jin, a former Miss Korea of 1997, in December 2005. On 14 August 2007, he became a father of twin girls.

Honours[link]

Individual[link]

AFC U-19 Championship Top Scorer: 1998

K-League Rookie of the Year: 1998

AFC Asian Cup Top Scorer: 2000

K-League All-Stars Soccer MVP: 2003

K-League Top Scorer: 2009

K-League Best XI: 2009

AFC Champions League Top Scorer: 2011

Club[link]

;Pohang Steelers

FA Cup Runners-up: 2001, 2002

Asian Club Championship Champions: 1998

Asian Super Cup Runners-up: 1998

Afro-Asian Club Championship Runners-up: 1998

A3 Champions Cup Runners-up: 2005

;Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

K-League Champions: 2009, 2011

AFC Champions League Runners-up: 2011

Career statistics[link]

|- |1998||rowspan=3|Pohang Steelers||rowspan=3|K-League||15||7||||||9||4||||||24||11 |- |1999||15||7||||||4||1||||||19||8 |- |2000||7||4||||||1||0||colspan=2|-||8||4 |- |- |2000–01||Werder Bremen||Fußball-Bundesliga||7||0||0||0||colspan=2|-||0||0||7||0 |- |- |2001||rowspan=2|Pohang Steelers||rowspan=7|K-League||17||3||||||0||0||colspan=2|-||17||3 |- |2002||21||7||||||0||0||colspan=2|-||21||7 |- |2003||rowspan=3|Gwangju Sangmu Bulsajo||27||11||0||0||colspan=2|-||colspan=2|-||27||11 |- |2004||19||1||2||0||4||3||colspan=2|-||25||4 |- |rowspan=2|2005||0||0||0||0||1||0||colspan=2|-||1||0 |- |rowspan=2|Pohang Steelers||17||3||3||0||7||4||colspan=2|-||27||7 |- |2006||10||7||0||0||0||0||colspan=2|-||10||7 |- |- |2006–07||rowspan=2|Middlesbrough||rowspan=2|Premier League||9||0||2||0||0||0||colspan=2|-||11||0 |- |2007–08||14||0||2||1||2||1||colspan=2|-||18||2 |- |- |2008||Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma||rowspan=4|K-League||10||2||0||0||3||0||colspan=2|-||13||2 |- |2009||rowspan=3|Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors||29||21||4||4||3||1||colspan=2|-||36||26 |- |2010||28||12||0||0||2||1||5||3||35||16 |- |2011||27||16||1||0||0||0||6||9||34||25

242||101||9||4||34||14||11||12||296||131 7||0||0||0||colspan=2|-||0||0||7||0 23||0||4||1||2||1||colspan=2|-||29||2 272||101||13||5||36||15||11||12||332||133

|- |1998||8||0 |- |1999||0||0 |- |2000||10||8 |- |2001||6||1 |- |2002||4||0 |- |2003||1||0 |- |2004||10||8 |- |2005||15||4 |- |2006||9||1 |- |2007||7||0 |- |2008||0||0 |- |2009||4||0 |- |2010||10||3 |- |2011||2||0 |- |2012||2||3 |- !Total||88||28 |}

International goals[link]

:''Results list South Korea's goal tally first.'' DubaiTripoli, LebanonTripoli, LebanonBeirutBeirutBusanGwangjuJinanJinanJinanHo Chi Minh CitySeoulBusanSeoulSeoulKuwait CitySeoulLos AngelesTokyoTokyoLondonJeonjuSeoul

Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
17 February 2000	Los Angeles	|	1 goal	2–2	2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup
7 October 2000	|		1 goal	4–2	LG Cup (Football)>2000 LG Cup
19 October 2000	Tripoli ||		3 goals	3–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup
23 October 2000	Tripoli ||		1 goal	Extra time>a.e.t.)	2000 AFC Asian Cup
26 October 2000	|		1 goal	1–2	2000 AFC Asian Cup
29 October 2000	|		1 goal	1–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup
16 September 2001	|		1 goal	2–1	Friendly match
10 July 2004	|		1 goal	2–0	Friendly match
23 July 2004	|		1 goal	2–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
27 July 2004	|		2 goals	4–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
31 July 2004	|		1 goal	3–4	2004 AFC Asian Cup
8 September 2004	|		1 goal	2–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)>2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
17 November 2004	|		1 goal	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)>2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
19 December 2004	|		1 goal	3–1	Friendly match
9 February 2005	|		1 goal	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)>2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
30 March 2005	|		1 goal	2–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)>2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
8 June 2005	|		1 goal	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)>2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
16 November 2005	|		1 goal	2–0	Friendly match
15 February 2006	|		1 goal	1–0	Friendly match
7 February 2010	|		1 goal	5–0	2010 East Asian Football Championship>2010 EAFF Championship
14 February 2010	|		1 goal	3–1	2010 East Asian Football Championship>2010 EAFF Championship
3 March 2010	|		1 goal	2–0	Friendly match>Friendly
25 February 2012	|		2 goals	4–2	Friendly match>Friendly
29 February 2012	|		1 goal	2–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)>2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

References[link]

External links[link]

K-League Player Record National Team Player Record

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Association football forwards Category:Pohang Steelers players Category:SV Werder Bremen players Category:Gwangju Sangmu players Category:Middlesbrough F.C. players Category:Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma players Category:Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Category:K-League MVPs Category:K-League players Category:Fußball-Bundesliga players Category:Premier League players Category:Expatriate footballers in Germany Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players Category:2000 AFC Asian Cup players Category:2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Category:2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Category:2004 AFC Asian Cup players Category:2007 AFC Asian Cup players Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players Category:Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic footballers of South Korea Category:South Korean expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:South Korean expatriates in England Category:South Korean expatriate footballers Category:South Korea international footballers Category:South Korean footballers Category:People from Pohang

ar:لي دونغ غوك de:Lee Dong-gook es:Lee Dong-Gook fr:Lee Dong-gook ko:이동국 id:Lee Dong-Gook it:Lee Dong-Gook lt:Lee Dong-Gook mr:ली दोंग-गूक ja:李東国 no:Lee Dong-gook pl:Lee Dong-gook pt:Lee Dong-Gook ru:Ли Дон Гук simple:Lee Dong-Gook tr:Lee Dong-Gook zh:李同国

alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	King of Pop, MJ
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals
genre	R&B;, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy, MJJ Productions
associated acts	The Jackson 5 150pxMichael Jackson's Signature
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	}}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B;, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series titled ''This Is It'', Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.

Life and career[link]

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)[link]

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B; band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.

The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.

Move to Epic and ''Off the Wall'' (1975–81)[link]

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B; Album, Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B; Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B; Album and Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever'' (1982–83)[link]

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona. ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Midwest hip hop musicians Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Child pop musicians Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:Epic Records artists Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Legend Award Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Young Artist Award winners

af:Michael Jackson als:Michael Jackson am:ማይክል ጃክሰን ar:مايكل جاكسون an:Michael Jackson roa-rup:Michael Jackson az:Maykl Cekson bn:মাইকেল জ্যাকসন zh-min-nan:Michael Jackson be:Майкл Джэксан be-x-old:Майкл Джэксан bcl:Michael Jackson bg:Майкъл Джаксън bar:Michael Jackson bo:མའེ་ཁོའོ་ཅས་ཁ་ཤུན། bs:Michael Jackson br:Michael Jackson ca:Michael Jackson ceb:Michael Jackson cs:Michael Jackson cbk-zam:Michael Jackson co:Michael Jackson cy:Michael Jackson da:Michael Jackson de:Michael Jackson et:Michael Jackson el:Μάικλ Τζάκσον eml:Michael Jackson es:Michael Jackson eo:Michael Jackson eu:Michael Jackson fa:مایکل جکسون fo:Michael Jackson fr:Michael Jackson fy:Michael Jackson ga:Michael Jackson gv:Michael Jackson gl:Michael Jackson gan:麥可·傑克遜 glk:مایکل جکسون gu:માઇકલ જેકસન hak:Michael Jackson ko:마이클 잭슨 hy:Մայքլ Ջեքսոն hi:माइकल जैक्सन hsb:Michael Jackson hr:Michael Jackson io:Michael Jackson ilo:Michael Jackson id:Michael Jackson ia:Michael Jackson ie:Michael Jackson zu:Michael Jackson is:Michael Jackson it:Michael Jackson he:מייקל ג'קסון jv:Michael Jackson kn:ಮೈಖೇಲ್ ಜ್ಯಾಕ್ಸನ್ ka:მაიკლ ჯექსონი kk:Майкл Джексон rw:Michael Jackson sw:Michael Jackson kv:Джексон Майкл Джозеф ht:Michael Jackson ku:Michael Jackson lad:Michael Jackson la:Michael Jackson lv:Maikls Džeksons lb:Michael Jackson lt:Michael Jackson li:Michael Jackson lmo:Michael Jackson hu:Michael Jackson mk:Мајкл Џексон mg:Michael Jackson ml:മൈക്ക്‌ൾ ജാക്സൺ mt:Michael Jackson mr:मायकेल जॅक्सन arz:مايكل چاكسون mzn:مایکل جکسون ms:Michael Jackson mn:Майкл Жэксон my:မိုက်ကယ်လ် ဂျက်ဆင် nah:Michael Jackson nl:Michael Jackson nds-nl:Michael Jackson ne:माइकल ज्याक्सन new:माइकल ज्याक्सन ja:マイケル・ジャクソン no:Michael Jackson nn:Michael Jackson nov:Michael Jackson oc:Michael Jackson mhr:Джексон, Майкл uz:Michael Jackson pag:Michael Jackson pnb:مائیکل جیکسن pap:Michael Jackson ps:مايکل جېکسن pms:Michael Jackson tpi:Michael Jackson nds:Michael Jackson (Singer) pl:Michael Jackson pt:Michael Jackson kaa:Michael Jackson ro:Michael Jackson qu:Michael Jackson ru:Джексон, Майкл sah:Майкл Джексон se:Michael Jackson sco:Michael Jackson sq:Michael Jackson scn:Michael Jackson si:මයිකල් ජැක්සන් simple:Michael Jackson sk:Michael Jackson sl:Michael Jackson szl:Michael Jackson so:Michael Jackson ckb:مایکڵ جاکسن sr:Мајкл Џексон sh:Michael Jackson su:Michael Jackson fi:Michael Jackson sv:Michael Jackson tl:Michael Jackson ta:மைக்கல் ஜாக்சன் tt:Майкл Джексон te:మైకల్ జాక్సన్ th:ไมเคิล แจ็กสัน tg:Майкл Ҷексон tr:Michael Jackson uk:Майкл Джексон ur:مائیکل جیکسن ug:مايكېل جېكسۇن vi:Michael Jackson vls:Michael Jackson (zanger) war:Michael Jackson wuu:米口 积克森 yi:מייקל זשעקסאן yo:Michael Jackson zh-yue:米高積臣 diq:Michael Jackson bat-smg:Maiklos Džeksuons zh:迈克尔·杰克逊